Kidhad woke up to his alarm blaring at 6 am. He quickly turned off the alarm and sat up in the sleeping bag, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He glanced over at the bed and noticed the small frame still asleep in his bed. He softly smiled to himself; he'd never been left to care for someone else before. The only training he had was his first aid and CPR certification, he didn't think he'd do well with toddlers or babie, but maybe he could babysit a few eight-year-olds?

He quickly dismissed the idea, with his past who'd hire him on as a babysitter anyway? Well except fire Chief Corbin, he didn't seem too bothered by his history. That bit of information alone was curious to Kid. The guy held a high rank in the fire department, if word got around that he had any connection to someone like him, it could spell out career ending action for him.

Nia had been scared when the brick crashed through the window last night, in truth he had been as well, but thankfully it hadn't injured her. He'd been able to clean up the smaller pieces of glass with the vacuum, the larger pieces he picked up by hand.

Now he was in the kitchen making pancakes and suddenly realized despite everything they did discuss yesterday they never talked about how she prefers her eggs cooked. 'Eh, hopefully she'll wake up soon… if not Killer'll be here when she does,' he reasoned with himself as he placed the last pancake onto one plate. It was a triple batch, he wasn't sure how many she'd eat, but pancakes were a rare treat in his place.

He put a little more oil into the frying pan, swishing it around so it covered the surface area. Then cracked three eggs into it, as far as Kid was concerned you couldn't go wrong with good old fashioned over easy. Sometimes he'd go for poached but that wasn't too common.

He flipped the eggs over and let them cook yolk down for a few seconds before plating them and took four pancakes from the stack. He spread strawberry jam onto the pancakes and didn't use any condiments for the eggs as he began eating the breakfast. After every few bites he'd take a sip of coffee.

He glanced up when he heard movement from the living room and watched as Killer got up from the couch.

"Didn't mean to wake you, Killer," he stated apologetically.

Killer brushed it off while admitting he hadn't slept all that well anyhow. His brother was currently shirtless and wearing a pair of navy-blue sweatpants as pajama bottoms. The blond man stretched and yawned as he entered the kitchen, grabbing a mug down from the cupboards and filling it with coffee.

"So, tell me about this girl. Anything I should be cautious of with her?"

"She's asthmatic. Far as I can tell just heat and extreme stress triggers it pretty bad, but her grandpa left a list. She took her asthma pill while we were eating dinner so she could sleep. No food allergies or other issues that I know about," Kid relayed, as he took another forkful of food.

When he'd chewed it significantly, he added, "Oh one other thing, her grandpa keeps her under a pretty tight lock and key. Poor girl didn't even know about periods or the changes her own body's going through. So, I let her google a few things on my phone."

Killer was silent but looked to Kid with a knowing glance. He added milk to his coffee and took a few sips of it before asking, "so you used some emergency money to get her some supplies, I take it?"

"Yeah. Two fourteen packs of pads. Figured we keep one here, and she takes one over there. That way if her grandpa finds them and does something with them, she's still got some somewhere," Kid confirmed.

Killer nodded his head a little as he replied, "I get that logic, but realistically most older folks don't have a problem with young girls wearing pads—it's other products they have issues with because they go up inside the girl. A few even think they get pleasure from them—I don't know cause I'm obviously not a woman, but I can't imagine having something inside you for hours at a time is comfortable never mind pleasurable."

Kid made a face as he processed the information and shook his head, "people are fucked."

Killer nodded his head in silent agreement as he drank down some more coffee. He set his cup down and stated, "I'm gonna have Hailey over today… if she gets here before Nia's grandfather picks her up, I'm sure she won't mind having a talk with her if she wants to talk to a woman that is."

Kid nodded a little again as he finished his breakfast and admitted, "I'm glad you're not obsessed with tracking everything I do."

"Not everything, but I do track you," Killer reminded him.

"I know," Kid responded as he started washing his dishes. Killer shook his head and advised him, "don't worry about it Kiddo, I'll get it. Hit the shower, I can smell you from here."

"Fuck off asshole," Kid shot back as he made his way to the washroom.

Killer chuckled, yes, he was his brother's legal guardian, but he was still his older brother, not his father. He didn't expect to have the same level of respect as a parent would, but he did expect Kid to listen to him. For the most part his brother did listen, the odd time he didn't, and he had consequences for it when that happened. Killer wasn't big on punishments, but he was a big believer in cause and consequence. When Kid got into his whisky last Christmas the consequence was enduring a hangover while Killer blasted Atreyu on his phone.

When Kid complained that he felt sick and his head was throbbing, Killer had simply advised him, "That's what happens when you drink."

The one thing that Killer was angry about was that their parents had passed away when they did. He knew they were in the beginnings of a legal case against the Juvenile detention center where Kid had been serving his sentence. Until their passing he hadn't known what the case was about, but once he found out he felt like he'd let Kid down. Although at the time he had been seventeen, if he'd been arrested on similar charges to Kid, he would've been tried as an adult and sent to a different prison. He couldn't have protected him.

As his older brother it was his job to help protect him and he felt like he'd already failed to do that twice. Once leading up to his brother going to juvie, he'd never admit it to him, but he'd also found his girlfriend attractive and had a crush on her. But he lost interest when just two weeks after Kid was sent to Juvie for protecting her at a dance, Killer had seen the bimbo on the arm of another guy.

He lost respect for her in that moment, and ten weeks later Kid was granted compassionate release from Juvie after an incident while serving his sentence. His parents had sold their house to pay for the legal fees and pay the fine associated with Kid's assault in order for him to be freed early. They were in the process of moving into a three-bedroom apartment when their parents had been killed.

After that, the best that Killer could do was get a one bedroom based on his income alone. He did have some money from the insurance, but he didn't know what post-secondary program Kid wanted to get into—and he wanted his little brother to have every opportunity he could get. If that meant investing the insurance payout until Kid was out of high school, then that's what he'd do.