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It was their first day away from the hospital and alone in months and so Robby and Jack planned to savour it with every chance they could. They loved the boys and the chaos of family life, but it was definitely nice to have a day to themselves away from the conflict.
After Jack had dropped the boys off at school, he and Robby ventured into Pittsburgh city center and had brunch at a modern little café. It was refreshing to just sit together and have nothing to worry about, chatting away about old memories and nostalgia. As they finished up brunch and continued to chat, they strolled around the city and went into an odd few shops - the best one being a little antique store where Jack bought a vintage military flight jacket.
Once they'd had enough of the shops, Jack drove them back home where they proceeded to cuddle on the sofa while watching an old classic film. Jack's leg was throbbing from being on his feet all day, so he eased himself down onto the edge of the sofa and reached for the buckles, fingers trembling as he loosened the straps that had been biting into his skin all day. After he'd fully removed his prosthetic, Robby got some aloe vera cream and massaged around the sore area as Jack moaned softly. He had good days and bad days with the prosthetic, and a lot of the time it could get really sore after a particularly active night shift.
Time passed as the couple lay together on the sofa, relinquishing in the moment and trying to force the day to stretch on further. Robby watched lovingly as Jack dozed softly, with the sound of the film melting away into background noise. Ah, everything was so peaceful.
Yet, Robby's phone suddenly starting blaring his ringtone and vibrating, startling Jack awake. Robby quickly answered and Jack watched as his face melted from confused into anger and then worry. Who on earth was on the phone?
Robby finished up the call, "Yes, I'll set off now I will be right there."
Jack looked at him quizzically as he hung up. Robby sighed aloud.
"It was the school calling. Apparently Jacobi has gotten into a fight and we need to go and pick him up." Robby said, rubbing his temples in frustration. Their only day alone in months and of course Jacobi creates chaos. Of course!
"Oh Jesus, what are we gonna do with that child!" Jack exclaimed, starting to get up from the sofa and reaching towards his prosthetic. Robby put his hand out to stop him.
"No, no you've been on that leg a lot today already. Let me handle this, it will all be fine," Robby said softly, rubbing his husband's chest. Jack nodded and reclined backwards as Robby got up and picked up his car keys.
He drove fairly quickly to the school, with panic arising in his chest. God, what if Jacobi was really hurt? What if he got kicked out of the school already? He tried to swallow down the fear as he walked into the reception of the school. An old lady with slicked blonde hair and kind eyes greeted him.
"Are you Mr Robinavitch?" she asked kindly.
Robby nodded, "Yes, that’s me - but you can just call me Robby."
The lady led him through the corridors and into the principal's office. In there sat Principle Cody with Jacobi opposite him, his head in his hands and blood smeared all around his face. Shocked, Robby sat down next to him and looked towards the principal.
"Hello Mr Robinavitch, lovely to see you again, although I wish under better circumstances." Principal Cody sighed.
Robby gave a strained half smile and looked at Jacobi, who still had his head in his hands and was avoiding all eye contact.
"Well, as I explained briefly over the phone, there was an altercation that had to be broken up between Jacobi and another student. We offered Jacobi medical attention and he refused to comply at all," he explained whilst clicking on his laptop.
"Jacobi also refuses to tell us anything that happened and the other boy involved has had to be taken to hospital by his parents. Luckily, we have managed to retrieve the CCTV footage of the incident."
The principal slid the laptop towards Robby and hit the play button.
On the screen, Robby could see Jacobi stood in the corridor with four friends just chatting away. Then, out of nowhere, another young boy starts to come towards Jacobi and gets in his face. The principal turned the sound up in time for Robby to hear the boy say, 'hey maybe you should have died with your druggie mother' while he laughed with his other bully friends.
Jacobi suddenly springs into action on the screen and uppercuts the boy in the face, making him crash to the ground and cradle his face. Jacobi carries on and jumps on top of him before pummeling more punches towards his nose, with the other boy desperately trying to get in a few swats to protect himself. This scuffle continues for a few more minutes until eventually another teacher manages to break them up and haul them along to separate rooms.
Robby turns towards Jacobi, who was now sitting sideways and looking out of the window with his arms crossed.
"What on earth makes you think it is okay to attack someone like that, Jacobi?" Robby questions angrily, grabbing Jacobi's arm and turning him towards him. Jacobi looks away.
Robby lets out a deep breath of frustration as he lets go of Jacobi.
"Now, Mr Robinavitch, of course what Jacobi did was out of order and will have major consequences. Thankfully, the other boy's parents are just as angry with their son for the horrific comment he made and so will not be pressing any charges. So, I think the best course of action will be a five day suspension to give Jacobi some time to calm down. I believe he is not fully to blame, but we need to be sure that this will never happen again." The principal explains.
Robby nods, "I can assure you Mr Cody that this will never happen again, I will personally make sure."
Principle Cody nods back and shakes Robby's hand, this being a signal for him to take Jacobi home. As Robby gets up to leave, Jacobi stays seated and kicks his backpack away angrily from under the chair. Robby leans down and picks up the backpack, at the same time pulling Jacobi up and leading him towards the door. He manages to get Jacobi into the car where he lies face down on the back seats and hides his face from the world.
"Yeah don't worry, just get blood all over the seats." Robby says quietly under his breath, realising he probably needs to cool off a bit.
He tries to question Jacobi on the drive home, but the silence received says everything.
As he pulls up into the driveway, Jacobi hurriedly opens the door and runs inside, past a startled Jack and up into his room, where he slams the door shut. Robbie slumps in after him and shakes his head at Jack, who sighs.
"Seems like it went really well. The blood all over his face and everything." Jack says lowly, trying to bring some humor into the depressing environment.
Robby flops down on the sofa and groans out loud.
"Hey look, we'll give him some time to calm down and then I'll go and talk to him okay." Jack says calmly, rubbing Robby's arms
They sit on the sofa together for a while and finish their film until Robby has to go back out to pick Liam up from school. Jack chooses this moment to try and talk to Jacobi while the house is quiet.
He picks up his crutches and moves carefully up the stairs, finally reaching Jacobi's room and pushing the door open. Jacobi is sat on his bed watching something on his iPad, ignoring Jack. Unbothered, Jack sits himself down next to his grandson and watches him closely, surveying the dried blood still on his face.
"So, I heard about today buddy. Wanna talk about it?" Jack questions.
"Not massively…" Jacobi replies quietly, turning his iPad off. Jack thanks his lucky stars that Jacobi is actually cooperating with him. He can sense some guilt in the air.
"Look man, what you did was totally wrong and don’t think that there won't be consequences. But I don't think anyone would be able to not react after what that boy said to you. That was horrible." Jack said softly, looking into Jacobi's sad and pale eyes. Jacobi nodded.
Jack turns slightly more stern now, "I know grandad was really angry earlier, but we just want to help you. This can't ever happen again. Never."
Jacobi looks away and Jack pulls his face back towards him.
"I want you to apologise to grandad when he gets back later and then write a letter of apology to the boy who you attacked as well."
"Okay, I'm sorry, okay." Jacobi mutters, tears forming in his eyes. This is the most emotional Jack has ever seen him and it hurt him to see the grief so raw on this poor boy. But, this did mean that he was making progress with him, and that was good.
Jack nodded, solemnly.
"Okay, let's go and get you cleaned up and get all the blood off your face…"
And so, as Jack and Jacobi head towards the bathroom and Jack wipes the blood off his face with a warm and wet flannel, he felt as if progress had been made, even in the darkest of situations. He hoped that this could continue. That this was a start towards making Jacobi more open and happy.