Chapter 9.

9. chapters into the story

When Conner heard the knock on his door, he sat up abruptly in bed. He heard the doorknob turn back and forth, and then whoever it was stopped, likely because they realized it was locked. He waited for harder knocking or a demand that he opened the door, but there was none. He licked his lips nervously, still feeling confused as to how to interpret the actions of people in the house. The last time he'd locked a door like this, it had earned him several well placed slaps.

Light came in through his window and he frowned, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He'd actually slept pretty well after he'd eventually fallen asleep, but being a light sleeper the knocking woke him up right away. At least there hadn't been any nightmares.

He got out of bed with a big sigh and sent a brief look at his bag in the corner, remembering his late night with a little embarrassment but more anxiety. The latter feeling seemed not only recurrent but simply constant. It always took a while to become 'adjusted' to a particular house and family, but it didn't make the beginning any easier.

He looked down at himself and realized he was still wearing the exact same thing as yesterday. In fact he'd even slept in jeans. Scratching his head, he sighed and moved to pick up his bag. Tossing it on his bed, he finally decided to finally unzip the bag. Might as well. It still didn't mean anything.

He threw on a t-shirt and then paused, looking down at his arms. The bruises were gross and really obvious on his pale white skin. They weren't fading at all. But then again it hadn't been very long.

Frowning, he found a ratty sweatshirt at the bottom on his bag and pulled that on over his t-shirt.

He needed to pee and brush his teeth. Judy had given him a new toothbrush and everything. He walked over to the door and unlocked it, but before he could reach the bathroom he already heard yelling from inside the bathroom. He paused and frowned, hearing two male voices amidst the sound of running water. To him, that seemed really weird.

Conner eyed the stairs and wondered who was up. He wondered if the intimidating man that he'd met the night before was up and they would have another awkward encounter. He told himself not to feel panicked about this house yet. Nothing had happened. No one had touched him. No one had even threatened to touch him. But after what he'd done last night he wasn't sure what to expect.

He heard laughing from the bathroom and turned to look at the door again, as though that would answer his questions. Instead he just found the plain door.

He decided to go downstairs. He walked lightly again down the stairs, Jason's chastisement ringing in his ears for trying to be quiet, but still keen on habit, and made his way to the first floor. He heard music playing lightly and followed the sound to the kitchen, where he spied Judy at the table drinking a cup of coffee and looking at the newspaper.

He stood in the doorway for a moment before Judy looked up and then smiled. "Oh, Conner! I didn't hear you there. Come on in, sweetheart. Good morning."

"Good morning," he answered, not moving from the doorway.

She got up and he stepped back for a moment, but she just moved towards the stove and asked, "Did Jason wake you? I took his eggs off the burner, but they're going to get cold�"

"No, I didn't see him. I just woke up."

"What is that boy doing? I told him�" she muttered to herself with a laugh. "Anyway, would you like some of these eggs before they go cold? Jason made enough for an army."

Conner shook his head. He couldn't imagine just eating that man's food without him there, even if Judy gave him permission. He really didn't understand who was in charge here. "No, I'm fine."

"Well, we have plenty other things too. What do you like, cereal?"

"I�" he hesitated. What did he like? "I never really was much of a breakfast person, I guess." Or really, he'd never been given much of an opportunity to eat breakfast.

"Oh, don't be silly. It's the most important meal of the day!" she scolded good-naturedly. She walked over and opened up a cabinet to reveal several boxes. "We have a lot of types of cereals. Why don't you see if you like any of these?"

He nodded. "Okay."

"Let me get you a bowl," she continued. "And we have juice, milk, coffee, chocolate milk� I don't know what you kids like to drink nowadays."

Suddenly a new voice came from the doorway behind Conner. "You didn't offer me all these options or serve me any breakfast, ma."

Startled by the presence behind him, an undetected presence, Conner spun around and quickly backed up, knocking into a small shelf by mistake as he did so, rattling a potted plant. It was that man again. This man apparently loved to scare people. Conner stared at this man, at his large hands, swallowing hard.

"There you are. Well, you're not the guest of honor, Jason," Judy teased. "Your eggs are getting cold."

Jason looked at the kid, who he seemed to have frightened half to death again. The kid had big blue eyes that expressed his fear pretty clearly. He reminded himself in the future to try not to sneak up on him, and to consider what sneaking up was very loosely because this kid was evidently afraid of everything.

Conner meanwhile was focused on Judy's choice of the words 'guest' of honor. Guest implied a short term stay. He wasn't sure of the implications of her words. Maybe she knew what he tried to do last night. He could tell Jason had been up already, he'd obviously been making eggs. Sure they would have talked, right?

"Thanks, ma," Jason said as he reached the stove and smiled at the frying pan. "Ah� So good."

"Are you going to eat all of those, Jason?"

"Yes, ma'am. They're going to get cold and nobody else is up. I'm a growing boy, I need my strength," he answered, reaching into the cabinets for a plate.

She rolled her eyes. "I think you stopped growing a while ago,Jason. As much as you would love to be a little taller�"

He sent her a bitter look before he began shoveling his eggs onto a plate with a spatula. "Height means nothin', ma. I could take any six foot punk any day."

"Honey." She shook her head disapprovingly as he dropped egg on the floor. Her words was more for his comment than his carelessness however. She watched him kick the egg on the floor with his foot and cleared her throat, "I'll pick it up, Jason. Don't worry about it. Eat before it gets cold."

He smirked at her. "Yeah, thanks." He looked up at Conner as he found himself a fork. "You want any of this, Conner?" He pointed to the eggs.

Conner shook his head. He hadn't moved from his spot by the shelf.

"No? I make great eggs though." He took a seat at the table and watched Judy pick up the spilled egg with a paper towel, feeling a little bit of guilt. "Ma, I'll get it later, don't worry about it."

"It's fine," she answered as she threw it in the garbage. "You want some juice?"

"Sure."

"Conner, what do you want?" Judy asked. She could read the insecurity all over the boy's body language, but she didn't want to smother him too much with reassurance. That could also hurt. She knew he would learn from himself what it was like here, and that it always took an adjustment.

"Juice is fine," Conner answered, watching Jason spoon large amounts of scrambled egg into his mouth.

"So Jason tells me that you two already met?" Jason asked as she opened the refrigerator. "So I guess I don't have to make any formal introductions."

So Jason had told her. Something at least. Conner didn't know if that was a bad thing and slowly looked at Jason for some kind of sign.

"Conner, sit down," was all Jason said when he met his eye. "You're creeping me out just standing there."

Conner moved away from the wall and acquiesced, taking a seat at the table. He watched Jason eat. He was already halfway through all of those eggs. While watching he waited for some kind of reprimand concerning last night.

Judy set the juice on the table with a couple of cups. "Did you say you wanted cereal, Conner? I'll assume you like the same stuff Ian and Michal like, which is basically eating candy in a bowl�"

"Kids these days," Jason muttered sarcastically.

Judy smiled at him. "Like you're any different, Jason." She placed a box of Cocoa Puffs in front of Conner with a bowl and a spoon. "Here you go, Conner."

"You're the one buying it," Jason reminded.

"True. So I guess I�m the real culprit here. Endangering the health of my children with terrible food."

"Don't be ridiculous. Sugar never hurt nobody," he answered.

Conner tried to open the box quietly, but that was impossible because once you got past the cardboard flaps on the top, the plastic was nothing but loud. He glanced up to see if either Judy or Jason noticed, but neither of them was looking at him. In fact, they were both talking about something completely unrelated.

He poured cereal into the bowl carefully.

"Jason, do you wear one of those mouth guard things?" Judy was asking.

"Ma." Jason stopped mid forkful of eggs. "Are you still going on about my teeth? I have every single one. Except for the wisdom teeth that f*****g idiot of a dentist made me take out."

"Jason. He wasn't an idiot. They were impacted�"

"They felt absolutely fine before he ripped them out." He paused. "Although I did love those painkillers. I wonder if I could find some of those."

"Jason," she scolded.

He laughed at himself and at his mother's stern look. He looked at Conner, the potentially 'impressionable' one that she was probably more angry at him for making a drug joke in front of, and said to him teasingly, "Don't do drugs, Conner. Not in front of ma."

"Jason," she persisted.

"Or ever," Jason persisted. "What? Don't give me that look, ma. I'm teasing."

"You tease too much sometimes, Jason."

Jason just rolled his eyes and poured himself juice.
Conner watched as Jason pushed the glass of juice over to him and then poured another for himself. "Thanks," he said. That was nice. He didn't mind the painkillers joke. In fact, he found it interesting because the last mother he'd lived with, she'd had quite a fancy for several types of painkillers. He'd stolen a few of them a couple of times to try, some percocet and some vicodin, but wasn't sure what the big deal was�

"So do you?"

Jason looked up at his mother and frowned. "Do I what?"

"Wear a mouth guard?"

"For God's sake, ma. There must be bigger things for you to worry about than my goddamn teeth, don't you think?"

Jason, you have such a beautiful smile. When you actually smile. You don't want to ruin that. You only get one set of teeth."

Jason shook his head and gave Conner a look. "Hear this? Hear what you're gonna have to live with?" he said with feigned exasperation. "Why don't you baby him and leave me alone, ma? He's the new project."

"Jason,"Judy sighed.

Jason ignored her and looked at Conner's cereal. "Don't eat that dry, that's gross; don't you want milk?" He looked up at Judy. "What kind of service is this, mom? Can't even get the boy milk for his cereal?"

Judy was pouring herself another cup of coffee, and she moved to get the milk for both herself and Conner. As she put it on the table, she gave Jason a slap in the back of the head. "You drive me crazy, Jason."

"I know," he said smiling. "You always said I'd find something I was good at. I'm charming."

"Has your charm gotten you any girls recently, Jason?" Judy ask coyly, always interested, and hopeful, about Jason's struggling love life. She noted the look of annoyance on Jason's face and knew she'd hit her mark.

"No girl for me right now, ma. Although you do have a couple illegitimate grandchildren if you ever want to visit or in particular send money on their birthdays. I'll make a list of birthdays for you."

Conner had to admit he almost enjoyed the friendly banter between Jason and Judy, and it was obvious that they shared a very close relationship, taking pleasure in their ripostes to one another. It was new to him, hearing this kind of exchange, and he was intrigued by it. Like he was watching TV. It made him feel slightly better about this character that had caught him stealing, but then again, they were simply a side. He didn't know if he was on their side yet.

Either way, the attention was off of him, and that was all that mattered.

"Jason, are you sure you woke your brothers up?"

"Yes, I definitely did. Michal was in the shower so he'll probably be down in a minute."

"How did you sleep, Conner?" Judy asked, taking her cup of coffee to sit down at the table with the two boys. "Was your room okay?

Conner was pouring milk into his cereal slowly as Judy addressed him. He heard his name and the end of the question. "Oh. It was fine."

"You'll feel comfortable in no time, I hope," she answered. "And I have Anthony's number if you ever wanted to talk to him too. It's on the refrigerator."

Conner looked at her quizzically. No one had ever given him that kind of information before. In fact, it was usually a struggle if he wanted to figure out how to contact somebody. If something was wrong, no one usually picked up on it until a routine check of the house. And here she was handing him the ability to make a call any time he wanted.

"Thanks," he replied, somewhat confused. It probably wasn't even a real number. Maybe he would check it out later.

Author's Note

Conner still eats like that>.< he eats like a bird. I was trying to diminish the realishinship between Judy and Jason, did I do a good job on this chapter?

Reviews

[Christina Ann Banana Ha..]

Eeeeeeeeeeee. This made me smile when I was reading Jason and Judy bickering. It was cute. But still the whole walking in on Micheal showering made me say ew. He he.