Little feet ran across the ground, the bright face bouncing with her unruly blond curls.
"Hey, hey, me too!" Her voice fell breathless, her small body swaddled in just enough clothes to go outside, six years old, and utterly precious.

"Alright, Ami, sweetie." Her mother cooed, offering a hand to help her up from the doorstep up to where she'd measure her.

"Am I almost as tall as Cousin Toris?" Amelia stared up so happily at the mark on the wall that her mother had left there to let her know how tall she is.

The thirteen year old, almost fourteen year old, boy stood off to the side, all awkward limbs for a little while yet, "Almost, Amelia."

She giggled, "You don't have to say my whole first name, silly." She bounced on her toes, "Mom says that you're family as long as you live here, and you live here for now."

Toris crouched down, "Amelia, I'll have to go home to Lithuania this Summer, remember?"

"No, no." She shook her head, "You can't go home then. You're already here."

Toris glanced towards her mother and sent another awkward smile her way.

"It's fine." She patted his hand, "She'll be fine, and you'll definitely have to stay in touch." Amelia's mother was all kind warmth and was motherly enough that Toris almost forgot that she couldn't have anymore kids after Amelia. She'd been sick and held up in the hospital for months after Amelia was born, and her boyfriend at the time had been scared for her life.

It was sad that soon to be three years ago that she'd lost her husband, Amelia's father, to cancer.

She always put on a brave face though and even though Toris had never met her husband, she still wore the ring, so Toris figured that they were still married, no matter what, he knew that it had to hurt sometimes more than he'd hopefully ever understand. The woman treated him like her very own teenage son; she'd struggled with adoption papers for a year or two before considering being a host mother.

Toris figured that his mom would love her; they'd be best friends if they ever met.

"Always come home, promise?" Amelia reached out a hand; the little bundle of joy that was nearly seven years old that he'd met almost a year ago stood before him at the airport.

"Always," Toris reached out his hand and smiled when the young girl wrapped her pinky finger around his.

"We have to promise the way that no one can break." She confirmed as she shook his pinky within hers, "I love you."

Toris blinked; he'd never heard her say that before, "I-I love you too."
She was almost like the little sister that he never had, and even if he was cautious saying those four words, she needed to hear them.

"Okay, come back soon!" She chirped, and it wasn't hard to imagine her like the birds that woke them up some mornings, that had her rushing over to his room to beg him to watch them with her, and may be catch a few. They were always 'too fast' for her. 'Hey, Cousin Toris, why wasn't Sonic a bird?'

Children said the darndest things sometimes, and Amelia somehow looked adorable while saying so; he doubted that he'd ever forget the past ten months, bouncing Amelia always finding something new to 'love' in the world, and her mom brave even the worst kind of pain with a smile on her face.

"I will try." Toris wasn't sure if he could promise soon, but visiting Amelia and her mom's place would be amazing.

Toris shifted his bag in his arms as he looked for Amelia and her mom.

He almost didn't recognize the eight year old that barreled into him, "Cousin Toris!"

"Amelia," He breathed, realizing that her hair had grown out, and her mother had probably been the one to tie it back into a ponytail, "Sorry that I couldn't visit last Summer."

"Oh, it's fine. Mom says that people get really busy sometimes, like my teachers at school are sometimes super busy grading my work and raising their kids, and spending time with their husbands or wives! Oh, what would it like to be married one day? Not with each other, cousins don't get married, right?" Her face turned red when she corrected herself, and Toris wondered when she'd gotten so easily embarrassed.

"Yeah, I had school, and my family needed me. I'd imagine it could be a lot of work to married, but worth it." Toris shrugged, glancing over to Amelia's mother who stood with a welcoming smile before she moved forward to hug him.

"I got that." Her hair fell down around her back.

"You don't have to." Toris answered her.

"Oh, just let me." She waved it off, "Besides, you're practically family, and a mother or aunt is supposed to help support her kids."

"Thank you." Toris glanced back down at Amelia finding her with a content smile on her face and surprisingly not rambling about anything right now.

"So what happened since we haven't seen each other?" Toris asked.

"Oh, you know a lot about that." Amelia shrugged, "There's this special friend of mine. He's unlike anything else." She swayed back and forth, "I bet you'd like him.

"Oh?" Toris wasn't quite sure where this was going, but he wasn't quite sure if he was ready to hear about his 'cousin's crush if that's what this was; was she old enough to have a crush? Do girls tell their host brother about their crushes?

"Yeah, and he's so nice. Mom calls him my little gentleman. She says, that he'll grow up to be a grown gentleman." She shrugged, smiling at him.

"Will he really?" Toris glanced back over at Amelia's mother, eyes shining with unspoken curiosity.

"He's a good kid." She smiled at him, "But we'll see."

Toris wasn't quite sure how much she told Amelia when the two of them spent time together without anyone else; he wondered whether she ever mentioned Amelia's father or whether she just encouraged her. She could run a whole support system, and it would be a global success if she did.

"I can't quite find it." Amelia hobbled on the step stool, all twelve years old of her, "Where did I put it, Toris?"

She'd dropped the Cousin from his name last year when they'd be talking on webcam, and she'd asked him if his room always looked like that.

Amelia'd been a force to be reckoned with her whole life, and when he'd came by this year to visit, having to save up for the trip, he'd been surprised by his room looking so much like his room back at home. Her mother had admitted that it was Amelia's idea with a sort of ease that Toris both admired and was a little concerned by. She had a secret that she'd not told him though he was never the sort to press the older woman; she was more like a mother away from home that he'd probably ever told anyone.

"You put it up with the sugar?" Toris held on to the step stool, the wobbly old thing wouldn't support her for long if she kept wiggling; she'd switched from the little girl's clothes this past year to overalls and jeans. He wasn't quite sure what brought on the change other than the fact that she was getting older and wanted to try something new.

"Mom always says that when your sugar gives you something special, you take good care of it." The twelve year old hobbled down on shaky legs, holding what looked like a bookmark with a bow.

"Does it say stay away?" Toris briefly wondered if Amelia's latest crush was the right kind of guy for her; if he didn't like her that much, Toris just didn't want her to get hurt.

"Yeah, but Nikolai's cute and weird like that. I used to play with his sister last year when they moved here, but she's so mean now." Amelia shrugged, holding the bookmark carefully out to Toris, "Do you want to hold it? Just be careful, alright?"

"'You sure he likes you?" Toris asked her, kind of nervous that she'd definitely get hurt.

"Yeah, and even if he doesn't, he will soon." Amelia's confidence was mind boggingly; Toris wasn't quite sure where it came from. She was twelve, right?

He really should visit more, but college and work kept him pretty busy; he also didn't have quite the right kind money to visit every year.

Toris really did miss his host 'cousin' when he was back home.

"Sorry, you're sixteen now?" Amelia looked the part of a grown woman; he'd been surprised to see that.
It looked like some remnants of her punk phase when she was thirteen had stuck over, blending a bit with her girly girl phase.

He hadn't seen those old overalls since she was twelve however.

A pink dress hugged her surprisingly womanly frame, because the last time that he'd seen her, she'd been in the awkward teenage phase that he remembers too well from when he'd went through it. She wore black gloves that apparently she'd knitted herself, and she wore worn out old tennis shoes, a deep purple in color.

"Yeah, I've been for a few months now." She smiled at him, "You really need to visit more. Feliks got me this dress. He's a little older than me, but he's such a sweet guy though Mom thinks he's a bit weird."

"Weird?" Toris figured that anything would be better than Amelia's miserable crush on Nikolai who apparently moved away last year.

"I don't see why." She shrugged, with a smile not unlike her mother's secretive smile, "You ready to go?"

It took a second for Toris to realize that she'd drove here all by herself, "Yeah, where is she?"

"Oh, Mom had work to do, and I offered to drive. I think she's trying to set us up, may be just let me grow older." Amelia still thankfully had her rambling though it had toned down a lot and her simple way of phrasing things though he found that there was something more grown up about it.

The first time that Amelia visited Toris in Lithuania, he almost didn't recognize her.

She'd cut her hair to just above shoulder length, and she had the natural wave to it that her mother had as well; she was wearing what was supposed to be a cute, Lithuanian-esque dress, but her frame had filled out to fit into properly, and somehow it looked so attractive in a way that Toris had never expected it to.

"Amelia?" He finally found the nerve to ask when she threw her arms around him.

"You wouldn't visit home in a while, so I came to you." Her blue eyes sparkled, "How are you, Cousin Toris?"

He hadn't heard that nickname in so long, and it became both endearing and a little nerve wracking, "So I'm still your cousin?"

"Why would that change?" She shot him a playful look, and suddenly he could see her when she was six, bouncing on her toes, and so excitable.

"I don't know." He told her though he wasn't quite sure that that was the truth when he realized that something had changed over the years. He was about seven years older than her and yet that didn't matter to his heart clearly.

"Okay, Feliks and I broke up a while ago. Just thought that you should know." She looked away, "He was the last person that you'd heard that I'd been dating, right?"

Toris hadn't realized that they'd been dating, but, "Yeah."

"Alright, I haven't been in a lasting relationship since then," She sighed, and he suddenly felt the urge to wrap his arms around her and hug her since she suddenly seemed a little more self conscious and sad than he'd ever seen her before.

"It will be fine. You'll find someone." Toris told her, hoping that that was enough to comfort her.

"I know." She had her mother's smile again, and he briefly wondered what her secret was. She usually told him almost anything in person, but may be not all of the details to fill in the blanks that she'd leave him.

"Do you want dinner?" Toris figured that he'd treat her to some authentic Lithuanian food while she was here.

"Yeah," Amelia's smile grew, and he was glad to have done something right at some point.

She shown up every Summer after that, and Toris wasn't quite sure how she could afford to visit so much, but he'd let her stay every time that she did.

Amelia had been twenty three when he'd finally asked her why.

She'd been sleepy and sipping on coffee to stay up and finish playing cards with Toris, "Because I still love you, silly."

"Like when we were kids?" Toris wasn't sure why his belly felt so awkward and funny; he'd been trying to tell himself all along that she was just Amelia, his childhood best friend since they met when he was a young teenager.

"Yeah, I really did want to marry you then. I just wanted to like someone else and sort of did." She shrugged, and Toris found the words so hard to believe, because surely she didn't like him for all that long? He'd only really started noticing her as something other than a little sister, a best friend, or a cousin when she'd been sixteen, and it only really got to the point that he'd had to acknowledge it when she was nineteen and showing up at his front door.

"You liked me like that for so long?" Toris's face flushed.

"Yeah, somethings never change," and Toris wasn't sure if he'd reacted on instinct or something deep in his heart, but he pulled her close anyway.

"I love you." She told him, card game long forgotten between the two of them.

"I love you too." He muttered, soft in her ear, before he'd consider how much this would change them from just being host siblings.

Toris had no idea how Amelia's mom handled her daughter marrying the boy that she'd taken into her home as her foreign exchange student, but her warm smile told him that at least she loved him too.

Hopefully, it wouldn't be too hard to take him right into the family officially now, but really all that he was looking forward to, was seeing his fiancee walk down the aisle to him, so that they'd finally be married.

He'd been right; their mothers got along so well, were basically best friends now, may be sisters in name after today, and Amelia was a sight to see when she walked down the aisle, looking absolutely perfect in white.