She's sorry?

I frowned in confusion, moving up into a sitting position as I reached out with my arm to pull her down next to me. "What are you sorry for, Rose?"

She sobbed again, and I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her into my lap, slowly rocking her back and forth whilst murmuring somewhat soothing words to her.

She choked out again, "I'm so- so sorry," she hiccuped, "I never- realised, I-"

"Rosalie, calm down," I whispered, tightening my arms around her. "Calm down, and then we'll talk, okay?"

She nodded against my shoulder, her body shuddering with each sob. I hated seeing her so upset, and I couldn't for the life of me think what she was so upset about.

At one point I she was sobbing so hard I thought she was going to hyperventilate.

She didn't, thankfully.

Her sobs eventually died down after a while, and she inhaled then exhaled shakily before smiling at me sadly, her cerulean eyes puffy and rimmed red with her tears. "You know, even though you're only two and a bit years younger than me, you are so much stronger."

I frowned at her, confused, "What are you talking about, Rose? You're the strongest person I've ever met."

She shook her head at me, sniffling quietly before wiping her eyes, "No, E. You are so much stronger. I," she inhaled slowly before continuing, "I overheard you and Mum and Dad's conversation in the kitchen a little while ago."

I tensed slightly, "And? What did you hear?"

Rosalie leaned her head against my shoulder and she whispered, "Everything."

I sighed, leaning my head against hers. "It's nothing, Rosalie."

"Nothing? You call these feeling you've had for years, nothing?"

I shrugged my left shoulder, "Don't worry about it."

She sat up and glared at me, "You are my little brother, of course I worry!"

I sighed.

She continued, "And I feel so bloody guilty right now because I've been treated like a princess my whole life, and you've been miserable the whole time! Come on, Edward! Seriously? Why didn't you tell me?"

I swallowed, "What did you expect me to say, Rose? Huh? Did you expect me to walk up to you one day, crying and moaning about how I think our father hates and resents me? You know me, Rosalie, admit it. You know I would never do anything like that."

She sighed deeply, "I wish you would've, Edward. I truly do. It would make things easier in the long run." She ran her hands through her hair before looking up at me, "Dad always gave me attention and praise, and I just don't understand how he couldn't be proud of you! I mean, you are so smart! You get great grades, better than I did at your age, and I studied even more than you do! How could he not be impressed by that?" She asked me, shaking her head incredulously.

I sighed heavily, "I don't know, Rose. We're all gonna talk in the morning apparently, though I doubt it will achieve much if I'm honest."

"Negativity doesn't get you anywhere, Edward." She whispered sadly, "I wanna be there." Her eyes flickered determinedly.

"You don't have to be."

"I want to. I've been a sorry excuse for a big sister and I want to help you and support you." She shrugged, looked down and picked at her grey yoga pants.

"You're not a bad sister, Rose, you're great. And I love you."

She looked up, smiled and hugged me. "I love you, too, Edward." She sighed, "But I still should've realised what Dad was doing to you, and that you were miserable."

I shook my head, "Don't Rose. I was good at hiding it."

"Yeah, you were..."

We stayed up a little while longer whilst the seriousness of the conversation dwindled, and Rose passed out against my side.

I didn't want to wake her so I lay her down in my bed and stole one of my pillows to sleep on my couch.

I closed my eyes, and drifted off to sleep...

~BSF~

"Edward.. Edward. Edward, wake up!" I heard my mum whispering to me hours later.

I groaned and rolled over, throwing an arm over my face as I slowly accustomed to consciousness. "Mmm, what?"

"It's time to wake up, baby."

I blinked my eyes open slowly, before squinting up at her. "What time is it?"

"A little after 11." She run her delicate fingers through my hair.

I yawned quietly before glancing over towards my bed, "Mum, where's Rose?"

"I just woke her up five minutes ago, she's away to freshen up and get changed before coming downstairs. Edward, why was she in here?"

I sighed, "She, uh, she heard everything we said last night. She felt guilty and came in here sobbing and apologizing."

She smiled sadly, "I figured it was something like that." She sighed, bending down to kiss my forehead. "We have a lot to talk about, baby. You know that, right?"

I rolled my eyes behind my eyelids, "Of course I do, Mum."

I sat up and she sat down next to me on the couch, grabbing my hand and squeezing tightly. "I need you to be honest when we all talk, Edward. No holding back. You tell us everything, everything, you understand me?"

I nodded, looking at her seriously. "I understand, Mum. I promise I will."

"That's all I ask, sweetheart." She sighed, standing up. "You ready?"

I looked up at her, took a deep breath before I stood up also. "As I'll ever be."

~BSF~

Now I could tell you every singled detail of that conversation, but that would be pretty pointless and boring.

The basic things were things I already knew, or had already figured out:

My father had a hard childhood, and his father resented him. I knew the feeling.

My father's father hated him until the day he died. Yes, this was awful, but I was in fear of that exact same thing.

Would my own father hate and resent me all his life? Would he?

I didn't know. I truly, truly hoped not.

There were arguments, shouting, screaming, tears, bitterness and there was a whole lot of anger.

My mother and Rose spent the whole time crying.

At the end of it all, we all decided that me and my father were going to try and settle things, and reach a place where the father-son bond could develop.

With all the bitterness I held, and the resentment I knew he felt, it was going to take a whole lot of time to get to that place.

But we could do it. We WOULD do it. Because there is no way in hell that my new baby brother, or sister, would come into this world where their father and brother were at each others' throats.

No way at all.

Yes, my father had truly, truly hurt me. Deeply. But I was aiming to forgive him, eventually. And I hoped he was thinking the same thing.

We had a lot to get over, and a lot to hash out. But we were in agreement on one thing.

We would try.

We would try for my mother; we would try for Rose; we would try for the baby...

And most importantly? We would try for us.

So yeah, hi. It's been a while! This story took a dramatic turn, one I wasnt even expecting in the last few chapters and I knew in my heart that it wouldn't last too long - especially not the really heavy, intense shit. It is still gonna be there for a while, but it's gonna be more subtle from now on. This story isn't focusing on the strained relationship between a child and their parent, but rather how teenagers get themselves into somethins so deep, they struggle to find a way out of it. I hope I'm doing this story justice, and thank you (a lot) if you're still here with me.

Back soon! Kirsten x