Sometimes the people we think we're fighting become Family.

18. Last words.

Bucky had a big smile on his face as he glanced over at his family, all laughing as KJ explained the story behind another photo of her and some kids that Luca had taken. He loved that she had these happy memories of her and her brother growing up, it warmed his heart to know her brother always tried to be there for her and give her good moments to break up all the bad ones.

"-and then Henry pushed Luca over and he got soaked! But Luca got him back by pulling him down too when he put out his hand to help him up." He tuned back into KJ telling them about a few photos she had taken when she was 10. The first one was Luca and another boy, standing with their trousers rolled up and bare feet in the shallow part of the sea, their arms thrown around each other and huge grins on their faces. The next photo showed the other boy, Henry, half way through pushing Luca who was mid-fall into the water, and the next few following ending with both of them laying in the water laughing.

"That was one of my favourite days ever." Karli said with a smile, "Luca had been in a group home for a few months, that's where he met Henry. I was in a bad house so I texted him to run, he brought Henry with him. We met at the park and then we jumped the gates at a train station and took a train to the beach. We got there and it was already getting dark out so Luca went into a shop and made up some story that got this old lady to give us towels for free. We slept at the top of the beach, and then the next day we spent the whole day there. The whole time since we met at our park the day before, I could tell Luca was nervous about something." KJ laughed quietly, "turns out he was scared to tell me Henry was his boyfriend. I didn't care, I was 10 and I was just happy that Henry said he'd be my friend." She grinned as she looked at the pictures of them on the beach, clicking through a few showing her sitting on Henry's shoulders as he stood in the deeper water, and some of her and Luca splashing each other.

"That's cute, do you not want to look for Henry too?" Shuri asked hesitantly

"Oh, I know exactly where he is." KJ grinned, "since that day we went back to the beach a few times, Luca and Henry always used to make up stories about living in this little house that was kind of hidden in this forest like 2 minutes away from the beach. There was a bar on the waterfront, the owner, Mary, used to give us food and water if we went in the back, I think she knew we were runaways and tried to look out for us. She even told Henry and Luca if they needed money they could clean or work in the kitchen and she'd give them cash. That's where Henry is, I just know it. I don't know if he'd want to see me though, they were still dating when Luca killed himself, I got moved again and I didn't know where he was. Plus he'd be 21 now he probably has a life." KJ told them with a sad smile.

"I wouldn't be so sure. If you know he's there, there's a part of him that will always love Luca. And you, it sounds like." Her papa said softly.

KJ just shrugged and clicked through more photos, a lot more of her with Luca and Henry, a few videos even. There were some with other kids, in warehouses or fields, they could tell they were all living on the streets but they looked happy in most of them. They all had bruises in most of them, and occasionally visible stitches or casts on arms and legs, which made the four adults blood boil. KJ inhaled sharply as she clicked onto the next picture, they could tell it was taken on an older camera than the others, it showed a woman with long brown hair and olive skin laying in a bed holding a tiny baby.

"That- that's my mum, I didn't- I've never seen this. I didn't know these existed. Why didn't he tell me?" KJ said in disbelief... tracing her finger over her mums face on the laptop screen. She clicked to the next slide and it was a video, she pressed play and immediately tears slid down her face as she watched.

"Luca you have to protect her okay? She's your baby sister, that means she's the most important person in your life now." Her mum said softly, looking just to the side of the camera with a soft smile.