59.

(Unpolished)

Tohubohu

(noun)

chaos; disorder; confusion

Example: The thanksgiving holiday in the Powers household was destined to be tohubohu.

Protect yourself from Mayhem, like me.

———

Two-ish.

Weeks.

Later.

Thanksgiving break could not come soon enough.

It was another Thursday night special, one whole week before the actual great day of eating delicious turkey and stuffing, corn, sweet potatoes, and all the other finger-licking good foods like chicken tenders and french fries and cookies and bread.

Just kidding, no french fries are on the menu.

Okay, fully kidding. No chicken tenders needed, either. There was full expectation that Hayes would eat the turkey.

But instead of a pre-thanksgiving turkey trial tonight, Peyton volunteered to make her infamous meatloaf dish. It was her craving of the past few weeks to which she had perfected the recipe this go-around, according to her experimental taste-tester husband. Last month, she was hooked on eggplant lasagna.

Of course the pickiest eater of the family didn't enjoy the lasagna, but from past experience, Austin wasn't so sure it would be only Sunshine on strike tonight.

Meatloaf wasn't a fan favorite amongst some of the siblings, but Peyton's happiness was important as Baker religiously followed 'happy wife, happy life' which meant his brothers appeased her as well.

If it is meatloaf she wants, then meatloaf it be.

But fear not, there was a masterplan in place. As like in the past years when Peyton's food kicks were interesting, to say the least, they waited until Baker finally caved and admitted he couldn't handle eating any more of the scrumptious meal and then it quickly turned into a cereal fest for dinner.

This week, like the past few weeks, the family dinner was being held at Austin's home rather than Baker's house. It was just easier on everyone, as Austin didn't have to rush the kids to take showers after their sports practices before heading right back out the door.

Instead, the siblings used the extra time for last-minute studying and assignment completion that had piled up and was due before their school went on vacation the following Tuesday. Or, they were suppose to be using their time wisely.

Unsurprisingly, that was in reference to Francis and Hayes, the competing procrastination queens of the family.

At least Francis kind of, sort-of, had an excuse for his recent distraction. Yesterday was national signing day for seniors who were committed to a collegiate sports team, and that meant Francis! It was an exciting moment for the young brother, with all his siblings surrounding him as he signed his life away for the next four years. This included Baker who stopped by while on-shift and also Sonny, though he hadn't been able to attend in flesh, he had been facetimed in.

No one was prouder than Austin of his teen brother. All that long hours of hard work paid off. He was officially officially signed to play baseball in college.

It was impossible to tell who was more excited, Francis or Emerson? As now, they would be teammates again.

So now senioritis was hitting Francis full force, as if it wasn't already. Austin already knew it was going to be even more of a battle next semester with getting the teen to do his homework.

Unlike Francis' valid excuse, Hayes would just much rather prefer reading her new books. Though, she had been warned by Austin about a possible book ban until Thanksgiving break if she kept up her poor decision making.

How rude.

Glen, on the other hand, was rocking. His mind and mood has been in good shape, high spirits. Got to love the honeymoon stage. He had no troubles getting his homework done or acing his tests. He has been spending a decent amount of time with Baker on the weekend or texting on the phone, and even hung out with Dakota a couple times.

Kota was preemptively teaching him how to properly use the punching bag, because no doubt the kid would use it in the future. And Austin was adamant about no more broken bones from Glen so he needed to learn how to throw a proper punch. One broken thumb under his care was more than enough.

The only thing that wasn't really going in his favor, was his relationship with Colton. In fact, nothing has happened. Zilch. Zero. The brothers still haven't talked more than necessary, which meant really just at basketball practice and the odd comment here and there at the house. At least they still sat next to each other at the dinner table.

The two eldest brothers were aware, and because of this, Glen made a dangerous deal with Baker that the boy had until the end of Tuesday, when it was officially Thanksgiving Break, to make an attempt to talk with Colton, or then Austin and Baker would step in and do something about it. Glen was a bit skeptical about what that meant exactly but honestly at this point, it could go either way. He tended to psyche himself out about it.

"Smiley, Sunshine. You guys okay? Baker and Peyton will be here in a couple minutes," Austin announced to the kitchen crew from where he hovered in the threshold. Having just finished up his own work that followed him home from the office, he was about to head upstairs to his bedroom to get changed into more comfortable clothes.

"Yeah, all good," Glen replied with an easy-going grin. He paused from where he was putting away the unneeded stack of plates into the cabinet and turned his head to the doorway. "Eight people, right?"

"Yep," Austin confirmed, his eyes squinting suspiciously along with the grin he subconsciously returned. His gaze flicked to his little sister who was unloading the utensils from the dishwasher. "Thanks for your help, Buddy. I'm sure Hayes appreciates it."

Hayes' back was turned towards her eldest brother, hiding the dissent on her face as shown by her cute scrunched-up nose. Her opinion was rather that Glen was being more annoying than helpful.

"No problemo," Glen said.

"Alright, well I'm going to go get changed." Austin informed them.

Glen nodded, "Okay."

"Okay."

Glen snickered when he saw that Austin was still standing there. "Bye."

"Okay," Austin said again. He glanced around the kitchen one more time before excusing himself, leaving the two siblings to finish their chores.

Perhaps a better word to use than chore was punishment, at least for the young girl. Hayes earned it as a little discipline from being quite the sass mouth since she got home from practice. And since she was adamant against not wanting to shower yet, Austin put her attitude to work.

Good-boy Glen simply volunteered, because he had nothing else to do. Besides annoy the bejesus out of his sister apparently since he hadn't shut up except for the single minute that Austin was present.

"This is the song that doesn't end

Yes, it goes on and on my friend..."

Hayes held up a fork that she had been putting away in the utensil drawer. She warned him, "Shut up, Glennard."

The brother was slowly driving his sister bananas.

B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

Not feeling very threatened, he passed by her, tugging on her ponytail as he did. Glen continued singing, if you could call it that, as he opened one of the cabinets looking for cups. He knew Hayes hated being in charge of getting the drinks, so he automatically assigned himself to the job.

"Some people started singing it

Not knowing what it was

And they'll continue singing it forever just because

This is the song that doesn't end..."

So first, the girl was going to kill Glen.

Then she would go after Abe and Theo, the lovely friends who taught Glen the song during school today. She already knew Johnna Pauli would be on her side, as her twin, Abraham, was even more irritating than Glen on a normal day.

Glen counted the glasses as he pulled them from the cabinet, frowning when he was two short. He leaned back to see around his sister, looking at the dishwasher that was wide open and still in the process of being emptied. All that remained was the desired cups.

"Yo, pass me those cannikins, will you?"

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "The can-a-what?"

Glen dramatically sighed, like this was a giant inconvenience that her vocabulary wasn't up to speed with his PSATs. He pointed to the top row of the dishwasher. "The cannikins. You know, the cups that are sitting right there."

"No, I didn't know," she snarkily replied, her sassiness still at large. But Hayes did as he requested, picking two of her favorite glasses to hand over. Both had the same identical design on it - a dog peeing on a fire hydrant. Another gag gift from one of her brothers a couple years ago that was a perfect fit for their already mismatched collection. Carefully, she passed the cups to her brother, mumbling as she did so, "butt-face."

Just for that, he kept on obnoxiously singing, full-on knowing her patience was already on its last string for him. But that was brothers for you.

Even if the brother and sister were best friends.

He forgot what line he was on so he simply started over again.

"This is the song that doesn't end

Some people started singing it

Not knowing what it was

And they'll continue singing it forever just because

This is the song that doesn't end..."

Hayes groaned when Francis' voice suddenly joined in, harmonizing with Smiley and only getting louder and louder. Of course Fran would know the song too. Add in the ice machine noise from the freezer to fill the eight drinks with crushed ice, and the girl could barely even hear herself think.

Two was maybe company.

Three was definitely a crowd.

She scowled at the mischievous smile on Fran's face, fresh from the shower, as the brother scooted around them to get to the fridge. He pulled open the refrigerator door, searching for something to munch on even though dinner was literally in 15 minutes max.

A pre-dinner snack.

Pre-supper snack?

A snapper?

Whatever you want to call it, if Austin or Colton were around, Francis would be getting a look of disapproval and a smack to the back of his head right about now. The teen knew it too, which is why as soon as he retrieved the pudding swirl he was looking for, he immediately opened the lid and began licking it like a dog since he had no spoon. Can't throw it out now, because that would be a waste.

Desperate times called for desperate measures when time was not on his side.

"Oh, Glen, I got another song for you," Francis declared, talking with a mouth full of pudding.

Nasty. Maybe he needed to go to Miss Manners school.

"You're obsession with Taylor Swift is concerning," Glen replied, predicting where Francis was heading.

"I was going to say Hannah Montana," Francis scoffed matter-of-factually, though the two youngest siblings didn't believe him for a second.

"What'd you say?" Glen raised his voice as he began filling the glasses again. Hard to hear over the sound of the ice machine crankin'-and-a-roaring.

"I said," Francis exclaimed, "Hannah Montana!"

"WHAAAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

"HANNAH MONTANA!"

The little girl had enough of the yelling, ready to bolt from the kitchen. Forget setting the table, she was out of there. Hayes bent down and lifted the door to the dishwasher, slamming it shut. Glen could finish it by himself. Turning around, she went to leave when Glen accidently bumped into her. The kid had backed away into her space when Francis started showing him how to do the Hoedown Throwdown dance. Elbows were flying super close to Glen's face.

"Pop it, lock it, polka dot it..."

"Ow, Glennard! You stepped on my fricking toe!" Hayes cried out when Glen's heavy foot crushed her socked toes, his hands full of balancing drinks.

Oh boy.

Chaos ensued.

————

"Thanks for the ride, Tanner," Dakota unbuckled his seatbelt and pushed the passenger door open. It was three hours later than his usual 4pm drop-off from work, the sky already beyond dark for the evening. It didn't help that daylight savings was already in effect so by 5pm, it felt like fucking midnight.

A fucking mess for construction sites that didn't already have the overhead lights on hand.

An even bigger mess for Dakota's sleep or lack there of.

"Yeah, no problem, man." Tanner replied. The 20-something year old was probably Dakota's best friend outside of his band of brothers. The two had first met several years ago at their construction job orientation and the rest was history. Turned out Tanner's dad was some big shot for the company so Tanner just had to show up and he'd get paid. Nonetheless, Tanner was his ride home from work more often than not, though he rarely stepped foot further than the driveway. He was more antisocial than Kota, preferring to shelter-in-place in his own apartment. "See you tomorrow."

Dakota nodded, slamming the door shut behind him.  Friday was their last day of work until after thanksgiving. He was fucking ecstatic, a whole week off to do nothing but sleep, eat, and shit. And he guessed he could hang out with his siblings. Maybe. Depended on his mood.

Kota trekked up the driveway to the front porch while digging his housekeys out of the front pocket of his backpack. The garage was closed, which was such an inconvenience, because now he'd have to detour into the kitchen to grab a water bottle out of that refrigerator instead of just swiping a drink from the fridge in the garage and then go straight upstairs to shower off the day's grime.

Such a hassle.

He yawned, always tired, nothing new.

Before he climbed the three porch steps, he hit his work boots against the wooden frame, trying to knock off any loose dirt as part of his due diligence. Austin preferred he didn't trek dirt through the house, but sometimes Dakota just couldn't be bothered to take off his shoes by the front door.

To his surprise, the door was already unlocked, so he flung it open and kicked it shut behind him. So much for stranger danger.

The ruckus of his baby siblings in the kitchen was heard loud and clear from where he stood in the foyer, contemplating about taking his boots off.

Just as quickly that a headache began to form from the yelling, the sound of glass shattering made the house go stone-cold silent.

What the fuck was that?

"Aw, shit," Francis groaned whereas Glen sucked in a sharp breath, "Oh, shit."

By the time it took for Dakota to stalk across the foyer and dining room to enter the kitchen, the after-effect was in play. Came with the territory of traumatized kids.

He scanned the room in milliseconds, trying to figure out what happened. His little sister had her back pressed firm against the kitchen counter, the drawer handle digging into her midback hard enough to leave a mark. She was pale as a ghost.

Glen was frozen next to the sink, his hands stiffly curled around the three remaining glasses of water. He wasn't looking any better off than Hayes.

Spooked.

His face read, I'm so dead.

Francis had what a normal reaction would look like, simply inconvenienced by the unfortunate event. He completed the somewhat triangle shape, standing by the chairs. His arms were frozen in an weird position, elbows bent like chicken wings. He slowly brought his hands up to his chest, trying to keep the calmness. "It's fine. Everything's fine."

Water and ice were splattered on the tile floor among the broken glass that was littered everywhere.

Fine? A walking hazard was more like it.

"The fuck did you do now, Francesca?" Dakota hissed out the accusation, his concern masked as agitation. He didn't mean to come off sounding so harsh, but his mind jumping a mile a minute as he tried to figure out what to do was enough to make him flustered.

Francis turned his head to look at him, a pleading look in his eye to not play the blame-game. He saw the reactions of his baby siblings live-time and it wasn't normal.

"It was an accident," Fran defended.

Defended who? Dakota wasn't quite sure yet.

Francis kept talking, a bit frantic now trying to keep Kota from spazzing out as he thought he didn't get the message, "No biggie. No big dealio. I'll clean it up. I just need to get shoes."

Dakota's eyes dropped to their feet. Nobody had shoes on.

"Don't move, dumbass. I'll get it" Dakota finally grumbled, already leaving the vicinity and returning in seconds. He shoved a pair of sneakers into Fran's outstretched, awaiting hands. The teen instantly bent over to slide his foot in, one at a time. In his mind, the faster he got the floor cleaned up, the faster Smiley and Sunshine would be back to their cheerful selves.

There was no denying the broken glass triggered their memories from hell.

Fran attempted to help by continuing to talk to his baby siblings. "Guys, seriously, it's alright. Don't even worry about it. I do this all the time, just ask Austin."

In their eyes, it certainly was not alright. Not with the fear of their grandfather looming over them. Didn't matter that he was dead. All sense of reality was out the door.

In Kota's left hand, he held onto a pair of white crocs. They just happened to be on top of the pile, so he grabbed it. Not the most practical thing, but he just needed to get Glen safely away from the glass.

As ordered, nobody moved. Not like Hayes and Glen had plans to flee the scene, the two looking like ghostly statues.

Dakota read Glen's silent lips.

I'm so fucking dead.

Dakota's black boots crunched on the pieces of glass as he crossed over to where the kid was; petrified. "Here, put these on," Dakota commanded, putting the crocs on the floor. He removed the three remaining drinks from Glen's hands and put them on the counter, condensation making the glasses slippery even for Kota. Then he physically had to get Glen moving, a strong grip on the kid's upper arm. "Snap out of it, Glen. You're not in danger."

"He's going to kill me," Glen breathed, as he was pulled along by Dakota to the untouched side of the kitchen by the pantry. The older brother kicked a chair out from underneath the table with his foot and directed Glen to sit down.

"No one can fucking touch you, kid." Dakota said.

One baby down, one to go.

Kota looked back to where Hayes was cowering. His eyes flicked between her and Francis who had found the dust pin under the kitchen sink and was beginning to clean the floor. It was a bit of a disaster as the water was being pushed everywhere.

He needed more help.

"Where's Austin?" Dakota asked. In his periphery, he caught the kids flinching at the name. Well that was a bucket of worms he didn't want to dive into. "And where the fuck is Colton?"

Kota distinctly remembered passing his car in the driveway because he resisted temptation to draw a dick on the somewhat dirty passenger door for Francis to see in the morning.

One would think if Cole was in his bedroom, he'd hear the noise and come investigate.

"Austin is probably in his room," Francis said, glancing up at his brother from his crouched position. "I think he was getting changed. I dunno about Colton. Shower, maybe?"

Great.

Fantastic.

Dakota casted Glen one last hard look, daring the kid to get up, before storming out of the kitchen again, back to the foyer to the bottom of the staircase. "AUSTIN! I could use some fucking help down here!"

He didn't wait for a response before returning to the kitchen. For fuck's sake, he always had to do everything around here.

"Talk to me, Glen," Dakota demanded, as he made his way over to his little sister. His rough hands gently lifted Hayes' chin up so he could see her face.

"I didn't mean to," she instantly whimpered, the pain of her past reflected in her blue eyes.

Fuck.

He still didn't know what happened, but what a shit show.

"You're fine," Dakota exhaled, brushing her blonde fly-aways off her clammy forehead. "You're perfectly fine." It was possible he was reassuring himself more than anything.

"What happened?" Austin asked, his calm voice a much needed sound, preceding his appearance. Colton hustled in behind him, the two older brothers coming to a halt in the door way when they heard Francis quickly exclaim, "Glass on the floor!"

Dakota heard some shuffling from his brothers as they went to find some footwear to put on. The next inhale and exhale was a bit easier for Dakota now that Austin was here.

He cupped Sunshine's pale cheeks with both his hands, his thumbs rubbing back and forth over her skin. "You're fine," he repeated, confidently now. He slid his hands to under her armpits to lift her up and carried her like a rag doll over the broken glass to the open counter space on the other side of the doorway.

Colton joined Francis with cleaning up the mess, grabbing a plastic bag to put the sharps in, while Austin went to Glen's side, trusting Kota with Sunshine.

Divide and conquer.

Damnit, the eldest brother knew something was going to happen. He didn't know what, but he should have gone with his gut instinct. Regret and guilt stabbed him in the heart, as he blamed himself for leaving the kids alone in the kitchen.

Dakota heard Hayes' breath stutter and quickly plopped her butt on the counter so he could see her expression.

Her eyes were glued to Austin, so Dakota whirled around to see what exactly she was looking at. Nothing stood out as weird to him. The brother had been obviously in the midst of changing, though still in his dress pants and a plain white undershirt half untucked.

Kota could of sworn he heard Hayes whisper, "no belt," and when he turned back around, her face buried into his chest. Her fists gripped his dirty t-shirt, refusing to move. She needed him to protect her from what her mind was conjuring up.

It was much later, when things settled down for the evening and the two youngest of the family were tucked into Hayes' bed for the night, did the truth finally come out on what happened.

Dinner had been a somewhat typical affair. Baker and Peyton had perfect timing, walking in with the meatloaf as the kitchen was pretty much cleaned up. All that was left was Colton running the vacuum on the tile for any pieces gone unseen.

Nobody talked about what happened during the meal, either. While obvious to Baker that they had just missed some exchange, it went unspoken amongst the brothers that they'd talk about it later. The conversation flowed per usual, as it was hard to acquire silence in a full house.

Baker took lead in carrying the conversation instead of Austin, as the eldest brother seemed distracted by the conversation he had with Glen minutes prior. Austin had escorted the kid out of the kitchen and to the family room, so he could calm down. It seemed to help, as Smiley managed to shake off the immediate threat, though the memories still lingered. A month ago, the kid would have be wrecked with terror, but strides have been made, as he truly began showing trust in his eldest brother.

Hayes clammed up, nothing they did could get her to be engaged at the table. No amount of reassurance seemed to make a difference. Chubba came over for dinner too, so she just focused on petting the dog. She didn't even want ice cream and wouldn't step foot into the kitchen.

There was also a subtle difference in her behavior with Austin, as if she was subconsciously avoiding the man of the house. The one with the ultimate power as punisher.

Her night ended fairly soon after dinner. Baker convinced her to take a quick shower before the two snuggled in her bed with the dog for a little bit. Then Glen crashed their slumber party and the rest was history.

"So what did happen?" Colton asked the room, though they all knew it was geared towards Francis who was aimlessly scrolling on his phone. After Baker and Peyton departed for their home, the remaining brothers congregated in the family room, a college basketball game quietly playing in the background.

Austin and Dakota also turned their attention to Francis. Austin had the main idea, but it was smart to have more than one perception.

Francis winced, and dropped his phone on his lap. "It was a group effort."

"Fran," Austin saw through his buffering efforts, "if you know something, it would really help us out. I'm betting both kids will have nightmares tonight, God forbid terrors, and I need to know what I'm up against so I can help them."

Francis sighed, really hating what he was about to say because it crossed the 'no harming your siblings' rule, technically.

"Welllll," he dragged out, reluctant, "it all happened super fast, like really fast, I swear. Glen stepped on Hayes' foot by accident and then she tried to kick him in the shin and then he said something so she punched him and then one of the glasses slipped from his hands and then boom. Or crack, I guess. Cracks? Whatever, the cup broke, obviously."

"Fucking hell," Dakota groaned, throwing his head back against the couch cushion. "When will this fucking stop happening? When will something as simple as breaking a glass stop fucking traumatizing them? It's not fucking fair."

Retweet.

"Never," Austin stated the unfortunate truth, his eyes settling on the picture on the wall above the fireplace. He was imagining the kitchen scene in his head, just picturing how as quickly as it started, it was all over. The damage done in seconds.

It made it tricky, knowing Hayes punched Glen which caused him to drop the glass. They all played a role.

"But seriously," Francis said.

"He is serious," Colton replied, "just when you think it's over," Colton snapped his finger, "back to square one."

"Yep," Austin agreed, his tone bordering on depression. He wanted to run upstairs and throw away every single belt in the house right now but he knew that wasn't going to fix anything.

Belts.

His brother confided in him the punishment they were afraid of.

But it wasn't punishment. It was fucking child abuse.

One time was one too many.

Smiley opened up to him and told him an abridged version of a past incident. Austin respected that there were definitely bits and pieces that he left out, but they had to start somewhere. Glen was trusting him to help him. That was huge progress within itself.

Austin didn't get angry often. But his blood was boiling underneath his calm façade.

"Fuck." Dakota grunted, summing up the night's event.

Yep.

————

The little girl was back in the kitchen, against her will. Her grandfather's kitchen, with the small wooden table pushed against the wall and the two chairs haphazardly tucked underneath on either end. The metal trashcan was shoved between the chair and the wall where it belonged. The grey refrigerator stood in the back corner, taunting them with barely ever any food. The creepy iguana statue laying in the window bay outside.

Everything was exactly in its place as she remembered the home.

Except her. She shouldn't be there.

Though it felt like she was living it for the first time. Her nerves running amok as she didn't know what was coming next.

Hayes stood on her tippy toes, one arm clutching the edge of the counter for balance as she tried to stretch her arm as high as she could get it. The cabinet was bare like the fridge, because the dishwasher hadn't been run in a couple days. "Come on, come on," Her fingers grasped at nothing but air, making the girl frown.

There was nothing up there after all that.

A disappointed sigh left her lips as she settled back down onto the heels of her feet. Her gaze reluctantly traveled to the dishwasher where she knew she'd find what she was looking for. Her nose wrinkled in disgust.

Hayes quickly peeked her head around the sharp corner in hopes that Glen would be finished in the bathroom by now so he could help.

But her brother had let her take a shower first and then it was his turn, that was their routine. He hadn't known that the Bear would have come home early from his Saturday plans during this time, on a rampage.

He had barged past the little girl, dropping a takeout bag on the counter as he beelined for the fridge. Before the fridge was even shut, he had cracked open the bottle of beer with his bare hands. He then spun around, a glare aimed at his granddaughter while he took his first refreshing sip of alcohol. Then another and another.

She kept her mouth shut, too terrified to speak as he then stormed past her and into his bedroom. But not without the old man threatening Hayes that the table better be set by the time he gets out of the shower, or else.

She didn't want to know what the or else meant.

Hayes opened the dishwasher, the stink game strong. She held her breath as she looked for the missing objects, three drinking cups. She had to reach all the way in the back of the top row where they were shoved to find them and very gingerly dropped them in the bottom of the sink, one at a time trying to avoid the resounding clang. She had to stand on her tippy toes for that too, as her arms weren't long enough to reach.

Hayes figured if she rinsed the cups with water, regardless of what liquid the cup held prior, they'd be good as new, so that's what she did. She was so focused on the vital task at hand that she missed her grandfather's shuffling footsteps on the floor, heading back in her direction. Or maybe he purposefully was sneaking up on her, hoping something would happen.

Something that would then allow him to get rid of his frustrations.

"Why the fuck is the food not on the table yet," he grunted, slamming his empty beer bottle on the counter top by the sink, still in his same clothes that he'd come home in. There was no way he showered that quickly.

Hayes jumped at the sound of his gruff voice above her head and whirled around to face him. Glen had told her numerous times to never have her back towards danger.

Gotta know when to run.

She didn't expect him to be standing so close behind her, leering over her with such distaste. He usually kept his distance a good three feet minimum, as if she and Glen had cooties.

"HUH? Answer me!"

Hayes flinched, the sudden jerking movement forced her elbow to bang against the corner edge, causing the cup she was holding onto to slip through her tiny fingers.

Hayes saw her short life flash before her wide eyes as the glass smashed against the kitchen floor, fracturing into a million little pieces. Her soul must have left her body, she felt so cold.

The girl opened and closed her mouth a couple times before she could manage any words. It wasn't much more than a whisper. "Sorry, grandpa."

His eyes were filled with rage and were aimed right at her. "You're sorry?" He repeated her words in a deceivingly soft voice. "You're sorry?" He bellowed. "You little pieces of shits can't do anything right just like your deadbeat mother!"

He suddenly grabbed her thin arm by his hand, his fingers able to wrap all the way around in a complete circle, his other hand going to his belt buckle.

Hayes was absolutely petrified. She didn't know what he was going to do to her. She'd never seen him do this before, his anger made him creative, impulsive, and unpredictable. "I'm sorry! Please, you're hurting me!"

The Bear didn't seem to hear her as he yanked his belt clean out of the loops and folded it in half. He roughly pushed her against the kitchen table, the edge digging into Hayes' upper stomach. Not to mention the glass that bit her tiny toes.

"I'll make you sorry!" the Bear lost any semblance of control to his violent streak. "You and your shit head brother think you can just break my things and get away with it!"

"No! Grandpa, I promise! It was an accident! Owww!" Hayes was squirming, trying to get away when the first whip of the belt had landed against her bony butt, her clothing offering no protection. It stunned her for a long second before adrenaline kicked in and she fought back. Her firecracker nature was always simmering beneath the surface, hidden but never freed. Not until now.

But the hand heavy against her upper back prevented her escape.

SWOOSH.

The sound delivered before the next hit met her skin.

Hayes cried out again.

She needed Glen.

She was no match for the Bear on her own, as proven by the belting he continued to rain down on her without a second thought.

"Grandpa, that hurts!" she pleaded through her sobs. She was choking on her own tears as she continued to try to free herself.

The Bear must have had some drinks in him before he ever arrived home, as one beer wouldn't have touched him to this extent. His aim quickly began to get sloppy, the hits of the belt drifting too high or too low. Her whole backside would be black and blue tomorrow.

If he didn't kill her tonight that is.

"GLEN!" She finally screamed, guttural, terrified. "GLEN, HELP ME!"

"Get off her!" Glen shouted at the Bear, as he bulldozed into their grandfather. The ten year old was considerably bigger than his sister but didn't have the muscle to go along with it. "Leave her alone!"

The attack didn't slow the Bear down in the slightest, as he shook his arm free with a single yank.

"You stupid boy," the Bear cackled before whipping the leather belt against Glen's chest. The force knocked the kid backward onto the floor where his head rebounded against the lower cabinet. His palms caught on the broken bits of glass. His sharp cry of agony gave the Bear a pause.

A twitch of recognition.

"Glen!" Hayes managed to twist free while he was distracted, scrambling across the kitchen to her brother's side, not paying attention to the glass now cutting into her knees in addition to her bare feet. She begged their grandfather to let them go, "please, grandpa, please!"

Glen groaned, feeling queasy at the sight of blood on his hands. But he couldn't pass out, not yet. He had to do something to protect themselves, somehow, someway.

"Go away!" Glen shifted over so his body was between his sister and the Bear. "Haven't you done enough? I'll tell Stephen! I will!" He threatened.

The Bear stared at the seriousness in Glen's face. The boy's pokerface had improved over the years, so the Bear wasn't sure if he was bluffing. He knew who Sergeant Stephen Rayon was and the liking he took to the kids. He knew exactly how that might end for him.

"Clean this up," The Bear snarled, throwing the leather belt onto the floor. Then he left out the front door, the resounding slam shaking the townhouse, signaling his exit.

Glen strained his ears, waiting for the sound of their grandfather's car leaving the driveway.

"HayHay," Glen shuffled around onto his knees, wincing when a bolt of pain scorched his head. "He's gone now."

Hayes somehow curled herself up into a ball, becoming numb to everything. The pain kicked in now, her adrenaline gone now that the threat left. Her spirit was crushed, and all that remained was the broken little girl left to lick her wounds.

Glen gently wrapped his arms around her, holding her on his lap best he could without causing her more hurt. The two sat cuddled together, listening to the sound of her soft cries for hours until darkness encompassed the outside. Then, very slowly with all the aches and pains, the boy helped his sister to their bedroom. He made sure to lock the door behind him.

And he hoped the Bear never came back.

————

Hayes' body was sore, probably from her muscles being tensed up during the nightmare. Her mind really made it seem like she was there, as evident by her sticky cheeks. She was panting, like she was out of breath having just run for her life.

She survived.

The memory had created many questions in her brain, each more overwhelming than the next. The first being, was all that true or did she imagine it? Did their grandfather really walk away? And why didn't Glen tell Stephen?

Questions she'll never get the answers to as she wanted to forget it ever happened.

Just like always.

Glen was fast asleep in her bed next to her, their pillow wall somewhat still standing. If that was the case, it probably wasn't that late or maybe it was super early depending on how she looked at it. She couldn't remember if Austin checked on them or not as part of his nighttime routine so that didn't help much for telling time.

The girl had no plans to go back to sleep and risk reliving that again so she reluctantly rolled out of bed, her feet skidding on her too-long sweatpants so her butt hit the carpeted floor in a hard fall.

Oomf.

Hayes just sat there for a moment, having no energy to move. She couldn't remember what she wanted anymore, slowly resting her head against the lower shelf of the bookcase.

When she caught herself slowly dozing off again, Hayes shifted around onto her knees and managed enough energy to crawl over to her partially closed bedroom door.

Huh, Austin did come through then. He always left the door open just a smidge.

She finally clambered to her feet when she reached the door and twisted the doorknob, pulling it open. Every ounce of energy it took to move her limbs was too much. She felt like lead, slinking down the hallway to the top of the stairs where she wisely sat back down on to her butt to scoot down the stairs.

There was a fleeting thought to go to Austin's room, but she abandoned that idea as soon as it came. She didn't want to talk about anything and she certainly didn't want to go to sleep, two things the eldest brother would suggest.

So her mind subconsciously decided for her to look for Dakota. Made sense as he was the master of not sleeping.

Imagine her disappointment when the family room was empty of any siblings.

A heavy sigh made her lungs deflate, as she slowly turned back around. Well, that was a bust. Now what?

She didn't think she'd make it back upstairs, but yet she moped along, pointedly avoiding walking near the kitchen or looking in the general direction.

She'd cross that bridge in the morning.

The girl ended up standing outside Colton's downstairs bedroom, the light sneaking out from underneath the door, attracting a bee to honey.

Her hand found the door handle, pressing down and giving the door a little push. That's all the effort needed as the door smoothly swung open, no creaks at all thanks to the magic of WD-40.

She could hear her brother talking to someone, as she stepped into the carpeted bedroom. But that didn't deter her, as there was no room for privacy in a house with so many siblings. At least, that's the message she picked up on.

"Hayes? What are you doing up?" Colton asked his little sister, instantly spotting her in the doorway. His eyes roamed over her face, noting the red-rimmed eyelids, the tears still escaping her glazed blue eyes, and the wobbly frown on her lips.

Hayes didn't answer as she simply stared back at him. He was obviously suppose to read her mind.

Colton wasn't so sure the girl was registering his words, the thought of sleepwalking fleetingly crossing his mind.

Colton raised the phone back to his ear from where his arm had fallen to his lap. "Hey, Stella?" He smiled slightly at his girlfriend's voice, though his eyes didn't leave Sunshine. "Yeah, I have to go. I'll see you in the morning."

He hung up the phone and put it on the bedside dresser next to the lamp, before shifting to the edge of the bed to stand up. The older brothers had expected the girl to wander out of her bedroom at some point during the night, but Cole never would of predicted she'd come to him.

Thankfully it wasn't that late, just now approaching midnight. Sunshine could still manage to get a decent number of hours of sleep tonight.

"Sunshine," Colton talked to her gently, like she was a wounded animal. "You awake, kiddo?"

Against her fighting will, Colton could see sleep trying to pull her back under.

When her brother got too close to where she was swaying, Hayes stumbled backward. "Watch a movie with me?" She asked, her right hand coming up to rub her eye.

It made perfect sense to her to ask, as it was often Colton who kept Dakota company in the family room, sleeping on the couch as Kota tried to ignore his own nightmares.

"Sure, Sunshine. Come lay down," Colton said softly, risking another step forward.

Hayes shook her head and pointed behind her. "Movie out there," her words were mumbled, the act of talking even too strenuous for her.

"Let's stay in here, it's more comfy," Colton bargained, this time successfully able to snuggle the ball of Sunshine in a hug. "We can watch a movie on my laptop."

He guided her to his bed with little resistance, assisting her onto the mattress without missing a beat. Hayes' subconscious guided her under the covers where it was toasty warm.

Colton grabbed his laptop off his desk and settled in bed next to his sister. Her head flopped against his arm, which he gently readjusted so she laid against his side instead. He lifted the lid of the Apple Mac, watching the screen power on for a second.

"What do you want to watch, Sunshine?" He asked, glancing down at her for her response.

He got none.

Colton chuckled lightly at the sight, his heart battling  with the anguish he felt for her distress and the love of having her snuggled up beside him, knowing she was safe.

But alas, the sun will rise tomorrow.

For now...

Sunshine, out.

————

T'was the official start of Thanksgiving break!

As soon as the bell rang at noon thirty that Tuesday afternoon for early release, all thought of school was tossed out the window. It did not take long for the teens to abandoned their backpacks in the dusty corners of their bedroom floors with solid plans in place to forget about school for the next several days.

"Christmas, Christmas time is near!" Hayes skipped into the family room,  already changed out of her school uniform and in a jolly good mood for singing. "Time for toys and time for cheers!"

"Hayes, shut up." Dakota grumbled, his attention focused on the television. He was about to demolish his brothers in COD.

Every man for himself.

"Shut up, Kota," Glen defended his sister without missing a beat. The kids were thick as thieves, completely blocking last week's incident from their minds and moving on.

"We've been good, but we can't last," Hayes continued as if her brothers didn't exist. A hop, skip, and a jump landed her onto the couch near Francis. She was selfishly using his body heat to keep herself warm in the chilly home. "Hurry Christmas, hurry fast!"

"Want a plane that loops the loop!" Francis joined the caroling, his fingers rapidly pressing the buttons on the game controller without looking.

"Shut the fuck up, Francis."

That only encouraged the teen to sing louder. "ME, I WANT A HULA HOOP!"

Hayes barely managed to compose herself from the laughter, tears begging to escape her eyes. "We can hardly stand the wait!"

"No Christmas tunes until after Thanksgiving, Sunshine," Colton interrupted the duet before a fight could break out. He had followed the trail of lovely squawking into the family room, looking for his siblings. "Please and thank you."

Hayes grinned at him, her cheeks flushed, her chest rising and falling as she caught her breath. She scrambled up to her feet on the couch and walked towards Colton.

She could be mistaken for a cute little Christmas cherub, a golden angel.

Colton smiled back at her, complete with a wink. "Besides, the most important holiday next month is not Christmas."

"Huh?" Three of the siblings looked at Colton like he lost his mind including Dakota who just rolled his eyes.

"It's the birth of me," Colton said with a straight-face.

Crickets.

Francis was the first to recover, his confusion changing to jest. "Oh my word, did you just tell a joke?"

Now it was Colton's turn to roll his eyes. "Thanks, Fran."

"Sorry, it was so funny I forgot to laugh," Francis layered on, grinning at his older brother.

"Fuck." Dakota grunted. "That was a cheap shot, Smiley."

Glen simply grinned, taking joy in watching Dakota's player die on the screen.

Hayes' confusion continued to grow, still stuck on Colton's bombshell. "It's your birthday?"

When was somebody going to tell her?

"Next month," Colton corrected, meeting her at the armrest of the couch. She didn't dare jump into his arms though, in case Baker suddenly appeared.

His finger ran over the wrinkles on her forehead, as if trying to smooth them out. "December 19th. But I don't like celebrating it. So don't you worry about it."

Hayes puffed her cheeks out, still peeved about the lack of birthday knowledge but didn't say anything. Now she had to think of a gift for him.

Colton's eyes flickered to the television for a second, regretting having said anything about it, before shaking his head. There was an actual reason he had come in here in the first place. "Anyways. Hey, I'm going to the store to get some food for Thursday. Anybody need anything?"

"Chocolate, please," Hayes exclaimed, birthday sadness pushed aside. She collapsed back down onto the couch, sitting crisscross apple sauce and getting comfy to read the book she brought into the family room with her.

"No," Cole denied her request with a kiss to the top of her head.

She scowled.

"Double stuffed Oreos," Francis asked, risking a quick glance at Cole. His baby broski, Smiley, was playing dirty so he had to be vigilantly staring at the tv screen at all times.

Colton pointed at his knucklehead of a brother. "Nope."

"What about those chips that we like?" Francis tried his luck again. "Por favor."

"Still no." Colton replied, his eyes darting to where Smiley sat on the floor in front of the coffee table. But the boy didn't ask for anything, keeping his gaze on the television. "Where are your glasses, Glen?"

"In my backpack," the kid answered without looking at him.

Cole withheld a sigh.

"Coleeeeee," Francis whined, "Don't do us dirty like that."

"You'll live!" Colton replied as he left the room, his  footsteps getting quieter the further away he got. They heard the front door open and shut.

Well, bye then.

Francis huffed, settling back against the couch with the controller on his lap. Smiley killed his player too. "Damn."

Dakota rolled his eyes again. "You know he's gonna buy the shit."

"Do I? Do I really know that?"

"Yes," all three siblings answered in unison. Colton always bought whatever they wanted, even Glen and Hayes knew that. Austin did the same thing and psh, don't even get them started on Baker. The oldest three brothers were whipped, even if they put up a hard front half the time.

Francis huffed again for dramatics. "Y'all bully me."

"Cry about it, Francesca," Dakota was so not sympathetic. "See if I care."

"You are the devil," Francis mumbled, getting up from the couch. Hayes trailed him with her eyes as he crossed in front of her before he left the room. He looked legitimately sad.

She frowned, giving Dakota a glare.

"What?"

"You're mean." She declared.

"He's soft."

"Meanie," Hayes said, unimpressed with him. "You need to apologize to Francis."

"You heard her," Glen agreed, taking his eyes off the television to give the brother his own glare. The two blonde babies joined forces against their grumpy brother.

"Fuck," Dakota groaned. "Fine. Francesca! Stop fucking sulking already and get in here."

Francis popped his head around the corner of the wall. It wasn't like he was simply waiting there this whole time for someone to call him back.

Naaaah. No way. Not Francis.

"Yes?"

"Sit your ass down already so we can play the game," Dakota demanded.

Francis crossed his arms. "How about... no."

Hayes' eyes narrowed into an even fiercer puppy dog glare at her older brother.

Dakota cleared his throat, acting like these next words were going to kill him. "Sit the fuck down... Please... Francis."

A wide smile grew on the teen's face. "Ooooh, Sissy has you so wrapped around her finger, Dicky P!" He laughed, his hand clutching his stomach. "Wa-pow!"

"Fuck you," Dakota hissed, though there wasn't much anger behind his words. A bit of blush actually creeped up his cheeks. His kindness was caught, there was no denying.

Before the brothers could keep ragging on each other, they heard the familiar sound of a key unlocking their front door.

Didn't Colton just leave? Back so soon? Did he want more snack suggestions?

Francis whipped around to see who was there as the door opened. "Emmy?"

"That's me!"

A mixture of excited voices filled the home as Francis led the charge to greet their brother in the foyer. Smiley and Sunshine raced behind him with Dakota slowly following the pack.

Hayes squeezed her way into the middle, breaking up the two besties' hug. "Sonny! Did you happen to bring chocolate?"

Straight to the point.

Emerson laughed loudly as he returned the embrace just as tight, "Hi Junior," he bent closer to her ear as if going to tell her a secret. "I brought a shit ton of chocolates, just for you and me." When he straightened back up, he sent her a wink.

Hayes winked back.

Or attempted.

It was more of a two-eyed wink.

A blink.

Emerson snorted, "I love you, Sunshine."

"Dude, what the actual fuck is that?"

"What?" Emerson asked, confused and self-conscious now. He hugged Sunny, Jr. closer to himself.

Dakota pointed at his brother's face, "that... that thing on your face. Holy fuck, you have a pedo stache."

Everyone stared at Emerson, really examining his face now as the brother brought a hand up to rub his mouth or hide it, his face turning blush at the attention. "It's called a mustache, Asshole."

Dakota snorted, "Yeah sure. What, for no-shave November?"

Or better yet, Movember.

"Hell yes."

Francis burst out laughing, "Em, it took you the whole month to grow that? I thought you were kidding."

"I don't know why y'all are laughing," Emerson said, really exaggerating the pout he was pulling. "Not like any of you can grow much of anything either."

"That... is actually accurate," Francis agreed, nodding his head.

Emerson spoke the truth, as Austin, Baker, and Colton were the only brothers who were lucky enough to get five o'clock shadows every evening. A blessing and a curse, one supposed.

"Kinda looks like a rat," Glen commented, looking ever so innocent with his hands laced together behind his back. "What's its name?"

Emerson gasped dramatically. "Smiley Green Giant, how dare you! I've lost you to the dark side!"

That was all it took for the siblings to dissolve into hearty laughter as Francis then forced them all into a group hug. Or a single-stuffed Sissy sandwich.

Even the grumpy monkey partook against his will.

Hayes' eyes twinkled as she managed to tilt her head back enough to catch Emerson's attention. "I think we should name it Rufus."

Rufus, the naked mole-rat mustache.

Catchy.

————

The next morning was Wednesday. Past the deadline Baker had set for Glen to talk things out with Colton.

Smiley failed.

Dun, dun, dun.

So from the moment he was woken up that morning, conveniently by Baker to go to a CrossFit workout, the boy had been on edge. Waiting, anticipating, in suspense, for the older brother to bring it up.

But he didn't.

So Glen hesitantly continued on with his day, and headed upstairs to take a post-workout shower once Baker dropped him back home after they had a refueling breakfast.

He was still very much anxious, waiting for the other shoe to drop, but at least he could be nervous in the privacy of the bathroom.

Glen just finished getting dressed in a pair of black sweatpants and was running his towel through his wet hair when he heard the door to the master bedroom pushed open.

Glen shuffled to the bathroom door to see who was intruding, as Francis usually was whistling loudly as he entered. He could rule out Austin because the eldest brother usually called out his name as he walked in. It wasn't Hayes either, because his spidey senses went off when his sister came to bother him. Soooo that left Colton, Dakota, or Emerson.

Low and behold, it was Cole, with a basketball in his hands.

"Hey, Smiley," Colton seemed hesitant with his steps, stopping near Francis' desk. His palms rubbed against the leather basketball, the action super telling of his nerves.

"Hey."

"I was thinking, maybe, you might want to shoot some hoops?" Colton asked, awkward and not at all sounding like his normal charisma.

Glen walked into the bedroom and dropped his towel on the end of his bed. He crossed his arms, his own nerves creeping around as well. "Why not ask Hayes?"

He knew those two were Buddy-Buddy once again. Their sister swore she could hold a grudge, but it didn't seem to be that way when all the brothers used her weakness for snuggles, cookies, and ice cream against her.

Colton paused for a beat, twisting the ball in his hands. He looked up and met Glen's gaze. "I think we have some things to talk about, don't you?"

Glen held his brother's stare, powering past the instinct to cower. "Fine."

Colton exhaled, "fine."

The older brother waited by the door for the kid to slip on a shirt and some sneakers and then the two went downstairs and out into the garage.

Smiley noticed the driveway was already cleared of cars so they could use the basketball hoop that was attached to the top of the garage, without fear of damaging the vehicles.

Hmm.

A lot had changed within his 20 minutes of being home.

It was too organized. Austin must have planned it.

Glen swiped a hand through his hair, pushing back the too-long strands that fell into his eyes.

Colton waited for him to be ready and then passed him the basketball. Smiley took a jump shot about halfway from the hoop, sinking the shot flawlessly.

This went on for a couple rounds, the kid making the majority of his shots. Swish after swish. No one could deny the kid worked hard at all the basketball practices and now it was paying off.

But then Glen missed the next one, the basketball rebounding off the rim and directly back to his hands. He held on to the ball instead of taking another shot.

All of a sudden, he felt the flip of the switch with his mood from anxiety-ridden to anger fueled. He chucked the basketball hard at Colton. "You said you wanted to talk, so talk already."

Colton recoiled as he caught the ball, not expecting the level of harshness that Glen's words held.

"Say what you have to say!" Glen turned into a spitfire.

It was like a cat got his tongue as Colton could not think of a single word to say. None felt right. Colton dribbled the ball on the driveway, trying to buy himself time.

"Screw this," Glen decided this was a waste. He had better things to do, like sleep, rather than stand here for nothing.

"Wait," Colton said, "just wait." He palmed the basketball into his left hand, the smack echoing.

Glen's fingers clenched into fists, drawn down by his sides. "What."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Stella-"

"I don't care about your fricking girlfriend, Colton." Glen snapped.

"I wasn't done," Colton's eyes flashed with the rare sense of irritation. "And can you not act like your gonna punch me?"

Glen felt an urge to scream into the dark void, but he masked that by tugging on his hair before spinning on his foot and pacing the length of the driveway.

He was a pacer and pacers gonna pace.

Austin had told him once that nobody ever died by pacing, which neither actually knew if that was true or not, but Glen went with it. That simplified sentence was all the kid needed to know, for assurance that it was okay to do. Pacing was his way of trying to regain control of the situation whether from his anxiety or frustration, or so Austin said.

Colton watched him warily, "I'm sorry for not telling you about Stella and I'm sorry for not telling you about the coaching job."

Unimpressed, Glen didn't even glance his way. "That it?"

Cole went silent. "Yes."

That was not satisfactory for the kid. He kept walking, 7 steps towards the end of the driveway then turn on his heels and repeat.

"I wanted to be the one to tell you. That was my plan, I swear I was going to. Just, I didn't know how. I didn't want to mess up anything. Clearly for good reason."

Glen scoffed.

"I know you have trust issues and we all see how hard it is for you to accept Peyton. So I didn't want to force you to meet Stella. I wanted to give it time."

"This whole fricking family has trust issues," Glen threw back. "Get a new excuse."

Colton didn't deter. "It was new and I wanted to be sure before I did anything, to not hurt you even more."

"I'm not going to be traumatized over your stupid girlfriend." He repeated.

Lied right through his teeth, the kid did.

It was obvious Colton didn't believe him. He hit the jackpot with his next sentence. "I'm not abandoning you."

Glen scoffed again. "Really? What would you call it then?"

Colton's face softened. "This family is the most important thing in the world to me. Just because I'm not going to be physically standing right here, does not mean I'm leaving you behind."

"Why should I believe that?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do you mean what do I mean? You just said it yourself. You're leaving! How the hell does that make me feel important when you don't even care about me to tell me!"

"I didn't know how to tell you." Colton exasperated. He squeezed the basketball between his hands, reminding himself to keep level-headed.

Walk away Glen. Austin's voice of wisdom spoke. Just walk away, Buddy. Come back when you got control.

It was one of the tricks they were trying to impart on Glen.

They still needed to work on it.

Glen grinned sarcastically. "How about, 'hey Glen, you know that coaching job I turned down? Yeah, I lied. I start this summer'."

Colton's face dropped. "I didn't lie-"

"Whatever. Why does it matter, you already act like you don't want to be here."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're never home anymore!"

"Yes I am," Colton disagreed, "I'm here all the time."

"Eating dinner and then leaving for hours at night doesn't count." Glen called out his bullshit.

"I've been giving you space. I thought that's what you wanted."

"In what world would that be what I wanted?" Glen's hands propped on his hips.

"You've been giving me the cold shoulder. How else was I suppose to take that? I was letting you cool off. You were furious with me."

Glen flung his hands in the air. "Of course I was fucking angry! You ditched me like I didn't even matter!"

"No-"

"And you're the older brother. You're suppose to fucking annoy me until I talk to you again."

"I don't know-"

"Take me with you," Glen abruptly declared, doing a 180 on the argument. Desperation seeped out as a last chance effort.

"What- Glen," Colton faltered, very much so surprised. "You can't come with me. This is your home, Smiley. You live here, with Austin and Hayes."

"Yeah. It's your home too."

"I know, and it always will be. But I gotta grow too. I can't live under Austin forever. I have to pave my own way at some point."

The boy turned away.

"I thought you were the coolest brother," Glen's voice dropped as he reminisced.

Colton didn't miss the past tense, his knuckles whitening as he waited for Glen to continue.

"I wanted to be just like you... and it's like you didn't even care how much you meant to me."

How does one even respond to that?

Glen pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes, as his whole mood shifted again. "I don't even know you."

"What are you talking about, Smiley? Of course you do." Colton took a step towards his brother before hesitating.

"I didn't even know your birthday." The boy was filled with guilt.

Now Cole really regretted bringing that up yesterday. What a stupid joke he failed at. "Glen, you haven't been here for 8 years. Cut yourself some slack, kiddo."

"You don't think I know I haven't been here for 8 fucking years?" Glen snapped, finally showing his face again. He stared at his older brother. "Why don't you like your birthday?"

So he was listening intently yesterday. Extremely observant as always.

Colton opened his mouth but Glen cut him off without giving him a chance. "The truth or don't bother."

"It's the day Jane stole you from me."

The words spilled out before Cole realized. Not what he was planning to say but, the kid asked for the truth and that's what Colton believed. Truth was, the brothers always had a special bond and Colton didn't know if it held all these years. He thought it was just a figment of his imagination, to not get too excited because the kid was just finding his way.

Glen was not expecting that. "What?" He shook his head. "No, no you said December 19th was your birthday. Mom took us..." he stopped talking. He didn't actually remember.

September, wasn't it?

Colton clarified, "it's the day Austin was granted custody of Francis, Emerson, and Dakota. The permanent reminder that you and Hayes no longer were with us."

Smiley was enveloped in Cole's sudden sadness.

"Happy fucking birthday to me."

"And- and what about Charlotte? It was her birthday too, right? Was she there? At the courthouse?"

Colton's face shuttered blank. "I don't want to talk about her."

Touchy subject then.

Glen retreated, crossing his arms over his chest. He turned his head away and looked off to the distance. "I'm still fucking pissed off at you," he finally grumbled.

"I don't blame you," Colton validated, then he couldn't help himself,  "though we should probably stop cursing, alright? Austin won't be so happy if he hears you speaking like that."

Glen couldn't help but roll his eyes at the reprimand. Such a teacher, his brother was.

Colton's lips briefly quirked upward before he turned serious again. "Hey, back to being serious for a second. I am sorry, and I know that's not good enough but I am."

Glen wrung his hands together, "if we're being serious..."

Colton nodded, encouraging him to continue.

"I don't think I'm ready, or Hayes definitely, to meet Stella, like for real," Glen quietly admitted.

"I completely respect that," Colton replied earnestly. He would not betray his siblings' boundaries.

"And also," Glen had something else to say before he chickened out, "I do... forgive you, you know. And for what its worth, I think you're going to kill it as their coach. Just, don't forget about me, please."

————

Austin was in the living room, standing at the window that just so happened to look out onto the driveway.

Okay, yes, he was shamelessly watching his brothers talk outside.

"What are we looking at?" Dakota popped up beside the eldest brother.

Austin startled. "Shit Dakota, announce yourself."

"I called your name like five times, not my fault you ignored me. Or is it your going deaf, old man?"

"Shut up," was Austin's mature retort.

Kota didn't listen, as he was quite enjoying himself seeing Austin flustered. "Well, you're turning into quite the peeping Tom."

"What the hell, Kota. Are you disturbed? Don't say that." Austin looked at Dakota, appalled.

"Fuck, it was just a joke," Dakota grumbled. "So what are you watching?"

"Nothing. Go away, will you? Weren't you going to go play soccer with Hayes and Sonny?"

Dakota ignored him, his eyes peeled out the window. His eyebrows dipped together. "Why are Cole and Glen screaming at each other? Shouldn't you be the responsible adult and stop that?"

"It's good for them," Austin muttered, reluctantly engaging further.

"That's a fucked up sense of good," Kota noted.

Austin sighed.

Dakota smirked. "10 bucks Colton cries."

"Go away, Dakota."

"20 bucks he smothers Smiley in a hug, then cries because now Smiley is dead."

Austin smacked Kota with the back of his hand. He deflected his snort as a cough. "That's so wrong. Seriously. Don't you have better things to do than stand here?"

"Nah."

Another Austin sigh.

"Oh look, here comes the slow death," Dakota narrated.

And there went the rest of Austin's patience for the hour. "For fucks sake, go wait in the kitchen. I'll make you a sandwich in a second."

"Ha!" Dakota whooped. "I knew you were fucking ignoring me. Asshole."

————

Turkey, Turkey, Turkey.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble.

Little Miss Sunshine woke up as usual on Thursday morning, forgetting it was even a holiday until she spied her older brother's sweatshirt on the floor of her bedroom. She had borrowed... stolen... it straight from Emerson's suitcase two nights' prior when he arrived home from college.

No shame.

She didn't much care about Thanksgiving, rather that all her brothers were in one place. Well, relatively speaking. Unfortunately Baker had to work a longer shift the day before, lasting until this afternoon, but he would be over with plenty of time to spare before the main event.

Eating!

Hayes was excited for the dessert piece. Rumor has it, there was an ice cream cake stored somewhere with her name written all over it. In her opinion, it was a much better choice than the pumpkin pie that Colton bought at the store.

The little girl ended up on the couch in the family room, her head resting on Austin's lap as the two relaxed with a recorded episode of family feud playing on the television. The eldest brother was stretched out with his feet resting on the coffee table, taking in the peacefulness before the rest of his siblings awoken from their slumbers.

A nice start to the holiday.

He expected Glen to be up soon, as no matter how much the teen wanted to, he could never seem to sleep in past 9 am.

Granted it was only 8am at the moment, so Austin and Hayes still had some quality time left to themselves, though he was going to have to get up in a bit to get the turkey started in the oven. But until then, here he sat.

Every so often, Sunshine would move her head, her bright blue eyes gazing up at him.

"What?" He'd ask, smiling softly at her. He was in awe how each day his love for his little sister and her crazy brothers seemed to double, triple in size.

The real deal of everlasting love.

Hayes would silently stare at him for a couple seconds until a tiny grin appeared and she'd turn back to the TV. It was almost as if she had to reassure herself that he hadn't gone anywhere. That he was still with her, sitting there.

By the time 10:15am rolled around, the missing, lazy bunch of brothers had straggled into the family room and spread out comfortably on the couch and recliners. They were all still in whatever they had fell asleep in, sweatpants and sweatshirts as the evenings were quite chilly.

The turkey was prepped and put in the oven, the timer started so dinner would be planned for 4pm.

A request for pancakes had been made and Colton said he'd get on that in a second... 10 minutes ago. He was definitely enjoying not having to rush around in the morning.

The little sister of the family was happily munching on a bowl of whip cream with some strawberries and blueberries tossed in.

And the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade that took place in New York was playing on the TV. But after the fifth time of one of the siblings asking who a singer was, or what the float was suppose to be, the brothers unanimously voted to switch the television over to their video games.

Much more entertaining in their minds. Hayes didn't care, she had her book to read.

Five minutes to noon, someone's phone alarm went off, effectively startling everyone.

"Quick! Santa's coming!" Francis exclaimed, abandoning his game controller and searching for the TV remote. He dove over Glen's legs, his arms outstretched to grab the remote off the far couch cushion.

"Should call you Fatty patty," Glen winced.

"Francis, sit up." Austin sighed at his antics.

Always sighing nowadays, the old man.

"Looking for this?" Dakota asked, picking up the remote right before Francis could snatch it.

"We're going to miss Santa!" Emerson chimed in, struggling to free himself from the blankets he was buried under, his butt molded into the recliner.

Hayes watched the live-time reality show with wide eyes, her gaze darting around the room to all her brothers. She was still snuggling with Austin, squished against his side and a book in her hands. She was already on her third book out of the five that her eldest brother purchased.

Dakota tossed the remote across the room to Colton who was sitting on the other recliner. Cole easily caught it, shuffling it in his grip so the sensor would be picked up by the receiver.

"What input?" He asked, pressing a button.

"3," Francis said urgently, his foot tapping against the floor.

"We're on three," Colton replied.

Glen threw out a random number, "five."

"There is no five!" Francis exasperated, pushing Smiley's smirking face towards the couch cushion.

Hayes was tempted to slide her foot over just a smidge so Glennard would smell her socks.

"Francis," Austin warned.

Colton chuckled to himself, amused by the havoc he created, switching to the correct input that he already knew. Thankfully, the parade was still on, a Christmas song blasting through the speakers.

🎶I don't want a lot for Christmas

There is just one thing I need (and I)

Don't care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree🎶

"There he is! There's Santa Claus, Sissy!" Francis pointed at the screen, his excitement more than enough to cover everyone else in the room.

There was no disagreement that the best part of the whole damn parade was the last five minutes. The siblings stared at the television in various degrees of amusement as the red sleigh was broadcasted on the screen, the big man himself riding atop.

Emerson finally freed himself and jumped up from the recliner. He swung his arm towards where Sunshine and Austin were sitting in the L shaped corner of the couch.

He sung aloud while somehow pulling off the Macarena dance moves, complete with shaking his booty as a bonus, "You better watch out. You better not cry. You better not pout. I'm telling you why. Santa Claus is coming toooooooooo town."

The obnoxiousness of her older brothers made Hayes' face light up, Glen mirroring her look with their matching twinkling blue Elvis eyes that usually spelled trouble.

It may be Thanksgiving today, but this Christmas season was already better than the kids could ever, ever have imagined.

————

Peyton arrived solo to their home in the early afternoon around 1ish, hands full with a fancy sweet potato dish, a container of homemade cinnamon cookies, and a golden retriever with enough fluff to create a miniature golden retriever.

Then magically the siblings all disappeared.

Sort of.

Austin took Glen out for a well-deserved joyride, to get the boy some practice behind the wheel of a car. It was really because the kid was getting a bit wound up from all the excitement so a change of scenery was needed. Dakota decided to join them for whatever reason, no one really followed how his mind worked.

Once Austin left the premises, Emerson and Francis "snuck out" and went to whatever place they had in mind. Colton had been annoyed, but didn't bother calling them back home. He knew where they were going anyways. The same place they go whenever Emerson comes home for a visit.

And then there were three.

Left behind at home, of course was Peyton who took over the food prepping while Austin stepped out for an hour. Then there was Colton, who was specifically designated to keep an eye on the turkey, and Sunshine, who was in charge of keeping the dog out of the kitchen. Which wasn't the best planning, because someone should have been responsible for keeping the little girl out of the kitchen too.

She was a cookie thief.

"Give me the turkey!"

Chubba's tail was wagging wildly, as he ran around the long dinner table. Hayes chased after him, the two going in a constant circle.

"Give me the turkey!" Hayes laughed as she quickly spun on her foot and dashed counterclockwise. Chubba skidded to a stop before his nose bumped into her and ducked under the table as his escape to the other side. The squeaky toy was dangling from his mouth by the turkey leg, a present to the dog from Emerson.

A bribe for the dog's love.

"Sunshine, stop running in the house." Colton appeared from the kitchen threshold, swooped his arm out and grabbed her by the waist so she couldn't move. "Last time I'm gonna say it, kiddo."

"Okay, okay," Hayes said, laughing when Chubba came prancing over to check on her. When the girl tried to swipe the turkey toy from his mouth, the dog backed up, his tail sending little fluffs of fur floating everywhere.

The dog hair floated around in the air before landing onto the table that was neatly set for the dinner.

Whoops.

Chubba was quite literally, everywhere.

"Why don't you go out back? Run some of that energy off. But stay away from the pool, alright?" Colton tickled her side. It was a necessary warning, as the young girl was certainly clumsy at times.

Chubba got tauntingly close again, which tempted Cole to try and steal the toy out of his mouth. The dog danced away again, and this time, Hayes followed. She took the lead, the dog hot on her heels as they ran off to the family room and out the door into the backyard.

————

The sound of joyful laughter intermingled with Chubba's name being gleefully shouted was a constant flow coming in through the great outdoors.

Colton had purposefully left the door open to the outside, so he could keep an eye on his little sister. It was a perfectly sensible thing to do, as the air condition was turned off so the cold air outside kept the house comfortable.

Cole was bouncing between the family room where he was distractedly folding the laundry while watching the college basketball games being broadcasted, to the kitchen where he checked on the dead bird, and to his room, where he snuck away to talk on the phone with his giiiiiiirlfriend.

It just so happened to be during the third option, when chaos struck again.

Peyton was crouched in front of the oven, the light inside switched on allowing her to watch the turkey as it was cooking.

A watched pot never boils.

A watched turkey never cooks?

She'd never been the one in charge of cooking the main meal, so she was curious. Not that there was much to see, it was actually quite boring.

Yeah, her brother-in-law can stay in charge of the turkey.

An odd noise made the hairs on the back of Peyton's neck stand up. She straightened her knees to her normal height and looked around. She couldn't seem to place the sound, but it certainly wasn't from the kitchen.

"Colton?" Peyton called out to her only brother-in-law home.

He had excused himself from the kitchen a few minutes ago when he received a phone call. From the smile that crossed his lips, she guessed it had been Stella on the other end.

Peyton had yet to meet Stella, but since Cole hadn't shut up about her when it was just the two adults hanging around, she sounded sweet.

Pulling the sleeves of her sweatshirt down from where they scrunched at her elbows, Peyton strolled towards the kitchen threshold leading into the dining room.

There it was again.

Her blood ran cold, as her mind recognized the sound the second time around.

"COLTON!" Peyton yelled, immediately running to the family room, her destination the backyard.

It had been a splash.

Two splashes.

The swimming pool.

Hayes was still playing outside with Chubba.

Please, God, no.

Heart racing, Peyton barged through the open door, the wind whipping at her face. Footsteps thundered after her, as her scream would have put the fear into anyone and got them hustling.

Pure instinct took over her as she ran down the porch deck steps towards the pool. Peyton saw Chubba swimming small circles in the pool and had no doubt, Hayes was in there, too.

In trouble.

Without hesitation, Peyton smoothly dove into the water, her body's adrenaline overpowering the cold shock to her system.

Opening her eyes, she spotted Hayes floundering under the surface, the little girl no match to the frigid water nor the dog that was incidentally hovering over her. The golden retriever was panic paddling, trying to save Hayes while at the same time, his body prevented her from breaking the surface.

Peyton deftly kicked her feet, propelling her forward as she used her arms to cut through the water to reach the girl. She wrapped her arm around Hayes' chest and pulled her along, the two resurfacing near the side of the pool.

The girl gasped, sucking down all the oxygen she could. She had been nearly out of breath before Peyton came.

Peyton treaded the water, keeping Hayes' head above the water while managing to use her free arm to push Chubba in the direction of the stairs at the opposite end.

By then, Colton ran around the edge of the pool and squatted down on the pavement, meeting where they were and stuck his arms down to grab his sister.

"Jesus Christ," he breathed. He was truly scared, as that was so unlike him.

Peyton hoisted Hayes up to him, the girl beginning to cough up a storm now as some pool water accidentally went down the wrong pipe. "You got her?" Peyton confirmed, as Colton lifted the girl up and to his chest.

"I have her," Colton replied, hugging his sister tightly. Her skin was freezing and it had only been seconds. He couldn't imagine if...

No.

Cole began moving, fast walking back to the wooden deck that led to the house. They needed to warm Hayes up quick, as she was shivering violently. Cold to the bone.

"Colton," Hayes whimpered, breaking off into another coughing spell. Tears poured from her eyes, preceding the initial sobs. She wasn't hurt, just more scared than anything.

Seeing the raw fear flicker in Colton's eyes didn't help the situation much either.

"You're okay," Colton pressed his lips against her forehead before putting her down on her shaky two feet. His hands roamed her body from head to toe, making sure she still had 10 fingers and 10 toes. "You're okay, Sunshine."

She desperately tried to explain, not wanting to get in trouble for not listening to his rule. The garbled words spilled out between her hiccups and sobs. "The ball... Chubba slipped in... he wasn't... stairs..."

Colton gently shushed her, holding her steady with one hand on her waist while his other hand brushed the hair off of her face. The wet hair was plastered to her face, giving her the look of a soaked puppy.

"I had to save him," Hayes whimpered. The constant hiccups were starting to hurt.

"I know," soothed Cole, skimming her over again for any injuries. "Chubba is fine."

The dog was perfectly fine, in fact, rolling around in the grass as Colton spoke. Like nothing happened other than an unexpected bath.

Cole was the opposite of fine, his heart was going super sonic speed at the moment with his mind not too far behind.

He needed to focus. Prioritize.

First things first, Colton needed to get her out of the soaking wet clothes and quick. So without wasting another second, his hands found the hemline of her oversized sweatshirt, his fingers grabbing hold of the fabric before pulling the clothing up and over her head. Not sparing a glance at her bare skin, as her t-shirt was removed too, Colton hurriedly took off his own dampish sweatshirt and pulled it over her head. He didn't bother fixing the sleeves before pulling the girl tightly against his t-shirt clad chest again. He hoped his body heat was transferring to his sister.

Peyton slipped off her soaked sneakers, leaving them by the bottom step before climbing up to the deck. She laid her hand on Colton's shoulder, the much appreciated level-headed counterpart, "She's okay but we need to warm her up more. We need towels."

Peyton paid no attention to herself, not even realizing she was also shivering like crazy. That was a later problem.

"Towels, right," Colton mumbled, his mind switching to teacher mode. Calm, cool, and collected. He had a plan and now he set it in action.

Colton dipped down, leaving another kiss on Hayes' hair before slipping past and hurrying into the house. Luck was on his side here, as he had left a pile of hot-from-the-dryer towels on the couch after folding them.

Still warm.

He was back before his sister realized he was gone, passing some towels to Peyton before draping one around Hayes' shoulders.

He rubbed her arms over the towel, trying to get some warmth. "You okay? You cold?"

"Little," hiccup, "cold," Hayes admitted or fibbed.

Lotta cold was more like it.

Her sweatpants were already weighted down from the water so Colton tugged them off so they puddled at her feet. His sweatshirt was more than long enough to keep her decent.

Was her teeth chattering or was he imagining that?

Cole embraced Hayes again, lifting her into his arms with her legs eventually wrapping around her waist. His hand rubbed up and down her back as he held her tight. The girl already began to settle down, with unfortunately more hiccuping but less crying. She stopped coughing, too. And now her face buried into her brother's neck to warm her nose.

Remembering Peyton was the one who rescued Hayes, he double backed to her. "Are you okay? Do you need anything? More towels?"

"No, yeah, I'm good." Peyton replied before shooing him away with her hands. "Go get her in a warm shower."

"Thank you," Colton said genuinely. She saved his sister, he was forever indebted.

Peyton faintly smiled. "Go," she demanded, balancing on one foot, peeling off her right sock then switched for her left.

She didn't have to tell him thrice.

"I'm so sorry," he murmured, his warm breath tickling Hayes' ear. Colton was on the move again, back inside the home. Next destination was upstairs to the bathroom where Hayes was going to take a warm shower, whether she liked it or not.

By the time he had the water temperature just right, and shut the bathroom door behind him to wait in the hallway, the guilt was fully starting to kick in for the older brother. Big time.

He should have been watching her but yet he was distracted by his phone. This should never have happened.

————

"Peyton?"

Baker urgently climbed the stairs, skipping two at a time. His wife had called him while he was thankfully already on his way over from work, to inform him of the freak incident that occurred with his little sister.

Peyton would have called Austin, but she knew Glen would be driving the car and she didn't want to freak out the eldest brother which would lead to a domino effect of freaking out Dakota and Glen.

Baker agreed. He'd be there in minutes anyways to check it all out.

Baker was unsurprised to hear that Colton was involved too. Without fail, their poor brother was always getting the short end of the stick when he's suppose to be watching Hayes.

"Hi," Peyton greeted her husband at the top of the stairs. She had already changed out of her sopping-wet clothes, thankful that she always keeps an extra set or two or three in the trunk of her car.

"Hi," Baker replied in the same soft tone, pecking her on the lips. "Where's my Sunshine?"

Peyton tilted her head to the little girl's bedroom, where the door was left ajar. "In her room with Colton." She glanced over her shoulder before dropping her voice to even more of a whisper. "Hayes is good as new. But Cole, he's really struggling. Thinks its his fault even though I keep telling him it was just a freak thing."

Hell, if this isn't the final straw that pushes Colton out the front door completely. He may very well scare himself from ever coming back home if Hayes keeps getting hurt. The summer coaching job was simply his token out of here.

Baker nodded, lost in that saddening thought with his gaze locked on the bedroom door.

"I'll leave you to it, and will go check on that damn turkey." Peyton patted him on the arm. "Gobble, gobble."

"Oh hey, wait," Baker grabbed her hand before she scooted past him. "How are you? Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," Peyton promised, squeezing their laced hands. "Now go take care of your siblings. They need you."

"Yes Sir," Baker teased his wife. He stole another kiss from her lips before letting her slide by to the stairs.

Peyton playfully rolled her eyes, tasering him in the side before bounding down the steps. She added over her shoulder. "That's right. I'm the boss. Best you remember that."

Baker chuckled as he walked away. He took a deep inhale when he got to Hayes' bedroom and, with keeping the tradition of the siblings to not bother knocking, he walked right in.

As soon as he entered, his eyes darted between the little girl and his brother.

Hayes looked perfectly like herself in her mismatched outfit of choice, perched on the edge of the bed between Colton's legs as the older brother attempted to brush out the knots in her hair.

Colton looked liked he needed to take a nap for 100 years and then some.

"What's up, babycakes? Sup, Colton," Baker smiled at the duo, greeting Cole with a brotherly smack on the arm. "Heard you went for a swim, Sunshine."

Of course, Chubba needed his attention too, and sashayed over to him on the bed to shove the turkey toy in Baker's face. "Hi, yes you dumb dog. I know you went swimming too."

Dumb dog.

Baker took a knee in front of the girl and gently cupped her face. "You need to stop getting into trouble, little miss. Did you know every time you get even a paper cut, Colton gets another gray hair."

"Thanks," Colton shook his head with a grunt. Leave it to Baker's terrible sense of humor to lighten things up.

Hayes glanced backwards at Cole before responding to Baker. She became bashful, though a playful look remained in her expression. "At least he doesn't have a heart attack like Austin does."

Ah, Peyton was correct.

Her sass was in place therefore Sunshine was fine.

"Ain't that so," Baker chuckled and leaned forward, bumping his nose against her little red nose for an Eskimo kiss. "I love you, Sunshine. Just no more excitement for today, okay? Okay." Baker told his little sister, before releasing her and standing back up. He put his hands on his hips. "Now, let's talk about your fashion sense here for a second. Tell me, how do we come up with this outfit?"

Hayes tilted her head down, her chin against her chest as she checked to see what she was wearing. The little girl had on her neon green sweatshirt that matches Dakota with bright bright pink neon Nike shorts peeking out underneath. To complete the look, she had a pair of blue socks with dinosaurs on them to keep her feet warm.

Finding nothing wrong, Sunshine shrugged. "What about it?"

"Please, explain it to me. How does not a single color match with anything?" Baker requested, as he walked over to her closet. He wanted to find her some sweatpants or pajama pants, anything to keep her warmer than those shorts would. Maybe another pair of socks wouldn't hurt, either.

Hayes giggled, as she offered him another shrug. "I dunno what the problem is."

————

Austin was not thrilled.

Not in the slightest.

But who could blame him?

Though credit to Baker, as the brother smoothly relayed the news to Austin in a manner that kept his emotions from going haywire. Instead, the eldest brother remained relatively calm throughout the ordeal, simply gathering his little sister into his arms for a long-lasting hug. He also checked in with Colton, who by then had begun to bounce back with the help of Baker.

Nobody else even had an inkling that something had occurred, and so the Thanksgiving meal went on without a hitch.

By the time 4 pm rolled around, everyone was sitting around the table just as planned. The seating arrangements was a bit of musical chairs from the norm, but that was to be expected with three more people present.

It ended up being Austin and Baker at the ends of the table, with Peyton sitting next to her husband on his left. She sat on the same side as the three knucklehead musketeers, with Emerson in the middle of Francis and Glen.

Across the table, Dakota claimed his renown spot, a scowl on his face when he saw Colton take the middle seat and not his little sister. That was because Hayes helped herself to the open chair next to the eldest brother, leaving her usual chair for Cole.

She was a bit clingy to the eldest brother, not that he minded. Especially not tonight.

If anything, the action was reciprocated.

And poor Chubba, his leash was clipped to his collar so he was trapped between his owners. That way he couldn't get himself in trouble by sneaking into the kitchen and helping himself to all the food on the table.

The phrase, "Free Chubba" was popular for a short time, until Baker said that whatever food Chubba scavenges, then takes away from the brothers' own plates. Of course, that didn't go over well, so alas Chubba remained chained to Peyton's chair.

It took a hot second with the buffet style layout for everyone to have their food. The two kids waited for the kitchen to clear out before they took their turns. Austin and Hayes were the last to sit back down with their full plates, as the eldest brother had to painstakingly convince his sister that she had to try a bit from every dish. And hey, maybe she'd even like the sweet potatoes with marshmallow on top.

You just never know.

Yet, The first piece of food she tried was from the bread bowl that was in the middle of the dinner table.

Mhmm, bread just hits different.

The sound of one of her brothers clearing their throat made her pause, though she continued to munch on the bread that was already in her mouth. She glanced around the table, catching sight that everyone's gaze was on Emerson.

So she too, stared at Sonny.

Emerson stared blankly back at everyone else, cocking his head to the side in confusion. "What I'd do?"

Dakota rolled his eyes and returned to cutting the turkey on his plate.

"Speech, speech, speech," Francis chanted, lightly banging his fists on the table. He stopped when Peyton flicked him in the ear.

"I have a speech," Baker said, pointing his knife at Sonny. "Your mustache gives me the fucking creeps. It's time for it to go."

Emerson took a sharp inhale as Glen mockingly cried out, "No, not Rufus."

"What is a Rufus?" Austin looked unsure if he wanted the answer. He wasn't in the know, apparently.

"His mustache," Hayes giggled.

"Forget I said anything," Austin said, shaking his head. His eyes flicked around the table, his eyes bright as he saw everyone settled. "Well, I don't know about you all, but I'm ready to eat. It all looks delicious. Thank you Peyton and Cole for your help."

At that, utensils clang against their plates. Dakota had a head start on everyone as he had no patience to wait. Francis and Emerson both dove forward, sticking their hands in the bread bowl with Francis coming out victorious with an end piece.

"Dude, that was mine," Sonny complained, slumping down in his chair. He stabbed his fork into the stuffing, shoveling the yumminess into his mouth.

"Aren't there two?" Francis questioned, about to go for a second round with the bread bowl. But Colton beat him to it, pulling the bowl to his side of the table, out of the grubby hands of his teen brother.

Dakota glanced up, a smirk playing on his lips, "Don't mind if I do," he said, snagging the other end of the cut-up baguette.

"Guys, can't you behave for one meal?" Austin warned, his attention falling onto Hayes who also helped herself to another piece of bread. "Excuse me, Sunshine, how about you try some turkey now."

"Sir, yes, sir," Hayes mumbled, her hands covering her mouth for a second. She then dropped her hands to the table, revealing her smile and the bread crust that covered her teeth like a mouth guard.

"Don't play with your food."

Hayes pouted, which actually made her look like a chipmunk with the bread in her mouth.

Baker laughed, "Careful, Austin. You're going to start sounding like a broken record."

"Too late," Emerson teased the eldest brother. He mocked him, "Hey, you. No running in the house. You, don't hit your brother. Dakota, make your own damn sandwich."

Dakota was quick to hold up his middle finger.

"Laugh it up all you want. Don't come complaining to me when your food gets cold," Austin replied, his lips quirking upward in a half smile. It turned into a full smile when he finally saw Hayes put a piece of turkey in her mouth. She didn't make a face or spit it out, so he took that as the girl liked it.

Verdict still pending for everything else on her plate.

"Mhmmmm, sooo good," Francis moaned, a fork full of sweet potatoes in his mouth. He nudged Peyton with his elbow. "This marshmallow hits the spot. Thanks, Peyton!"

"Glad you like it," Peyton chuckled, bending down to scratch Chubba's head that plopped in her lap. "Maybe next year, you can help me make it."

She was definitely teasing, knowing Francis and cooking was not a smart combination.

The teen gave a non-committal shrug. "Maybe I will."

"Don't threaten my wife with a bad time," Baker jumped in to her defense, making Francis gasp.

"I beg your pardon." Offense taken.

"What's up, Smiley?" Colton spoke over his bantering brothers as he had been watching the boy sitting diagonal from him.

Glen was sitting there, twirling his utensil his hand. He had an odd look on his face, as if he had been wanting to say something but was too shy to ask. Which was weird, because that would not typically be a word to describe the kid.

"Earth to Smiley," Emerson sung, stealing his brother's untouched piece of bread off his plate. Colton was still holding the bread bowl hostage, far from the reaches of the teens.

Hayes slouched in her chair, so her double socked foot could touch Glen's shin, jolting him out of his daze.

Austin gently leaned over and put his hand on the kid's arm, trying to keep him from being spooked. "What's on your mind, Buddy?"

Glen tilted his head to the side, "I don't really know, actually." He blinked, focusing on his little sister sitting directly across from him. "Actually, yeah, I do know. Well, kind of..."

"Spit it out," Dakota interrupted the kid before he got lost to his rambling.

Baker slapped him in the back of the head, "Leave him alone."

"Bitch," Dakota mumbled, halfheartedly. He was actually in a decent mood this evening.

"Dude, don't curse in front of the babies." Baker went to smack some sense into him again, making Dakota flinch as he held his arm up in protection. He let out a loud laugh when Baker used the diversion to loop his arm around Kota's neck, pulling him off-balance on the chair.

"Okay, okay," Dakota gripped onto Baker's arm to not fall face first on the floor.

"Baker, come on, not at the table." Austin sighed from the sane end of the table.

"Yeah, babe, act your age," Peyton reprimanded, poking him hard on the arm. "Leave your brother alone."

When Dakota sat back up properly, he made sure to shove Baker. "You butt-face miscreant. There, is that better, prick?"

"Chubba, down!" Cole suddenly exclaimed, for in all the hoopla, the dog propped his front paws on the table and tried to sneak some food off of Baker's plate.

"Oh give me patience," Austin put his utensils down and rubbed his face with both hands, much to Hayes' enjoyment if her snickers were anything to go by.

"Austin?" she asked, her feet happy tapping beneath her chair.

He dropped his hands, his fatigue well hidden behind his smiling eyes. "Yeah, babe?"

"Can I have ketchup?"

Instead of asking why or suggesting she try the gravy, the eldest brother simply said, "Sure. It's in the fridge. You can get it."

Hayes scooted her chair back before hesitating. She turned sideways and looked at the kitchen, swiveled back around to look at Austin, before glancing longingly at the kitchen again.

Okay, maybe some lingering terror did reside in her from last week's fiasco. It fluctuated.

Colton squeezed her knee in comfort. "Stay here, I'll get it," He volunteered, getting up. The guilt was still immense even if he didn't show it.

"Wait, so Smiley, what were you saying?" Emerson asked, genuinely interested in his little brother.

"Oh," Glen's cheeks reddened a smidge as he waited for Cole to sit back down to say anything else. "Well, I was thinking, and don't take this the wrong way or anything, but this is like mine and Hayes' first Thanksgiving all over again. And based on our very small movie knowledge, I don't know if people really do this or not, but I kinda have something to say. So I'm just going to say it...

I am thankful to be here."

Nobody moved, all sort of frozen as they listened to the words spill out of the youngest brother's mouth. Only Hayes reacted, giving her partner in crime a warm grin, her eyes twinkling with agreement.

Thankful was an understatement.

"I- I am thankful that you took us back in. You guys didn't have to do that, though I'm fricking thankful you did. I mean, I know we're not easy to deal with. We have problems, probably a lot more than I even know. And- and you gave up your beds for us, literally. You gave us the clothes off your back, you know. And we eat your food. Well, I do. Hayes eats all the desserts though. And you treat us like we're not any different. And I love that. So yeah, I think that's everything. That's what I'm thankful for."

"Wow," someone muttered, in a bit of shock.

Baker glanced at Austin, the two oldest brothers not easily made speechless at the same time but Glen had done just so.

Peyton subtly wiped a finger under her eyes, moved to literal tears. She'd never had the honor of listening to the boy speak like that.

Emerson was the first to recover enough to speak. Sitting next to his brother, he patted Glen affectionately on his back and raised his glass of water in the air with his other hand. The only words he could think of were, "Hear! Hear!"

————

After that toast, the thanksgiving dinner carried on in a typical fashion. Well, typical for the Powers family.

Most everyone went back to the buffet for seconds of something. Hayes was on her fourth and final round of bread.

But of course, dinner could end in no less of a spectacular fashion than how it did.

"What the hell is that smell?" Dakota asked, a look of disgust on his face.

"Sorry, couldn't hold it anymore," Francis gave an impish grin as poor Peyton could no longer survive without covering her nose with her mouth. Hayes copied the idea, spurring Glen to also do so. The kids pulled up the neckline of their sweatshirts, activating the gas masks.

"Jesus, Fran, are you trying to kill us?" Baker asked, waving a hand in front of his face.

Emerson suspiciously leaned slightly towards his left, making Glen lean away from him even more.

A long, drawn out baritone PPPPPFFFFFTTTTTTTTTT then sounded.

"Ahhhh," Sonny was quite proud, outing himself as if the siblings didn't know exactly who done it. But he couldn't let Franny outdo him.

"The party has officially started," Colton joked on Austin's behalf. Humor prevented heart attacks.

Francis gasped, dramatic as ever with a hand over his dear heart. "Oh my word, you shot the bunny."

"Yeah about that," Emerson said, pushing his chair back. "Excuse me. I have to take a dookie."

Step one: shoot the bunny.

Step two: destroy the toilet.

Step three: eat pie.

Within seconds of this lovely, perfectly acceptable, table announcement, all three bathroom doors in the home were slammed shut and the three youngest gentlemen were missing from their seats.

Man, brothers always have to turn things into a competition.

The lucky little girl of the family glanced around the table at the remaining company, her eyebrows furrowed in thought. She had pretty good idea, using her context clues and all, about what dookie meant, but even so, her eyes hesitantly landed on Dakota.

"It means he has to take a massive shit." he confirmed bluntly.

Yep, she knew that.

You go girl.

She patted herself on the back with a grin before pushing back from the table and hopping up. Hayes moved over to Austin's chair and wrapped her arms around his neck from behind for a big hug. She was getting cold again.

"Where did we ever go wrong with them?" Austin asked, rhetorically. He tilted his head to the side to look at Hayes, lightly brushing his fingers under her chin. She squirmed, ticklish as always.

"You know, I would like to know what ever happened to ladies first?" Peyton joked.

"What, you gotta take a shit too, babe?" Baker asked with his shit-eating grin, "I'll go kick one of them out of the bathroom."

Peyton flicked the back of his head as she got up and began collecting some of the dirty plates, "You're such a child."

When she walked behind Baker's chair to go to the kitchen, he whistled. "Woo, babe. Did you just fart?"

"Excuse me?" Peyton turned around, though she definitely knew by now that ignoring her husband was a better choice.

"Because you just blew me away," he gave her a charming wink.

"You're going to hell, bro," Dakota laughed out loud, his good mood continuing. He picked up his empty plate and left the room to deliver it into the kitchen sink.

"Jesus must love you a lot," Peyton breathed, "because you need serious help." She tried to remain serious, but the upward lift of her lips gave away her amusement.

Baker grabbed her wrist, pulling his reluctant wife back to him so he could hug her around the waist. "You love me."

Meanwhile, Hayes was now cackling up a storm from where she was snuggled on Austin's lap. In a few minutes from now, the eldest brother predicted the little girl would most definitely be in a food coma.

"What is so funny, little girl?" Baker just had to know.

Her nose wrinkled up into her stink face with her eyes squinting in laughter, "I think it's you who smells!"

"Hayes Powers," Baker's jaw dropped. "I thought you were on my side."

"Need some ice for that burn?" Austin offered in mock sympathy, holding his hand out for a high-five from his sister.

"All is fair in love and war, Baker!"

~~~~~

I love to eat, eat, eat **ice cream and cookies**

Let the Christmas song singing commence!! *24 days omggggg*