Brotherhood.

14.

**Jason's Pov.**

"We have to get them back!" Jackson barked glaring at uncle Jacob who was still standing at the door, it hadn't even been twenty minutes and we were all still trying to figure out what the hell just happened.
I mean it was obvious that our old man was out of prison and he came back for Rhys, Devin and Urie.
But what was he gaining by taking them from us?
Didn't he know that we could get them back just as easily as he just did?
There were many ways we could get them back.
Some weren't very legal but like hell was I fixing to sit around and do absolutely nothing!

"It's out of my hands right now, boys. I know you're angry, furious even. But there's nothing I can do until I can request for a court hearing and to see if it's even remotely possible to get those three back in my custody." Uncle explained and I felt my drive die out hearing him say something like that out loud.
"The only way I'd stand even a fighting chance to get them back is if Mitchell were to lose his life or they'd see how cruel he was." Uncle frowned at us as Jackson glared.

"I'll go kill him right now, end of story." He went for the door but Lawson cut him off with a frustrated expression.
"No one's killing anyone." He frowned at the other as Jackson glared harshly.
"Mitchell has our brothers!-"
"I know he has them Jackson, Jesus fucking Christ you keep announcing it like that'll change something and they'll magically reappear if you keep saying it over and over, news flash. We're living in a world where monsters still exist and our three younger brothers are fixing to relive that fucking hell that we were rescued from eight years ago! Listen to our fucking uncle and understand that there is nothing we can fucking do without causing more problems for everyone." Lawson had Jackson by the shoulders and there was so much pain and sadness in his eyes.
"I promised mom each time she found out she was pregnant, I'd protect you five, no matter what it took. I'd be that big brother who kept you each safe, we're going to get them back, but for now. I need you to take a real deep breath and just wait, we can't go barging in our old home demanding for the boys back." He let the other go stepping back as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Mitchell has the upper hand right now especially with an official stamp, if you were to go there picking a fight for the boys back, you'd only get yourself thrown in jail for not even going by the rules. It's like uncle said, he has to wait until he can request for a court hearing, so it will be a few days before we can even try anything that involves getting them back." He frowned deeply.

Jackson stood there glaring.
"The longer we wait though, the longer that bastard has to abuse them. Devin is still scared shitless of him, Lawson!" He growled.
My brows knitted.
"Devin has Urie and Rhys-"
"They won't do shit when it comes to defending themselves, Jase. Use your fucking brain for once, Devin and Urie are the youngest, once Rhys turn's eighteen, Mitchell has no authority over him and that means Rhys can run. Devin and Urie can not defend themselves for shit, god damn it!" Jackson punched the thing closest to him and that was the pillow uncle went to grab and held out.

Jackson's brows knitted looking at the pillow before his eyes fell on uncle.
He was frowning.
"Getting angry is not going to change the fact the boys are gone and all we can do at this point is go about our day until I can go to the court." He told the other in a soft voice.
"I can't go about shit knowing they're not here." Jackson snapped storming away from us now.

I flinched hearing the sound of his bedroom door slamming shut and the loud music came on soon after, blasting through out the house.
I think he thought if he had the music loud enough.
We wouldn't hear him screaming.
Or crying for that matter.

"I'll go check on him." Uncle suggested heading for the stairs.
"Actually uncle?" Lawson frowned.
"Give him some time this is pretty hard on everyone." He said now.
Uncle paused before frowning.
"I understand." He walked towards the kitchen instead as I rubbed the side of my neck.

"I'm going to go check on Quinn." Lawson left without giving me a chance to respond as I stood there and everything fucking hurt.
I didn't like how quiet it was.
I wanted the three of them to walk back through the door laughing, or complaining about the homework they forgot to do over the weekend, and now they would be getting lectured tomorrow over it.
I wanted that to make me smile.
But nothing could.
How could it?

I walked into my room ignoring the loud music coming from Jackson's room.
I took a seat and tried to set it all sink in.

I lied back and my eyes burned with tears.
I hope they're okay.
They probably haven't even made it there yet and I'm almost positive they're each suffering.
I turned over on my side and frowned feeling the tears fall onto the sheet.
I was so tired.
But I didn't want to sleep.
I wanted to stay awake until I heard the good news.
That they were coming back to us.

Maybe this is what Lawson felt the night Urie ran away from the beach house.
My head was spinning as I sat up covering my mouth before running into the bathroom.
Losing everything I had ate today.

"You good?" I turned from the toilet to Jackson who stood there, his expression was clouded and his eyes were puffy.
I wiped my mouth flushing the toilet before closing the lid and sitting on top of it.
"No." I looked at my twin frowning.
"And I don't think I will be until those guys are back here safe and sound." I told him.
Jackson's jaw ticked as he thought about something.
His eyes fell on me.

"We could always go and-"
"We can't be reckless." I shook my head looking at him.
"I want to get them back as much as you do Jackson, but it's like Lawson said, we can't go barging in without causing more problems for everyone." I frowned.
Jackson looked at me.
"All we have to do is beat the guy until he's almost dead and then tell him to leave our family alone-"
"Jackie no matter how much you want to deny it, he is still family. He is still our dad." I frowned deeply as he glared softly.
"He stopped being my dad the moment he hit you." 

"The moment he..Jackson, that was thirteen years ago and plus at that time it was an accident, I was in the way-"
"He still hit you!" Jackson yelled and my eyes grew wide.
Jackson glared at me.
"I don't care if it was an accident or whatever it was, his hand still hit you and when you cried, I disowned that man the moment it happened, that was why I was always getting the most abuse out of all of us, because I stopped seeing him as my parent, he's dead to me and always will be. So no Jase, that man is not my dad." He frowned at me.

I sat there looking at him.
"Jackie-"
"We can do this, I can call some of our friends who I know won't mind beating that guys teeth in, all I need you to do is agree." He looked at me with patience.
My brows knitted.
"Let's just give it a few days and if uncle hasn't heard anything-"
"One of them could be dead by then." Jackson growled.
"Don't see it that way!" I snapped.
"How else can I see it? An abusive drunk took our brothers from us and I already know he'll have no issue going back to his old ways knowing he has complete control over those three." He hissed at me.

"Fine Jackson." I looked at him frowning.
"Call the guys and if we don't hear anything by tomorrow night, we'll leave and go get our brothers back, even by force if necessary." I told him.
Jackson smirked softly.
"That's more like it." 

That night I lied in bed and my thoughts were locked on our brothers.
All this was going to do was stir more trouble up for us.
And I really didn't understand Jackson anymore.
It's like his composure as the dominant not caring older brother dropped completely.
I wasn't even sure what caused that to even happen.
But it was throwing me off my guard as the brother who was always on top of things.
I didn't understand him.
Not even as kids.
He was always the aggressive brother out of the six of us.
But now.
He wanted to be caring, protective and there for the three younger ones.
What was his gain out of this?
What was he getting out of any of this?

I turned over on my side staring at the closed bedroom door frowning as I pulled my covers closer to my face.
I wanted to understand Jackson better.
Maybe after this mess was finally over with.
The two of us could actually talk.
Because it felt like he was keeping something to himself and it was slowly eating at him without even realizing it.

I couldn't sleep.
I sat up and got out of bed before flipping my light on and moved over to my desk by the window.
I turned on my laptop staring at the screen for the longest time before going straight to the internet.
I had all these questions I wanted an answer for.
But my fingers would not type out the right question without making it weird.

I bit my thumbnail staring before getting back off and shutting my laptop.
Rubbing my eyes I groaned softly trying to think.
If Lawson finds out Jackson's plan.
He'll shut it down without thinking about it and that will cause a fight.
I didn't want to look like the problematic brother.
I had a reputation as the most controlled one.
But here I was.
Actually considering going along with Jackson and the others to get our brothers back.

I paused at the sound of my phone dinging.
Grabbing it off the night stand I blinked seeing that it was Briar who sent me a message.

[Briar]: Hey, I heard about Rhys and the other two. Are you alright?
I frowned softly.
[Me]: Not really, who told you?
[Briar]: Lawson called me earlier talking about it, I think he's going out of his fucking mind.
[Me]: I think so too, I think we all are in our own way, Jackson's trying to gather some guys up to go get them back.
[Briar]: Oh yeah he wrote me about that.
I blinked before scowling softly.
[Me]: Do you think it's a smart idea?
[Briar]: Not really no, I think it's pretty reckless, but Jackson's a pretty stubborn guy as well.
I smiled softly looking at the text.
[Me]: He is, I don't think anyone can change his mind about that plan of his.
[Briar]: Are you going to help get them back?
I stared at the question and leaned back in the chair with a soft sigh.

[Me]: What would you do?
[Briar]: I'd say fuck the law and do what my gut told me was right, that's your family Jason, if you lose them, it's all over. 
My brows knitted as my thumbs hovered over the keyboard frowning.
[Me]: I guess my guts screaming fuck the law then.
[Briar]: There you go, did Jackson tell you who he was bringing with him besides us?
[Me]: No?
[Briar]: Of course not he has Abel, Nick, Cole, Cody and Nathan tagging along.
I blinked.
[Me]: Isn't that a bit over kill? He's just one guy.
[Briar]: Jackson's taking precautions, he doesn't know how long that guy's been out of prison and who he's been talking with since then, Jackson wants to act smart rather than dumb.
I frowned softly.
[Me]: That makes sense I guess.

[Briar]: What are you doing right now?
I made a face at the random change of subject before getting up and moving to my bed sitting down.
[Me]: I'm just in my room, can't exactly sleep with this going on, you know?
[Briar]: Yeah no I know, and I know it's bad timing but, can we meet up?
My brows knitted looking at the time, it was fifteen passed midnight.
[Me]: It's late.
[Briar]: Thanks for pointing that out, but come out any way.
My chest grew tight.
[Me]: Where?
[Briar]: Meet me at the park in five.
Running a hand through my hair I made myself get up despite how much I didn't want to leave the house.
[Me]:See you in five then.

I wasn't even sure why he'd want to meet up at the park at such a late time.
It almost felt like we were fixing to deal drugs or something like that.
This felt pretty weird.
But still.

I came into the park and found him near the old oak tree.
Yup this definitely felt like a drug deal now.

He turned to me before coming over and immediately his arms were wrapping around me and his lips were on mine.
My eyes widened from the sudden touch before my face grew warm.

"What are you doing?" I looked around feeling nervous as Briar looked at me.
"I had to see you."
"You just saw me for a week straight." I pointed out with a small smirk.
He grinned in response.
"I wanted to see you again before we turn into some bad ass adults saving children." He told me.
I rolled my eyes smirking softly.
"You act like we're going to die."
"You never know what we're going to drive up onto tomorrow, there could be some ruffians or the swat team preventing us from getting in." He joked and I shoved him going to walk off but he caught my hand pulling me back.

"Come on, I'm trying to lighten the mood a little." He smiled as I returned one of my own.
"And I appreciate your efforts, it does make me feel a little better, so thank you." I kissed his cheek as he looked shocked but it died down as he took me over to the swings.

We sat down before kicking off and began to swing ourselves.

"Are you nervous?" He asked me walking down the street hand in hand.
I looked up at the starry sky with knitted brows.
"A little yeah, I'm more worried this isn't going to work, that tomorrow will blow up in our face and we'll really lose Urie and the others." I squeezed his hand as he frowned in response.
"It won't blow up, Jackson has a plan." He sounded confident and I wished that would of relieved me.
But it didn't.
My stomach was in knots ever since Mitchell showed up.
And just seeing the fear in Urie's eyes.
The scream Devin made.
And Rhy's dead expression.

I stopped walking and Briar turned to me frowning softly.
"Jason-"
"What happens if we get there and Mitchell is one step ahead of us by moving them somewhere else? What if he moves each time he thinks we're after him? We'll never get the guys back if that's the case." I bit my lip.
"Jase." I looked at Briar who was frowning.
"We're going to make sure we're two steps ahead of him before he tries to pull a stunt like that, we're going to get the guys back." He cupped my cheek looking at me.
"When I walk you home and kiss you goodnight, I want you to go upstairs and get some actual sleep, don't lay in bed overthinking things." His gray eyes searched mine.
"We will get the guys back, one way or another, but don't stress out over it. Alright?" He looked at me.

Inhaling softly I managed a nod looking at him.
"I'll do my best." I told him.
He looked a little relieved but I knew my tone discouraged that feeling he wanted to feel.
He walked me back home and the entire time we walked.
It was quiet.

"Goodnight, Jason." Briar's lips pressed to mine as my cheeks grew warm.
"Goodnight, Briar." I smiled softly as he tipped his invisible hat off to me before turning and heading down the street that would lead to his house.

I shook my head biting my lip as I smiled softly heading back inside.
Thankfully no one was awake as I made it back into my room.
I closed the door behind me before crawling back into bed and made sure I plugged my phone in to charge.

I lied in bed listening to the sound of cars passing by on the streets.
Soon enough sleep did take over.
And it was a total nightmare.

"Who made this god damn mess!?" Mitchell demanded his belt was off and Devin was trying his best to hide Urie behind him in the corner, they were six and seven at the time and Devin was trying to be the protective older brother while Lawson and Jackson were gone getting gas for the mower.
There was flour all over the floor and a broken glass bowl on top of the mess.
"Who did it?!" He shouted and Urie let out scared cries hiding his face.
Devin couldn't even get his words out before his eyes fell on the door where Rhys had been standing looking terrified.

"Was it you?" Mitchell stormed towards the eight year old.
"I-It was me." Urie managed to get out.
Mitchell spun around glaring as Devin tried to hide Urie better.
"It was an accident! He didn't mean to make the mess, we'll clean it up!" He cried.
Mitchell practically threw Devin out of the way before snatching Urie's wrist.
"Clean it up then, he's getting his ass whooped." He started dragging the other away.

Jason ran in.
"Stop it!" He yelled as Mitchell paused.
"Stop it? Who do you think you're talking to?!" His hand raised and Jason flinched in response.
"Get your ass somewhere or you'll be next." He snapped forcing Urie into a bedroom.

Devin got to his feet running to the door banging on it.
"Stop it daddy! He didn't mean to! Don't hurt him!" He screamed but his body froze hearing Urie's screaming over his own voice.

Devin dropped to his knees crying as Jason tried to cover his and Rhys's ears.
"Come home, please come home Jackson.. Lawson." He felt the tears fall.

I sat up fast, my heart racing and I couldn't breathe.
I tried to calm down as I ran a hand through my hair.
That's exactly what I didn't need.

A nightmare, before we faced the real  thing we tried so hard to get free from.

Our father.
Mitchell Pierce.