Aquiver -> J. Constantine

12

"Hey, you got a second?" Chas asked.

Jade looked up from the book she was reading. It was supposed to help her understand the link between her powers and her emotions. A bit of light reading provided by John Constantine himself.

She nodded. "Of course. What's up?"

It was just the two of them in the millhouse. John went off to get drunk and spend the night with whoever he desired while Zed was attending one of her art classes. A way of relieving stress.

Chas sat down beside her and handed her a file. Her eyebrows furrowed as she opened it. Before she could read anything, he cleared his throat and she looked up at him.

"John had me look into the police file to see if they were still looking for you," he hesitated before speaking, "I found out something else, too."

Upon looking at the file in front of her, Jade's breath hitched. A photo of her brother behind bars was the first thing she noticed. It was a case file for him.

"Freddie." she whispered.

Chas shifted uncomfortably. "Your brother was the one who told the police that you weren't missing, simply not in contact."

It made sense. Out of the three of them, Freddie was always the logical one. He could also tell from their last conversation that she wasn't sticking around. Not that he said something.

"I-I don't understand. Why is he behind bars? He should be home. He's in a wheelchair for heaven's sake!"

The table they were sat at started shaking. Chas tensed as Jade groaned in annoyance at the shaking. She took a couple of deep breaths before the table stopped moving.

"What happened?" she asked.

She knew he was having a difficult time adjusting after the accident. He was a momma's boy and had been living with them temporarily when everything went down.

His girlfriend and him had just broken up so he had to move out. The parents took him in without raising any questions about the ordeal.

"Apparently he tried to steal some drugs from the hospital that he had his checkups in. He also verbally attacked the security officers and tried to resist arrest."

A sigh left Jade's lips as she went through the file. Despite the incident, he was sentenced to only five years with bail. Only been in there for a couple of months.

"Sounds like my brother, alright." she mumbled.

Chas shrugged. "Just thought you should know."

She looked up from the file to see him looking at her with a tight smile on his face. He was no fool. He knew how much this could affect her mental wellbeing and therefore her powers.

Yet he decided to tell her, anyway, and without the permission of John. He trusted her to keep her emotions in check. Quite a big leap of faith considering she did lose control for a second there.

"Yeah. I appreciate it, Chas." she said.

He nodded before getting up and heading straight for the kitchen. Jade glanced at the file before pulling out her phone. Her fingers hovered over her sister's number.

Diana would have all the answers. Her sister always did. Jade dialed her number and held up the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

Jade froze at the sound of her voice. It's been so long since she heard it. The carefree tone with which she spoke made Jade smile while tears formed in her eyes.