Closer 2

6.

"I missed seeing your sleepy face in the morning," Belle commented with a teasing grin as her brother dragged his feet out of the room. Brett had for some reason decided to go jogging before breakfast, which had been a more frequent occurrence lately before they left as well, but Eddy hadn't expected him to go on their first day in London. Elise was up as well, seemingly having warmed up to Belle already as she had no issues sitting on her arm while they waited for the eggs to fry. She had fun playing with auntie's long hair.

"I did not miss you being way too upbeat in the morning," Eddy mumbled sleepily back, sitting down at Belle's way too small kitchen table that was obviously intended for no more than two people. "I did miss the way you cook eggs for me, though."

"Gotta make sure my little brother is well fed," Belle joked, making a face as Elise pulled her hair. "And my favourite niece."

"She's your only niece," Eddy snorted, shaking his head. "She's got to be your favourite."

"Yeah yeah, so far at least," Belle said with a wink before ruffling Elise's hair. "You wouldn't mind being a big sister, huh?"

Eddy furrowed his brows at Belle's words. He hadn't even thought about that as an option, really.
"You do realize that it's not straight forward to have kids for Brett and me, right?" he said as if she had said the most stupid thing ever. "Actually, it's pretty impossible, unless we adopt."

"I know, I know. I'm just enjoying being an aunt," Belle chuckled with a shrug, tickling Elise to make her laugh before handing her over to Eddy so she could get some plates for their eggs. "I'm sorry if I overstepped there, I know it's not straight forward."

"No, no, it's okay," Eddy said, shifting Elise in his lap as she started fussing about not getting to sit on Belle's arm anymore. "We just haven't talked about it at all. We kinda have enough juggling Elise and the channel and everything."

Both turned towards the front door as it opened and a very rain wet Brett entered. Eddy gave him a smile.

"Hey babe," he said, eyeing him up as the white t-shirt he had worn on the way out had gotten kind of see-through. "Is it raining out?"

"Hah," Brett mumbled back, kicking his shoes off.

"Hey Brett, do you want some eggs? I made extra," Belle offered, also smiling at her brother in law that she had seen grow up alongside her brother. She really cared about him, almost like a brother.

"No thanks, I grabbed a sandwich while I was out," Brett said, making himself smile through the slight shivering that came with being soaked in cold rain water. "I'll just go borrow the shower, if that's okay."

"Alright, there's towels under the sink," Belle reminded him, and he mumbled a soft thanks before disappearing to the shower.