46.

:) couldn't decide on a picture so now ya'll get a bonus:

Or two. I like this one:

Alright, promise, this is the last one - in honor of it being Halloween in the story:

I take no responsibility for all the grammar/spelling errors that exist.

~~~~

Hayes painstakingly examined each and every square piece of pre-cut cookie dough, looking for even the smallest blemish possible.

Then she would obviously have to remove it from the cookie tray because it wasn't up to par.

And by remove it, she meant eat it.

Yes, yes, eating raw cookie dough was not recommended or else you'll get diarrhea. She's been told that plenty in the past, but has she ever listened?

Hehe.

She squinted, getting eye level with the counter top that the tray was on to really get a good look.

"Hmmm," Hayes subconsciously chewed on her lip as she contemplated her choices. This wasn't a job for the faint of heart. Her index finger traced up and down the rows, looking for her next victim.

No.

No.

No.

Ooooh... No.

She had to be picky with her choices because otherwise she'd destroy the whole darn tray without blinking and then Austin would know and then he'd be upset with her and that was something Hayes would preferably avoid.

Hayes was still at, umm, odds with her eldest brother, to put it nicely.

It was complicated, at least in her 14-year-old mind.

No.

No.

Aha!

Found one.

Hayes quickly snatched the piece of dough - middle row, third one from the left - and shoved it in her mouth. Munching on the dough, the deliciousness spread throughout her mouth.

Mhmmm.

Hayes loved chocolate chip cookies.

Come to Mama.

Hayes bent her knees, sticking her butt out with a little wiggly happy dance as she brought her face close to the cookie tray once again. Her hands briefly rubbed together with excitement as she licked her lips for any remnants.

Like a shark, looking for her next kill.

Another two pieces... or four wouldn't hurt.

Its not like there wasn't another two packages in the fridge waiting to be baked as well. Baker had bought the Nestle Toll House packs of 40 mini cookies. Well, this one had 38 now but pish posh.

Who was counting?

And then on top of all that, Baker also snuck in the Halloween-themed cookie dough with little ghosts in spirit of it being Halloween today. She didn't care much for the tricks part, never did nor never plan to do the whole costume thing, but the treats were right up her alley.

Candy and cookies?

Bless.

Talk about sugar rush, USA.

Moral of the story: Baker hooked his little sister up.

Of course it came with the unspoken expectation that Hayes set aside a special cookie container just for him to snack on. It would be hard, since all the brothers loved homemade chocolate chip cookies almost as much as she did, but, she could do it.

Hayes was up for the challenge and would happily do it, especially if it meant he'd buy her more cookies in the future.

"Ooh cookies!"

Hayes nearly jumped out of her skin in fright.

"Francis!" Hayes exclaimed, whacking him hard in the arm as her fear reaction. As she was busy trying to settle her racing heart, Hayes failed to notice Francis reach around and help himself to a piece of cookie dough, shoving it in his pie-hole before snatching another all before she could blink. "Stop it!" She whacked him again before stepping on his foot for extra emphasis.

Her socked foot stomping on his shoe did absolutely nothing.

"What?" Francis asked, his eyes glimmering with amusement. "These are so good." He mumbled with his mouth full as he shoveled in two more.

"Hey!" Desperate times called for desperate measures. Hayes quickly grabbed the tray off the counter, turning so her back was towards him as she protected the cookie dough with her life. "Back off, Francis."

"Okay, okay," Francis laughed, raising his hands in surrender as he scooted by her to the fridge. His original purpose for going into the kitchen, believe it or not, was to retrieve a Gatorade for his sickly baby brother. Not to stir up some mischief with his sister.

Hayes had learned quickly from living with all her brothers, to keep her guard up for the unexpected. She remained hovering over the tray like a guard dog until he retreated to a safe distance. Then she swiftly plucked one more cookie dough square and put in her mouth before opening the oven, put the tray on the metal rack and then shut the oven door.

She heard Francis gasp as he had seen her try to be slick. She secretly grinned as his appalment. Hayes made sure to turn around and show him her proud Cheshire-cat smile.

Francis wrinkled his nose in spite. "Here I am," he dramatically announced, waving his arm all around, "out of the kindness of my heart, taking care of our dearly sick brother, Smiley, and," he sniffed wiping away a pretend tear under his eye, "my little sissy can't even spare me a cookie for all my sacrifice."

Hayes snorted. "You'll live."

Francis gasped even louder this time, slapping his hand against his chest where his heart was, as if he wanted to attract the attention of their eldest brother, whom as mentioned, Hayes wasn't exactly on the same page with at this very moment.

As promised last night, Austin was working from home on the lovely somewhat overcast Wednesday, keeping an eye on his youngest siblings on their day off from school. So far the home had been relatively quiet, as all three kids found something to do to occupy themselves quietly.

Sort of, until now at least.

Hayes didn't know where Francis had been hiding out at all morning, but Glen was upstairs taking a nap in her bedroom. Poor kid, he was completely zonked after the trip to the Doctor's office just a few hours earlier.

As far-fetched as it sounded, Hayes had willingly accompanied her two brothers as moral support for her best buddy, Glennard. It was not too much sweat off her back as she was simply a fly on the wall. Or a fly under Austin's armpit, because although she still hadn't hashed things out with her eldest brother, she still craved his comfort and protection. Austin seemed to realize this and let her be, not pushing for conversation.

So, Hayes stayed silently tucked against his left side the entire time.

But don't worry, it wasn't all about Hayes.

Glen had claimed the right side of Austin, as the eldest brother had to keep an arm on him otherwise the boy would have toppled over. Whether from depleted energy to remain standing up or because he tripped over an imaginary rock, it was hard to tell.

Just depended on who was asked.

The trio had ended up at the doctors before clinic even officially opened for the day, a kind favor from the medical staff. After their health check-up back in September, everyone was aware of the kids' special circumstances and wanted to make the visit as painless as possible.

As Austin had unfortunately expected, Smiley had woken up around 5 in the morning, feeling way worse for wear and with an unrelenting fever. Glen was really super out of it, as he didn't put up a fight at all about going.

He still was cognizant enough though to uphold his mantra of no medications, but Glen eventually did compromise and accept a round of breathing treatment with the nebulizer.

Then when five minutes had past and it felt like an elephant was taken off his chest, he agreed to a second round of treatment.

Then, when the siblings were leaving the office, Hayes saw Dr. James hand Austin a prescription, just in case. Austin shoved the paper script in his pocket and Hayes never saw it again.

"What are you two doing?"

Speak of the devil, Austin stepped into the kitchen, rubbing the side of his face as he yawned. Staring at his computer for hours on end, answering numerous emails, and talking on the phone made him sleepy.

Not to mention his interrupted sleep last night from his brain not being able to shut off long enough to relax. He was a worry wart, and had a lot to pick from to focus his worrying on.

Hayes crossed her legs, uncomfortable as her hands twiddled together against her stomach. She answered first, pointing her thumb to the oven behind her. "Making cookies."

Francis held up the gatorade as his own explanation. "Smiley requested some liquids." He swung his head to where Hayes was standing. "And somebody wasn't answering their phone."

Hayes felt her cheeks warm when Austin's stern gaze landed back on her. A sheepish expression appeared on her face giving Austin the answer to the question he didn't even need to ask.

No, she didn't know where her phone was.

"Make sure you find it by tonight." A simple command.

Hayes nodded wordlessly.

Absolutely.

She will get right on that. Yes, sir. Find the phone, got it.

Only one problem, she had no stinking clue on where to start.

He kept his scrutinizing gaze on her for a second longer, as if delving into her soul, before returning his attention back to Francis now. "Sorry, Fran, I had my boss on the phone trying to finish a contract that was due. What did you need to talk to me about?"

Hayes sighed, like a balloon deflating, when she was no longer under the spot light.

That was a close one.

Relishing in her relief, Hayes continued to just stand there, not really knowing what to do now. Technically, she was in the kitchen first, soooooo.

"You remember when I told you about my friend's party tonight?" Francis asked, his hand wringing around the cap of the bottle. He appeared slightly nervous.

"Uh huh," Austin hummed in acknowledgment as he yawned and nodded at the same time. "What about it?"

"Well, I can still go right? Mike was asking if I could pick him up. "

"No." Austin stated bluntly. He went over to the door-less pantry to figure out what he wanted to eat for lunch, missing Francis' facial expression morph into irritation.

Yes, the pantry door was still broken, thanks to Francis, and was kept leaning against the kitchen wall where it quite possibly might collect duct for the rest of eternity.

"What? What do you mean no? Why not?"

Feeling the vibe of confrontation growing, Hayes took this as her cue to exit the kitchen after all. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with that.

Hayes slowly slinked away towards the doorway, making sure to keep close to the counter top to attract little attention as necessary with noiseless tiptoeing.

"Because I said so," Austin retorted. "You're grounded, remember?"

Francis' grip on the gatorade bottle tightened in frustration. "But that's not fair! For that freaking math test? You wouldn't even have known about it if Dakota didn't snitch like a little bitch."

Dang, the cookies!

Hayes had just made it two feet into the dining room when she remembered she had forgotten an important step.

Spinning back around, she hurried into the kitchen and directly to the oven. Hayes quickly busied herself with setting the timer on the stove for 11 minutes so she would bake the cookies to perfection. Not burnt but a nice crisp with a golden-brown tinge.

The whole time her shoulders were raised up to her ears, as she was very uncomfortable and trying to make herself as small as feasibly possible.

Austin put down the bag of pretzel rods he had grabbed onto the kitchen table, giving Francis his full undivided attention.

"First of all, life is unfair. Second, yes, because of your math test that you decided to blow off and not study for, you are grounded. That's not what we do around here so fix your attitude before we have a problem."

"Seriously?"

Oh gosh, Hayes couldn't escape the kitchen for the second time fast enough. She pressed the 'enter' multiple times on the touch pad until it set and then briskly walked past her brothers to leave them again, her head ducked down the whole time avoiding any eye contact.

Unfortunately, because of that, she didn't see Francis fling his arms out to the sides and got hit in the chest. Hayes stumbled backwards with a silent "oof."

"Sorry," Francis bit out as Austin's attention flicked over to her in concern.

"It's fine," Hayes whispered, just trying to leave. Pay no attention to me, please.

This time she made it with one foot onto the carpeted stairs when she halted again.

Double dang, the gatorade.

Did Glen reallllllllly need it?

Ugh.

Yes.

With a huff, Hayes felt herself build up the courage to go back into the kitchen.

"Dakota had nothing to do with this, so don't blame him," Austin was in the midst of saying before Francis interrupted.

"Then how the hell did you..."

"Your teacher sent out an email to all the parents, letting us know it was the last grade before report cards." Austin's stony look was not one the siblings were used to seeing.

"Oh," Francis grunted before deciding to change paths. He went with the guilt trip. "Come on, Austin. I'm a senior. This is the last time I'll be here for Halloween with my friends. Haven't you punished me enough already? You made me study for it anyways. And, I had to deal with Hayes on top of that."

Ouch.

The girl didn't really appreciate overhearing that comment.

Austin's gaze darkened. "I suggest stopping before you build yourself a deeper hole. And do not use your sister as an excuse."

"Sorry," Hayes quietly peeped, appearing from behind the wall. "I'll just take this." She swiftly pulled the blue Gatorade out of Francis' hand before leaving and for her own sake, never returning to their conversation.

Francis didn't even acknowledge her, his attention geared solely on Austin as his anger was visible on his flushed face. "Baker would have just made me do burpees."

The silence felt extra heavy as Francis straightaway recognized the hurt expression that crossed his eldest brother's face.

Francis knew he had crossed the line. The teen had never wanted to be able to take back his words more, than in that very moment.

Austin gave a grim smile. "Well, I'm not Baker. Sorry to disappoint you."

Even as Hayes hastened up the stairs, eager to get far, far away, she could hear the sound of defeat in Austin's voice.

"You know what, Francis. I don't care, do whatever you want."

Footsteps were heard as one of her brothers started walking around on the kitchen tile floor.

"Wait, no Austin, that's not what I meant," Francis rushed out, full of regret.

Out of distance to hear any more of that disaster, Hayes barged into her own bedroom and was fast to close the door behind her. With a physical barrier now between her and the fight downstairs, she felt like she could finally relax.

"You didn't answer the phone," Glen whined in accusation immediately upon setting his sights on his sister.

Hello to you too, Glennard.

"I don't even know where my phone is," Hayes stated blankly as she moved closer to him and passed over the Gatorade.

Glen eyed her, before giving in and nodding. Yeah, okay that was definitely believable.

He struggled with opening the bottle before Hayes took it back from his hands and unscrewed it herself, no problem.

This cold really knocked him on his ass.

"Thanks," Glen muttered appreciatively.

Hayes shrugged, walking back around the end of the bed and climbing up to sit next to him. She rested her back against the headboard, shoving her legs under the comforter. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," his voice was still hoarse. "Can breathe now so that's good." He casted her a smiley smile. "Guess I'm not dying after all. Wohoo."

Hayes stabbed his leg with her foot. "That's not funny." She grumbled.

————

The day continued to slowly pass by, with the four siblings unintentionally, or possibly intentionally, keeping their distance from one another.

Glen had unofficially officially taken over her bedroom, enjoying yet again another nap on her bed. She had checked on him just a while ago when her stomach was asking for some more cookies.

Yes, cookies counted as lunch.

Hayes didn't know for sure where Francis disappeared to, but if she had to guess, her brother was still in the garage working out. She was still unsure of how his tiff with Austin ended, and wasn't keen on finding out. Hayes managed to avoid them both since then, which was surprising because she heard Austin come upstairs twice now, probably to check on Glen.

She wasn't too surprised about Francis though, as it was common in their family to take advantage of their garage gym when feeling angry or frustrated or pissed off... or for pretty much any reason.

Classic gym rats, her brothers.

Hayes, similar to Austin, preferred going on long runs when her emotions were too much to handle.

And other times, she much rather preferred to eat her emotions in ice cream.

Like now for example, ice cream would be more therapeutic than a run.

Hayes huffed in annoyance for the innumerable time.

This was the third time now that an email popped up in the bottom right corner of the screen, distracting her from the movie she was trying to watch.

Done with baking all the cookies and still seeking refuge from all her brothers, Hayes had been occupying her free time by continuing with yesterday's fixation on dog movies. She just happened to find the most amazing hidden treasure, Air Bud, and as it turned out, it was a whole series!

She was enraptured.

And she wanted a golden retriever to name Buddy.

And she could teach him how to play all the sports with her. Definitely basketball. And soccer, that would be fun with Dakota. And maybe baseball so Francis and Emerson don't feel left out.

And then Buddy and Chubba could be best friends.

And then everyone lived happily ever after.

Perfect!

This wild imagination was all thanks to Emerson, really. The last time he had come home he had shown her and Glen how to watch movies for free online and since Colton was letting them use his MacBook, they apparently hadn't had to worry about clicking on viruses.

Whatever that meant. Hayes wasn't very technologically gifted.

By the way, she still never found her phone.

But that was unimportant.

Anyhow, when Austin found out about the little teaching lesson on piracy, he told them not to do it. He'd be perfectly happy with purchasing whatever movie they wanted to watch.

But sometimes more than others, Hayes enjoyed living life on the edge.

Like eating inedible cookie dough.

Shhh.

Which is how she found herself in her current position - snuggled under the covers and watching dog movies.

Hayes was on her own for the moment because if she asked her brothers for help, then she'd reveal her secret hiding spot. So instead, she honed in on that sense of independence to figure out how to watch the movie all by herself.

And it actually worked.

Hayes used her pointer finger to scroll on the mouse pad, directing the cursor to the itty bitty X to close out of the pop up. Not really paying attention, she must have accidently clicked the 'restore' button instead because the email suddenly expanded over the whole screen.

Whoopsie.

That wasn't suppose to happen.

Hayes went to exit out correctly this time as her eyes innocently skimmed the email. Didn't you know it was an official job as the little sister to be sticking your nose where it doesn't belong?

It only backfires about the majority of the time.

Hayes' eyebrows scrunched up in confusion as she reread the first couple sentences a billion times in the span of seconds. It sparked her flight or fight response, as her brain just wasn't comprehending what she was reading.

Dear Coach Colton Powers,

It's been a while, my man! But boy, was I happy to hear the news this morning! I can't believe Coach Gregor is finally retiring after next season but honestly, I can't think of anyone better than you to take his place. Congrats!

What?

The?

Freaking?

Popsicle?

Stick?

Colton got a new job? Why didn't he say anything? Did that mean he was leaving them?

What?

The bedroom door slammed open, nearly banging against the wall if not for the door spring. Anything for a grand entrance, even if the cost was a brand new hole in the wall.

"Why the fuck are you in my room?"

Hayes nearly jumped out of her skin from fright, again.

Freaking brothers.

And they complained that she needed a cat bell so she couldn't sneak up on them.

Hold on.

Was it 4 pm already?

Holy cows! Where did the day go?

She had planned to be out of Dakota's bedroom before he got home from work, to avoid exactly this.

Hayes quickly slammed the laptop lid closed as her heart was still stuck into her throat.

This was too much... all too much.

"Hayes."

"Yes?" She snapped her head up to look at her brother, most definitely looking like a deer caught in headlights.

"Why the fuck are you in my room?" Dakota repeated, walking to his closet where he could kick off his work boots.

"Sorry," Hayes mumbled, instantly scooting off his bed. She one-handed clutched the laptop tightly to her chest as she kept mindlessly apologizing. "Sorry, sorry, leaving now. Sorry."

A strong grip on her upper arm kept her from taking another step. "I didn't say you had to leave."

Hayes kept her chin tucked against her neck, intent on avoiding his gaze. No, Dakota, she needed to leave right now.

She just knew he was scrutinizing her every move and her face. It always felt like she couldn't hide anything from her brothers.

"What's wrong?" Dakota questioned, his hold unrelenting.

"Nothing."

"Why you running?"

"I'm not," Hayes denied, trying to yank her arm free.

"You hiding something? What's on the laptop?"

"Nothing," Hayes insisted, making the mistake of looking up into his eyes. They were full of suspicion.

Dakota narrowed his eyebrows. "I'll find out."

A cross thought hit her mind. What did he have to find out when he probably already knew?

Which then lead her down a dark rabbit hole. What else were her brothers hiding from her?

Hayes needed Glen.

She didn't trust herself to think this through like a reasonable person.

Dakota still wouldn't release her, so push came to shove and Hayes stomped on Dakota's foot, hard. It didn't hurt him, but his hand still loosened enough so his sister could escape.

"It'll only come back to bite you in the ass," Dakota called out after her in warning, "By the way, Baker is downstairs looking for you."

Not daring to turn back around, Hayes quickened her pace as she ran across the hallway to her bedroom. She turned the door handle, pushing the door open and shutting it rather loudly, then resting her back on the white wooden door.

The intrusion didn't stir Glen even a little bit, the kid remained fast asleep.

Hayes sighed, feeling truly alone in that moment.

She happened to glance down at her hands, and upon remembering the laptop that she held securely, she walked over to the desk and placed it there. Hopefully she didn't do any damage when she abruptly closed the laptop like how she did.

Colton wouldn't be too happy if she broke it.

Colton.

The ends of her lips sloped downward into a wobbly frown.

If he was leaving, what was stopping any other brother from going as well?

She pinched her eyes closed real tight, keeping the relentless tears from spilling. Don't jump to conclusions, don't do it.

When Hayes finally reopened her eyes, her gaze fell upon Glen. Feeling guilty if she were to wake him up when he obviously needed the sleep to recover, Hayes slipped back out of the room, leaving the door open just a crack.

It just made her feel better that way.

Having nothing to do now except let her mind spiral out of control and nowhere to hide out upstairs since her room was occupied, Dakota was now in his room, Glen's room was being decontaminated still, and she didn't feel right going into Austin's room either... that left her with no other option but to go downstairs and possibly face the music of the sins that she may or may not have committed.

Heck.

Hayes reluctantly plodded down the steps, her whole mood just overwhelmingly depressed.

Swiveling to the right when she stepped down from the last step, Hayes headed back to the kitchen. She figured eating another cookie certainly wouldn't hurt.

Well it may, once her brothers figured out just how many she had eaten already. But that was a later problem.

"Sunshine," a cheerful voice exclaimed, " I was just coming to find you."

Hayes couldn't help but reflexively smile at the sight of her older brother. She immediately marched directly into Baker's embrace, soaking up all the comfort he had. She somewhat remembered Dakota saying something about Baker, but she hadn't actually listened to the words that came out of his mouth.

Baker wrapped her up in his muscular arms, snuggling her close. "How ya doing, Sunshine?"

When Hayes forgot to respond in time, Baker pulled back to look at her properly. His smile faltered in concern, causing Hayes to immediately dive back into his embrace.

Those pesky tears had spilled out anyways.

Traitors.

Baker knew his little sister was still struggling hard between Glen being sick and fighting with Austin.

He also knew Austin was slowly chipping away into pieces over everything that was happening. His brother felt like he was floundering, forgetting that not everything was in his control.

Baker had spent an hour on the phone with Colton this morning discussing their eldest brother.

Something had to change.

They both agreed that a family meeting was more than overdue at this point. Get all the grievances out and push onward before this all blew up in their faces even more so than it already had.

Dakota's annoyance would blow over in a day or so but this thing with Francis might just be the last crack until everything comes tumbling down. Baker wasn't quite sure what to make of it yet. Francis held Austin on the highest pedestal, and the two had arguments like this very infrequently.

When a tiny sob was emitted from his little sister, Baker gently slid his arms under Hayes' armpits and hoisted her up, chest to chest. She curled her arms around his neck as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Her forehead pressed against his neck with her eyes squeezed close. Tears continued to leak out, forming a stain on the collar of his grey shirt.

Without really thinking about it, he slowly rocked them back and forth, back and forth.

I'll love you forever,

I'll love you for always.

As long as I'm living,

My baby you'll be.

"What's wrong, Sunshine?" He pressed his lips to her temple.

Everything.

"I'm scared," Hayes softly confessed.

"What are you scared of?" Baker whispered back, his hand entangling in her messy ponytail as his thumb brushed against her cheek.

Hayes didn't dare wish to speak the words into existence, her arms curling tighter around her older brother instead.

"It'll all be okay," Baker murmured as he aimlessly moved about the kitchen, the steps soon turning into a slow-dance to a lullaby song in his head. It was soothing, calming Hayes immensely as her heart filled up with all the love and comfort Baker had to offer. It's what has been missing these past tumultuous few days.

"What's wrong with her?" Footsteps stopped at the doorway.

"She just needed a hug," Baker replied, his knuckles rubbing against Hayes' back.

"I'll hug her."

Baker's eyebrows jumped up towards the sky. "Who are you and what did you do with Dickota?"

Dakota rolled his eyes, "Douche."

"Aye, no sour mouth in the presence of Sunshine." Baker covered Hayes' left ear, as the other ear was pressed firmly against his shoulder. He could feel the ghost of a smile that flitted across Hayes' lips.

Baker smiled in response. That made him feel better, knowing his little sister was still in there somewhere, no matter how put out she had appeared.

"Thought you were going to take a shower?" Baker questioned.

Dakota shrugged, "Gonna go running with Francis first."

"Right now?" That took Baker by surprise. He noted Dakota's apparel change into running gear, so it was the real deal.

That felt like an ominous sign to Baker.

What happened now?

Francis, the laziest teen ever, never voluntarily went running, and most definitely never with Dakota.

"When he's done taking a shit, yeah."

Baker couldn't help his snort. He cleared his throat before squeezing the girl tight against his chest. "What do you think? Want a hug from the big, bad, Dakota?"

Hayes did a half shoulder shrug, either way she just wanted someone to keep hugging her at this point.

With that, Dakota met Baker in the middle of the kitchen floor where Hayes was transferred hands. She still didn't want to be put down, which wasn't very characteristic of the little girl as she often preferred two feet on the ground, but Dakota didn't completely mind holding her.

Dakota leaned his back against the counter, getting comfortable for the time being until Francis was ready.

As he did so, Dakota watched Baker stick his hand into the cookie jar, grabbing several cookies at once. Even Dakota had to admit that the cookie jar was actually kind of cute, in the design of a basset hound dog. It was Hayes' birthday gift from Baker, go figure. He bet Peyton picked it out.

Baker then moved over to the breakfast nook, pulling out a seat so he could munch on the cookies and analyze Hayes' clingy behavior at the same time.

Baker cupped his chin with the palm of his hand, his index finger brushing against his upper lip to clean off any crumbs. He asked curiously, "Hayes, how many hugs did you get today?"

He watched the girl shrug her shoulders.

None?

That was not typical.

Dakota scoffed, "What the hell do you call this then?"

Hayes picked her head up and took a glimpse around to find where Baker was sitting. She didn't speak, instead choosing to point at Baker and then Dakota before laying her head back down on Dakota's shoulder.

Okay, two.

Baker tsked. "That won't do. We will just have to fix that, now won't we?"

Hayes turned her head, switching which cheek rested on Dakota's shoulder, this way she was able to look at Baker.

Baker tossed her a smile. "You know, a wise man once said that a person needs 4 hugs a day to survive, 8 hugs to maintain, and 12 to grow."

"Who the fuck said that?" Sounded like bull shit to Dakota. "Dumbledore?"

Grow what? A shitty plant?

"As a matter of fact, it was Colton."

Ah, that explained it. Everyone who knew Colton knew that he was a hugger not a fighter. That man lived on hugs, fucking weirdo.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Baker suddenly stood up, wiping his hands on his shirt. "I brought you a gift, Sunshine."

Hayes looked at him uncertainly. It sounded like a trap to her.

Lo and behold, it was.

Baker had briefly left the kitchen, only to come back in carrying her backpack by the top strap. It had been accidently left in the backseat of his truck overnight when Dakota borrowed his car. He didn't realize it until this morning when he was dropping Dakota off at work. But he didn't panic about returning the bag to its rightful owner because Baker 100% knew his little sister wouldn't be doing any homework even if she did have her backpack.

To further his point, Hayes instantly scowled at that hideous thing, making Baker laugh. "You know what that means?" He teased, holding the backpack up, "Time for school work."

That would be a no.

————

Baker ended up staying for dinner.

His mandated overtime shift for work didn't start until later so he had plenty of time for some chow. The infamous lasagna that was suppose to be Tuesday night's meal was heated up and served.

Baker's presence balanced out the lack of Austin's which did not go unnoticed by any of the siblings. Coincidence or not?

Austin was in the house, but he had stayed in the office den, claiming he had to finish up more work before he could stop for the night. It was probably the truth, too, as when Hayes moseyed through the living room to postpone having to eat the dreaded lasagna, she had heard Austin's voice presumably talking on the phone through the closed door.

And until that time came for Austin to sign out of work, Colton was on door duty for all the Halloween trick-or-treaters who dared approach their doorstep once darkness fell.

When Hayes finally sat at her normal seat at the table, she stared gloomily at the food. The family rule was she had to try seven pieces of the dinner meal before being granted something else to eat and thus, soon enough a bowl of cereal was substituted for her plate.

The girl quietly ate her cereal, rice krispies mixed with some cut-up strawberries and bananas. But not even the snap, crackle, and pop could amuse the girl's childish nature tonight.

Beside her, Francis absentmindedly swirled his fork on the plate, nowhere near present in the conversation amongst the rest of the siblings. He was too busy trying to figure out how to right his wrongs with Austin. He got as far as planning the first step, an apology. Then it was just the matter of doing it.

On Hayes' other side was the grouchy Dakota who wasn't actually the moodiest for a change. That honor belonged to the sullen Sunshine. He was actually participating in the nonsensical conversation with Colton and Baker as well. The fresh air from his run with Francis might have actually done him some good.

The other side of the table consisted of Glen whom sat across from Hayes and was quite possibly asleep with his drooping eyelids, slouched at the table. His hand holding the fork twitched every now and then, but the food never made it into his mouth. There was good news on Glen's behalf though, his fever had finally broke and he was now on the 24-hour watch to be able to possibly return to school on Friday.

Colton sat next to Glen and was the target of Hayes' intermittent stares. He had noticed them almost immediately since he had arrived home actually, but didn't bring attention to the matter. He wasn't exactly sure what he had done to deserve these feeble glares and didn't want to poke the bear until he had some insight.

Which would be tricky, as Hayes was sensitive little bugger right now and anything could set her off.

Someone sneezed.

Dakota.

"Gesundheit," Francis automatically responded as Colton and Baker said "Bless you."

Another brother cleared their throat as the dinner atmosphere shifted to a more serious feel.

"Hayes."

"Hmm?" She tilted her chin up in acknowledgment from where she was trying to drown a piece of banana in the bowl of milk.

"Hayes," Baker called her name again from the head of the table, opposite of where Austin should have been sitting. A soft smile appeared on his face when her blue eyes met his. "You with us, babe?"

"Uh huh," Hayes replied, twiddling the spoon between her thumb and index finger.

Baker's gaze flickered to Colton before returning to Hayes. Baker was playing the role of the responsible elder brother tonight, as he seemed to be a reliable last-brother-standing on Hayes' favorite list. "I think we need to talk about school tomorrow."

"Alrighty," Hayes said quietly. She didn't necessarily want to talk about it, but knew it wasn't really a suggestion. Hayes dropped the spoon in the bowl, her hands lacing together in her lap instead. Dakota's hand landed on top, giving a gentle squeeze of support as her eyes darted to across the table to Glen.

Glen seemingly felt her stare, glancing up as he gave her a tired grin in encouragement.

Baker waited until Hayes returned her attention to him before continuing. "Austin, Colton, and myself spoke and we think you should try to go to school."

Austin? Austin wasn't even at the table.

Hayes didn't argue, instead simply lowering her gaze back to her lap. She didn't have the energy anymore. She didn't want to stir the pot anymore. She didn't want to lose any more of her brothers.

Baker watched for her reaction, bothered by her lack of. He felt the need to explain their reasoning. "Glen seems to be on the mend now, don't you think, buddy?" Glen lazily held a thumbs up. Baker continued, "But if he starts to feel sick again like before, you can certainly come home. Austin or I will be around to pick you up."

Baker paused, glancing at Colton again as the two communicated wordlessly.

"There is also a basketball game tomorrow night," Colton took over now.

Hayes' fingers stilled. Truthfully, she didn't even want to play on the basketball team anymore, but she didn't dare breathe a word of that.

"Again, unless Glen is feeling worse, we'd like you to go as a member of your team," Colton finished his thought.

"What do you think, Sunshine?" Baker asked.

Hayes shrugged. Did she really have a choice?

"Okay," Baker nodded once. He realized that probably was the best he was going to get as a response from her. Pushing back his chair, Baker stood up and stretched his arms over his head before picking up his empty plate and utensils. "On that note, I have to go to work and deal with stupid fuckers all night long. I'll see you all tomorrow at some point."

Since tomorrow was Thursday, Baker had the night free. So whether he met the siblings at the basketball gym to watch the game or they had their family dinner night, everyone would all be reuniting shortly.

Baker strolled into the kitchen, rinsing his dishes off in the sink before he could put them in the dishwasher. As he was doing so, he heard the soft pattering of his little sister coming up behind him, making him curious. He subtly checked over his shoulder to see what the girl was up to and spotted Hayes in a random cabinet. She stood on her tippy toes as she searched for something.

Finishing up, he turned the sink off and dried his hands on a rag before spinning around to say goodbye to his Sunshine.

Baker was lucky he didn't elbow her in the face as Hayes appeared mighty close to his personal space.

She didn't seem to care as she held out her hands, a container there for Baker to take.

His heart warmed.

She saved him cookies.

"Thank you, sweet girl," Baker took the container before wrapping his arm around Hayes' shoulders and capturing her in a hug. "I'll have to hide them from Lindsey, or else the bastard will eat them all before I get a chance."

Hayes gripped his shirt with her hands, not wanting Baker to go. He had been her safety net tonight, not even pushing the whole homework thing as he initially teased.

Baker twirled her ponytail around his finger before playfully tugging on the end of it. "Call me if you need me, alright?"

"Okay," Hayes replied monotone.

"I'm serious," Baker nudged her chin up so he could see her eyes. The blue depth of her irises held tightly to all her inner secrets "Anytime. Don't hesitate to call me, I mean it."

"Okay," Hayes grew exasperated, swatting his hand away after he poked her in the nose.

Baker sent her a cheeky grin and a wink. "I love you."

Hayes launched forward, smooshing her blushed face against his t-shirt, her words coming out all mumble-jumbled. "Love you, Baker."

————

Glen watched as Hayes dug through her backpack, a frown marring her young face. She worked in complete silence, her body language more telling than words could ever share.

"HayHay," Glen started to say. His mouth flopped open like a fish out of water when he cut himself off. She had instantly tensed up, only relaxing again after three seconds of nothing more being said.

Glen twisted his lips to the side. Something was up with her.

Had been up with her, since Sunday night, when that happened.

Her gut-feeling was too good.

Hayes pulled out seemingly random loose papers that had been shoved in the bag, tossing them carelessly beside her onto the desk, covering Colton's laptop. He hadn't asked for it back when he returned home from his day of meetings at school, so Hayes kinda forgot she even had it.

The battery was probably dead by now.

She glanced back to the growing pile on the desk when one of the papers caught her attention. Hayes stood up from her crouched position and picked up the stapled paper.

It was her religion project, the one about the family tree thing. She had gotten it back during class on Tuesday, before everything went downhill and she had that awful anxiety attack.

An A+ was circled in red at the top. Her teacher had even told her in person when she had handed it back, how blown away she was at Hayes' project. Apparently the girl so beautifully depicted her family dynamics in a way that her teacher never seen before.

Some screwed up dynamic that turned out to be.

"What's that?" Glen asked, when Hayes just stared at the paper held firmly in her hand.

"Nothing," Hayes muttered, chucking the paper back onto the pile of other unimportant graded papers.

Glen watched it flutter down, making a mental note to look at it later. He just hoped he remembered in the morning.

His pensive gaze returned to the backpack as Hayes abandoned it all together and moved to her closet. Even though she absolutely did not want to go to school tomorrow, the girl prepared her uniform and socks for the morning.

Oh yeah, she also needed her basketball uniform. Thankfully it was a home game, because her away uniform was still sitting in her hamper and it totally reeked.

"Hayes."

"What?"

"I think I know where your phone is," Glen happily exclaimed, proud of his brain blast moment.

"Where?" Hayes muttered, way less enthused than her brother.

He had a coughing fit, his hand covering his mouth so he used his left hand to point at her backpack. Hayes had looked at him when it sounded like he was hacking up a lung, and then followed his finger.

She tilted her head as she thought about it. Huh, had it really been in her bag this whole time?

Quite possibly, actually.

Hayes carried her clothes over to the desk, adding the bundle on top of everything else. She reached down and grabbed her backpack, sitting it on the chair.

She unzipped the front pouch and blindly stuck her hand in, hoping to hit jackpot.

"Oh good golly, miss molly, you live to see another day," Hayes breathed, her fingers clutching onto her missing cell phone.

It was a saying Mama Deja had always muttered under her breath and guess it sort of just randomly stuck with the girl.

"You're welcome," Glen gloated from where he was chilling on the bed.

Hayes rolled her eyes as she thanked him.

"I know, I'm the best," Glen snickered at Hayes' deadpan stare.

"Now I can go show Austin so he won't be so disappointed with me."

"He's not disappointed with you," Glen sighed, well tried to. He ended up coughing.

Anyways, Hayes had been keeping him up to date on the latest Austin hysteria and, his sister didn't know this, but Glen actually straight-up asked Austin during one of his lucid moments earlier in the day.

Some may say that was very gutsy of the boy, but Glen's loyalty belonged to his partner in crime forever. Of course, the clear mind didn't last very long and Glen transitioned back to loopy Smiley in the middle of the conversation so he didn't quite remember what Austin all had told him.

But! Glen did know that Austin certainly wasn't disappointed in his little sister.

Glen also knew that Austin didn't like clowns, but don't quote him on that. He may have just made that up in his head.

"G, why does it feel like everything is suddenly going wrong?" The vulnerability in Hayes' voice was so similar to her tone in their past.

Glen obnoxiously patted the empty side of the bed for Hayes to sit next to him. She ditched her phone on the desk and crawled onto the bed, snuggling close to Glen, like old times. They shared one of the many blankets, covering their bent legs all the way up to their chin, so only their identical shades of blonde hair and faces were visible. Their arms pressed tightly together, leaving no space between them.

Hayes tilted her head upward to look at Glen, waiting for his wisdom.

Glen stared off at the bedroom wall, his mouth just barely moving as if he had words to say but no sound crossed his lips.

"Glen?" Hayes looped her right arm around his left arm, holding tight with both her hands.

"Is it, though?" He asked, contemplating.

Wrinkles formed on Hayes' forehead. "What do you mean?"

"Do we even know what it means for everything to be going right?" Glen shrugged at his own question. "We have brothers who love us. A real home. Isn't that all good enough?"

"Do they?"

"Do they what?"

"Love us?"

"What the hell, Hayes?" Glen gaped at her like she lost her mind.

"I'm scared," Hayes quietly confessed for the second time that day. "We're going to wake up one day and no one will be here."

Glen didn't know where this was coming from. "What?"

Hayes' fingernails dug into Glen's arm. He shook his arm free of her clutches, and turned to look at her. He had never felt more serious as he punched her in the arm.

"Ow."

"Hayes, why are you talking like that?"

Her hand rubbed the sting away before her fingers clenched into fists. "Cole is leaving."

Glen immediately started shaking his head. "No, he's not."

"Yes, he is," Hayes insisted, sitting up straight. The blanket crumpled onto her lap.

Glen remained in denial. "Why would you even say that?"

"I read it."

"No. No, I don't think so. Where would you even read that?" Glen refused to look at Hayes. "You must of seen it wrong. I don't believe you. Nope, he would of told me." To his embarrassment, his voice cracked before he had a terrible coughing fit. Glen rubbed the center of his chest with the palm of his hand as the soreness was beginning to return.

A couple tears rolled down Hayes' cheeks. "I wouldn't lie to you."

The tearfulness in her voice made Glen glance down at her, his gaze softening almost instantly. He wrapped his arm around his sister. "Okay, I'm sorry. I know you wouldn't." He bumped his forehead against the side of her head, resting there. "I believe you, HayHay. I wasn't thinking."

Glen's own eyes glistened as they slowly filled with tears.

He believed her, but that didn't stop him for hoping she was sorely mistaken.

————

Austin eyed the wrinkled paper that mysteriously appeared on the kitchen table, accompanied by one little girl's cell phone and a sticky note with scribbling attached to the green phone case.

Found it :)

It gave Austin a chuckle, waking up his bleary mind a bit more.

Whoever put it there had to have done it at some point in the middle of the night because he had cleaned the kitchen before going to bed last night and it certainly wasn't there then.

Although it was Hayes' phone and apparently her school assignment by the messily scrawled Hayes Powers at the top of the page, he didn't think she was the mastermind behind this. His little sister didn't seek him out for a goodnight hug, so after all the neighborhood kids finished trick-or-treating, Austin had gone to check on her.

By that point, it was approaching upon 9:30 so he wasn't super surprised to find her and Glen both already passed out on her bed.

What did catch him off guard though was the lack of pillow barrier between them like they usually messed around with, so they must have fallen asleep all snuggled together.

Guess no one was really getting a good nights' sleep around here.

Before Austin investigated the paper, he walked to the counter and turned on the coffee machine. Hearing the whirling sound as the machine kicked into gear, Austin crossed back to the table and picked the assignment up in his hand.

The kitchen light remained dim, the outside world still under dark cover with the moon shining bright, but it was enough for Austin's eyes to make out the words on the page.

Austin recognized the prompt as the family tree project, similar to what Emerson and Francis once had to do for religion class, but this had a little twist of Sunshine to it.

Family: What unconditional love from seven brothers (and Peyton and Chubba) means to me.

He had to smile at the very first line Hayes wrote.

His little sister would never forget the dumb dog.

Austin glimpsed over the rest of the introduction paragraph, before flipping over to the next page and then the third page. He was curious about how she completed the classic family tree design with their genealogy as he didn't recall the girl ever talking to them about their parents or extended family and what not, but he couldn't seem to find it.

On the very last page, where an outline of a tree was traced in black, Hayes copied down a song instead, filling in the blank space.

He mouthed the words to himself as his eyes read it, instantly recognizing the powerful lyrics. He lowered the hand that was holding the papers, resting his wrist on top of the chair he was standing behind.

Austin tilted his head back, his face towards the sky as he blinked away the tears that formed. His other hand wiped underneath his eyes, erasing the evidence as quickly as it occurred.

"Morning," the gruffness of Francis' tired voice reached Austin's ears.

Austin turned around to greet his little brother. The two were starting with a clean slate after having a long chat last night in between handing out candy.

No harbored feelings remained between Fran and Austin.

He must not have done a good job of clearing the tears as Francis looked at him with a wrinkled forehead.

"Are you crying?"

Way to just call him out there, Franny boy.

"No," Austin smiled, his twinkling eyes exposing the truth anyways. He cleared his throat so he didn't sound so gosh-darn emotional. "Good morning to you too, Francis. You're up early." The eldest brother pulled Francis into a one-armed hug, planting a chaste kiss to the top of his head. He wouldn't be able to do that much longer, as Francis was getting nearly as tall as him.

Instead of breaking away after a second, Francis wrapped his other arm around Austin for a real hug. The paper crinkled in Austin's fisted hand as he returned the embrace.

"What's that?' Francis asked, hearing the noise. He dropped his arms and stepped back, swiping a hand through his unkempt messy bed head.

"Here, read it." Austin handed Francis the papers to look at, still folded so the third page was visible on top. Francis glanced at it, letting out a yawn before actually reading it in his head.

Francis' eyes flickered up to meet Austin. "Hayes wrote this?"

"Uh huh," Austin replied, crossing his arms.

"Hayes wrote what?" Colton yawned, walking into the kitchen and helping himself to a cup of coffee that was suppose to be Austin's.

Francis shoved the paper into Colton's bare chest.

Colton frowned, his gaze darted downward to the lyrics then back up again. He looked questioningly at his brothers, returning to the page when Austin pointed at it.

Taking a sip of coffee, Colton studied the words, also mouthing the lyrics like Austin did. "Oh man," Colton put the mug down on the counter and scratched the back of his neck. "Austin, we need to fix this before we can't. I don't think she's feeling this way about any of us right now."

"I know," Austin completely agreed with his brother, extra frustrated with himself right now. Austin took blame for every last bit of it. Look what he done.

"So what do we do?"

🎵You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains.

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas.

I am strong, when I am on your shoulders.

You raise me up to more than I can be.🎵

~~~~

Wow, that was ruff.

;)

Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end. - John Lennon