Isaac had gone into 3CG to get a few things done that didn't require needing his brothers there, and he couldn't help feeling sad at the way things had turned out to be. Him and his brothers had been so close. Then Ashley had come along and everything changed. He had to remind himself that everything happens for a reason, but he wished that things could go back to normal.
He was in the process of getting things done when he got an idea for a new song. Sitting down at the piano, he spent a few hours working on it.
When Nikki had realized that maybe some inspiration had hit her husband, she asked Everett to take care of his siblings, and she stopped at Subway on the way to the studio. She found Isaac pretty quickly when she got there, and waited to make her presence known until he put his pen down. He smiled upon seeing her, and got up from the piano to give her a hug. " Hey, beautiful."
She kissed him back. " Hey, handsome. How is the new song coming?"
" Just about done I think. But you are a wonderful distraction." He saw the bag of food, and took it from her. " I hope you got something for yourself too."
" Of course. I thought we could eat togeher and then you could get back to it." She sat down next to him, and took her food. " I can't wait to hear the new song. I bet it's amazing."
" Not that your not biased or anything." He laughed. " But I think so."
She laughed too. " May I ask where the inspiration came from?"
" Just from the last couple of years. A lot has changed, and... I guess you could say it just sort of hit me, you know. It's been a rough road."
" I couldn't agree with you more." She took a bit of her sandwhich. " I love Arielle and Christopher so much. They really have become a part of our family, even Ashley in some ways. But it was so simple before they showed up."
They continued to talk about the way things used to be as they ate, and got so lost in their conversation that they didn't hear Taylor come in. As soon as he made himself noticable, Nikki got out of her seat, and gave him a hug. " How is Natalie?"
" She's still kind of depressed, but is getting better. Arielle got her out of the house today. They went out for a late lunch and went to the mall." He noticed Isaac had been using the piano, and made his way to it. " May I take a look?" He asked, knowing better than to glance at it before asking.
Isaac nodded and watched as Taylor sat at the piano, listening as he bagan playing the song.
Realizing that this would most likely turn into a writing session, Nikki kissed her husband and grabbed her purse. He kissed her back, and watched her leave as Taylor continued playing.
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Spending most of his day running errands and doing some grocery shopping, Zac thought about how to bring up the idea of family counseling to everyone else. He kind of figured that Arielle would be fine with it, since she was seeing a counselor herself. But he was worried that everyone else might shut the idea down. He guessed he could try getting everyone together in a room and bring it up, but then they might jump to conclusions that something else was wrong. Then he got the idea to have a family picnic. He couldn't do it at his place, since he now lived in an apartment. But he could suggest the idea to someone else.
He called his parents to see if they would do it, and they were more than willing. They seemed happy to get everyone together for a fun occasion, rather than to talk about some other dramatic event that had happened.
When they put it that way, he decided maybe then wouldn't be the time to suggest it. After all, it had been awhile since they got together to just hang out.
Happy that they were doing a picnic, he headed to the studio once his groceries were put away He hoped to get some song writing in, thinking maybe putting his emotions on paper would help. When he showed up, he noticed Isaac and Taylor were already working on something. He listened for a bit, then made himself known to make a suggestion. Before he knew it, the three of them were behind their usual instruments to put the final touches on the song.
Afterwards, they gave each other a high five to celebrate their progress on a new song together, and he couldn't help but smile. " I think we have us a new hit single."
Taylor nodded. " I agree. No other song could beat that."
Isaac pulled them into a group hug and smiled. " Can we please never fight again? As far as girls go a least?"
" I can agree to that." Zac looked from Isaac to Taylor. " Before we drop it for good though, I really am so sorry. Just because me and Kate were having issues, it gave me no right to go that far with Ashley. You are my brother, and I feel terrible about doing that to you."
" I'm sorry too, man. I let my anger get to me, and it's not like me to beat on you like that. I promise to work on controlling my anger." He smiled, laughing a bit. " Not that you didn't give me a run for my money."
" You both got what you deserved." Isaac agreed. " But it is over, and we need to move on from this."
Thinking it was a good time as any to bring it up, he did. " Maybe some family counseling could help a bit? Me and Ashley thought that since this family has been through so much, it could be a good thing."
Talor and Isaac thought about it for a moment, looking from each other to Zac. Slowly, they both came around to the idea and gave him a nod to say yes.
Isaac was the first to speak up about it. " I will bring it up to Nikki, but I think she will go fir it."
" Natalie might be a hard sell, but I will bring it up. It didn't help when Brian showed up when she was trying to make peace with Ashley." With a sigh, he sat back down. " I would love it if we could all just get along. We need to pull together for Christopher's sake."
" I agree." Patting his brother on the shoulder, Zac sat next to him. " It's time we learn to stick together and act like adults again."
Now that they were speaking to each other like brothers again, and agreeing on doing something to put the family back together again, it was time to act on it.
The next day, Zac met up with Ashley and Arielle for breakfast, and told them about his conversation with his brothers. Ashley was happy to hear they were willing to do it. Arielle was skeptic about it, but was fine with giving it a try. She did make it known though that she didn't think it would make a difference.
He heard from Taylor about it later, who said that his family was all for it. Christopher felt the same about it as his sister, unsure if things could really change just by talking to someone about it all. But he said he would try.
Isaac didn't have problems getting his family to say yes, although his kids wondered why they had to be involved in it. He explained to them that they had been affected by all the changes too, and it would be good to talk about it.
Zac made the call to find out what steps to take to get into family counseling. He felt proud of himself to making it happen as he went ahead with the plan.
