"Are you sure your mom wants me to join you? You're not just saying that?" she asked again as she lay her arm across him.

Will sighed into the darkness of her bedroom. "For the millionth time, yes." He replied before kissing her forehead.

"I'm driving you nuts, I know. I'm sorry, it's just…this is the first time I will be meeting your family and I want to make sure everything is right."

"Stop worrying. Everything is perfect. You're perfect. They're going to love you just as much as I do." His eyes popped open in shock. Feeling her stiffen slightly in his arms, he knew she'd heard it. Why couldn't she have fallen asleep already? Do I say something? No. Don't say anything. "Um, I mean…" Shut. Up.

She picked up her head and pulled herself up, placing a soft kiss on his lips. "Now, who's the one worrying?" It was dark, but he could still see her smile as she resumed her position in his arms.

Deciding to take that as a hint that he should shut up, he kissed the top of her head, inhaling the scent of her shampoo and soon followed her into sleep. What felt like hours later, he woke with a start, causing her to leave his side and roll over, grumbling in her sleep. He heard noise coming from outside of her bedroom and realized it was probably what woke him. Gently, so as not to wake her, he rose from her bed to search in the dark for any article of clothing to throw on. Locating his sweatpants, he quickly put them on and quietly opened her bedroom door.

Following the sounds to the kitchen, he finds Owen rummaging through her refrigerator, muttering to himself. "Hey. Trying to give your sister a heart attack?"

Owen quickly stood upright, holding his hand to his heart. "You scared the crap out of me!"

"Shhh! Alicia is sleeping." He said as walked over and hit the light switch, illuminating them in bright light, making both of them squint.

"Hmph. Of course you're here. There goes my plan of curling up next to her in bed." He muttered.

Sensing something was wrong, he took two beers out of the refrigerator and opened them up, handing one to Owen, gesturing for him to sit at the table with him. "What's up?"

Crossing his arms and sitting back in his chair, Owen eyed him with suspicion. "What are you doing with my sister?"

To say the question took him by surprise was an understatement. "Excuse me?"

Owen shrugged. "I may be younger, but I still fiercely protect my sister. I know there are a lot of girls that would love to be her. So…do I have to worry about having to dry her tears because you hurt her?"

Will smirked at this first glimpse into how much he loved his sister. "Look, maybe you're right. Maybe there are lots of girls that would love to be her; I have no idea because I only have eyes for Alicia. That's it. She's it for me. I'm not going to hurt her." He decided to stop there, not wanting to reveal anything more without first telling Alicia how he felt about her.

Accepting his response, he nodded his head and took a sip of his beer before smiling back at him. "Yeah. I knew that. It shows. I just wanted to hear it."

He shook his head, chuckling at him. "So…Want to tell me why you're here in the middle of the night?"

He sighed and leaned forward on the table. "You're taking my sister away from me."

"Owen, you're her brother. I could never take her away. Nor, would I want to."

"Nooooo. I mean for Thanksgiving. Our parents have been fighting a lot lately. Alicia is the one who keeps me sane when we're around them at times like this." He explained.

"Oh. I see. I'm sorry, man. I had no idea. Alicia didn't tell me."

"Well, she doesn't actually know yet how bad it is right now." Taking another sip of his beer, he shrugged. "It's ok. You guys leave in the morning, right?" Will nodded. "I'll drop you guys off at the airport and come back here to apartment sit for my sister while you're gone."

"Wait. Aren't you going back home to spend Thanksgiving with your folks?" Will asked, confused.

Owen shook his head. "No. With everything going on, I suggested my mom not cook and she was eager to comply."

Taking in this new information, Will thought about how nervous Alicia was and how he was not comfortable with her brother being alone for the holiday. Knowing full well that he should probably run this by her first, he made the decision on his own and made a promise to brace himself for her reaction later. "No way. You're not staying here. You're coming with us."

Obviously surprised by this, Owen sat up straight in his seat and looked at Will, curiously. "What? No. You guys go ahead with your plans and spend the holiday with your family." He waved his hand at him.

"We will. You're coming with us." He put his hand up to stop his objection. "I don't want to hear it. Don't worry about Alicia; she'll be fine with it." Finishing off his beer, he rose from his seat and placed the empty bottle in the trash. "Crash on the sofa. I'll grab you a pillow and blanket."

"Will," he smiled when he turned to look at him. "Thanks."

"No problem, man."


Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled when she felt Will's arm around her. This was a feeling she never tired of; waking up in his arms. Glancing at the clock on her nightstand, she saw that the alarm was set to go off shortly and groaned lightly in response. As much as she hated it to do it, she gently removed his arm from around her waist and rose from the bed. Grabbing her robe on her way, she headed to the bathroom to shower.

As she let the water run over her, she heard the door open and before she had a chance to grasp her bearings and check, Will stepped in behind her. She turned quickly, slipping on the wet floor and he reached out to grab her before she fell, pulling her close to him. "Whoa. Where are you going so quickly?" he teased.

Flustered, she looked up and took in his bed head, his sleepy puppy dog eyes and boyish grin. "I…I'm not…" she took a deep breath. "What are you doing in here?" she whispered.

Grinning wider, he eyed her up and down, making her blush. "I thought…" he kissed her neck softly. "We'd save time…" he kissed the spot behind her ear. "If we showered together." He said before leaning in to place a soft kiss on her lips.

Glancing up at him, she smiled. "That's not showering."

"Yes, it is." He said as he started to move her toward the wall. "It's showering you with kisses. Same thing." He shrugged, nonchalantly.

She giggled and shook her head as she raised her arms to place them around his neck. "You're lucky I set the alarm for much earlier than we needed to be awake." She gasped as her warm body met the cold tile of the wall.

"I know." He said before taking her mouth in a passionate kiss and lifting her from the ground. She moaned into the kiss as she wrapped her legs around him.

/

She stood by her bed, adding the last of her toiletries into her bag. "Are you sure you packed everything you need?"

"Yes. I promise." he wrapped his arms around her from behind and placed a light kiss on her neck. "Owen is here."

She turned quickly. "What? When did he get here?"

"Last night around 2."

Her eyes widened. "That's so late. Is he alright?"

Moving his head from side to side as if trying to find the right words, "He is…or was…a little upset."

"Oh no." She moved for the door. "Why didn't you tell me? Or wake me up when he came last night?"

Quickly, he maneuvered himself between her and the door. "Hold on. Before you go out there, let me at least bring you up to speed." She sighed and looked at him, urging him to continue. "Apparently, your parents are not getting along much right now." She looked away, but before she could move, he wrapped his arms around her. "He came here with the intention of taking us to the airport and coming back here to stay while you're gone."

"But…what about…?"

"He says your mom isn't cooking." She didn't reply nor look up. "Look babe, I know you might get upset at me for this…" she looked up to meet his gaze. "But, I told him that he's coming with us."

"You…what?"

"There's no way I can let us leave him here alone on a holiday. Besides, I know you're nervous about meeting my family so I thought that maybe having him with you would help." She didn't know what to say. "Look…" he sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "If you want, I can just tell my mom I came down with the flu or something and we can stay here with him." He offered.

"Will…" Smiling, she gently cupped his face and kissed him. "Thank you." She said as she placed her arms around his neck. "This means so much to me. You know how much I love my brother. I don't know what's going on with my parents, but I do know that it bothers him and I hate when he gets upset." Her voice cracking and feeling tears form in her eyes, she kissed him again.

"Hey, hey…no crying. I'm here for you, in every way, for whatever reason. That extends to your family, too." He told her, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Looking into his eyes and seeing the emotion in them for her, she made a decision about something she'd been struggling with long before they'd even started officially dating. "I love you."

The expression of shock that went across his face was hard to miss, but immediately followed by the biggest smile she'd ever seen on his face. "I love you, too, Leesh." It felt good saying it, finally. It felt even better hearing it from him. She noticed how he couldn't stop smiling as he leaned in to kiss her again, this time showing her how he felt for her and taking her breath away in the process. Reaching behind him for the doorknob, he reluctantly pulled away. "We should leave this room or we'll never go anywhere." Giggling, she followed him out.

"Oh look, the lovebirds have emerged to join me for breakfast." Owen commented from the kitchen.

"Aww, you made breakfast?" she said as she hugged him tighter than usual. "You didn't have to do that."

Dismissing her with a wave of his hand, he shook his head. "It's the least I can do."

"I should call to see about getting you on our flight." She said before snatching a slice of bacon from the plate.

"You know what? Why don't we just drive there?" she looked at Will, her eyes wide. "We have plenty of time and getting a last minute ticket will be nearly impossible and way too expensive." He said as he walked over to the coffee pot. "You even have the coffee ready! Way to go, man." He said as poured two mugs for him and Alicia.

"How long have you been awake?" she asked Owen.

Taking a deep breath, he turned to look at them. "Well, something you should know." He looked from her to Will and back, smirking. "Sound bounces off bathroom walls and echoes very loudly." He laughed at their expressions as she gasped, turning bright red and threw the piece of bacon she was munching on at him.