“What are you talking about?” Johnny’s brow crossed with confusion as JC spoke. JC sighed, realising he’d said too much.

            “Nothing,” he grumbled, and looked away from Johnny as not to catch his eye line.

            “Bullshit,” Johnny muttered, and it was one of the few times JC had heard the older man swear, it shook his bones slightly.

            “It’s true,” he whispered and nodded his head to make more of a point from what he was saying. “I was just talking, you know how it goes. People just like to talk.”

            “This wasn’t just talking Jayce,” Johnny pointed out, “You meant something by what you just told me.”

            “No I didn’t,” he adamantly replied and finally turned to Johnny. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

            “He does care about you Jayce, even though sometimes he doesn’t show it as well,” Johnny tried thinking that might get something out of JC.

            “I know he does,” JC replied in defeat and leaned back on his pillows.

            “Then why are you telling me he doesn’t?” Johnny questioned and JC sighed heavily before running a hand through his mangled hair.

            “Because, I don’t know,” JC sighed dejectedly and closed his eyes.

            “Yes you do Jayce,” Johnny persisted and looked hard at him.

            “Really Johnny I…” he began and opened his eyes slightly.

            “Johnny?” Madeline’s voice carried through the room as she stood by the door with a coffee in her hand. “I didn’t know you had come back.”

            “Maddie,” Johnny smiled and stood up to greet her, but not before shooting a look at JC telling him they’d finish this conversation later. “Of course I came back, couldn’t leave our Jayce out on a limb now could I?”

            “No you couldn’t,” Madeline smiled and walked over to the two men. She set her coffee down on the nearby table. “Are you leaving?”

            “Uh, yeah have some things to attend to,” Johnny nodded brushing himself off and looking at her with a small smile, “You know duty calls.”

            “Well you know you have to come back,” Madeline smiled and stepped forward to hug him. He stood taller than her so she had to stand slightly on her tiptoes to hug him.

            “Of course I will,” Johnny reassured her and hugged her back. “Just make sure this guy over here gets the rest he needs eh?”

            “I will,” Madeline nodded and stepped back. Johnny smiled and nodded to JC.

            “Well then, I better head out. It’s good to see you looking good Jayce,” he smiled and waved, “I’ll be back later to check in alright?”

            “Alright,” JC nodded, “Bye Johnny.”

            “Bye Jayce, Maddie,” Johnny responded and turned around to leave, not before he caught the smile of farewell from Madeline.

            “So what was that all about?” Madeline asked once he had left the room and JC looked at her in confusion.

            “Huh?” He asked and she shook her head before sitting next to him on the bed.

            “Why were there raised voices before I came in?” she asked him, “I heard you two Josh so don’t try to wiggle your way out. What was it all about?”

            “Are you sure?” Justin asked as he pressed the phone to his ear and sat down on the couch, pressing the remote so that the TV turned on.

            “I’m sure,” Trace’s voice came, “Channel 41.” Justin nodded and flipped to the said channel before answering Trace.

            “How did you find out?” he asked and Trace sighed.

            “Johnny called me, he though you should know,” Trace replied as if that answered all his questions. Justin sighed and focused his attention on the TV.

            “Holly shit,” he muttered as the images flashed across the screen.

            “Yeah holly shit,” Trace repeated.

            “And when did this happen?” Justin asked not being able to hear a word that was coming from the speakers as he had muted it as son as he turned on the TV.

            “About two days ago?” Trace replied, uncertainty evident in his voice.

            “So we’re not sure?” Justin asked trying to ease the tension with a laugh, Trace grunted in response.

            “Yeah,” he answered and Justin heard a door open in the back ground. “Uh, look man I gotta go.”

            “A little bit of late night action?” Justin smirked, trying again to divert his attention away from the real issue.

            “Yeah, something like that,” Trace laughed, “But anyways I better go. Don’t stress out too much over this, at least they didn’t arrest you.”

            “Yeah I suppose you’re right,” Justin sighed and rubbed his eyes, “I’ll let you go then. Talk to you later man and thanks for the heads up.”

            “No problems,” Trace said, “Bye.”

            “Bye,” Justin grumbled as Trace put the phone down. He clicked his phone off and sighed heavily, the weight of what Trace had said lingered in his mind, at least they hadn’t arrested him.

            “Thank God they arrested someone,” Joey stated letting out a breath as Johnny flicked off the TV and glanced around the room.

            “Yeah, now we know the kid didn’t do it,” Chris agreed with relief written all over his face.

            “Yeah,” Johnny said and placed the remote down on a nearby table before shoving his hands into his pockets and speaking. “But I think we have bigger issues at hand.”

            “Like what?” Lance asked as they all looked at Johnny, confused from his last words. Johnny sighed and offered them a shrug.

            “They’ve been arguing again haven’t they?” Chris asked, noticing Johnny’s eyes become over cast. Johnny nodded and paced up and down the small room.

            “From what I gathered from my conversations with them both, yes,” Johnny replied and Joey muttered something under his breath.

            “Damn them,” Joey said and looked up at Johnny, “Shouldn’t they get over this already?”

            “They should but Joe you have to understand something like that doesn’t go away so easily,” Johnny explained, but Chris shook his head, slowly getting up.

            “No but didn’t J at least try go and see Jayce once he woke up?” Chris asked, Johnny nodded again.

            “Yeah he did,” Johnny replied and removed a hand from his pocket so he could scratch his chin, “But as I said before Jayce totally blew J off.”

            “Did Jayce give a reason as to why?” Lance inquired, he too was now standing up.

            “Yeah, he said it was the meds,” Johnny replied bluntly. Again Joey cursed under his breath.

            “Meds my ass,” Joey grumbled and stood up as well.

            “Well I tried to explain that to him but he just refused to listen,” Johnny said and leaned against the wall, “I think it was a mixture of hurt and pride.”

            “I bet it was,” Joey agreed and ran a hand through his hair, “So what are we going to do about it?”

            “Well talking won’t help,” Johnny agreed, “I tried that already and it just got both of them angry.”
            “Why don’t we try?” Chris suggested, “I can rope in Trace and us two will go talk to the kid.”

            “Yeah and me and Joe will go talk to Jayce,” Lance agreed with Chris’ idea. Johnny sighed and thought it over for a while.

            “What do you think Joe? You think they’ll listen to you guys?” Johnny asked and Joey shrugged.

            “Can’t really say. But I think it’s worth a shot,” Joey agreed nodding after a moment.

            “I agree after all you guys are all brothers,” Johnny said and pushed himself from the wall. “So go try and talk to the two knuckle heads. It might actually get them somewhere.”