Chapter 23.

23!

"I'll come."

Jason looked at Conner incredulously. Whenever Conner said something, it usually followed a period of utmost silence. So whenever he spoke, Jason looked at him like he couldn't believe he'd just opened his mouth. Jason was used to his looks being misinterpreted, and when Conner's eyes immediately flitted to the ground, posture taking on a more defensive stance, he realized the look on his face probably didn't seem like surprise, but something else.

He should probably work on that.

"Conner, you should stay here," Jason said simply. He was a little surprised at Conner wanting to go anywhere with him. He thought after the day they'd had, he'd be glad to get rid of him for a while and stay with Ma.

Conner thought for a minute. They were done with dinner, and Jason and Michal were helping to clean up the kitchen by unpacking the dishwasher and packing the dirty dishes. Camille and Judy were inside chatting and catching up. Jason had just mentioned to Michal that they'd go get Ian and "settle things" when Conner decided to speak up.

"Why?" Conner asked. He wasn't sure why he wanted to go. In fact, earlier he'd been glad when Ian left, because then the yelling had stopped for the most part. Now he wanted to go with them to get Ian? It didn't make sense in his head now, but it had made sense just minutes ago, and he stuck to it.

"Because," Michal interjected for Jason. "Jason and I just need to take care of some things."

"What things?" Conner asked.

"Ma hasn't seen you all day," Jason began. "She'll be here."

"I can come," Conner insisted.

Jason and Michal exchanged a look. "Look," Jason said, "all we're doing is getting Ian and talking to him. Remember before?" He looked at Conner's big eyes. "You wanna be there for that again?"

"What're you gonna do?" Conner asked quietly.

Jason sighed. "Nothin'. I don't mean it like that."

"What happened before?" Michal asked Jason as he put some dirty plates into the dishwasher. He gave him a concerned look.

Jason shook his head. "Nothin' man. Just me 'n Ian yelling our heads off, that's all. Before he ran out."

"I want to come," Conner said, softly but clearly. Stubborn, his last foster mother had called him, like a mule.

"Why?" Jason gave him a look.

Conner just looked at him for a moment and then stared at the plate in his hands. Michal had given it to him to put away, but he wasn't sure where it went, and he wasn't really tall enough to reach most of the cabinets.

He didn't know exactly why he wanted to come. But if he was gonna maybe trust Jason, then that was the only person here he almost trusted, and he wasn't going to let him leave him.

Jason shook his head in exasperation at the lack of response. "I'm glad you're speaking up and all, but I have to say no. You stay with Ma. She won't want you comin' with us anyhow."

"I want to come," Conner repeated.

"So you've said. I have no idea why."

"Because," Conner insisted.

"I don't want you to come," Jason responded stiffly. "Understand? Now drop it."

Conner set his jaw, staring at the linoleum. He paused for a minute. Then he let go of the plate in his hand. He watched it, like in slow motion, fall towards the floor, then shatter with a crash. It wasn't as loud a crash as he'd hoped for. But it was enough.

He just stared at the mess.

"Oh boy," Michal muttered.

"Are you kidding?" Jason asked Conner. "Did you just do that on purpose?"

Conner swallowed. Suddenly that seemed like it had been a terrible idea. He'd just been mad. But now Jason seemed to be getting angry again. For someone that promised to help him, Jason certainly got mad a lot. Maybe trusting him was a little premature.

Jason took a step towards him and Conner panicked. There was a glass on the counter by him. When Jason got closer, he pushed it off the counter and it hit the linoleum too, breaking into what seemed a million shards.

"You better stop it," Jason snapped at him, "or you're gonna get it."

"Don't hit him," Michal warned.

"I�m not, Michal," Jason retorted irritably as he grabbed Conner by the arm and pulled him away from the mess. Conner's sneakers crunched over the broken pieces, and he tried to pull away from Jason as he had done previous times. "Stop�" Jason persisted.

Conner kept pulling, lowering himself down like he'd done before in the kitchen, right before when Ian had left. Jason's grip felt like it was cutting off circulation.

"Are you stupid?" Jason asked, yanking him up. "You're gonna cut yourself." He tried to pick him up, taking him beneath his arms, but Conner kicked him. Jason just grunted, unphased, and hauled him off the floor, nearly dragging him over to the table.

Michal just watched quietly like he was watching Jason try to handle a stray animal. It made him kind of nervous, but he didn't say anything. He wasn't one to interfere. Jason shoved Conner down onto a chair, hard enough that Conner winced.

"You trying to test me?" Jason hissed at him. "I'm being as patient as I can. You think this is how to get me to take you with me? Jesus Christ. That's not how you ask for something."

"I'll clean it up," Michal offered, moving to the pantry closet in the corner to find a broom. He found one in the back and pulled it out.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jason demanded from Conner.

Conner sniffled a little. He realized he'd made a big mistake, and he felt the anxiety pulse through him. "I didn't mean it, really..." he implored. "I didn't. It slipped. I'm sorry, Jason�"

Jason had never heard him say his name before and so the apology and the way Conner said his name, kind of pleadingly, stung him a little bit. "Slipped right off the counter and right outta your hand�" Jason muttered.

"Yeah�" Conner agreed.

"It's just a plate," Michal said as he swept up the pieces, assuming Jason was pissed and feeling kind of bad for Conner. He knew Jason's temper wasn't really something to mess with. "We've got a bunch."

"I'm not mad at him," Jason objected. Michal didn't believe him. He could tell when Jason was pissed. "I just want to figure him out."

Jack didn't believe that he wasn't mad at him either, especially when he tried to stand up and Bobby pushed him back down onto the seat. Jack began to whimper a little bit. Maybe he crossed the line. He tried to brace himself for whatever was coming next.

"Don�t cry," Jason warned him. "Don't you dare cry."

"Just let him be for a minute," Michal objected.

"I am," Jason replied. "I'm not doing anything to him."

"You're scaring him."

"I'm not doing anything!" Jason replied in exasperation. He looked at Conner, who was sitting there stiffly, hands gripping the sides of the chair tensely. He was sniffling a little bit but it wasn't exactly crying. "Am I scaring you?"

Conner looked up at him and asked shakily, "Can I come?"
Jason stared at him for a minute, and then, despite himself, smiled a little. He let out a small chuckle. "Wow. You really don't know how things work, do you? You should be asking me not to wallop you, that's what you should be asking." He turned. "You hear him, Mich?"

"Yeah�" Michal was trying to brush all the pieces into a pile. He wasn't sure where a dustpan was to sweep it all into. "Make sure nothing is breakable around him and tell him no again."

"Yeah�" Jason said thoughtfully with a smirk as he bent down to rub at his shin where Conner had kicked him. He was pretty sure he'd have a nice bruise there but he didn't say anything. To be honest, despite how angry it got him, he was now a bit amused. It kind of reminded him of himself. Conner having the nerve of asking again was what made him calm down.

"Yeah, Conner, you can't come. Sofie has a lot of breakables," Jason began.

Conner made a face. He didn't think it was at all funny. He started to get up again, only to be pushed back down by Jason.

"You sit," Jason said. "We gotta finish cleaning up the kitchen. Then you're staying with Ma."

"I can't�" The anger had passed, surprisingly quickly, and Conner wanted to try again.

"Why?"

Jack fell silent and looked down.

"Why, Conner?" Bobby asked.

"Can't I come?"

"No. The answer is no," Michal said. "Maybe you have to write it down, Jason."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Michal. He gets it." He walked over to the sink to finish putting away some dirty dishes so that he could put the dishwasher on. "He definitely gets it."

Conner sat there sullenly, watching Michal clean up his mess and Jason put soap into the dishwasher. He wasn't sure what to do next. He wanted to go for another walk.

After a few minutes they were near done. "I'm gonna get Camille. Can we drop her off before we go?" Michal asked.

"Yeah. Don't tell Ma where we're going though. Just say we're going out," Jason said, lowering his voice. Ma had amazing hearing. "I don't want her to worry."

Michal nodded. "Yeah."

When he left, Jason looked at Conner, who was still sitting down where Jason had put him, quiet and solemn. While washing his hands in the sink, Jason said, "I won't tell Ma you broke her dishes if you agree to stay here while I'm gone."

Conner didn't say anything.

Jason glanced at him as he dried his hands on a dish towel. "You listening? I never told her about the other night either, you little bandit, so you can trust me."

Conner was quiet.

"You've been out enough today," Jason continued. "And normally you can come places, but tonight is different. I'm not sure what'll happen tonight and you're too little to get caught up in it."

That was when Conner remembered Jason carried a gun. He wasn't sure why he carried it, or if he had ever used it, or any details like that. He wasn't even sure if it was loaded, but he guessed that it was. He realized he had no idea who this person was, this person he was almost trusting.

"Understand?" Bobby persisted. "I can't go with all of us, that's too much to worry about. And if you come, honestly, you're liable to just piss me off. It's not the right place."

"Where are you going?" Conner asked in a little voice.

Jason leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. "We'll find out once we get Ian."

"So maybe no where?"

"Maybe," Jason admitted. "You hated driving with me and Ian this morning. So now you get to stay home."

"I don't want to."

"Ma will be much nicer to you than I've been," Jason answered. "I think we have ice cream too. Do you want ice cream?"

Conner sulked a little. "I'm not a little kid."

"Neither am I, but I love ice cream. Ma always bribes me with ice cream," Jason replied. "And usually, it works."

Michal came back in the kitchen, with Camille this time. "Ready to go, Jason?" he asked.

"Yeah, one second," Jason replied. "I'll be out in a second." He reached into his pocket and threw Michal his keys. When they left, he studied Conner for a moment and then walked over to him.

Conner stayed seated, clenching his fists a little, as Jason approached. When Jason got closer and leaned against the table, eyeing him, Conner looked the other way.

"Listen to me," Jason said gently. "I�m leaving. You're staying. If you give Ma a hard time, I'll hear about it. I don't want you going anywhere. Or ask her if you do, alright?" He frowned. "Answer me."

Conner sighed. "Okay."

"Okay, good boy."

Conner watched him leave sullenly.

"He always like that?" Michal asked as Jason got into the driver's seat of the car. Michal sat in the passenger seat and Camille was in the back.
Jason almost wanted to ignore the question and tell Michal to sit in the back of the car with Camille like a gentleman, but he was sick of feeling like the chauffeur and having an empty front seat. "I dunno, he's only been here how long? How am I supposed to know what he's like."

"Well, you watched him all day," Michal answered as Jason pulled out of the driveway.

"All of ten minutes?"

"Please, you had a lot of time with him."

Jason shrugged.

"Well, is he always that difficult?"

"He's�" Jason hesitated. "He's interesting."

Michal rolled his eyes. "Seems like a piece of work, that's what he seems like. Ma's got her hands full."

"He's fine," Jason replied. "I think he'll turn out fine."

Michal raised his eyebrows. "How high is your blood pressure today because of him?"
Jason laughed. "Ain't that bad. If he was that bad, my gun would have a few less bullets."

"Jason!" Camille objected. "That's terrible!"

"Aw, sweetheart," Jason looked at her in the rearview mirror, "I'm just teasing."

"Don't you bully him," she warned.

"I think he bullies Jason," Michal laughed.

Jason smirked. "Right."

"Well, whatever. I think he's precious," Camille said.

"Precious� So's a pitbull puppy," Michal muttered.

Jason gave Michal a look. "I think you're forgetting where you came from, Mr. Perfect. He's really not bad at all. His rep's not like yours either. His problem's not all what he did, but what people did to him."

"Like what?"

Jason shook his head. "Forget it."

Michal rolled his eyes. "Okay. Are we picking up Ian first or dropping off Camille?"

"Either way."

"Drop me off first," Camille said. "If that's okay. I know I�m a little farther and she's right there, but I don't want to see you all go at it tonight, if that's alright with you."

"That's fine," Jason asked. "I don't blame you."

Author's Note

I like this chapter, do you? review?? Please..??