You Have Us... Always.

Chapter 42- Limits.

She remembered looking around the room eagerly, only to be met with an empty couch, and she remembered running as fast as her legs could to the kitchen, expecting her mum to be cooking a Christmas breakfast like every Christmas morning. And she remembered startling to a stop when all she saw was a leaden kitchen, countertops deprived of food, of life.

Because her mum wasn't here. Because she wasn't good enough this year to have her back.

The twinkling light faded for a moment and Brynn blinked. The show was still playing, but she paid it no mind as she looked around this living room. A living room that had a Christmas tree, one of several in this house.

Couches that had people in it, Brayden and Zach. Her brothers. She also heard clattering echo from the other side of their home from the kitchen.

This Christmas was going to be better.

Because it felt so full of... of love.

Brynn wanted a Christmas that felt like there was some semblance of love in the air again. It had been so long. She craved it.

Her lips upturned as she saw Zach mouth a line from the show and Brayden sneak another sip of his coca-cola because he thought nobody was watching.

Then her stomach felt like it had untwisted and she breathed out softly. Only seconds later it made another twist, but not a vicious one.

She looked down confused. It did it again. But this time a small noise came out. Was it a period symptom?

It wouldn't stop, no matter how hard she pressed down on it. In fact, that seemed to make it louder.

Neither Brayden or Zach looked over though, which meant that it couldn't have been as noisy as she was imagining it to be.

After some point, she thought she figured out what it could be.

Standing up, Brynn walked around the couch, pausing when Zach paused the show almost immediately. "Where are you going?" he asked.

The confused looks on both their faces were so similar, Brynn couldn't tell the difference between them for a moment. Her breath hitched barely and she twisted her hands behind her back and rubbed her socked left foot over her right one.

"I was going to get a snack," and she didn't know why she was going to get one now.

Both Brayden's and Zach's eyes widened a little before they looked at each other for a brief moment. Then Zach stood, "yeah, yes- of course. Me too."

He had a grin on his face that looked like it was being suppressed and so did Brayden for some reason. She furrowed her eyebrows and followed Zach out of the living room.

She was sure she was hungry anyway. The rumbles hadn't subsided yet. She didn't know if it was hunger though.

Nevertheless, she trailed after Zach, a bit faster when she saw that it was Callan making the soft racket in the kitchen.

Her brothers sometimes had private chefs come in to do their meals. Brynn had seen them before and they were really good even if she didn't understand why they did it and not her.

Callan dismissed them all last week except the head chef- Omar- but said the rest will be back for Christmas, which Brynn didn't understand because surely they had families of their own to share Christmas with?