Converse sneakers stomped across the red carpet of floor number two of the Palmwoods hotel. The sneakers belonged to two feet; the feet belonging to Katie Knight, who was in a horrible mood. It wasn't like someone had done something to create this mood either, which made everything feel ten times worse. It was just a horrible day from the start.

As the door to apartment 2J opened and then slammed shut, the angry brunette threw her backpack onto the floor, grabbing some milk from the fridge. It was a weird fact of life, but warm milk made her calmer, and therefore less likely to hit her brother and his friends when they were being idiotic. However, her hopes were cut short when she smelled the odor coming out of the carton. Someone left the milk go bad.

"Awesome! because that's just what I needed today!" Katie sighed when she realized she was yelling to no one. Things like this got you sent to doctors to get your head checked out. The carton was set out on the counter and left there. Logan could use it in some experiment thing that no one else could even begin to understand. Or she could pour it in James's shampoo bottle next time he annoyed her.

Going over to the TV set, she grabbed the remote and tried to turn it on. It was broken. The television was officially broken. Because the world decided it hated Katie Knight today, the television was broken. Well, she did have lots of homework to work on. Making herself a snack, the twelve-year-old actually found the discipline to do her schoolwork right after school.

Two hours later, Katie had finished her homework and was chilling on her laptop and Skyping her friend. She was going through a breakup or something, and the littlest Knight child was apparently the rock that held everything in place or something like that. Though Katie wasn't exactly listening fully, she still nodded at times to make it seem like good things were happening. Because as long as Rachael thought she was paying attention, she didn't actually have to pay attention. Which was good, because the breakup was confusing and Katie's head felt like it was going to explode as is. Thankfully at that moment; four boys bounded into her apartment and gave her a way out.

"My brothers are home. I have to go. Bye, Rachael!" Signing off and closing her laptop, she sighed and scratched her forehead as she watched the sudden ruckus in the kitchen. Each wanted their own snack, and each was trying to make it with about two inches of counter space. Which didn't work out well. It worked out less when Kendall elbowed the curdled milk and knocked it over. As the boys yelled in disgust, Katie's eyes went wide and she jumped off of her chair.

"Move it!" She pushed Kendall and James out of the way and dragged her backpack out from the wall of singers. It already smelled horrible. She knew what was coming and she wasn't happy.

"Ohmygod, Katie, I'm so sorry!" Kendall sounded downright breathless as he spoke, because he knew what was in the bag. She started immediately pulling out papers and folder to get to the bottom, though this was a bit of a problem because she wasn't exactly a clean child and the milk was really gross to touch.

"You destroyed my homework and.." With fear woven into her voice she clutched a balled up tissue that was soaked with milk. A horrified gasp escaped her. "The bracelet! You idiot!" Tears sprung to Katie's eyes and she forgot about the world around her. The horrible day all collapsed onto her chest at once and she couldn't stop herself from saying something hurtful. "You ruin everything! I hate you!" She shoved the milk filled tissue into Kendall's stomach and ran to her room, where a door was slammed for the second time that day and sobs could be heard.

The blond felt his breath hitch in his throat and felt a horrible aching that had nothing to do with Katie's forceful shove. The guys were looking at him in confusion, and the older brother had no choice but to explain.

"In the tissue is a locket. I guess when I spilled the milk it went to the bottom of the bag, where the locket was kept and now the locket is a milky mess." The tissue was laid on the counter, everyone jumping back to avoid the curdled milk bomb.

"Well, I know Katie's not sentimental about a Kleenex, so what's in the tissue?" James seemed to snap Kendall out of his thoughts, thoughts that did not look fun from the look on the blond's face. Carefully, the worn tissue was unwrapped to show a delicate looking charm bracelet with several charms on it.

"It was the last thing our father gave her. She refused to wear it because she was afraid she would destroy the thing. She carries - carried it everywhere." The trinket was beautiful with the way the non-destroyed parts caught in the light. Kendall put his head in his hands and moaned. "She hates me!" As James patted his back, Carlos shook his head.

"She doesn't hate you!" The small teen's attempts to cheer up his friend were misguided and Kendall lifted his head quickly to roll his eyes. He would have to remind Carlos to never become a psychologist.

"She literally just said she hated me. I have to go talk to her."With his words being his final answer, he grabbed the bracelet and walked over to his little sisters room. They were seriously going to have to talk this one over, because he couldn't have his little sister hating him. And also because mom would have his head if she knew they were fighting. Especially over such a touchy subject such as their father.

The knock on the door startled Katie, though she forced her curiosity down and pretended it was nobody. She wasn't talking to the boys now. She refused to talk to them ever again after what Kendall did. And she knew it wasn't fair to blame all of them, but she needed someone to blame, and her biological brother actually did commit the crime.

"Katie!" Speak of the devil, apparently. Instead of letting him into her room, she turned the volume up on her laptop and plugged her headphones into her ears. Now she couldn't hear him at all. Which was fine with her. The brown-eyed girl wiped tears from her cheeks and pressed play on the movie she was in the middle of watching. The rest of the world slowly drowned out behind her as she got caught up in the emotions of the film. Of course that had to be ruined by her brother (notice a theme here?) when he opened her door and let himself into her room.

"Dude! Didn't you ever hear of knocking?" Katie ripped the headphones out of her ears as she talked, pressing pause angerly on the movie again and rolling from her stomach to her back.

"Didn't you ever hear of answering?" To be honest, Kendall didn't expect it to be this hard to apologize to his baby sister. He thought it would be like the TV shows she always watched. The ones where they both sit and talk for a while and then hug all of their emotions out. Apparently it wasn't. Because in the real world, little sister could be cranky and angry and big brother could be desperate.

"I didn't answer because I don't want you anywhere near me." With that notion being said and finalized, Katie rolled back over and put in one headphone. She still wanted to listen to an apology if it ever came, but the movie was heartwarming. And for once; she actually seemed to have left her brother speechless. He looked around, flustered until the blond came up with a plan.

"Well, I'm not leaving until we talk this out." His smirk was only matched by an eyebrow raise.

"Pull up a chair. This is gonna take a while." The volume was turned up again and the other headphone was placed in position. A smirk was all Kendall received before she pressed play and launched them into an uncomfortable silence.

Luckily, this silence only lasted a few minutes. Kendall was getting annoyed at the stubbornness she was showing and was just about to leave when something happened. Katie walked up to him, shoulders slumped, tears rolling down her face. Reaching out her arms, she threw them around her brother's too wide to actually hold waist and cried into his shirt. Looking down at the top of her head, he gently rubbed her back to comfort her.

"I miss him!' Her words were half intelligible at best; and yet Kendall understood every one of them. He pushed her away for a second, sat down, and then let her sit on his lap like he did when she was smaller.

"I miss him too, Katie. " More silence as they both mulled over thoughts of their late father. Sniffling became the only sound in the room.

"I-I'm sorry for yelling at you." She was looking up at her brother now, hoping he'd forgive her. "You destroyed dad's last gift and I.." Kendall shook his head, cutting her off.

"I would be mad too if you ruined dad's last gift for me. You're just lucky your brother's so forgiving." He playfully bumped his shoulder against her back and she managed a half smile for the first time since her charm bracelet's been spilled.

"What was it?" The blond looked down at his sister quizzically. She looked up at him like it should-be been obvious. "The last present from dad."

"Oh." Kendall looked at the bedroom window and smiled, as if remembering a fond memory. Perhaps he was. "His favorite beanie. He had it when he was my age. He said: 'son, one day you'll fill out this beanie, and I know when you do you'll make me and mom proud.' Another sniff came from the singer and Katie quickly threw her arms around her brother and hugged.

"You're making him proud now. I'm sure of it." Though the blond was crying again, it was for a much different reason. It wasn't a somber cry, it was a joyful cry.

"Katie, those are the words I've always wanted to hear. Thank you." After Kendall spoke, they shared the hug Katie was giving, both crying and neither caring. When the siblings finally pulled apart, each was smiling. It didn't take long for them to start laughing.

"Your face is all red!" Katie laughed at her brother making him playfully punch her.

"And you my dear, need a tissue. Like now." He got up and walked to the door, but instead of walking out, he waited for Katie to be done blowing her nose.

"Are you that interested in my snot?' As Katie talked, she tried to throw the tissue in the trash, though she missed and it landed on her carpet.

"I'm not leaving this room without you. Are you ready to face the bracelet?" The older sibling held out his hand and Katie quickly took it, letting him lead her out of her room and into the kitchen. The boys all lit up at the sights of them, knowing not to ask about the tears. Logan was touching the bracelet, though he was handling it so delicately Katie couldn't even be mad.

"Good news. I can fix it. All we need to do is wash it off with something that prevents rust and then buff it up a bit." The preteen's face lit up as she ran to her brother's friend, giving him a big hug. Her face was shining.

"That's great!" Kendall honestly could not be happier now. The onslaught of emotions was rough; but it felt good to work his way through it like that. It almost felt like a giant rain had just fallen and he was seeing the sun for the first time again.

The night continued as normal, with the boys and Katie getting taco's and eating them messily while making fun of America's Next Top Model. Logan began to look online with things that prevent rust, and Katie and Kendall sent secret smiles to each other for the whole time. The rest of the group knew, though pretended not to. It was easier than decoding the actual sibling code. And to be truthful, what they were saying wasn't that interesting anyway. It was a barrage of thank you's and love you's and silent messages to their dad.

Because wherever their dad was, he was smiling at them with his wide toothed smile.

~The end~