My Family

By: AndiKaneUnderwood

Okay, I'll be the first to admit the episode of September 30th was very shocking. I also didn't know that it would become actual cannon, when I wrote my Pistachion Uprising AU. I mean, wow! I guess someone liked the idea or something. Or maybe I just subconsciously worked out what would happen and then it turned into an idea. I don't know. Still cool though!

Would the AU be considered cannon now? No? Shoot me a comment down below!

Milo was fairly certain that he could say family was the most important thing to him.

His Mom, Bridgette, and his father, Martin. His sister, Sara. His carefully crafted and selected family, Mort and Melissa. His best friend and Mate, Zak. Even the most recent additions to his family, Balthazar Cavendish and Vinnie Dakota, where extremely important.

He also liked to think that he also knew them better than anyone else, which was entirely true.

Milo knew about Bridgette's family kicking her out when they found out about her relationship with Martin.

Milo knew about Martin's heartbreaking relationship with an Alpha who was killed while protecting Martin from Murphy's Law knew that Martin still had nightmares about it.

Milo knew that Mort had to meditate every single morning otherwise his temper quickly overwhelms him and suddenly everything goes black and when he wakes up, he never knows what happened.

Milo knows that Sara has the unexplained urge to check on him every few hours. No matter the time, the day, or what's happened the previous couple hours, there's always a call or a text on his phone or the swish of the door as she pulls it closed with a soft click.

Milo knows Melissa is a perfectionist and she needs the stability of something, anything to keep her mind off things not being perfect 24/7.

Milo knows about Vinnie's past, knows that Vinnie used to be forced to his knees on a daily basis because of awful people in even worse jobs, knows that Vinnie is very embarrassed to talk about it because he hates that it happened and hates even more that places like that still exist (1).

Milo knows that Balthazar cares about Vinnie much more than he'd ever admit to anyone, let alone his Omega partner, knows that even while Balthazar is forever complaining about how messy and unorganized Vinnie is, the elder Alpha would never leave Vinnie alone.

Milo knows much about his family, knows more than most people would ever dare to find out.

What surprises him is how much his family knows about him.

Like how his mother will keep the lights low and the noise at a minimum and his father will pull him into a hug and Sara will smile and grin and talk to him about Dr. Zone until he's able to respond after every panic attack, even though they have little to no knowledge about what happened to him and how much it's hurt him and screwed him up.

Like how Mort and Melissa will hug him firmly, but not so hard as to make him feel confined and trapped, how they'll keep a close eye on him while they're on their missions, but let him do his thing.

How Vinnie and Balthazar provide a flood gate of sorts when they listen to his pain and watch over him when he's having anxiety and/or panic attacks and offer a shoulder to cry on when the pain becomes too much.

How Zak would hold him close when he had panic inducing nightmares, or how she calls him by pet name when he can't stand the sound of his own name(2). How she pulls him closer without him asking, how she talks to him through the Bond without him having to say a word.

How they each understand that he sometimes can't deal with humanity.

How they understand that sometimes he needs his distance.

How they understand that sometimes he needs to talk and sometimes he needs silence.

When they understand that, no, going through what he had wasn't easy at all, and yes it's been a few months, but he still freaks out when he's in a white walled room.

How he panics when he's in a too small space.

How he's still working through what had happened and how he'd been raped, not once, but multiple times over the course of two separate weeks.

How he was forced to do multiple tests and experiments and he was run down to exhaustion, only to get up the next morning and do it all over again until finally he flat out collapsed and they let him have a full three days of a comatose kind of rest before pushing him right back into it all over again.

How, even after six months of near constant contact with his family, he still can't be away from them for more than twelve hours.

So, yes, Milo knows much about his family.

And he knows they know a lot about him.

And this is why he'll always be grateful.

He isn't sure where he'd be without them, but he knows he never wants to find out.

(1) For my Anything That Can Go Wrong readers: this part will not make since unless you also read my Hostage book. Check the third chapter; they don't have to be read in order.

(2) For my Hostage followers: I'm sorry, but the polls aren't working for me. Let me just give you the suggestions and you guys can tell me what you want to see first.

1.) Some of the experiments Milo went through.

2.) Milo telling Zak everything he went through.

3.) Why Milo can't stand his name sometimes.

4.) Milo telling Melissa, Mort, and the rest of his family (Balthazar including because he's already told Vinnie) what really happened.

Shoot me a vote in the comments and let me know what you want to see.