Another Family Weekend. Luckily for Matthew, the pills Lars had given him, whatever they actually were, helped him sleep through the night. He felt a bit groggy but prepared for the day to come.

He was walking to the Family Counseling Center when he saw Natalya lurking around the corner from reception. He hadn't spoken to her since their fight the day before, but his curiosity overcame his anger, and he walked up behind her.

"What are you looking at?" he asked in a hushed voice. The silvery blonde only nodded toward a group of people in response.

The group of people was actually three nurses and Lars. It looked like they were escorting him out of the facility.

"Did you do this?"

"I informed someone who informed someone," Natalya replied. "He won't come near you again."

"I didn't ask for this."

"You're too young to start whoring yourself out for drugs."

Matthew sighed. "Thanks, I guess." It was a relief to know he wouldn't run into Lars again. He really didn't want to do…that again. Not with him, at least. "I have to go to my session."

"Good luck."

He was surprised to find his parents and his twin waiting for him in the Family Counseling Center, but he tried not to show them this surprise. "Thanks for coming, you guys," he said. His parents nodded at him silently. "Al, it's really good to see you again."

"It's good to see you, too, Mattie," replied his brother with a smile.

The Joneses walked into the therapist's office together. There wasn't enough room on the couch for all four of them, so Matthew sat in a chair.

"Welcome, it's good to see you all here together," began the therapist. She quickly summarized Matthew's week, which from her perspective was pretty uneventful. So she must not know that I was the one involved with Lars. That was definitely for the best. "Did the three of you write letters like I asked you to last week?" His parents stared blankly at the woman, and Matthew felt like such a dweeb as he pulled out his letter.

"I have one," he said and began to read.

Dear Mom and Dad,

For most of my life, I've felt like the unwanted twin. When you talk about how great Al is, it makes me feel like I don't measure up. When you skip one of my games to go to one of Al's, I feel like I'm not as important as him. When I told you I was getting picked on by guys who thought I was Al, I didn't feel like you took me seriously. It always seems like I'm invisible to you guys compared to Al.

"Thank you for sharing that, Matthew," said the therapist when he finished. "Would you two like to respond to that?"

"It's not that we think less of you," said Mrs. Jones. "It's just that we know you can do better than what you're currently achieving."

"Yeah, if Al can get high grades in addition to all the sports he does, we expect you to work just as hard," added Mr. Jones.

"But we're not the same person; we don't have the same abilities!" Al blurted out. "Plus, I cheat to get my grades."

"What?" exclaimed the three remaining Joneses. Al looked at his parents like they were idiots.

"Well, yeah, I don't have time to do all my homework and study as well as practice enough to do well in football and baseball. That would be incredible."

"Why are you telling us this?" asked Mrs. Jones breathlessly.

"I wasn't ever planning to, but I can't let you guys use me to be tough on Mattie."

"I can't believe you've been cheating this whole time and didn't tell me," Matthew said, and his twin smiled at him wryly.

"I can't believe you didn't realize I've been cheating this whole time," he responded. "Mattie probably does better than I would in school without help, although he does smoke too much—"

"Thanks, Al, but you don't need to go that far to defend me," Matthew interrupted quickly. "Even if he wasn't cheating, Mom and Dad, you shouldn't compare us like that. Like he said, we're not the same person."

"Ah, uh, yes, I suppose so," stuttered Mr. Jones. Both their parents were clearly at a loss for words over their son's revelation.

"It seems like you have a few things to discuss with Alfred," said the therapist gently. "Unfortunately, we're almost out of time."

"That's alright, we'll speak with him at home."

Alfred grinned sheepishly, and Matthew felt a bit relieved about not being the trouble twin for once.

Seeing Niklas was like coming home, and Eiríkur couldn't keep himself from running into his brother's arms.

"Easy there," Niklas laughed. "They have me eating about 4000 calories a day, and if you hug me any tighter, I might pop."

"Deal with it," Eiríkur mumbled. He stepped back and looked at his older brother. He looked a little healthier, but it was hard to tell when he had only seen the older man a couple of times in the past few weeks. At least, it looked like the circles under his eyes were a little lighter.

"You look well, little brother." That, of course, led to Niklas fussing over him until Magnus showed up.

"Hello to my two favorite people in the world!" he said, pulling the brothers into a bear hug. Eiríkur didn't want to admit it, but it felt good. Really good.

"Mmm, you smell like coffee," Niklas whispered, leaning in to the larger man. Suddenly, Eiríkur felt like a third wheel again, and his stomach sank. He tried to step away, but Magnus held him tighter, planting a kiss on top of his head.

"Okay, that's enough," said the youngest, trying to wiggle out of the tangle of arms.

"Are we embarrassing you, Eiríkur?" Niklas teased with a smirk on his face.

"I think we should embarrass him some more," Magnus said, grabbing Eiríkur and mussing his hair up.

"Knock it off!" But despite how overwhelmingly annoying his brother and his brother's boyfriend were being, the boy couldn't help laughing with them. The awful feeling in his stomach dissipated.

Magnus finally released him and held both brothers at arm's length. "You both look a hell of a lot better than last time I saw you."

"I'm under so many restrictions to make sure I fully digest all my food," Niklas said quietly, looking down. "So I guess I don't have a choice."

"I'm under constant supervision, I can't talk to any of my friends, and they took away all our doors," Eiríkur said. "So I also don't have a choice."

Magnus hugged them both again and held them tightly until the therapist called them in. This week, it was Eiríkur's new therapist who led their session.

"You three look happy," he commented when they were all seated in the office.

"We're a family," Niklas said. "We're better off when we're together."

"Let's talk about how you two have been progressing. Niklas, it looks like you've been doing better since you started weighing in everyday."

"Weighing in?" Magnus repeated, and Niklas shifted uncomfortably.

"They're keeping track of my weight. They put me under more restrictions, so that I don't have to..." He stopped and shook his head. "I'm putting on weight, and that's all that matters."

Eiríkur could tell his brother wasn't saying everything, so he didn't mention that the nurses were checking his wrists everyday. He felt like his body no longer belonged to him. His therapist said a few words about how hard he was working.

"I want to work at the cafe," said the boy. "I need to find something to do, and I want to help out."

"Eiríkur, you don't need to help out," Niklas said.

"Somehow I don't believe that."

"We get by, kid," Magnus said, nudging his boyfriend. "But if you want to put in a few hours to make some extra cash for yourself, I don't see a problem." Niklas nodded silently.

"Eiríkur, I want to tell you something, but I don't want you to blame yourself," Niklas said quietly. The younger boy's stomach sank again, but he did his best to keep a neutral face.

"Okay."

Niklas quickly summarized his time with his last foster father and how his eating disorder began. Then, staring into his clasped hands, he told his younger brother how his appetite is tied to the latter's happiness. Eiríkur stared at him in horror for several moments

"So it is my fault," he finally managed. "I triggered all this, and now you're starving."

"No, no, I need to be stronger. And as your caretaker, I should have noticed earlier how much you were hurting."

"Speaking of caretakers," Magnus said gravely, "Eiríkur, there's something you should know."

"We agreed not to talk about this, Magnus," Niklas hissed.

"This concerns him, he deserves to know."

"Tell me," Eiríkur demanded. "You two have been keeping too many things from me."

His brother sighed heavily. "Child Services talked to me when you were in the hospital. They're worried I'm not taking proper care of you."

"But you already got custody of me, why would they check in after all this time?"

"Well, you going to the hospital with several cuts and scars raised a few eyebrows. That's why the doctors recommended I send you here."

"What's going to happen? They're not going to take me away, are they?" Eiríkur could feel tears building up behind his eyes, and he clenched his fists to hold them back.

"No," Niklas said firmly. "I'm not going to let anyone take you away. That's why I didn't want to tell you this."

"But this is all my fault, I've screwed everything up!"

"No, you didn't," Magnus said. "None of this is your fault, kid. We'll get through this, and everything will work out in the end, but never think that you caused it."

Eiríkur couldn't hold the tears back anymore.

Niklas wanted to take away all of his precious little brother's pain. "I don't ever want you to hurt," he said quietly.

"But you can't control that," answered the younger. "And there are some things that you just can't fix." The way he looked away and grabbed his wrist told Niklas exactly what "things" he was talking about.

"I hope you don't think you're one of those unfixable things," he said. "Because there's absolutely nothing wrong with you."

"I don't know about that." Eiríkur took a deep breath. "There's something I need to say too. I was wrong about Magnus. All this time, I was so awful to him, because I was jealous of the time you two had together. Magnus, I'm sorry again, and Niklas, I owe you an apology too."

Niklas snuck a look at Magnus, who just smiled warmly at the youngest of the three. What had changed with those two? Niklas knew they had spoken about the kiss, but what else did they talk about? And Eiríkur had let Magnus hug him and kiss him on the head, that was maybe even stranger than the kid apologizing for his behavior.

The three of them sat together after their session, munching on the treats Magnus had brought. Niklas was really sick of eating coffee cake, so he took the lemon poppy seed muffin intended for his boyfriend. He chewed slowly, dreading the thing he wanted to talk to his brother about immediately.

"Eiríkur," he said finally. His little brother looked up at him like a kicked dog, and Niklas wished he could read his mind. But he couldn't, so he had to ask. "Do you hate me for having you put in isolation?"

"No!" answered the younger boy quickly. He seemed surprised by Niklas's question, and the man realized there was another serious issue to address at a later time. "I mean, it was really horrible and not something I want to go through ever again. But I know you did what you thought was best for me, and I can't blame you for that."

"Was it really bad?" His little brother hesitated. "Please, I want to know."

"They restrained me and sedated me and locked me in a padded cell," answered the boy in a small voice. "I'm having nightmares about it."

"I'm sorry," Niklas said shakily, tears coming to his eyes. "God, I'm so sorry."

"No, no, I don't blame you." It felt strange to have his previous little brother wrap his arms around him and try to comfort him, when it had always been the other way around. Magnus wrapped his arms around the both of them, and Niklas had never felt so safe.

"You two don't have to pretend to be strong right now," said his boyfriend. "I can be strong enough for the three of us for a little bit."

Xiao wasn't surprised that Yao had taken off work to come see him. He wasn't even surprised that his brother had traveled across the state to see him. What he was surprised about was seeing Yao speak to Arthur. In English. In a semi-friendly way. He was relieved to see his half-brothers getting along, because his relationship with Arthur was improving, even if he really wanted to be back with Yao.

They didn't have a lot to talk about in their family session other than Xiao's schoolwork. He didn't mention that he was learning to read and write Chinese, because he didn't want Yao to feel bad about never having taught him. And he didn't want Arthur to feel too proud of himself for finding materials.

They walked out of the Family Counseling Center, planning to eat lunch together in the cafeteria, but Arthur suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"What's wrong?" Xiao asked, following his half-brother's line of sight. That information guy was hanging around the stairwell, and that was who Arthur was gaping at.

"Francis?" he called incredulously, and the man turned to look at them.

"Arthur?" he called back, eyes wide. "What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Come on," Yao whispered in Mandarin. "Let's leave the white people to their reunion."

They continued down the hallway, and Xiao told his brother about his "friend" Mei.

"That's her down there!" he said, pointing to Mei and her parents. They didn't like him last time they met, but he had his fully Chinese brother with him this time. He walked as calmly as he could while practically dragging Yao down the hallway to get to them. "Mei, this is my brother Yao."

But Yao was glaring at Mei's parents. Specifically, her mother. "You," he hissed.

"You," she hissed right back, turning her nose up.

"Do you know them already, Yao?"

"This is our mother's sister, part of the family that cast her out when she had me."

"What? You never told me anything about this!" Xiao started, looking at Mei. "But if she's my aunt, then we're..."

"Cousins?" Mei whispered, clutching her chest. She was hyperventilating, but Xiao was too busy with his own racing thoughts to notice.

Cousins. He had made out with his...cousin. His family. And they had done a bit more, too. He was no better than his friends. He felt sick. He looked up at Yao in desperation, but his brother was arguing with Mei's mother. Xiao couldn't hear anything other than the blood rushing in his ears. He wasn't like Eiríkur and Matthew and Natalya. He didn't have incestuous feelings.

He bolted towards the bathroom and just barely made it to the toilet before he threw up. I just want to get out of this shithole, he thought. I don't belong here. I refuse to be like these freaks.

Natalya knew Katya was going to try to convince Ivan to come to the Family Weekend, but she didn't expect him to actually show up. And she certainly didn't expect to see her two older siblings getting along, after everything her brother had done. She found that she couldn't say anything in his presence. She had a lot to say to him, but she couldn't find her voice. It was very unlike her to remain silent, especially when someone pissed her off, but silent she remained.

Of course, that didn't mean she wasn't listening. She listened to Ivan make some lame apology in their session for lying to her. She listened to the therapist summarize her time so far in the facility. She listened to her siblings discuss her "attachment issues." She listened to them decide to leave her in the facility for the last week. The therapist asked her over and over if she had anything to say, but she just shook her head. It was the most she could manage with Ivan there.

She said nothing to her siblings after the Family Counseling Session; she just walked away from them in silence. Her mind was slowly processing. They wanted to leave in her there, because neither one of them wanted to be responsible for her. Especially with her "attachment issues."

She meant to go directly to her room, but she saw Xiao walk out of the bathroom looking sick and accidentally followed him out to the courtyard. She silently handed him a cigarette and the lighter and lit her own up after him.

"I can't stay here anymore," he said after a long drag. "I can't stand this fucking shithole for one more day."

"We could run away." Natalya's own words surprised her, but she realized she meant them. "Today is the perfect day, with so many people going in and out."

"But how?" Xiao asked. "Even if we made it out of the building, where would we go?"

"I don't know, you've been out of the building more recently."

They sat in silence for a while.

"If we want to do it, we need to do it soon," Natalya said to no one in particular. "All we need to do to get out of the building is leave through the door you guys take to go outside then hop over the fence. Right now, the staff is distracted by family and sessions and stuff."

"If we go through the parking lot, we can follow the road to the next town. But we'd be noticed in these scrubs. The other option would be to go through the woods behind the building. We'd be more likely to get lost but less likely to get caught."

"I say we go through the woods."

Xiao didn't answer for a while. Natalya slowly smoked her cigarette while he took quick, frantic drags of his. It burned down to the filter, but he kept puffing on it. Finally, he stood up, threw down the remnants, and smashed them with his foot.

"Alright, let's go."

And so they did.

Were you guys starting to think that Xiao's story wasn't angsty enough? Because I sure was :)