Part 6

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Reggie POV

I wake up the next morning and see Julie still asleep on the floor. She looks like a little kid, so peaceful. I hear a soft knock on my door. I see it slowly begin to open. "Hey," My Dad says very softly. "Guys it's time to get up, we need to get ready so we're not late."
"Not late for what?" I ask still slightly groggy. "Well today is your first court appointment, remember?"
"Court appointment?"
"Yeah, today I am going to become your sole guardian, then we get to start filling out adoption paperwork. Most of it is already done, but we need to go to this first appointment to get parental rights terminated." I nod my head understanding about 25% of what he is saying. I slowly get out of bed. "Will you wake your sister up?" I nod my head. "Yeah, I'll make sure she gets up." My Dad gives me a thumbs-up as he quietly closes the door. I get down on my knees and shake Julies' shoulder. "Hey, Julie you need to get up."
"Why." She moans. "Because we have stuff to do today, Dad wants us to get ready."
"Carlos, go away." She says throwing her blanket over her face. "Wrong brother jellybean." She glares up at me. "Reggie?" She says grabbing my arm as I try to pull her blanket off of her. "So that wasn't a dream," she asks I shake my head. "No, it was real, and we really have an appointment, Dad said we're going to court so wear something nice." She rolls her eyes and gets up, she walks out of the room and I assume she is going to her room to get ready. I go through my closet and find some nice dress clothes to wear and get ready. I walk downstairs for breakfast and see Julie already down there she is wearing a nice dress and Carlos is sitting next to her in a t-shirt and jeans? "Carlos what are you wearing?" I ask fixing my dress shirt and starting to fiddle with my tie. "Carlos is going to spend some time at the Pattersons' house while the three of us are at court." Patterson? Why does that sound so familiar? I shrug it off and continue getting ready. Dad walks over to me as I try to figure out my tie for the hundredth time. "Here, let me help you, buddy." Dad takes the tie out of my hands. "Thanks, Dad," I say almost ashamed. "Hey, don't feel bad, I'm your Dad that's what I'm for remember." I nod my head. "Reggie, Look at me." I look up at him. "I love you, never forget that. No matter what they say you are my son adopted or not." I nod my head. "Come on, lets go outside quick." I follow him to the front door. "Julie, once you and Carlos are done put the dishes in the sink and come outside. Carlos, brush your teeth and comb your hair, then come out. Okay?"
"Yes, Dad." They both echo. Ray leads me outside, we sit down on the front porch. "Reggie, what's going on?"
"Nothing, I'm fine."
"No, your not, what's going on?"
"I...I...I'm scared."
"About what?" I sit there and ponder for a second thinking of how I want to phrase this next part. "I really want to be a part of this family, but I'm afraid I'm not good enough."
"You are more than good enough."
"I want to be a good big brother, but it scares me."
"Reggie, You have been Julie's big brother since she was four years old. She doesn't know life without you in it and neither does Carlos." I nod my head. I lay my head down and listen to Ray's heartbeat. I start to calm down. "Reggie, I love you."
"Love you too Dad." Ray sits there and rubs my shoulder as we wait for Julie and Carlos to come out of the house. We see Julie and Carlos come outside of the house. "Alright my three little Ducks, ready to go?" I smile and we all nod our heads. We climb into an SUV and leave for the Pattersons. When we pull up in the driveway I remember why that name sounds familiar, it's Lukes last name. We all get out of the Car, Emily is there to meet us at the front door. Carlos runs inside and Luke steps outside. He grabs my arm and pulls me into the driveway. "What is going on? I texted Julie last night and she didn't respond, My mom said something about court. What is happening?"
"Luke, It's nothing, I promise."
"It doesn't sound like nothing."
"It's fine."
"What is it?"
"Nothing, I need some more time to process..."
"Process what?"
"There's a reason I stayed at Julie's house last night."
"And that reason is?"
"I'm her brother."
"Wait... What?"
"Well, I'm going to be, in a few weeks. The court case isn't for Julie, it's for me." He gives me a very confused look. "Ray is going to adopt me. Apparently in this timeline or whatever this is, I have been living with Julie and her family for a long time."
"Dude, isn't that what you wanted like the entire time we were you know, ghosts. You wanted to be a part of that family."
"Yeah, and now I am, and I'm terrified."
"Why?"
"Luke, I was the youngest. I never had to worry about anything and towards the end, I wasn't even living at home most of the time, I was either living in the practice room or at My older brother's house. Now I'm the older brother, and that girl over there is my little sister. I don't know how to process that, the longer I am around her the more protective I get, I don't know what's happening."
"Dude you're going to be a great big brother." I nod my head and take a deep breath. "Alright guys, let's go." I hear my Dad say as he starts walking back to the car. I climb into the passengers' seat and Julie climbs into the back. I turn on music and try to relax. We finally pull up to the courthouse and go to the hearing. Dad stopped me before we went in and spent time trying to fix my hair. I was so stressed that I couldn't pay much attention through the hearing. The final verdict was that Ray was now my full guardian, so all we needed to do now was pretty much a name change. Reggie Molina, the name kinda rolls off the tongue. I sit there and smile about it on the way back to Luke's house. We pull into the driveway and are greeted by a very excited Emily. "So, How'd it go?"
"He's officially all mine. We just need to finish up the adoption paperwork, but I am his sole guardian."
"I am so happy for you guys!" Emily says before giving me and my Dad a hug. Emily takes us inside where we see Luke playing with Carlos. When we walk in I see Luke carrying Carlos over his shoulder. He lays him down on the couch before tickling him. "You still think you can beat me, hugh, hugh, hugh. Carlos is laughing so hard. "Reggie, come save me!" Carlos says through the laughter. I run over and scoop him up off the couch and spin him around. "Boys, why don't you three go to the back yard, Julie you are welcome to join them or you can hang out inside."
"I'm gonna go watch, I kinda want to see how this ends ." She says following Luke and I into the backyard. We mess around in the backyard for a little bit before my Dad yells out the back door. "Reggie, Julie, Carlos, time to go home." We all start walking to the back door. "How about we go get ice cream to celebrate?" Dad asks us. "Can we bring Luke too?" I ask "If it's okay with his parents, I don't mind." We both turn and look at Emily. "It's okay with me, don't forget your phone."
"Thank you so much, mom!" Luke says hugging his Mom. "Okay, Go have fun." She says with a smile. Luke runs and grabs his phone and wallet before walking out of the house. "Shotgun!" Carlos yells running to the car. "I don't think so!" I yell taking off after him. "Carlos gets shotgun," Dad says I turn around and give him a look of betrayal. "You had the shotgun this morning, Julie had it this afternoon, so it's now Carlo's turn. I roll my eyes. "Reginald Nathaniel."
"Sorry, Dad." Luke, Julie, and I climb in the backseat, Somehow Julie got stuck in the middle so Luke and I used that to our advantage. We all got ice cream and went back to our house. "Hey Dad, can Alex come over?" I ask. "Yeah sure."
"Can I go pick him up? I don't want him to walk over alone."
"Yeah, no problem remember your keys are on the hook by the back door." I run to the back door to get my keys, "Luke you coming?"
"Na, I'll stay here and keep your little sister company."
"No, No, No you won't. Let's go." He glares at me and reluctantly follows me to my car. I start the car and begin to back out when I see my sister walk out the door. "Can I come too?" She yells, "YES!" Luke quickly yells back, "Fine, but you're in back with Alex." She runs and jumps in the car. I roll my eyes as she smiles in victory as I pull out of the driveway to go to Alexes house.

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