Chapter 2.

Brooke could barely chew the food on her plate. Her parents were having the same trouble with the rubbery lasagna. And there was a large platter that was full of it. She came across a rather tough piece of cheese, and Brooke flinched. The teenager swallowed very slowly, and put her fork down. "You know mom, this is just so heavy that I'm already full."

Her mother smiled with satisfaction, and Brooke made eye contact with her father. They had one word in mind, takeout. What usually happened whenever Martha cooked, they would toss a couple pieces out daily, and order takeout before she came home from her vet clinic. Now, they'd have to wait and order it after she went to sleep.

"You know, Martha, dear, this is so amazing, but I can't eat anymore. Like Brooke said, it's very heavy, and we're both light eaters." Martha beamed, and Brooke forced a smile on her face as she tried to get the vile taste out of her mouth. She took a long sip of water, meanwhile her mother started to talk.

"Do you know the neighbors Brooke? A man and his son live there, William and Damien Miles?"

"No, Desmond Miles. And from what I hear, he's your age Brooke." Brooke's eyes widened, her parents were setting her up with some guy again.

"I bet they must be hungry. Brooke, why don't you take some of my lasagna over to them?"

Brooke nearly spewed her water and choked on it at time when her mother said that sentence. She put her glass down and coughed repeatedly. When she finally got back to normal, the teenager shook her head and said, "Mom, is that a good idea? Maybe tomorrow-,"

"Don't be silly, Brooklyn! Take it over, you should get to know the neighbors." Chris put in, and Brooke shot an annoyed look at him. He just wanted the stuff out of the house, and Martha wanted to share her 'food' with the world. Brooke sighed. She wasn't going to win this argument, and so she stood up and walked over to the disgusting food.

"Fine, I'll take it over." Martha beamed again at the words, and Chris slumped back in his chair and let out a blissful sigh. The teenager put a lid over the container, and looked back at her parents. "I'll be back in five minutes."

"Take your time, Brooklyn!" Martha said with a smile, and Brooke rolled her eyes. "Okay, mom." She walked out of the house, and slowed her steps as she tried to think of a way that wouldn't put these innocent people in danger of her mother's cooking. Maybe she could stumble and fall. Oops! Lost the food. No, it's hard enough to survive that.

She had to think of something... attacked by rabid animals? No, that wouldn't work. Maybe- Brooke had arrived at the front yard of the neighbor's house. The lights were on, so obviously the house was occupied. Saying nobody was home wouldn't work.

Warning them would have to be enough.

Brooke walked up the pathway and toward the large house. There was no doorbell, so she knocked on the door and waited for an answer. There was the sound of footsteps and someone audibly cursing about something. The door swung open, and a guy who looked around Brooke's age was standing there. His brown hair was close cropped and he wore a white hoodie. He was tall, good looking, and Brooke noticed a scar on the side of his mouth.

"Can I help you?" He asked, and she frowned. "Yeah, my mom made lasagna. She thinks it's wonderful, dad wants it out of the house. Long story short, here's me being neighborly." Brooke handed him the container, and the guy's eyebrows knit together in confusion. "I thought this sorta thing only happened in tv shows and movies."

She sighed, and cracked a smile, "My family is pretty much a sitcom. And besides, we want to show our Southern hospitality." Brooke's voice dipped into a deep southern accent and placed a hand on her hip. He cracked a smile and said, "You moved here from the South? Damn, talk about a fish out of water."

Brooke laughed, "You have no idea. I met a few nice people, but most thought I carried some sort of southern disease." He glanced at the food in mock horror, and Brooke laughed.

"I'm Brooke. I moved in next door. But take my advice and throw that lasagna out before you get food poisoning."

He looked at her with shock and she glanced over at her house nervously, which was right across the hedge and picket fence. "My mom is horrible at cooking. Anything that comes out of the house with a food label is toxic."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said and glanced at the lasagna with skepticism. She shrugged and said, "It's better that I warn you now."

"So what do you think of Faircliff?" he asked, and Brooke thought about it for a second.

"I'll get used to it. Or people will get more used to me. I honestly don't know, I arrived here around 2. I thought news traveled fast in small towns." She said with a grin, and the guy sighed, "It does. But I've been working that news reaches me later."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm-," suddenly a voice shouted, "Desmond, what are you doing standing there? Close the god damned door." Automatically, the guy rolled his eyes and shouted back, "In a minute, dad!" He turned back to face Broke. "Sorry, my dad. I'll see you later... Brooke?"

"Desmond, right?"

"Yeah. And a good place to get food that isn't toxic is the Hastings Deli," Desmond said with a grin, and she nodded.

"I'll keep that in mind," Brooke said with a smile, and then looked over his tall shoulder. "Um, you might want to close the door before your dad comes over here to do it for you."

Desmond muttered a curse, and started to close the door. "Well, I'll see you around."

"Desmond. Shut the door!" His father shouted, and Brooke grinned and gave a small wave, "See you."

...

Ezio was woken up rudely.

Federico Auditore was obviously back because he used his favorite method to wake up his little brother- by dumping a bucket of water on top of him. Ezio was sopping wet, freezing, and wide awake as light blinded him. His confused and innocent expression was irreplaceable as he looked up at his brother in shock and anger.

"Federico!" He shouted as he sat up wiped the dripping water off his face. However, his older brother was long gone, with a trail of laughter following him. Ezio muttered choice words as he got up and walked to his bathroom to grab a towel. He would have to get Federico back later. Ezio dried his body and face, and took a quick glance in the mirror. Damn it, he had a bruise on his jaw. His mother would kill him.

"Perfect..." He muttered and wondered how he could get away with this. Claudia didn't tell Maria, his mother, about the fight, but she would definitely find out because of this. Ezio sighed and pulled off his dripping boxers and dropped them on the ground. He walked back into his room and opened his dresser as he reached for something new to wear today. Ezio got dressed in a pair of shorts and a regular t-shirt, and checked the clock, which read 11:45 AM. It wasn't that bad compared to other days when he got up around 1 or 2.

He grabbed his shoes and walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. However, he stopped when he saw his mother sitting in a chair and tapping her fingers lighting against the wooden table. Her expression was pleasant, but her eye were storming. Maybe I could go the other way... he started to back up as silently as possible.

"Ezio," She said calmly, and Ezio froze in his tracks. This was not good. "Morning, mom," He said brightly, and tried the other option. He started to walk toward the door quickly. His hand was on the knob when Maria spoke.

"I know about your fight with Vieri."

He froze up, and then turned around with a slight smile and a raised eyebrow in an 'innocent' expression. "What fight?"

"Sit. I am in no mood to play this game." Ezio frowned and took a seat next to him mother.

"I was going to back out, but I was sucker punched," He explained, and Maria folded her arms and sighed through her nose in exasperation. She sat back in her chair and studied her son, her brown eyes were impossible to read, and her mouth fixed in a straight line.

"That's it?"

"I wouldn't have this if they fought fair," Ezio gestured toward his jaw, and Maria's eyes widened. She grabbed his chin and inspected his face to see if something else was wrong. "Ezio Auditore! I said I don't want you in any more fights!" Ezio looked up at the ceiling with annoyance as his mother fussed over him. She checked his pulse, his glands on his neck, his forehead, and scanned his face for any more bruises or cuts.

"Who did you even hear it from?" He asked, and Maria forced Ezio to look at her as she opened his right eye and shined a pen light in the eyes to check for dilated pupils. She let out a sigh of relief that her son was fine, and released him.

"Oh the entire town is talking about it! 'The Auditore's child nearly broke my kid's nose' or 'Maria, you better watch Ezio or he might end up seriously injuring someone'." She threw her hands up in the air while she talked to emphasize her point, and Ezio raised an eyebrow. Who's nose did I nearly break?

"Mother, it was six against-,"

"I don't want to hear it, Ezio! Next time I hear that you got into some fight I'm going to ground you for a month- no tv, no phone, no partying, and you'll work at the bank with your father during any free time that you have." Maria sighed, and her fierce expression softened. "I'm sorry, but I don't want you injuring someone else, or worse- yourself." Ezio opened his mouth to argue, but then shut it at the annoyed look his mother gave him. They sat in a tense silence for several minutes, until Ezio sighed.

"I understand, mom." He dropped his gaze to the floor, and Maria placed her hand over his. She smiled apologetically at her son, and Ezio knew that she hated to yell at him.

"Good, I just want you safe." She let out a breath and got up to grab an apple from the fruit basket on the counter top. Ezio stood up and started to head out when Maria called after him.
"Ezio! Can you drop off Petruccio at his soccer camp? You can spend the rest of the day with Federico." Maria smiled as she returned to her old self and Ezio relaxed as he felt the mood shift to normal.

"I can't promise you that," the teenager said as he walked back to grab an apple and he kissed Maria's cheek. He slipped on his shoes, which caused him to nearly loose his balance and hop around. Ezio placed a hand on the counter top so he wouldn't fall over and once he slipped on his shoes successfully. He took a large bite from the apple and walked over to grab his keys.

"Love you, mom." Ezio said as he put his hand on the door knob and Maria said, "Have a good day. And try not to get into too much trouble with Fed." He sent his signature trouble maker grin toward his mother then exited the house.

Ezio walked into the front yard and saw his brother playing soccer with Petruccio. He smiled at the sight, and jogged over to meet his brothers.

"What's this? You might just beat Federico, little brother!" Petruccio looked up and grinned ear to ear at Ezio, which allowed Federico to take the ball from his youngest brother. "Hey!" He shouted at the older Italian, who laughed and said, "You're good, but I am still your older brother!" Federico kicked the soccor ball and it landed in the corner of the goal. Petruccio groaned, and Federico laughed and thumped him on the back. "One day. Maybe."

The two brothers jogged over to meet Ezio, who was looking at his wrist like a watch was there. Federico rolled his eyes and said, "Took you long enough, were you fixing your hair, or getting yelled at by mom? Petruccio and I had to find something to do while you took your sweet time." He laughed as he slapped Ezio on the back. Petruccio also laughed and said, "He was probably drying off after you woke him up, Fed."

Ezio rolled his eyes and said, "I do not need this abuse."

"Are you pouting?" Federico asked jokingly, and Ezio scowled at him, "No I'm not!"

"Yes you are. Can we go to soccer? I'm going to be late," Petruccio asked, and the two older brothers stopped their rising debate. "Alright. But I'm driving," Federico said as he took the keys out of Ezio's hand and headed toward the car. Ezio sighed through his nose, but allowed his older brother to get his way. For now, at least.


I hope you liked it! Be sure to r&r, and if you want anything special to happen- just let me know! Vale!