(Italics = flashback)
...

"A thorn defends the rose, harming only those who would steal the blossom."

...

"Well isn't this fun."

"Shut up."

Sasha raises her hands in surrender, an amused grin stretching across her lips as she raises an eyebrow at Jayden DeLaCruz, the man glaring at her. He really didn't like her.

"Jayden." Noel and Phoenix warn, nudging his sides.

"Why don't you shut up, Jay?" Willow snaps back, brown eyes sharp with a glare. "You're already on thin ice, might wanna make sure it doesn't break."

Sasha smirks, leaning back on her arms and resting her head on Willow's shoulder. "I'd listen to her if i were you, otherwise you might ruin your last chance and that'll just hurt all three of you. We wouldn't want that now, would we? Not after putting in all this hard work and effort." She taunts, raising her eyebrows at him as if daring him to go on. 

Wes groans annoyedly. "Sasha." 

"What?" She chuckles, turning to the boy with her usual look of unbothered. "I'm only kidding around."

Sophia sighs, sending her friend a pointed look accompanied with a silent plea for her to stop her provoking behavior. "Sash, can we please just get along for today?" She begs, wanting nothing more than to keep the peace. 

The Paris girl shrugs, letting herself lay back, arms behind her head acting as a pillow as she looks up at the bright blue sky. "I'm just teasing, if he can't take it that's on him." She states, eyes falling closed as she takes in a deep breath, a content sigh leaving her at the feel of the fresh and cool air. "Besides, from everything I've heard he used to be the one to joke around ⏤ tease and mock. But then again that was what, eight years ago? I guess time really does change people."

"You all would know." Jayden says, eyes zeroing in on the twins, flickering to the Hansley boy who stood at the playground with Skyla, a kid who he also used to be close with. "You two, maybe three, especially."

"Excuse me?" Willow's tone takes offense, eyes narrowing.

"Well, back then you guys were these innocent kids, so full of life and love ⏤ joy and light. Then we leave for a few years and you turn into this?" He scoffs, gesturing to the two he couldn't recognize, settling for just another glance in Cameron's direction. "These miserable, damaged kids, who smoke and drink and find fun in ruining themselves. I could say a lot more but I won't. Instead, though, i will ask a question. What happened to you?"

"You did." Wes answers through a bitter laugh. "We were kids when you left ⏤ correction, when you abandoned us." He spat out at him. "We were kids back then, but we're not anymore. We grew up. That's what happened."

"You're still kids, Weston." Noel says softly. 

Willow shakes her head. "Maybe legally." She disagrees. "But other than that not so much." 

He sighs but nods. "But you are, either way, you're still kids. Maybe not in your minds, but to us, you're still those little eight year old's that we left behind that day." He speaks gently, the guilt becoming more evident in his tone as his eyes fall to the ground, avoiding eye contact with any of his siblings. "And i think that all Jayden is trying to say is that we don't know you anymore."

"But we'd like to." Phoenix continues for his brother, helping clean up Jayden's mess. "We would like to know the new, grown up, older versions of our little brother and sister."

"If you'll let us." Noel finishes.

Silence washes over the group, each processing the words that had been shared between them. The good, but especially the bad. 

"Yeah. Yeah, that was exactly what i was trying to say." Jayden's words sound after the beat of silence, a light sarcasm embracing his tone. Though that was just how he was. He never handled emotions well, not even as a kid. So he used sarcasm as a weapon, a tool, a savior ⏤ whatever he needed it was his go to. And that wasn't going to change now. The twins knew that, they could relate to it even, and so they brushed it off as best they could, thought Willow still held some offense and found herself scoffing.

"You sure you didn't just wanna call us damaged and miserable?" Willow glares.

"I said what i said and i stand by it ⏤ you guys are damaged, and miserable, and broken." He lists, stopping when Phoenix and Noel both hit either of his arms in warning. "But that isn't a bad thing, it just means you've been through a lot, anx that's our fault and I'm sorry for that." Jayden says, head bowing in shame. "And I'm sorry for how i worded it." He adds after Phoenix clears his throat, a silent push to go on.

"Well that was fast." Sasha rolls her eyes. "You sure do have a lot of mood swings. Is it that time of the month for you?"

"I swear to-" he grits.

"Enough." Wes snaps. "Jayden, I'll forgive you, this time." He says. "But if you ever say anything like that again about Willow or me, or even our friends, then you'll have to leave. We don't want that kind of influence around Skyla or ourselves. Okay?"

Jayden nods silently.

"Okay, good. We don't need anymore toxicity in our lives." He breathes turning to Sasha. "And Sash, can you do me a favor and quite being bitchy? We're still trying to have a nice day and yeah, maybe our plans for today didn't include them but they do now and i don't want to ruin this for Sky. Do you? Because if you do then just leave now and we'll meet you back at the apartment or see you in a few days when you cool off."

Sasha pushes herself up on her elbows, narrowing her eyes at the boy before sighing. "Fine, jeez. I'll stop." She reluctantly agrees with a roll of her eyes, adjusting herself so she could lay with her head in Willow's lap, the girl welcoming her with open arms and a comforting, thankful smile.

"Wills?" Wes asks, getting a questioning hum.

"What do you say?"

"About?"

"Everything i just said." He says in a duh tone.

"Oh." She drawls out, nodding. "It was good, and i agree with it all."

"Ok." He nods, now sure of himself and his words. 

"But," She starts, looking over to Jayden with the same sharp eyes as before. "Say anything like that again, or even show the slightest signs of disrespect towards any of us, then will you not only be cut off but you'll be leaving with some missing teeth." She threatens.

He nods, rolling his eyes slightly. "I understand, and I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

"Better not." She mumbles under her breath, looking down to see Sasha smiling up at her, a proud gleam in her eyes. Willow smiles back down at her, praying that no one will notice the light blush that dusts across her cheeks.

But of course, Sasha notices. Just like she notices everything about Willow. Though she says nothing, just continues to smile, looking away from the girl hoping she won't notice her own blush rising.

At the sound of a phone ringing Willow shakes her head, snapping herself back to reality. Turning to look over to the swing set where Cameron stands helping Skyla, pushing her on the swing while the little girl laughs loudly, Willow's smile widens. "Well, I'm going to go get them." She decides as Sasha rises from the ground, nodding and pointing towards the path a little ways away from them.

"Yeah and I'm gonna go answer this." She says, quickly doing just that and walking away, Willow heading the opposite direction towards the swing set. 

Wes and Sophia share a knowing glance, small smiles forming on their lips. "What was that about?" Noel asks the two, staring after his sister.

The couple shrugs. "Nothing."

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

"Right here, right here." Skyla decides, running ahead of the group and stopping once she reaches a bench area surrounded by flower beds. "Please? I like this spot."

"Okay, we'll sit here." Willow accepts, placing the basket full of food on one of the benches, opening it up to pull out the large blanket Jeanette had packed for them to sit on.

The twins begin to set everything up, with the help of their three friends of course, but they refused the help of their three brothers, telling them to spend time with Skyla instead, to which they agreed after a moment of convincing.

Once they had finished setting up the five took their choice of seats ⏤ the twins on the blanket covered ground in order to stay beside their little sister, Sophia beside Wes, while both Cameron and Sasha had taken to laying across two of the three benches that surrounded them. As for the brothers, Phoenix was the only one brave enough to claim a seat on the ground by his siblings, the other two found themselves sitting on the last available bench, choosing to give the twins some space considering the thin ice they were already on with them, the last thing they needed to do was push the twins farther than they already have today. They had a feeling their luck was running out, as was their chances, and they were not willing to risk it.

"Come on, Sky." Willow calls the girl who took to running around the open space, stopping every few seconds to inspect something that had managed to catch her attention, such as a dog, a bug, and flowers. Lots of flowers. "Come eat."

"Okay!" Skyla agrees, skipping back over to the group with a handful of those flowers that had caught her interest, dropping the colorful array of plants onto the blanket. "Look, look! They're so pretty!" She gushes, picking a few up to shove in the older girls face. "Smell."

Willow scrunches her face, holding back a sneeze as she nods, gently pulling the flowers from her sisters hands. "Wow, so pretty." She agrees, placing them onto the grass beside them rather than the blanket where they were about to eat.

Skyla disagreed with that though, collecting the flowers from the ground as she stands, going around their group to hand everyone at least one, sometimes multiple, like with Sophia who had recieved five, three of which the little girl had placed in her hair. Once she reached her place again she plopped down, only having six flowers left for the moment. An idea entered her mind that had her looking up to her sister, asking the older girl if she could braid them into her hair. 'Just like tangled', she pleaded.

Noel, Phoenix and Jayden had frozen at her words, memories of when Willow had used to force them to do the same thing for her when she was younger swarming their minds. And from the look on the twins face, they had remembered too.

Willow nods, shaking her memories and the emotions that came with them off as she moves Skyla to sit in front of her, doing her best to comb through her hair with only her fingers. "Are you sure you don't wanna wait? Maybe choose some different flowers?"

Skyla shakes her head. "No, i wanna match Sophie."

The blonde in question smiles brightly at her words, touched. "Then, in that case, i think my hair should be braided too." She says, Skyla's eyes lighting up.

"Can i please do it? Please, please, please?!" She begs, the last of her pleas stretching into a long whine.

Sophia chuckles, nodding. "Of course." She agrees, standing to sit in front of Skyla, pushing Phoenix out of the way to do so.

"An excuse you could have worked too, you know? Instead of just shoving him out of the way." Jayden pipes up from across from them, unable to keep his mouth shut.

"Or he could have moved on his own, it was kind of obvious we needed the space." Willow is quick to come to her friends defense, not even bothering to look at him as she does so.

Jayden opens his mouth to retaliate, but Noel quickly slaps a hand over his mouth, whispering a warning to 'keep the peace' in his ear. Wes takes a similar approach, whispering the same thing to his twin with the added touch of not wanting to ruin the day for their sister. With that Willow was reminded that she needed to get along. She needed to push through this. Because if she didn't Skyla would be upset, and that was the last thing she wanted.

Willow could remember what it was like for her life to change. How hard it was. It didn't matter how many times she went through something drastic, like Jamie and her Dad dying. Her Mom falling into addiction. Her brothers disappearing one by one, and now reappearing just the same. The news of her Mothers pregnancy ⏤ when Skyla had been born, and when Vince became part of their large, messy family. When her mental health had taken a turn for the worse. Everything she had been through she had some sort of support system to help her through it, someone to make it easier. This time, through this life changing event, she needed to be that person for Skyla. She needed to be the one to make it easier. Not harder by starting arguements with their brothers every chance she got. She needed to be her big sister, her protector.

So that's what she did.

Willow took a deep breath, plastering a smile onto her face as she looked up at Jayden, forcing out words she never thought she would be saying to him of all people. Maybe Phoenix, or even Noel, because they hadn't gotten on her nerves as much as Jayden had lately ⏤ which was saying a lot ⏤, but she didn't think it would be him she said it to.

"I'm sorry."

The brothers mouths had dropped in shock. Whereas the other four had turned to look at her. Or, three, as Skyla had shouted at Sophia when she had tried.

"No! You're ruining the braid!" She cried, trying to fix the crooked hairdo, looking to Willow for help.

The girl does so without hesitation, not wanting to pay attention to the looks that everyone was throwing her way.

"Did i just hear that right?" Cameron asks, unsure on if he had heard wrong in his drowsy, sleep deprived state.

"She apologized?" Sasha squints her eyes as if she was dreaming, appalled at the thought she wasn't, and that Willow had really just apologized to Jayden.

"I heard that right, right?" Wes asks, looking to his girlfriend who nods in confirmation as best as she could in her confined position.

"Wills, are you okay?" Sophia asks softly, trying to look at her through the corner of her eyes, though she fails, rubbing at her eyes as they began to hurt from her action.

Jayden mumbles to Noel, questioning if he was dreaming but Noel confirms he wasn't, that it was real, though he too had doubts.

Willow rolls her eyes, finishing the top of her friends french braid and leaving the bottom half for Skyla to do, knowing it was easier. "Okay, now just do it how we taught you." She instructs, allowing Skyla to reach up and begin her part, doing everything the three girls had showed her to do just the other night.

"Willow..." Phoenix trails off.

The girl groans, regretting her apology more than she thought she would. "What?"

"You apologized?"

"Yes, I'm aware." She raises an eyebrow. "What about it?"

"It's just..."

"Crazy." Jayden finishes for his brother. "You never apologize to anyone ⏤ especially not me, even when we were kids." He recalls, going on to emphasize his point. "I swear, i can't remember a single time you ever apologized to me. Not even when you lied to Mom about who broke the TV and got me grounded for a month."

Cameron, Wes and Willow share a glance, trying to hold in their laughter as they recalled that day, one of the days of their childhood they could remember clearly, as though it was just yesterday, though it wasn't hard considering it was only months before the accident that destroyed their family took place.

"Cam, catch!" Wes calls, throwing the foam football at his friend who complains when it hits the side of his head.

Cameron Hansley had once more found himself forced to spend the night with the DeLaCruz family after he had come over for a play date with his bestfriend, Wes. This wasn't unusual for the seven year old boy, it was actually something he had grown accustomed to over the last year, so much so that he had even packed a bag of clothes with the expectation that his Mom would be calling with the news of her being unable to pick him up, leaving him for Victoria and Robbie ⏤ Shelley's life long bestfriends, and Cameron's godparents, to look after while she continued to spiral.

Only ten months ago Cameron's parents had gotten a divorce due to his father's affair being exposed, just before he decided to abandon his family for his pregnant mistress, which left Shelley Hansley completely heartbroken and devastated. Her life had fallen apart ⏤ had been blown up before her eyes in only a matter of days, and she found herself unable to care for her kids. And that inevitably ended with her losing them too. Deena, the oldest of the Hansley kids, had taken her siblings to stay with their dad for a while, wanting to give her mom time and space to heal, unaware it would only do the opposite and leave her worse off than before, and eventually she realized that, though it was too late, Shelley had lost it all, ⏤ her husband, her kids, her parents who disowned her once they figured out what she had gotten into, her money, and for a while, herself.

Victoria had helped her friend as much as she could, paying and setting her up in a nice, comfortable apartment with rooms for her kids to stay in for whenever they chose to visit her, which wasn't often once Deena had seen the state her mother was in and decided it would be unsafe for her younger siblings to stay with her. Cameron didn't agree with that though. He had always been closest with his mother, never with his father who had despised his existence since he was born, only doing the bare minimum such as offer them shelter and money. So, Cameron chose to stay with his mother more often, instead of with his father. Every weekend was his compromise with his sister, which Deena was reluctant to agree to though eventually did, unaware that every weekend he found himself at the DeLaCruz house instead. Just like this weekend.

Though this weekend was different.

Victoria had found herself sick with the flu and barely able to get out of bed, leaving the kids with no supervision as Robbie couldn't get off work as he had big project he needed to attend to and all the oldest kids had plans that took them out of the house. Which left Jayden, an immature and ignorant fourteen year old to babysit three hyperactive seven year olds ⏤ something he wasn't good at considering he had locked himself up in his room, leaving the children to run wild around the house, doing whatever it was they pleased.

Willow sat at the coffee table, looking up at the two boys with a scowl when the ball had hit the table just in front of her, mere inches from where her beloved hamster was eating a piece of lettuce. "Hey! You could have killed him!"

"You're so dramatic." Wes rolls his eyes, walking over and picking up the ball, frowning in disgust at the small rodent. How did his sister like that thing? He would never know.

The young girl scoffs, standing up to snatch the ball out of her brothers hand. "No, I'm not." She argues.

"Give it back!" He complains, reaching for his ball though she moves away, holding a warning hand up to Cameron when he begins to approach.

"One more step and i throw it out the window." She threatens, both boys freezing. They knew she would do it, she had done it before and it had cost them several balls already just that month.

"Okay, okay!" Cameron holds his hands up in surrender, even taking a step back. "What do you want?"

"For you guys to go away." She deadpans, turning and running into the hallway, the boys chasing her. "Fetch!" She yells as if they were dogs, throwing the ball down the long hallway and watching as it bounces towards the open basement door.

"No!" Both boys cry, racing forward to try and reach it before it went down the stairs, though were to slow.

Willow laughs at the sound of it bouncing down the wooden steps, disappearing into the darkness of the basement, a place she knew both boys were terrified to go. "Haha." She taunts, turning on her heels and rushing to collect her little pet before they could force her to go down and find the ball with them. "Come on, Lovie." She says, gently scooping him up along with the treats she was feeding him.

"Willow!" The two boys whine, running back into the room just as she runs out, right across the hall and into the kitchen, settling down at the dinner table. "You have to get it back for us!" Wes demands.

The girl scrunches her nose at him, shaking her head in denial. "I don't have to do anything. It's your ball, you get it."

"But you threw it!" Cameron argues desperately, unwilling to step foot in the basement he believes to be haunted.

She shrugs. "You guys almost hurt Lovie."

"But we didn't." He points out, Wes nodding along in agreement with his friend.

"And besides, Mom said hamsters don't live long so it's just going to die soon anyways." Wes adds unhelpfully, getting a glare from his twin as he pokes at her pet.

"Stop it." She snaps, slapping his hand away. She turns back to her baby, gently stroking his fur with her finger. "Don't listen to him Lovie, you're going to live a long healthy life, okay? Wes is just lying 'cause he's scared of you like a big baby."

"I am not!" Wes glares. "Take it back!"

"No." She refuses.

"Take it back!"

"No!" She repeats, crossing her arms stubbornly. "You're just a big baby scaredy cat and you know it."

"No I'm not!" He shakes his head, taking a similar stance as her as he too crosses his arms. "I'm not a scaredy cat."

"Oh yeah?" She raises an eyebrow at him. "Then how come you won't just get the ball yourself? Huh?" She challenges, standing up to further prove her point, holding Lovie towards her twin who scrambles away. Willow laughs, knowing she was right. "See? Scaredy cat."

"No. He's just ugly and gross. And what if it bites me and gives me a disease? I'm too young to die." He reasons, knowing full and well that they both knew it was all lies and that he really was just scared of the small creature.

"Fine. What about the basement then? Hmm? Are you scared the 'monsters' are gonna bite you and give you a disease too?" She giggles, amused by the two, thinking they were ridiculous for believing that that part of the house was haunted. Alhough, she knew that she was partially to blame for that after she had assisted her older brothers in feeding them those lies in forms of scary stories and a series of pranks that ended in them all getting in trouble by their parents for scaring the two young boys so badly that they had nightmares for weeks, and still occasionally do. Not to mention that only last weekend she and Xander had tricked them into going to the basement with the lie of hiding a stray puppy they had found from their parents down there, which the two ever gullible boys bought and quickly rushed down the stairs, giving Willow and Xander a chance to close the door on them and turn off the lights, trapping them in the darkness with all the 'ghosts' and 'monsters'. That ended badly for all four of them, Wes and Cameron because their nightmares returned worse than ever and for Xander and Willow it meant they were grounded for two weeks.

Wes narrows his eyes at his sister, arguing her words once more. "No," he answers. "How do i know you won't just lock us down there again?"

Willow shrugs, he had a good point. "I'll take Lovie upstairs while you guys go get the ball, that way i won't be able to."

"But you could just run back down the stairs." Cameron points out.

"I won't, promise." She assures, holding both her pinkies up to the two, who reluctantly accept and wrap their little fingers around hers.

"Can't you at least come with us?" Cameron hesitantly asks.

"Nope." Willow answers, already gathering Lovie and his things. "You guys can do it, it's fine." She comforts. "One of you just go down fast while the other one waits at the door."

"But-"

"Bye!" She calls, running out of the kitchen before they could protest, her footsteps echoing up the stairs.

The two boys made a plan. One that included Wes volunteering Cameron to be the one to go down the stairs while he waited at the top, sacrificing his bestfriend for the monsters that they believed hid down there. 'It will only take ten seconds', he insisted to his friend, nudging him towards the open door while he stayed a few steps behind, not willing to risk Cameron dragging him down too.

In retrospect the two boys knew they had made it a bigger deal than it really was, considering it didn't even take ten seconds since ball hadn't even reached the bottom of the stairs, stopping only halfway down them, something they were both thankful for as they rushed back to the living room to continue their game, but after only five minutes the two wished they hadn't. That perhaps they would have been better off if Willow really did throw the ball out of the window instead, or if the monsters and ghosts of the basement had gotten them.

"Oh no." They mumble, rushing away from the large flat screen TV that now lays on the floor after the two had fallen into it while wrestling for the foam football.

At the sound of a loud crash Jayden had finally emerged from his bedroom, wondering what the hell the three demon spawns as he called them had done now. He only made it to the bottom of the staircase before the two boys had pushed past him, running up the stairs. "What the hell?!" He shouted up at them, rolling his eyes at the sound of a door slamming shut.

"Willow!" Wes cries, jumping onto his sisters bed, right beside where she laid painting her nails.

"Hi," she smiles, immediately turning to him and grabbing his hand, beginning to apply the light green color to his nails. "What was that loud bang?" She asks, not looking up to even take notice of the two boys' teary, panic filled eyes and faces of dread and terror, knowing they were in loads of trouble.

Cameron sniffles, scared of what Victoria would do. Would he be banned from coming back? Would she tell his parents? What would happen then? "We broke something..."

At the sound of his shakey voice and the twos sniffles the girl looks up, frowning at their demeanor's. "What?" She asks, sitting up to comfort them, pulling Cameron to sit down beside her as she wiped her twins tears away, turning to her friend to do the same a moment later. "What happened? What'd you break?"

"The TV..." Wes reluctantly answers, his voice so quiet she barely caught it, but she did.

"The TV?!" She gasps, looking between them, waiting for one to say they were joking and they were just pranking her.

He nods, shushing her as he begins to beg, "Please, you can't tell mom."

She sighs, agreeing. Willow would always help her twin, always take his side, always cover for him, she would always follow behind him. It was blind loyalty, and she knew it was wrong, that she should have told the truth instead of blame her older brother, but she didn't. She would always defend Wes, and Cameron, her honorary brother. That would never change.

Willow made a quick plan, running down the hall to her sisters old bedroom, stealing one of her old perfumes and running back to her room, spraying it into the air. "What are you doing?" Cameron asks, rubbing at his puffy and red eyes, Wes doing the same.

"Stop that." Willow orders pulling their hands from their eyes. "You gotta keep looking like you're crying, otherwise Mom won't believe our story."

"What story?" Wes questions, confused. When did they come up with a story?

"You and Cam were in here the whole time, i was making you play dress up again and i accidentally sprayed perfume in your guys' eyes ⏤ which is why you're crying, okay? Not because you're scared or broke the TV." She plots, dropping the perfume on the floor and grabbing some tissues, crumpling them to throw around them, making the scene look more believable ⏤ a tip Jamie had once given her.

"If you make up a story you have to set the scene. Because even if it's not a good story, if it's unbelievable and a poor lie, all the little things, the details, they need to be better. They are what you need to count on to sell it ⏤ to save it."

Those were the wise words of her Jamie DeLaCruz, passed down to her by Victoria and Robbie, both whom learnt that from their own parents, and their parents' parents before that. Generations worth of lies ran through their blood, guaranteeing them the ability to be amazing liars no matter what. It was a blessing and a curse, really. Because sometimes they found themselves lying over the smallest of things or for no reason at all, but they couldn't help it, it was like second nature to a DeLaCruz, which seemed fitting for a family built on secrets. To keep a secret you needed to be good liar.

With her sisters words running through her mind Willow grabbed a few more things to add onto the scenario she had created while instructing the two boys to sit on the floor and dab their eyes with some tissues in case Victoria came in already. She drops some elastics to the floor beside her brush, gathering her nail polish collection before sitting in front of the two, handing Cameron a doll and telling him to brush her hair and start braiding, to act like she was teaching him to do the hair while she once more began to finish painting Wes' nails, doing it as fast as she could to make it seem as though they had been there the entire time instead of downstairs breaking their TV.

"Okay, one hand done, give me your other." She demands, Wes listening knowing he had no choice.

Just as she finishes his second hand and moves onto doing Cameron's nails her bedroom door is flung open by an angry Victoria, Jayden standing by her side.

"Hi Mom." Willow greets with an innocent smile. "How was your sleep?"

"Good, until i was woken up by the sound of our TV being broken." The woman deadpans, looking between the three young children. "Now why don't you tell me which one of you did it?"

Willow tilts her head with a frown. "What do you mean? We haven't been downstairs."

"Yeah, right." Jayden scoffs. "It was either Wes or Cam, they were downstairs."

Wes shakes his head. "No we weren't. Willow's been making us have makeovers and play dolls with her." He tells, pointing to the doll in their friends hands as if it'll prove his point.

"Then why does it look like you were crying?" Jayden challenges.

"Because Willow sprayed Jamie's stupid perfume in our eyes." Wes feigns irritation, glaring at his twin who rolls her eyes, playing along.

"I said i was sorry." She argues. "It was just an accident, i didn't mean to, i was just trying to make you smell better 'cause you stink."

The two begin to bicker, Wes actually offended by her words and starting a real argument while Cameron watches with a confused frown. Was this part of the plan?

"Enough." Victoria demands, walking over to the three and pulling the two boys off the ground, taking their hands and bringing them to the bathroom to wash the perfume out of their eyes, which made Willow grin.

Victoria bought it. She believed them.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Willow lies, holding his gaze to make it seem as though she was telling the truth.

Before the four could begin an argument that Phoenix and Noel had heard one too many times since that day, they quickly interrupt. "I think the point is you never apologize." Phoenix says.

Noel nods. "Yes and most definitely not to Jayden."

"Yeah, you hate him." Sasha reminds bluntly, eyes going wide as she remembers Skyla's presence, quickly trying to dig herself out of the hole she created. "Hate... apologizing to him, i mean?"

Her friends stifle their laughs at her pathetic attempt of covering her words up, though say nothing, not even Skyla who was too distracted in doing Sophia's braid perfectly.

"Oh shut it." Sasha huffs.

"It's not a big deal, alright?" Willow shrugs.

"Uh, yeah, it is." Cameron insists, turning to lay on his stomach so he could face his friend. "Willow DeLaCruz doesn't apologize. Never. Especially not to her brothers." He emphasizes his point by gesturing to her four brothers, as if she didn't know who they were.

"Oh my god." She groans in annoyance, finishing off her sisters hair and burying her face in her hands. "Would you rather i told you off instead?"

"Maybe." Jayden shrugs. "It would be less scary."

Willow peeks up at him, narrowing her eyes. She shakes her head, looking around at them. "Why the fu- fudge..." she censors herself, "are you guys being so dramatic? It really isn't a big deal, okay? I'm just trying to set a good example for Sky and make this all easier for her than it is for me and Wes, so if that includes apologizing to Jayden-" She pauses, making a look of disgust at his name, while the man is left with a one of offense. "of all people, then whatever, so be it. God, If i knew you were all gonna make it into this huge thing then i would've told him to go straight to hell instead." She finishes her rant, taking a breath. "Jeez."

"Wills-" Wes sighs, going to take his turn at apologizing, now feeling bad for blowing it out of proportion and upsetting his twin.

"No, it's fine." She dismisses. "Can we just forget it?"

"Yeah, of course." He nods, sending a warning look across the group to drop it.

"Thank you." She mumbles, looking back at her sisters hair, frowning as she notices she had forgotten to put a few flowers in after getting caught up with the conversation. "Dang it." She frowns, deciding she just needed to restart as it didn't look as good as she hoped.

Skyla didn't mind, though. She liked when her sister was happy, it made her happy, and she knew when Willow was distracted or busy she was always happier. Like when she asked her to read to her and do her hair, when Sophia would get her to help bake or Sasha would take everyone out, even just when she watched the boys mess around. Whatever it was, Skyla could always see that it would take the older girls mind off of whatever was wrong, and although she didn't know why or have any idea of her big sisters bad thoughts, she knew that something was definitely wrong, and that it had been worse than usual lately.

So, Skyla did what she could to help at her young age, what she knew how to do ⏤ distract her, and keep her busy. Like a day in the park would. Like a day with their big brothers, who she could tell the twins weren't particularly fond of just yet, would take her mind off of whatever was wrong.

And she was right. Not once since they had been here had Willow paid any attention to the negativity that lurked in the back of her mind. She had been kept busy. Keeping an eye on her sister, doing hair, sharing moments with Sasha, bickering with her brothers and friends.

So far, today had been a good day for Willow. And not only for her, but for all of them.

They could only hope that it stayed that way.

❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁

"Skyla, no!" Willow scolds, pulling her sister away from an ant hill. "Remember what happened last time you messed with one of those? You were covered in bites." She reminds, picking her sister up and propping her on her hip, carrying her back to their picnic area where they had been slowly eating, trying their best to make conversation.

Sitting back down Noel decides it's his turn to try to converse, looking up at the kids. "So, how's school?"

"Pass." The twins decline, avoiding the topic, much like the other three teenagers had, though they just ignored him all together.

"Pass?" Noel echoes with a furrowed brow.

The two nod. "Yeah, pass. You know, move on? Next question?" Wes elaborates. "Get it?"

"I understand what it means," he assures, ignoring the sarcasm in his brothers tone. "I just don't understand why."

"Simple," The boy shrugs. "We don't wanna answer."

"Why not?" Phoenix asks. "Is something wrong? Are you two in some kind of trouble?"

"That, brother dearest, is none of your business." Willow interjects, throwing a grape at him when Skyla looks away, just to make sure her little sister wouldn't copy her and think it was okay to throw food.

Phoenix catches the piece of fruit in his mouth, leaving Willow slightly disappointed that she didn't get to watch it bounce off his head, but she let it go, deciding to just eat the food instead of trying again. "So that's a yes?"

"It's a 'it's none of your business'." She repeats, slower this time as if making it easier for him to comprehend. "Understand?"

"Mhm." Phoenix hums, accepting the answer as he continues to eat, though Noel had a different idea. He would let it go, for now, but he planned to find out what the twins were trying to hide.

"What about Mom? Where is she?" Jayden asks.

Sasha and Cameron share a glance at the mention of the woman, knowing this wouldn't be a good topic either as it's an even more of a sore subject than school. Thankfully before either had to intervene and act as a distraction, Skyla had taken it upon herself to do so.

"Catch!" The little girl shouts, and the next thing they knew a ball was bouncing off of Jayden's head.

Willow laughs. That was better than a grape would have been.

Sophia gasps, turning to the little girl. "Sky! You know you're not supposed to throw things at people, especially not at their head." She scolds lightly, hiding the amusement she felt and taking the roll of the responsible one.

Sky shrugs, plopping herself back onto the ground between the twins before she got into more trouble. "But i told him 'catch'." She shrugs with a frown, choosing to just play with the toys she had brought instead of the ball she had found.

"But did you ask him if he even wanted to play?" Sophia raises a brow at the girl who shakes her head. "Exactly. So, just ask first next time, okay?"

Skyla nods, looking up to Jayden. "Sorry."

He shrugs, gently tossing the ball back over to her, smiling when she catches it. "It's alright." He assures.

The twins share a glance, Willow pursing her lips in a moment of thought before she's leaning down to whisper in her sisters ear, suggesting she ask their brothers to play ball with her. "Really?" Skyla looks up at the older girl, unsure if she should.

Willow nods, encouraging her to do so. "Yeah, why not."

"Okay." She agrees, standing up with the ball in hand, making her way over to Jayden and handing it to him. "Play ball with me?" She asks nervously, pulling out her trusty puppy dog eyes in case he was going to decline, just to make it harder.

He hesitates for a second as he looks to the twins, silently asking if it's alright. They nod, giving him the green light. "Of course." He agrees with a smile, taking the hand she offered before she's dragging him off to the open area, stopping only to rope Noel, Phoenix, and Wes into it too, deciding she wanted brother time, which inevitably meant Cameron was forced to join too.

Watching as the six walk off the girls sit together on the blanket, ready to watch the show they were bound to get with how competitive the boys in question were. They just hoped they kept it civil enough around Skyla.

Their hope was very misplaced.

Because soon enough Skyla was sitting by their side and the now group of four girls watched as the group of five boys broke off into teams.
Noel, Phoenix, and Jayden verses Wes and Cameron.

"How's that fair? They have an extra person?" Sasha scoffs, jinxing herself as suddenly the two teenage boys are rushing over for her, insisting she come play. "No! No, no, no!"

"Why not?!" Cameron demands.

"Because..." she trails, trying to think of a valid reason, though quickly gives up and shrugs them off. "'Cause i don't want to..."

"Too bad, come on." Wes tells, refusing to take no as an answer as he forces her to her feet. "You know you want to, you were literally on the football team at school until it went to hell."

"Yeah, a year ago!" She points out, trying to pull her arm out of his grasp. "I haven't played since then, even just messing around like this, so it's not like I'll be any help."

Cameron rolls his eyes, taking her other arm and helping Wes practically drag her over. "So? It'll be more fair this way anyways."

"I'm going to kick you both if you don't let go." She threatens, planting her feet on the ground to prevent them pulling her any further.

"Fine!" Cameron agrees, jumping away before she got the chance to follow through on her threat, but Wes doesn't give in so easily.

"Okay, how about this," Wes thinks, prepared to make a deal and bribe the girl. "If you do this and help us beat them, then..."

"Then?" She repeats, raising a brow to show her interest.

Wes pauses, unable to come up with anything. "I don't know. We'll just owe you, okay? How about that?"

"One favor from each of you that i can cash in whenever i want, and you can't say no." She proposes, offering a hand.

"I don't like this." Cameron shakes his head.

"Deal." Wes agrees, shaking her hand.

"Oh this is so not going to end well." The Hansley boy groans, knowing how unreasonable Sasha and her favors could be.

"Okay, boys." Sasha grins, looping her arm with Wes' while settling for just taking hold of Cameron's, leading them to the three men who stand waiting. "Let's play ball."

"Let's do this." Wes smirks, knowing he could definitely beat his brothers now.

"Thank god there are no TV's out here." Cameron mumbles to himself, letting the two drag him back over as he was suddenly more reluctant to play this game.

"Make sure you record this, i wanna watch them lose later." Sasha calls to the other girls, Sophia giving her a thumbs up as she immediately picks up her phone, beginning to film as asked.

"Do we have to watch them?" Skyla whines, dramatically throwing herself back, looking up at the clouds. "This is so boring!"

"Well what do you wanna do, Sky?" Willow asks, laying down beside her. "We can take a walk if you want."

Skyla nods, accepting the offer as she hops back up, suddenly filled with energy once more. How? After spending hours running around and playing until her little legs couldn't even handle it anymore? Willow wasn't sure, it just seemed to be some sort of superpower that children had, somehow managing to go from zero to one hundred in only a matter of seconds. She wished she had that power. Instead she was forced to depend on a morning pot of coffee, and sometimes even after that she found herself being dragged throughout the rest of the day without a choice because time stopped for no one. Especially not for sleep deprived teenagers.

"Okay, come on then." Willow sighs, pushing herself off of the ground, smiling as Skyla immediately takes hold of her hand, practically buzzing with excitement as she begins to speed walk forward, leading her towards the path she thought looked the most interesting, one that was lined with trees and flower beds.

"Pretty." Skyla beams, letting go of Willow's hand and running up to the large array of flowers, eyes lighting up at the different colored roses.
"Can i take some?"

Willow shakes her head, stopping behind her sister to pick her up, allowing her to see the roses from a better view. "No, not these ones Sky."

The girl frowns. "Why not?"

"Because these ones we aren't supposed to pick, they were specifically planted and grown, put here for people to see, not to take." She explains, reaching forward to point to the thorns that decorate the stem of the rose. "And you see these?"

"Yeah." She nods.

"They're pointy and they hurt when you touch them. You don't want to get a boo boo, right?"

Skyla sighs, her shoulders sagging as she shakes her head. "No..." she admits, leaning her head against Willow's. "But why they have them?"

"What? The thorns?"

"Yes. Why they give boo boo's?"

"I think..." Willow starts, eyebrows furrowing as she ponders the question, thinking about an answer. "I think that the thorns are there to protect the roses, to stop people from hurting them."

"Like you!" Skyla smiles, turning to place a kiss on her sisters cheek.

Willow's eyebrows knit together as she gives the little girl a small smile, confused. "What?"

"The torns-"

"Thorns." She corrects softly.

"Thorns?"

Willow nods, encouraging her to go on. "There you go."

"You and Wes are the thorns." She says. "My thorns.

She blinks, unsure on what her sister was babbling on about. "What do you mean?"

"You guys protect me. Like thorns protect flowers." Sky explains. "You, Wes, Cam, Soph, and Sash." She lists. "You guys are my thorns."

Willow smiles, heart warming at her sisters words. She was glad Skyla knew that everything she does ⏤ everything they all do, is just them trying to protect her and take care of her, whether she understood it or not. It made her proud. Proud of herself, of her sister, her brother, her friends, and especially of how well they were doing with Skyla. It seems as though they haven't messed her up yet, which was surprising seeing as how messed up they considered themselves to be, but she hoped it stayed that way, that her sister stayed the same happy, bright, loving, amazing ball of light that she was. She really hoped she never changed, that the cruel world they've been shielding her from never ruined her as it has been them. And to make sure it didn't, she would be a thorn. Just as Skyla had said, Willow would be a thorn protecting her flower from the awful people of the world for as long as she could.

"Yeah, i guess we are." She agrees, unable to wipe the smile off of her face. "And you, Sky, are our flower."

Skyla beams up at her, arms wrapping around her neck as she snuggles her face into her neck for a hug.

"I love you thorn."

"I love you too flower."