Gracious

PART 1 - Chapter 1

"Come on, back to bed", I pushed open my bedroom door and allowed them to step in one by one, they climbed onto my bed and sunk under the covers, "everything's fine okay?".

Alexander, who was the furthest away from me, had already turned on his side and was facing away. Xavier on the other hand was now in a sitting position in the middle and watching me intently.

"What happened down there? Was it Dad?", he asked, rubbing his earlobe between a thumb and index finger; a habit I'd become accustomed to witnessing and a habit he'd received beatings for at the hands of our father.

"We'll talk about it in the morning, hm?", I carefully removed Chase's glasses and placed them on the bedside table before gesturing for him to remove his hearing aids, "get some sleep".

"Dad's gone, I heard the sirens", Alexander muttered, his back still facing the three of us, "good, I hated him". That's my boy.

Chase dropped the hearing aids into my palm and let his head fall back onto the pillow, I put them next to his glasses and rose to my feet fully.

"In the morning", I said again, leaning down and kissing each of their foreheads, "te amo".

"Te amo más", they replied as I made my way towards the door, sending Xavier a look which made him finally lie back down. I slipped out of the room without another word, letting my head tip back against the wood and a long sigh escape me - I was all they had.

~

Upon returning back downstairs, I couldn't help but smirk at the sight before me. Prescott was sitting on the kitchen island, a bag of chips in his lap and a bottle of Fanta to his right, not to mention the half-eaten pack of Oreos to his left. If I thought Xavier was wide awake, then he was something else.

Prescott didn't sleep. But when he did, it was only for a few hours at a time. How he was the top of almost all of his classes was beyond me.

Caleb however, was now completely knocked out on the sofa, curled up with a slight frown etched on his face.

"They okay?", Prescott asked, the crunching of his snacks being the only noise in the room apart from the quiet murmurs of the tv.

"They had questions, understandable", I scooped the 12 year old into my arms and held him against my chest carefully, "I told them we'd talk in the morning, they're sleeping in my bed". Caleb shifted, muttering something incoherent under his breath before stilling again, I held him closer to me and brushed some of his hair out of his eyes.

"And where are you gonna sleep?", he asked- always worrying about me.

"I'll take a spare room", I shrugged, moving towards the doorway, "easy on the snacks Prescott". I left the room without waiting for a reply, a small chuckle filled the air and I smirked, ascending the stairs with my brother in my arms - what a fucking day.

After tucking Caleb in and making sure he was settled, I chose the spare room closest to where they were sleeping; I had to be within close proximity in case something happened. The second my head hit that pillow, my fate for the night was sealed - I wasn't sleeping tonight. I lay there, finding sudden fascination in the ceiling as I sighed.

Happy birthday to me.

~

I poured the last of the pancake batter into the pan and listened to it sizzle, I only ever made pancakes on the weekend so the boys had something to look forward to after a week of school. This was one of the only things I'd keep the same after Santiago's departure.

A huge yawn escaped me, I'd stayed true to my word - I didn't sleep at all last night; I went from staring at the ceiling to staring out the window to watching tv before finally coming downstairs and starting breakfast at 6.