Swear Jars

sorry in advanced for the badly written chapter, but please please read the a/n at the end of the chapter. 

~

"Maddie, come on!" Millie shouted as she skated past her for the third time. Zane was right behind her. 

"You two go ahead; I'm going to get some water!" Maddie waves them off. 

But she watched. She watched as Zane held Millie's hand and started skating faster, pulling her along. Millie's laugh was louder than it had been since she'd come back from Washington. 

Maddie was letting her and Zane interact without being right in the middle. Ever since Bobby had been suspended, Millie had decided she wasn't going to go to work with her dad. Even she understood that if something were to happen to her while Chimney was Captain, she'd never forgive herself. She didn't want that on her conscience, or Chim's. 

Maddie had set up a schedule with Eddie, Carla, and Abuela so that Millie was always with one of them. It gave her the perfect opportunity to reintroduce Zane to her at smaller intervals. It worked too. 

Millie and Zane had become closer than their parents hoped for. Eddie heard all about what they did every day. Most days were spent at the skating rink. Millie had gotten good and could now go around Maddie in circles quickly. Zane, of course, had played hockey as a younger kid and went skating regularly, so he was teaching Millie everything he knew. 

This specific day, he was teaching her to skate backwards. Maddie watched from the side, the smile never leaving her own face. 

She hadn't seen Zane so happy, ever. He spent weeks moping around while he healed. He spent weeks doing nothing but hiding in his room and avoiding everyone except his mom and, occasionally, Buck. 

But it's been a couple of months, and everyone is healed. He spends more time out of his room and with Maddie. He's in therapy because even though he says he's okay, Maddie knows better. He still hadn't talked about the weeks leading up to Doug stabbing Chimney and kidnapping her. He avoids all conversations about it. In fact, he doesn't even talk about his father at all. He's never mentioned him since Maddie told him what had happened after he'd gotten shot. 

Maddie wasn't going to push; she just hoped that therapy was helping. She hoped that maybe one day he'd open up to her. 

~

Two hours later, Maddie is finally able to get the two of them out of the skating rink, with a promise of pizza for dinner and ice cream afterwards. But it was still a couple of hours away from an acceptable dinner time, so they were heading to an arcade that Zane had gotten her to agree to. It was the one that he used to spend every day at when he'd first moved to California, and he was hoping that Jensen would be there. 

He hadn't talked to him since the day they spent hours playing basketball. He wanted him to be at the arcade. He needed to explain. He needed to tell him that everything was okay. Tell him why he hadn't texted. Jensen had always seemed more aware of what was going on than he ever spoke of, but Zane never told him anything huge, so he really had no idea if Jensen would even want to see him. 

"Mom, I'm going to head to the basketball games," Zane says once they finally make it into the actual arcade. 

"Alright, just check in every so often. We can't stay too long; I've got to drop Millie off before seven." 

"Right," Zane shrugged before slipping away. 

Maddie and Millie turned to look at each other, but ignored it and shrugged off his awkwardness. They headed to the dance game, Millie rambling about how she was going to win. 

Zane sat by the basketball game for almost twenty minutes when he heard a familiar laugh. 

Jensen. 

He was here. If Zane could guess, he'd say the other boy was right behind him. 

He stood, taking a deep breath before turning towards the other boy. "Hey, J." He grinned. 

Jensen and the girl next to him both stopped laughing immediately. The girl took one look at their faces before mumbling a quick goodbye to Jensen and all but running away. 

Zane's smile dropped the longer the two just stood there staring. "What are you doing here?" Jensen finally spoke. 

"It's a public space, isn't it?" 

Jensen rolled his eyes. "Sure, but why are you here now?" 

"Does that matter? I'm sorry we haven't talked, but I'm here now, everything's fine." Zane shrugged.

Jensen shook his head, "No, everything isn't fine. I haven't seen or heard from you in months, and then you show up randomly at the only place we ever hung out. You look totally different, by the way, so even though you want me to pretend everything is okay, it isn't. I can tell." 

Zane looked down at his shoes. He knew that he was right. He knew that he was different now; his hair was a lot longer than it was the last time he saw Jensen. He did that to hide the cuts and scars he'd gotten from his father. 

"Kendall-" 

"Don't call me that!" His head snapped up, and he glared at the boy. 

Jensen jumped back, "Jeez, okay." He sighed. "Will you tell me where you've been? Tell me how you got that scar?" He pointed at the four-inch scar that was going in a slight zig-zag line down the side of his face. 

"I've just had some family stuff going on, alright? I found my mom and my uncle, and I've been staying with them. That's the only reason I haven't been back." He lied easily. 

Jensen was quick to change tactics. "So, what? You don't have a phone anymore? Couldn't text or call?" 

"No, can we talk about something else? I swear I'll tell you everything, but I just don't have the time today." Zane sighed as his eyes found Millie, who was skipping toward them. 

"Zay!" Millie shouted, a huge grin on her face as she shoved a rubber chicken in his hands. "Do you think Buck would be annoyed with this at home?" 

"Sorry," He mouthed to Jensen over Millie's head, who stood back with a frown on his face. 

Zane squeezed the chicken once, and the most annoying sound ever hit his ears. He pushed it back into her hands. "Probably not if it's yours, but it'll annoy the shit out of me, so please throw it away." 

Millie's eyes widened, "You said a naughty word, that's money in the jar." She whispered as his mother neared. 

Jensen coughs to try covering his laugh, but he fails. Zane snatched the rubber chicken and hit his friend in the arm with it. "Hey! Don't laugh, it's a serious thing for her." He glares.

"I was laughing because of the look on your face. I, too, take swear jars very seriously." Jensen says, nudging Millie's shoulder. 

"My daddy adds money to it every day," Millie says innocently, as she takes a closer step to Zane. 

A normal person wouldn't notice, but Zane noticed everything. He caught the way Millie's eyes grew slightly wider when Jensen touched her. He caught the small step she took towards him. 

"When I was younger, my older brother was always putting money in ours. I got a lot of new toy cars with his money." Jensen grins as he thinks back to the time his brother had to put twenty dollars' worth in one day.  

"My little brother never says bad words, but sometimes I do, and my dad and Buck make me take money from my piggy bank." Millie sighed as Maddie stopped on the other side of Zane.

"Zaney, how about just eating pizza here? We've got to get back earlier than I was planning." The way his mom spoke gave him chills. 

He looked at Millie, who was conversing with Jensen still, before he moved closer to his mom. "What happened?" 

"I don't know, Buck just said that they had an emergency on call and that Eddie would be picking the kids up in an hour." Zane nodded, understanding. 

"Is it all right if he joins us?" He asks as he looks back at Millie and Jensen, who had begun a game of basketball. 

"I'd like to know his name first." Maddie laughed. 

"Jensen, he's someone I met when my da-" He stopped, his mouth becoming dry instantly. 

Maddie nodded, "I know, sweetheart, it's alright. You guys play a game or two, and I'll get the food." 

"Thank you, mama." He kissed her cheek before joining the other two, taking Millie's side to help her out. 

~

~

Forty minutes later, Maddie pulls into Isabel Diaz's driveway. "Alright, sweetheart, I'll see you soon, okay?" She turns to look at the girl in the backseat. 

"I don't wanna go," Millie mumbled, annoyed that she was being forced to come back early. 

She was supposed to be with Maddie until bedtime. 

She watched Christopher playing with something on the porch. Her grandmother was sitting on the swing, watching her already. 

"We'll see you again soon, right? Your dad's ceremony is only a few days away." Maddie says. 

The girl slumped back in her seat, crossing her arms. She knew the second she got out of the car, her mood would be affected. She'd had such a good day with Maddie and Zane. She didn't want anything to ruin it. 

"Can't we have a sleepover? Please?" She begged. 

"Soon, sweetheart. I promise." Maddie says, giving the girl a small smile. 

"I think your dad's here," Zane interrupts, pointing at the truck that had pulled up to the curb. 

Millie scrambled to get the seatbelt off now. No one told her that her dad was coming early. By the time she got her seatbelt off and her backpack on her shoulders, Eddie was opening the door.

"Thanks, Mads." He says, nodding at her. 

"Anytime. Bye, Mills." 

"Bye-Bye Maddie!" Millie leaned over the seats and hugged her. "Bye, Zay." She added, poking his cheek. 

"Come on, bug," Eddie says. 

Millie wraps her arms around his neck as he lifts her out of the car. "Hi, Daddy," she says. 

"Hi, baby. How was your day?" He asks. 

"It was so much fun. We went to the arcade! And I got a chic-" She stopped and frowned, remembering she'd left the rubber chicken on the backseat of Maddie's car. 

"That's great, baby." He mumbled, setting her on the porch next to Christopher. 

Millie turned to her brother and hugged him, while also waving at Abuela, who was still sitting on the porch swing. "Hi Chrissy, did you have fun?" She asked. 

"Yeah!" Her brother exclaimed, a toothy grin on his face. 

"I need to tell you two something," Eddie jumps in, kneeling on the step below them. 

Millie's smile turned into a frown as she turned her attention back to her dad. He wasn't smiling anymore. She noticed the redness in his eyes. Like her own eyes after she'd been crying. 

"What's wrong, daddy? Why are you sad?" She asked. 

Eddie looks to his grandmother, and she gives him a reassuring nod. He sighs and looks back at his children. "Something bad happened today," he says as he lifts Chris into his lap and sits next to Millie. 

"Did someone get hurt?" Christopher asked, looking up at his father. 

"Yeah, bud. We got a call today about an accident." He stops, not sure how to say it. "Your mom was there." 

Millie stopped messing with her shoelaces then. She looked over at her dad and her brother. Christopher was still so happy. He didn't understand yet. She did, and she knew that her father knew she did. That's why he nodded at her, silently telling her to join Abuela. "I'm sorry, daddy." She whispered, hugging him quickly. 

Sitting next to her grandmother, she leaned against her shoulder. "Do you think that Shannon is in Heaven?" She asked quietly.

Abuela wrapped her arm over the girl's shoulders, "I believe she is, Mi Amor. I believe she's looking over your daddy and your brother already." 

"What about me? Do you think she'll watch over me, even though she wasn't my mom?" 

Abuela squeezed her shut, trying to keep her tears hidden. "I don't know, Mil, I hope so. She spent years raising you; she was the only mom you knew." 

Millie frowned, "I don't want her to watch me, she was mean to me, and she wasn't my mom," she whispered as she watched her dad stand, her brother still in his arms.

Abuela stayed silent, just holding Millie closer to her as Eddie and Christopher joined them. 

~

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A/N: very short chapter im sorry. The episode this was based on wasn't very interesting other than the ending, so I didn't feel like writing a full chapter on it. But we got more Maddie/Zane and Zane/Jensen who you will be seeing more of come season three. 

Another reason the chapter is so short is because my dad passed away unexpectedly last friday, so I haven't felt motivated to write. i dont know when I'll be back to a semi normal updating schedule, but I'm just going write whenever I feel up for it. i don't know when the next chapter will be out. 

I really was on a roll with this fic too, I have the first three or four chapters of season three already planned, but I didnt plan on my dad dying, so idk. I'm sorry. I love you all so so much and thank you for all the love and support on this fic. 

I never expected all of this when i started writing it. But, Millie means the whole world to me and i love her, so never think i gave up on writing her story because oh do i have some stuff lined up for her in later seasons. 

sorry for the rant. again thank you for reading and voting and i'll update as soon as I can focus enough to get a whole chapter out. 

- Kammy