little_callahan | [Underneath this farce] There beats the heart of man...

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[Underneath this farce] There beats the heart of man...

True to her word, Valkyrie was at Jack's house in ten minutes exactly...her mother had located a route that was clear, but Valkyrie knew about it a good five minutes before she did, as was her way. She always got the jump when someone was looking for something...

The road back, however, wasn't nearly as kind. Valkyrie could only assume that Julius was either in trouble with Billie, or he was falling hard. His power was emotionally tied, and she saw the way he was looking at that scrawny little toothpick of a girl that was, somehow, still prettier than she herself would ever be.

Two hours later, she was finally pulling her car into the driveway and ducking out, shivering in the rapidly falling snow that was now knee-deep. Leading Jack through the treacherous path up to her stoop, she let them both inside and stomped the snow off her boots, shedding her jacket, scarf, hat, and gloves quickly to let in the heat that surrounded them.

"Bugger the fucking snow." she huffed, rather than cursing her brother. After all, Jack didn't know yet...

Once Jack had laid his own things aside, she led him down the hallway to the guest room. Cracking the door open, she saw Billie in bed, bundled under the covers with Cain's massive form looming over her and Julius seated by her bed, rhythmically stroking her forehead. Catching his eye, the pair signaled to each other for a moment before Valkyrie shut the door and turned to Jack.

"You saw her, she's safe, but it looks like she's only just nodded off." Valkyrie explained. "She's hurting at the moment, so we'd best not wake her yet. Cain's looking her over, once he knows how she's doing we'll send you in. Meantime, living room. That fireplace you saw coming in is real, and I'm bloody freezing."

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Jack had to forcibly stop himself from staring during the ride to the Callahan's. She was just so damn... fucking beautiful. With the little almost ski jump nose and the freckles and the hair and the eyes and the lips and shit he was staring again.

As it was he spent most of the ride in silence fiddling with the sleeves of his uniform. In his haste and preoccupation with both Valkyrie herself and Billie's sudden predicament, he hadn't changed. And so he'd only noticed he was still in his dress blues when he shrugged his jacket on at the door. Oh well, he practically lived in his uniform most days, this was nothing different. There was no difference between Jack as a man and Jack as a Marine. Billie made fun of him because of it...

Billie.

He hated this. He really did -- and when he'd blamed Colby earlier, it hadn't been because he'd thought Colby influenced her, far from it. It was Colby's asshattery that had broken up the family in the first place, Ryan off the prison and Billie slipping and sliding down a path they didn't even know about. Fuck if he'd ever say that out loud though, Lord knew the kid blamed himself enough.

Seeing Billie's tiny little body under the blankets physically hurt, like the first time she'd gotten really sick after their dad died. She was nine and he sat up with her for three days while she cried in his lap because it hurt so badly. It scared the shit out of him then and it scared the shit out of him now, still knowing there was nothing he could do but wait it out.

At Valkyrie's words he blinked, tearing his eyes away from the closed door and fumbling in his pockets for a moment, pulling out a stick of Chapstick and a plastic teddy bear of honey. "She likes the honey when her throat hurts," he explained. His voice sounded odd to his own ears, choked and rough and for the umpteenth time in his life, he wished his parents were alive, if only to have someone to tell him that she was going to be okay.

And, selfishly, that he didn't do anything wrong.

His discomfort was both heartening and heartbreaking. More than before, she was wont to believe that Jack wasn't the father figure, simply because he seemed to know her so well, seemed so desperate to take care of her.

Accepting the honey, she gave him a small smile and nodded. "When she wakes up, we'll fix her some tea if she'll have it. And there'll be honey, too." she assured him. He was such a strange contrast now, downright edible in his uniform but so lost in his own sympathetic pain...

She just wanted to hug him, so she did, moving forward to wrap her arms around his neck in a friendly hug.

"None of this is your fault." she whispered, unknowingly echoing his thoughts. "She's sick...she's not been hurt by anyone, and she's not like this because of anything anybody did." Drawing back, she met his gaze, soothingly smoothing her hands over his shoulders. "Addiction's a disease, one everybody in this house shares. Cain was into heroin, Jules was into coke...I was a miserable pothead, and experimenting with everything when I started my run here. Come on, then...you look fucking miserable in that uniform. Get the jacket off at least, huh? Turn around, walk...living room. We're getting warm now."

"Mom and Dad died in car accidents," Jack said slowly, following Valkyrie's instructions and heading towards the living room, half wondering if Billie set the fire -- it'd become a strange little habit in their households. "Mom was hit by a drunk high schooler driving home from a party, and Dad... Dad did it to himself. You know not one of us drinks anymore? Colby's always got a six pack in his room, like he's testing himself or some shit like that, but he's never touched it. It's not some kind of rule, it's just... if you're a Mosse you don't drink 'cause Dad was so far gone."

Rubbing his hand roughly across his jaw, he trailed his hand up through his closely cropped hair. "I want to say I shoulda known but..." Looking down he shook his head. "Fucking spilt milk."

After a second he looked down at himself. Uniform, the stiffly starched standing collar jacket, the white trousers -- Billie still got a kick out of the navy styled buttons, the cover tucked under his arm. Yes, it would be more comfortable with if he deposed of the jacket. Unbuttoning the jacket, he managed to slip out of it while still maintaining hold on his hat. He didn't feel any less comfortable with the jacket on or off, but Casey liked to remind him the dress uniform was more intimidating than his utility uniform. Ironic considering Jack was more likely to kill someone in utilities than in dress.

Spreading his arms a little, the cuffs of his white shirt slipping up his wrists, he looked over at Valkyrie. "Do I pass comfort inspection, ma'am?"

She smiled a little at his remark about spilt milk, but when he asked about his comfort level she snorted and rolled her eyes. "As if." she snorted, walking straight up and tugging down the collar of his dress shirt just enough to see the collar of another shirt beneath it...

Then without hesitation, she started unbuttoning his shirt for him.

The look she got was enough to make her cheeks flush just a little, but she played it off to the heat in the house and grinned, rolling her eyes. "What? If you want my shirt off? It'll take cash money, and buying me a really expensive dinner." she teased. "I don't need to do jack to get you out of yours."

Tugging his shirttails out of his pants, she forced him to turn so she could strip off the dress shirt, tossing it on the coffee table and inspecting him...then for good measure reached up to tousle his hair.

"Kick off your shoes and you're good." she declared with a smile, following her own advice. Tugging her hair out of a ponytail, she then stripped off the thermal long-sleeve shirt she'd tugged on over her own wifebeater, making sure her hair stayed down her back to cover her scars before she sank gracefully to the floor in front of the fireplace, sitting in a perfect Lotus before patting the carpet, silently inviting him to join her.

Laughing just slightly, Jack shook his head in slight wonderment. It was easy to see why Billie was so enamoured with this family; they were a lot like the Mosse's. Toeing of his shoes, he tugged at his pants, folding himself to the floor much less gracefully than the woman before him. He didn't even attempt to curl up like she did, letting his legs fall where they may and resting his elbows against his bent knees.

"How 'bout now?" he teased, reaching up to scratch his thumbnail across the scar underneath his collarbone. "There ain't much you can take off to get me more comfortable, and I was pretty damn comfortable before."

Not that he'd say no to more of that stripping she'd done. And the crack about not doing jack... It was his name, he couldn't help the passing thoughts.

"You're improving." she laughed, noting the scar and wondering about it briefly. She of all people, however, knew better than to ask about things like that.

Instead, she rolled her eyes and leaned back on her hands as she regarded him. "You military jocks are all the same, so tense you can barely bloody sleep through the night. They tried to do that to me at the Academy, but I fought the power ...rebellious little bitch that I am. I got my yoga, I got my psychotic big brothers, and I got my room with the door no one can open. I actually live in the apartment building on the corner? But me and my bros, we all spend more time here with Ma than we do in our own fucking houses. It's pathetic."

"I am not a jock!" Jack protested, trying his damnedest to look affronted. "I sleep fine thank you, Billie's the one that wakes up at every little sound ever. We had a raccoon in the garage, other side of the house from her? She comes runnin' into my room screaming, tellin' me to mace it's furry little ass. Weirdest kid in the world, swear to Christ."

He laughed at the memory of his tiny, and blonde, baby sister standing by his bed and demanding he slaughter an innocent woodland creature because she was afraid of it.

"And it ain't pathetic. We all live at home, too. Don't expect to be movin' out any time soon either. Case'd never get to class, Colby'd never get outta bed, B'd never fuckin' eat." He shrugged, such was life.

He was still struck by her accent, it just added to how beautiful she was -- the down home Detroit slang with the wackiest British shit mixed in. No one from Detroit said bloody unless they were talking about a gang fight and here she was, spitting it out all willy-nilly.

God it was... Abort train of thought, Mosse, a-fucking-bort.

Valkyrie nodded in agreement, a merry giggle rising from her as she lowered her gaze demurely and raked a hand back through her hair, again hiding a blush as best she could. He reminded her a lot of Cain if he were friendlier...and not her brother, and hotter than a high school bonfire.

And that was a bad thing to think about, because he was a nice guy, extremely cute, and wasn't even looking at her, no guy could. Trying to put it out of her mind, she lifted her gaze again to meet his, nibbling on her lower lip for a moment before she rolled her shoulders and tilted her head, reaching up absently to trace one of the scars on her back, touching her trapezius in a move that looked as if she were rubbing her shoulder.

"So...how'd you end up in the military?"

"Wanted to get the fuck away from my family," Jack admitted honestly, slightly ashamed at the admission, the exact same look of shame Billie had -- it was a family trait, downcast blue eyes, slight frown, more thoughtful than sad, the slumping of the shoulders. "Joined the Corps when I was seventeen, did my three years, came home, bugged the shit outta our Congressman and re-upped at the Academy, made myself an officer. Did my tours and only came home on winter break and my leave till Ryan got slammed. Not exactly an upstanding brother."

He failed to mention that he managed to attend Colby, Casey and Billie's high school graduations, Billie's prom, and Colby's college graduation. Or that all of his money went back home and straight into the two youngests' college funds.

All he seemed to recall was that he left.

"Well that's a load of crap." she informed him bluntly, straightening and scooting closer, not noticing as her knee touched his leg. "I read people for a living, and you don't fit the profile of 'less than perfect.' Look where you are, what you're doing. It's brilliant...you're brilliant for being here. I tell you, not many people would be. Not all families are like ours, y'know."

She paused, lowering her gaze again...too long, and she found herself staring. Smiling, she shrugged as she toyed with her own fingers.

"Not many realize that family means something. You and yours...do. Realize, I mean...you get it." she stammered out with a shy smile, looking up again. "That's remarkable, I hope you know that."

Jack shrugged, trying to accept the praise and failing. "I dunno, it's not remarkable if you don't know anything else. Mom was remarkable, but us? We were just raised that way. And anyway, you know that scrawny as fuck girl in the other room? Sweet, kinda perky. You ever seen her pout? I can't say no to that shit, I got zero tolerance for her brand of fuck your shit up adorable."

Lips curving into a half smirk, he laughed again. "You might want to warn your brother about that. Peanut's got it bad for 'im."

Valkyrie snorted, rolling her eyes with a grin. "He's just as bad off, I saw him with her before. Poor bastard's drenched in the dust those stars in his eyes are flaking all over Hell's half acre." she teased. Catching his gaze, she reached out and patted his hand comfortingly.

"Ma's a dictator...she taught Cain and Jules manners." she assured him. "Whatever happens between those two? There are only three men in this world less likely to hurt Billie than my brother: Father Hurley at St. Cyril's down the street, Cain...who's almost a priest himself...and the second soddin' coming of the Christ."

"I don't expect anyone to hurt her. She may be a pacifist, but I'm the one who taught her to hook," Jack replied, eyes glancing at his hand for a moment. "Thanks though, now I won't have to kill your brother. Be a pity if Red started a Romeo and Juliet. I don't think that ended well..."

Sighing heavily, he dropped all pretense and laid back, holding his hand to his eyes and his head thumped against the carpet. "She has to be okay," he whispered, mostly to himself.

Touched with a pang of sympathy, Valkyrie unfolded herself from her Lotus and scooted over to sit next to his prone form, trying to ignore just how...well, how cuddly he looked. Seriously, not only was the body fabulous, but she could just see how perfect it would be to stretch out next to him and rest her head on that broad chest...

Leaning over, she threw an arm across his chest and pressed her cheek to his briefly in a modified hug, forcing herself to make it quick. "She'll be fine." she whispered. "Just wait."

"Thank you, Kreskin."

Valkyrie bolted upright at the sound of Cain's voice, eyes flying to his looming form in the doorway. He was even more intimidating in his surgical scrub pants and wifebeater. He'd gotten his shoes off, but the stethoscope around his neck indicated he'd gotten home not long before examining Billie.

"Don't give me that look, I don't need a soddin' chaperone." she bit off at Cain's expression, accent thickening with agitation. "How's our girl?"

Grunting, Cain moved into the room and rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, so far, but she's in for a shitty time of it. Jules explained her deal to me, though, and considering what she's capable of? High metabolism's probably got her shooting up more than most. Same thing'll probably save her from a lengthy detox. I'm thinking a couple of days of hell before she can start getting herself back on her feet...keep her here a week total, I don't even think a hospital stay's necessary. But we ain't fucking moving her, so that shit's out."

"Thank you, Dr. Feelgood." Valkyrie deadpanned, rolling her eyes. "Jack, I'm sorry, my brother's an arse. Cain, this is her big brother Jack...Jack, Dr. Cain Callahan. He's a trauma surgeon and cardiac specialist at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Medical Center."

Standing up quickly, Jack crossed the floor to reach out and shake Cain's hand firmly. He didn't bother with the formalities or the getting to know yous, hell she didn't even say hi, he just flew right in to the meat of it.

"Can I see her?"

Cain shared a brief look with his sister, who shook her head: Billie didn't know he was here. Shee-yit.

"For a minute." he finally grunted, accepting Jack's handshake. "But not long, I gave her something to help her sleep. Diphenhydramine, antihistamines basically. Non habit forming, and given her tolerance they won't knock her down, just make her drowsy. I gotta warn you though: she's miserable right now. Kid just stepped up, she's fiending, and it's painful. Whatever she might say or do? Don't take it to heart."

Valkyrie rose, moving to Jack's side and laying a comforting hand on his arm. "I'll go with you...moral support and the like. And so I can have the tongue-lashing I'm due, yeah?"

"She ain't gonna say nothing I haven't heard before," Jack said with a shrug. He wasn't being cavelier about what she may or may not say, but he'd spent half her life being cussed out for telling her what to do. You're not my father! was one of her favorites.

"And, I'll admit I know nothing about this shit? But you might wanna keep some ice handy, numb her fingertips and the fire goes out."

"Got it." Cain grunted with a nod before beckoning the pair to follow him. Leading them back to the guest room, he cracked the door and quietly ushered them in.

Valkyrie took the lead, motioning for Jack to hang back just a little as she approached the bed and knelt next to Julius, smiling at Billie.

"Hey, babe." she whispered, reaching out to smooth her hair back from her forehead. "Listen, I did something...you may hate me for it, but I'm hoping you'll be happy enough to forgive me."

Glancing up at Jack, she motioned him forward with a nod of her head.

Billie blinked slowly. Jack hadn't been lying when he told Valkyrie she was a light sleeper -- every time Julius shifted, her eyelashes would flutter against her cheek, instinct telling her to open her eyes, pounding headache convincing her not to.

But she blinked at Valkyrie, her words not making sense until she saw her brother step forward. Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion, and then anger, and her tongue darted out to lick her lips. "You lied to me," she accused quietly.

Touching his hand briefly to Valkyrie's shoulder, Jack reached out and pressed his fingertips against one of the cherry blossom tattoos Billie had on the back of her neck, smiling the tinest bit when her head curled into it like a kitten. After a moment he dipped his head, kissing her temple. "'course she did, dumbass. S'what family does remember? What's best for you, We sure as shit don't know what's best for ourselves."

"Like you know? Hypocrite." She hissed, eyes narrowing into a glare as Jack straightened up.

Willpower was something Jack was sure he had, somewhere deep down that always got shoved aside at time like this, or any time Billie got snappish. "Hypocrite? I ain't fucking Colby, Wilhelmina, bite your damn tongue."

"You left us."

"You wanted me gone."

Backing away, because he was not going to get into a fight with his sister like this, he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before saying anything. "I'm not fucking leaving, but I'm not sure as shit not going through this again."

Without another word, Jack walked out the door. He knew it wasn't the right thing to do, he was petty damn sure it was the wrong thing to do, but the last time they'd had this particular fight Billie had run away.

Stalking straight back to the living room, Jack sat down on the floor and stared at the flames in the fireplace. Kiki had been wrong, Billie didn't need him, she didn't even want him.

And Cain, he realized with a frown, probably thought he was right.

"S'ok, Keeks...we got her." Julius soothed as Jack stalked out of the room, reaching out to lay a hand on her shoulder. "G'won, help him out."

With an unsure look at Julius, and an apologetic look at the seething Billie, Valkyrie nodded and left the room, struggling against her own mixed feelings of regret and hurt. She'd done the right thing, she knew it...but the whole thing still stung.

Her own disquiet, however, was forgotten when she returned to the living room and saw Jack huddled by the fire again, shoulders hunched...and decidedly not comfortable. For just a split second, she didn't see a troubled man by the fire, she saw an older woman huddled on her bed, holding a split lip instead of a bruised heart. The two situations had nothing to do with each other, but they were connected by a single thread: Valkyrie wanted to comfort both of them, but just as it was when she was six years old, she didn't know how to just wave her hands and make it all okay.

So instead of fixing it, she simply crept across the room, quiet as a mouse, and sank down beside Jack without a word. Drawing her knees up, she rested her forearms on them and tilted her head to lay against his shoulder, offering the only thing she had: her presence, and the simple warmth of human contact.

After a moment of saying nothing at all, Jack spoke up. "She's not mad at you," he said, almost conversationally, as if this happened everyday for them. The fighting, well, that almost did, everything else seemed to be a little different.

With a sigh, he reached up, running his fingers through his hair again and letting his arm settle, draped around Valkyrie's shoulders. "I'm sorry, for her."

Valkyrie sniffed at his apology, trying to make light of it...and ignore how nice the arm around her shoulders felt. It brought her closer, and through the smoky scent of the fire, she could tell he smelled really nice...soap, warm cotton, no cologne. She liked it, just the clean and simple, oddly comforting scent of Jack.

"You're a damn fool." she informed him with a quiet smile, shifting her head more comfortably on his shoulder. "Believe me when I tell you I've heard far worse about my character. Billie's got Cain and Julius working on her. It's you I'm worried about."

She was warm, he noted as his fingers played at the ends of her hair absentmindedly. Or rather, he tried to make it seem absentminded, but really he just wanted to see if it was as soft as it looked -- it was and he was a fan, sudden newfound interest in hair care he would be mercilessly teased about if Casey were here. He was, in fact, painfully aware of her proximity, as rightthere.

"Regardless," he rebutted, "You haven't heard it from Billie and I'm sorry for that. And grateful off my ass there's someone who can handle her better than I can with her now, 'cause I sure as shit can't go back in there."

As with most things, Jack sidestepped her worry about him. He was fine, a little sore from PT at work earlier, but otherwise fine. Billie had said worse things to him before and she'd probably say worse things again, he wasn't sweating something she said when she was half out of her mind. It wasn't a case of drunken words and sober thoughts or the like, Billie'd say that to him stone sober.

It wasn't as comforting a thought as it seemed.

"You can. In a bit." Valkyrie assured him, tilting her head up to look at him. He had a nice profile...and a little flaw in the edge of his jawline, a tiny dip that she had a sudden and irrational urge to touch. Fighting it, she stayed still...even if she might have been leaning against him a little more than before.

"I've seen heroin withdrawal before...if she's burning through it as quickly as Abe says? Tomorrow morning she'll be a lot quieter." she went on. "He'll have her sleep through the worst of it if he can. I imagine her metabolism'd make that difficult though, yeah? So just...trust him. Cain, I mean. He does know his shit. And when you get home later? Find her stash and flush it. But I didn't tell you that...cop and all, know what I mean?"

"The worst it of is going to be when she gets home," Jack countered softly. He sighed, his shoulders slumping even more. Gone was the man who was more comfortable in uniform than out, in his place was the brother who waited outside his sister's door until she stopped crying after her first boyfriend cheated on her.

"I have to call Colby," he continued. "The storm's kickass an' all, but ain't nothing gonna stop Case once he focuses in on Short Stack, 'cept Colby. He's been lying to Ryan for so long he can keep him occupied. Kid's a profession Ryan Mosse Bullshitter, lies better than he breathes."

He laughed a little, the sound not as light as he tried to make it. "No wonder she's fucked up, look where she comes from. Jesus."

For a moment, she was tempted to shift and plant her head in his lap not to flirt, but because her brothers could rarely stay upset when she got goofy like that and started draping herself on them. It was the same kind of impulse, one Valkyrie was grateful for...it distracted from the fact she kind of did want to drape herself on Jack for far less friendly reasons...

"If you think he can keep his mouth shut, g'head." Valkyrie offered softly. "Cordless is in the kitchen, where there's food and whatnot, too. If you don't grab something soon, Ma'll be out here marching you into a full-on meal before you can spit. She grew up in Atlanta, but I swear sometimes that she's got a little Jewish grandmother in her..."

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[Underneath this farce] There beats the heart of man...

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