Broken

Chapter 14

April

"What?"

Fang nodded his head, putting on a tie. "Now get up and get ready."

"Fang, I've never even gone to church!"

"You have to."

"No."

"Max, come on," he begged. "Tyler's getting baptized, alright? This is important."

I looked at the bedroom door, where Tyler stood. "Baby, do you want me to go?"

He looked sad, staring at the ground. "You don't have to, Max. I don't care."

I knew he cared. "Are you sure?"

"Max," Fang groaned. "Get up, you know that you're going."

I sighed, getting out of bed. "Fine. Go away, Tyler."

I was trying to sound annoyed, but it was obvious from the look on his face that he knew I wasn't that upset.

"I don't wanna," Chris complained a few minutes later as we got them ready. Fang was wearing a tie, but I and the boys were just wearing jeans and shirts. Tabitha wasn't going. She refused. Whatever. Brat.

"Yes, you do," I said, pulling a shirt over his head. "You love your brother."

"No," Lance whined as Fang dragged him out of the room to go brush his teeth. "I'm seepy!"

"You can take one stuffed animal," I told Chris. "One that doesn't talk."

"All talk."

"Out loud, baby."

He picked Mr. Tiger. "Weady to goes!"

"It's ready, baby."

"Me know. Weady!" He slipped on his jacket before walking out of the room. I rolled my eyes, following. Neo and Jason were already ready, along with Cody. James had spent the night with his grandparents and would be there.

"Fang," I called. "Come on."

"What 'bout Lucas?" Neo asked me.

"He's at Dr. Martinez's," I said. "He's gonna be there."

"Dr. Martinez don't go to Dan's church," Neo told me.

"I know, but she's coming to support Tyler, just like us," I said, picking Chris and Mr. Tiger up. "Fang!"

"Coming," he grumbled, walking in with a still whining Lance. When Lance saw Mr. Tiger, he hit Fang in the head.

"Wat!"

Fang groaned, letting the little boy go. "Get him and come on. Ty! You ready?"

"I really wished you'd come."

Tabitha didn't open her eyes. "That's nasty, Adeem."

"…It's me, Tabitha."

She rolled over. "What, Tyler?"

"I want you to come see me get baptized."

Sighing, she said, "I can't."

"Why not? You're my sister."

She looked at him. "Tyler, I'm not Christian. I refuse to go."

"So you're going to make a point at my expense?" He frowned. "Don't seem right."

"Not everything's right, some things just are."

He looked away. "Alex is coming and she's not Christian. She's Catholic."

"That's Alex's business, not mine." Who cared with stupid Alex did? Not Tabitha. "Besides, I'm Muslim."

"Stop it! You are not and you know that you're not." His patience was wearing thin. "You're my twin, Tabitha. You're supposed to support me, not use me as a freaking pawn."

"You're twelve years old. Get over it."

He frowned. "You're a shitty older sister."

"And you're a shitty Christian, cursing like that." She closed her eyes again. "Maybe you shouldn't be baptized."

"Ty!" His father's voice came from downstairs. "You ready?"

"I hate you," he said to Tabitha before slamming the door behind him.

I hate church. It makes me want to puke.

"Stay awake," Fang hissed in my ear as I started to drift off on his shoulder. I sighed, looking over at the boys. Chris and Lance were in the nursery with other little kids, but Jason and Neo both said that they wanted to be out here with us. Fang warned them that if they acted up in any way, they'd get sent to the nursery and then grounded.

Though right now the pastor was praying, Neo and Jason had a bible out, pretending to read it. They were nodding their heads randomly, looking very cute while doing so. I watched them most of the time, not really caring about the rest. Church is so boring. God. Hehe…

After church, Dan took Tyler and Alex out for lunch even though it was clear Fang wanted to. Tyler said that he wanted to go with Dan though, and Fang had to suck it up. It's his own fault, after all. He never spends time with Tyler, Dan does. As much as I don't like Dan, he does give up a lot of time to be with Tyler.

So, when we got home, Fang fed the kids before going with Lance and Chris to take a nap.

"What's wrong with Fang?" Neo asked.

"Daddy sick?" Jason asked, yawning. He and Neo were clearly tired, but they didn't want to seem like babies and take a nap.

"No," I told them, frowning. "He's just…kind of sad, I guess."

"Why? 'cause Tyler's a meanie face?" Neo cuddled against me as we sat down on the couch.

"No," I said as Jason climbed into my lap. "Because he just is, alright?"

"Max!" Tabitha came down the stairs. She had come down to get her food earlier, but taken it right back up to her room. "Can I see Adeem today?"

"No," I said, frowning at her. "Did you finish that history project? It's due tomorrow, right?"

"Yes," she groaned, frowning right back. "I'm not Tyler, you don't have to remind me of things."

"Just go away," I said, giving Jason a kiss. "Only positive attitudes in here."

"Then why are you in here?"

"…Go away."

"You should have come."

Cameron glanced at the bedroom door. "Did he look cute up there?"

"Seeing as I'm a man, I have to say no."

"As you?"

"Yes."

She smiled. "Where's Sam?"

"Dad took them out to eat and she went with them."

"Them?" Cameron yawned, pulling the blankets up around herself.

"Tyler and Alex."

"What about Fang? Figured he'd want to take Tyler out."

Damien shrugged, pulling off his shirt. "See? Sometimes I don't wear a shirt."

"It makes you so sexy," she mumbled, not really that into it. Damien got into bed, smiling when she ran her hands down his flat stomach.

"Max came."

"Really? Now I kind of feel bad."

He ran a hand down her head. "Did you ever get baptized?"

She closed her eyes. "Yeah, Damien."

"…You know a lot about God, for an atheist."

"I'm not a freaking atheist, Damien. I'm just not practicing at the moment."

"Or the century."

She sighed. "What do you want from me?"

"You grew up in the church, huh?"

"Yes."

He glanced down at her. "You weren't Baptist."

"How would you know?"

"I can tell."

She just buried her head in his chest. "I'm still tired."

"Then sleep," he sighed, reaching over to turn on the TV. "Just sleep."

June

First week of summer and it was hot.

"It's too hot."

Tabitha looked at Adeem. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Why can't we go over to Luther's and use his pool?"

"He's having his own party today," Tabitha said, frowning.

"So? Why can't we go?"

"It's an adult party."

"We won't mess anything up," Adeem went on.

"Not a dinner party, stupid. Like…a group sex thing."

Adeem laughed. "Luther?"

She huffed, laying her head down on his pillow. "It's not funny. I wish I didn't know about it."

"Why do you?"

"It's not like he tries to hide it that much."

Adeem shifted his attention back to Halo. "What about tomorrow?"

"I don't want to go over there at all, not knowing what just happened there."

Again, he just laughed at her. "You're such a baby."

"No."

"Yes, you are."

"Why? Just because I don't want to think about Luther having sex?"

"Why do you care if he does?" Adeem countered. "Ain't really none of your business."

"Ain't? Besides, yes it is."

"How?"

"He's like…my uncle."

"Not really."

"Kind of!"

"Still. You should be glad that he's still having sex."

"Why?"

"If he wasn't, it would mean that he was fat and ugly."

"Luther's not fat or ugly."

Adeem glanced at her. "I think that you're jealous."

"What?"

"You got a thing for Luther, huh?"

"No!" She pushed him. "That's nasty."

"Very," Adeem agreed. "You should be ashamed of yourself."

"God, Adeem, you're probably the one that has a thing for him!"

"No," he said truthfully. "Honestly, if I had to choose any of your family, I'd pick Max."

And that's why they stopped talking for a month.

Tabitha and Adeem aren't hanging out anymore. Every time I ask her why, she just blows me off, saying that it doesn't matter. She never liked him anyways. Whatever. I'm not that concerned. Besides, either the Kardashians are on or Kendra. Sometimes I luck out and it's After Lately.

"This show is way too mature for any of the kids," Fang said, coming into the living room. "And yet you have them all in here."

"Shhh," I hissed. "I've only seen this episode five times."

"Max," he said, shaking his head. "Come on, boys. Let's go up to the attic."

"But I wanna see if Kim gets back with Reggie," James complained as Fang took them all up the stairs. I frowned.

"She doesn't, James," I called. Now, where was I?

Two hours later, my marathon was off and I took a nap. When I woke up, Chris was on my stomach, staring down at me.

"What are you doing?" I whispered, noticing the grim expression on his face.

"Hidin'."

"From who?"

"Daddy."

I sat up, making his fall into my lap. "Fang!"

He came running down the stairs. "There you are, Chris."

The toddler started crying, holding onto me.

"What happened?" I asked, getting up. I didn't let Fang have him though. "Huh, Chris?"

"Lance bit Neo and Chris stole Buzz," Fang said.

I looked down at the baby. "Did you do that?"

"No."

Fang sighed, moving past us. "I have to find Lance. He ran off too."

"Lance," I called. "Where are you?"

Tabitha had taken her father's laptop and was going though Adeem's facebook, making sure that he didn't think that it was okay to be talking to other girls even though they were kind of broken up, when her bedroom door opened.

"Hide!" Lance yelled, closing the door behind him. Chris banged on the door before running off down the stairs to his mother.

"What?" Tabitha didn't look up. "Go away."

"Gotta hide," he said, getting onto the bed with her. She pushed him back down gently.

"Under the bed."

He nodded, getting down on his knees before crawling under there.

"What are you hiding from?" She asked after she heard her father run by.

"Fang."

"Why?"

"He mad."

"What'd you do?" She asked, looking through Adeem's pictures. He had apparently gone to some kid's birthday party since their fall out. Only a few girls were there and none of them were too close to him.

"Bited."

"Bit."

"Yeah."

"Who did you bite, Lance?"

"Neo."

"What did he do?"

"No lets me 'n' Chris play wid Buzz!"

"That's not nice."

"Yeah."

"You shouldn't have bit him though."

"No."

"Yes," she said, going through his status updates. Her name had not been mentioned. "Don't bite. Why do you bite, huh? Do we taste good to your or something?"

Lance giggled. "Maked Neo bleed."

"Well, that's bad, Lance."

He crawled out from under the bed before getting onto it with her. This time, Tabitha didn't push him down. Giggling, Lance cuddled under her blankets.

"It's almost bedtime," Tabitha told him. "You need to eat and take your bath."

"Eat, no bath."

"Eat and bath."

He whined, but followed her out of the room to go ask Fang what was for dinner.

July

"Yeah, but Max…I don't want to go over there."

"Too bad," I told Tabitha as I put the boys in their swim trunks. "Luther's very nice for letting us use his pool."

"Yeah, after he's done with it."

"What do you mean?" I asked as Chris tried to pull off his swim trunks. He wanted red, but his were yellow. The red ones were Lance's old ones and way too big for him.

"No 'ike dem!" He yelled in my face.

"Too bad," I said before looking back at Tabitha. She sighed, going over to the dresser and pulling out a different pair of trunks. They were old; probably Tyler's from when he was younger.

"Here, these are red, Chris," she said before looking at me. "You know what he does over there."

I glanced at Chris to make sure that he was putting his shorts on correctly before realizing what she had said. "You don't need to know what he does over there."

"It's not like you guys don't talk in front of everyone at the store."

I frowned. "You are way too young-"

"Not too freaking young to watch those stupid TV shows with you?"

I sighed, now helping Lance into his orange shorts. "Tabitha, go away."

"No."

"I'm sure that he's cleaned up, okay?" I looked back at her. "Just…why do you care that much? You shouldn't even know about it."

"Whatever," she said before stomping out of the room.

"Mr. Tiger swim?" Chris asked, now happy that he got red shorts.

"No," I said. "But he can sit at the table and eat hotdogs."

"Come?"

"Yes, he can come."

"See fireworks, huh Max?" Lance asked as we walked out of the room.

"When it's night, yeah, we will."

He and Chris cheered, even though they both knew they were afraid of fireworks and always would cry until we took them home.

When we got to Luther's, he was already drinking, which is always nice. Not.

"Please, Fang?" I begged as he went and got into the pool with the kids. "I'll love you forever."

"No beer, Max," he said, frowning at me and then Luther. "I told you no drinking."

"My house, my rules," he said, taking another swig before jumping in. Chris went to the edge and reached out for Fang.

"Daddy!"

Fang took Lance in one arm, Chris in the other. They giggled. Though they weren't able to swim, Fang always held them in the water so that they didn't complain too much. After about a minute, he sat them back down on the steps.

"Hey," I said to Cameron when they got there. She and Damien weren't touching or talking which meant that they were probably fighting. "What's wrong?"

"Damien's an ass."

"Cameron."

She huffed, sitting down next to me. "He made me come."

"Why?"

"He didn't think that me staying home, watching a Jail marathon, was a good plan for this afternoon."

I watched as Sam went over to Neo and Jason. Though they were no longer together, she was still friends with them, mostly because there is no other kids for her to play with when she was over at our house. Damien got them a Frisbee to play with before coming to sit down next to us.

"Hey, Max," he greeted.

"Hey."

"Who has the store today?"

"No one," I said, shrugging. "Not like we ever sale anything anyways."

Tabitha, who refused to swim, was inside Luther's house with Tyler and Alex. They were supposed to be watching TV, but they found watching R-rated movies more fun. Luther surprised them a few minutes later by walking into the house.

"Luther-"

"Don't care what you're watching, just don't let your parents know," he said, walking past the living room. When he came back, he had something in his hand. "Here, Tabs."

"What is it?" She asked, going over to him.

"A phone," he said, handing it to her. "Your own cell phone. Iphone."

"You bought her an Iphone?" Tyler got really upset really fast. "That's not fair!"

"Chill out, little guy," Luther said, smiling as she hugged him. "I'll get you one when you're her age."

"We're twins."

"…I was a little high when I bought it. Forgot. Oops. Oh well. You don't have a lot of friends anyways."

"What?"

"…A little buzzed," Luther said, walking away. "Didn't really mean that. I'll get you one in a year or two, Tyler."

"What?"

Tabitha smiled, following Luther out of the house.

"She cannot keep it," I told Fang.

"Why not?" He took his trunks before going into the bathroom. We were finally home, already having seen the fireworks.

"Tyler doesn't have one, Fang."

"So?" He turned on the shower.

"That's favoritism!"

"And?" He looked at me. "Tabitha helps out with the younger kids, she does her homework, keeps her room clean, has the best grades. So what if she has something that he doesn't?"

I shook my head at him. "This is why Tyler chooses Dan over you."

Fang got mad at me. "Shut your fucking mouth."

"Why don't you make me?"

He slammed the bathroom door closed. Big baby…

In the end, Tabitha got to keep her phone. And, she decided that it was time to talk to Adeem again.

"So it's yours?" Adeem took the phone from her. "Forever?"

"Yeah," she said. "Luther said that he's just showing how much he loves me."

"Wow," he said, turning it over in his hands. "I don't have anything from Apple."

"Yeah."

"I bet Tyler's jealous," he said as he handed it back.

"He's always jealous of me," Tabitha said, rolling her eyes. They were over at his house, in his backyard. It was late, almost eight, and he dad would be there in an hour. "Max tried to take it from me."

"Why?"

"Because Tyler didn't get one."

"Max is a bitch."

"I know," Tabitha said, trying to keep thoughts of what he had said about her a month ago out of her mind. "She's just jealous of me."

"Yeah," he said, though he found that hard to believe. Max was amazing…not that Tabitha needed to know that. It wasn't a Stacy's Mom situation, but he definitely wouldn't complain if he accidentally saw Max naked…

"What do you want to do?" She asked. Right now, they were just looking at the sky, not really doing anything but talking.

"Whatever you want to do."

Sometimes, it gets boring always choosing what they do. Didn't mean that she was planning to vacate that position anytime soon.

After Fang came home with Tabitha, we went to bed. All the little kids were already asleep and, now that they had told me to stop, I no longer tucked Cody and James in. Whatever. I don't care.

"I'm so tired," Fang said, rolling onto his stomach. "Rub my back for me?"

I frowned. "Why? Are your pills not-"

"It's just tight, that's all," he said, smiling at me. "Come on. If you do, I'll cuddle tonight."

"What makes you think I want that?"

"Then what do you want?"

"Go into work for me tomorrow," I wagered.

"Ain't that tight."

"Fine then."

He groaned. "Please, baby?"

"Fine."

An hour later, Fang was sound asleep and I was watching TV.

"Max?"

I looked at the door. "Hey, Neo."

"Can I sleep with you?"

I looked over at Fang. Dressed. All clear. Lifting up the blanket, I nodded my head. He crawled up next to me.

"What's wrong?" I asked, pulling him to me.

"…I don't wanna go to school," he suddenly began to wail.

"What's wrong?" Fang sat up quickly. "Are the kids okay?"

"It's just Neo," I said, kissing the boy's head. "Baby, why don't you want to go to school?"

"It's scary!" He cried, holding onto me. He started dry heaving. "I wanna stay home."

"School's not for another month," Fang said, laying back down. "Stop it."

Fang wasn't very good at caring when he was tired. I gave Neo another kiss.

"Baby, it's okay," I said, trying to calm him. "School's not that bad."

"Jay no there, Sam not in class…I'm all alone!"

"Now that's not true," I said, turning off the TV. "Calvin from down the street is starting school too. You like him too, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Mark from next door is. Tressa, she is too," I said. "All your little friends are starting, just not Jason and Sam."

He sniffled. "I guess so."

"See?" I gave him a kiss. "You don't have anything to worry about."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Guess not."

"Good. Now go to sleep," I said, covering us both over. "Goodnight."

"Night," he said, moving closer to me. "Love you."

"I love you too."

That night, Luther was at home, watching a porno, when there was a knock on the door. Grumbling, he pulled up his pants and went to answer the door.

"What?"

"Luther!"

Oh shit.

"So this is your…girlfriend?" Fang stared at her. "Uh…hi. I'm Fang."

I just looked at her before going to sit down. "Max."

"My name is Valerie," she said, smiling at us. "You can just call me Val."

"Or bad one night stand," I mumbled, but shut up after a glare from Fang.

"So, I just thought you guys should meet her," Luther said. "Max, can I see you in the office before we leave?"

Grumbling, I got up and followed him. When we got in there, he looked at me with big eyes.

"Max, you have got to help me," he said. "Please-"

"What?" I asked, going to lay down on the couch. Way better than the counter… "What's the matter?"

"She's saying that she's pregnant, but I don't remember ever-"

"What?" I sat up. "Luther-"

"I didn't sleep with her," he said, sounding like he was going out of his mind. "I really didn't. At least I don't think I did…"

I sighed. "Why else would she say it's yours? And since when has there been a girl that you haven't slept with?"

He frowned. "I don't really remember. We were going to, but…I don't remember. I just don't."

"What do you want me to do?"

He stared me straight in the eyes. "I have a plan, but Fang might not like it."

"I'm in," I said. "Whatever it is, I'm so in."

And so, that's how I ended up getting drunk with this girl. We were at a bar, Fang secretly seated a little ways away, just to make sure I didn't get too out of hand. Of course, he was oppose to this from the beginning, but he had no choice, but to go along with it.

"That many kids?" She took another sip of her drink. "Damn."

"I know, huh?" I finished my fifth. "You know what? I think that you'll be a horrible mother, drinking while pregnant."

She laughed the loud, drunk girl laugh. "You wanna know a secret?"

She leaned close to me. I nodded my head frantically. "Yeah. What?"

"I'm not pregnant," she said. "We almost slept together, but he was coming off his high so he got tired and went to sleep."

I laughed my drunk laugh. "Really?"

"Really." Then she leaned close again and kissed me. I was confused by this when I felt something pick me up.

"Time to go," Fang said, throwing me over his shoulder. He gave the bartender a hundred. "Keep the change."

He carried me out of the bar. Well then.

"So?" Luther asked as we got back into the car. "What happened?"

"She's not pregnant," Fang said, putting me into the backseat. He buckled me up and gave me a kiss on the head.

"Great!" Luther smiled as Fang got into the passengers seat.

"She kissed me," I told Luther, closing my eyes. I wasn't completely gone, in my opinion. Fang and Luther clearly thought so though, as they made me repeat myself twice before they understood what I said.

"Really?" Luther suddenly brightened. "Let's go take Max back in there, Fang!"

"No," he said, frowning. "Max isn't like that."

"Yeah," I agreed. Then my eyes got big. "Fang, I gotta pee!"

"Great," he grumbled. "Drive, Luther."

When we got home, no one else was expect for Tyler and Tabitha. It was eight, but we had give all the other kids to someone else.

"Are you drunk?" Tabitha asked from the couch as Fang hauled me off to the bathroom.

"I'm just buzzed," I snapped at her. "Are you ac-acu…saying that I did something?"

"Tabitha, leave her alone," Fang sighed, making me go into our room. He took me to the bathroom before laying me down on the bed. "This was a bad idea."

I cuddled into the bed, now sleepy. "My stomach hurts, Fang."

"Shhh," he mumbled, walking out of the room. "Just be quiet."

"I can't believe that they actually did that," Damien said, shaking his head.

Cameron shrugged. Tonight, they had agreed to take James, Neo, Cody, and Jason so that Max could go out and get drunk. Lance, Chris, and Lucas were with Dr. Martinez.

"It's their business, Damien, not ours," she said, getting into bed. "Besides, you know that they're all kind of screwed in the head."

"No kidding," Damien said. "Why doesn't he just ask if she's really pregnant? Or take her to the doctor?"

"That's way too easy," Cameron said, running a hand down Peter's back. "They're just having fun."

"Well, Max and Fang are thirty this year," Damien said, sitting down. "All of us are too old to go out and get drunk."

"Hardly," Cameron said, dryly. "Maybe get drunk, but don't put us in walkers and graves yet, Damien."

"None of them have grown up," Damien said, closing his eyes.

"Yeah…did you take your Flintstone vitamins?"

"Yep," Damien said, cuddling into his Superman pillow. "Goodnight, Cameron."

"Night, omen," she said, rolling her eyes.