John Reese had his head laid against the window of the moving vehicle. He watched the sky with little clouds keep moving. His eyelids were getting heavier. He felt like sleeping but yet he didn't want to. He kept seeing the horrible accident that was stuck in a very deep part of his brain. A month ago, John and his mother were in the car. John had just been sent home from school because he fought with a classmate.

This kid was much like John, skill wise. This kid was Mark Snow. They used to be friends in elementary school, along with Kara Stanton. After John had seen how they treated others, and how they expected him to act. He no longer wanted to associate with them. They didn't want to be friends with a boy scout so they didn't care. John and Mark fought over another student. Mark was harassing a kid saying stuff like, "I know what you did" "Why makes you do that" "I should kill you now". That angered John. He ran up and tackled Mark. Mark struggling to get 220 pounds of 15 year old muscle off of him, Kara decides to step in and help Mark. No one noticing the knife Kara had, she went to try to get John in his leg. John noticed and disarmed with little to no trouble. Everyone screaming when they finally noticed and ran inside, leaving John and Mark and Kara alone outside. Due to his time occupying Kara, Mark had time to get to his feet. All of them eyeing each other, Mark signals Kara to back off because he knows John has strong feelings about hitting women and won't dare hit her. Mark wanted John all to himself. Mark finally runs up to John hoping to strike him. John grabs his fist turns his arm, hears a snap, and flips Mark over him and strikes him in the stomach and some to his face. Many times. Punch after Punch, Mark looks like a bloody Mary, while john has a bruised cheek and split lip. The principle finally comes with many teachers and drags John off of Mark. As Mark sits up, coughing blood, he turns to John who has steam coming out of his ears. "That's the killer I know" he says. John lunges but some of the stronger teachers hold him back. "Don't John!" "Come on John! Stop!" they yell. Eventually someone turns him around and lead him to the office, earning sympathetic looks from his classmates. Including the one who he had helped. He had his head hung low and left. "You're Welcome." he muttered to himself. "They never say thank you…"

John's mother could not have been more disappointed in him. Sure she can understand why he did what he did, but that doesn't mean she approves. 'He gets this from his father' she thought as they drove home. John's father died when John was young. Her husband always HAD to help someone, any way she can. He inspired John. She couldn't have been proud. But she was worried about what John was doing to himself. She turned to her son. John was refusing to look her in the eye.

"John, we need to talk about this." she said calmly

"I don't have anything to say" He said bluntly

"Look, I know this is hard. But John...you can't continue to go around hitting people-"

"I never start it. I never instigate it Mom." he looks away "I just finish what they start"

She laughs "Spoken like your father."

He turns back….and smiles

She looks back at him, "He'd be very proud of you John"

He smiles again, then he looks toward the road. His eyes go wide

"MOM!"

She quickly turns her head, but too late...

John wakes up with a gasp, he's back in the car with Iris. She pulls over and looks at him in concern.

"Are you okay, John?" she looks at him

"Honestly, no… I'm not" He retaliates. He starts wiping sweat from his forehead. "Just..please…...keep driving" He relaxes a bit more

Iris does just that. He puts his hand over his eyes and silently sobes.

After 10 more minutes Iris decides it's time to alert John of what's going on.

"Okay John, we need to discuss about where you will be put." He sighs. Since his family and everyone he cares about is...dead and has no contact with other family, he's forced into foster care. Iris continues to talk to him about his new home

"The parents are John Greer and Alicia Corwin. They are very kind people. I think if you give them a chance, you might be surprised." He scoffs to himself

"They have 5 other kids there, so I better not hear of any fights. Got it?" She eyes John.

"If they don't start up anything, then sure I won't punch any of em'..yet"

"John…" She warns. He grins

They finally arrive at the house. It is quite nice. It's a tad fancier above average. He gets out and closes the car door. He looks at the yard and sees two kids, one boy and one girl. The boy looks like he weighs a bit more than average while the girl could use a piece of bread, or 50. They are playing basketball. The girl fakes a shot and goes around the boy and makes a layup. She cheers and gloats while he stands there and pouts. He turns his head and see's two adults coming out with two more girls.

"Hello, you must be John." She greets John. He didn't say anything, just gave a brief nod back

"John." Iris nudges him

John coughs, "Hello." He looks at Iris who gives him another warning stare. "Nice to meet you." He reluctantly finishes

The older man comes out with his hand out, "Hi John."

John took his hand, and shook it "Hi."

Alicia turned to the 4 kids behind her. 'I thought Iris said they had 5 kids' John thought to himself

Alicia turned to one of the tallest of the group. She had brown hair and eyes and a evilly smile which unsettled it but he returned the looks with a cold stare.

"John, this is Samantha Groves." Alicia introduced the girl

"You can call me Root." She says with a smile

John just gave a slight nod back

John Greer turn to Alicia real quick, "Wait, where's Harold?" He says

Alicia looks around and notices the missing body missing. She sighs, "I told him to come down." She looks to John, "I swear all of you kids will be the end of me." John didn't say anything

She turns around and goes into the house.

John Greer continues to introduce him to the rest of the children

"Um John, this is Joss Carter." He said continuing the introductions and gesturing him to the black girl beside him. Joss was there smiling to John, she was about average height, dark hair and brown eyes. 'She's got a nice smile' John thought to himself.

"This is Sameen Shaw" John Greer said gesturing to the short, thin girl he saw earlier playing basketball

"Just call me Shaw." She said fiercely. John just nodded back. 'She's a ray of sunshine.' John thought

"And this is Lionel." John Greer finishes the introductions

"How's it going?" He greets politely. John rolls his eyes. 'I have a bad feeling about this one'

After they were done, Alicia comes back out of the house but behind her was a short kid with mousy hair and thick glasses. He had a limp.

"Sorry he's a bit late. He was focused on school work" Alicia says

"Hello Mr. Reese. It's nice to meet you. You can call me Mr. Finch, if you please." Finch inquired

John just stared at him, 'Mr. Reese? Mr. Finch. So formal' He thought.

"I guess it's nice to meet you too." John said...hesitated

Alicia clapped her hands together, "Well now that that's over, why don't you guys help John with his bags, and Lionel and Harold will show you to your room and then we will discuss house rules and everything you need to know. Okay?"

"Ok. And thank you." John says

"No problem." Alicia said cheerly

John turns to Iris and quickly hugs her goodbye for now

"No fighting!" she reminds him. He shrugs back and starts carrying his bags into the home

John walks in and looks around. It was a nice home. The living room was actually quite big. The kitchen was too. He hears footsteps coming down the stairs and he turns around

"Hey Wonder Boy, your room is up here." Lionel says in a very sarcastic tone

John rolls his eyes the second time at him in one day and reluctantly follows him upstairs

Lionel leads John into the room, which have 3 beds. One for him, one for Lionel, and one for Finch.

"Glasses!" Fusco yells down the stairs "You were supposed to make the bed for our new friend!"

"My apologies Mr. Fusco, I had to type that essay and do something for my midterm." Finch said up the stairs

"I don't care if you were standing here with your troll hair lit on fire! We have responsibilities! Get your limping butt up here before I come and kick you up here myself!" He bellows. he turns from the staircase and comes back into the room. "Brothers.." He mutters under his breath. He turns and begins to make John's bed.

"Sorry this wasn't done before. But is it ok if you have the top bunk? I think I'd break it and Finch needs a single for his back." Fusco asked

"Yeah whatever. What happened to Finch?" John asks

"Don't know. He never said. The only people who know is him, mom, dad, and his social worker thats it." Fusco said

"Why does he call you Mr. Fusco?" John asks, he wants to know about this guy

"Look man, I don't really know. He is a private person." Lionel said irritated

"He's odd.." John inquires

"Yeah he his. But I do love him. Like a real brother. In case you haven't noticed we argue like them but then again, we aren't the ideal family."

John looks up, "Yeah."

Some time after they called a meeting introducing John to some of their rules and expectations. All the other kids were there.

"Okay, first it's 9:00 lights out. No later unless you've discussed it with John or me." Alicia says

John nods his head

"On school days we wake up at 6 am, the girls shower in the morning when you, me and Harold shower at night. Our order for the shower does rotate. In the mornings, we wake up, eat, take care of oral hygiene, get dressed and go" Lionel says

"And don't be late getting in the car." Shaw eyes Fusco

"Oh and do your chores, there will be lists. Yours will be the one with your name on it." Fusco says eyeing Finch with a death glare after the bed incident earlier that day

John smiles, "Ok." he said.

Later that Day

John was sitting on a chair in the backyard once he got his chores done, it was only 2 but he was exhausted. He had to help Lionel chop a bush down for some odd reason. He heard the back door open and he turned to see Finch walk onto the porch. He has noticed Finch has been eyeing him all day.

"I recognize, Mr. Reese, that there's a disparity between how much I know about you and how much you know about me. I know you'll be trying to close that gap as quickly as possible. But I should tell you… I'm a very private person." Finch says calmly

"What do you know about me Finch?" John asks innocently

"I know about the fighter you are and how your old neighborhood never helped with that. and a bit about your previous crowd, and the doubts you began to have about that crowd. I know about your former friend Jessica." Finch stops. Suddenly John looks up in shock. 'How in the world-?' Finch continues.

"I know why you chose a troublesome and unsettling life. And personality. You couldn't be there to help your friend, you had to carry a knife with you to protect yourself. To and from school. Who can blame you honestly for being such a fighter. You were on the other side of the school when she was killed." That's it.

John had enough he suddenly turned to Finch and charged at him. He put one hand right on the front of his neck and one in the back of his neck. He pushed Finch back right into the wall.

"What do YOU know about it?!" John said bitterly

"It's the truth! Your old friends lied to you, I NEVER WILL. I think all you ever wanted to do was protect people." Finch tried to get out

John let go and retaliated. Suddenly a wave of guilt washed over him. Finch put his hand to the front of his neck and rubbed it.

"Hit a nerve have I?" Finch questioned

"How-how in the world do you know so much." John looks at him like a lost puppy

"I have my sources.." Finch said slowly

John turned and shook his head at Finch

"And I overheard our parents talking with your social worker. They should be more careful about what they say when they have 5 kids in the home"

John looked back up as Finch took a seat away from him.

"We will never lie to you. You may ask, but there might not be an answer. If we do say anything, it'll be the truth. And for your own good." Finch said as he got up

"I am very happy about you living here Mr. Reese.." Finch said as he went back into the house

John just sat there and looked ahead into the woods behind the house.

TBC

My first fanfiction…. Proud writer moment! There will be more, that I promise. I know there may be grammar and spelling errors. I will try to get better as I go but this is not bad so far. Let me know what you think!!