62.

Omg so many new friends!

OG peeps, welcome back!

All your love for this story make my day.

Also, if you're Jeff Dunham fans... I gotchu. If not, ignore the jingle.

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"The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear." – Buddy, Elf

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Countdown until Christmas: 9 days

"Grandma got run over by a reindeer..." Clap, clap, clap.

Emerson continued with the next line, "Walking home from our house Christmas eve..."

Glen was so obviously clueless so it went back to Francis again, "You can say there's no such thing as Santa..."

"Shut the fuck uppp," Dakota groaned, lifting his leg and kicking the back of the teen's seat. He had been behaving nicely thus far in the car ride, but after three Christmas songs that were so horribly off-key sung by his brothers... enough was enough.

"Dakota. Don't start. They're just having fun." Austin's gaze darted to the rearview mirror. He could see Kota slouched in the third row of the car and sitting beside him was no other than Sunshine.

"You can't honestly say you want to listen to this shit." Dakota scoffed with an eyeroll.

Francis twisted his back so he could look at his brother. Kind understanding was written on his face. "It's okay to admit you're jelly of my talents, Dicky."

Dakota gave a harsh, unamused laugh and kicked the teen's chair again.

As a form of reprimand for probably being a 'meanie', he felt his little sister bravely poke his arm with a single finger but he ignored her, pointedly looking away from her.

"Francis," Austin warned, not thrilled about his language choice. "Seriously, can you guys get along for once?" It was rhetorical. Because obviously, the two could not.

"Don't take it personally, Austin," Emerson said from the passenger seat. He was the quickest to call shot gun this evening. "Dakota lives to disappoint."

"Fuck off, Emerson," Dakota hissed, whipping his head to the front as his back went rigid, as Austin now reprimanded Emerson. At this rate, every sibling was going to be in trouble by the end of the night.

Well maybe not. Glen and Hayes were looking liked they much rather be anywhere else at the moment than squished in a car with fired-up brothers.

Kota could still feel the stare of his little sister, but he now avoided her gaze by glaring down at his phone. He assumed she must have heard the hurt that slipped unintentionally into his voice. A moment of weakness that he'd rather not have had.

Live to disappoint.

Say how you really feel, why don't you.

Sonny probably didn't even realize he hit a nerve with his offhanded comment.

But then a message popped up at the top of Dakota's phone screen. He apparently didn't give his brother enough credit for awareness. Emerson sent him a text already.

Emerson: Sorry, dude. Didn't mean that.

Whatever.

Dakota swiped out of the messaging app without bothering with a reply.

"That's enough," the eldest brother now barked. "No more talking until we get there."

"Ooh, the Quiet game." Sonny poked fun at his brother's idea of punishment.

"Aw, come on, Austin," Francis complained, leaning forward in his seat. "Where's your Christmas spirit?"

Dakota couldn't help himself, mumbling under his breath. It was very likely not appropriate for his sister to hear.

Her hackles had gone up, as she finally shifted more to her side of the bench, away from him. Not feeling so brave anymore, was she.

"I said no talking, Francis."

Francis crossed his arms, looking like a petulant child that was scolded for being naughty as he fell back against the seat. He sent Dickota a quick glare over his shoulder then stared pointedly out the window on his right. The teen began picking at the rubber band on his wrist. Snap, snap.

Everyone was a bit pissy now, it seemed.

Well, fuck them.

Glen and Hayes were both becoming more and more uncomfortable with the tension in the car. It had started with the Christmas carols that the kids didn't know and worsened with their brothers' tiffs.

Smiley's eyes flickered to the back of the car to his sister before facing the front. He laced his fingers together on his lap to stop the nervous twitching.

"Umm, Austin," Glen dare breathed, then wincing as he braced for his own chastising.

"Yes, bud?" Austin responded, in a nicer tone than the stern one he was previously using. He glanced at him through the rearview mirror, the kid was sitting directly behind him in the middle row.

"Are we almost there?"

Austin nodded. "In about five minutes."

"What happened to no fucking talking?" Dakota grumbled, slouching even further down in the seat and manspreading best he could in the tight quarters.

He hated this whole fucking tradition.

The only reason he was going this year was because the babies were going.

The little girl next to him sucked in a sharp inhale. She watched with wide eyes as Kota reached over without looking and grabbed her hand. His form of an apology.

"Seriously, Dakota James?" Austin was so close to abandoning the siblings' plans with Baker and Peyton. But fortunately for everyone, those five minutes was actually two minutes and he was already pulling into the parking lot where they were to meet up with the couple.

"I told you not to fucking call me that," Dakota cursed, unintentionally squeezing Hayes' hand a bit too hard.

As soon as Austin parked the car with several empty spots between them and Baker's awaiting truck, Dakota bulldozed his way out of the vehicle, banging into Francis' legs with no regard for politeness.

Emerson watched Dakota disappear around the back of the car through the side mirror before turning to Austin. "That was our bad," Sonny felt guilty.

For they were the ones to push Austin to a breaking point, forcing him to be stone cold like that. Every single one of them, excluding the two kids, knew Dakota despised their father and anything to do with him.

Austin let out a long sigh, staring straight ahead. His fingers drummed on the steering wheel. "Don't worry about it. I'll fix it."

Emerson and Francis took the hint to get out, piling out of their respective doors.

When Austin glanced up one last time in the rearview mirror to make sure everyone had gotten out, he caught his two kids sharing a somewhat recognizable look, one that he translated to mean that they'd be whispering about it later. Like their own debriefing.

Then they both shrugged and Hayes followed her brother out of the car, pushing him repeatedly in the back to make him go faster.

The eldest brother waited an extra beat, appreciating the silence of the car to himself. Hating himself for not handling the bickering better like he should be able to.

Austin clenched his fists tight and pinched his eyes close before taking another deep breath.

Reminding himself that this was suppose to be fun, he turned the car off, undid his seatbelt. and pushed open his door, hopping out directly into more chaos.

It was Thursday night, the start of the youngest trio's Christmas break. More importantly, it meant hell week was officially over.

Exhaustion didn't even touch how everyone felt.

Trust him, it was just as torturous for him and Colton as it was for his siblings to study for all the exams. He managed to get his little sister through the rest of the stressful week with no more tears. It somehow ended up working out where Hayes was set up in the kitchen at the breakfast nook with Francis.

The two of them most definitely passed silly notes back and forth to each other more than actually getting some studying done, but honestly... a win was a win.

It was done and over with.

The end of semester grades came out after the New Year, but Austin didn't care about the results. Life was bigger than school grades. A lot had changed these past several months. He had absolutely nothing but gratefulness.

No matter the stress, frustration, and lack of sleep that came along with it.

He loved his family.

And nothing could ever take that away from him.

But of course, Austin couldn't ignore the few grey hairs on his head amongst the blonde strands this morning. He played it up as a figment of his imagination but man, he was getting old. This car trip probably didn't help much either.

Hopefully everyone's mood would brighten after this. It was hard not to be in a cheery mood when driving past a hundred different Christmas light displays. The neighboring city traditionally put on an event called 'Christmas Lights at the Speedway' that the Powers' siblings all enjoyed... for the most part.

There was always one unhappy sibling.

Austin turned and shut the car door, checking the door handle was locked after he pressed the key fob. When he finally looked up, he jumped, as Glen was standing right in front of him.

"Jesus Christ," Austin could have sworn he saw the kid run off with his brothers. As his heart rate slowed back down, he jammed his car keys into a front jeans pocket. "Didn't see you there. You alright, Smiley?"

He figured, if anything, his brother might be a little on edge still from their brothers' bickering but no... that didn't seem it at all.

The boy nodded, a light expression on his face. Thoughtful-like. The complete opposite of in-edge. "Yeah, I'm fine..."

Austin could feel a 'but' coming or something of the sort. But nothing could honestly have prepared him for what Smiley had to say.

"I think I want to change my name." Glen blurted out as he blinked up at his eldest brother. "Well, not my name name. My name is Glen, obviously. But my middle name... you know?"

"What?" Austin was dumbfounded.

Hello, left field.

"Yeah." Glen nodded bobble-head style, like he didn't just drop a bomb on his brother.

Austin blinked. His jaw opened then shut several times with no words. "Alright. I'm totally lost here, Buddy."

Glen shrugged. "I mean, obviously I won't do it until I'm 18... But yeah." Glen nodded some more, set on his decision. All the while giving little detail as possible.

The eldest brother shook his head, still trying to make sense on what the kid was even talking about . He rubbed the heel of his hand against his eye. He scratched his head. Then he glanced around the parking lot, clocking where each of his present family members were at.

Find his sanity while at it.

Could he be getting punked?

Austin ran through the roll call in his mind. He already knew Colton wasn't here; the brother had a Christmas cookie-exchange party to attend with his teacher colleagues. It was no secret that Cole was under strict instruction by Hayes to return to the home only after he grabbed a cookie sample from every plate.

His two knuckleheads, Francis and Emerson, had already climbed into the bed of Baker's truck. Currently, he watched them as they were standing up on the platform, jokingly fighting each other for their preferred spots.

Not ideal. Definitely reckless.

Dakota, his self-declared problem child, had his foot hanging out from the passenger seat. His uncontested throne. He never wanted anything to do with sitting in the open back of the truck.

His sister-in-law was grabbing thick blankets out of the back seat of the truck. She leaned sideways and tossed up a few to the knuckleheads. It was as cold as ever tonight, so Peyton came prepared as always.

The little girl of the group was slowly backing up from the truck, dangerously close to the middle lane, not seeming to pay a lick of attention to the potential hazard of cars driving behind her.

Baker jogged over to the little girl, a quick hand on her shoulder to prevent her from taking another step backwards. Crisis averted there.

Austin watched as his brother ducked his head, trying to catch his sister's eyes, his other hand coming up to wipe her cheek. Was she crying?

Crisis not averted.

"... You don't mind, right?" Glen's young, boyish voice snapped him back to what was happening right in front of him.

"I don't mind what, exactly?" Austin asked warily. To change his name? He couldn't fathom why this was even being addressed now.

Glen's blue eyes stared up at older brother, admiration and trust clear as day. "Changing it to Austin."

Austin froze, nothing but the rise and fall of his chest to indicate he was still breathing. "Change what to Austin?"

"My middle name," Glen said with slight exasperation. Wasn't he listening? "I mean, I practically don't know our dad. I obviously don't remember him. So it shouldn't be a big deal, right?"

Austin unfroze and pressed his palm to his forehead. "Glen, I'm just a little confused here. Where is this coming from?"

He watched the kid's attention flicker in the direction of Dakota, and back again.

Oh.

Now Austin was gaining some understanding. It was all starting to make a little more sense now. Glen's impulsiveness, though was it really? The kid seemed pretty certain on what he wanted.

It was no secret that the brothers shared their namesake from their father. James was their middle name.

But unlike Dakota who hated the legacy like it was a black mark on his record, the three oldest siblings paid no attention to it whereas Emerson and Francis still held on to that childlike sense of pride that their father was an American hero. Austin had no reason to tell them otherwise.

Point of it all being, Glen had been paying attention. And he was blunt with what he wanted.

And Austin had no clue he was going to be blindsided about it tonight.

Ah. Think, think, think.

While the eldest brother struggled to find the correct words, to not mess this up, Glen waited patiently. His hands were clasped behind his back as he swayed on his feet, like a kid. His head was turned, eagerly watching Sonny and Franny goof off at the truck.

Finally, Austin said in what he thought was a neutral-enough tone, "I think we should talk about this again later. I'm not saying no... just later, okay?"

If Smiley was put out by Austin's response, he didn't show it. Instead, it was almost like he didn't hear it.

Glen brushed his unruly hair off his forehead as he turned his attention back to Austin, his expression turning to that pondering look again. Like he was here, but not really.

Lost in thought, almost.

"I've been thinking about this a lot. When we lived with..." the boy couldn't say his name. "When Hayes and I were ... away, we said our dad was Superman. He was super busy saving the world. That was why he never came to get us. It's not like they corrected us other than to shut us up. But it all sounds so stupid now. I guess it sounded stupid then too, because we stopped believing that too.

Glen chuckled in disbelief. "Turns out, it didn't hurt as much to just say we didn't have one. Nobody cared. My friends all had one and Stephen acted like one, but they weren't my dad. But I've been thinking."

Austin held his breath without realizing.

"You're not my dad either..."

The extended pause was beginning to hurt. Austin cleared his throat, about to say something, anything, when Glen filled in his train of thought.

"Wait, that sounded wrong. I didn't mean it like that, Austin. Just that it'd be weird."

Austin was hella confused all over again. His heart was doing front flips, back flips, side flips. He didn't know what to think.

Glen's eyes darted away for a second before looking back. A bit of shyness. Some split second hesitation before he powered through it.

Rip it off like a band-aid.

Smiley grounded his shoe against the pavement of the parking lot. "I don't know. Maybe it's not fair because dad never had a chance to be a real dad. But I don't need him anymore. Because I have you, Austin. And I know you're my brother, but honestly, you should be more than that. I wish you were my dad."

The boy's voice cracked unexpectedly, making him clear his throat. He was oblivious to the whirlwind of emotions crossing Austin's face.

"Anyways, I just felt like I needed to tell you that tonight." Glen concluded his monologue with the simple words, as if he didn't just make Austin's heart explode and upend his whole night.

Smiley gave a fleeting half-grin with a casual shrug of the shoulders, the way only Smiley could do.

Suddenly seeming to remember where they were, in a parking lot surrounded by cars and other siblings, Glen didn't stick around to hear a response from Austin. Instead, the boy spun on his foot and jogged off to go join the knuckleheads. The two brothers had been impatiently calling his name for a while now.

And Austin was left alone, standing by his locked car door.

He blinked.

Blinked again.

Wondering if that really just happened.

His mind was going to need a whole lot more time to process that, because it sounded like his kid brother...

No.

His kid...

wished he was his dad.

Did that really just happen?

"Earth to AJ," Baker sung, waving his hand back and forth in front of Austin's face. It was like he appeared out of nowhere. "You good? You look pale as hell."

Baker stood in front of him, with their little sister hanging off his back, piggyback style.

All he could manage was another blink.

Crisis averted, again?

Austin rubbed his forehead with two fingers as if trying to erase his tension lines that just deepened a hundred times over.

"Austin," Baker said sharply as he hiked Hayes higher up on his back. His tone softened out, "You good, man?" Baker reached out and gave a quick pat-pat to Austin's cheek, returning some color to his skin.

Austin instantly scowled and leaned away from his brother. "Yes, I'm fine. We ready to roll?" He gave his head a shake, bouncing back from the bewilderment. A short laugh escaped him as he waved off his brother's concern. Then his eyes narrowed in on Hayes' teary-eyed face. "What's going on with you two?"

Baker and Austin stared at each other, both calling bullshit in their head.

Baker gave in first.

"Ahh, just a change in plans. Little Miss Sunshine here is going to ride shotgun with me instead of in the back with the hooligans. Isn't that right, baby cakes?" Baker felt Hayes shift in his grip, hiding her face against his neck. She was still a bit embarrassed of her minor panicky state that Baker had to calm her down from.

It honestly came out of nowhere.

The little girl certainly hadn't seen it coming. The anxiety attack built so suddenly and practically rendered her numb before she could even attempt to stop it.

There was no other way to describe it than paralyzing.

Absolutely immobilizing as the coldness seeped into her chest before spreading throughout the rest of her body, making it difficult to get a good breath.

She hadn't even realized she was inching backwards into the parking lot traffic until Baker appeared.

That was the thing about trauma. It hit any time, anywhere, any way it wanted to.

Fortunately, Baker was able to guess the trigger before the little girl knew it herself. Perks of having another sibling go through the same exact thing.

It came down to one thing.

If she closed her eyes, she could hear the crunching sound of metal on metal as the truck barreled directly into the side of the car. These past months she had been able to make more sense of her nightmares.

Late, late night talks with Kota.

Something neither sibling mentioned during normal waking hours, though the eldest brother was aware of it.

Baker could feel Hayes starting to quicken her breaths, each exhale blowing onto his neck. He tsk'd loudly as he stretched his arm back and tickled her side.

He went for the distraction technique.

"You're making me look bad, Sunshine," Baker joked, keeping his voice light as he worked his magic in stopping her from another panic attack. He succeeded with the playfulness, though he knew it was no laughing matter.

Austin studied his little sister's flushed face, concern for the little girl helping him control his thoughts from returning to Glen.

Later.

"Let's go, people!" Francis hollered from the several parking spots away, his hands cupped around his mouth. "We don't have all night."

"We got a COD sesh at 10," Emerson added. He jerked out of the way when Peyton went to wack him with a blanket, jumping to the other side of the truck so Glen was a barrier between them.

Austin and Baker ignored them, having another one of those private conversations that did not require words. Hayes didn't even bother trying to be nosey.

She shivered when a cold gust of wind came through, instinctually snuggling closer to Baker's back. Taking the hint, Baker tilted his head in the direction of his truck. The two brothers began walking next to each other, Austin's hand briefly reaching over to rub her back some.

"We're booting you to the backseat, man." Baker informed Dakota, stopping at the open passenger door.

Whatever Kota was about to snap back, he swallowed the words once he caught sight of Hayes. His eyes carefully roamed all over her before grunting. "Fine."

He silently got out, slipping past older brothers. He gripped the door handle and pulled it open but was stopped by a firm hand on the arm before he could climb in.

Dakota turned his head slightly and stared blankly at his eldest brother, still pissed off at him. But the longer he stared, slowly his temper lowered to simmering.

Something looked different with Austin.

"Forget it," Kota grumbled, shrugging Austin's hand off of him. "It's fine."

It wasn't fine, but it was not the appropriate time for another fight. So Austin let him go, watching as Kota shut the door in his face.

After making sure Hayes' door was properly shut as well, the eldest brother made his way to the back of the truck and effortlessly climbed over the tailgate into the bed, joining his other siblings.

Baker settled into his driver's seat, slamming the truck door closed. He turned the key, starting the engine back up. Then he turned on the heater, making sure it was blowing high enough so his sister was toasty warm.

She silently followed his every move, having not looked back at Kota yet.

Baker tugged on her ponytail, calling for her attention. He asked in a low, calm voice, "Are you okay with this, Sunshine? If you still don't want to go, one of us can stay here with you. There is no pressure."

"No, I wanna go," Hayes said quietly, shoving her hands under her thighs to hide her tremoring fingers. Stupid nerves.

Baker nodded. He then fixed the rearview mirror so he could see behind him, making sure everyone was settled in the back. Which they weren't.

Baker turned around so he could shout out the open, small window behind Dakota's head. "Sit your ass down, Francis!"

"Hold on," Fran shuffled around on his knees, before claiming the leftover space between Peyton and Emerson. "Aye, papi! Emmy, why is your foot up my ass?"

"Dude, you sat on my foot," Sonny informed, pushing Francis away as he tried to pull his leg free. "Get your fat ass off."

Glen snorted so loudly and abruptly, drawing all the attention to himself. The words tumbled out unfiltered, "Didn't know you liked it that way, Franny."

Francis looked appalled, his jaw dropping to the floor as Emerson just about died laughing. Peyton and Austin looked similarly in disbelief as they stared at the youngest brother who happened to be sitting between them. Twice in one night he had caught Austin off-guard.

He was so hanging out too much with Baker and Dakota. Too much influence from the dark side.

"Oh my God, that was too good," Emerson said, wiping his eyes.

"That's it. I am leaving all of you," Francis declared, standing up again.

In unison, everyone groaned as Sonny forcefully tugged his brother's arm. "Sit down, Francis."

"All clear," Peyton finally announced, giving Baker the green light he had been waiting for. He hadn't been able to hear the exchange that happened, so he simply nodded and turned back around.

Within seconds, Baker had the truck reversed out of the parking spot, heading to the exit of the lot. The speedway was across the street and it was a closed course with a strict speed limit of 15 mph.

Otherwise Baker would never do something like this, having his family ride freely in the bed of his truck with no seatbelts.

Because he was a responsible adult.

Mostly.

"Pretty sure it's illegal that she's in the front, by the way." Dakota commented with the air of unconcern. He unintentionally spooked Hayes who didn't expect him to speak.

Kota didn't even have to look at her, to know the glare she was giving him with her cute little nose scrunched up in annoyance.

"Unfortunately, you're wrong," Baker drawled, reaching over to tug on her ponytail. He winked at her. "It's called we're getting old, as Sunshine likes to remind us."

Hayes tried really hard not to laugh, puffing her cheeks out full of air.

"There's no getting. You're fucking at retirement age already." Dakota added insult to injury.

The little girl coughed on her laughter as Baker looked horrified.

"Yeah, in 12 years! Don't laugh at me, little girl," Baker replied, nicking her chin with his finger. "Just for that, you are now in charge of finding a radio station." Baker pressed a button, turning on the radio. Christmas music began playing from the station Peyton had put on previously. "You can change this if you don't like it."

Hayes' lips twisted to the side as she side-eyed Dakota. She dug her fingers into the cushion of her seat, remembering what had happened in Austin's car. "I don't think he wants to listen to music."

Baker snorted, glancing at her before looking back at the road, the truck slowly rolling behind a line of cars all here for the same thing. "Dakota doesn't have a choice. My truck. My rules."

Hayes snuck another peek at her older brother sitting behind her.

Dakota rolled his eyes. "The fuck you looking at me like that for? Do whatever you want."

Like they were magic words, the cloud of anxiety went away and a mischievous grin graced her brothers. Hayes stated confidently. "I want Kota to sing the Christmas songs."

"No." Dakota said blankly.

"You know what? Me too," Baker agreed as he pressed down on the brake so the truck stopped. He dug into his pocket for his wallet so he could pay the entrance fee in a moment.

"Please?" Hayes asked, lacing her hands under her chin. "Pretty please?"

Dakota's jaw clenched as he could feel the heat rising to his face. His eyes clenched shut. Fingers folded tightly in a fist. The memory flashed in his head, unwelcomed.

Stop it, he hissed to himself. It's not the same thing.

"Kota?" the little girl's voice reached his ears. "I was just joking."

Water rushed through his ears until suddenly there was silence. He abated the panic attack. Though it felt like a lifetime, it was only a matter of seconds.

She was giving him an out. Because she was observant and saw what just happened. How he lost control again. This whole thing put him on edge. He never should have come.

But then he saw the redness rimmed around his sister's eyes.

He exhaled.

Fucking softy.

Dakota took a deep breath, glancing out of the passenger window before looking at the blonde baby who stole his seat. Only for Hayes would he ever do this.

"Fine." He grunted, clearing his throat. He shot a look at the back of Baker's head. Two could play this game.

Be careful what you wish for, Baker.

He didn't exactly sing it, but he got the Christmas spirit right. Kind of. Or not.

"Dashing through the snow. With a bomb strapped to my back. I have a nasty plan. For Christmas in Iraq."

Baker cleared his throat loudly, interrupting Kota from the next line of the song. "PG, dickface."

Dakota snickered as he silently declared himself winner of that round. "Well maybe you should have said so."

Before he could try again, there was loud noise coming from the outside group. Francis had brought along a Bluetooth speaker for the masses to enjoy. A familiar musical tone flowed into the truck cab, along with Francis' and Emerson's horrible harmonious voice overpowering the actual lyrics.

"Jingle bells, Batman smells

Robin laid an egg,

The Batmobile lost a wheel,

And the Joker got away..."

————

Countdown until Christmas: 8 days

Something was burning.

Colton could smell it. Whatever it was.

But did he move from his very comfortable position on his bed?

Big nope.

The brother was tired after having a fairly late night... early morning? Same thing.

Nothing could faze him with his head in the clouds.

Not even the curfew committee that had greeted him in the foyer when he had gotten home last night, just a little past midnight, had knocked him off his game.

After doing a balancing act with the decently heavy tray of cookies in one hand and finagling the correct key to fit into the front door, he had pushed open the front door to see his three youngest brothers there. Standing tall with their arms folded across their chests, they stared at him with varying stern looks.

It took all his self-control to not laugh.

"Where have you been?" Francis asked all business-like, tapping his foot on the tile floor.

"We have a strict 10pm curfew, mister." Emerson said, wagging his index finger in the air. "10 pm! And what time is it right now?"

"12:37," chirped Glen, who was looking the least serious brother and more amused. He probably needed some more acting tips from the resident drama queen, Francis.

"You are busted!" Francis exclaimed, immediately being elbowed by his two other brothers.

B-u-s-t-e-d busted.

"Too loud," Emerson hissed out the side of his mouth.

If they woke up Austin, then they'd be busted too.

Unbothered, Colton did end up chuckling as he turned and shut the front door, trying to not make a lot of noise. He made sure to lock it, deadbolt the top and then set the security alarm for the night.

When he faced his brothers again, they had identical frowns on their faces. All three of them.

"Why's he so... smiley?" Francis tilted his head to the side. "You seeing this, Emmy and Real Smiley?"

Emerson cocked his head to the left. "Yeah, I'm seeing this. It's kinda weird."

Colton raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Though now that they mentioned it, he could feel how his lips were curved upward. He shifted the tray between his arms and scooted on by Glen to head into the kitchen.

He was happy.

Like three puppy dogs, the boys fell in line following Cole to the kitchen. They watched him put down the goodies on the counter, sliding it back next to the coffee pot.

Without looking, he asked "Why are you following me?"

"We just wanna know what's got you so smiley." Emerson sidled up to his brother's side and poked Cole's cheek. "Yep, it's real."

Colton smacked his arm away and faced them with his arms crossed. "You're annoying. All of you."

"Aw, love you too, "Emerson replied, forcing Colton into a hug. The older brother did not return the gesture, but only because his arms were stuck.

And yes, he was still smiling.

After several seconds, Emerson let go and stepped back but not before doing the 'I'm watching you' universal sign with his index and pointer finger.

Glen leaned over and whispered something in Francis ear.

In return, Francis' eyes widened. "You're a genius, baby broski!" He turned and whispered in Emerson's ear, turning it into a game of telephone.

Sonny gasped now. "Oh, he so was." He pointed an accusing finger at Cole. "You were with Stella, weren't you?" His mouth dropped again as Cole's smile widened without permission. "Without a chaperone! Oh, you naughty boy, Colton!"

That made Cole's face flush red, which was truly unfair to his fair skin. "I swear to God, Emerson."

"Oooh Stellaaaaaaa," Sonny laughed, singing her name.

"Colton and Stella sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G." Francis' taunting didn't last long before Colton had the teen in a headlock, giving him a much-deserved noogie.

"You're bullying me!" Francis cried wolf as no one helped him. He tried tugging on Cole's arm away from his neck but Colton outmuscled him without contest. The teen's face slowly got redder before he finally tapped his brother's arm in surrender.

Not that Colton was really even hurting him.

Colton barked out a laugh as he granted Franny his freedom. "I think you got that backwards, Francis. And for your information, we were with a group of friends hanging out. Now leave me alone, all of you." He waved his arm, shooing them away.

Giggling like little girls, Emerson and Francis scurried out of the room already gossiping away about Colton's girl crush. Emerson hadn't had the pleasure of meeting Stella Miller yet, but he was definitely caught up to speed on everything, thanks to Francis.

Glen wasn't as skittish and hung around the kitchen. He plodded over to where Cole was standing and made like he was investigating the cookies, all the while sneaking a side-look at his older brother. Though he made sure to grab a couple, of course, for a midnight snack.

Colton chuckled to himself, shaking his head in disbelief at his brothers' nosiness. He walked to the fridge and grabbed a water bottle to take back to his bedroom. He halted and turned to Glen. "Are we good, kiddo?"

Glen busied himself with grabbing a paper towel to put the cookies down on, so he didn't have to look directly at Colton. "Are you happy?"

"Yeah," exhaled Cole, a smile subconsciously returning to his face when he thought about Stella. He blinked before he could get carried away. "Yeah, I'm happy."

Glen nodded. "Then we're good." He scooped up his cookie possession and gave Colton a brief one-armed side hug on his way out of the kitchen to go find his brothers. "G'night."

"Night, Smiley."

————

So yes, Colton had not a care in the world at the moment.

Not a care that his siblings were probably getting themselves into trouble potentially setting the kitchen on fire, as they were probably cooking without supervision... okay, yes he did care.

A little.

Okay, a lot.

Groaning, Colton flipped himself onto his back. He stared up at the ceiling, stealing another second of bliss to himself. For a moment, he fooled himself into forgetting what even woke him up.

And another second.

And one more...

And there it went.

His door busted open, Francis in the doorway, with one hand on the doorknob, the other pressed against the doorframe. The streamers hung haphazardly around the teen's body, some crossing in front of his face that Fran blew a puff of air to move them out of the way.

"Colton! We need your help." Francis said breathlessly, his chest rising and falling as if he just ran a marathon.

Sighing, Cole propped himself up on his forearms. "What are you guys even doing?"

A sheepish smile formed on Francis' lips. His tone made it sound more like a question than an answer. "Cooking?"

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

Francis winced as he watched the easy-going, just-woke-up, blissful look that had been lingering on Colton's face slowly morph into his disappointed frown.

Yep. That would be the smoke detector going off.

Colton silently stared daggers at his brother, his piercing blue eyes making Francis antsy. It felt like his brother was digging into his soul and finding out every secret Franny kept from him.

"Sooo, about that. Help? Please?" Francis dared to give a little smile as he fretted. He began snapping that rubber band on his wrist again.

But of course Colton was going to help, either that or the alarm was going to give him a headache. And Cole wasn't ready for his good mood to disappear just yet.

Stella.

K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

His brothers ragging on him last night hadn't bothered him for a second. He was such a goner. Only took him three years too many to get to this point.

"Colton," Francis persisted, "Pleaseeeee will you come help? I think the pan caught on fire."

That got Colton up and moving, but not without a groan of annoyance as he stalked out of his bedroom, running his fingers through his bedhead. Francis quickly stepped to the side to not get ran over.

"I thought Austin told you not to use the stove without supervision." Cole chastised as they went.

"Oh... He wasn't he joking?" Francis tentatively asked.

"No." Colton said blankly, stopping abruptly to look at Francis in the eye. "No, he was not."

"Oops."

Francis was right on his tail, crashing into his older brother's back for a second time when Cole stopped without warning, taking in the scene.

Nothing was on fire, thank God. But it was close enough.

Glen was trying his best with waving a kitchen towel under the smoke detector.

Emerson was holding the pan in the sink with the cold water flowing. Smoke was blowing up from the hot pan, still making a sizzling sound.

And next to the stove was a plate of somewhat burnt food.

Pancakes.

They had made pancakes.

Why? His brothers never made anything harder than a bowl of cereal, and that was on a good day.

Colton didn't know what to think.

In poor timing, Dakota and Hayes happened to appear in the kitchen threshold from somewhere unbeknownst to Colton. Hayes' hands instantly flew up to cover her ears, her shoulders rising up as she cringed. Dakota kindly added his hands to cover her own petite hands, to help block out the sound.

"What the fuck is going on?" Dakota raised his voice to be heard over the beeping.

He was taking in the same scene that Colton was. There was flour and sugar all over the place. Not to mention the spilled milk and egg shells that littered the counter.

An absolute mess.

Colton strided over to Glen and stretched his arm upward. He was able to reach the detector and pressed the button, holding for three seconds. Finally, finally the alarm shut off.

God bless his giraffe height.

But it did not equate to silence the silence that Colton had expected. With the detector silenced, he was now able to piece together music that was playing from the speaker on the kitchen table.

🎶It's Friday, Friday

Gotta get down on Friday

Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend-"

"Sorry." Francis squeezed his way past his siblings to grab the speaker and turn it off.

A pregnant pause.

"I told you to fucking wait for us." Dakota broke the silence with a snarl. He sounded much angrier than Colton about the situation, which Cole thought was a bit backwards.

"Well, you were taking too long," Francis sniffed defensively, crossing his arms.

"And you're a bunch of fucking idiots," Dakota retorted, finally dropping his hands from Hayes' ears. He wrapped his arms around his little sister and tugged her back against his chest. She kept his annoyance at bay.

Glen wrung the towel in his hand, wrapping it around his wrist before he tossed it onto the kitchen table. He subtly shifted so there was a chair in front of him, a barrier in case things went south.

"And you're being a douche," Emerson returned, turning off the water and dumping the pan into the sink. "Like you could do any better. You can't even make your own sandwich. And, we knew you guys were on your way back."

Colton shuffled over to the coffee maker to get a pot brewing. Only way to deal with his siblings in the morning.

So Dakota and Hayes had gone out?

Now Emerson's words could of gone one of two ways, bad and badder. But Dakota factored in Glen's uncomfortable stance and Sunshine who was currently bracing herself for a fight to break out. So he took the higher road.

"Touche," he replied. He waited a beat before adding a gruff, "Asshole."

Another pregnant pause happened as all the siblings waited for someone else to say something.

Sonny eventually snorted, breaking the ice for everyone. "So, that was a fail. Should we try again?"

"No," Colton immediately said. He scrubbed his face with both hands before eyeing the clock on the microwave. He exhaled loudly when he realized it was almost 10am. Damn, that was the latest he slept in in a long time and it wasn't the best timing.

Cole had to go get ready so he could go to school, picking up Stella on the way as a carpool so they could clean their respective classrooms. Make sure there was no food crumbs laying around for ants to feast on over Christmas break.

"I'm going to take a shower," Colton announced, taking another glance around the kitchen and eyeing all his siblings. The coffee would have to wait even though he definitely needed it.

He was starting to be a little confused on why they were all up already, on a day that they had nowhere to be. Even Dakota was off from work for two weeks; life as a city contractor.

Deciding he was better off not knowing, Cole said, "I want this mess cleaned up by the time I'm done. And for the love of God, try not to burn the house down again."

Now that he was thinking about it, Colton backtracked to the stove and made sure the four burners were turned off. Just to be extra sure, he checked again.

"It's not like we tried the first time," Francis mumbled, as Colton walked out of the kitchen, decisively ignoring him. He ducked into his bedroom real quick, finding his cell phone before climbing the stairs for the bathroom.

He had a couple messages on his phone, from people he actually cared about rather than the pesky group messages so he stopped on the third stair up to take a peek at them.

As he stood there, in the background he could hear the shuffling of his siblings in the kitchen as they began to move around again, hopefully cleaning up the mess they created. Heed his instruction.

"Did you get the goods?"

Cole's ears perked up, their tone sounding seriously close to suspicious. Francis.

"Yep," Hayes replied, in a happy tone.

Oh yeah. That sounded a whole lot like they were planning something.

"Only took her fucking forever to decide," Dakota grumbled.

If only Colton could see the conspicuous grins that flitted across all their faces. Then he'd known he was in for a surprise.

Good or bad?

Undecided.

————

Twenty-five minutes later, Colton was freshly shaved, showered, and dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. No professional dress code required for school when school wasn't in session.

He opened his bedroom door, pushed aside the streamers as he stepped forward, while roughly towel drying his blonde hair. He could hear Dakota complaining from across the house where he lounged in the family room but that was nothing new.

"Shut the fuck up, Francesca." Dakota's patience was non-existent and it wasn't even noon yet. All that good fortune in the kitchen was long gone.

That reminded him. He needed coffee to-go. And that kitchen better be spotless.

"Dakota!" Colton called out a warning. Now a slight hesitation was slowly rising in his mind, wondering if it was such a good idea to go out. All five of his siblings home alone spelled trouble. But he didn't really have much of a choice here.

Cole had to be at the school before 11:30 the latest, for the last-minute pow-wow the principal scheduled. He was going to be cutting it close as it was.

"Then you tell him to shut the fuck up then!" Dakota yelled back.

"I'm not doing anything!" Francis shouted.

Cole gave a classic sigh and glanced down at his phone, debating on texting Austin. He happened to look up in time to catch his little sister buzzing past him into the laundry room. Running with socks on her feet and all.

"Hayes, please don't run," Colton said instead, lowering his phone down. He poked his head into the laundry room, hearing the washer still whirling around. The dryer must have finished maybe minutes prior.

His eyebrows lifted, wrinkling his forehead as he spied his sister digging through the dryer full of clothes.

She removed her upper half that was practically stuffed in the dryer and looked back at him. Wide-eyed and innocent as always. "I wasn't."

Colton hummed. What happened to the lecture Austin gave her about listening to him? In one ear and out the other.

"So it was a figment of my imagination then?"

"Exactly," Hayes grinned. She ducked back into the dryer, reappearing successfully with a pair of black sweatpants in her hands. They weren't hers, Colton knew that much. Way, way too big for her petite frame.

"Take those clothes out and put them in that basket there. You guys can start folding them while I'm gone." He nodded to the basket sitting atop the dryer.

"But Colton," Hayes whined in opposition, hugging the sweatpants to her chest. The warmth felt good, seeping against her cold skin.

"Nope. No excuses. You know the rules, kiddo. You wear our clothes, you help fold them."

Case in point, the sweatpants in her hands.

Hayes quickly bent over, stepping carefully into the clothing one leg at a time and then tugging them up to her waist, hiding away her running shorts.

Colton was correct, of course. Way, way, way too big for the little girl.

Which meant, just perfect!

Sunshine giggled to herself. She could fit three Hayes clones in here. Maybe even more.

She smartly folded the waistband a couple times before letting go of the fabric to see what would happen. As soon as she took one step, the sweatpants slipped right off her hips, puddling at her feet.

Ruh-roh.

Colton watched his sister as she laughed some more and pulled them back up. Another step, and down the pants fell again.

Do your pants hang low?

Do they wobble to the floor?

Do they shine in the light?

Are they black or are they white?

Hayes' lips twisted to the side as for the third time, readjusted the sweatpants so they were at her waist. This time, she didn't let go of the waistband. The girl wiggled each foot until her socks were seen.

A brilliant idea crossed her mind.

She scooted past Colton who was still in the doorway, penguin waddling sideways so she was facing him, then took off running through the foyer with the end destination of the family room.

"Hayes!" Colton yelled after her in frustration, his hands flung into the air and smacked against his thighs. He literally just told her to stop running in the house.

The stubborn girl just did not listen.

Instead of receiving a verbal response, there was a thump and a screech of a chair leg.

Shiiit.

That was never good.

Colton's long legs took him straight to the source within seconds. His little sister lay sprawled on her stomach on the floor, head down. He seriously hoped she didn't just smack her face on the tile.

"I'm okay," he heard her whimper to herself. She slowly pushed herself up onto her forearms, shaking her head gently, determining the whiplash to be minimal.

"Hayes," Colton sighed, squatting down at her side. He honestly had no words right now.

Come on, Kiddo.

"What was that?" Emerson called out in concern. He twisted around from his spot on the floor, abandoning the x-box game that was on the television. Glen copied him, sitting tall so he could see over the coffee table, where the two were sitting next to each other.

"Nothing," Colton replied as he helped Hayes get up. She sat back on her legs before letting Cole lift her to her feet. He pulled up the sweatpants for her then kept his hand grasping her waist, ensuring she stayed in front of him.

"That sounded like a hard fall. Are we hurt or just scared?" He asked, brushing the loose baby hairs out of her face. Her cheeks were now flushed due to a mix of previous excitement of her shenanigans and probably some self-humiliation for tripping.

After he repeatedly told her not to run.

Her bottom lip wobbled as she glanced down at herself. She wiggled her toes in her socks, then bent her knees a little. "Just scared,"  she decided with a quiet voice.

Scared and embarrassed.

"You sure? You can tell me if something hurts," Colton said gently, shifting in his crouch to keep his balance. He brought Hayes closer to him, bringing her in for a comforting hug. "I'm not mad. I promise."

"I'm okay," Hayes repeated her mantra. She didn't sound too confident, but Colton attributed that to the shock of actually having fallen down. Maybe now she'd listen to her wise older brothers and not run in the house anymore.

...

...

Nah.

Within his embrace, she took her time shaking out her legs again, one at a time. No pain there. Her left arm was okay, too, but her right wrist had a bit of a twinge with it. But she figured that was to be expected, considering she landed on her chest with outstretched hands to catch her fall.

Exactly what her basketball coach had taught the team not to do, for this exact reason.

If Colton knew, he would have paid more attention to her potential injury, but as luck would have it, Cole missed her wincing as his attention was distracted by Emerson who was standing at the entrance to the family room.

Sonny pushed the sliding glass panel over some more, opening up more space as he stepped onto the ledge into the dining room. "You good, Junior?" His own eyes appraising his little sister.

Colton gently tucked the strands that had freed themselves from Hayes' ponytail behind her ears. "She's okay. Learned a hard lesson, but she's good. Right, kiddo?"

"Right," Hayes immediately agreed, hiding her hands in the kangaroo pouch of the sweatshirt she was wearing. She lightly rubbed her right wrist, the area feeling a little sore.

The little girl planned to ice it just as soon as Colton left the house.

Speaking of, Colton's phone dinged with an incoming message. He stood up and fixed his jeans at his knees before pulling his cell phone out of his back pocket. It was his girlfriend, simply letting him know she was ready whenever he was. Cole typed out a quick text back, sending it before sliding his phone back in his pocket.

"Are you leaving?" Sunshine asked, sadness worming its way into her tone. She never did like whenever one of her siblings left the house.

"Yeah, I have to go," Cole replied. His eyes roamed her young face one more time before he leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "I'll be back in a couple hours. No more running in the house, okay?"

A firm hand plopped onto Sunshine's shoulder. "Yes, sir. We will move at turtle speed." Emerson answered on the girl's behalf.

"Did somebody say turtles?" Francis exclaimed, followed by an "ow, shit." He had been laying on the couch, scrolling on his phone that he held in his hands above his face. It was a dangerous position, as if he dropped his phone by accident, it would smack him in the eye.

Which it did.

Not one to be left out, Francis recovered fairly quickly from his self-assault, and scrambled into the dining room, positioning himself next to his two siblings. "Fair well, Colton. Have fun doing boring teacher stuff with your equally as boring teacher friends. We will stay here and do absolutely nothing and wait for your return."

The opposite of smooth.

Colton pressed his lips together. "... Right."

"Bye Cole! GTFO," Kota lazily shouted his goodbye from the couch where he was still playing COD with Glen.

Emerson and Francis began waving, and a squeeze to Hayes' shoulder got her waving as well. Left hand, obviously.

Not that anyone noticed it wasn't her dominant hand. Her brother was a little itty bitty flustered under the time pressure.

Colton rolled his eyes before taking a step back. "I'm really starting to feel like this is a bad idea."

Francis grinned. "So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night."

"You worry me," Cole said bluntly. He scrutinized all three siblings present before him, really hoping he wasn't going to regret this decision.

But he really had to run, otherwise he'd be late.

"Bye, Smiley, Kota." Colton called, as he walked backwards another few steps. He winked at Hayes before saying real goodbyes to Sonny, Sunny, and Francis.

Then finally, finally Colton was out the front door and reversing his car down the driveway and onto the street.

"Alright, he's gone!" Francis gave the all-clear from his place at the window. He hurried back into the family room, where Emerson had escorted Hayes to rejoin the rest of her brothers where she had been before all that nonsense.

Though she didn't reclaim her seat on the cozy L-shaped corner of the couch where she had abandoned her book prior to all that happening, instead remaining standing awkwardly near the fireplace.

"Fan-fucking-tastic," Dakota stated with mock excitement. He tossed his game controller onto the couch beside him, done with playing on the x-box. His eyebrows narrowed in amusement when he got a look at his sister. "What the fuck are you wearing?"

The little girl's lips twitched upward, before frowning. It didn't seem so funny anymore, especially after she just wiped out on the tile floor. She was honestly a little surprised Colton didn't lecture her more.

Missed opportunity for the teacher.

"Come on..." Emerson goaded his little sister. "I can see it on your face that you have something to show us." He could read his mini-me like an open book right now. Sonny plopped back down on the floor beside Glen, casually tossing his arm around the brother's shoulder as they stared expectantly at her.

Hayes bit her lip, before shuffling over a little to stand in front of the television, blocking her brothers' view of the screen.

Okay, that was a fib. Tripping aside, she still thought it was really funny.

Francis made a face, tapping his finger against his nose. "Who's sweatpants are those?"

"I dunno," Hayes lifted her shoulders to her ears as she played with the waistband of the sweatpants. The sweatpants were still warm and felt just as amazing as when she first put them on.

"You gucci, HayHay?" Glen finally spoke, catching her attention. He noticed something, just not sure what. The teeniest thing was feeling off to the boy. And he knew his sister the best.

"Peachy," Sunshine replied. "Okay, watch this." Feeling more confident in herself, the girl began shaking her hips like a hula hoop, laughing a tad on the hysterical end as the sweatpants fell down her legs.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" Dakota questioned, pressing his lips tightly together, having to force himself not give into his laughter.

Hayes bent down and pulled the sweatpants up again, only for the clothes to immediately begin to sag again.

The three musketeers were snickering, entertained watching their sister laughing her head off at the stupidest thing.

"Alright, alright," Emerson sobered up, "We should probably get everything ready for when Cole comes back home. He was already suspicious so I don't think he'll be gone long. Or Baker or Peyton will probably show up soon."

"That's because you burnt the fricking pancakes," Francis reminded his best friend.

"Okay, I thought we were past that," Emerson huffed. "And I didn't burn all of them. Just the last ones."

Francis gave a big "HA!"

"Whatever," Sonny scowled, "Anyways, seriously. Lets get down to business-"

"To defeat the Huns!" Francis shouted very enthusiastically.

Hayes and Glen both flinched, the little girl nearly tripping backwards on the cuffs of the sweatpants if it wasn't for the brother's quick reflex to grab her arm and hoist her back up.

Her uninjured arm, thankfully.

"You're so fucking lame, Francesca." Dakota said, standing up. "And you better stop fucking screaming bloody murder before I make you scream actual bloody murder."

Francis received the threat loud and clear.

Kota made his way over to Hayes who was still having trouble keeping the sweatpants up. He knocked her hands out of the way and stretched the waistband out so he could find the string on the inside. He tightened the pants as much as possible before making a knot in the string. He spoke in a more kind voice than his grumpy go-to, "I know these are mine. You're lucky you're cute. Now there. Problem solved."

Hayes did a couple mini jumps in place to test the pants before smiling up at him. "Thanks, Dakota."

But then all of a sudden, her pants were once again puddled on the floor around her ankles. A cheeky-looking Glen stared at his brother and sister. "Whoops. Problem unsolved."

"Glennard!" Hayes growled in her non-scary, non-intimidating voice. She glared down at her running shorts that remained on her waist.

He had pantsed his sister. The nerve of Glennard.

"You're such a shit, Smiley."

Glen laughed, instinctually ducking out of reach of Hayes' punching zone. "But I'm lucky I'm cute, right?"

Dakota rolled his eyes in response. The kid was a smartass. And Dakota was proud of that.

He then walked out of the room to go retrieve something.

"Wait, where are you going?" Francis asked.

Dakota purposefully ignored him, a growing trend.

"No seriously," Emerson said, taking charge. "Where are you going? We need to come up with a plan. Divide and conquer this shit before someone comes home."

"Jesus Christ. I'm going to get the fish out of the car before it dies from hypothermia. Is that a good plan for you?"

Silence.

Then, "Yeah."

————

Sense of humor: What most people say they have in abundance, but always seem to lose or forget about over the littlest things.

The fab five of the family were certainly going to put Colton's sense of humor to the test during Operation: Very Merry Unbirthday.

Technically his birthday was two days away, so he couldn't get mad at them.

Right?

Right.

Anyways, part II was already underway. Part I had been the pancakes.

The siblings had decorated the home to the best of their abilities, enough to get the subtle point across that they were celebrating Colton, but lowkey enough that Cole should be okay with it.

It was a balancing act.

One that Austin wasn't going to be happy about, regardless. In his mind, they crossed the line when the streamers were hung up above Colton's doorframe.

But, Cole hadn't taken them down, which he could have.

So that encouraged the younger siblings even more.

While Emerson, Francis, and Glen were busy with the decorations, Dakota and Hayes put together Colton's gift.

It was from all of them, because once the idea was suggested, no one could think of something better.

All that was left to do... was the most important part of the whole thing. In Hayes' mind, at least.

"So, how big of a cake do we need to get?"

"The biggest!" Hayes very enthusiastically declared.

Sonny grinned at her, finding his sister looking very adorable in her oversized clothes. Thankfully, she swapped out the sweatpants, choosing to keep her legs bare with running shorts. "It can't be too big, Sunny. It has to fit in the freezer."

"How about biggy big. Like not the biggest but, also just not the big one." Hayes negotiated.

"That made my head hurt," Francis blinked.

Glen snorted. He wisely suggested, "Let's just go and see what our options are."

"I'm leaving without you, Hayes!" Dakota shouted from garage door where he was impatiently waiting for his little sister. This was the divide and conquer part Sonny had been talking about.

Emerson, Francis, and Glen were going to get the cake... and the other two were going to go play soccer at the local park.

Totally fair.

But yes, they all had received permission from Austin to leave the home. They weren't that much of daredevils.

"No! I'm coming!" The girl called back, cuddling her water bottle to her chest. She was ready to go, her wrist wasn't hurting so much anymore and she had a bunch of energy.

But she also wanted to make sure that her brothers were going to get the best ice cream cake possible. The siblings wanted to surprise Colton with the cake tonight after pizza.

Glen also had an ulterior plan, hoping the not-birthday birthday celebration would be enough distraction that it would postpone the chat he needed to have with Austin. The boy had avoided him this morning, not necessarily because he regretted his words last night.

No, Smiley was completely all-in with his respect for Austin.

But he was a little bit nervous on what the eldest brother had to say on the matter, now that he had more than enough time to think about it.

Emerson winked at Hayes, reassuring her that he'd get the job done.

"Hayes! Fucking hurry up already."

"Coming!" The little sister danced on her toes for a second before dashing to the kitchen nook where Colton's present sat. Her brothers fell in line behind her. She bent down, coming face to face with the pretty green betta fish that was swimming around in the bowl. "Bye Mike Wazowski. Be a good little fishy."

"You better go, Junior," Sonny advised.

"Okay, okay," Hayes hurried, running around the room to give hugs to her brothers before zipping out of the kitchen. "Byeeeee."

————

Baker was ready for his shift to end. He was ready to shower off the day's grime then go to his brother's home and hang out with all his siblings and his wife and Chubba.

Perhaps eat half a pizza.

Rumor has it, there was an ice cream cake for dessert.

It wasn't hard to figure it out. Francis had called him on the phone for a quick hypothetical situation regarding what would happen if there was coincidently two ice cream cakes at the house, and both boxes wouldn't fit in the freezer at the same time.

Baker hypothetically suggested that there should only be one box. That is, if they didn't want the hypothetical Austin to have a connipshit.

Fran had replied that he would take that hypothetical answer under advisement and thanked him for his time.

Baker hung up after that.

Then Franny sent him a photo of the ice cream cake that Baker assumed they bought, along with two thumbs up.

So, he couldn't wait to see how that all played out.

He was hoping Colton would be a good sport. Baker figured he would, considering Cole had left the birthday streamers hanging up on his doorframe in the first place.

But he had to give it to his younger siblings, they sure were persistent. Stupidly persistent, but persistent nonetheless.

There was a loud yawn from beside Baker.

"Jesus Christ, cover your mouth," Baker complained at his partner, as his mouth opened for his own yawn.

Damn contagious yawn.

"Cover your ugly face," Lindsey shot back. "Before you scare all the kids."

The other half of the best SWAT partnership ever in existence was driving the SUV tonight, maneuvering the vehicle through the increasingly crowded local roads at the beginnings of holiday rush hour.

It was honestly the worst time to be driving. There were old people who couldn't see over the steering wheel, middle-aged adults who skipped out on work early to begin their weekend, and minivans with fucking reindeer antlers on their car.

Baker wouldn't be caught dead with antlers on his car. Not even his lovely, beautiful wife could convince him of that. Not even Sunshine.

Bottom line, both gentlemen were equally eager for their end-of-shift.

Some days were just long.

And that day happened to be today. Nothing happened, which was good and bad. Good, because no paperwork. Bad, because the day just dragged on and on.

Boredom was a killer.

But because it had given the guys plenty of time to waste, Baker was now up-to-date on Austin's weird moment from last night.

He had to give it to Smiley, the kid had guts. And honestly, Baker thought it was only a matter of time. He was just surprised it happened so soon and what sounded like was so randomly.

But that was Glen for you.

Though his money had been on Hayes to crack first. There was no arguing that that little girl, their little sister, was Austin's kid. Hands down.

What Glen has asked of the eldest brother was the highest compliment that Austin could ever receive, right there with when he was granted custody of Dakota, Emerson, and Francis.

Coincidently, that anniversary was in two days. On Colton's birthday.

Talk about timing, God damn.

Baker paused.

Huh.

Did Glen know that?

Their phone call had ended rather abruptly when their SWAT team received a dispatch, so technically Austin did not officially say it.

But Baker knew his brother and he knew that man would be looking into adoption paperwork sooner rather than later. Kinship guardianship was solid, but adoption was even more.

The silence was broken up by crackling on the radio scan. The worst sound ever. God damn, if they get a call now. Then they wouldn't get off on time.

Baker's stomach growled in protest.

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

"...Report of stolen car heading north on Moore Street..."

It wasn't a callout for them specifically, but Lindsey looked at Baker. "We're nearby. Wanna go post up?"

The SUV they occupied was unmarked, so there was no harm in driving by. Nobody knew they were SWAT police. They could be nosey fuckers without risk of being involved.

More static hit their ears as the radio came alive again with an update.

"Level 1 trauma. Accident northbound on Moore Street, under highway. Multiple MVC. Suspect car still active with chase. All available units respond to scene."

Well that escalated very quickly.

"Fuck," Lindsey cursed, switching on his turn signal to make a u-turn. Now, they had no choice but to go. He also flipped on the sirens and police lights, waiting for a slow-down in the opposing traffic to peel off. "Here we go."

Whoever was in that stolen car was going straight to hell.

Baker briefly closed his eyes as he answered the call to dispatch. "49 green."

Green for go.

So close to shift changeover. Soooo close.

Damn it.

They arrived to the motor vehicle collision scene in under two minutes, more than enough time for the seamless transition of mentally preparing themselves for the unknown brutality of the call. But it was part of their job description.

Not for the faint of heart.

Lindsey drove over the low-cut grass median, utilizing the wrong side of the empty road to reach their destination quicker. An ambulance and two cop cars were already present, blocking traffic from coming in their direction and triaging the crash, as the black SUV pulled up.

Both men exited the car in tandem, Baker using the radio on his uniform to notify dispatch that they were on scene.

From high above in the blue sky, a helicopter's rotors could be loudly heard, as the copter was assigned to the carjacking pursuit. At the same time, Baker heard dispatch calling off the on-ground team.

As apparent from the mess in front of their eyes, it was safer to have a bird in the sky than having a high-speed chase through rush-hour.

The men could already tell, just by looking, that there was a chance not everyone survived this pile-up.

Baker's boots stomped over broken glass and scattered rubber and metal as the two men trekked to the first car victimized. It had to of been a high-impact hit, due to the distance between the vehicle and debris.

Bottom line, not good.

"I see five," Lindsey said as they moved as a unit.

Baker agreed. He could count at least five cars that were involved in his initial survey, three of which seemed to be in a fender bender.

There was smoke billowing from the underpass. As they approached, they squinted their eyes to get a clear picture, the vehicle becoming more visible. The front end was completely smashed up against the cement pillar that supported the highway above them.

The patrol was going to need to shut down the highway until an inspection could be done for obvious safety reasons.

Lindsey suddenly halted, his hand grabbing Baker by the upper arm, spinning the two around to stop him from taking another step. His mind had made the connection first, his heart dropping to his stomach. "Fuck. You need to call Austin."

"Hey, what the fuck," Baker reflexively tried to yank his arm out of Lindsey's grasp but he wasn't letting go. "We need to help. There could be people still in that car."

"Baker."

That one word.

And he knew.

It felt like cold water had washed over Baker, submerging him so he couldn't breathe.

"Nooo, no, no, no, no, no." Baker pushed at Lindsey, not against going to punch him, but his partner blocked him. Lindsey held strong. "Get the fuck off me."

"The medics are here," Lindsey grunted, fighting Baker. The two got turned around in the heat of the moment, the car in their sights again. "They need to do their job."

Ambulances and firetrucks galore were filing in from all directions, the men and women first responders jumping in to help. SWAT may have been trained in first aid, but the medics knew their shit even more.

Lindsey did his job, keeping the older brother out of the way. Because fuck knows what would happen otherwise.

"Let me go," Baker gripped onto Lindsey's shoulder, as the instinct to fight turned into needing support to stand up.

"I can't do that," Lindsey said, feeling the pain as if it was his own family. "You know I can't."

A small fire was igniting where the engine was located.

Goosebumps covered Lindsey's arms as he listened to his partner yell out his siblings' names.

Hope.

Desperation.

Dear God, don't you dare turn it into heartbreak.

————

🎶Have a holly jolly Christmas

It's the best time of the year...

The popular Michael Buble song floated softly amongst their ears, as everyone was enjoying their time away from their desks in the large conference room. His coworkers were slowly starting to say their goodbyes, as some took off the next week for vacation.

But then there were others, like Austin, who saved enough days of PTO to take off the next two weeks. It was a glorious feeling to look forward to not having to come into the office. From 5pm this evening until January 2nd, he had no worries except to make this the best Christmas for his siblings.

He did acknowledge that they had to do it a bit slower than initially thought, as Glen had gotten overwhelmed a few weeks ago. The boy had went from never celebrating Christmas to this, with no warmup.

There was no blame whatsoever to be placed on anyone.

His plan as of right now was to roll-out the presents starting on Christmas Eve. Maybe. He had time to decide that but he also had no problem just going with the flow. He had no doubts that with as many siblings that he had, that someone would give the sign when to begin delving into the presents.

But right now, Austin was enjoying the Christmas party that his office was throwing. He had a couple buddies that he was friendly with. Shoot the shit with. Talk sports with. That sort of thing.

"Hey, Austin, there's a phone call for you."

Austin glanced up at his coworker, Leah. The same Leah from the pizza parlor, who thinks Hayes is his daughter. He never bothered to tell her otherwise. "For me?"

That was odd, considering it was late Friday afternoon. Who would be inquiring about work items right now?

"Yes. It's your brother?"

Odder.

And not very helpful, as he had many brothers. Austin's foot dropped from where it was resting on his knee as he sat up straight. He dug around in his pants pockets, coming up empty handed for his cell phone. He must have left in charging in his office.

When a sibling calls, you answer the phone.

He quickly excused himself from the conversation and got up, clapping his coworker on the shoulder in good faith before following Leah out of the conference room.

"Which line?" Austin asked, picking up the desk phone from the closest desk cubicle.

"Line 2." Leah answered.

He mumbled "thanks" as he clicked onto the line. Now that he was thinking about it, the fact that one of his brothers was insistent enough to call the office to get a hold of him, sent red flags maxed out. "Hello?"

"Where the fuck is your phone?" The brother didn't beat around the bush.

Austin tilted his head in concern as his fingers paused with fumbling with the coiled phone cord. "Baker? I must of left my-"

"Forget that. You need to get to the hospital right now." From the other end of the line, Baker was pacing outside the open ambulance doors. He was ready to jump in the truck to ride with them as soon as the medics were ready to book it.

"What?"

"Get up and go to the hospital, right now."

"Baker, I- What is happening?" Austin's hand dropped to his side, completely abandoning the cord. "Give me something." The eldest brother could hear loud voices mixing together coming through the receiver. His heart was starting to beat so loudly it clogged his ears. "Baker. Baker."

"Just get to the hospital. We'll be there in 10." Baker didn't want to tell him over the phone. "It was bad, Austin. Please, go."

Any remaining blood drained from Austin's face. "What hospital?"

Baker told him the name of the hospital before the two hung up.

Austin slowly returned the phone receiver to the landline, his world slowly caving in on him. All he heard was buzzing. He took a step back and then another, nearly bumping into Leah as he quickly turned around.

"I need to go," He mumbled, trying to walk past her to go to his personal office. She had stopped him by an arm on his forearm. "My brother. The hospital."

"I know. I heard," Leah said, purse on her shoulder. She had heard the panic in his voice and hearing the words his brother spoke had sent her hurrying to her desk to grab her car keys. Austin was not in shape to be left alone. "I'll drive you."

~~~

Yes, cliff-hanger. It's killing me, too. I wrote the damn thing and I kinda want to cry.

No, I cannot tell you when the next chapter will be done. Life be busy like that. I have assignments to finish before the end of the semester.   -_-

But... (bribe alert) if you keep commenting all the lovely comments on the book... maybe I'll get it done soon rather than later. (not really, but I do enjoy reading the comments while I procrastinate :) )

Accountability goal: May 5th