Thanks to my beta reader Scarlet Moon for living up the story.
"You're not going to tell them… Are you?" Jeanette asked as Alvin continued to wrap her arm up.
"No." He said. "But you are."
"So I can give Britt more of a reason to yell at me? Not going to happen." Jeanette said finishing the wrapping herself.
"You are more stubborn then your sister, you know that?" He asked standing from the bed. "What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking about getting rid of the pain." She said.
"You should have called me, Jean." He said as tears formed in his eyes. "You should have called."
"What were you going to do? Sweep me off my feet and carry me to bed? I'm not Brittany Alvin, that doesn't work for me!" She yelled.
"What does Brittany have to do with any of this?" Alvin asked confused.
"I'm not blind, I have seen the way you looked at her."
"Key word is have, Jean. HAVE!"
"You still love her." Jeanette spat.
"You would be dead if I did." Alvin said walking out of the bedroom, slamming the door.
-Simon & Brittany-
"Mmm…" Brittany stretched her arms, while looking to her right to see Simon staring at her. "Don't look at me like that." She turned to her side holding the sheets to her chest.
"Like what?" He asked inching closer.
"Like you're surprised to see me." She smiled lying on her back and Simon leaned over her.
"But I am. I would have never thought that I'd be married to the most beautiful woman in the whole world." He said giving her a passionate kiss.
"And I never thought that I'd be married to the nerdiest man alive." She teased.
"Is that how it's going to be?" He asked leaning closer. "You're going to tease me about what I do best?"
"I'll make sure Alexis knows that Daddy's superpower is boring people out of their minds." She smiled as Alexis started to cry.
Simon kissed Brittany. "You're safe for now." He said climbing out of bed, slipping his sweatpants on.
"I love you." She said as he walked to the door.
"Even though I'm a nerd?" He asked opening the door.
"Especially since you're a nerd." She smiled as Simon walked out the door, closing it behind him.
"Nerdiest man alive… Brittany, you indulge yourself in too many romantic movies and novels." Brittany said, lying on her back. "I can't believe that I said that... No, no, I actually can." She told herself as she got out of bed to get dressed when her phone buzzed against the nightstand.
-Alvin & Jeanette-
"I thought you left." Jeanette said walking into the kitchen.
"The only way I am leaving this house is with you. Then we're going to see your sister." Alvin said staring at his cup of coffee.
"I'm not leaving this house and you can't force me."
"We either go to her or she comes to you." Alvin hissed through clenched teeth, standing up.
"Then I'll leave." She said as Alvin stood in her way. "Move."
"No. I may not be able to drag you to her without question but I can keep you here, against your will, and nobody will know."
"I seriously doubt you'd do that." She said getting past him.
Alvin grabbed her by the arm. Jeanette tried to escape his grasp but she ended up pushed against the wall with Alvin holding both of her arms. "I'm already pissed off. Don't make it any worse." Alvin said clenching his teeth.
"Alvin, let her go." Brittany said softly, resting her hands on his arms. "Let her go." Alvin did as he was told. "Now go home, get some rest. I'll take it from here."
"Don't you have him wrapped around your finger." Jeanette scoffed as the Alvin walked out.
Brittany kept Jeanette against the wall. "He loves you don't you see that? He loves you and you continue to break his heart." Brittany said. "What is wrong with you? Do you have any idea what you would have done to us? To Ellie?"
"Why do you care? You never cared about me. You never cared about Ellie. All you cared about was me, myself, and I. You don't even know a thing about me or Ellie." Jeanette said pushing Brittany back. "I took care of Ellie and Ms. Miller while covering for you. I lied for you. I took on your responsibilities because you had to go to that party, or be with that boy. I took Ellie or Ms. Miller to their doctor's appointment, I did the shopping, I picked up the medicine."
"Jeanette that's enough."
"I even took care of you." Jeanette said ignoring Brittany. "You came home drunk. I made sure that you had medicine to get you through your hangover the following morning. If you were high, I made you drink a lot of water and kept you in your room for twenty-four hours. Come home with broken bones and a beat up face, I took you to the hospital AND lied about what happened. So, tell me, why should I believe that you care about me?"
"Jean, I… I know that I wasn't the greatest sister growing up and I regret doing that to you but I can't change what happened. Let me take care of you now."
"I didn't need you then, I don't need you now." Jeanette said going up stairs.
"Jean, please. Don't shut me out." Brittany said standing at the bottom of the stairs.
"Now you know how I have felt all those years!" Jeanette yelled from the top of the stairs.
"I'm sorry. I am so sorry I did that. But please, Jean, don't do this to yourself. It was the worst thing I could have done, I can't watch you-"
"Then don't! I have never needed you Brittany! I will never need you." Jeanette spat.
"Jean-"
"Never." She said going to her room.
"Did I really shut you guys out?" Brittany asked seeing Eleanor from the corner of her eye.
"From what I remember… You were barely there, Britt." Eleanor said.
Brittany rubbed the back of her neck, looked toward the ground. She shook her head and walked toward the door.
"Where are you going?" Eleanor asked confused about Brittany's actions.
"Why should I stay? I'm not welcomed here anymore. Jeanette's right, I don't know my family. All I cared about was myself. I know nothing about you guys; all I know is your name, favorite color, favorite song to sing and a routine. Not a lot about your personal life… I shouldn't have done that to the two of you." Brittany said walking out the door.
"But I need you." Eleanor said, watching the door close.
-Simon & Brittany-
Simon walked into the bedroom to see Brittany sitting on the edge of the bed watching TV. As he got closer he saw the image on the screen; it was Jeanette and Eleanor celebrating Eleanor's birthday.
"Where's Brittany? She said she'd be here." Eleanor said before blowing out the candles.
"She had to work... But don't worry, she made sure to leave your gift out." Jeanette said getting her little sister to smile.
Eleanor blew out the twelve candles and tore through her gifts. Brittany fast-forward through the rest of the tape until the screen went black and a few moments later Jeanette's face showed up.
"Brittany… I don't know why you're doing this to yourself but… We need you. Ellie needs you. You missed her birthday, again. You promised that you were going to be here for it, again. I lied to her, again. I don't know how many times I can do this but it's getting to the point where Ellie will figure it out… Please, Brittany. I don't want to find you dead because of an overdose. Brittany-"
Simon turned the TV off and stood in front of Brittany. "Don't do this to yourself. What happened happened." He said brushing her hair behind her ears, lifting her head to see her eyes.
Brittany pushed his hands away, standing from the bed. "I'm not going to kill myself." She walked over to her dresser.
"Then why remind yourself of the pain?" Simon asked.
"I shouldn't be here today." Brittany said leaning against the dresser.
"Brittany please-"
"NO!" Brittany yelled. "I watch it to remind myself why I shouldn't kill myself." She turned, facing Simon. "Jeanette just punched me in the face with reality. I don't know them as well as I thought I did. The more I think about it the more they become partners of a competition that we won. My family… Is gone, Simon." Tears ran down her face as Simon slowly stepped closer to her. "I… What am I going to do?"
Simon lifted her head slightly and kissed her, pushing her against the dresser. "You have me. You have a beautiful little girl who is sound asleep in the next room." He said inches from here face. "Then there's my brother, who claims that he is the best Uncle on earth, although I am quite terrified that our daughter will most likely turn out like him." He said getting Brittany to smile and then laid her head on his shoulder. "You have us, which unfortunately includes Alvin, but you do have a family."
"Would you stop? Your brother is doing fine." Brittany said with her head still on his shoulder.
"For now." Simon said as Brittany lifted her head as she hit his shoulder. "Ow, what was that for?" He asked laughing through it.
"He'll be fine." She said as Simon held her, and walked her to the bed.
"I think I struck a nerve." He teased. "How much do you love me?"
"Apparently enough to have a child with you." She said as Alexis started to cry.
Simon put his forehead on Brittany's shoulder. "When will it end." He groaned.
"You should go check on her, before she starts screaming her lungs out."
Simon shot his head up. "No, no, no, no, no. I've been taking care of her all day. It's your turn to go take care of her."
"I take care of the night shift because you refuse to get up. I'm sorry, but until you decide to help out during the night you're stuck with the day shift." Brittany said patting his cheek.
"Are we really going to do this?"
"Yeah."
Simon shook his head and mumbled something as he went to check on Alexis.