1

Kevin met Moira in one of the cheesiest and most desperate ways he could think of. He was walking across the Met U campus, hurrying off to the library to research a paper for his advanced accounting class when he passed by the Pi Phi Gamma lawn. There, he'd seen the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen stretched out on the lawn, sunning herself. The fact that it was November and getting chilly didn't seem to bother her. Of course, she wasn't obvious about laying out either. She was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and curled up on an old afghan. Maybe it was the weather, but most girls he knew would be in bikinis.

Moira wasn't about showing off like that.

So, entranced by her, Kevin struck up a conversation, and that was how he met the sorority's esteemed president and one of the most dogged basment reporters at the Daily Planet. It was how everything started. They started sweet and simple with dates, when she had the time to squeeze them in, at the restaraunts just off campus, sometimes, if they were feeling bold, they'd even go into the heart of Metropolis, some place nice and four star. He could swing that or at least his Visa could. Those were Halcyon days, simple days with her undivided attention, at least more or less. She still had times to run off, to be rushing off for a quick rewrite for her editor.

At first, he didn't mind. He and she traded in that regard. He had a lot of pressure and group projects he needed to do to finish up his M.B.A. They fit initially because she understood his workaholic nature but, over time, Moira had more things to step out to and that began to bug him. But what bugged him more was what came within the first month of meeting her...

I. Siblings

Kevin showed up at her room in the sorority house at seven one evening in early January. Rush for the spring term was finally over and he had a chance to see her. She'd been buried under bids and cuts and a hundred different girls passing through the house. What he had not expected was to show up in her room (it was a single and the largest in the house) and find two men sitting on her sofa. They looked like night and day. One was slender with sandy hair and blue eyes, while the other was tall, with broad shoulders and jet black hair and eyes that reminded him vaguely of Moira's.

The dark-haired guy stood up and Kevin swallowed a little. He was taller than he was, not huge, maybe about 6'1, but still taller and with the width of his shoulders, Kevin felt crowded.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm here to pick up Moira. We have a date." He smiled and held out his hand. "I'm Kevin."

"Connor," the other man replied, shaking his hand and squeezing it far too tightly. Kevin was afraid something would crunch. Finally releasing his hand, Connor added, " Mo's finishing a meeting with the social committee." He quirked his head in the oddest fashion. "It's running late because they can't agree on streamer colors."

"She texted you?"

The man still on the sofa grinned. "Something like that. Hey," he waved. "I'm Jacks, but I don't feel like standing. My bad."

"Jacks and Connor, right."

"Con, technically," Connor corrected.

"Huh, you guys aren't big on syllables, are you?"

"Not really. So you date Mo, that's interesting. She hasn't said much about you."

"Oh, and you would be?"

Just then Moira burst in through the door, a whirlwind, weighed down with binders in gleaming crimson and gold (sorority colors). "Con! Jacks! What are you doing here?"

"I was bored," Jacks whined and you have better cable.

"That's not a very good excuse," she sighed. "Alura said something, didn't she?"

Con shrugged. "She might have mentioned some things."

Moira rolled her eyes and looked up at him apologetically. "I am so sorry. Kevin, Con and Jacks are my brothers. I mean, Jacks is kind of adopted, but it's the same idea. I'm not seeing anyone on the side."

Jacks pouted. "I'm hurt Mo."

"Ignore Jacks. He only thinks with one organ and it's not in his skull. Anyway, they like to meet my dates. I thought if I kept it quieter they wouldn't ambush." She sighed. "I have to get changed and I'll be ready. Until then, Jacks and Con, at least play nice, alright?"

"I don't know," Con grumbled. "It depends on how far you've gone."

Mo glared at her brother and Kevin was sure it was his imagination her eyes were red. "You don't want to piss me off, Con. Just be nice." Leaning up-Moira was as short as her brother was tall-she kissed him. "I promise. I can be done in a blink."

Jacks snorted. "I'd bet."

"Be nice," she huffed, hurrying into the bedroom part of her suite.

"So," Con said, leaning against her study table. "You're the new boyfriend."

"Yes. Moira and I have been dating for about six weeks."

"Well isn't that fascinating."

Kevin decided then that he didn't like Con all that much. "Well I think it is. Your sister is very important to me."

"After six weeks."

"Well she's pretty special. I've never met anyone like her."

"Oh that's for sure," Jacks snarked under his breath.

Con glared at him. "I have to say that even if Alura was the little birdie, she didn't mention much about you."

"Well, let's see. I'm finishing up my M.B.A. on campus. I intend to go and work at least for a while at my father's firm and then would like to get out of Metropolis. Maybe New York."

"I live there," Con said. "That would be interesting."

He blinked. "You flew all the way to Kansas to meet me?" He decided threaten would not be the best verb.

"We have some frequent flier miles," Jacks replied, grinning. "So, were you at Met U as an undergrad too?"

"Yeah, I had a football scholarship, um, quarterback but I blew out my knee in summer pretraining before I was a freshmen. It was rough."

Jacks's eyes lit up. "I played baseball in high school. I was pretty good."

"Good hitter?"

He smirked. "I batted about .450."

He whistled. "So did you play in college or now?"

He shrugged. "Nope, but if I wanted, I don't think the Green Monster would be all that bad."

"Boston?"

Con was still glaring at him but he relaxed a little. "If we didn't have years of brotherly love between us, I'd have to kill him. A Red Sox fan, really. So, I see, athletic, wealthy family, big business career ahead. Yup, Mo's type."

Moira popped back out of her room in a little black dress that fit all her curves in just the right way. "Con, come with me."

"Where?"

"Outside, don't make me drag you out."

Again, Con and Jacks exchanged a look that was akin to pure terror. "Mo?"

"Now, Connor Sullivan."

He nodded and followed her out, leaving the door ajar just a little. He heard rapid fire whispering but the oddest thought he had before shutting it all the way was that it didn't sound like English.

"Do they fight a lot?"

Jacks shrugged. "We're very protective of Mo. She's the youngest and she and Con are pretty much inseparable. He hasn't found a boyfriend yet that meets his standards."

"Maybe he's aiming too high."

Jacks nodded. "Or maybe not. I'm going to issue the disclaimer now. If your hurt her in any way, we'll kill you and hide the body."

"What?"

Jacks smiled. "Fair warning."

Kevin decided then he wished that Alura was Moira's only family and that he'd much rather never meet her dad if her brothers were already this scary.

"Moira?"

"Yes?" she asked, cutting into her linguine. "What's up?"

"Your, uh, brothers aren't really going to kill me, are they?"

"They say that every time. All my exes are still most definitely alive."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Dad has a no murder policy and they're really good about it."

He nodded. "Jacks is not your actual brother?"

SHe stilled. "Jacks is family but he's not by blood, exactly. I guess, technically, he'd be a very distant cousin if you went back far enough, maybe." She then paused and, under her breath added, "His DNA has so got to be closer than yours."

"What?"

"Nothing. Jacks's dad and mine were friends and then Jacks's dad died when he was still really little. My dad and Aunt Kara have been helping to take care of him ever since, checking up on him. He's just like a big brother, now, overbearing and everything. I just think of him as one."

"Oh, you didn't mention them before."

"Speak of the devil. I wanted some time to ease you into the idea of Jacks and Con. I know they come on strong."

"I would say that."

"Con's all empty threats. I'd never let him touch you."

"Again with the massive relief. Moira, do you want me to call you Mo ? You all seem big on nicknames."

"No, that's a family thing. I like to keep those things separate."

"Which would be why so far I've only really been exposed to Alura?"

She shrugged. "Alura doesn't usually threaten Mafioso action. I know Jacks and Con say it every time. They really haven't killed anyone yet. I'm like 99% sure on that."

"Oh."

She sighed. "You don't have a sister do you?"

He shook his head. "All boys, the three of us."

"Well it's like this pack mentality. They treat Alura the same way, especially Jacks, but that might be because he's always been jealous too."

"That's fairly twisted."

She shrugged again. "We're really very close, the four of us. We're kind of all we have."

"In the middle of a sorority house of fifty girls. Moira, you're the head of the most elite sorority on campus."

She nodded. "I have more of a winning personality than Con. He sometimes channels dad's lack of a sense of fun too often. But it's not the same. There's just things you can only share with your family and that's the stuff only they get."

"Well, I'd like to think you'd let me get it some day."

"And after a whopping six whole weeks," she snarked. "One day, maybe, but there are things I so can't say to you that I can with Lur."

"Like?"

"Well, I don't want you to get a swelled head about how well you kiss, you know."

He smiled at that and then stilled. "You're not going to share that with your brothers are you?"

"Oh no, I like you with kneecaps."

He was only half sure that Moira was joking. "Hey, so when you were in your back bedroom threatening Connor, what was that?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. I'll beat you with a shovel. Don't make me tell mom about that time you snuck into the Windgate...again. Blackmail stuff."

He also made a note not to incriminate himself to Moira. She might be vindictive. "No, I mean what were you yelling at him in. I...it wasn't quite...it reminded me a little of Latin but not really either."

Moira stopped and blinked back at him. "What?"

"Whatever you were speaking, it wasn't English."

"Well, you know, modern age, polyglot for a resume..."

"Moira, my family's traveled through Europe for a lot of stuff. I can't quite place that."

She sighed and started picking at her cuticles. "It's, um, Eastern Europe, one of those countries that's not a country anymore since the Iron Curtain fell, you know? That's where my dad and Aunt Kara and Jacks's dad are all from. It's sort of how you might think of Jacks as like very distantly related. I mean, same country, you know?"

"Right. So which country?"

"Um, it's not around anymore so it doesn't matter much. It's just Aunt Kara taught us the language when we were little and it's more fun to cuss someone out if the rest of the world can't follow you, so when I'm really mad at Con, that's how he usually gets it. Kind of worked both ways. Before we really knew it, Aunt Kara used to always yell at dad in it."

"Family traditions?"

Moira rolled her eyes and looked back out of the passenger window. "I'd like to think not. I'm trying to break a bit from tradition."