"I think it's about time we head out!" Adam said, taking his now bawling son away from Everly and rocking him soothingly in his arms. Kim smiled at the sight, loving the caring Daddy who loved both their four year old daughter and newborn son.
"Yeah us too." Will said. His youngest son, Liam was hanging in his arms, red locks sprawled against his father's shoulder as he was lifted from the couch. "These boys have got to get to bed." He explained, listening for the groan that was sure to come out of his eldest son, Dylan's mouth. Sure enough it was heard and all the adults and even the the teens laughed at the sound.
"You know what's funny? Will used to do that too!" Jay exclaimed, looking down at Sophia who was yawning as well. "I think you are ready to sleep too my dear?" Jay asked, receiving a nod from his youngest daughter. Well at least for now, soon there would be a new youngest daughter.
"Can I sleep here tonight?" Owen asked, making everyone's head turn.
"Why?" Asked Will, not understanding why his son wouldn't want to go home. He and Everly exchanged a look and then both laughed. "What's going on here?" Will asked as both teens continued to laugh.
"He needs some help with a special someone!" Everly said suddenly breaking through the laughter and getting hit lightly on the shoulder by Owen.
"Well why don't you ask me?" Will asked him, looking slightly offended. "Halsteads are masters with the ladies." He exclaimed now getting the whole room to burst with laughter.
"Dad let me ask you something do you know what snap chat is?" Will looked at him confused. "Or instagram?" Will nodded no. "Exactly, that's why I need Ev." He said finally. "So can I sleep here tonight?" He asked hopefully.
"Not up to me bud, ask them!" Will responded nodding his head at Erin and Jay who seemed to be trying to figure out what snap chat and instagtam were exactly.
"Guys!" Owen asked in the sweetest voice possible.
"Yeah but we don't have an extra room, our guest room turned into a nursery for the twins." Jay answered.
"I could go and sleep at their house then!" Everly said happily.
"That's fine with me!" Natalie said as she zipped up Dylan's jacket and helped her middle son place a beanie over his red hair.
"So its settled then, Ev will sleep over at the better Halstead home tonight!" Will beamed, lugging his heavy arm around Everly's shoulder. She was about to protest about the whole better Halstead house thing when..."you might wanna get an overnight bag."
"Yeah I'll be right back." She said, quickly heading to her room and packing before heading back towards the gingers she had learned to love so very much. "Bye guys." She said, being the last one out the door.
After hours and hours of talking with Owens hopefully soon to be girlfriend the two decided to get some sleep. Will laid a spare mattress onto the floor beside Owen's bed and after getting changed she returned to plop her tired body onto the comfy mattress. Owen did the same thing as they both sighed in unison. It didn't take long before both of them were asleep, Owen snoring softly against the black of night. He stopped snoring at the sound of whimpering coming from Everly's lips. Owen pulled himself from the confines of his bed and headed straight for his parents room. He lightly shook his father awake, making sure not to wake his mom who was sleeping right beside him.
"Dad?" He whispered. "Dad wake up something's wrong with Ev!" He said. That drew Will out of his tired gaze. He nearly bolted out of the bed at the sound that something was wrong.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know, I think she's having a bad dream, I didn't know what to do." Owen answered, still barely above a whisper as not to wake his sleeping brothers as the two oldest men hustled down the hallway. When Will got down to Owen's room he waited for a moment and listened to what Everly was saying in her sleep.
"Get off me... I don't want to... I can't do this... my dad's a cop, he'll kill you if he knows what you did!"
He saw how scared she looked, the fear in her voice, though she was talking in her sleep. She moved rhythmically, as if she was trying to escape hands, hands that weren't there. Slowly Will approached her and reached a gentle hand out to her. He placed his hand on her shoulder. Never in his life had he seen such a quick wake up. Everly bolted from her Poseidon and into a defensive one, likely taught to her by Jay.
"Hey, it's okay, it's just me... you're okay Ev we got you." She backed away slightly until she was able to catch her breath. She had been hyperventilating. Tears started to steam down her face until her only uncle embraced her with a tight hug and allowed her to cry softly into his shoulder. "You know, when we were little and Jay got scared I would always make him my famous hot chocolate and that made him feel better." Will smiled down at her and tightened his hold around her slender frame.
"That sounds good!" She mentioned through tears. He led her back to the kitchen after telling Owen he should go back to sleep. Well it was more of a demand. He poured the chocolate into two cups and set the scorching liquid onto the counter for Everly to get. "So what used to scare him?"
"What?"
"You said when dad got scared that's when you did this for him so what scared him?"
"Oh, well you know our dad was kind of an ass right, when he got too drunk he got mad enough to hit ... and since Jay was smaller and an easier target it was usually him. Anyways... sometimes on the days when out Mom was working or when we happened to be alone with him, the beatings were always worse and so Jay would freak out. The only way I knew to keep him calm was hot chocolate... you se all the Halsteads love it, it really is a must have."
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"What he did, to you to the twins, I'm just sorry."
"You don't need to apologize, it's not like you hit us, or the twins. " Everly nodded and sipped the burning liquid. "You wanna tell me what happened?" He asked after she had relaxed somewhat.
"I was back in that house... with that guy on top of me... I ... I ...I'm sorry, talking about things isn't really my style." She said, wiping away the single tear that managed to fall out of her eyes even though she willed it to stop.
"You sound like your parents." He chuckled.
"Well you know I am half of each of them!" She joked.
"What? Really I didn't know that!" He repelled, the usual joking manner already established again.
"Thanks for this..." she said holding up the cup "I...um ... thanks."
"Anytime princess, I might not be you dad but nonetheless I still love you." Will said.
"I may not be your son but I still love you too."
Shoot me. I know it's literally been forever since I updated. But here's the thing, I have finals coming up, next week actually and so I've been studying because your girl ain't trying to fail but that means I've had like zero time to write. So I live in Canada so school ends at the end of June, expect lots of updates then but for now they will be far apart and at weird times... sorry but I love this book so I'm trying to update I swear. Anyways that's my rant, tell me what you think about this chapter, Will and Ev I love it but what do you think. That's it and if you read all that I love you leave me a 🔥in the comments so I know you've read it all and don't forget to vote. Like always have a fabulous day and thanks for reading😘😘😘
