Justice

Disclaimer: I don't own High Mountain Rangers or Jesse Hawkes, not making any money, just cheap thrills.

Warnings: Angst

Rating: FRT

Justice
Chapter 10


The rest of the ride was made in silence and if it wasn't the comfortable silence of the past, it was close enough. Matt pulled up, holding his hand up for silence, he quickly took in the scene. He hadn't expected Cody to greet him, but there should have been some indication of life, not this all encompassing silence.

Dropping silently from the horse's back, he headed towards the front of the cabin, while Robin echoed his movements as she worked her way to the back of the cabin. Mentally counting down, he burst through the front door as Robin came in the back. It only took a moment to spot the note on his father's desk, bringing a sheepish smile to his face. "Looks like they went for a walk," he spoke over his shoulder.

Robin sighed, her lips twitching with humor. "So we can stand down?"

He shook his head, he'd known she wouldn't let it go. "Smartass."

She shrugged, "Want me to stick around?"

He considered it, company would be nice but then again.... "Better not, I don't know how Cody would handle having company," he quickly explained.

Robin nodded, "Yeah, he didn't seem to like being at the station too much." Stepping closer, she gave Matt a quick hug. "If you guys need anything you know where to find me and that goes for Frank too."

"Thanks Robin," he smiled sadly. On those days when he had considered going back to the mountains, this hadn't even been in the realm of possibility. They were supposed to come back because he was ready to be in Tahoe again or to attend Frank or Robin's weddings, not so his little brother could heal from an ordeal he should never have had to endure.

"Just remember Matt, you and your Dad have to take care of yourselves too if you're going to be any help to Cody." Leaving him with that thought in his head, she went back outside and climbed on her horse. Normally she would have offered to help with getting the horses settled, but she had a feeling Matt could use the distraction.

The sound of the horses nickering brought him out of his musing and he headed outside to get things settled. Working with practiced ease, he had soon unburdened the horses, unsaddled them, brush them down and turned them loose in the corral. Letting the horses refamiliarize themselves with the place, he headed inside to put things away. He was determined that he would have it done and supper started by the time his father and brother returned.

******************************************

Jesse had spent an indeterminate amount of time comforting his youngest. He had hoped that once the boy was calmed, he'd be able to tell him what had spooked him so badly. It wasn't to be. Even after he had calmed, Cody still shook too hard to write properly, leaving Jesse to guess as to what the problem was. Wisely deciding to wait, he reluctantly released his son. "Ready to head back to the cabin?" he gently asked.

Cody chewed on his lip. How could he risk them? But where else could he go? He didn't even know where master's cabin had been and there was nowhere in these mountains his father couldn't find him. He gave a hesitant nod.

"Come on then, maybe that brother of your's will be there by the time we get back," Jesse smiled, ignoring the hesitance. "He's probably waiting for us to fix him supper," he joked. He sighed, the timid smile he received hurting more than he could say. Cody had never been a loud child, but he couldn't remember a time when his son had been so shy and timid. That was the wrong word though, wasn't it, he thought to himself. Frightened was a much better description of the expression Cody wore and it tore his heart in two to see it.

Swallowing his fear, Cody followed his father back to the cabin. He stopped when he saw the horses in the corral, a genuine smile crossing his face at the sight of the familiar animals. As if being pulled by an invisible rope, he veered from the path, making a beeline for the corral.

Jesse smiled, he hoped this was a good sign. "Why don't you go say hi to the horses and I'll see what Matt's doing," he suggested. He might as well have been talking to the air. By the time he'd finished speaking, Cody had covered half the distance to the corral. Watching him, he took a moment to savor the first sign of the old Cody he'd seen since they'd found him. Reluctantly he turned away and went inside, "Something smells good," he commented as he stepped inside.

Matt peaked his head from the kitchen, "Just some canned stew," he smiled. "Where's Cody?" he asked, the good humor leaving his voice abruptly.

"Calm down Matt, he's just outside with the horses," Jesse quickly soothed. "How long have you been here?"

"Not too long. Did you have a good walk?"

"Yeah," Jesse nodded. "I wasn't planning on it, but it was pretty obvious that Cody wasn't ready to be here yet so..."

"You thought a walk would do him good," Matt finished with a small smile.

He nodded, "Something like that. It went pretty well too, we had a good talk until something spooked him. I haven't found out what yet."

"Talked?" Matt asked in a voice filled with hope. "How long has he been talking? What got him to?"

Jesse sighed, he hadn't meant to get Matt's hopes up so high. "I'm sorry Matt, I shouldn't have said that. He wasn't talking exactly, but I did convince him that he could talk to us by writing his words down."

Matt bit back his disappointment, it was a start after all. "That's something...what did he say?"

"Not anything I wanted to hear," Jesse nearly growled.

"Dad?"

He shook his head, "Sorry son, I just get so damned mad when I think about what your brother's been put through." He rubbed a hand over his face, dropping down into his chair. "He's convinced that if he doesn't go back to Rassy the man will kill us."

Matt frowned, "Doesn't he realize that Rassy is in prison?"

"I don't know." Lord he was tired and this battle was only just beginning. "I told him that; I don't think it did much good. I don't know how we're going to get through to him, to break his conditioning," he admitted.

Matt didn't like what he was hearing. He couldn't remember ever hearing his father sounding so defeated before. Even all those weeks when Cody was missing. When they didn't even know if he was alive or dead. Through it all, no matter how many nightmares they both suffered, no matter how many dead ends they came up against, his dad had never given up. To see him like this, so obviously scared, his whole demeanor screaming defeat...it scared him in ways he couldn't describe.

Hands on his hips, he stared down at his father. "Is this the way a Marine handles his problems?" he demanded.

Jesse looked up, startled as much by the question as the tone. "Watch your tone boy," he warned the younger man. Maybe he'd made mistakes and God knew he'd failed his youngest in the worst way, but that didn't give Matt the right to talk to him like this.

"Or what?" Matt asked, daring the older man to do something about it.

Jesse stood up, glaring at his son, "You're not so big that I can't put you over my knee."

"You won't though, you're too busy feeling sorry for yourself and giving up," Matt accused. He ignored the sharp gasp from his father and the hurt in his eyes. He hated doing this, but he couldn't let his dad give up. If Jesse gave up, Matt was sure, they would lose Cody for good and if that happened, his father would follow.

All of the anger, frustration and fear he'd felt since this nightmare had begun formed into a cold ball of ice in his gut. It hurt, like a physical blow and like any other animal when hurting, Jesse struck out. With one well placed blow to the jaw, he knocked Matt to the floor.

"Stop it!" Cody yelled from the doorway. He'd come inside, finally having worked up his nerve, only to see his father attacking his brother. He didn't know how it had come to this, but somehow he knew it was connected to him. For that split second of shock and fear, he forgot the order from his master. By the time his family had turned his way, he had a hand over his mouth as he instinctively cowered on the floor, waiting for the blow to fall.

As one, they turned to the door, too shocked to move at first. Jesse was the first to recover. Reigning in the urge to rush to Cody's side, he moved slowly so he wouldn't frighten him more so than he already was. "Cody, it's okay son," he spoke softly, reaching out with one hand to stroke down his arm. Fear stared back at him from deep blue eyes, seemingly darker in the pale face of his youngest. He wondered how many times his heart could break and yet continue beating. "Nobody's going to hurt you son," he promised.

Cody wanted to believe him, at one time he would have believed without question. That was before master had taught him better. Before he had seen his father hit his brother with a closed fist, something he'd never seen before.

"He's telling you the truth Toad," Matt spoke up from near the couch. He wanted to go to his brother, but at that moment he wasn't sure of the reaction he would get. The last thing he wanted was to spook Cody into running. In the condition he was in, there was no telling what might happen to him out there.

Cody stared at him in disbelief.

Matt let go a bark of laughter, "You're pretty good at communicating without words. I know what you saw Cody, but I kind of pushed Dad into a corner," he matter of factly explained.

He tilted his head, his eyes moving between the two men as if he were trying to determine if the danger was past. Satisfied that it was, he let himself relax a bit. A part of him was still waiting for the blow that hadn't come for his disobedience.

"You ready to eat?" Jesse asked. He wanted to praise him for talking. Hell, he wanted to beg him to say more, to point out that Rassy hadn't done anything nor had the world ended. He held back, however, some instinct telling him to let it go for now. If Cody came to the realization on his own, it would more likely sink in, allowing him to make the first break in the conditioning he had endured.

Cody nodded. Taking Jesse's hand, he let his father pull him back to his feet. Nothing more was said that night about what had happened, but something in the air had changed. Even more than getting Cody to communicate on paper had done, his words had given them back the hope they'd lost that they would succeed in bringing their youngest back to them from the hell Rassy had tried to sentence him to.

Hope y'all liked this chapter, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it. I think their will probably only be one more chapter after this. I'll try not to take too long...now where have y'all heard that before? ;)