Two days had passed. In those two days, a lot of things had happened. Carly had quit the internship; it was too much to handle. Nick had gotten a job - at a burger joint, of all places. Carly had dyed her hair blonde. "Now you can just call it your artificial idiocy," Nick had commented, a smirk on his lips. They had gotten a pet. A little black lab named Charlie.

And Aiden was making regular visits.

The silence after Carly had finished the story was an awkward one, but he and Nick had both comforted her when she burst into tears, rubbing her shoulders and telling her it was going to be alright. A few cups of coffee, a bottle of nail polish, and a few friendly hugs later, Aiden was out the door.

But the next day, he returned with a bottle of nail polish remover, a box of Wade's things, and an invitation for coffee. Carly accepted, much to the dismay of her twin, and had a rather fun time. So she was happy when she opened the door on the second day and Aiden was standing there, and offered to help her sort through more of Wade's things. The nail polish remover and blue nail polish went down considerably that day, and the house was slightly deprived of tissue.

The odd thing about Carly was that usually when she was upset or trying not to show her emotions, she did the best on her fingernails. She was careful, cautious, trying to divert her attention to the task at hand. And Aiden caught onto that rather quickly, while Nick never had. It was a nice change. Only Wade had ever noticed.

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"Carly?" Aiden's voice drafted through the kitchen door and Carly smiled, looking up from the kitchen table where she had been sipping a cup of coffee.

"In here, Aiden!" She answered in a somewhat chirp, feeling rather giddy for some reason. The tall figure entered the room with a confidence that Carly found rather refreshing. She smiled again.

"Hey," This was getting routine, she thought, as he leaned on the table beside her and leaned down to kiss her forehead. She smiled again. That was even getting routine; smiling had been hard for her lately.

"How you feeling, gorgeous?" Carly had soon picked up that terms of endearment from Aiden were just his way of talking - and they went well with his accent. God, that accent. It reminded her of Wade. Of course, for obvious reasons.

"Better. Did Nick let you in?" Carly knew her brother was a little weary of the outsider, but she trusted him, and she didn't see why Nick couldn't, either. It was the protective big brother thing, she knew, and it had only increased after Ambrose, but she didn't know why he just couldn't let her live for once. Couldn't he see how happy she had been the past few days? Isn't that what he wanted, was for her to be happy?

She thought so.

"Yeah, he did. Leaving for work, I think. Your brother's a Mickie Dee's kid, now, huh?" Aiden couldn't help but smirk, sliding his hands in his pockets. God, he was just like Wade.

"Yup." Carly looked thoughtful for a moment. "Aiden, why are you staying here? In New York?"

Aiden's face softened.

"Because. I wrote my parents and told them. I can tell you need someone to lean on, Car, and Nick's just not doing the job right."

Carly's temper flared, and she stood rather quickly, as always when someone hit her sore spot - her brother.

"Don't start, Aiden. You don't know Nick, and you don't know what he's been through, so just don't start."

Aiden seemed a little taken aback, but understanding. He nodded. "Alright, Car, I'm sorry." He reached out and smoothed her honey blonde locks down, giving her a small apologetic smile. His eyes wandered to her hands.

"Working on those nails a lot, huh?"

"Yeah." The small girl gave an uneasy laugh, but brushed the depression off for now. Aiden was here, and she wanted to have a good time.

"So. What say you we get out of this place and go out for lunch? My treat?" She couldn't resist the way his forest green eyes widened and he looked almost pouty. Nick wouldn't approve, but Nick was gone, right? Off flipping burgers. And there was nothing good to eat around the house.. Wade would've liked her to be happy, to go on with life.

"Sure. Let me get dressed." Only then did they both notice she was still in pajamas, and it caused them to laugh.