Chapter 6:
Her green eyes moved as she watched Bryan pace back and forth in annoyance with her. Ever since he had seen the bruises and cuts on her face the six foot one man had gone into straight brother mode. His eyes were dark and filled with a menace that she hadn't seen since the day they had first met.
Tala sat in the recliner a short distance away smirking at her. She found it a little annoying, but at the same time it was amusing. Brother mode Bryan was what she had silently dubbed it when ever he became protective over her like this. He had been talking for about twenty minutes and she hadn't listened to a word that had been said. Issac was upstairs crying with Ian and it was distracting her a lot. She stood up and started walking towards the stairs.
"Hey I'm talking where are you going?!" he snapped.
She stopped at the foot of the stairs. She could feel her right eye twitching with rage at the tone of his voice. It had been a long time since a man had spoken to her like that and she still didn't fancy it at all. Ana spun around on her heel and stormed up to him borderline guns blazing. Bryan's mouth closed and he took a step back.
"My baby is upstairs crying." she growled " I am going to get him."
Ana took a step forward causing him to step back again. She kept speaking and walking towards him which made him step back more and more until fell onto the corner of the couch. His sudden movement resulted in her grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him up into her face.
"Now do I make myself clear on how I do not appreciate anyone coming between my child and I." she snapped.
"Yup" he responded before she shoved him back and walked away.
The two boys sat there quietly listening to her footsteps as she went upstairs. Within seconds the crying stopped and Ian was coming downstairs with a concerned look on his face. As he entered the room he looked dead at Bryan and frowned.
"What did you do?" he asked. "I haven't seen her that pissed since the day we first met her and you called the kid ugly."
"Why'd you call him ugly?" Tala broke in.
Bryan and Ian turned to look at him as if they'd just remembered he was still there. The lilac-haired young man scratched the back of his neck showing he was uncomfortable with responding.
"Well…I was mad at you and his red hair…."
"Ian?" Ana called out as she came down stairs. "Would you please explain to me why Issac has a black eye?"
"Welp. I gotta go. I volunteered to work overtime." he quickly spun on his heels and headed for the door.
A hand grabbed the collar of his shirt and lifted him up off the floor. He looked down to see the floor moving away from him. His body was spun around to look Ana dead in the eye. He felt his eyes grow wide. This chick was more frightening than the guy who they had lived with for three years.
"He fell. I'm really really sorry." he blabbered.
"When did this happen and how?" she questioned.
"He was trying to climb the stairs and he fell." he explained.
"Tata!"
Everyone stopped to look at the eleven month old baby who was looking at Tala with bright eyes. The two red heads stared each other down. It was an awkward silent moment between everyone.
"Did he just call you breasts?" Ian asked
Ana dropped Ian on the floor and kneeled down in front of the little boy. He looked at her and giggled.
"Who is that?" she asked pointing at her red-headed room mate.
"Tata." the little boy said again.
It was a mixture of Tala and dada put together. Her face turned red with embarassment.
"We need to work on that." she deadpanned.
He stood there quietly staring and unmoving watching the scene take place and listening to it all. Deep down the words that escaped from the child's mouth lightened the weight he had been feeling for a while now. In his mind he had pushed all thoughts of ever hearing those words spoken to him by a baby. The feeling of happiness dwelled quietly within him. He did as he had been trained to do growing up, and hid his emotions watching them. Quietly Tala listened to her try to get the little boy to pronounce his name correctly. It was clear she was embarrassed by it. The red tinge in her cheeks was growing darker by the minute. Finally, she sighed in defeat and stood up to look at him. Her eyes betrayed the emotions exhibited on her face. As usual those green eyes of her pierced through him to the core. A darkness lurked there that told him this did not set well with her. Issac's words were bringing up painful memories she certainly did not want to remember. As quickly as he saw this it disappeared and she smiled as she always did hiding everything behind it.
"Sorry." she replied. "I hope it doesn't offend you, he will get better I promise."
He stared at her unmoving and thinking things over. Then it dawned on him and he smirked at her removing the smile from her face.
"That was his first word wasn't it?"
Like a child she stomped her foot and stormed out of the room.
"He wants his juice." she snapped.
The other two boys looked at him and laughed.