The Unknown Child (An Arrow and Flash fanfic)

Jason's Pain

I get to the water tower in five minutes but he's already there. Standing in our spot. I stop a couple feet away. "Jason? Or Jack?" I ask quietly. I look at him and see bruises down his jawline to his neck. His knuckles are bloody and I can't tell if he's hurt anywhere else because he has a jacket and jeans. "It's me Mel. It's Jason." I gasp and run to him, he catches me up in mid stride. He holds me in his arms and I bury my face in the crook of his neck and breath in his familiar scent. I feel his hands stroking the back of my hair soothingly as I started to cry. "I missed you" he whispered into my ear.

We stayed in the embrace for over 10 minutes. I didn't say anything and neither did Jason. He just held me in his arms and stroked my hair. Finally I pull away and look him in the eye. I can see in his eyes that he's in pain. "What happened to you Jason?" At this point we would usually climb the latter to the water tower and sit up there but I didn't move and neither did he. "I have a brother," he said and then burst into tears. I quickly move over to him and stroke his hair as he did to mine. "You'll be okay. Everything will be okay," I whisper and we fall to the ground. I sit there as he cried stroking his hair and soothing him.

When he stops crying he looks up to me, "He tried to kill you and your still here?" I can't help but give a laugh without humor, "Of course I'm still here." My facial expression and tone if voice becomes serious when I speak again, "That wasn't you Jason. The man who tried to kill me wasn't you. Jason it was never your fault, I know you and you would never hurt me." I can feel myself beginning to shake as I started to cry. Soon we were both crying again. "Come on," I say getting up. I hold out my hand to him and he takes it. I pull him to his feet and we walk back to my car together. "Melanie where are we going?" He asks as we get in the car. "Somewhere that you'll be safe. Somewhere that we both will." I drive down towards the Queen mansion. Jason stays silent the rest of the ride. When we get there I stop in front of the house and just sit there.

"What happened Jason?" I ask turning to face him. For a while he said nothing he just sat there staring out the window. Then he spoke as if he were a robot speaking, "When I left your house after I found out about you and Oliver Queen being related I went down to the boxing ring. When I got your text I left right away. As I got close to your house I got the feeling someone was following me so I turned to see someone who looked exactly like me. He knocked me out and when I came to he said he was my twin brother Jack and my parents gave him up and kept me. He said that he had a mission to kill you." He takes a deep breath and looks at me. I can see a mix of things in his eyes; hurt, anger, sadness, and something else that I couldn't detect. "I was so worried that you were dead. So when they told me you weren't, I was so relieved that I didn't care what happened to me. Then, they started to beat me. They beat until I told them what I knew about you or your whereabouts. I didn't tell them about Oliver though, I managed to keep that to myself so hopefully you would have a chance at being safe. I didn't want you to end up dead because I told them what I knew about you."

I couldn't move. I didn't know if it was because I was in shock or if I was so angry I was frozen. "I don't blame you," I say though clenched teeth, "I blame them." I take deep breath to try to calm myself. I open the door to my car and get out, Jason follows me silently. I walked in to find Roy, Thea, Barry, and Caitlin in the living room. When I walk into the room everyone turns to me and Jason. Thea's eyes go wide as she takes in Jason injuries, "What happened?" she demanded. I give a summary of what happened to Jason. Thea quickly rushes him to what I would guess as infirmary part to the mansion. Barry rushes to me with Roy following. "Are you okay?" Barry says taking my face into his hands. I lean in and close my eyes. "Yeah Barry I'm fine."

Barry pulls away from me and smiles. Roy rushes in and hugs me, "You idiot." He says. I hug him back and then pull away, "I was fine Roy, I was never in any danger" I say laughing at him. He just glares at me jokingly. "Next time bring me with you," Barry says, "At least I can protect you if you get into any danger." I turn to look at him and smile, I can't help it. He looks at me with worry and something else that I can't quite identify. "I've lived in The Glades my whole life. I can handle a little gang." Roy and Barry both give doubtful looks, "I can!" I say with a smile. Jason and Thea walk back into the room. Jason is looking better already his knuckles are cleaned and his bruises are lighter than they looked. "You should get some rest," I say walking over to Jason, "We have plenty of room but you can stay in mine for now. Follow me." As I walk away I catch Barry turning away and looking almost mad... No jealous. Maybe both.

I show him up to my room, "You can sleep here" I say and direct him to the bed. I hadn't notice till now that he was wearing different clothes. He was dressed in a grey T-shirt and jeans, which made it easier to see that his arms were covered in bruises as well. "Melanie I don't want to sleep" he says. He gets up and walks over to me, "Jason you need to rest." I say walking away from him, "I have things I need to do anyways." He looks at me and sighs, "Alright. I'll sleep if you stay here until I fall asleep." I narrow my eyes and eventually sigh. "Fine," there was no arguing with him at this point. "But just until you fall asleep." I crawl into the bed next to him.

"Melanie why did you take the chance? You sent me the text not knowing whether it would be me or my bro- Jack. Why?" He turns to face me. I look into his eyes and see the sadness in them. I could tell how worried he was about me. "Because Jason, you are my best friend. I had to take the risk. I had to find you and save you from that lunatic," I tell him truthfully. He was right, I did take a big risk texting him and I wasn't sure if it would even be him. But what I did know was that Jason Lackey was my best friend. He'd stayed by my side no matter what. I knew that I would take those risks ten times over to save his life. "Thank you Melanie. You are my best friend and I don't know what I would do without you," his tone sounds tired and I had a feeling Thea have gave him some sort of sleeping medicine.

I keep my promise to Jason and stay until he falls asleep. Even after I stay and watch him sleep. I always liked watching him sleep. When Jason was awake he was so guarded even with me and when he was asleep those walls seem to fall. He looks vulnerable and innocent. He looks young and handsome, although even if I didn't feel the way he wanted me to I had to admit he was handsome. I'd always known it. I quickly get out of the bed and walk over to the door. I throw a quick glance to make sure Jason hadn't woken up and then I open the door quietly slip out of the room.