WARNING - MENTIONS OF SELF HARM

"Kyle, there you are!" Brax sighs with relief as he walks over to the rocks his brother was sat against, Heath holding back to give them some space.

"I just needed some air." Kyle says, quickly covering the part of his sleeve with fresh blood on, hoping more wouldn't seep through and make it even more noticeable.

"Was it the photo album?" Brax asks, sitting down next to him.

"I liked it, I really did. But seeing those photos again… It hurts knowing I won't get anymore. She's going to grow up without me there." Kyle says, wiping away a tear that fell. "I thought I was starting to feel better and then it just hits me again. It feels like I'm never going to be able to feel better again."

"You will, Kyle! You've got us, you know that." Brax says, wrapping an arm around Kyle's shoulder, pulling him closer.

"But that's it, you've got Emilia now. And you're great with her, you and Ricky both are. I thought if I spent time with you both looking after her then it would get easier being around her. But she reminds me of Lillie, and I can't carrying on knowing that." Kyle mutters.

"You should have said something sooner. I can't help Emi looking like Lillie, especially those eyes they've seemed to got from you." Brax lightly jokes. "But I could have helped you gradually increase the time you were around her. Maybe being around her for so long straight away was a bad idea, but I'll help you now. You don't have to be around her all the time, no ones forcing you. And you'll never be in a situation where you have to look after her alone. I know you wouldn't be ready for that." He says.

"But it's not fair on you. I'm missing out on Lillie's life, I don't want you to miss out on Emilia's life because of me. You don't deserve that after how long it's taken you both to get this far."

"Kyle, you're my little brother and you need me, I know you do. And I'm not going to be missing out on any of Emilia's life, you don't need to worry about that. You promised to let me help you, please don't stop that now." Brax says.

"I won't." Kyle mutters, not wanting to wipe his tears away again incase Brax noticed the blood, so he kept it hidden.

"Why don't we head home, so you can get some rest?" Brax suggests.

"Yeah, that would be good." Kyle lightly nods, pushing himself up.

Kyle's POV

Once we got onto our street, Heath had gone over to his place whilst me and Brax carried on to ours. I had kept my hands inside my pockets the entire way home, keeping the blood hidden. As soon as I got to my room, I was going to have to hide it before anyone saw.

"Call out if you need anything, okay? I'll be out here." Brax says, walking back towards the flat where Casey and Ricky had moved to.

"I will." I nod, heading into the hallway towards my room, shutting the door.

I take the hoodie off and shove it in the laundry basket between other clothes, making a mental note to put it in the laundry next time I get chance. My wrist had stopped bleeding now, and they were just feeling sore. I felt nothing as I looked at them, not knowing what I should feel.

They helped take away the pain I was feeling, making me focus on something else other than Lillie for a while. But when I do start to think about her again, I feel even more pain than before, physically and mentally. I didn't feel the urge to stop it now, I had gone too far.

There was no way I could tell anyone. Brax would flip out if he knew, I know he would. I'm surprised he hadn't noticed yet, he normally would have, but then again, he had Emilia to focus on now. His daughter, who he would protect with his life. I had failed at that, he never would.

I don't even know how he does it. He's always managed to be there for me, making sure I'm okay, but also looking after his newborn. I guess it's cause he has Ricky to help him. I had no one, not after Phoebe cheated on me with Ash and then hid the pregnancy from me. She thought little of me, she must have to not have even given me an explanation as to why she did it. But I'm better of without her, she hated this family, my family, and I wasn't going to be with someone who gave me ultimatums between her and them.

She had tried calling me a fair bit since Lillie was taken, she hadn't got the hint when I declined each one of them. I bet it was so she could rub it in my face about my family being bad for me, resulting in this. But no one knows that it was due to bad blood they've had with someone, there's no evidence, so I'm not even going to bother listening to it. There's no point.

Normal POV

"I agree that maybe Kyle pushed himself into being around Emilia a lot, but he thought he was ready to do it. I know you want to protect him, but we have to let him make his own decisions. He thought that was the right one, and it didn't work. It's going to be like that sometimes. None of us know the best way to approach this." Ricky says whilst changing Emilia's nappy.

"I know! I just want him to start feeling better but what if he doesn't? He's already changed a huge amount since Lillie was taken, I don't know how much more he has to change before he pushes us away more." Brax sighs.

"You're able to get through to him, that wouldn't change would it?" Casey lightly frowns from where he was sat on the sofa.

"I hope not. Kyle and Heath didn't say a single word to each other on the way home, and I doubt that's going to change anytime soon. It's going to be up to us to help Kyle before he pushes us away like that as well." Brax says.

"Yeah, but that can't just be put on Kyle. Heath's been avoiding him too." Ricky says, buttoning Emilia's baby grow up.

"Yeah, that's true." Casey nods. "Bianca tried talking to him about it and he got into a bad mood, so she left it. He's still freaking about whatever this dirt is that Kyle has on him."

"I think Kyle just said it in the heat of the moment. He doesn't know about any of the bad stuff, unless he's done some digging, which I think is unlikely." Brax says.

"What else did Bianca say about it?" Ricky asks, not having been able to see much of her between Bianca working and her looking after Emilia.

"Just that she would keep trying to get through to him and find out if there was anything else going on." Casey says as Denny walks in.

"Hey, I thought I heard you guys in here." She smiles.

"Have you finished work now?" Casey says, hoping she wasn't just on a break.

"Yep, all done for the day. I'm not due back for a couple days." She nods.

"Great!" Casey grins, standing up and walking over to her.

"Why don't you two spend some time together without worrying about everything going on?" Brax suggests, knowing it had put a strain on their fairly new marriage.

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. We could go to that new restaurant in Yabbie Creek you mentioned." Casey says.

"Okay. I'll go grab a shower and then we could go." Denny smiles, walking back into the house with a small skip in her step.