Part 2 is here. There will be a surprise in this chapter, not one that you will expect. Anyway, enjoy!

Walking back towards the principal's office, Cailin held Stephen's hand. Her gaze was pointed to the floor of the main hallway, she felt numb. Everything seemed like a blur. Silence surrounded them; only Stephen's heavy footsteps could be heard. She swore that walk to the principal's office was the longest walk of her life. Stopping in front of the door, Stephen wrapped his arm around her. She looked up at him with another pained expression.

"Please don't make me go back in there Stephen." He looked down. She was crying again. He held her closer to him. He could feel her shaking, he could hear her whimpering. Running his fingers slowly up and down her back, he kissed her head.

"Shh love. It's okay, I'm here." She looked up at him. "I gotcha." Resting her head on his chest, she nodded. "Yeh okay teh go?" Taking in a deep breath, she nodded. She needed to be brave. Stephen turned the handle and pushed the door open. Every head in the room turned towards the door as Cailin and Stephen walked in. Cailin breathed heavily as she sat back down. Feeling nauseous again she held her stomach. She felt Stephen's presence beside her, his hand rubbing her back.

"An bhfuil tú ceart go leor, Cailin?" (Are you okay, Cailin?) Mr Ó Branagáin asked. Cailin looked at Stephen. "No. I'm not." Standing up, she felt an overwhelming sense of courage wash over her. "What happened two days ago, that was quite possibly the worst experience of moy life! And that wasn't the only time they bashed me either. It's happened so many times before, but I was too scared teh say anything." Tears were running down her face but she didn't care. She was saying what she needed to say. "Never in moy life, had I been so scared and helpless." She turned to her brother. "But I am so lucky, to have a brother like Stephen. Without him, I don't know what I would have done." Stephen smiled. He felt his eyes prick with tears. He was only being a brother, trying to protect her. Cailin smiled at him. She then held out her hand for him to take. And Stephen, with a tear rolling down his face, took hold of her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. He was so proud of her, and he wasn't ashamed to let it show. They smiled at each other. Then Cailin turned to Mr Ó Branagáin and said "Is cuma liom cad freastal ort mar phionós. Ach tá mé láidir, agus tá mé ag bogadh ar aghaidh." (I don't care what you serve as punishment. But I am strong, and I am moving on.) She turned and looked at the girls. They were looking at the floor, with their hands in their laps. Did they feel guilty? She couldn't tell, but she could see they were scared. Mr Ó Branagáin sighed heavily.

"Maith go leor cailíní. Tá brón orm, ach tá mé aon rogha ach tú a chur ar fionraí ar feadh dhá sheachtain." (Okay girls. I am sorry, but I have no choice but to suspend you for two weeks) Gasps were heard from all parties on the other side of the room. The girl's faces were wide eyed with surprise. "Agus tú ag eisiamh ó ghníomhaíochtaí seach-churaclaim ar feadh míosa." (And exclude you from extracurricular activities for a month.)

"Wow." Cailin thought. That wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Oh well, at least they would pay. She looked at the girl's parents. They were obviously very angry. She then looked at the girls. They were shaking their heads and talking amongst themselves. She could tell they were upset. But they deserved it for everything they had did to her. She felt a hand on top of hers. She looked up at Stephen, who was still smiling. She smiled back. All of those words she had said, had been influenced by him. She felt brave and strong, all because of her brother. And all the pain and anguish had disappeared, because she had a brother who loved her and wanted nothing but to protect her and to give her the strength to carry on. That's why she loved him so much. Because he loved her just the same, unconditionally.


Stepping outside, Cailin sighed. She had done it. Walking onto the gravel path towards the gates, she smiled. She had been brave enough to say what she felt. She felt so proud of herself. She looked behind her to see Stephen smiling at her. She smiled as she wrapped her arms around her brother, him returning the loving embrace.

"Cail. I am so proud of you," he whispered in her ear, his breath tickling. Giggling, she looked at him.

"Thank you. Thank you so much Ste." Ste. He hadn't heard that in a while. He smiled as he picked her up and hugged her once again. She wrapped her arms around his neck, the biggest smile spread across her face. She was so lucky and she wouldn't trade her loving brother for anyone in the world. "Stephen?"

"Yes love?"

"You, can, put me down now." He laughed.

"Sorry love." He grunted as he put her down and put his hands on her arms. Cailin sighed.

"So. What do we do now?" Stephen thought for a moment.

"I have an idea. Let's go get ice cream!" Cailin smiled.

"Okay!" Stephen grinned.

"Alrigh' love. Let's go!" They began to walk back to the car when Cailin suddenly stopped. While Stephen continued walking, she stared at the car park near the gardens. In plain sight she could see Aisling walking slowly to her car. She looked up to see Cailin in the distance. Cailin felt her stomach tie in a knot, until Aisling smiled at her. It wasn't a grin, or a smirk. It was a genuine smile, almost if she were apologising with her face. Cailin smiled back. She had forgiven. Cailin snapped her head to the right to see Aisling's dad approaching his daughter. He looked quite angry. Cailin felt a little scared. He began to shout at Aisling, who folded her arms and looked to the ground. What happened next would make Cailin gasp in horror. Aisling's dad took his big right hand, raised it and hit her in the side of the head, almost knocking Aisling of her feet. The crack seemed to echo in Cailin's ears. She gasped loudly but quickly covered her mouth. Aisling's dad looked up. He had spotted her. She froze. His stare was intense; she could feel it rocking her insides. She wanted to break the stare, but for some reason, she couldn't. She started to breathe heavily. She looked at Aisling who was holding her face.

"Aisling." She felt a sense of guilt. Was this the reason for the bullying? Was it because she was bullied at home?

"Cail? Yeh comin'? Whoops. Stephen. She looked at Aisling's dad once more before walking away. Stepping up into the car, she put her belt on. Stephen looked at her closely. She looked shocked.

"Cail?" She looked at him.

"Hmm?"

"Yeh okay?" She didn't quite know what to say. She had never seen a father hitting his daughter before, not like that. Her daddy had never hit her and it had come as a shock to her system.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, sending him a small smile.

"Alrigh' then. Let's get outta here, yeah?" He smiled at her. She smiled back.

"Let's go!" Reversing out of the car park, they exited Scoil Chaitríona, leaving Cailin's bad experiences behind to spend the rest of their day together as brother and sister.


Sitting in Murphy's Ice Cream Shop, Cailin and Stephen sat chatting with their ice creams. Stephen had opted for a chocolate sundae, just for indulgence, while Cailin delved into a delicious banana split.

"Ste?" Stephen looked at her.

"Yes love?" She paused for a second.

"You know how you asked me what was wrong, in the car before we left?"

"Yeah?" She sighed. She didn't want to say anything, but she had to get it off her chest.

"I saw Aisling, walking to her car." Stephen nodded. "And she looked at me like-"

"What did she do?" Stephen interrupted. Cailin sat with her eyes wide open.

"Nothing, keep yeh hair on Ste," she smiled. Stephen puffed out loudly. "Anyway, she looked at me. And she smiled at me." Those words really caught Stephen's attention. He looked at her in disbelief.

"Really?"

"Yeah, and the best part is, it seemed like she was apologising. With her smile, yeh know?" Stephen couldn't help but grin. "And, I smiled back. I forgave her." Stephen wasn't surprised. Cailin was always a forgiving person, very sweet and kind and always saw the good side of people, no matter how bad they were. "But that's not what's bothering me."

"No? What's wrong love?" She sighed, playing with her ice cream. She didn't quite know how to put her feelings into words.

"I saw Aisling's dad come out afterwards." Stephen sat watching her. He frowned, wondering what she was going to say. "He was yelling at her and-"She paused, her voice had started to crack. She breathed heavily and hung her head.

"It's okay love, take yeh time," Stephen reassured her. Breathing in, she croaked, "He hit her." Stephen's eyes opened wide. He breathed out in disbelief.

"Really? Yeh saw that?" She nodded.

"He nearly knocked her over Ste." Stephen breathed out heavily.

"Wow." Stephen couldn't believe it either. Both of them had never been smacked or hit by their parents. It hurt him to hear that Cailin had witnessed that.

"Maybe that's why she's such a bully at school," Cailin said. "Because she's bullied at home." She felt an overwhelming sense of guilt and anger. While she was going through pain and anguish, Aisling must have been going through something much worse. She looked at Stephen who in turn, looked at her. "Do you think that's the reason?" He looked at her a while, then sighed.

"I don't know, love. It's a big possibility." Cailin shook her head.

"Poor Aisling." She whimpered; bad thoughts were entering her head. She couldn't bear to see another girl suffering. She, of course, didn't count. Stephen saw the pained expression etched across her face for the umpteenth time today and decided it was time to leave.

"Come on lassie. Let's go." Grabbing their belongings, they exited the Ice Cream Parlour and back to their car. Belting up, Cailin sighed. She still couldn't believe what she saw. That was a really hard hit, the crack was so loud. She can still remember what is sounded like.

"Yeh wanna go teh St Stephens Green?" Stephen asked. Cailin smiled. Stephen knew how much she loved St Stephens Green and took her there as often as he could.

"Yes!" Stephen smiled as he drove out of the car park and headed out towards St Stephens Green.


Walking through the arch of St Stephens Green always made Cailin feel like a child again. As a little girl, she, Stephen and their parents would go and have picnics there. She loved looking at the flowers and the trees, it felt wonderful to her.

"Hey grá, breathnú amach!" (Hey love, look out!) Squealing, she felt herself being hoisted into the air, higher than she should be. Giggling, she held on to Stephen tightly as he spun her around in his arms.

"Don't fall over!" She yelped as he poked her side.

"Don't worry love, I won't! I gotcha!" Cailin's laugher made him so happy. It was the first time he had heard her laughing like this for a while. Laughing, he stopped spinning and continued walking with Cailin still in his arms.

Sitting by the tree near the lake, Cailin and Stephen watched the ducks swimming. Watching them swim by with no care in the world. Hearing them quack away, Cailin smiled.

"Waak waak, waak waak waak waak!" Cailin suddenly burst out, trying to talk to the ducks. Looking down, Stephen gave her a funny look.

"Cail?" He asked, laughing at her. Smiling, she looked up at him.

"What?" she asked. Stephen shook his head, laughing.

"What on earth are yeh doin"?

"Talkin' teh the ducks." He just looked at her. She was so eccentric, but that's what he loved about her. "Waak waak, waak waak! Waak! Waak!" Stephen sighed. He was going to do it.

"Waak waak, waak waak waak waak!" He burst out suddenly, earning giggles from Cailin. They both 'waaked' at the ducks for ages, laughing as they went along. Then all of a sudden, Stephen pounced on her and began tickling her. Squealing she wriggled and writhed, freeing herself from his grip. She then jumped on him and began to play wrestle with him, laughing and squealing. He laughed along with her, loving that she was having fun. She loved it when she could be silly with Stephen; it was such a contrast to his in-ring character that only few people could see. That's what made moments like these so special. Because she knew who he really was. Not a scary beast, but a fun, loving and caring individual who she was proud to call her brother.


Walking through the Green on the way back to the car, Cailin yawned. It was only 6, but she was still exhausted. The Green would be closing soon so they had to leave. Stephen held her close as they walked. Resting her head on her brothers chest as they walked Cailin yawned again. Stephen looked down at her and smiled. She looked so sweet and innocent. He then got an idea.

"Cail?" She looked up at him through sleepy eyes.

"Yeah?"She said sleepily.

"Do yeh want me teh carry yeh?" She continued looking at him.

"Nah," she mumbled. She didn't see the big rock in her path, she was getting closer. She tripped over it, stumbling.

"Woah!" She didn't fall, but it was one of those stumbles that means 'Watch where you're going.' And also having Stephen holding onto her helped a lot.

"Come on love. I don't want yeh havin' any accidents." And with that, he scooped her up and carried her in his arms through the Green. He didn;t care if there were any people around, he wanted to carry her so she could rest. He kissed her on the head, nuzzling her as he did. Resting her head on her brother's chest, Cailin sighed contently. The slow and heavy rising of her brother's chest and the beating of his heart were sending her away into a sleepy state. Before she drifted off to sleep, she whispered softly.

"Go raibh maith agat deartháir mór. Is breá liom tú." (Thank you big brother. I love you.) And she let her eyes drift shut, the swaying of her brothers movements finally putting her to sleep.


Stirring, Cailin opened her eyes. She glanced around. Where was she? Whose bed was she in? She shot up, but calming down after realising where she was. She was in her bed in her own room with her duvet pulled over her keeping her warm. But how did she get here? The last thing she remembered was Stephen carrying her. Stephen.

"He put me teh bed." She sighed. Why was he so good to her? She pushed the duvet back and realised she was still in the clothes she was in that day. Getting up and changing into her pyjamas, she creeped out into the corridor. The lights were off but there was a dim glow coming from another room. Walking to the doorway of the lightly dimmed room, she peered in. And smiled. Stephen was asleep in his bed; she could hear his heavy breathing. Tiptoeing in, she looked at him for a while. She rarely saw her brother sleeping and it was intriguing to her. She smiled, and leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Oíche mhaith, Stephen." She turned off the lamp that he had left on and left the room quietly as not to wake her gentle giant of a brother. But little did she know, that in the darkness of his bedroom, he was smiling. She was the sweetest girl he knew and he felt so lucky to have a sister like her. And there was no way he would ever let her down again.

Wow! This is one of my favourite chapters I have ever done! Thank you so much to NinjaGirlX1989 and MissShelz for the awesome reviews! If you want, recommend my story to others! I love sharing my work with people! Sorry for taking so long! I hope you enjoyed it and I really hope you're enjoying the story so far! I'm trying to think of some new directions for this story to go, including a tiff between Cailin and Stephen! Let me know of any ideas you may have! :-) xoxo