United Love - ON HOLD -

Chapter 1: Meetings

Maddison Corrin stood outside the large family home, tucked away in the suburbs. A broken plant pot lay on the manicured lawn, soil spilling out of it. She wondered how it had been broken. The house looked friendly, if houses could look that way, and Maddie reckoned nice people lived there. Nice people who were, of course, her brothers.

Her brothers. She hadn't met them, or at least not to her memory, and hadn't known they had existed until a few days ago. Her social worker (yeah, that was new too) had given her a brief family history, but she still wasn't completely sure on the details. Basically, her mother and father divorced when she was four months, and her mother had taken Maddie and left her brothers with her father. All six of them. Yeah, six,

She still couldn't quite believe it herself.

What she did know, was that her mother had died when she was eight, leaving her with her elderly neighbour, Mrs Lynx. She reminded Maddie quite a lot of Mrs Figg from the Harry Potter books. Either way, Mrs Lynx was lovely, and had taken good care of Maddie since then, but had died a few weeks ago due to an unexpected heart attack. At least Maddie hadn't found her, she was at school at the time. She had stayed in a home for a week or so, until they were contacted to say her older brother had agreed to take her in. Maddie had only spoken to her brother for about twenty minutes over facetime, and had only seen one of them, the oldest, Leon.

*** Three days ago, when Maddie first spoke to Leon. ***

Maddie stared at the laptop screen as the call connected, wanting to catch the first glimpse of her oldest brother... Liam? She couldn't quite remember his name, she wasn't good with them and had just had six new ones thrown at her, the names of her brothers.

The call connected, and the head of a brown haired man popped up onto a screen. His face was slightly furrowed, as if he were trying to work out the device in front of him. Seeing her own face next to his, Maddie was shocked at the resemblance. His face lit up when he saw her, and he could barely contain the smile that spread across his face. There was an awkward moment of silence between the siblings as they stared at each other. Maddie's eyes flicked over the wall behind him taking in the pictures and bookshelves.

"Hey Maddison!" The man cut into the silence. "I'm your oldest brother, Leon. You've grown a bit since I last saw you!" Leon! That was it.

"Hi..."She mumbled. "I'm Maddie." Inwardly she cursed herself. He already knew that. He, however, didn't seem perturbed, if anything he smiled wider.

"So Maddie," he said, "How have you been keeping these last few years?"

"I-I've been good thanks...? How about you?" She said, not taking her eyes off his face. It wasn't like talking in person, she didn't have to think about how much eye contact she was making, or worry about what she was doing with her hands.

"I've been good thanks darling, thanks for asking!" he said, still smiling. Suddenly, a loud bang came from his end. A slightly annoyed look replaced his smile, and he turned around and shouted "Monty George, that better not be my kitchen door!" A boys voice called back to him, but Maddie couldn't make out what he was saying. Leon shook his head, and diverted his attention back to Maddie. "Sorry about that Maddie, he was probably playing soccer inside. Again." Maddie giggled, but tried to cover it up with her hand. Leon smiled to himself, wondering how the siblings would interact when she came to live with them.

The siblings made small talk for another ten minutes or so, and Leon told Maddie a bit more about their brothers. She learnt that Monty and Calvin were twins, and polar opposites most of the time. James was the youngest, just a year older than Maddie, and was very very excited to see her. Joshua was 19, and she should steer clear of him when he was angry, but other than then he was a fun loving teddy bear. Oscar was the next oldest, and was an English teacher at their school. He was going to teach both the twins and James this year, which was apparently going to be a challenge, and would probably end up teaching her too. Maddie thought that would be quite cool, having her brother as her teacher. Leon thought that it probably wouldn't last, after Oscar taught Calvin last year.

They both left the call feeling better about meeting in person, and Maddie was told she would be moving in on Friday. It was currently Tuesday, and the boys were looking forward to their sister coming home at long last.

*** Present day, Corrin Residence ***

Maddison took a deep breath, and then let it out in a huge sigh. She glanced over at her social worker, Rosie, who looked at her expectantly. They had been waiting outside for a few minutes now, Maddie trying to pluck up the courage to go inside. She decided there was no point trying to delay the inevitable, and moved towards the door. Breathing out slowly through her nose, she lifted her hand and knocked on the door.

It opened almost immediately; Maddie had a slight suspicion her brother had been watching them, and waiting for her to come in. She had just enough time to process that it was Leon, the brother she had spoken to before she was engulfed in a massive bear hug. He held on for a good ten seconds, and Maddie decided that she quite liked his hug. He felt safe, however strange his sweater felt smushed up against her face.

Finally, he pulled away and said " I've missed you darling!"
Maddie managed a small smile and said hi.
"How are you feeling?" Leon asked her, looking almost nervously at her face, trying to read her mood. She was just about to reply when another voice came from behind Leon, and said
"Is this the famed Maddie, then?" Leon stepped aside so Maddie could see the man. He looked quite similar to both Leon and her, but wasn't quite as tall as Leon. Leon was very tall, she had observed previously.

"Hey sweetheart, I'm Oscar" he said, smiling at her. She smiled back. He seemed friendly
"I'm Maddie" She replied. Again, he already knew that. She just couldn't think of anything else to say. A loud crash sounded from somewhere upstairs. Oscar winced, then said
"I'd better go and check the boys, or more so the house, are alright."

Leon rolled his eyes
"Maddie darling, why don't you get yourself settled in the living room while I sort out a few forms. There should be some doughnuts in there. I'll be with you in a minute."
"OK", Maddie said as Oscar ran upstairs.
She hadn't been there very long, but she could already tell how close her brothers were, and was looking forward to being part of it herself.

*****
Ok. So it's pretty cringey in places but whatever lets go with it. Hope you enjoyed! I'll try and update it soon but who knows how long that'll be...
Bye for now!