FAMILY BOND

Chapter 1

Tim stares at the banana that one of the girls had laid on the table in front of him. 'They've got to be f*cking kidding me', he thinks to himself as he slowly turns his head and looks at the innocent faces of the two girls that he USED to love like family. He looks back down at the lonely banana.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Tim asks, once again looking up at the girls. "I believe that you can tell by the expression on my face that I'm not laughing. I'm not a d*mn monkey. (pushing the yellow fruit away) I've lived on f*cking Gatorade for a week, I want some real food."

"Tim." Nate speaks up, coming to the defense of Esther and Kirstie. "Right now, your digestive system can't handle solid food. It needs something easy to digest."

"So, I'm suppose to live on bananas for how long?" Tim says, looking up at the young doctor.

"12 to 24 hours. But you don't have to stick to just bananas. You can have apple sauce, dry toast, rice." Nate says as he tries to think of foods that would digest easy.

"Rice? With butter and sugar?" Tim asks.

"Uh, no." Nate answers, shaking his head.

"Just. Plain. Rice." Tim says, raising a brow.

Nate nods with a frown.

"Suddenly this banana ain't looking too bad." Tim says as he grabs up the banana and starts to peel it very aggressively. Taking a big bite.

"Better than just Gatorade, isn't it?" Adam smiles as he rubs his husband on the back of the head.

"You guys suck." Tim growls with a mouth full. Taking another huge bite, he throws the peeling down on the table and looks up at the girls.

Kirstie slowly hands him another banana with a slight smirk on her face.

"Shut up, Kirstin." Tim growls once more, snatching the fruit from her hand.

"It's glad to have you back, Tim." Kirstie smiles.

"What's for supper? I'm starved." Avi says as he walks into the kitchen.

"Seriously?" Tim asks, standing up from the table. Taking hold of Avi's hand, he lays the banana peeling in it. "You suck, Avriel."

"What did I do?" Avi asks as he looks down at the peeling as Tim starts to leave the kitchen.

"Tim, Honey, wait." Adam calls out, grabbing him by the hand. "Nate, surely there's something else he can eat? What about mashed potatoes?"

"Yeah, I guess he can eat mashed potatoes. But no butter or gravy." Nate answers.

"Wait. I can have mashed potatoes and you give me a d*mn banana? What's wrong with you, Nate?" Tim asks as Adam leads him back to the table.

"Bananas has some of the nutrients that your body lost." Nate chuckles.

"Screw all that. Just give me some potatoes." Tim says, looking up at Esther.

"So you're not really mad at me?" Avi asks with a pout.

"No, Avi. How could I ever be mad at you." Tim answers in a sarcastic manner.

"YAY!!" Avi shouts as he runs over to where Tim was sitting. Sitting down in his lap, he starts to leave sloppy kisses all over Tim's face.

"Get the hell off of me!" Tim says as he tries to push the clinging man away, like many times before. "KIRSTIN!!"

"Man, it's good to have you back, Tim." Kirstie laughs as she walks over to retrieve her husband.