Forbidden By All

Time To Reconcile

(BACK TO PRESENT TIME)

All of this was finally beginning to make sense for Bri as Josh was finished telling the woman in front of him what was internally tearing him apart for a long time now. Josh began to let her go as noise from the kitchen was heard quietly, Bri was borderline sleeping at this point and paid no mind to the commotion that was going on in the other room. Josh began to slowly lay Bri down on the bed, wrapping the blankets around her and got up. He leaned down and softly pressed his lips to her temple, "Sleep tight, girl.." Josh walked cautiously out of the bedroom, and lurked around the corner till he saw a familiar figure standing in the kitchen, eyes red and glued right to Josh who had no shirt on.

Oh shit. When did Nikki get back here? Josh had no idea, he was so dug deep with Bri and making sure that she calmed down rather than sit and simmer with the full bucket of emotions that were borderline tipping over. "I uh.." Josh was at a loss for words as he saw the woman stand there and just stare him down. Nikki sniffled once before walking up to him and hugging him gently. Nikki wasn't mad that he was in the bedroom with her sister, she wasn't upset at the fact that Bri had hidden all of this gunk from her, she was relieved that her sister had finally found someone who she could confide into. "Girl what's this for?" Josh was excessively confused at the act that the twin was taking.

"I'm thanking you, Josh..I heard everything..everything that you two said to each other..and you know what? Thank you for getting that out of her..thank you for getting those demons out of my sister..Cause, as much as it hurts me to say this, she told me none of that and I didn't understand why until I just listened to what IT actually was.." Nikki pulled away and shook her head, looking down a little. She was indeed confused on why Bri had kept her in the dark all of this time, but then again, she understood all along. Finding out just a sliver of how Bryan treated her just brought her blood to a boil, it made her skin crawl that at all the family gatherings, when Bri looked tired? It was Bryan's fault, it was his fault she wasnt eating properly, it was his fault for her little 'clumsy accidents'. All of it, all the pain that she went through was due to one person.

"It ain't shit, Nikki..she's still sufferin' so bad it aint even funny. And what you mean she don't tell you nothin', y'all are twins, don't'chu both tell each other everything?" He leaned against the counter a bit, crossing his arms and looking at her. Josh was beyond concerned now for the entire family unit, Blake included. He had no idea the rest of the details and monstrous stories that Bri kept inside to try and protect those she cared about. Josh's mind could only wander to places he really wish that it didn't have to go of all the things he would do if he could get his hands on Bryan for even a minute.

"I don't think you understand how many family discussions I've had to have with my mom and JJ over this. You really don't know how much it means to me to know now what she had been dealing with all alone for so long. But, the shit of it is, she had us all along to come to and she just never ever did. I don't get it.." Nikki's voice was shaking, she was so distraught over the fact that her baby sister was battling these demons all this time.

Josh could relate to what she was feeling, although it wasn't his place to spill his brothers business to anyone, he could relate with being shut out by your own flesh and blood. It was no feeling that he would wish on anyone, especially the sister of Bri. "Girl, I get it. This shit sucks to no end and I don't really know what I can do to fix it. I- How much of that did you actually hear?" Josh really was wondering if she heard any of the sexual things that were taking place, luckily, Nikki heard none.

"I heard her tell you how she really felt, I heard all of it. I heard both of you..I heard it, Josh.." Nikki looked at him dead in the eyes now, she didn't wanna say that she heard him confess more of his love to her sister, but she did give him a specific look that nothing was going to get by her. "Shit, I'm sorry..I love your sister..aight? I don't know how else to wrap this up, I just do. There ain't nothin' in this world I wouldn't do for her. That mean I'd whoop Bryan's ass if I had to. I mean that shit from the heart." Josh beat his fist on his chest lightly a few times before waiting to hear what Nikki had to say.

To his surprise, Nikki actually giggled quietly as he threw on his tough guy face, she respected the fact that he was so willing to throw down for her sister, it was admirable. As opposed to Bryan who would rather throw Bri down than do a damn thing to help her. "That is too cute Josh. You don't understand how much that actually means personally to me you'd be willing to go that extra yard for my sister. I liked Bryan when they met, he was a good guy and on the surface he was the right guy for her. They related with their stupid Earth stuff, and how they looked to the public? I just don't understand how he can just be such a fucking asshole.."

Josh shook his head, he grinded his teeth together as he was trying his best to keep that Samoan temper down while discussing how abused Bri really was. Never before has he had so much hatred for any specific person in his whole life. And now he had an immensely large amount of heated anger for Bryan. Just the name Bryan brought a gross disgusting taste in his mouth and almost made him gag. Nikki began to make a pot of coffee as she could feel the tension inside of her begin to build as she visibly saw Josh's mount.

"Let me just make some coffee..We need to like, freakin' battle plan in order to make sure that my sister doesn't get hurt anymore..If she gets hurt again by that man I'll kill him with my bare hands. I swear to god.." Nikki finished touching up the coffee as she walked over to the kitchen table, pulling a chair out and plopping in it. "You didn't have sex with her, did you??" Her voice was a little pitchy, she had lost it a little earlier when she was with Nick. Josh huffed quietly and shook his head a bit as he went to take his seat across from Nikki, "No, I didn't. I wanted to obviously, but I didn't.." He rolled his eyes a bit as a smile peeled across his face, "You think I'm that kinda guy to just do somethin' like that?"

"I'm just protective over her, Josh. She's my only twin ya know..If anything further happens to her I am literally only going to blame myself." Nikki meant what she said, the fact that the past was the past and she had exactly no control over what had happened in it, she had to just look for the fact that there was a little boy who needed his mommy at full health, and happiness. But that seemed borderline impossible with the stipulations that were in front of them.

Josh completely could understand why she was acting the way that she was, he himself was protective over his twin, there's only one of them in the world and it was his born duty to make sure that nothing bad came over him. Around this time, the coffee was done and around a half hour had passed by since Josh had left the bedroom where a seemingly comatose Bri was left. Nikki got up to take the coffee out and pour it into little mugs.

"Girl, this little ass cup what you got for me? I'm gonna need about six in order to keep my ass up." He chuckled quietly as Nikki poured the mug full, then proceeded to fill his up. During this time he began to hear ruffling in the bedroom, the sounds that were remnant to little footsteps beginning to get closer to the door. Shit.

Nikki heard them as well, she turned her head towards the door as a drowsy Bri began to stumble her way out of the bedroom, "Bri..? I'm back..!" Being as tired as Bri actually was she took no note that Josh was missing from her side, to her that all potentially was something as simple as just a dream. Something told her that as soon as she would walk out there that something was about to go down that even she couldn't avoid. Although..the smell of coffee was definitely enticing..

"Yyea I'm up.." Bri's raspy voice was still enough to make Josh smile like an absolute idiot. He had no idea what kind of spell Bri had over him but to be honest, he was no one to complain about it. Nikki looked over at Josh and couldn't help but smile, the fact that this man was seemingly so madly in love with Bri just made her so happy. Bri hobbled out to the kitchen and her eyes instantly widened as she saw Josh sitting down across from her sister, this situation was about to get a whole lot more interesting..

"Bri..I'm not mad..don't worry, just..please I made coffee, sit with us..I think we all have to talk right now.." Nikki was trying to be the calm one of the bunch, the one who didn't get too worked up over this even though her sister's health was in serious jeopardy. Bri was confused, had she died and woken up in heaven? Or some form of sick twisted hell? Slowly, she sat down, she looked over at Josh and she couldn't help but smile over at him honestly, the man just genuinely made her happy and it was amazing. "Alright Nikki, what do you want to talk about.." Bri looked over at her sister, who had the mother look on her face, concern and worry flushed over her eyes and cheeks as Nikki took a deep breath, for this was going to be a long conversation.