Kyle glanced up at Brax, noticing the look Heath gave him. He wouldn't say who it was, although he was unsure of how his younger brother would react with everything else going on. Brax nudged Kyle towards the end of the bed, all three of them walking into the living room, seeing the pram next to the couch, Marilyn stood beside it looking guilty whilst John stood by the door, clearly worried about his wife.
"What're you doing here?" Kyle asks, getting a light whack across the head from Brax.
"The police have finished checking Lillie's pram and travel bag for DNA. I just wanted to return it to you." Marilyn says, this being the first time she'd seen Kyle since he took off from her house days before.
"Right… Thanks." Kyle quietly says, an awkward silence following.
"I just wanted to say I'm so very sorry, I thought she'd be safe whilst I went to get her spare baby grow from the dryer. Both doors were shut, and I was genuinely only gone for less than half a minute." Marilyn says.
"You know, I really want to hate you for this." Kyle says, looking up at her as he takes a deep breathe, his hands shaking at his sides. "I trusted you to babysit for me, like I have every other time. But I can't… I know you couldn't have helped it, not after the police said this was thought out by whoever took her. It could have happened to any of us…" He says, shoving his hands into his pockets, so no one would notice them, being let down by tears falling from his eyes.
"I'm so sorry." Marilyn cries.
Brax and Heath smile at each other as Marilyn and Kyle hug each other, knowing this was a big step for their brother. Kyle knew he couldn't blame her, she wouldn't have been able to stop it, and he couldn't put the blame onto anyone who didn't deserve it, it wasn't going to help him. He looked down at the pram and saw Lillie's favourite teddy, so leaned down to grab it once Marilyn pulled away.
"The police found it by the hedge, it looks like she may have dropped it as only her DNA was on it." Marilyn says. "They've also kept the bottle they used to get her DNA as evidence. Anyway, I best get going."
"Thanks Marilyn." Brax smiles.
"Thanks." Kyle mutters as she leaves with John, Brax walking over to him.
"That was great of you, Kyle." Brax says, noticing tears still falling.
"She couldn't sleep without it." Kyle mutters, gripping the teddy tight.
"I know." Brax sighs, this becoming even more real with every second Lillie was missing, and he was struggling to stay strong for Kyle, not knowing how to make this right when there wasn't anything possible.
"What about Angelo's?" Kyle asks, it suddenly occurring to him that he left everything a mess.
"Don't worry about it, I've got it covered." Brax says. "But now I know not to trust Casey in taking Ricky for a walk to pick the rotas up for me."
"Why?" Kyle asks.
"When I went out yesterday afternoon, it was to look for them. I found them both in food comas at Angelo's after eating nearly all of the desserts they could find." Brax shakes his head, still not amused with them both.
"I thought Denny put Casey on a diet after their travels?"
"She did. You should have heard the argument it caused between them." Heath smirks, getting a glare from the eldest Braxton. "What? I'm just saying, these wives of ours have adopted the Braxton attitude. I never knew Denny had it in her." He mutters.
"She had good points to moan at him, especially after Nate said Casey needs to stay healthy to ensure he doesn't get any heart problems in the future as a result of the shooting." Brax said.
"I think that may have only been a precaution for the few months after his surgery." Kyle says.
"I don't care, he needs to listen." Brax says.
"Anyway, why don't we go for a walk?" Heath suggests, hoping some proper fresh air will do Kyle some good. "We could head to Angelo's and see if Casey and the girls ended up there when I sent them for a walk."
"Yeah, sounds like a plan." Brax says, glancing at Kyle who nods, placing Lillie's teddy in his hoodie pocket before following them out of the door.
During their walk, they had bumped into a fair few people. They had all given Kyle their love and best wishes for the search for Lillie, and despite hating all the attention on him, he knew they only meant well. When they got to the Surf Club, he was glad that it was fairly quiet and they could get upstairs without anyone else stopping them.
"Why've you shut up?" Kyle asks, not having expected Brax to keep the restaurant closed.
"I've had more important things to focus on than this place." Brax shrugs.
"But the staff need to earn a wage-"
"Kyle, I've sorted it." Brax says, all three of them walking over to the bar as Denny walks out from the kitchen.
"Where the hell did Casey get his eating habits from?" She huffs, wrapping her arms around Kyle.
"Heath." Brax instantly replies.
"Oi!" Heath glares. "I never taught the kid to eat like that, he put on weight since going travelling." He says, smiling at Bianca as she walks out, also looking stressed.
"Before you complain, I tried to stop Ricky from raiding the chocolate stash you hid." She says to Kyle, who glances at Brax with a guilty look.
"What chocolate stash?" He asks.
"I don't know." Kyle lightly shrugs.
"I better go and stop them before they eat everything." Brax says, walking towards the kitchen.
"Hiding food now are we?" Heath smirks at his brother, ruffling his hair.
"I forgot that was there. It was for when I did night shifts and double shifts." Kyle mutters.
"I thought you had food from the kitchen?" Heath says.
"I did." Kyle lightly smiles.
"So Casey got his eating habits from both of you." Denny chuckles. "Just you're better at keeping the weight off."
"Yeah." Kyle nods.
"Don't worry, I'll get Casey into one of the bootcamps." Heath smirks, already thinking of ways he could make it harder for his brother.
"Go easy on him." Denny says, lightly smirking as Ricky and Casey walk back out with Brax.
"Hey, it's good to see you out the house." Ricky smiles at Kyle, who lightly nods.
"Thought it would be good for him to get some fresh air." Heath says, placing his hand on Kyle's shoulder, who smiles lightly at him as Casey turns to Kyle.
"How about us two, you and Lillie - a trip to Italy. Brax's treat for when she comes home." Casey says, grinning at his oldest brother.
"I think that's a great idea. You always said you wanted to go to Italy after your mum died, taking Lillie to see where her family is from would be great." Brax says.
"She's barely even 6 months old, and she's not here." Kyle mutters.
"Wait, why Italy?" Denny asks, wanting to lighten the mood a little.
"I was born there. My mum moved us to Melbourne when I was 5." Kyle replies.
"That's so cool! We could have our own tour guide." Denny smiles.
"I wouldn't be able to remember anything, especially touristy stuff." Kyle says.
"How come you never mentioned you were half Italian?" Casey asks.
"I did, didn't I?" Kyle frowns.
"Yeah, you did to me a couple weeks ago." Heath says, lightly nodding as he remembers it being the day Lillie went missing.
"And I knew." Brax says.
"Well, that makes me feel even more left out." Casey mutters, them all smiling at him.