Christin Solomon

Chapter 34-Keep Your Brothers Close But Your Enemy Closer

A/N: Thanks for the awesome reviews! Greatly appreciated! Please enjoy.

Christin's POV

I paced in my room. Chris lounged on my bed while James sat in a bean bag. Why were they taking so long? Were there complications? Every second wasted was a second Shane wrapped around that dumb Barbie's finger tighter. I couldn't allow that.

"What's taking so long?" I demanded from Chris. He shrugged like my frustration was an everyday thing but it wasn't. So I turned to James and repeated my question.

"Your impatience is what is making this time seem so long. Stop pacing before you start wearing a ditch in your floor," He recommended. I rolled my eyes and kept pacing. A hot pink convertible pulled up and I sprinted outside.

"Carissa," I greeted, but no warmth seeped into my voice. She smirked and nodded at Chris and James. My enemy was here.

"You boys run along now, Christin and I are going to have some girl scheming time. Go on, run along, shoo," Carissa made a shoo motion with her hand. James glanced at me and I nodded, so he left to go run into town. But Chris stepped forward and whispered in my ear, so low that Carissa didn't have a prayer to hear him, "Be careful, fighting fire with fire isn't as bad as fighting fire with water, because no matter what, someone gets burnt and you can't make history forget being burnt even if you stopped the fire." He gave me a stern look before walking away. This was my brother, but yet by the end of the hour, Carissa was going to know more than him. I grabbed one of her bags and she grabbed the other as we headed inside. Once we were safely in my room, we began to talk.

"So what's her name?" Carissa inquired curiously. I started throwing my baseball in the air and catching it while she began to paint her nails.

"Barbie," My cousin gave me a look and I rolled my eyes before answering, "Bailey."

"Picture?" She asked. I threw her a picture that Shane had taken in one of those picture booths at the mall. Her eyes widened and she finally seemed like she believed me about why I called her Barbie.

"Wow, point made," She said before taking her nail polish and brushing over Barbie's face so it looked like Shane was sitting beside a giant, hot pink blob. I couldn't help but half smile at the picture and something in Carissa softened because the snobby look on her face finally came off to reveal a decent cousin inside.

"You love him enough to do this to him just so she won't get him," She observed. I nodded and threw the ball a little too hard at the thought of Barbie ending up with my brother, the ball hit the ceiling above me and I laughed a little.

"I'd rather die," I growled, becoming serious suddenly. A sister had to have her brother's back, even when he didn't see the danger.

"Ok," We were quiet for a while before she pulled out a wedding ring and threw it at me. I caught it easily and let my baseball hit the floor as I sat up to better examine the ring in the light. It was a solid gold band with a huge diamond on it which was real.

"What else do you need?" Carissa questioned quietly. I analyzed the ring for a moment more before acknowledging my cousin's question.

"A love note from a guy . . . Hugo Olaf, one of her missions was in Germany, she had to stay close to a counter intelligence agent, and I guess they both had a hard time letting go when she was sent on a new mission,"

"I'll give you my rough draft when I'm done," She informed as she pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. The final draft would be in pen. I waited, feeling oddly patient and non-nosey. I wanted, no, change that, I needed that love letter to be perfect.

"Here you go," She whispered and handed me the paper.

My Dearest Love Bailey,

I have missed you intensely since our time in Germany together. The other day when I was watching a beautiful, pure whit horse run a crossed a field of daisies, I thought of your breath taking beauty and knew that it surpassed the horse's by so much that I realized just how much I need to be with you, forever. So darling, when you eat dinner tonight, think of me, and think of what I am offering.

Your Desperate Love,

Huge Olaf

"Carissa," I said in a low and dangerous voice. Her eyes had a slight fear in them as she spoke.

"Yes Christin?"

"I'm about to hurl,"

We burst out laughing and she wrote the final draft in pen and I thanked her gratefully. I never would've been able to pull off a note like that. I left my room with the note in hand and found a secret passage way that I knew the vent system ran through briefly. I climbed into the vents and began army crawling. I imagined the map of the vent system in my mind and took a right, following a left, going straight ten feet and then coming to a vent that should look into my Shane's room. Considering how unnaturally tidy it was and how there was one bottle of cologne on the dresser, it had so be his. Using my cell phone, I tapped into the camera I had set up in his room and took a quick look to make sure no one was here. Then I looked at the hall camera to make sure nobody was coming.

No one was at the moment so I slid out of the vent and landed on the floor like a cat. We were having a family dinner tonight in a private dining room. I needed to put this note somewhere where Shane would see it after dinner but not before. Barbie's coat was hanging on a hanger in the closet. If everything went according to plan, she should grab it, and Shane would see the note in her pocket. This note should seal the deal. I slipped it in, letting it poke out just enough, and climbed back into the vent. By the time I got back to my room, Carissa was dressed for the dinner, and I found out that I only had five minutes before we were expected by my family. I took a three minute shower, all the while preparing myself for what would come.

***********************************Later At Dinner**************************************

"So what have you and Carissa been doing all afternoon?" My mom asked as they brought out the appetizers. I bit into a mozzarella stick before answering in a perfect lie, "Catching up."

"That's nice, and what did our little lovebirds do to stay busy?" She asked Shane and Barbie. Barbie giggled briefly before glancing down at the oh so amazing white table cloth, and Shane grinned madly.

"What lovebirds do to stay busy," He said serenely. My mother laughed while my dad rolled his eyes and glanced at me, smiling in that special way that only I understood, and I smiled back because there was no way that I couldn't. Chris tapped his leg lightly three times, and I tapped my leg twice. He nodded in a small movement and started up a conversation with James. It was nice to see that they had gotten back to being best buddies instead of sworn enemies. It continued like that until the chef came out, took a small bow, and waved his hand, "Dinner is served." I had some chicken Alfredo which tasted amazing. Barbie had taken a bite into her fettuccini but when she bit down, her eyes widened, and she pulled the engagement ring from her mouth.

"A little quick, don't you think bro?" Shawn asked. Shane's eyes blazed and both his hands were clenched.

"So Bailey, whose proposing?" He growled. She glanced down and laid the ring on the table.

"No one that I can think of," She lied. I wanted to reach over the table and slap her. How dare she lie to my brother? Well it wasn't like Shane knew about Hugo Olaf.

"Liar," Shane muttered. Her eyes got to be the size of plates and she left the dining room, Shane close on her heels.

"Um, why don't we all go to our rooms and see if this can be explained?" My mom offered. Everyone nodded and we headed to our rooms, but Chris and James came into mine a few seconds after mom had passed to check on us. Both of them flanking me and Carissa looking over my shoulder, I turned my phone on to see what was happening in Shane's room.

"So you have no idea who just dropped a ring in your fettuccini? You're such a liar," Shane's hands flew up as he exclaimed the word again.

"I'm no such thing, how dare you accuse me of such!" She yelled back at him. She went to grab her coat and as she started to stalk out of the room, the love note slipped from her pocket. Before she could react, Shane grabbed it, and read it.

"Hugo Olaf!" He yelled and realization lit in Barbie's eyes.

"We were never meant to be together, you and I, so now I must go to the arms that truly love me!" Well that was a Hollywood exit.

I turned off the camera and leaned against Chris for support. James kissed my forehead and Carissa left to pack her things where she had stored them in an empty room.

"Was I right Chris?" I whispered, not really wanting to hear the answer. Shane wrapped his arms around me in a hug and I leaned against him more, needing the comfort that only he could give sometimes.

"You protected and saved your brother, there is no greater right than that," He told me reassuringly. But yet to my ears they felt hollow. I had hurt my brother deeply even though I highly doubted he even had given a thought that it was me who caused all of this. Mom would be furious and order that I apologize to Barbie right then and get her back with Shane. Dad would be calm but yet not proud of my actions. I wouldn't be able to handle that, seeing disappointment in my father's eyes. Shawn would tell me it was the right thing to do, just like Chris. But I felt horrible, like I didn't deserve any one's praise or denial. But most of all, I couldn't imagine Shane's reaction if I admitted that all of this was my doing.

"He'll hate me," I murmured to Chris.

"No he won't, you are his sister, through and through, blood for blood, life for life, there is no way he could ever hate you," Chris assured gently. I sat down on my bed and he wrapped a protective arm around me, and I wrapped my arm around his shoulders as well.

"I have to tell him," The sentence that I never thought would leave my mind popped out.

"Yes," Chris agreed right when a knock on the door sounded. I bit my lip, knowing who it was. Chris looked at me and we had an hour's worth of conversation in just one glance.

"You know what to do," My twin pressed his cheek to my hair before walking out of my room and leaving the door open to reveal Shane standing there. He stepped in and closed the door.

"I just wanted to come say thank you," My eyes must have been huge because he chuckled sadly and sat beside me. But it wasn't like Chris's warm presence, our Shawn's protective one, it was a grateful presence.

"She wasn't right for me but I was just so excited to be back in the game that I couldn't see that. Carissa wrote the note, you put it in Bailey's coat pocket, and you put the wedding ring in her entrée to get it all started," I was impressed how fast my older brother had pieced it all together.

"Thank you can have a double meaning, ya know?" Shane continued. I looked at him, waiting for his explanation.

"You can say thank you, but you could really mean I love you, or . . . I hate you," Now I met his gaze with my own. I could feel my heart hardening, getting ready for the three words that could cut me so deep I would never heal or the three words that could make all my stress go away for a few moments.

"I love you Christin, that doesn't change, and I'm grateful you were watching out for me when I wasn't watching out for myself," He said. I reached over and hugged my brother tightly, he returned it, and we parted after a few moments.

"I'm proud of you too. You brought your brother close, but your enemy closer," He kissed my forehead and left. I had achieved what very few spies could. I had done the hardest thing that not many could handle, I had worked with my enemy to save my brother. My brothers were a few of the closest people to me, and for a few hours, Carissa had been even closer.

A/N: This is the longest chapter I have ever written without lyrics or Author's Notes in the text or anything, wow. Please review!