Oh Brother (Completed)

Ready or Not

"You got this, Fae. Come on, one more stair."

I was sure I was cutting off the circulation in Nix's arm, but I had done it. After two weeks of a constant rotation of my brothers and the Holts carrying me down the stairs, I had finally managed to get all the way down them by myself, even if I had been grasping Nix's wrist the entire time.

"See, you did it!" Nix grinned. "Thank God, because you were starting to get heavy."

I shot him a dark look, but Damien chuckled, sending us a quick look from the sofa. I probably had gotten a little heavier. In the two weeks I'd been isolated in my room, I'd done nothing but sketch with Nix, talk to my brothers, and eat with Damien. Most of my sketches were of Hudson, who I hadn't seen since the night of the attack. He'd been back home in Pasadena with his Mom. Part of me was relieved; I was terrified to see what he looked like. I'd walked out of this with a scar on the bottom of my foot, but he'd lost his entire leg saving my life.

I would have to suck up my own guilt and emotions as Phil and Buck had went to pick him up this morning.

"Don't put so much weight on it." Sam commented from the edge of the couch, throwing a quick look over his shoulder. "Try and favor your other foot."

As hard as I'd tried, I couldn't shake the image of Sam breaking down in my arms. I had been so caught up in myself this summer I hadn't realized just how broken my sweet, smart older brother was. He had gone on without much of a word about it, occasionally smiling weakly at me as if it were an inside thing.

"I think—" As usual Phoenix was cut off. The door was thrown open so hard and fast that it slammed into the water and left it chipped. Phil stepped in with an irritated look at the door, setting a wheelchair against the wall before stepping aside so Buck could follow him in.

I was glad that I hadn't eaten anything this morning, because the second my eyes fell on my half brother leaning into Buck, I felt stomach lurch into my throat.

He just looked plain exhausted His blue eyes were half open, eyelashes fanning his sunken cheek, chapped lips in a thin, emotionless line. He hadn't even bothered to put anything other than a pair of red shorts on, and even though I knew what to expect when I looked down, it still made me sick. There, where a perfectly long, tanned leg had been two weeks ago, was a stub. Suddenly the pain in my foot felt like a finger prick.

"Arianna." Hudson croaked, entire spirit lifting when he saw me at the foot of the stairs beside Phoenix. "Ari."

I could hear Damien and Sam rise when I hurried toward my brother, but in that moment, it didn't matter if I caused any damage to my foot. The second I reached Hudson, he rested his elbow on the crutch under his left arm and buried his face against my neck, hugging me tightly against him. I could feel Phil on our other side, keeping him upright as much as he could, but it didn't do much. Because as soon as I was in his arms, he broke down. His entire body shaking as tears damped my neck.

"I'm so sorry, Hudson." I breathed, feeling myself finally starting to give into the same emotions. "I'm so sorry."

*

I spent a majority of the day with Hudson, curled up on the loveseat beside him, my feet tucked beneath me in fear one of the boys would accidently nudge my foot on their way passed us. Phil, Nix, and Cady, who'd shown up a little over an hour ago, were in the kitchen getting dinner ready, Sam, Aden, and Damien had been playing the same game for the last two hours, in a constant bickering match that made me smile.