Make It or Break It

Chapter 9

The next day, Jack found himself sitting in the back of a car being driven by a social worker who'd been assigned to take him to Snyder's house in Albany. He didn't say anything the whole way there, though the woman driving tried to engage him in meaningless chatter, like they always did. He guessed it was to try and calm his nerves, but he didn't think anything could do that at this point. He thought of Katherine. By now she'd probably told everyone that they hadn't thought the long distance relationship would work and were 'broken up'. That thought disappointed him, for reasons he couldn't figure out. Jack's heart seemed to start beating faster as the car slowed to a stop in front of a nice looking house. He knew what was on the inside wouldn't be nice at all. He momentarily considered refusing to get out of the car at all, but that had backfired on him before, so he stood and let the social worker lead him to the door.

"You can knock, son. He's expecting us." The worker encouraged him, but Jack simply stared at the ground. He was putting it off for as long as he could. She sighed and knocked on the door. The door opened and Jack kept his gaze firmly on the floor as the man who'd been haunting his nightmares for years appeared in the doorframe.

"Ah, Jack Kelly. Thank you." Snyder directed the last statement to the social worker, who nodded.

"Someone will be by to see how things are going sometime next month." She said, giving Jack's shoulder a gentle squeeze before turning and going back to her car. Snyder watched her drive away before glaring at Jack.

"Kelly. Can't say I've missed you, but welcome back." And Jack took a deep breath as he was roughly pushed into the house.

oOo

By Monday, Katherine could somewhat honestly say that she didn't miss Jack. She didn't. Why would she, she could barely tolerate being 'in a relationship' with that insufferable boy. She was just... worried. Worried about his wellbeing, of course, and that of the boys. She and Davey were doing all that they could to cheer them up, but they weren't believing anything they said. Not that Katherine could really blame them, they had been through this before. She wondered how Jack was doing. If he was okay. Surely he was okay, it had only been two days, right?

oOo

It had been two days, and Jack had already been 'rightfully punished' multiple times. The first time was simply to remind him how things worked when he was in Snyder's custody. Which was rather pointless, Jack thought as he sat in the bathroom taking care of his bruises. It wasn't like he could ever forget. He hadn't forgotten since the last time he'd lived with Snyder, and chances were he never would. But hopefully he'd get used to it. It was awful, he knew, but that was the best he could hope for.

AN: So... this is fun, right?