𝓦𝒶𝓇𝓈𝒶𝓌 || 𝐅𝐞𝐳

XI

The first time I saw Jade cry, I thought Tiarra had died.

She was just crying so much, we couldn't get a word out of her for an hour.

"J, stop being a fuckin crybaby and just blurt the shit out." Fez snapped, getting frustrated with her blubbering.

'I can't find my mom.' She resorted to signing, too distressed to try and verbally communicate with them. 'I checked everywhere. She's not at work, she was gone all day yesterday. I can't find her.'

"What's she saying?" Rue whispered, rubbing Jade's back as her signing grew faster and more panicked. "Fez?"

"She said she can't find T."

It was also the first time I saw Fez go soft for her.

"She didn't text you or nothin?" Fez mumbled, Jade shaking her head and holding out her phone. He went to her logs, which showed that she'd called her mother a total of seventy two times in the past two hours. There were ten from the previous night, and five from the previous day. "Fuck, man."

"I'll call my mom." Rue said, stepping to the side and dialing her mom's number. She was anxious, which grew the more Jade spiraled.

Jade didn't spiral. She always knew what to do in any situation.

Jade wasn't supposed to spiral, she was always in control.

"Jade? Jade!" Rue dropped her phone when she heard Jade gasping, grabbing her arms when she started clawing at her throat. "Fez, she can't breathe!"

"Jade." It was the same baby voice Tiarra used whenever she got worked up, Fez stooping to her level and grabbing her face. "Look, copy me."

He took an exaggerated breath, Jade mimicking him by raising her shoulders. Her brows furrowed, Fez doing it again.

"Rue, do it." He nudged her when Jade's eyes flickered to her, the younger girl joining them.

He used to tease her when Tiarra did it. Told her she needed to grow up. Used to ask if she had her bottle and sippy cup. But he paid attention.

"Good job! One more."

He had the tone down. The phrases. Even how to get her attention when she started spacing out again.

If anyone knew Jade more than herself, it was definitely Fez.

"Watch her. If it happens again and you can't calm her down, call me." Fez instructed, grabbing his keys after they got Jade situated on the couch. Rue nodded, hugging the blanket close to her.

"....this isn't like Mason, is it?" He froze, zeroing in on her as she looked over her shoulder. "You're just going to find her, right?"

"This ain't like Mason."

Kidnapping. A noun. The action of abducting someone and holding them captive. Present participle to kidnap. A verb. To take someone away illegally by force, typically to obtain a ransom.

"Fez!" It was a low hiss, but he knew that voice. He's gotten in trouble too many times to not know that voice. "Down here!"

"T?" He matched her volume because it was obvious she was whispering for a reason, getting closer to the small window she'd pushed open. "Who house is this?"

"...you remember Henry?"

"The same guy that was pickin with J? Yeah, I remember him." It was going to be tough. If it was Jade's real dad, he had a chance to get in by playing the lost kid card since the man didn't know him.

Not only did Henry know him, he didn't like him. At all.

"Well, plan b." Fez sighed and pulled out his phone, Tiarra moving from the window when she heard the door open. Which made Fez move away. "Hey, Rue? I'm gonna send you an address, bring Jade for me......you don't gotta tell her nothin, just bring her."

What could distressed, half sane Jade do?

Something totally insane, that's for sure.

"Mama?" Jade flopped down and whispered into the window, Tiarra make an appearance.

"Hey, pretty girl." Jade wanted to cry again when she heard her voice, taking a sharp inhale and pushing herself up.

"How are we-" Fez and Rue's jaw dropped when Jade kicked open the back door and ran in, tussling sounding moments later. "She's fucking crazy."

"....I'd do the same for my mom."

"Fuck you fuckin bitch! Takin my mama away from me! Putting your grimy hands on her!" In the minute or two it took for Rue and Fez to overcome their shock and follow Jade in, she'd managed to get Henry to the ground.

And was beating him with a pan.

"You think that's cool?" She stopped, huffing for breath as he groaned and squinted at her.

"...we could've been a good family..."

"Me and my mother are fine on our own. Besides, she's about to make my brother my official brother." Jade spat the words out like they burned, throwing the pan to the side and looking around. "How the fuck do you get to the basement?"

"What brother?" Henry pushed up on his hands, Fez making a buzzer sound. He'd covered Rue's eyes after they entered, the girl plugging her ears so she wouldn't hear the repeated clanging of the pan hitting his head.

"Wrong answer. I would tell her what she wants to know if I were you." Jade already had her leg reared, delivering a swift and strong kick to Henry's gut.

"Basement."

In the end, Henry didn't physically harm Tiarra. She was shaken up a bit, which is easy. She scares easily, no matter what situation it is.

Jade did cry after we got to her house, but not as bad as before, thankfully. She wasn't at school the next day, and we checked in later to see how she was. She was clinging to her mom, even when she was sleeping.

And yes, that day was the day Fez fought the guy that talked to Jade.

You didn't care? Now you do.