A/N: Hey guys! Since a few of you asked for more and gave me ideas, I'm back with the companion to Trying to Figure it Out, His Father! Jack's story is based off of Baby Porcupine-Cute but DEADLY's fanfic: Missing Him, so you guys ought to check it out ok? I'll stop wasting your time now, read on!

So it'd been a while since that day in the park, since the day that I finally told Jack how I felt. Thankfully, he felt the same way, and we'd been dating ever since.

All of this closeness had made me realize, what's with Jack and his necklace? He never took it off and wouldn't ever let anyone touch it, not even me. And Jack never mentioned his dad either, and whenever we all talked about our dads he'd just slip out of the conversation. Whether or not it had anything to do with his necklace, I wanted to know what was going on.

I had asked the guys what they knew about his dad, all of them came up blank. Nobody had ever heard Jack say anything about his dad, not even Jerry who was his best guy friend. I was being a bit nosy, I'll admit to that, but if something had happened with Jack and his dad, I wanted to know. I mean, he was my boyfriend and best friend; I wanted to help him with anything and everything that hurt him.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" asked Jack one day when he walked into the dojo one day to find us all huddled together, whispering about the subject of his father. My head snapped up immediately at the sound of his voice.

"Hey Jack!" I said cheerfully, avoiding his question and greeting him with a kiss. The guys scattered, obsessing over what they called our "Kick Cuteness", I rolled my eyes at them and Jack asked again what we were doing.

"Nothing Jack, just talking," said Milton carefully, trying not to sound suspicious. Jack just shrugged it off with a slight nod and went over to change.

"Phew, that was close!" Eddie sighed as soon as Jack was out of earshot. "A little more and he would've discovered us!"

"Yo you're right!" exclaimed Jerry, running his hands through his hair and sighing.

"It's not like we're plotting anything sinister," I said pointedly.

"Whatever, but I still think that was a close one," said Eddie grumpily, trying to save his comment.

After practice, I went over to Jack's house for dinner like I usually now did since my mom had been working late. When we went up to his room, I glanced around to see if I could find any pictures of Mr. Brewer.

Sadly, I found nothing about the man, just a few pictures of his family, the guys, and me. I smiled when I saw a picture of all five of us at the beach, goofing off like we always do.

I thought about asking him, but decided against it. It was too soon to be asking about this, I mean, I didn't want to sound nosey or anything to him.

"Um, Kim, are you ok? You look kind of nervous," said Jack looking at me with concern. I guess since I was worrying about Jack that it showed, and he can easily detect any feelings I have, even if I don't want him to find out.

"Oh it's nothing, I'm fine," I lied, hoping he wouldn't notice. Of course, being Jack, he did.

"Kim don't lie to me, I know something's up. Please, just tell me," he said, whispering the last few words. He reached out and grabbed my hands and gave me a look that just made me melt and come right out and tell him.

"Well Jack," I cleared my throat, "it's just that I've kind of noticed- the guys too –that you never seem to want to take off your necklace or let anyone touch it. And we also kind of noticed that whenever the subject of our fathers turn up, you just keep quiet and sort of tense up… Mind telling me what's going on?"

Jack looked down for a bit, I could tell this was going to be painful for him but I wasn't sure how this would go down.

He reached up to the small orb hanging around his neck, and unlatched the hooks holding it onto him. It was a beautiful object, a small round orb, not much bigger than a marble. It started off dark blue and faded off to a nice soft green, and looked like it had stars all over it because it was flecked with white all over.

He rolled it between his fingers, deep in thought, before thrusting it into my hands. It was as if he couldn't bear to even touch it, as if it was poison in his hands. He still hadn't said anything, and I waited patiently, rubbing the orb in my hands, admiring its beauty and uniqueness. I heard him take a sharp, jagged breath and as I looked up, I saw something I'd never seen before and hopefully would never have to see again: Jack was crying. Tears were silently streaming down his face and landing on his hands, which were tightly clasped together.

I carefully placed his necklace on my lap and pulled him close to me. He rested his head on my shoulder and just cried for a while, the silent tears turning into sobs.

"Shh, it's okay hun, it's okay. It's alright to cry Jack," I whispered into his ear, trying to get him to calm down. I was lost as to the reason for his tears; I only knew that I had to help him with whatever had happened in his life to leave him so damaged. The surprising thing is, however, that if you just look at Jack, you'd never suspect anything was wrong. He was usually such a happy, cocky, fun-loving boy who enjoyed being around his friends. You'd never even guess that he was hiding something so awful that just the thought of it would make him break down.

At last, his crying stopped, and he pulled away from me slightly, but still staying close enough so that I could feel his body heat on my arm. He wiped his face on his sleeve before choking out a few words, "G-go into th-the b-box on my desk-k. Take o-out the clippings. And the letters, i-if you want."

I got up slowly from where we had been sitting on his bed, gently putting his necklace on his pillow, and walked over to Jack's desk. It was cluttered with papers, pens and pencils, pictures, his laptop, and a few other random objects that only Jack would have. I looked over to the corner of the table, and found a small black box, adorned with tiny gold vines. It was beautiful. I gingerly opened it, and inside of it were pictures of a man I had never seen before, I could only assume it was his father. Beneath the pictures, lay papers, which I guessed were letters written to Jack and a folded piece of newsprint that had been clipped out from the newspaper some time ago. It had been folded and unfolded many times, and the creases were so worn, that I was afraid I'd rip the paper.

Bringing them back to where Jack sat, he motioned for me to open one of the letters and read what had been written in it:

Dear Jack,

Hey kiddo, how's life at home? Are you holding down the fort like I asked? I miss you and your mother so much. It's pretty boring over here, thankfully we haven't had to do much fighting yet though, I've just met some guys and stared at the sky.

"Jack's dad must've been in the army…" I thought to myself.

Guess who's coming home soon for a while? You guessed it, me! We'll have all sorts of fun when I get there, deal? And you're probably wondering why I put a marble on a string in here, it's a necklace for you, so you never forget your daddy and so you remember that I'm always with you, even if I'm off fighting.

Can't wait to see you buddy,

Your Dad

When I had finished reading the letter, I looked over to Jack. He wouldn't look at me. "My dad was serving in the army when I was eight. We were living in New York at the time. That was a letter I got from him a few months after he left. I remember how excited I was when I read that he was going to come home for a bit, and my mom and I threw a special little party that night because we were so happy. Read the article now, please."

My heart broke as I read the article I was holding in my hand. On his way home to see his wife and son, Jack's father was mugged and murdered on the streets of New York by a gang of men dressed in clown masks. I can only imagine how Jack felt when he was told he'd never see his father again.

"In case you didn't notice, I never told you the real reason why I was afraid of clowns so much…" he said, still staring at the wall. "When I heard the news, I remember that I locked myself in my closet for three hours and just cried. I knew my dad would've wanted me to be strong, would've wanted me to comfort my mom, but I couldn't. I had been so excited to see my dad, I hadn't seen him in months, and when I finally did, it was his picture in the newspaper and a man dressed in uniform coming to tell us he died."

"Jack, I-I had no idea…" I breathed, I felt so bad for asking him to tell me this.

"It's not your fault Kim, it's fine" he said, putting on his necklace again. "So now you know why I always wear this necklace. It's the only thing left of my father, besides his letters. And you know why I don't like to talk about him, because I always get so sad whenever I think of him, and I don't like to feel the pain associated with the memory."

I reached out and hugged him tightly, unsure of what exactly to do. "Jack, your father sounds like an amazing man, I'm proud of him for serving this country. And as for his death, I hope those assholes got what they deserved; they had no right to kill such a good man like that.

"Thanks Kim, it means a lot," he said, still hugging me. I didn't want to let go, but Jack's mom came into the room.

"Hey kids, what's going on?" she asked lightly. She caught sight of Jack's tear-stained face and gasped, "Honey! What's wrong?"

Jack gave her a weak smile, "It's fine mom, I was just telling Kim about dad."

Mrs. Brewer's eyes clouded, "He was a fine man, your father. Loved you very much Jack, and he would've loved you too Kim. It's just a shame he died the way he did."

"I can imagine, Mrs. Brewer. The way Jack talked about him, I can tell he meant a lot to both of you…" I said, sincerely. "I can't even begin to think about what it would be like to lose my father. Sure, my parents are divorced, but I still have a man that I can call my dad on this earth."

"Well said Kim, let's pray that nothing happens to your father, and that he leaves when his time comes," said Mrs. Brewer, reaching out to take my hand. I felt really honored to hear that Jack's father would've liked me.

After Jack's mom left, we just sat there for a while, not saying anything. I checked the clock, 10:25. "Hey Jack, I should probably start heading home. Are you okay?"

"Yeah sure, want me to walk you home?" he asked, he seemed to have recovered from earlier, and I gladly said yes.

He grabbed my hand and led me outside into the dark streets of Seaford. We walked in silence, both deep in thought. I was trying to put myself in his shoes, seven years ago, having my dad taken to the army and then losing him to some maniacs on the street. It hurt even just thinking about it. I only scratched the surface of the emotion that he must've felt that day, and I was already close to crying. Then I thought about how if I cried, I would be disrespecting Jack and his father. I had no right to cry over something that had not happened, no right to try to put myself in his position. As horrible as they were, those were special memories to him, I couldn't put my tears and feelings into them.

"Can we keep this just between us for now? I don't really want the guys to know or treat me differently, what's why I didn't tell anyone in the first place. I don't want special treatment," said Jack suddenly, cutting through the silence.

"Of course, I won't tell a soul. Cross my heart," I said. Honestly I didn't want to tell Jerry, Eddie, and Milton just yet. I was sort of being selfish, but I wanted to think that this moment was something special for us.

"Shake on it," Jack said, and I could hear a slight smile in his voice. We had this handshake we always did. First we'd shake normally, and then add the other hands on top. Walk in a circle three times, and as we threw our hands down to let go, scream "WASABI!" at the top of our lungs.

So we shook, and when we got to my front door, I suddenly had no idea what to say. We stood there for a while before I pulled him into a tight hug. "Jack, you're really strong, I can't imagine what it would be like to be in your situation so young."

He hugged me tightly, "No I'm not Kim. Every day I think about how if I wouldn't have asked him to come home soon, that he would still be alive. Every day I read the letters and the article and try not to cry. I'm not strong Kim. I'm really not."

I broke the hug and looked at him sternly. "Jack. I known and heard people that have ruined their lives because of losing a family member. I have friends who have reverted to drugs, alcohol, anything to help them get away from the reality that their mother, father, or sibling has died. There were some who have even killed themselves over it. You haven't. You say you aren't strong but look at yourself, you're coping. You haven't done anything stupid and you know your father loves you. There's not a single thing there telling me you're weak. I'm proud of you Jack, and I'm sure your father is too."

He looked at me with a weird expression. I'm not sure if he was happy or sad, he just looked at me. I leaned up and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek and turned to leave.

"Thanks Kim, for being here with me tonight. It meant a lot," he said as I was opening the door. I turned around and flashed him a smile.

"You know there's nothing I wouldn't do for you Jack. I love you," I said, and squeezed his arm. Then I turned into my house and closed the door. Jack was Jack, no matter how you looked at it. Always thinking about others and not himself. That night I finally got a glimpse of the selfish Jack, the Jack that missed his father. I was happy that I had seen that Jack. It made me feel that much closer to him. It was special.

I looked out the window and located a star. "Star light, star bright. First star I see tonight. Wish I may, wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight," I always did this, every night since I was little. "I wish that Jack would stop blaming himself for his father's death, and that someday he's able to move on from this."

I fell asleep hoping my wish would come true someday.

A/N2: Hope y'all like this :) please don't forget to review! If any of you have ideas, suggestions, anything, just say! I might use it in a future story! I actually got the idea for this one when a Guest commented on Trying to Figure it Out saying I should incorporate the backstory of a fanfic I was currently reading at the time, so I thought it was fate! And if the author of the original fanfic doesn't like it or wants me to remove it for any reason, please PM me ok? Alright thanks for reading guys!
Love you till the moon and back,
~Claudia