He became aware again slowly, and every fibre of his being ached.

Muscles he'd never even used before screamed their disapproval at the damage that had been inflicted upon his body.

Jack groaned softly and dragged his tongue across his dry lips, deciding it best to keep his eyes shut for the sake of his aching head. He dimly felt a warm hand squeeze his.

"-ack? You a snake?"

He lay still a moment, unsure of what to make of the muffled voice.

"Snack?"

What? Did he look in any shape to be wolfing down food? The nausea he felt opposed the idea of any food for, well, ever.

"Are you a snake? Snack?"

The hand clasping his squeezed slightly firmer and he frowned in annoyance. Seriously, what was going on?

"No," he croaked out, opening his eyes with some effort, "I'm not hungry."

The blurry figure of a bewildered Jerry greeted him, who instantly starting grinning as Jack's eyes blearily focused on him, "you're awake!"

"Yeah," Jack grumbled, "so stop asking if I want a damn snack."

"Err, I didn't-", Jerry paused, before deciding to not complicate the matter since Jack was obviously feeling a little confused.

"Actually, yeah," he nodded slowly, going along with it, "your ass can pay for your own damn snacks, you're right, just 'cause you're currently an invalid doesn't mean you get special treatment or some shit. Pft."

Jack didn't respond.

The room fell silent again as Jerry clasped his hands in his lap and stared out of the window on the far wall. Jack lay still, keeping his breathing as soft as possible so as not to disturb his ribs. They must have given him some kind of painkiller, no doubt under the harassing orders of his brothers. Speaking of…

"Where's Angel and Bobby?"

Jerry moved his gaze back to his, sighing heavily.

"You've been asleep a few hours, they left just after you woke up the first time to go sort some stuff out. They should be back soon."

Jack stared ahead, slowly processing the information.

"Stu-", he cleared his throat, "Stuff? Like what?"

Jerry reached towards the bedside table and busied himself carefully pouring a glass of water as he pondered over what was least likely to upset Jack.

'Oh man,' he thought, 'what wasn't going to upset the kid right now? He was lying battered in a hospital bed, two of his brothers were fuck knows where committing some serious Kill Bill shit on some drugged up psychopath and-"

"Jerry?" Jack murmured, startling him into spilling a few drops of water onto the table top.

He sighed again, holding the cup up to Jack's bloodied, chapped lips. Jack stared back defiantly.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"Jack… just take a drink, okay?" He gently touched the rim of the cup to his lips, watching at his brother finally took a few tentative sips.

"Better?"

"Yeah… thanks… So where's Bobby and Angel?" Jack repeated.

"I told you, they had to go home to sort out some business, but they'll be back soon, so don't you worry."

Jack closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose.

"Why does everyone treat me like a baby? Why do you all think I'm too delicate to know anything?"

"Jack, it's not that," Jerry objected.

"Yes!" Jack suddenly shouted, grimacing as a sharp pain in his ribs followed his outburst. He saw Jerry's concerned look as his hand started to lift towards him and felt the annoyance rise.

"Stop! Just stop coddling me! I'm a grown up, this is my mess and I deserve to know what's goddamn happenin', Jerry!"

"No, Jack, you're not a grown up. You're fifteen years old for cryin' outloud!" Jerry exclaimed.

"You sound just like Bobby," Jack retorted, "I thought you were on my side?"

"Oh, no, no, no. I'm on no one's side, Jack. I'm just stating facts, facts that Bobby also happened to state. You. Are. A. Kid."

Jack flushed, his eyes betraying the anger he felt. They were all the same, he thought.

"Like it or not," Jerry continued, "you're our baby brother. We care about you, and yeah, Bobby may have the emotional intensity of a freakin' T-Rex, believe me; I was you once, and Angel, too. He's your older brother and he's looking out for you, just like I am right now, so get used to it, kid… Jack", he corrected, trying to soften the blow slightly.

Jack stared down at his bruised arms, silently digesting Jerry's words.

Jerry continued.

"Seeing you bloodied on the floor..." He paused for a moment, causing Jack to look up.

"Probably one of the scariest moments of my life, Jackie," Jerry admitted, closing his shaking hands into fists.

"M'sorry…" Jack said, his heart jumping at the watery look in his older brother's eyes. It scared him, even though Jerry was no certainly no Bobby, or even Angel, he never cried.

"Why didn't you just tell us what was goin' on, huh?" Jerry asked softly.

"I… I thought I could handle it all, it was going fine before Bobby flushed everything thinking it was mine… I wanted to clear up my own mistakes instead of being a fuck up all the time," Jack said, a dejected look on his face.

Jerry nodded slowly.

"I get that, believe me, I get it, but what you was in to… was too deep, the second Bobby flushed it all you should have come clean," Jerry took a breath, deciding to stop lecturing the kid. He looked downtrodden enough, and he already knew Bobby would be delivering this speech again, ten times worse. He changed the subject.

"Luke's gone home with his mom. She's scarier than Bobby, man… I've never seen someone shout so much in one breath and cry at the same time," he said, trying to lighten the mood.

Jack gave a tiny smile.

"I'm glad he's okay."

They lapsed into silence, each caught up in their own thoughts as footsteps came and went past the closed door.

"I don't want Bobby and Angel to get in trouble cause of me," Jack said eventually, breaking the silence.

"They won't," Jerry assured him, "I know I'm the brains out of all of us an' all, but even those two aren't that stupid," he joked, not letting on that he was just as worried as Jack.

A sound coming from the door had them both looking up as it was pushed open.

Evelyn Mercer hurried her way through, cheeks flushed with exertion. Her eyes immediately settled on Jack.

"Oh, Jack…", she said, quickly enveloping his hand in hers before leaning in to kiss his brow.

"Jerry, thank you for calling as soon as you could, heavens knows if it'd been left up to your brothers I wouldn't have gotten the call so soon. I'd be waiting to receive one from the hospital and the jail", she gave a thin smile as she pulled her jacket off before settling into a chair.

Jerry gave a weak smile.

"Glad you're back Ma, it's been pretty… eventful without you."

He looked to Jack, cleared his throat and stood up.

"I'm going to get a coffee, you want one Ma?"

Evelyn nodded.

"Thank you, dear, although something a bit stronger wouldn't go amiss right now," she eyed Jack who kept his head down.

Jerry shook his head, a wryly smile appearing. He leant over to kiss Evelyn on the cheek before slipping out of the room.

Evelyn placed her hands on her knees and let her eyes properly scan her youngest. Her heart hurt looking at him, knowing she hadn't been there for him, or by the sounds of it, any of them. All her boys had their own pasts and ways of dealing with things, especially Bobby. He was a hard man, not properly equipped with dealing with someone quite so on the other end of the scale to him as Jack was.

Jack was no angel, she knew that. These last few months had been particularly trying, but she never thought for a moment anything like this would come out of it. Sure, the smoking, the drinking, the truanting that had recently come to light – she could handle all that. She disapproved immensely, no question, but with her experience of raising her other boys and other children she had come across, it didn't faze her. It was their way of working through what had happened to them, dealing with it, venting, lashing out at the world and themselves. Everyone had their demons.

"Look at me, Jackie," she said softly.

Jack twitched at her voice, waiting a few seconds before slowly lifting his head back up to meet her eyes.

Evelyn slowly raised her hand, making sure he could see it, before slowly reaching towards his face to cup his cheek, mindful of the cuts and bruises.

"My baby."

Jacks eyes glistened with tears although he stubbornly refused to let any fall.

Evelyn sighed inwardly. Jack had made a point over the last year or two to completely shed the remnants of the whimpering, fearful, sensitive little boy that had come to her. It troubled her how determined he was to completely shut his emotions off, but then again, he was a fifteen year old boy now; a man in his eyes, who also had very indomitable older brothers as role models.

"It's okay, Jackie, I'm here now," she said.

A single tear slipped down Jack's cheek.

"Ma… I messed up," he choked out before a steady stream of tears started to fall from his eyes.

I am very sorry to those who have been waiting so long for this chapter. I graduated from University, changed jobs, left the country, and then ended up re-writing and binning this chapter a fair few times. As it has taken me so long to update, I feel I have not been able to really get the characterisation in place; particularly Evelyn as for some reason I have always found her quite difficult to write. I am not entirely sure who is still out there and interested, but any feedback is truly appreciated. Thank you for reading.