The Winter Family

Chapter 14- Whole Family

~Steven~

I quickly shut off my alarm and sat up in my bed. Usually, I can be a bit of an A-hole in the morning, but today was different. Maybe it's from having a good dream, or maybe it's because I knew my little sister would be around the house today, or maybe it was just because it felt like the family was whole. 

I quickly jumped out of the bed and somehow managed to avoided tripping over my cluttered floor, I should really clean it. I made my way to the bathroom knowing I'm the first one awake so the bathroom currently isn't occupied. I passed mason's room and saw the door open, he always seems to wake up in the middle of the night and goes to sleep with Grayson or our parents. Little rat...

My eye catches Aria's bedroom which was open too, weird. Part of me wanted to keep walking, but the other part of me just had to make sure it wasn't a dream, I need to be sure that my sister was home after seven years. I quickly walked to her door and froze. 

It clearly wasn't a dream, the room that was once just storage was now slightly decorated with furniture but it was missing a really important factor to make it a bedroom, the person who was supposed to be sleeping here.  It was 6 in the morning, where the hell was Aria?!

I quickly forgot I had to pee and raced downstairs not caring if I woke anyone up. When I reached the bottom of the stairs I made a quick dash toward the front door to make sure she hadn't left or anything. But relief washed over me when I passed the living room and stooped in my tracks. Beauty and beast were playing, well more as it had just finished. I walked closer and saw Aria and Nacy asleep on the couch. two empty cups sat on the coffee table and a light blanket was draped across the girls. I felt a smile creep onto my face and for the first time I a while I felt 100% happy.  

My attention quickly went back to the staircase when I heard pairs of feet step down them. Derek and Dad had come down the stairs and it was clear they had just woken up. 

"what's with the running Stevie, nearly woke up the whole neighborhood" Derek yawned calling me by his childish nickname for me. I would get his back for it later

"I'm sorry, I woke up and saw Aria's bed empty and I panicked a little. But I found Mom and Aria asleep on the couch right now" I saw a little quietly 

Dad and Derek came to my side and had this sweet look in their eyes when they saw what I was talking about. Dad sighed a little and walked around to the girls and kissed Aria's forehead and Then kissed Nacy's too causing her to stir

"Good morning beautiful" My dad whispered and Nacy opened her eyes

"shh, She barely feel asleep around an hour ago, But good moring darling and good morning boys," Nacy said glancing at us before looking back down at Aria who was sleeping peacefully and tucked a loose strand of hair behind Ari's ear. 

"Everything okay? what are you guys doing down here so early?" Dad asked helping Nacy up off the couch without waking Aria

"I heard her wake up in the middle of the night so I came down and checked on her, Honey it was so sad...She was convinced that she couldn't be here because she thinks Tucker isn't going to come back for her and hurt us all in the process" Nancy said sadly

Derek and I quickly walked around the couch to be next to mom and dad

"I reassured her she was safe and that we would protect her, and then we watched a few movies because I could tell she was too shaken up to go back to sleep... Honey how can someone go through so much and still only care about everyone around her" Nancy said weakly before hugging dad. 

It's rare to see my parent's so sad or in tears. and It hurts like hell to see them like that. 

"Because she's an angel," Derek said with a small smile on his face