⌜ chapter twenty-four ⌟

"You don't really love me, do you?" Letty pushes out her lower lip as she turns to walk backward, looking at Jason.

He shakes his head. "No."

"Dick."

"The ice cream shop is closed, Scar." He reminds her, and she shrugs.

After leaving the museum, the four of them went to get a burger from Chubbie's before going their separate ways so they could head home. Seeing as Jason and Letty live together again, the two of them didn't separate, and now she wants ice cream.

"We could break in." She smiles, and he shakes his head.

"We agreed to live normal, remember? No more of the jacked behavior that we picked up while hunting." He raises his eyebrows. "Normal people don't break into places, they go to the store when the ice cream shop is closed."

"But you won't go with me."

"Or they wait until the next day when the shop reopens."

"One last time, for old times sake."

"Scarlett." He says, and she smiles again. "No."

Her expression falls. "You're lame."

The brunette turns around to walk correctly at the same time that she rounds the corner, and she ends up bumping into someone. She looks up to apologize just as Jason's hand shoots out, and he quickly pulls her back toward him to place himself between them. Her jaw tightens when she sees the man that she ran into.

"We have to stop meeting like this." Julian smiles as he looks between the two of them.

"You could leave." She tells him, and he chuckles.

"That wouldn't serve my purpose here."

"Being a nuisance?"

"Cut your losses and go, man." Jason tells him. "Haven't you wasted enough time already?"

"I'm not leaving until I get my answers." Julian says and then he smiles again. "Come on, I have a trusting face, don't I? Let's have a little friendly conversation."

"Even if we knew what you wanted to know — which we don't — we wouldn't tell you a damn thing." He says. "So quit harassing Scarlett, and get the hell out of our town."

"It was my town once too."

"I don't give a shit."

"What happened to my father?" Julian asks as he looks at Letty.

"Are you really that dense?" Jason questions as he moves to obstruct his view of her. "She doesn't know. She wasn't there. Go ask John Winchester."

"Where can I find Alec?"

He scoffs as he looks away from him for a moment, then he shakes his head. "I don't know." He shrugs. "But I bet you do...since you never have a problem finding her."

"Jason, let's go." Letty says as she grabs his arm and tugs in the opposite direction.

As soon as the younger two move to head away from him, Julian lunges forward and gets ahold of Scarlett's arm. Jason tackles him, and the two end up in a struggle on the ground. Both men are throwing punches, and Letty doesn't see an opening to stop it.

She hears the loud bang before she sees the gun, and it's too late to do anything after. She freezes, and what feels like an instant later with no time to react, Julian grabs her and slams her back against the brick wall behind her. The impact causes the air to rush from her lungs, and then she's staring up into bright blue eyes that are so filled with anger it actually scares her.

"I want answers, and I'm getting tired of asking nicely." Julian says as he holds the gun against her throat. "I want to know what happened to my father... I want to know what happened to my family — why I got screwed. Tell Alec that the lies and secrets are over. The next time I come around, the truth is coming out...regardless of his efforts to keep everyone in the dark."

Letty gasps as he suddenly releases her, letting her drop to the ground. The brunette looks over to find her friend, and she sees Jason holding his leg as he tries to push himself up. She coughs as she rushes over to him, helping him off of the cement and then leaning him against the wall.

"I think it's a graze, but it hurts like hell." He tells her as she pulls her sweater off.

"We need to hide the blood and then get the hell out of here." Letty says, tying the sleeves around his waist to conceal the darkness soaking down the side of his jeans. "Come on, we gotta go. Can you walk?"

"Yeah, help me."

Jason slings his arm over her shoulders as she looks around; Julian's gone. She helps him walk, and they try to remain as inconspicuous as possible as they make their way through the apartment lobby. Once they're in the elevator, Jason leans against the wall by the floor buttons, and Letty presses the three.

"Can you push the two?" A woman asks as she walks into the elevator, and the teenager hits it without looking over at her. "Thank you."

Jason drops his arm from Letty's shoulders so that his hand settles on the small of her back, and he clenches his teeth because of the pain. The brunette moves closer to him, trying to use her body to block the woman's view of his bloody leg. She knows that her sweater isn't covering all of it.

"Control your face." Letty breathes out, and he lowers his head.

He rests his forehead against her temple, and out of the corner of her eye Letty sees the woman look over at them. The brunette leans into Jason's side as she rests her hand low on Jason's stomach, hoping that the appearance of P.D.A. will make the woman uncomfortable and look away. The bell dings for floor two, and the obviously flustered woman can't get off fast enough.

"I hate nosy people." Jason mutters as he looks up, and the doors start to close.

"Mhm. How's your leg?" Letty asks as her arm hooks around his back again, getting ready to pull him off the wall.

"Bleeding."

"Don't give me your attitude. I'll leave your ass in this elevator."

"I love you too." He says sarcastically.

"Is this elevator always so damn slow?" She grumbles and then leans over to look out into the hallway as the doors start to open again. "All clear."

Letty helps him out in the hall, and he looks around as she pounds on the door to the boys' apartment. Jack answers, looking ready to go on the defense until he sees his friends.

"What the hell?" He opens the door wider to let them in, and then Jason leans against the wall inside, pulling Letty with him because his arm is still wrapped around her.

Eric gets up from the couch when he sees the two of them, eyebrows knitted together in confusion. He hasn't seen the blood yet, but it's obvious that something is wrong.

"Do you have painkillers?" Jason asks, still holding onto Letty.

"Go see if Reggie's still at our place. Call for him, if he's not." The brunette says as she looks over at Jack, and he nods before disappearing through the door. "You're sure it's just a graze? The bullet isn't still in there?" She asks Jason as she unties her sweater from around his waist.

"Bullet?" Eric questions as he watches her toss the bloody sweater across the apartment and into the sink.

"I think so." Jason says.

"You know, we wouldn't have been right there if you would've just gone with me to get some damn ice cream." The brunette says as she pulls out her pocket knife to cut his pant leg and expose the injury so that she can see just how bad it is.

"Bite me."

"There's too much blood for a clean look." She says as she stands up straight. "Eric, help me get him into the bathroom before he bleeds all over the carpet."

"Your bedside manner is abysmal." Jason tells her, and she ignores him as Eric moves to his other side. Letty leads the way to the bathroom, and she uses her foot to drop the toilet seat.

"No. Bathtub." Reggie says as he walks up behind them. "And get his pants off."

Letty smiles as she looks at Jason, and he shakes his head at her. "You're a child." He mutters.

"You got him?" Letty asks as she looks at Eric, and he nods.

"What the hell happened?" Reggie questions as Eric holds Jason up on his own.

Letty undoes the button and zipper on Jason's jeans before helping him move them down his legs. "We were on our way home, and Julian attacked us. Jase, I need you to actually lift your feet so I can take these damn things off."

"Oh, I'm sorry I'm not moving fast enough. I was only shot protecting your ungrateful ass." He says as he glares down at her.

"My hero." She says sarcastically. "Now move your feet before I use my current position to cut something else."

"You're an evil bitch." He groans as lifts his leg with the wound.

The teenager stands up straight after pushing his jeans away from them. "I gotta lift your leg to get it over the side of the tub, alright?" She tells him as she leads him and Eric over to it, stepping into the tub.

"Both legs?" Eric asks.

"One at a time." She says as she moves her hands into position. "You ready? On three."

"Yeah." Jason nods.

"One." Letty lifts his leg and pulls him closer to her.

He groans as he leans into her, and her back hits the shower wall. "I hate you." He barely manages, and Reggie chuckles from behind them.

"You're bleeding on me." She says as she and Eric have him sit on the edge of the tub.

"Good job, buddy." Reggie pats Eric's shoulder. "Now get out of the way."

"I got the alcohol and your stash of meds." Jack says as he runs into the bathroom, handing stuff over to Reggie. "Hope's with the twins, and Alec's on his way here with Tyler."

"Do you think the bullet hit anything that'll make this worse?" Letty asks as Jack mumbles something to himself about getting clean clothes, then he disappears again.

Reggie sits on the left side of Jason — next to the injured leg — and his fingers lightly probe at the flesh around the wound. "How long ago did this happen?" He asks as the brunette leans out of the bathtub to grab a cup from the sink.

"Uh... Twenty minutes ago."

"There'd be a lot more blood if the injury were arterial — so that's good news."

"Yippy." Jason mutters as she turns on the water to fill the cup.

"You wanna drink some water and take those painkillers?" She asks, and Reggie leans over to grab the pill bottle from the counter.

Jason takes two pills, and then Letty refills the cup. She says a quick sorry before pouring water around the cut to rinse his leg and make the injury easier to see; she's going to leave anything involving the wound itself to the one with actual medical training.

"Hey. Hey." Reggie reaches out and grabs Letty's arm. "I got it from here. Go get changed into something clean and dry."

"Jase?"

"I'm good, Scar. Go." He tells her, and she steps out of the bathtub.

Letty picks up Jason's bloody jeans from the floor before moving past Eric and heading back out to the kitchen. "Where's Shawn?" She asks as she gets a trash bag from under the sink for their bloody clothes, knowing that Eric followed her from the bathroom.

"With Cory." He tells her, and she nods as Jack walks into the room.

"I got sweats and a t-shirt for you both." He says, and she looks over at him. "I left the ones for him in the bathroom."

"Thanks." The brunette then pulls her shirt over her head, and Jack turns away as he holds his hand out toward her with his clothes.

"No warning?" He questions.

"I'm covered in my best friend's blood, Jack — warning." Letty says as she moves to rinse her hands in the kitchen sink.

Once she has enough of the blood off her skin, she pulls the clean shirt on. Then she pulls her jeans off and stuffs them into the trash bag as well. Jack's shirt hangs low enough that it covers her until she gets the sweats on.

"Scar—"

"Shh." The brunette holds her hand up as she leans against the counter, closing her eyes.

Letty takes deep breaths as she tries to relax her body, calm her nerves. And then she starts thinking back on what happened with Julian, starting at when he grabbed her. She wants to try and go over all of it — what she saw, heard, felt, everything.

Grab. Tackle. Hit after hit. Jason went for Julian's gun. Struggle. Bang. Groan, grunt. Julian's on his feet. Click. Grab, slam. Cold metal. Whiskey. And then his icy blue eyes.

The front door opens, and Letty lifts her head to look at Alec. "Are you alright?" He asks as he rushes forward to get a good look at his sister.

Letty's palms slam against his chest as she shoves him back. "You lying son of a bitch."

"What the hell did I do?" He questions, eyebrows furrowed as he glances from her to Jack and then his eyes settle on her again.

"You said that he was nobody, that all he wanted was answers about his dad — about Bill." She says accusingly.

"What did he say to you?"

"He wants to know about his family, and why he got screwed. He said to tell you that the lies and secrets are over, despite your efforts to keep everyone in the dark." She tells him, shaking her head. "You have been avoiding him on purpose for months. You said it was about Bill's death, but you're lying. You wouldn't hide from him for that, you're hiding from the real confrontation, and I wanna know why. No more lies, no more bullshit."

"You know who he is."

"Just like Shawn — I could smell the Whiskey on his breath." She tells him. "It always gets worse whenever we drink. But no, the real give away was staring up into those eyes — that same bright, icy blue as Dad's. He's not asking about Bill. He's asking about our father — yours, mine, and his. He wants to know why you and I have each other, and he's alone.

"See, I called Bobby after Julian showed up at the Matthews' store. Julian doesn't have contact with his mother or his kid sister. And you moved back to Philly for good after Bill died, which is when things got better with you and me. But Julian has no family — he got screwed. Why have you been lying to me, so determined to keep him away?" She demands.

"So, he's screwed now — that's his fault." Alec says, his own anger growing. "Ellen took him and left our good-for-nothing piece-of-shit father. Julian got the good childhood with a nice mom who could say I love you, and a stepdad who took care of him instead of beating him. Why did he get the cushy childhood while we got abused, neglected, and abandoned?"

"Are you kidding me?!" She snaps. "This has been about petty jealousy over who got the better life? He keeps coming back, and every time it's worse. When I was out with Lina, while I was at work, after my day out to the art museum. What if this today had been while I was with Emma and Oliver last week? Or when Hope and I took the twins to the park yesterday? What if Angela and Topanga had still been with me and Jason?!"

"I am not the one who shot him." He shakes his head. "Stop looking at me like I pulled the trigger."

"This is the first time it turned violent." She tells him. "He has been looking for you, and asking for answers. When I was with Lina, I was the one who slammed him into the pool table because I was defending you. He may have grabbed me in the store, but he wouldn't have done anything to me with Mr. Matthews there — no hunter walks into something without knowing who they're up against. And it was Jason who pulled Julian's gun; he flipped the safety back on before he even touched me. He was drunk, so yeah, his anger escalated. No, he's not innocent here...but neither are you. It is your fault that things went this far, and it is your fault that Jason got shot."

"He's fine." Reggie says as he walks down the steps. "It was a graze, but it needed stitching."

"J.C.B. — Julian Chase Black. I remember his initials with a date in Dad's journal. It's Julian's birthday. Between ours — cheated on Mom, what a stand-up guy. No surprise there." Letty shakes her head as she looks at him. "And you are just as pathetic."

"I have never laid a hand on my son."

"No, you're right. You're not like Dad, you're like Mom... Always turning your back on your family." She says. "You don't know how to be a brother, do you?"

"Jason needs help with those sweats, but his humility wouldn't let me do it." Reggie says, and she nods.

"Thank you, Reggie...for always being the first one I think to call when shit like this happens."

"That's not fair." Alec shakes his head.

"Isn't it?" Letty turns then and heads up the stairs, going to help Jason.

"You find some kind of sick pleasure in this, don't you? Making me wait because I can't do it myself." Jason asks as she walks into the bathroom; he's standing there in his boxers, leaning against the counter in the clean shirt that Jack gave him.

"Sorry." She mutters before helping him with his sweats.

"Hey." He reaches out and grabs her arm when she turns back for the door. "What was all the yelling about? What's going on?"

"Well, it turns out Julian's my brother, and Alec's been hiding it. That's why he keeps coming around here and asking for answers." She tells him, and he raises his eyebrows. "So, uh... Sorry my brothers did this to you."

"I don't give a shit about my leg." He reaches up and wipes a tear from her cheek. "Are you okay?"

She shrugs. "It's just another thing to add to the list of everything that's completely screwed to hell in my life." She takes a deep breath as she wipes her cheeks. "Come on, we should get you home. Hope's probably losing her mind." She says, and he nods.