Hush Big Brother 4

Author Note: *Looks at the last time I updated*

...Wow, I'm a horrible updater :(

Sure enough, James was hiding underneath the small bridge that led across the frozen lake in the park.

Her feet slipped as she rushed to him, snow powder flying everywhere in her scramble. The small six-year-old was terrified that she wouldn't ever be able to find her brother, so knowing she'd come to the right place was extremely relieving. He didn't look up as she gasped, bolting to his side and pressing herself to his cold form, even though he did tense a bit.

"Claire, what are you doing here?" he mumbled with a shiver, his eyes flickering to her relieved face for only a moment before he tried to turn away.

"I don't want you to be gone forever and ever without me," she frowned, her pure heart and honesty making her eyes shine with hot tears, "Jaime, were you trying to leave me?"

"Of course not, Claire-Bear," he looked to her now, her tears breaking his heart hard, "I just...Kendall and I had an argument."

"What about?" she frowned hard, "are you goin stop being friends?"

Sighing to himself, the twelve-year-old pulled the youth closer to his chest and rested his face on the top of her head, trying to hide his own tears, "I sure hope not..

*Line break*

Melissa had never been more protective, sad, or angry in her life...especially all at one time.

But ontop of all of those raging emotions, she also felt more exposed than she already was. Henry had already left them alone in their lodge-apartment home, even though they were all locked inside and the phone line was cut, but she was still petrified and felt completely alone/overwhelmed. Cassidy was still crying, hiding behind some heavy curtains, and Emily was downright frozen; she was sitting on the couch, her knees pulled to her chest and eyes shiny, fear all over her face. Having given up on trying to get through to either of them at this point, the thirteen-year-old beauty recalled the last time she'd felt this way.

It was an infamous day for both her and her father, really.

Cassidy was barely a year old when Lucy Sullivan, the two girl's mother, was involved in an avalanche that killed five other people. When her father found out, he'd been in absoute denial and stormed out of their home to get drunk, which he'd never done before. Melissa was left to try and take care of the baby best she could while trying to deal with the shock, denial, grief, and emptiness of losing her mother.

She was just here this morning, she remembered thinking, how could she be dead?

When he'd returned, her father had aplogized repeatidley and they'd held each other close, which had signaling forgiveness on both sides. Since said day, Danny Sullivan had been the best mother and father he could possibly be, which the thirteen-year-old really appriciated. It had been a little over a year ago that he'd decided to adopt another child in attempt to fill the empty void left in the family, and that was why they now had Emily, even though she was from Minnosta.

And yet now, even when two others around, Melissa felt completely alone.

Emily was terrified, of course.

Who wouldn't be?

She had a haunting feeling she should know this man from somewhere before, and not just because he looked similar to the boy on the show Almost a Superstar. She felt like, somehow, she was supposed to know him because, somehow, he was going to play a bigger part of her life, even bigger than what he was doing to her and her sisters now.

Her sisters.

She loved Melissa and Cassidy as if she'd been born into the family, even though her British accent made her stand out from the rest of the family. But her heart ached for something else, for bonds even deeper running than the three girl's dead.

James. Claire.

Words could not possibly even begin to describe how much she missed them, how much she ached for them everyday. Claire was extroverted and bubbly, and when they'd first met as one/five year olds, she'd instantly taken up the job of protecting the beautiful little cutie. Kind of exchange, James was her protector, her prince charming, even if she hadn't trusted him- or anyone, really- in the beginning.

It was no secret the eight-year-old loved and missed them, but there really wasn't much she could do about it. So, instead, she was going to have to try and save her new family somehow.

Henry was amused at the sight waiting for him when he stepped into the shack.

Danny Sullivan hadbee struggling again with trying to get free, but he'd obviously failed. Now he slumped in the chair he was constrained too, his wrists and ankles bloody and his face coated in sweat. Smirking to himself, the free man slapped his face sharp, making her other jump and even fall back in his chair, crashing to the floor and causing bleeding.

"You bastard..." the constrained snarled, and the other laughed darkly.

Bastard doesn't even begin to describe it...

Kendall knew what it was like to keep secrets.

He'd certainly kept his share, at any rate. He was well aware of what it was like to be afraid to open up for fear to be closed out; he knew what it was like for your trust for those you trust the most to waver. He knew what it was like to lie, to love and lose, and to wonder if surrving would be the best option for everyone else around you, even if he was only eleven.

So he wasn't going to blame James.

"Is he okay?" Katie whispered to the other girl as the two stepped back inside the heated apartment, both shivering pretty hard from the cold.

"Yeah, he's fine," Claire smied assuringly, the two of them heading back into Katie's room as the two preteen boys sat down on the couch, facing each other and disregarding the news.

"Sorry for lying, man," James sighed first, looking at his lap, "I should've have kept-"

"I forgve you," Kendall cut off assuringly, "I mean, I should've have kept my father from you or the other guys. I guess...we all just screw up sometimes. But I need you to know you can trust me."

He hiestated, then asked quietly, "Do you trust me, K-Dog?"

"...Yeah. I do."

"Emily?"

Cassidy was trembling as she looked to her youngest older sister, and even the soft look from her didn't put the three-year-old at ease. She didn't have any idea of what was going on or what was to happen to them, but she did know she missed her father and that she was very scared. The second Emily picked her up, she started crying all over again into her shoulder, clinging for dear life as Melissa hide away in her room, her crying echoing just like her own.

"I w-wa-want..." she hiccuped, "I want M-Mo-Mommy!"

The seven year's gaze darkened instantly as she thought of her own mother. A couple of old memories started reasurfacing, her sisters' cries numbly registering in her mind as she slowly slipped back into her own past.