Her Hero
Summary: Josslyn held her brother, Michael on a pedestal. He was her hero above all others.
Josslyn was around eight years old the first time she learnt about her brother's actions in saving her life. The tale of how he'd stopped her kidnapping had been told more than once. In the beginning, she built it up as this grand thing. Like the fairytales she so loved where the handsome prince saved his princess from a fire breathing dragon or an evil queen. She was still too young to realize that her kidnapper was just a sad woman and how brutal her death was, something that still haunted Michael to this day.
When she was nine, she overheard a conversation her father was having in which he talked about what had happened to Michael in jail. Again, she was much too young to know the details of exactly what happened. She knew enough to know it was devastating and so bad. Knew enough to know that Franco had played some part in it. From that moment on, she'd hated Franco. When her mother had gotten involved with him, she'd tried everything in her power to break them up.
She was thirteen when she realized what her uncle Sonny's job entailed and that same age when she pieced together what Michael had done to Claudia and what had happened to him in jail. Perhaps it had made her put him on an even bigger pedestal. He was strong for making it through. She vowed that anyone she dated would have to be just as strong for her to fall for them.
At fourteen she began to realize her brother wasn't perfect. Him convincing her to forgive Sonny had been proof of that. Her brother had more reason than anyone to despise the man after everything he'd done to AJ, Michael's biological father. From hanging him on a meat hook and forcing him to drink, to making him sign away his rights to Michael, to murdering AJ, and then having sex with Ava in the tomb that held his body. It wasn't just that he'd forgiven Sonny, forgiveness was a healthy thing. It was the fact that he still loved Sonny and allowed him to be a part of his life.
It was when she was sixteen when she realized how much she was like her brother, at least in one way. When she'd gotten the news about Oscar, her nightmares about Morgan's death had started up again. And then came the memories of her brother losing Sabrina and the stories of when he'd lost Abby. She was in her brother's place this time and didn't believe herself strong enough to make it through that terrible loss. She'd clung on more to her brother then, needing his input. He'd taken her to grief counceling and she had to admit, it had helped a lot.
Michael was by her side, months later when Oscar died. There with his comfort, his support, and understanding.
Her brother was there when she was seventeen and had come out as bisexual, him being the first one she'd told.
When she was eighteen and received her acceptance letter from USC, Michael was the one she'd excitedly called. He was the one who told their mother it was a good thing when she'd seemed unsure about sending her daughter so far away. Michael also came with her on the drive to the university.
And Michael was the one Josslyn confessed to about her feelings for her roommate, Lana.
So it was of no surprise that he was the one she'd asked to walk her down the aisle. He'd been her constant through the years, the one person she could always count on.
It was also of no surprise when she gave birth to her daughter and son at the age of twenty six and asked her brother to be their godfather.
So no, she no longer held her brother on a pedestal. She realized he was human now which made him even more heroic to her. That would never change.