#juniorcastle

God, he wished he could tell the man he wasn’t - but he’d let them all down pretty badly.  “You - you have family.  Not by blood but that’s hardly ever mattered to us.  Though I did tell the guy outside that I’m your cousin - and the legal name I have right now is Jimmy so.  It’s - it’s complicated.  I can explain that if you want me to.  But you should know, Uncle Bill, it’s not pretty.  You - you hurt us pretty badly.”  God, it felt like his soul was being rubbed raw by this.

It was clear, that this pained him.  Frankie was still grieving - grieving for his innocence, grieving for his sister and his mother, and even grieving for his father.  For his uncle.  There had just been so much devastation and it felt senseless to him.  He didn’t know how exactly to wrap his brain around it.

His eyes watered a bit and he looked down at his hands.  It was hard to look at his uncle - he didn’t care about his scars but it hurt to look at the man he’d trusted so much and, knowing how he’d let them down.

When his apparent nephew spoke again, Billy felt uneasy. There was a writhing, coiling sensation in the pit of his stomach, as though a snake had settled in there and was slowly curling its body about his heart and squeezing tight. His immediate instinct told him not to ask, to quell the curiosity about his past and to beg the boy to explain himself.

“You hurt us pretty badly.”

Billy looked at the boy then, as Frankie looked down. The way in which he trembled, and his last words echoed again in Billy’s mind. Swallowing hard, Billy hesitated, thinking...

No. He had to know. He couldn’t keep living in a dream. He had to face up to whatever he had done.

“What did I do...?”

“I’m a paramedic, miss.  I can’t do a ton, but I promise you - I will do all that I can to help you.  Do you want to speak somewhere more private?”  Frankie asked softly, his voice and expression gentle.

The display window of the flower shop was broken. Not only had the robbery left her shaken, but the broken glass that littered the floor brought up bad memories of long ago, of the closet, of her parents--

Maybe he had no good reasons to care for the kid these days - maybe he’d forfeited that right (and title of honorary uncle) as soon as he’d gained knowledge of the plans to kill Frank’s family - but that didn’t stop that old twinge of concern in his chest - the one that proved he still had a heart somewhere deep inside.

Someone had put their hands on Frankie, and that someone was not destined to live much longer if Billy had a say in it.