Strength and Weakness

Part III

A weight was lifted from her shoulders after the deed with Sweet and Fowler. It was refreshing to have some closure but either way it didn't bring back Jack or Ma. In saying that, it brought the rest of the Mercers' closer together with Angel and Sofia in one room, Bobby still sleeping in Ma's bedroom while Danielle kept her usual spot in her eldest brother's room. Jerry made it a habit to visit the house a few times a week and at least one night for dinner. She half expected Angel and Bobby to take their leave of Detroit after they'd gotten justice for their family. She was constantly waiting for that moment where they'd leave again to wherever the hell they came from.

The remaining Mercers' sat around the dining table, Jerry had joined them and Sofia was beside Angel after providing the roast for tonight. Danielle spoke up once every one had eaten half their plate. "I was thinking-"

"That's never a good sign." Angel joked and Bobby's lips twitched at the comment.

"Ass." Danielle hissed in Angel's direction before continuing. "That Bobby should move into his old bedroom and I'll move back into mine." And Jack's bedroom.

A pause came upon the table, the loss of their family was still a tender topic and no one had yet to step foot into the younger brother's bedroom. "Not a bad idea." Jerry spoke, easing the tension as he always did among his siblings.

Angel took this opportunity to bring forth the conversation he had the other day with his girlfriend. "Actually Sofia and I are-"

"If you say you're moving out of Detroit, I will kick your ass." Danielle threatened, not letting any her brothers' suddenly disappear on her again.

"You're not getting rid of me that easy Danny!" Angel threw back, amusement shining in his eyes at the thought of his little sister beating him. "What I was about to say, we're thinking of getting our own place."

"Thank fuck, I'm getting sick of hearing La Vida Loca here." Bobby commented from the end of the table, not one to miss a chance in stirring up the couple.

Sofia took the bite, snapping back at Bobby with Angel in-between them. "What about you with your farting all the time!?" Danielle couldn't keep a straight face with her pronunciation, both of them had very valid points. She could hear the couple across the hallway at all hours and Bobby could clear the room with one blow of wind. "And don't even get me started on you Danielle." Sofia pointed the stare at the younger woman. "You behavior too much like your brothers', leaving dirty laundry and burning your eggs."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Danielle replied, smirking as Sofia threw her hands up in the air and left the dining table to stomp up the stairs. As Sofia put it, living with brothers meant she was use to someone pulling her leg…and she'd only burnt the eggs that one morning, sounding the fire alarm which woke the Spanish woman from her sleep.

"Thanks guys." Angel signed loudly, getting up from the table to calm down his girlfriend. "And on the record, I like Danny's idea." He voiced his opinion before turning to leave.

"Hey Angel," Danielle called for him before he could make the stairs. "You should be thanking us for the make-up sex." Her response made the brothers' chuckle around the table as Angel went upstairs in an improved mood. She could remember him telling her something similar one afternoon when she questioned his reason to grinning after an argument with his latest girlfriend

"You really want to do this?" Bobby asked seriously, not sure how his sister would go back in her old room.

"Yeah, we need to live." Danielle gave a heavy sign, still struggling with the concept that Jack and Ma were out of the picture. It had been four months since Jack was put in the ground and the house had been renovated after the shoot-out. They needed to move forward and that meant bringing some normalcy back into the house, starting with bedroom arrangements.

"Guess that means I better find myself a job." Bobby joked, Danielle had a point as they'd simply gone through the day-to-day tasks and not actually living.

"Good luck with that." Jerry jestered with his brother.

"Great, just keep your ass away from my pub." Danielle waved her knife in Bobby's direction – there was no way in hell they'd be sharing a house and work place together.

"I heard the tips are good." Bobby said seriously, remembering Danielle's comment one night.

"Find your own bar!" Danielle threw back and gathered her plate to put in the dishwasher. Yes, the Mercer house now had a dishwasher. She was sure her Ma would be rolling in her grave at having one of the machines in the kitchen.

The following day, Danielle turned right in the hallway instead of going left like she usually would and found herself lying on Jack's mattress, staring at the ceiling feeling slightly numb. The sheets still held the smell of her brother which made her think that he'd come walking through his bedroom door any second and move her over so he could laid down next to her.

They did that many times over their childhood, whether it be her bed or his to help with the nightmares or the surrounding darkness. Danielle didn't dare tell any of her other brothers' about her fear of the darkness, Jack didn't laugh at her when he found out and simply crawled into bed with her eight year old self.

Dirty clothes still litter the bedroom floor, his guitar case was laid open and his black leather jacket threw over the back of the desk chair. She moved forward and pulled the jacket from the chair before sliding her arms through the leather. Tightening the jacket over her stomach, she hugged her arms around it and took comfort in smelling the cigarette smoke lingering on the leather.

She gave herself a few minutes to get her overwhelming emotions into check before picking up some of the storage boxes to clear Jack's room. She slowly worked through his belongings, keeping a couple of shirts out for herself at night and putting bits n pieces into the box, like his CDs and band posters. Lastly, she closed the lid of his guitar case and felt her throat tighten up with emotion, she tried to bite back the sob that wanted to escape her at that very moment. She knew then that Jackie was never coming back to them but he'd be forever in their hearts.

It took a couple of days for Danielle to shift everything from Bobby's old bedroom into Jack's room, her new room. The first night in the bedroom made her feel nauseated, the second night followed the first and the third had a sense of ease as she'd gotten use to her belongings in the room and added some of her own decorations onto the wall though she kept Jack's jacket over the desk chair.

While Danielle was fighting her own emotions, the older Mercer easily packed his duffle bag from Ma's room and took over his old bedroom that still lingered with secondary school, hockey trophies. It was a relief to be in his own space, at times he felt claustrophobic staying in his Ma's room where everything was exactly as it had been when he left so many years ago.

The idea of Danielle moving back into her old room had crossed his mind but he hadn't been ready to bring it up because the passing of Jack was still raw and he wouldn't have pushed his sister until she was ready herself to step back into the room. He missed the damn fairy but he imagined it was nowhere as close to Danielle, the two younger Mercers were always joined to the hip until Jack had moved away to L.A.

The following step to the Mercers' moving forward was clearing out their Ma's bedroom, it had been six months since the passing of Evelyn and no one had moved a single thing within the house. It all started with Angel and his large mouth. "I'm fucking bored." Angel sat in his usual seat on the couch, his ass going in the dip it had made years ago.

"Go build a bloody tree house." Bobby snapped as he tried to watch the movie.

"Do I look twelve to you?!" Angel resorted back in a slightly high pitched voice that made Danielle chuckle.

"You act like it." Bobby threw back, his eyes never leaving the TV. Angel didn't waste a second in lunging over the other side of the couch to try and get Bobby into a headlock.

Danielle found their messing around amusing especially on a Sunday afternoon were the household had the day off, it was days like these that it could also get confining in such a large household. It hadn't yet, but it was only early afternoon and anything was bound to happen with the Mercers'.

"We're all here." Jerry stated.

"Nice observation Sherlock." Bobby replied, pushing Angel away one final time.

"We could do Ma's bedroom." Jerry suggested, knowing that it had been something on their minds that not one of them wanted to be landed with the job.

There was a small silence between the Mercers' before Bobby reached forward and turned the TV off. "Might as well start now." Bobby started for the stairs, making his way to Ma's room with Jerry following behind.

"Come on Danny." Angel encouraged softly and held a hand out to her, pulling her out of the lounge chair to head upstairs with Danielle slowly moving after him.

Sunday afternoon became one of those confining moments were every Mercer wished to be elsewhere. They provided strength to one another as they sorted through their Ma's belongings and let one another battle through their moments of weakness.

The next stage was Angel and Sofia moving from the Mercer house. Like everything else, they worked together in moving Angel's belonging to the house five blocks over. The house was one level with three bedrooms, a joint lounge and dining room along with the laundry and bathroom to the side.

"It's a good size house, you have enough room for kids." Jerry commented having seen the three bedrooms.

The comment immedicably had Bobby looking in his brother's direction. "Is there something we need to know Angel?"

"Explains why you wanted to move." Danielle muttered under her breath, getting a hard look from Angel.

"Fuck no!" Angel answered to his siblings' and in return getting a slap on the arm from Sofia before she moved away swearing in Spanish at the man. "Fuck." He swore under his breath, watching his girl move down the hallway.

"First night and your already in the dog house." Bobby teased.

"We don't have a dog dipshit." Angel fired back.

"Not yet." Jerry added, thinking to his own situation with his wife, two girls and their dogs.

"You really planning on having kids?" Danielle asked seriously. The idea of Angel having his own rascals sounded like trouble. Not to mention Sofia was only a few years older than herself and the thought of children hadn't even crossed her mind, she didn't think being a mother was really in her DNA after seeing how some people treated their own flesh and blood.

"It's on the table." Angel prepared himself for some more jesting.

"They'll be a pain in your ass, though the best thing that could ever happen to you." Jerry spoke with experience, knowing the shit he put up with but he'd do anything for his daughters.

"I don't know if I could handle more La Vida Locas around here." Bobby said in amusement.

"Neither do I man." Angel answered in a joking matter, wondering how he'd handle a couple more females around the house.

"Well I better head back to the house for dinner or Camille will have my ass." Jerry half joked though everyone in the room was positive that Camille had their brother whipped already.

"Yeah, we'll leave ya to settle in for the night." Bobby gave Angel a one arm hug before stepping through the door to get to his car, Danielle knew he'd wait for her.

Danielle stepped aside for Jerry to bid his goodbyes before moving into Angel's embrace. At feeling his arms wrap around her, she couldn't help but let all the tension about the move slip from her – He wasn't leaving Detroit, he was only a few blocks away from the house. "You're welcome around anytime." Angel whispered to Danielle, giving her one more squeeze before pulling back. "You better leave before Bobby starts with the horn."

She cracked a smile and grabbed her jacket from the coat hook. "See ya around Angel."

"Sure will Danny." He replied back, watching his siblings' leave the crib of the house before turning around to mend his previous words with his girl.

It had been two days when Danielle woke up and she found Angel sitting on their couch, feet up on the table and a hockey game on. "Don't you have your own house to be in?" She questioned, noticing the crushed chips surrounding him.

"Aren't I welcomed anymore?" Angel teased, pretending to be hurt by his sister's words.

"Not this early in the day." She made her way into the kitchen for some coffee.

"Danny, it's two in the afternoon." He replied in disbelief.

"Like I said, too early." She came back into the lounge and took one of the arm chairs while she drank her coffee. "And get your feet off the table." He slowly lowered them, it was something his Ma would have asked him to do.

"Are you heading to work?" He asked at seeing her choice of wardrobe.

"Start at three." She answered without her eyes leaving the TV.

"What does-"

"What is this? Twenty questions?" She snapped expecting to have the house to herself as Bobby was at work today.

"Well it-"

"Shut the fuck up Angel."

"I see how it is." He sulked though couldn't stop the twitch of his lips as he annoyed his sister.

"Obviously not cause your still talking!" She answered back, getting up from her seat to go back upstairs to her bedroom.

Angel merely smiled, put his feet back onto the table and continued to watch the game.

The shift at the pub was per usual, serving beverages to customers and having a chat to the locals that came in after hours at their own jobs. Some people may think that bartending wasn't the top job out there but Danielle enjoyed the socialization that came with it, she practically got paid for chatting to people and some of them could be very entertaining when they'd had their fill of alcohol.

"Hey Danny!" The sound of her nickname been yelled from the other side of the bar got Danielle's attention.

She couldn't help but smile at the owner of the voice, she'd spent quite a bit of time with the man during their neighbor hockey games. "James, how are ya?"

"Brilliant as always." James accent only made her smile more, she loved to hear his Irish background coming through in his words. "And you?"

It wasn't a secret about the recent mess the Mercers had been dealing with and his question was more than asking how she was going. "Better." Danielle answered truthfully. "And the company always helps."

"That it does Danny Girl." She bit her lip at hearing her old nickname that James had given her.

"What can I get ya James?"

"Coke and Jack." He stared at her intensely and she wasn't sure what to with him watching so closely.

"I'll get that for you." She turned away to catch a breather and prepared his drink.James use to hang around with Angel in secondary school so he was a familiar face in Detroit to her.

She turned back to him with his drink in hand. "Here you go."

"Thanks Danny." She went to turn away when he spoke up again. "You wanna get out here after work and talk some more?" His eyes were centered on her lips as he asked the question.

"I'd like that." She flashed him a smile before going to serve a customer. She wasn't new to men, she grow up with four of them though having brothers' was never in her favor when it came to other men. She was usually very curious around the people of Detroit because one never knew someone's motivates, that curious nature came from her time moving around in the system. For some reason though, James presence set her at ease and she always trusted her stomach, it never led her a stray before.

The next morning Danielle slid her key into the front door and unlocked it quietly, hoping that Bobby was still upstairs sleeping and completely unaware that she hadn't returned home after work last night.

She had almost made it to a home run up the stairs when Bobby made his presence known in the kitchen. "Danny." She froze at hearing the tone, she once again felt like a little kid caught drinking the last of the milk.

"Hey Bobby." She turned around at the stairs to find him leaning against the kitchen counter with a coffee in hand. "You're up earlier." She blurted out at seeing his unimpressed expression.

"It's ten o'clock in the morning and you're still wearing your work clothes." Bobby stated, taking a drink of his coffee like they were discussing the cloudy weather outside.

"I stayed at a friend's house-"

"Last I checked, you didn't get hickies from a friend." Bobby shook his head at seeing the messy hair and love bites on her neck. He knew that she was old enough to do anything but to him, she would always be his baby sister and he wasn't losing her anytime soon. Apart from her appearance, she actually looked happy since the passing of their family members and a part of him didn't want to be the cause of it leaving her so soon. "Who was it?"

"His a really nice guy and-"

"Danny, who?" He wasn't gonna let his sister run around with some trouble making bastard.

"James Mason, he use to-"

"Hang out with Angel." Bobby finished her sentence, nodding his head in thought. He knew the man and James had kept a straight and narrow path apart from the fights he always accompanied Angel with. "Alright." He stood up and started to make his way into lounge.

"Alright?" Danielle asked, confused at the sudden switch in her brother's attitude.

"Yeah," He took a seat on the couch with Danielle following him into the room. "Now go away before I change my mind." He warning caused the young Mercer to turn back around for the stairs. "And make sure you're stocked up on condoms!"

"Oh, Jesus Christ Bobby!" Danielle shouted, not wanting to get into sex education with her brother, the first time with Angel and Bobby had been enough to scar her for life. Before her older brother could get another word in, she quickly made her way to the bathroom and slammed the door in her haste causing Bobby to laugh at his flustered sibling.

AN: Originally I was leaving the story with two parts but I was itching to write some more Four Brothers.