Chapter 4
Stephanie took a deep breath and pushed open the door to her brother's office only to find both William and Grell fast asleep.
Will was leaning his head against his forearm, which was resting on top of his desk. Grell was drooling on a stack of papers and his red framed glasses were askew on his face.
She had to laugh at the sight, and only wished that she had brought along a camera to capture the moment.
"Ahem," she coughed loudly, which jolted her brother out of sleep instantaneously.
He looked around regaining his senses and proceeded to slap the red headed shinigami on his desk awake. Grell shrieked and rubbed his cheek.
"Williammm! What was that for?" he whined before noticing Stephanie in the doorway. "Oh! Stephy you're back already!"
"I told you to wake me up if I fell asleep idiot" sighed William frustrated.
"But Willlll! I was tired after working on all that paperwork!" Grell whined on, getting up and stretching before jumping over to Stephanie.
"You barely finished one report," Will grumbled quietly.
"So, did you pass? How was it?" Grell exclaimed excitedly.
"Of course she passed," interrupted William, before pointing to her face.
Grell trailed the pathway of his finger and his eyes came to rest on Stephanie's.
"Ooohh nice frames! They're new! No more training glasses! I knew you could do it honey!" he beamed, taking the glasses off of her face and examining them.
Stephanie smirked and saw her brother give a small smile. She had earned the trademark shinigami glasses, meaning she had succeeded in passing her training exam. Her glasses had been made that same day, and were of a similar rectangular shape to her brother's. Hers however, sported small green lines on the sides, showing off her favorite color.
"I'm glad you like them Grell, but, can I have them back now? I can barely see a thing," she laughed.
He brushed her bangs to the side and gently placed the delicate frames back on her face, resting perfectly on her ears and nose. "Oh we should all go celebrate now!" he said, enthusiastically, "I know this great bar just a couple of blocks away from here, they make the best drinks!"
"Sutcliff, you know I don't approve of you drinking on work nights," stated William flatly.
"Oh come on Will!" the redhead whined.
"Actually I think my training partner was going to a bar to meet some friends tonight," mused Stephanie, which earned a gleeful squeal from Grell.
"See? The more the merrier right?" he said, raising his eyebrows and looking hopefully to the elder Spears.
"You two can go, but I'm going to stay here and finish up these reports," Will sighed, before picking up right where he had obviously left off.
Grell pouted and left, saying something like, "You're no fun," as Stephanie lingered in the office.
She smiled sadly at her brother, always the diligent, hard-worker.
"I could stay and help you finish if you'd like," she offered, leaning against his desk.
"No. Just… go out and have fun. Enjoy your night, because tomorrow you'll have your own work to deal with," he said, looking up at her, giving a small smile.
"Will, I really want to thank you, for everything. You've been the greatest older brother I could ever hope to have, and…you're the reason I wanted to become a shinigami. If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't have made it," she said shyly.
William did something rare, that one wouldn't normally witness around the usually stoic and emotionless shinigami. He embraced his younger sister in a hug and truly smiled.
"You could have done it on your own Steph. You've always been strong-willed and stubborn," he said, pulling away and looking her in the eyes, "Just don't stay out too late alright? And no more than two drinks, you hear me?" he said sternly, while hiding a smirk that threatened to emerge.
She chuckled and responded sarcastically, "Yes father," before standing up and giving her brother a quick kiss on the cheek and running out to catch up with Grell.
The moment between the siblings was short and rare, but extremely heartfelt. No one would guess how close the two actually were. It seemed that the two youngest Spears children would successfully continue to uphold their shinigami family legacy. Although William knew that Stephanie was just as skilled as himself, he knew in his heart that there would never be a day when he would stop worrying about her. He would protect his little sister forever because she was the one thing that he truly cared about and the one thing that made him smile.
Well, besides finishing his work early.