Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: So, this is the surprise chapter that happens somewhere between chp 18 and 19 (the epilogue) of You'll Be There. If you want to read this, go read that. Otherwise this will make no sense. You have been warned.
I pulled the box out from underneath my bed. In it was all I had ever kept of my brother's from that first trip down to his house. It was only a shoe box, but it was enough. Placing it on the bed, I got up, slowly. Looking down at it, I realized exactly what I was doing. Shaking my head, I picked it up and carried it into the living room, holding it before me as if it were something sacred. It is, I thought.
I knocked on Ben's open door. "Come in." He was leaning over his desk, working on something or other.
"Hey, I wanted to show you something." I walked over and sat on his bed.
"Sure, just a minute." He finished writing and put his pen down. "What's up?" He turned around, draping an arm over the back of his chair.
I didn't know where to start. "Remember when we went back to Baltimore, the day after your parents' funeral? Well, this is some of your father's stuff that I grabbed. I thought you might want to have it."
He looked at the box in my lap, then up at me. "Can I see?" I handed him the box. He opened it, setting the lid on the side, treating it as if it might spontaneously combust in the next few seconds. I watched as he took out his parents' wedding picture, his mother's engagement and wedding ring, his father's wedding ring, his father's watch and a couple more pictures. "Is this you two?" He held up a picture of two young boys.
I smiled. "Yeah, it is."
"This still work?" He was trying on the watch.
"It should. You gotta wind it up though." He did and smiled.
"It works." I nodded. "Thanks," he said.
I smiled again. Funny, what a box can hold.
