Little Bird

15

Nic's PoV

Once Bob and I make our way into the house I lead us towards the living room where we find Pete sitting on the couch. As we approach he stands

"Thanks for being willing to let me explain, Nicole. I want to try and mend my relationship with you and your brother, and I know in order to do that I need to tell you my reasoning behind everything." I give him a small nod Sitting on the couch next to Bob.

"I hope you don't mind having Bob here, He is currently my emotional support after everything that's happened the past 24 hrs." I replied.

"Of course not. Bob, nice to see you again." Pete gives him a nod.

"Sir."

"No need for formalities here Bob, please call me Pete."

Bob nods again, "Ok Pete."

Pete sends him a smile before turning his focus towards me. "Do you have specific questions for me before I dive in?"

"Not really, Can you just start from the beginning?" I ask, grabbing hold of Bob's hand and pulling it into my lap.

"Of course. I guess it all started in the hospital a few days before your mother passed. I had finally convinced Bradley to take you home for the night so you two could get some real sleep. Your mom had been asleep most of the day so I figured I'd stay in case she woke up and needed something." He paused for a moment before continuing.

"After a few hours of sitting in silence your mom began to wake. She turned and saw me sitting there next to her bed and started to bring up old stories about your father. After trading stories back and forth for a while, she started to cry. I guess Bradley had mentioned to her a few days before about wanting to put his papers in for the academy. She had begged me not to let him fly like your father. She didn't want him to endure the same fate as he did." He paused yet again, taking a sip of his drink.

"I promised her I would try my best to give her peace of mind. So a few days later when I saw his name in the applications, I pulled them. I knew he would be angry when he found out I pulled them, but I was willing to take his anger onto myself."

"Does Bradley know Mom asked you to do that?" I cut in.

"No, I told myself that if I pulled his papers, he would never know it was your mother who had asked me to. You guys had just lost your mother, I didn't want his anger to be geared towards her. I was willing to take all that anger upon myself."

Pete paused again as if to let my brain process the information I was being given. Bob gave my hand a quick squeeze before Pete continued with his explanation.

"The day of your mothers funeral Bradley had found out about his papers being pulled and that it was me who pulled them. When he came to confront me about it I knew I couldn't let you hear the fight. So I pulled him outside. He yelled and yelled about how I had no right to pull his papers and that I was a coward for it. After he was finished yelling and getting all his initial anger out he told me to leave. Rather than fight him on it I figured it would be best to just leave. So I left."

"I figured he would have filled you in on what I did and you would be angry with me too, so I figured a clean break from your lives would be what you would want. I had Ice give me updates on your lives and careers over the years and I kept an eye on the names of those who had fallen in case I ever saw either of your names."

When Pete finished his explanation I was unsure what to do. He had taken All of Bradley's anger onto himself, making him the bad guy so that my stubborn brother's memory of our mother wasn't tarnished. I stood up and walked over to Pete, sitting down again next to him and through my arms around him.