Theo decided to sit out by the pool while Brett and Lori swam. Theo had more swimming than he could take for one day, but he wanted to spend time with his siblings. Especially after the ordeal with Brett last night, he was glad that there were no hard feelings. They mostly just hung out, and talked about their lives, getting to know each other more. Maybe this whole sibling thing wasn't so bad. Of course, as a child Theo usually had Jordan, who was like an older brother, but ever since Jordan joined the military a couple of years ago, he had been gone a lot. It was nice for Theo to have someone to go home too.

"So the swim team? Really?" Brett asked with a small laugh after Theo revealed to his siblings what his sport of choice was. "That just sounds like a made up team made by some student in order to get close to other hotties in skimpy uniforms. Well done."

Theo had to laugh, in fact, he had suspected the same thing. However, he knew Jackson, and he knew Jackson plays to win, so there was at least some level of credibility to this team. "I am not entirely convinced that is not what it really is," he teased back to his brother. It was still weird to think that Brett was his brother, but it was weird in a good way.

"Well whatever it is, just make sure that you are the best," Lori responded, in a warm tone, but also laced with a sense of warning. "Dad will come watch every tournament and be at every event. If you do not win, there will be consequences." Theo understood what she meant. He seemed pretty strict, but nothing that Theo could not handle.

"She is right," Brett chimed in, his tone a bit more somber and filled with something. Fear maybe? It was no secret that Mr. Talbot inspired fear in his children, but this from Brett was different. It was almost manic. However, Brett cooled down and continued, "He has been more easy going since you got here, but the moment you disappoint him, the moment he will snap. Trust me, just do well."

Theo was concerned at their adamant warning. He was used to the over-bearing and mean father trope. After all, Liam Dunbar was his (boy)friend(?), so he had already learned how damaging that could be to someone, but there was something in the Talbot's tone that was different. Whatever it was, they would tell him when they were ready, so he decided to lighten the mood with a quick joke, "Don't even go there Mr. C in history. Literally the easiest subject."

Lori burst out into a laugh, and Brett crossed his arms defensively, "History is hard, with all those stupid dates and people," he argued. "I simply do not have time in my schedule to learn about Ancient Greece, as important as it may be." It was clear, though, that Brett was mostly joking. It made Theo feel more comfortable knowing that they could tease each other in good fun now.

"You know, I actually know someone who is pretty good in history, if you wanted a tutor," Theo suggested, knowing it would be a long shot. The siblings looked at him, as if asking who. "Liam, he is great in that class." He knew full well that Liam and Brett had a professional rivalry, but they both said themselves that neither of them disliked the other personally. It was just about lacrosse. Anyways, Liam was quickly becoming the most important person in Theo's life, outside of his family, and if this whole blended family thing was going to work, he wanted the Talbot children to at least know Liam.

Brett burst in to laugher, as if Theo had just told the funniest joke of all time. "Listen bro, just because you are in love with Dumbar, does not mean I have to be." Before Theo could so much as open his mouth to object, Brett continued, "Like, no judgement, I swing both ways too, but Dumbar is not either one of those ways. Keep him and his history knowledge away from me. Besides, you do not want him around me too long, you might lose him," Brett winked with a laugh.

Theo's anxiety immediately melted away, and though he was now aware how not subtle he and Liam had been, he was also comforted by the support he received from his step siblings. "Trust me, you could not take him from me even if you wanted to," Theo replied with a laugh. Then, he felt vibrating in his pocket, and he pulled out his phone, it was his mother. "Hey guys, I need to take this, be right back." Theo walked away to teasing from his siblings about this being Liam, which honestly made Theo laugh, but he did not tell him it was his mom. Perhaps that could still be a touchy subject in his household. "Hello?"

"Hey sweetheart," and from her tone, Theo thought she might be excited about something, though it was always hard to tell over the phone. "I just wanted to talk to you about something that just happened, although, part of me thinks you may have had something to do with it."

"Ok? What is it?" Theo asked. Of course, a part of him was worried that this could be about Hayden, perhaps she went ahead and framed his mother anyway, but his mom's tone did not seem to imply distress. So really, he had no idea what was going on.

"Mrs. Dunbar just called me, I do not even know how she had my number, but anyway, she called me and asked me to work for her!" And now he could definitely tell that she was excited. He was shocked to hear this, but when he thought about it, it made sense. Mrs. Dunbar had promised to protect his mom, and this was her way of doing it. Wow. Theo may like Mrs. Dunbar almost as much as he likes Liam. "But before I accepted it, I wanted to make sure it was ok. I know you work there, and you and Liam have gotten close, so I did not want to be that mom that got involved in your business."

"No! Mom, take the job!" Theo said excitedly. This was perfect. His mom was out of the Romero house for good, and Theo genuinely trusted Mrs. Dunbar. Besides, even from a employee standpoint, Theo always found her to be a good boss. "Call her back now and tell her you accept!"


Cora waited patiently, but to say that she was excited would be a lie. She took a sip of her iced coffee, trying to drown out crappy indie music that was playing over the coffee shop's speakers. Cora hated it here, even more so after having to break up with Theo here, but this was the it place in town. Everyone in their school always came here for coffee, and so Cora knew that this was the only place she would find her and make it look like an accident. After all, she had been ignoring both her and Lydia's calls for weeks now.

The bell that signified the door opening rung, and Cora looked up, seeing Hayden walk through the door. Cora immediately stood up to get her attention, "Hey Hayden, it has been a while," she said in that fake friendly voice she hated using, but it was necessary. "After you order, come sit with me so we can catch up." Hayden tried to object but Cora persisted, and after Hayden ordered a smoothie, she joined Cora in a booth in the back corner of the shop.

"So," Hayden asked as she got comfortable in her side of the booth, "This clearly was not an accident, so what do you have to say to me? I'm a bitch? Why am I ignoring you? Out with it then, so we can go about our lives."

"I want to talk about Liam," Cora fired back, raising her eyebrow slightly. If it was war Hayden wanted, Cora was more than happy to give it to her. Try as she might to hide it and play tuff, Hayden had always been intimidated by Cora, a fact Cora never purposefully exploited, until now.

"I don't want to talk about him," Hayden replied, firmly gripping her smoothie, no doubt for a quick exit.

"But we are going to," Cora replied and gently pulled Hayden's hands off her smoothie cup, "So get comfortable." Cora and Hayden had been in the same social circle since birth. Therefore this was more like talking to a cousin, rather than any old classmate. This meant that Cora would get firm when she needed, especially about this, because it has gone to far.

Hayden paused, looking at Cora, "What is to stop me from walking out and leaving?"

"Because you know walking out on me now burns the last bridge between us, and seeing as your social circle is getting alarmingly small, I have a feeling you won't want to make it worse." In truth, Hayden was on the outs with everyone in their circle, Lydia, Scott, Malia, Allison, and Stiles. She had no friends. Besides, if it was going to be a battle of will, Cora beat her every single time.

Hayden broke eye contact and looked down at her smootie for a half-second, but it was an acknowledgment that Cora had beaten her. She sat back in the both and waved her hands, "So out with it then."

"Give it up, please," Cora answered, instantly softening her tone towards Hayden. After all, they had all been friends. Once. "Give it all up. You're pregnant, this is exciting, the girls wanted to throw you a shower and everything, but then..."

"But then you betrayed me like the back stabbing bitches you are," Hayden snapped back, right on schedule. Cora had her pinned, and brought up the sore spot, so out came the claws. "You all have this benevolent older sister act, but its all bullshit. You dumped me for your precious Liam."

"Listen to yourself!" Cora pleaded with Hayden, "You know this is a lie, and you are willing to throw everyone away for it! And for what? For Liam? You don't love him! For acceptance? Why? Why are you lying? You have Nolan, so why not be with him, who you actually care about."

Hayden clenched her fists, trying to keep her cool, but she was crumbling. Cora could see it this whole time, the stress of all of this had been getting to her, that is why she had been acting out so viciously. "Liam is the father," She mumble through gritted teeth, "My parents want me with Liam, not Nolan. My family hates his family, and they would kill me if they knew we so much as talked, but it does not matter, because Liam is the father."

Cora took that as the confession she needed, and suddenly it made sense. Family feuds were common in their social class, and it was a wonder none of them had seen it sooner. Cora reached out and took Hayden's hand, this time in a gentler, more familial way. "Hayden, I am sorry, but you cannot ruin someone else's life just because yours would get inconvenient. I know you were and probably still are scared, but we can all help you through it."

Hayden jerked her hand back, "Stop portraying me as some selfish monster. This baby helps Liam too, because if his dad knew that he had feelings for that pool boy then he'd be disowned, and God only knows what else would happen to that family. See? This baby was destiny, and now you are all trying to tear us apart."

Cora nodded as she listened, even more was clicking in her head. "You and Liam used to be so close, now you both seem to hate each other," Cora mumbled, thinking out loud. Putting the pieces together was hard, but somehow it was getting easier. "You were his cover story weren't you? For his family?" This was the only explanation to the whole thing. "You kept him with a girl, while he was supposed to keep you from doing something stupid. Eventually, you both started resenting each other because you both were keeping the other from being happy. But you were both to scared to end it. Then the baby accidentally happened and you're just trying to hold on to the way things were."

Hayden's eyes began to well up with tears as she looked back at Cora, "It did not start out that way," She said in between tears. "We didn't plan it. We didn't, still don't talk about it. I liked him, I really did, and I thought he liked me too in the beginning, maybe he did in his own way. The years went on and it was clear, he had no interest in me, but I stayed, he was nice, how could I break up with him? Besides, my parents loved him, and having a boyfriend kept me from making a huge mistake, which I eventually did anyway." She brought her hands to her stomach, where the baby bump began forming.

"Hayden I know it is hard, but you have to come clean with this," Cora said, taking Hayden's hand again, and this time, she did not pull away this time.

"Or what? You recorded this conversation and will release the audio?" Hayden asked, partly joking, but Cora picked up a sense of seriousness. After all, with everything that happened, it would not be hard to believe it would come to that.

"Or you won't be happy, Hayden," Cora sighed, taking the last sip of her iced coffee before standing up. "Take it from me," She said, looking at Hayden try to pull herself together as best she could, "You don't want to be the girl that stops them from being together. I know you were trying to protect each other for a long time, but you need to let him be happy, and you deserve to be happy too." Then, Cora walked out, leaving Hayden alone at the table with her lies, and a big decision.


That night, Theo slept more soundly than he thought he would. Perhaps having his mother separated from Hayden's reign of terror put him more at ease than he had been in a long time. However, he should have known his peace would be temporary, as he heard the pleas and noises coming from Brett's room. He debated doing nothing. That was what Lori advised, and she knew him better. However, Theo thought about Liam, and his nightmares. He would not want Liam to wake up alone after a nightmare if he did not have too, so he should extend that kindness to Brett too.

He got out of bed, and went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water, just like he had for Liam, and he returned upstairs to Brett's room. Perhaps this was an invasion of privacy, so Brett would rightly be upset, but Theo knew he could help if Brett just let him. He set the glass of water on Brett's night stand and gently whispered, "Brett. Brett wake up, its just a dream." Brett stayed in his manic nightmarish state, so Theo tried again, "Brett!" he was a bit more forceful, "Its Theo, just wake up."

Brett shot up, sweating and breathing like he had just run a marathon. He looked over, and a wave of anger spread over his face, "I told you to stay the hell out!" Brett bolted up. He attempted to push Theo out, like he had done the first time Theo tried this, but this time Theo was not caught off guard. He stood his ground and pushed Brett back, stunning the taller male that Theo actually fought back.

"Listen, I know I did not follow directions, but I am trying to help!" Theo shot back, and his adamant tone seemed to catch Brett a bit off guard. "We are brothers, and I have experience with these things, so just let me help you."

Brett's breathing slowed down a bit, and the anger dissolved after a few moments of them just standing in front of each other. Brett slowly decided to sit back down, and he looked over at his night stand, seeing the glass of water. "Is this your magic solution?" He asked and took a drink, "Nope, the trauma is still there." Brett replied, but he drank the rest of the water, nonetheless.

"No, I just know nightmares are like panic attacks, and panics attacks can be physically exhausting, so stay hydrated," Theo replied, sitting down on the bed next to Brett. "Most people also find water calming, it works for Liam. My solution, it talking it out. What were you dreaming about?"

Brett looked at Theo, and Theo could tell Brett was shocked with the mention of Liam also having nightmares like this. However, he did not comment on it. "It was about my dad. They always are."

"What about him?" Theo asked.

"Do not push it," Brett snapped back, calmly, but firmly. They may have been brothers, but understandably so, Brett did not seem to trsut Theo like one yet. They needed to build that bond. The two then sat in silence, Brett refusing to go in to any more details about his nightmare.

Theo could tell that this was going to be the extent of their talk tonight. But even still, he was happy to have made this progress with Brett, and over time, he could help him. "Well, remember, it was just a dream." Theo stood up and made his way to the door. He had come to the realization that he could not instantly solve every problem. Perhaps he could fully help Brett, but it will take time to build the trust. For now, if Brett would only accept a glass of water, then Theo would be happy to help, until Brett was ready to open up.

On his way out, he heard Brett mumble under his breathe, "If only that were true."