Immaculate

Family Meeting

Sang's POV

I took the bowl salsa dip from North and carried it out into the family room I could hear the pounding of music coming from Marie's room upstairs. I knew she'd be going out soon, again. David was still on the scene and she seemed happy enough with him. I was happy as long as she was.

"Breathe in deeper!"

I looked over at where Sean had Nathan sat on the sofa, his shirt up as Sean listened to his chest with his stethoscope. It had been a few days since Nathan had been hurt and although he was saying it was easing off I knew his chest still pained him a lot. His eyes was beginning to open, the ring of purple bruises around it looked nasty though.  Things seemed to have finally been sorted between him and North and it was as if it had never happened. 

"I am." Nathan tried for a deeper breath and I saw Sean frown behind him as he listened to his lower lungs. I placed the bowl on the coffee table along with the other snacks we had brought out. Owen had called a family meeting for tonight and we were just waiting for him to come in with Silas, Victor and Gabriel and we would start.

"It's a bit crackly, Nathan," Sean said removing the ear buds and letting it hang around his chest. "You haven't been breathing deeply enough."

"I've been trying, but it fucking hurts," he complained.

"A chest infection will be more painful," Sean informed him and reached across to his bag and drew out a bottle of pills.

"Ah, not more of these, Doc," he said as Sean handed him two pills and then put the bottle on the table.

"Yeah, well you were warned," Sean said with no sympathy. "Two a day and finish the course, hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you," Nathan sighed and took the tablets with a drink from his glass of water.

"Just make sure you do, antibiotics are losing their grounding because people stop taking them before the course is finished."

"Sang baby?" I heard North calling me from the kitchen and I went back out to him.

"Take these in will you, please?" he asked and pointed at two bowls of cashew nuts, one salted and one plain. He still had his arm in a plaster, it had been xrayed again and was healing well. Sean said another two weeks and it would come off. I couldn't believe it had been almost a month since I had left the school with Mr Hendricks.

"Oooo, I love these," I said taking the bowls and heading back towards the family room. As I entered the hallway someone rang the bell and then pounded on the door loudly, making me jump. I almost lost the bowls but managed to recover myself before I dropped them.

"I'll get it," boomed North and he passed me and strode to the door. He was dressed in all black again and I knew if it was David he'd be scowling. I think David was a little frightened of him and I was glad of that, as I was a little frightened of David. He never made any move to talk to me, but I knew his eyes were on me if I was around when he was.

"What do you want?" North demanded and I ducked into the family room, eager to get out of sight.

"MARIE!" North bellowed her name so loud I think Erica would have heard him several doors down.

The music stopped and I heard her door open and close and then she was coming down the stairs, making enough noise to wake the dead. I heard, her say something to North and then the door was closing and North was coming back in his frown even deeper.

"If her skirt got any shorter it would need holes for the buckle," he said in disgust and I looked at him as I set the bowl down.

"David?" I asked him and he nodded and then shrugged.