My Big Brother, Carl

Count to Nineteen

Ten years later

"Happy birthday!" Judith yelled. I smiled down at my seven year old sister(let's just pretend okay).

"Thank you sweetheart." I said, smiling. I walked over and grabbed my baby. She was my everything, my world. Aside from her father, of course. "Good morning baby girl." I cooed. She smiled up at me.

"G' morning, Mama." She said. "Is it your birfday?"

"Yea, it is sweetheart. I'm nineteen today. Can you count to nineteen for Mama?"

"One, two, three, four, five, seven, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eight teen, NINETEEN!" I laughed at her adorable attempt.

"Good morning Bailey, Good morning, Nicola." I turned to face Carl. He smiled and kissed my cheek. "You ready baby girl?" He said to Nicola. She nodded and they started to sing 'Happy Birthday' to me. I started to cry.

"Was I good, Daddy?" Nicola asked him.

"Of course, baby girl." He turned to me and we kissed. Every kiss we shared reminded me of the first.

(No, not incest.)

No, this was not incest. Carl is not my brother, turns out. I was adopted. Neither of us knew, and I was never really that close to him. He's only a year older than me.

"Get ready, we're having a big birthday dinner for you." He said, smiling. He grabbed Nicola and brought her out of the room we all shared. I turned to Judith.

"Do you wanna help me get ready?" I asked. She nodded.

A half hour later, we were both ready. My hair was down in my natural curls. I was wearing ripped jeans, a simple black short sleeve shirt and combat boots. Judith was wearing some black leggings, combat boots, and a leather jacket. I put her very long hair in a waterfall braid.

"Let's go." I said, smiling down at her. We walked out of my room and outside, going into the mess hall. "Hey you." I said to Carl, side hugging him. We sat down at the table and we all started eating. Around half way through the meal, I stood up and went to the front of the room. I whistled and the room fell quiet.

"Carl, come up here?" I asked. He walked up and I turned to face my family and friends. "As you all know, it's my birthday today. The only birthday present I want is one that I'm getting right now."

I turned to Carl and handed him a box, wrapped with a ribbon. He looked at me.

"But you're the one that's supposed to get the presents."

"Just open it." I told him. He took the lid off the box and lifted out a sandwich bag. He gasped.

"Are you serious?" He asked me. I nodded, smiling. He lifted the bag higher, showing our family and friends the positive pregnancy test. There was applause instantly. I grinned, putting a hand on my stomach.

I was elated. I hoped to have a son. Then we would name him the name we had picked out if Nicola was a boy, Samuel Nicholas Grimes.

I heard a chair crash and looked up to see Thomas Greene storming outside. He was Maggie and Glenn's adopted son. They found him when he was twelve. He's nineteen now, same as me, and has liked me since we met. He hates Carl and you would think he hates Nicola, but he doesn't. He likes her because of her resemblance to me.

"I'm sorry, sweetie." Maggie said, going after Thomas. I sighed, looking to Carl.

"I'll be right back." I told him. He grabbed my wrist and turned me to face him.