Prologue

When Jeremy Redbird was seven years old, he was involved in the ruthless King of the street competition.

Kyle Matthews was going to High School, so he would have to pass on the title of King of Evergreen Terrace to the rightful winner.

Now, Jeremy wasn't the sportiest kid, but he was fast when he wanted to be, and got all the new sneakers (three sizes too big so they would last longer. His toes would literally have to be bursting out of the shoes for his Father to reluctantly hand over a new pair.) before any of the other kids.

Puffing and panting, he made his way around the estate for the third and final time.

His feet audibly slapped against the ground, as his calf muscles contracted into a sore uselessness.

But he kept going, because he was neck and neck with Lane Morris, and he wasn't about to loose to Lane Morris.

Grinning, Jeremy sprinted towards the finish line.

And just as he got there, Lane Morris stuck his foot out, and laughed as Jeremy hit the ground.

Tasting blood in his mouth, Jeremy sat up, and looked down.

His entire right leg was bloody and gravel stuck to his skin, stinging like hell.

Gingerly, he touched a bit with his fingers, and then he seemed to realise how much it actually hurt.

Sobs erupted from him, as he howled in pain.

But the other kids just laughed, and cheered on Lane Morris as their new King of the street.

Picking himself up, Jeremy hobbled to his house.

His mother heard him before she saw him.

And rushing out, she bent down to his level and examined his leg.

Kissing his cheek, she brought him inside, and sat him down in the kitchen, where he explained everything through loud sobs, and she rifled through the first aid kit.

It was a wonder she could understand a word Jeremy was saying, but it was a language Maria Redbird had become accustomed to.

"There now darling," she said soothingly, lifting his leg onto her lap so she could pick out the gravel with a tweezers.

Once the gravel had been removed, and Jeremy had gotten his much deserved buttery toast for being such a brave boy, there came the hard part.

The iodine.

It was the equivalent of someone getting a blow torch and firing it at your leg and then saying "There is that better?"

And Jeremy's mother knew how much he hated it by the end of it.

And then, as he sat on his mothers lap with his leg bandaged up, a glass of milk beside him, he began to tell his mother all about how Lane Morris had tripped him up and how he should have won and the names the other kids called him.

He cried into her jumper, while she rubbed gentle circles on his back and rested her jaw on his head.

Maria Redbird tucked him into her, hugging him tightly.

She shielded him from the rest of the world, because for those few seconds her son didn't need to know just how crueler it could be.

As she gently pulled his tiny body against hers, she said the words he had heard so often, yet never really paid attention to until that day.

"You're lovely, you're loveable and you're loved."

It was the last time she ever said those words.

Sniffling, he looked up at her and have her a small smile.

Then she made crackling bread as a treat.

Then Daddy came home and told Jeremy how proud he was of him, proud that Jeremy was brave when Mommy was fixing up his leg, and said that Jeremy wasn't to worry, he'd have a talk with Lane Morris's father.

Lane Morris never tripped him up again after his father went over to their house.

Then Jacob Redbird told him and his mother that he had had a big sell that day at the shop, so they'd go out to dinner tomorrow night to celebrate.

The next day, Jeremy found out that his mother had been shot dead. All because she wouldn't give some psycho her purse.

The killer was never found.

That's why Jeremy went into Law Enforcement.

He never told anyone that story.

Apart from Amy.


A/N: So, I noticed that there are no Jeremy/Amy fics, so I decided to start this collection of drabbles!

Orignally, this was meant to be a long one-shot, but I decided to break it up.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed!

Please comment your thoughts- I'd love to hear them!

-Mia

Xx