Braxton House

"What's got you looking so grumpy today?" Casey lightly jokes as Kyle walks out from the hallway, slumping down at the dining table before taking a deep sigh.

"Vic's gone away with her parents and they barely have a signal where they are." Kyle mutters.

"Right, so what's the problem with that?" Casey frowns.

"Nothing. We haven't spoken much the past couple days and we used to talk all the time. I can't wait until she gets home!" Kyle says, feeling really lonely without being able to talk to her.

"You really love her, 'ey?" Heath says.

"Yeah, it's unlike anything I've had before. It's nice and we've got something really special. It's just made me realise how good we've got things and I don't ever want to lose that. I don't know what I'd do without someone like Vic by my side." Kyle says.

"Aw, young love." Heath lightly smirks, getting a whack over the head from the eldest Braxton as he knew it went a lot deeper than that.

"I think it's great you've got someone like Victoria around knowing how much she loves you as well. Although sometimes I do wonder if having you both on the same shifts is a good thing." Brax says, unable to hide a smile as Kyle grins to himself.

"It's not my fault Vic knows how to push your buttons." Kyle says, laughing a little as he thought about all the times Brax and Victoria argued, but it was more like a sibling argument than a boss and employee.

"I've known her too long, that's the problem. I'm surprised she didn't leave with the rest of the staff when I took over Angelo's, but it shows what a trooper she is. You've got a good chick there." Brax says, loving how she was able to finally show Kyle what a real relationship was like, and treat him with the love and respect he deserved.

"Well get used to it cause you're going to know her a lot longer." Kyle smiles.

"Yeah, marriage keeps being brought up between them both." Casey smirks.

"Just because it gets brought up, it doesn't mean we're ready for that." Kyle says.

"But you do want to marry her one day, and you're not saying it just to keep her happy?" Heath asks.

"No, I'd love to marry her. I just think that she can do so much better than me."

"She obviously doesn't think that if she's with you, and none of us think that either. You're lucky to have each other and she loves you." Brax says, hating how belittled Kyle's abusive ex girlfriend made him feel, as he thought Kyle was the kindest person to know, especially considering he was a Braxton.

"Anyway, why don't we go into Yabbie Creek to hang out? Denny's hanging out with her family today, so I've got nothing else to do." Casey says to his immediate older brother.

"Yeah, okay. Beats being stuck here bored." Kyle says as he stands up, grabbing his wallet from the side before leaving with Casey.

"Is there something else up with Kyle?" Heath asks once he was sure his two brothers had left.

"How'd you mean?" Brax asks.

"Well I know something has happened to Kyle before he came to live with us and I think it's got something to do with him getting so freaked out the other day and having a panic attack. I tried asking him but he got so defensive about it but did mention he had some issues going on and maybe one day he'd tell us what happened." Heath says, watching Brax carefully, and he knew his brother knew something about it. "Kyle's told you about his life before us, hasn't he? That's why you two are always going off places, and why you act differently with him."

"I don't act different with him-"

"Yes you do, we've all noticed it. You moved him in with us not even ten minutes after he rocked here looking for us. There's no way you would have done that without knowing something about him, and it can't just be because his mum was dead. I remember him being pretty freaked out about the thought of seeing dad again." Heath says, not knowing why he couldn't know as he was Kyle's big brother as well, and liked to think they got on well despite the few disagreements they have every now and then.

"I don't care how much you try and push me to give you answers, it's not going to happen. I made a promise to Kyle that it would stay between us, and I'm sticking to that." Brax firmly says.

"So you do know?"

"Yeah, Kyle's told me about his past, and he trusts me to keep it between us. I'm not disrespecting his trust in talking to me about things when it's his choice who knows. If he said that he'll tell people one day, then you respect that and wait until he's ready to open up about it."

"So Kyle doesn't trust me, is that what you're getting at?" Heath asks, wondering if that's why Kyle never went to him for things, it was always Brax no matter the situation.

"No, and don't you dare go saying that to him either. I don't know whether you're just being ignorant to things around you, or you don't care, but Kyle has come a very long way since moving here and it's like he's a completely different person. Now I don't want you pressing Kyle for details on his past, or even mentioning that you've tried getting it out of me because he needs us, and he needs to know he can trust us. Got it?" Brax firmly says, staring at Heath to agree.

He knew none of them would understand why it was so important, but Brax had seen a huge boost in Kyle's confidence since being in a family that cared about him. He wasn't ready to lose that, and in a way, he felt so honoured to see how much Kyle was changing into the person he wanted to be. He didn't even want to think about what would have happened if he didn't give Kyle a chance the day he turned up at their house, he was just glad he went with his gut instinct to accept him into their family.

"Yeah, I got it." Heath lightly nods. "And I guess he has come a long way. He's certainly not that quiet kid that moved in with us anymore. Sometimes we can barely get a word in edgeways."

"And that's what we need to appreciate. One day, you'll understand why it's so important, but for now you need to trust that I know what I'm doing." Brax says, Heath nodding again. "And don't go shouting at Kyle like you did last week, stuff like that really doesn't help the situation."

"I know, and I did apologise for that. I was angry but I would never have done it if I knew it would lead to him having a panic attack. Is that something to do with his past or was it because of me?" Heath asks, still not sure since his conversation with Kyle, he just hoped it wasn't because of him.

"No, that's to do with his past. He knows you would never hurt him, but anger like that does make him question stuff. Now leave it at that." Brax says.

"Okay." Heath says. "But you would tell me if it was something to be worried about, wouldn't you?"

"Only if it wasn't something I could deal with myself." Brax says. "But Kyle's in a good place, he's living his life here and I don't think we have anything to worry about. Just move on from the argument you had with him, and don't pry into his past. There's nothing to worry about." Brax says, hoping Heath would get the hint and not talk about it again, or even bring it up to Kyle.

"Fine, I'll forget about it. But if it doesn't end well for whatever reason, you'll be to blame." Heath says.

"What makes you think this isn't going to end well?" Brax asks.

"Nothing ever does for this family, does it?" Heath shrugs.

"We're not talking about Kyle anymore, are we?" Brax frowns. "Is this about you and Bianca?"

"Bianca thought she was pregnant again, but turns out it was a false positive. It just brought back the shit we went through after Rocco died, and I wasn't dealing with it well. It made us realise how we hadn't really worked through our grief together as a couple and it was driving us apart."

"But you're okay now?"

"Yeah, we've spoken about a lot the last couple days, especially after I made things right with Kyle. We're doing better after getting things off our chest. So now it's time for you to agree to not mention it again." Heath says, lightly smirking at his brother.

"Alright, we'll agree that everything spoken about just now stays between us, never to be brought up again." Brax says.