Chapter Text
'Book two seats. He ain't goin' on his own,' Jax says, eyeing Juice as the lad scuffs at an imaginary stone in the parking lot. Juice's eyes are skittish and his jaw spasms like he's trying to hold the words inside.
Jax gives Chibs a long look, then turns his eyes to the sky, like he's found inspiration there. 'Hey, look, get him back whole.'
Chibs nods, he agrees.
The call had come through an hour ago. Juice's eldest sister, Marnie. And Juice had paused with spanner in hand to answer it. When he came back, his eyes had been red, his face, pinched. All work in the shop had stopped for a minute, waited for Juice to tell them what had happened.
His kid sister. The one with all the kids. They found her bleeding out in the tub. There were pills. She's in the ICU. He has to go.
Tig had been closest and he'd just pulled the lad into his arms, murmured something in his ear, and Juice had nodded, slumped like someone had cut his strings. Chibs had tamped down on his own need to touch, to hold and protect. Gone to Jax instead, told him what had happened.
&&&
Juice is relegated to the passenger seat for the drive from the airport to the hospital in Queens, where they're keeping Luisa. They get out of Newark and Chibs ignores every one of Juice's directions. Juice says take Lincoln, the guy goes for Holland, Juice says not I-295 and what does he do? Juice used to live here, he knows that New York miles aren't like map miles, and some roads have been under construction 24/7, for as long as he's been alive.
'Ah, shite,' Chibs mutters, but by then they're bumper to bumper with every other car in the world and there's no chance of changing direction.
The shitty little Pinto they've hired grudges every gear, and the windscreen is so filthy and clogged with rain that Chibs has to drive all hunched over to actually see out of the thing. Guy mutters and swears to himself, can't drive a car for shit.
The world passing on the other side of the windows is all fuzzy with condensation and rain. Even if it wasn't, Juice doesn't think he would recognise much from the last time he was here. Yeah, the roads are the same, the turnings, the street signs, but every building has probably changed hands a million times in the intervening years. His old school got knocked down and replaced two years after he left, and the garage where he scored his first job has gone bust and been bought out several times over. Even the church his mom used to drag them all to is unrecognisable, small and stunted where he always thought of it as a towering threat.
Juice has tried to think about other things, anything to keep that heavy feeling from expanding from his guts to his limbs. It's a long time since he was last back, not since all that warrant shit, Jo hiding him from the cops and the bad guys, driving him to the bus station and telling him to 'just pick somewhere, pay cash.'
He'd sworn that he'd never come back and yet, here he is. And, even if he can avoid the cops and everyone else, his step father's gonna be there and it's gonna be fucking ugly.
He fidgets in his seat, the seat-belt cutting into the side of his neck. He could really use a cigarette, but if he opens the window even a crack, they'll probably both drown, and visibility's already shit without adding smoke into the mix. He finds Chibs' lighter in the little cubby hole between their seats, cradles it, cool in his hands. It's almost out of gas.
In the drivers seat, Chibs flicks his gaze over at him for a second. 'What?'
Juice bites his lip, fiddles the lighter lit, turns the little dial down so that it goes from being a flame thrower to a lighter again. No wonder it's always running out of fuel.
'Chibbie? Uh... Look, no one knows about me except Jo, so you gotta...'
'I know that, Juicy. You told me already. Families get funny about that sorta thing.'
'Yeah.' Juice sits back in his seat, the lighter now warm in his hands. 'It's not just that... I'm gonna need to... I probably shouldn't be back here.'
'This got anything to do with why you turned up outta nowhere, five years back?' Chibs keeps his eyes on the road, but Juice can still feel the man's gaze. 'I never asked...' Chibs reaches blindly for his cigarettes, tucked away in his jacket, wriggles one free and then reaches for the lighter, realises it's not in the little cubby.
Juice leans over, lights the cigarette, and Chibs takes a deep breath, exhales a long blue snake of smoke. Looks like they're suffocating then...
'Gonna tell me?'
'Yeah, sure. Just... Can we--' Juice opens the window a crack. 'Later, okay?'
Chibs just shrugs. One of his off-hand, 'think I'm bothered?' shrugs, flicks cigarette ash at the dashboard.
They pass Kissena Park, and Juice cranes his neck to see as much as he can. For a stupid moment, he wants to shout for Chibs to pull over. Wants to be surrounded on all sides by greenery, the traffic sounds distant as clouds. Doesn't matter that he'll get wet through, doesn't matter that it's freezing out there, he just wants to be out of this car, to delay the inevitable.
They sail past the retail park where Juice got busted for shoplifting and had to be brought home in a cop car when he was nine.
'Uh, Chibbie, that's the exit.'
'What?' Chibs stops and someone behind him jumps on the horn. He peers through the windscreen. 'Where?'
'Left. No, other left! Jesus, man, look!' Juice groans, slumps back in his seat as the exit disappears from view. If they'd gotten off there they could have cut through. Now they're just gonna have to crawl along with all the wage-slaves.
'Juicy, yer pointin' right.'
'Huh? No, it was-' He thinks for a moment. 'Shit. Sorry.'
'Jimmy fuckin' Cricket...'
'What? It's Jiminy. Jiminy! Why?' Juice is too tired to be compared to stupid cartoon bugs.
'Nah,' Chibs murmurs, a smile colouring his words. 'Jimmy Cricket. Look him up in yer little computer when we get home.'
Chibs is trying to pull a U-turn in four lane traffic when Juice's phone rings. It's Jo Jo: they have to go straight to Luisa's. Jo Jo's there with all the kids. If someone else doesn't get there ASAP, she's gonna start bouncing heads. Jesus Christ. Juice doesn't even know the names of all of his nieces and nephews.
'I hope you're good with kids,' he says and Chibs shrugs, winds down the window to flip a cab driver the bird.
'Depends. They all outta nappies?'
'Nappies? Diapers. I have no idea.'
&&&
It's dark when Chibs pulls into Luisa's street and parks the Pinto on the curb between a shitty looking Honda and a bunch of trash cans. Talk about a thorn between two roses....
The lights are all on in the little house and the front door is open, bathing the overgrown front yard with more light. Chibs can hear kids wailing and sees two adults, the man yelling, the woman, not. This must be the place.
He unfolds himself from the car, each and every one of his joints complaining about it. Juice follows, closes the car door softly, like he wishes he didn't have to. Lad had just zoned out on the journey, and now he's wobbly and unsure on his feet. He pulls the hood of his sweater up over his head, tucks his hands into his pockets as they walk up the path, falling back behind Chibs.
'You're not taking that kid.' Jo Jo Ortiz is probably about an inch shorter than her older brother. Same build, same complexion, same nose. Her eyes are narrow, dead looking- like a shark's, where Juicy's are like windows to his thoughts. Dressed in sweatpants and a tight little crop top with the name of some gym printed across it, she's pretty much exactly what Chibs was expecting.
The guy she's arguing with is thick-set, dark skinned, and wearing so much heavy chain that Chibs wonders how he manages to stand up. He's got a little boy, maybe eighteen months old, in his arms and the kid is writhing around, screaming.
'Jo Jo? What's going on?' Juice keeps his head down but he finally finds his voice as they walk closer and Jo Jo doesn't take that dead shark stare off the guy.
'This piece a shit thinks he's takin' the kid with him.'
'Hey, bitch! He's my kid! Think I'm leaving him here?' The man turns to take in the newcomers. Probably thinks he's got allies now. 'Come on, man. Baby mama's gutted herself. I ain't leavin' my kid to get picked up by the system.'
'Luisa ain't dead, asshole. Kid's stayin here with his brothers an' sisters.' Jo Jo's voice still doesn't waver. She could teach Jax a thing or two, Chibs thinks
A host of rug-rats crowds around Jo Jo's feet. Two little girls, four or five years at a guess, one holding on to Jo Jo's sweat-pant leg, her uncanny blue eyes locked on the grown ups' faces. The other, hopping from one bare foot to the other in some strange game that only she seems to be playing. There's a boy, maybe nine or ten, stood on Jo Jo's other side, hands in jean pockets, hardened stare. Looks just like a mini Juicy.
'Hey, friend.' Chibs crowds in on one side of the guy and Juice takes the other. 'You heard the lady. Kiddie stays here with his kin.' He gets a bit further into the guy's space. 'When his ma decides you can see him, you can come back, alright?' Each and every one of the kids shrinks back. Fuck it, he's tired and he doesn't need this shit.
The guy looks from Chibs to Jo Jo, then over at Juice and he pumps his chest out a bit. Then he looks back at Chibs and changes his mind again. 'One night,' the guy says. 'He stays here one night, then Luisa ain't out, I come back for him.' The wailing child holds out his hands to Jo Jo and the guy lets her take him. He stares hard at Juice as he shoves his way past, but he stalks off without another word. Jo Jo just watches him go, kid in her arms.
She doesn't say anything to the kid, just swivels around to Juice. 'Bad idea, you comin' back here,' she says, turning and stepping into the house.
The kids shuffle around and follow her, the eldest, standing his ground when Chibs and Juice go to follow. 'You can't come in here,' he says. His tone is a pretty good imitation of his aunt's. Juicy should probably introduce himself, Chibs thinks, but the lad just stands there like a muppet.
Jo Jo returns, pushes the now calm baby into the boy's arms. 'Mika, come on, let your uncle in before someone sees.' She turns and walks back through the house to the living room, calls over her shoulder for the kid to put his brother and sisters to bed.
The boy's eyes remain wary but he takes the baby, staggers a little under the weight and tucks the trailing blanket around the child's body. 'Marta, Rosie, come on.'
One of the little girls follows but the other runs after her aunt, whines and claws at Jo Jo's pant leg. Jo Jo looks down at her for a minute, her face blank. Then she places one hand on the kid's head, rubs at it with her thumb and leads the kid with her, back into the room. 'Okay, chica. Up till first yawn.'
'That idiot gonna come back?' Chibs points out the door and Juice shrugs, looks to his sister.
'Nah. Tomorrow he'll forget he's even got a kid.' Jo Jo sits herself at the dining room table that's been shoved out of the way against one wall. It's covered in toys and dirty plates. The little girl scrambles underneath it but peeks out to watch Chibs and Juice. Jo Jo levels her gaze on her brother.
'We got lost. I'm sorry.' Juice's eyes flicker up to meet hers and then they slink away again, fix on the table. 'Jo Jo, what the hell happened?' In the yellow light of the sitting room, Juice's eyes glitter. The lad's face is still all puffy.
Chibs looks from brother to sister. They've both been told their little sister tried to kill herself, and while Juice is scared and upset and sorry and guilty, Jo Jo is calm and unaffected. Numb, perhaps, but somehow Chibs doesn't think so. Juice doesn't really talk about his family, but even so, it's always clear that he idolises this particular sister. Now, finally faced with her, Chibs can't work her out, she's like a robot.
'Mika called me to say she'd been in the bathroom for ages and he couldn't get an answer.' Jo Jo flexes one hand a few times. The nails are bitten short. 'I got here an' we broke the door down, found her in the tub.' Chibs watches as she taps her knee and the little girl under the table huddles close. 'Marnie's with her at the hospital an' I been here with the kids.'
She pauses as a high pitched scream starts up over the baby monitor half hidden under a bunch of laundry on the couch. There's the sound of footsteps and then rustling bed clothes, Mika's gentle, humming voice and the screaming dies down.
'Got some woman from child protection coming here in the morning. If she don't think the kids are being cared for, she's taking them, an' Luisa'll have to fight it when she gets out.'
'Jesus!' Juice rubs his hand over his head, casts around for stuff he can move to sit down, and when he's cleared some space, he looks up at Chibs, gestures for him to take the chair and rests one arse cheek on the corner of the table instead. If he had to guess, Chibs would say he probably looks as knackered as he feels.
'We got here as soon as we could, I swear,' Juice says and Jo Jo shrugs. 'We can get this place straightened out.' The lad looks around and Chibs' follows his gaze: laundry, toys and dirty plates litter every surface, and through the open doorway, the kitchen's a bomb site.
Jo Jo catches Juice's gaze and finally cracks what might be termed a grin. 'If you say so, Mijo. Who's this?' She gestures at Chibs with the flick of one finger and Juice's shoulders go all hunched up, his head ducked down. When he says 'a buddy from the MC,' his voice is all quiet, but he meets her eye like he's daring her to argue. She doesn't. Just turns to Chibs. 'Hope you're good with kids.'
Mika comes back into the room, this time with a different kid, a teeny, tiny baby, maybe six months old and dressed in a stained yellow onesie. The baby is fidgeting and gumming the shoulder of Mika's shirt.
'Oh, Jesus!' Juice groans. 'She had another one?'
'Yeah. Or someone left it here...' Jo Jo straightens, as if something just occurred to her. 'Bet you forgot all their names. Mika and Rosie.' She points to the boy and then to the kid under the table. 'That's Marta just gone to bed, and Antonio's the one that guy was tryin' to take... This one's... shit, what's the baby's name, little man?'
The boy looks down at the baby in his arms and shrugs. 'Jesus.'
'Jesus...' Juice murmurs.
'No, Hey-sous,' Mika says, like Juice is an idiot. Funniest thing Chibs has heard all day.
Juice just scowls. 'Jesus fucking Christ...'