Since last night, the night Sarah had bawled on his shoulder for almost the whole night until she drifted into a fitful slumber in his arms, Jake had been fuming. Fuming because everything was going so horribly wrong and there was nothing he could do. He couldn't protect Sarah from everything, he knew that, but on the other hand he was her big brother, the one that was supposed to beat up the boys that broke her heart. But what if the boy turned out to be his own best friend? But despite the title he help, Elliot was responsible for Sarah's pain and Jake felt like he needed to do something about it. He had contemplated rowing his boat straight on over there and punching Elliot square in the face. He thought, too, that maybe he could disallow Elliot from seeing the girl who's heart was broken, all because of him. Although the first option seemed more fitting and a lot more appealing to his fists, the latter of the two won and he began his journey across the lake to the Murtaugh's house. The same little row boat, coincidentally, that Sarah used to occupy on her countless little trips to go see Elliot when they weren't taking the big boat across as a family. Jake still wasn't quite sure what he was gonna say or do as he rode up to the dock and tied the boat's anchor rope onto the banister, but he decided to wing it. The rage he contained in him, silent like a lion stalking prey, would probably come up with words for him. With the air thick and dark storm clouds beginning to fill the air, the Murtaughs and the Bakers decided to call off all water play that afternoon and instead resorted to afternoon naps and time to themselves. Which meant these days, with the tension between the two families in the air (for what Jake did not know), both families were separated by an invisible border and holed up within the confines of their own households. Not even Nigel and Kyle decided to venture on over to the Murtaughs to play video games with Kenneth. So Jake boldly walked up to the door and knocked, rather hard, against the newly polished wood of the Murtaugh's door. Half expecting Elliot himself to answer the door, he was surprised when Becky emerged from the withholds of the house wearing only a big tshirt and pj shorts, her hair damp from a shower, and felt rather bashful and awkward at once. "Oh, hey…" came the soft sound of Becky's voice, unsure of where the two stood, despite trying to remain friends. She reached up self-consciously towards her hair and brought it to one side of her face, combing through the ends. "Hey." He responded curtly, with an awkward attempt of a smile. "Do you know where Elliot is?" Becky only nodded in response and parted the door to allow him to pass. As he did so, the soft and sweet aroma of her conditioner rose to his nose and he breathed in heartily, a pang of sorrow filling him momentarily before it vanished. "He's upstairs in the media room. You, uhh, you should know where it is." Becky nodded before hurriedly closing the front door behind him and retreating into the depths of the house, presumably towards her room. Jake shook his head as if to clear his thoughts, wanting only to feel the vengeance he had against Elliot instead of the sorrow that came with Becky. He stalked up the stairs leading to the media room, which was alienated from all other parts of the house and led onto to the single, but very much large, room Jake came to growingly know and love. He heard the echoes of the shooting of a video game reverberate through the staircase, most likely one of the first-person shooter games Elliot always seemed to play. Jake reached the top and immediately recognized the spiky jet black hair of Elliot. No one else was up here, as he half-heartedly played the game by himself, sprawled across the large couch. His back was facing Jake, so he had no idea he was here. "Game over!" The voice from the video game announced in a dark and villainous laugh as the character on the TV sank to the ground, arm outstretched to the screen, before collapsing to the ground in defeat. Elliot let out an audibly sigh. The player had been shot open by a bullet through his stomach and was visibly leaking blood. "Hey." The loudness of Jake's voice in the suddenly quiet room surprised even himself. Elliot whipped around and peered over the couch, alarmed that he wasn't alone. "Hey," he nodded back, unsure of what kind of way Jake was gonna react. The two stood in uncomfortable silence. Jake shuffled his feet together, willing desperately for the lion in his mind to pounce and help him come up with something to say. He had been angry the whole boat ride here, but when he was faced in front of Elliot he had no idea where to start. But it was Elliot who spoke first. "How's Sarah?" Jake studied him, a bit wary. "She's broken." He admitted, deciding to be truthful. "She isn't all herself right now…" Elliot nodded, looking down at his hands. "So am I." Rage began to seep into Jake's mind. "Well you can't feel self-pity. You were the one that started it." "Me?!" Elliot scoffed in disbelief. He looked like he was about to protest, but instead he closed his eyes and sighed. "I don't know if you actually believe what you're saying right now, but she's your sister and you have to take her side. I get that." "I don't have to, I want to because I'm right." Jake glowered at his old best friend. "Whatever." Elliot rolled his eyes and returned to his video game, obviously not in the mood to argue. "You haven't seen Sarah the way I saw her last night. You don't even know what you're putting her through!" Elliot had visibly tensed up, his shoulders and back muscles strained, but he remained glued to his spot with both eyes fixed on the flat screen in front of him. But this angered Jake more as he stood there, virtually ignored. All Elliot was concerned with was his stupid video game! Jake remained in silence, not used to someone ignoring him in a fight. Usually, he fought with his siblings, and that never resulted in silence. Mostly it was just arguing until pulled apart by their parents. The Bakers were a headstrong bunch. Which is exactly why Jake cleared his throat and declared the thing he had come to do. "You can't see Sarah anymore." This got Elliot turned towards him, looking at him with a mixture of bewilderment and loathing. "You can't tell me what to do." Jake shrugged and leaned against the wall, a smug look on his face. "I most certainly can when my sister is involved. And anyways, the house where Sarah is belongs to the Baker family, and if a Baker member says you cannot cross than you cannot." "Well, you can't stop her from coming over here." Elliot argued back. Jake gave a false bout of laughter, feeling the lion inside him come alive. "Oh? And what makes you think she'd want to come over here, especially after what you did to her?" Elliot's fists were clenched and he bore the similar look he had when he attacked Kevin the night at the party. "I did nothing." He spat through gritted teeth. Jake rolled his eyes in response. "Shut up, you know damned well you did. But do know, if you ever cross the Baker property again without my permission, it won't be as friendly and non-physical as this." After a heated stare down with Elliot in the media room and with a not so gentleman-like flip of the bird, Jake was back in his row boat beginning the steady journey across the lake back home. His rage still burned like a candle, although dim, for how insensitive Elliot had responded towards the mention of Sarah and how much Jake regretted not popping Elliot in the face while he had the chance. But the clouds were growing increasingly dark with the promise of steady rain, and Jake wanted to get home as fast as possible before it started. Lucky for him, the Baker and Murtaugh house were within seeing distance from the other, only a couple hundred meters away, which meant that the to and forth trips only took about 5 minutes by rowboat and 1 by motorboat. But Jake wouldn't be taking this journey again for quite some time, seeing all ties broken with the Murtaughs and no reason to go over there anymore. Even if his other siblings went over for a game of Marco Polo or boat tag, a game they had made up with the motor boats. As Jake was rowing, his mind slowly focused back to the present and out of thought, and when he did so he happened to notice another boat parked at the Baker's dock. It was sleek black, a boat that wasn't familiar to him and didn't belong to either two houses. He could just make out two figures on the boat, one by the mast and the other jumping swiftly onto the dock. Curiosity got the better of him and Jake quickened his rowing speed, using all his arm strength to find out who the people were and who the boat belonged to. The two people remained talking, getting increasingly close to each other. Finally, after about 20 seconds of frenzied rowing, Jake had come close enough and now easily recognized that the person on the dock was Lorraine. But who the other person was he had no idea. But he had a bad feeling he knew exactly who it was. Sure enough, Jake's suspicions were proved true as he registered the boat as the Hanson's. The same one they saw the day they met the wretched family. The driver at the wheel was most definitely Marshall, as Jake pieced it all together, but what made it worse was that despite even hanging out with the family enemy, right before Lorraine left she hopped onto the boat again and the two kissed. Kissed. And Lorraine hopped back onto the dock, oblivious to the fact that she was being watched, and skipped merrily into the house as Marshall revved the engine and jetted away from the house. It took Jake another full minute to dock the boat and storm up to the house, and by then Lorraine was just emerging from the kitchen into the living room with a cherry popsicle in hand. She looked to be almost smiling, as if relating her day with Marshall. "Seriously, Lorraine?" Jake slammed the door behind him, getting a small jump out of Lorraine and a vicious glare from Kim, who Jake just noticed on the couch, nose deep in a book. Lorraine eyed him albeit nervously. "What?" "What? I catch you fraternizing with the enemy and that's all you've got to say?!" Jake's voice was raised already, and he couldn't tell if it was from newly-fledged anger or the lion inside him had awoken once again. Or perhaps not even slept at all. The sound of Jake's voice drew other family members from the shallows and corners of the house. Henry and Charlie were both at the top of the stairs looking down. Jessica peeked her head around the corner from down the hallway. Mike and Mark swung open the kitchen door out of curiosity, blue and purple popsicles in hand. "Jake, stop." Lorraine warned, all too aware of all the people that were eavesdropping. "What did you see?" Piped up Kim, now deeply intrigued in learning new information about the situation in front of her rather than information in her book. "Lorraine kissed Marshall. She hung out with him, presumably. But she kissed the enemy." Jake glowered at his sister, too angry at everyone to care if he was making a big deal or scene out of it all. "What the hell, Lorraine?" Henry gawked. "Do you not remember everything he did at the party?" Other sounds of protest filled the room as the kids announced their clear dislike towards the situation. Lorraine backed away from everyone, trying to fix things. "I know he did some pretty mean things at the party, I know. But he's really nice once you get to know him. He was sweet to me." "If that's all the excuse you have then it's not enough." Jake crossed his arms. "He's the enemy, Lorraine! He broke up Sarah and Elliot." "He was not the one to break them up! They did it themselves!" Lorraine protested back. However, the other kids were beginning to shout in agreement with Jake and it was clear that she was outnumbered. "Whatever." Jake spat, annoyance thick in his voice. "What's clear is one thing: he is the enemy. He doesn't even like you! No offense, but he's not the person to get crushes on the first pretty girl he sees. He's in it for one thing, and if not that then he's trying to get back at us for fighting him at the party." "You don't even know him!" Lorraine shouted in exasperation. Henry spoke up. "Jake's right. Marshall is not to be trusted. And you neither if you've decided to date the enemy." And with that he stormed off. Mike and Mark followed after him, copying their older brother as they disappeared back into the kitchen. And as if in a domino effect, Jessica and Charlie and all the rest of the kids retreated as well back into the depths of the house. Jake gave Lorraine one last glare before bounding up the stairs to Sarah's room, not wanting to be near Lorraine for any second longer. Sarah was exactly as Jake had left her, staring out the window with her legs tucked under her on the window seat, a book in her hands that remained on the same page she was on 3 hours ago. Jake sighed and took a seat next to her. Sarah's eyes remained unmoving, and whether she knew he was there or not she took no notice and didn't move to acknowledge him. Her thumbs absentmindedly brushed the corner page of her book. She was obviously not in the mood to talk. As a matter of fact, she hadn't wanted to talk ever since that night at the party. So instead of pressing her to talk, to speak whatever was racing through her mind that knitted her eyebrows together and etched a permanent frown on her face, Jake looked out the window as she did and tried to recollect his breath. He had been doing a lot of fighting lately, and the lion he had awoken was not going to sleep anytime soon. He just wanted to take a nap. Jake sighed, breaking the silence. "You know, at first I thought this vacation was gonna be good for us. But now, lately, it's only been tearing this family apart." Bad ending, I know. And the whole Lorraine part was rushed, but I'm sleepy and I was tired of writing angry Jake all the time. He's been angry a lot lately, and this is only the beginning… from here it goes downhill ;) But for right now, Lorraine is now being ignored by the family. It seems a bit stupid all for one kiss, but if your sister kissed the guy that pushed your little 7 year old brother to the ground you'd be mad to. Oh well, hope you guys like this chapter!