Linebeck stepped through the door, his emerald eyes scanning the room. It was just as he left it. He made his way into the living room and walked to the mantle. A picture frame sat face down, hiding the picture within. It was a picture of the family, just the four of them. After Ashlie's death, Linebeck couldn't bear to look at it anymore. It just hurt him too much. He could never let himself pack it away with the rest of Ashlie's things, so he placed it face down. Even after eight years, looking at it still made his chest feel like it was being stabbed.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked at its owner. It was his brother. His brother gave him a comforting look before giving his shoulder a light squeeze.
"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" Kirk's words were quiet and comforting.
Linebeck nodded as he sat the picture frame upright on the mantel, "Yeah, it has been." He clasped his hands together before saying, "Well let's get this place ready for the week. Where should we start?"
"For starters, food sounds like a good idea." mused Kirk.
Shopping for three for a week took no time at all. Before they knew it, the cupboards were filled up with groceries. They may have gotten more than necessary, but Kirk or the kids' grandmother would take what was leftover off their hands.
"I don't know about you little brother, but putting all this food away is making me hungry. Let's go to the tavern, my treat." Kirk said as he shut a cabinet.
They made their way to the tavern and saw that the tables had been rearranged from their normal configuration. Instead of being all spread out, five tables were now were lined up off to the side. Sailors from Tetra's crew as well as Jame's crew were sitting down together and swapping stories over some "milk". They were waved over and sat down at a spot that had been cleared for them.
"And so the prodigal brother returns." mused a man with raven hair.
Linebeck flashed the man a sarcastic smile, "Long time no see Dan. What's been going on with you?"
Dan shrugged, "Oh, the usual. Every one's been getting things ready to ship out again. We head out two weeks from now. We decided we'd take a while off from sailing after the Ghost Ship incident. A lot of guys were shaken up about it for a while." He then noticed the woman beside Linebeck and gave him a smirk, "And who's your friend?"
"Jolene." the she-pirate said as she held out her hand.
"Pleasure to meet your acquaintance." Dan smoothly replied.
Jolene chuckled, "The pleasure is all mine."
Kirk rolled his eyes, "That's Dan for you, the ladies' man."
"So how did you have the pleasure of meeting Linebeck?" asked the dark haired man.
Linebeck rubbed the back of his neck and winced. Kirk saw Linebeck's reaction and smirked.
"Oh yes, do tell us how you met my wonderful baby brother." Kirk joked as he swung and arm around his brother.
Jolene chuckled, "Before I came here I ran my own ship. Three years ago we were attacked by a couple of horrible sea monster. We fought the monster with everything we had, but it wasn't enough to stop it. Out of nowhere, this small ship that he had comes ramming into one of the monster and killing it. If it hadn't been for him my ship would have been driftwood."
Kirk raised an eyebrow, "Wow. Impressive little brother."
"It wasn't as impressive as you'd think. I had actually been attacked by smaller one of the monsters. I had barely been able to stop it on my own. During the fight the steering wheel to my ship got destroyed. It was just luck that I rammed into the monster that was attacking Jolene's ship." Linebeck admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously and took a sip of his "milk".
Jolene shrugged, "It doesn't matter. You still saved the day, even if you didn't want to."
Before anyone could say anything their attention turned towards the tavern door. What Linebeck saw caused him to chuckle to himself. Link and Tetra stood in the doorway. It seemed that they were looking for a place to sit in the crowded tavern. But that's not what made Linebeck chuckle. It was the fact that the two of them were holding hands.
Tetra quickly noticed her crew at the long table and began pulling Link towards the table. As soon as Link realized who all was at the table, his face turned scarlet. He tried to shake his hand from Tetra's grasp. This only earned a glare from the pirate captain and Link stopped struggling and followed Tetra.
"I called it." Jolene and Kirk murmured at the same time.
Tetra's crew scooted down to make room for the duo across from Linebeck and Jolene.
"Thanks for the spot and all but, we're getting our own table." Tetra said as they walked by. "
"Have fun on your little date." Kirk playfully called out.
Much to their surprise, Link didn't argue back. Instead, the boy only turned another shade darker red as he tried once again to release himself from Tetra's hold. They made their way to a table on the other side of the room, just catty cornered from where they were. Link sat down and propped his head with his left hand in an attempt to hide his reddening face. Tetra just rolled her eyes and caught a worker's attention.
Kirk quietly laughed to himself, "I remember when you were like that."
"Like what?" Linebeck asked sounding slightly defensive.
"When you acted like admitting that liking girls was the worst thing in the world. It's something all boys go through." Kirk let out a small sigh. "Although it won't be too much longer before you can't keep them away from each other. And it will seem like it's impossible. Trust me. Everything I had to go through with you is something you are going to have to go through with Link."
"Oh I wasn't that bad." Linebeck said as he took a sip of his drink.
Kirk snorted, "Oh, you were."
"Why did you say it was something you had to go through with him?" Jolene asked Kirk.
"Well," Kirk started as he took a sip from his glass, "I was fourteen when Linebeck was born so there was a big age gap. And our dad was always gone on long trips. He went out on the longer supply runs because it brought in the most money. That meant he was always gone. Our mother died when Linebeck was seven. I was more of a father to him than a brother most of the time."
Linebeck played with the glass between his hands, "Even after Dad stopped going out on long trips, he was the one who took care of me. I never did understand that."
Kirk was quiet for a moment. His mood went grim as he thought.
"It's not something I'd like to talk about here if you'd mind." Kirk's mood seemed to have shifted back to a more pleasant one, "But Linebeck was your average teenage guy, always getting into trouble and not thinking before he acted. I can't tell you how many shouting matches we had." He then grew a wide smile and threw his arm around his younger brother again, "And you're going to have to go through all of that with Link and Aryll."
"Great." Linebeck mumbled sarcastically.
