Dylan

two

NICHOLAS SINCLAIR
-
a dream is a wish your heart makes

The house was enclosed in silence.

Grayson and Ryder had gone back to their apartments whilst the rest of the boys had decided to escort their aunts to the airport. I'd love to say that it was a chivalrous act and that they just had so much love for their aunts that they couldn't bare to see them leave.

But I knew better.

They did love their aunts, but the only reason they left was so that they didn't have to help clean up the mess that had been left after Daniel's birthday celebrations. He always insisted on having two separate parties one with his family and one with his friends, and who was I to deny him what he wanted?

I didn't mind their absence, I welcomed it more than I'd like to admit.

It was also her birthday today, Dylan had turned 16. This birthday hurt more than all the others that had passed, in my family a girl's 16th was like a right of passage. Growing up with two sisters it was all they ever spoke about and though we didn't have much when their sixteenth came around it was the one we tried to make extra special.

Dylan's sixteenth would've been unmatched, whether she wanted a hall rented out, limos and fountains. Or sky diving maybe even something small like ice skating and pizza. Whatever her heart desired I would've given it to her, she would've been a spoilt brat but I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Instead, I was here staring at her two- year old cheeky grin face covered in chocolate cake, it was the twin's second birthday. We'd learned that whilst Daniel preferred sponge Dylan loved chocolate. Being the little shit maker she was she didn't wait until we sang happy birthday but instead stuck her hand right in the cake and stuffed her face. The triplets started laughing at how similar she was to them right as Alexander snapped the picture of her. Following her lead, Daniel stuck his hand in the cake but handed his first piece to Elliot. Daniel followed him everywhere but Dylan was the triplets mini-me. Though you could tell that she had a soft spot for Grayson and Ryder, wherever they went she followed.

Now I only had baby memories to hold onto.

Instead of celebrating both of my twins, I celebrated one whilst my heart drifted to find the other with unanswered questions lingering in the surrounding air. Was she safe? Did she have a good birthday? Was she happy? Healthy?

Did she have another father figure? Someone who wasn't me to teach her how to throw a punch, ride a bike, pick her up and dust her off when she fell?

I hated the fact that it could be a possibility but she deserved that, a warm house with a family that loved her maybe even a pet. In school, she'd be the smartest with lots of friends and make everyone around her happy.

Whatever she was, wherever she was I wasn't there.

I missed it.

"Nick, you here," Alexander's voice boomed through the house.

"Kitchen," his face softer as he saw my body leaning against the kitchen counter bin bag in one hand wallet in the other.

"I failed her,"

"Nick you didn't fail - "

"I did," I cut in, "if I didn't she would be here, but she's not."

* * *

After a 2-hour sparring session with Alexander, I let my eyes look over some cases whilst I waited for the boys to get back, I knew they'd gone to do something else considering they'd been gone for more than 3 hours. I rubbed my hand against my jaw trying to ease the tension that still seemed to be stored in my body.

Realising how much I missed Dylan had set me in a bad mood that I couldn't shake, the silence was nice though living with five teenage boys meant that silence was hard to come by. That and cleanliness which, pissed me off more than anything because I liked things tidy and in order.

My thoughts were interrupted by the loud blaring that came from my phone.

I'm not in the fucking mood for people

"Speak,"

"Hello this is Officer Timothy Brown, have I reached Mr. Nicholas Sinclair,"

"Yes, what are you doing on my phone?"

"I'm calling from the Longsight police department I believe that your daughter Dylan Sinclair is being held here in our custody, do you happen to be familiar with her?"

"Alexander if this is you playing a sick joke I swear to fuck -"

"This is no joke Mr. Sinclair the CPS department in our town recently got a new head who did a thorough check and must have updated the files you're name and contact details-"

"Yeah cool, so you're saying you've got Dylan, my Dylan,"

"That is correct,"

The phone call had been on long enough for me to track the location and he did seem to be calling from a police station in longsite meaning that his story checked out and he might actually have Dylan.

"I'm calling to see if we can arrange a way for you to claim custody if you'd like it, normally CPS would handle this but in this town, it would take years if it was left solely to them,"

"Yeah, shit yeah I'd love custody I'll start making my way,"

He proceeded to tell me the address whilst I sent a text to Greyson and Ryder to come and stay in the house for a few days they asked why but I'd explain to all of them when I was back, they'd missed their baby sister as much as I had. I called my pilot and headed toward the airport.

The earlier tension had left my body being replaced with anxiousness.

The realisation hadn't quite kicked in, I was going to be reunited with Dylan. I wonder what she looked like and how tall she was. If she still had the freckles she inherited from my grandmother or the dimples like her Aunt Fran. Was she tall like me, what was her smile like?

Shit, wait.

I was flying to a police station, and Dylan was in custody. I'd made many trips to the stations around here thanks to Adonis and Ares but now I was flying out to pick up one of my other children from a station out of state, I guess Dylan was a little shit maker like her brothers.

What the fuck did my little girl do?

- x -

author's note: what do you think they're meeting is gonna be like?