Hello again! So, my posting schedule is kinda whack, and I don't know when I'll figure it out. I was gonna wait until Monday but decided I couldn't, so we'll see where this goes. I'm hoping to have Mondays be pretty consistent and if I'm impatient I'll post again, but idk we'll see.

I had more fun with this chapter, expect literal fluff!

Warnings: mentions of child neglect. Still not the focus of the story but still present.

Disclaimer: I don't know how all that child custody jazz actually works, I can't even tell if it's relevant this chapter. I also don't own any of these characters.

When Omega awoke the first thing she noticed was how warm she was. She was never this warm in the morning or in bed, unless she had a fever. But she wasn't experiencing any other symptoms of illness, so it must not be that.

The second thing that she noticed was how comfortable she was. And she was comfy. It felt like she was laying on a cloud. What had she slept on?

Carefully opening her eyes, Omega took in the room.

It seemed…standard, she supposed. A large window to the right of the bed, dresser and door to the left. A nightstand sat on her right, and a door–to the bathroom, Omega presumed–stood straight across from it. As for the bed itself…Omega had a slight panic attack realizing there was another form there, but quickly calmed upon seeing it was her brother Hunter. He must have stayed with her after she fell asleep to give her some comfort. He stirred suddenly.

"Where am I?" Omega asked him with wide eyes and a curious tone as she sat up to look around further. There wasn't very much else to see, though.

"Home, kid," Hunter replied, yawning and smiling slightly as he did so. He sat up alongside her, brushing the hair out of his face and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Home," she repeated slowly, sleepily. "I like the sound of that."

Hunter's heart shattered into a million tiny fragments. She'd never heard that word before, had she? He swallowed his grief for her childhood thus far and forced a smile onto his face.

"It's okay kid, you're safe here now."

She smiled slightly at him and scooted over to hug him, only a moment later he let go. After a quick bathroom break, Hunter led Omega to the kitchen where Echo and Cross were waiting with breakfast.

Soon after sitting down and having a plate with bacon and eggs placed in front of the child by Crosshair with a smile, Wrecker came in from cleaning the grill and watering the garden outside. After about ten minutes Hunter went upstairs to get Tech, and another five minutes provided an annoyed oldest and a drowsy genius. Both made a beeline for the coffee pot before settling down at the table.

The meal was quiet. Kind of awkward, with little talk. As Omega was finishing her food, now that Tech had caffeine, the conversation picked up and her brothers started to discuss changes regarding adjusting work schedules so at least one person was home with her, getting her room set up, Echo and Tech changing the budget, and so on. Wrecker took her now-empty plate and let her know she was excused while the others gathered their dishes and Crosshair started scrubbing.

Omega stood and pushed her chair in but stopped. She didn't know what to do now. Usually after breakfast–or whatever food she could get her hands on in the morning–the young girl would find something to read. While she could see bookcases in the living area, she didn't know what was off-limits. Most of Mother's books were, was it the same here? Something soft rubbing up against her bare leg broke Omega out of her train of thought and made her jump back with a small yelp.

"You okay, Omega?" Echo asked, reaching out to steady her when she clutched the table for balance.

Panting, she nodded her head and looked down. She pointed.

"It touched me."

Wrecker boomed a laugh.

"Aww, that's just Gonky. He won't hurt ya!"

Omega looked back at the creature she now recognised to be a cat. He stared back at her with curious eyes and his head tilted to the right. He was missing the tip of his left ear and his fur seemed to be a bit patchy. He yawned, which caused Omega to take a slight step back, but she could see his teeth were spaced out and some seemed to be missing entirely. She pitied the poor thing.

"Would you like to pet him?" Tech had come up to her right and crouched down, looking her in the eyes. "He will not bite," he added upon seeing the uncertain look in her pupils. She nodded slowly, turning her gaze back to the floof ball.

"You must let him get to know you, first," Tech explained. "Give me your hand, please," he requested and the child obliged.

Tech gently folded the fingers of her right hand into a loose fist, and guided her knuckles closer to Gonky's face. His left hand supported Omega's elbow while his right stopped her digits mere inches from the cat's nose. Gonky then proceeded to sniff Omega's knuckles. She hesitated for a sudden moment, but Tech held her in place.

"I promise that he will not hurt you." Omega saw the truth in his eyes and allowed the animal to rub his face into her hand.

"Now you may pet him."

Tech let go but the girl once again hesitated. She looked up at him.

"Will you show me?" She requested.

"Of course."

Tech nodded and took her hand, unfolding it and guiding it along Gonky's back gently. He started purring, which surprised Omega, but she continued to allow Tech to guide her hand until she could do it herself. Tech gave Gonky a few chin skritches before standing up entirely.

"He likes you," Crosshair commented. "Took him weeks to warm up to us all."

While not entirely true, Crosshair's point was made. Tech was the only one the feline would purr for until about a month in their home.

"Why is he called Gonky?" the child quiered.

"I suspect that before I found him, his vocal chords had been damaged, likely by another, larger animal or a dog, resulting in an altered peal," Tech answered.

"His meow sounds like a 'gonk' type of noise," Echo supplied at Omega's confused expression.

"I said that," Tech mumbled grumpily, but Omega didn't hear. Crosshair clasped him on the shoulder and suggested he and Echo get ready to head out. Begrudgingly, Tech agreed and the duo went to their respective rooms to get dressed.

"Where are they going?" the child asked, turning away from the retreating feline and towards her remaining brothers.

"Tech and Echo usually go shopping on Saturdays," Hunter filled her in, "sometimes with one of us, but not often."

Omega gasped in excitement.

"Can I go, too?" The smile on her face and hope in her voice cracked Hunter like an egg dropped from the roof.

"Absolutely," Hunter told her.

"As long as Tech's okay with it," Crosshair interjected, knowing how stressful shopping with one extra adult could be for Tech, let alone a child.

"We could make it a family trip!" Wrecker suggested, getting excited.

"Great. Tech will love that."

The group turned to see Echo walk out, buttoning the last button on his shirt, his sarcasm at the highest level.

"He'll get over it," Hunter said, rolling his eyes.

Echo's right eyebrow shot up in disbelief as he asked, "Will he?"

"...eventually," the oldest of the boys conceded reluctantly, recalling the last family grocery outing in which the brother in question refused to speak to any of them for around 36 hours.

"Besides, we need to get Omega some clothes and supplies," Crosshair chimed in again, deciding to side with Hunter on this one. A 'Yeah!' from Wrecker made it two against four.

"Ok," Echo sighed and accepted the situation, "but Tech's not gonna like this."

"I will not like what?" said brother inquired, finally coming back down the stairs.

"Omega and the rest of us will be joining you this fine morning, vodi'ka," Hunter had plastered on such a karabast-eating-grin it made Tech infuriated, though he could see no way out of it.

"Splendid," Tech grumbled sarcastically. "Don't mess with my list," he said loudly and grabbed the car keys from their stand by the door. "You all had better hurry it up before I leave without you!" He'd called, and the rest of them rushed around to their rooms to get dressed and ready.

I freaking love cat Gonky, my little ball of floof. Can you tell I'm a cat person haha? Shopping is next, that's a fun one, too!

I'm not one to beg for reviews but that's the only way I know that actual real people are reading this so I'd appreciate it if you took a minute to just say whether or not you like it so far, thank you so much!

Oh, and Happy Easter to those who celebrate and happy spring/fall to those who don't! Have a great weekend anyways, see you next time!