"Did you hear what happened to one of the Cawley's?" Arthur says.
"If it's violent, how about we don't discuss it this moment," Polly inputs, "don't get distracted, Finn is trying his hardest."
"He looks like he's having a fit," John chuckles, watching Finn attempt to act out the title of a book. The youngest sibling had insisted they play charades.
"I'm not having a fit," Finn responds.
"You're not allowed to talk in charades," Arthur states.
"It's crime and punishment," Kezia responds.
"You knew what I was doing and let me carry on?" Finn exclaims, and Kez shrugs, "it was amusing."
"How could you possibly get crime and punishment from that?" John scoffs, "I think kahoots have been a-happening."
"He was pretending to stab someone and then get spanked, how did you not get it?" Kezia laughs.
"You couldn't have said sooner?" Finn says.
"I could've waited longer, it was tempting, be thankful I said it when I did," Kezia replies.
"Your turn," Finn grins, "and if I get it, you'll have to wait too. Up you get."
Finn pulls his eldest sister out of her seat, Kez stares at him for a moment before walking towards the door.
"You can't leave!" Finn shouts, but she continues walking, stopping at the other side of the room.
Ada claps her hands excitedly, "thirty nine steps!"
"I was going to guess that," Finn mumbles, as Kez walks back towards them, "sure you were, munchkin."
"I so was," Finn states.
"Oh yeah? What is thirty nine steps about?" Kezia replies, and Finn shrugs, "I don't have to know what it's about to know I've heard of it, trollop."
"Don't call me a trollop, you little shit," Kezia remarks.
"Don't call me munchkin then, dunderhead," Finn responds.
"Okay, before this becomes a never ending loop of insults, both of you, stop calling each other names," Polly interjects, "now be friends."
"I don't want to be friends with a trollop," Finn huffs, jumping out of his seat barging past his sister. The family watch as Finn runs out of the room, and up the stairs.
"This is what you get when you bicker with a child," Polly sighs.
"He doesn't storm off," Kez states, "occasionally he'll run away screaming, but he doesn't storm off."
"Maybe you struck a nerve," John suggests.
"Why does he think you're a trollop?" Ada questions.
"I don't fucking know," Kezia replies.
"Yes you do," Finn shouts from the top of the stairs, he was still eavesdropping, "you did it! You know!"
Kezia walks to the bottom of the stairs, leaning against the handrail, "what'd I do, Finn?"
"I'm young, but I'm not stupid. I hear stuff," Finn says.
"What'd you hear?" Kezia questions, as the rest of the family watch the scene play out, both confused and intrigued.
"I overheard you and Tess last week," Finn states, "you didn't know I was there. But I know what you did!"
"My conversation with Tess," Kezia repeats, "oh shit."
"See, you know," Finn says, walking away from Kez who was now following him up the stairs, "it's not what you think, Finn."
"Well, that seems quite serious," Polly hums, "any of you know what's going on?"
"Not a clue," Arthur and John respond simultaneously, whilst Ada gives a clueless shrug. Tommy, however, was still staring at the stairs.
"He knows, what do you know?" Ada asks.
"Nothing," Tommy responds.
"Yes, you do," Arthur states.
"It's not important," Tommy says.
"It's got Finn ruffled up," Polly replies, "what happened?"
"It's to do with Kez's love life, it's not important," Tommy tells them.
"You can't say 'Kez's love life' and 'not important' in the same sentence," Ada scoffs, "I'm intrigued."
"Let's let her have her privacy, eh?" Tommy responds, glancing once more at the stairs, before looking at Arthur, "what happened to one of the Cawleys?"
"Bartley, the middle one, killed," Arthur states, "I'd say dissected rather than killed, they found parts of his body spread around their camp. Rumour has it they're still looking for the left hand."
-
"Finn, you've misunderstood," Kezia states.
"I understand what I heard, you had an affair, you cheated on someone, you were talking about the 'other' woman," Finn responds.
"I didn't cheat on anyone," Kezia says, "Finn, I'm not proud of what I did, but I did not cheat on anybody. A relationship between me and someone ended, yes, that night I spent the night elsewhere, but the events did not overlap."
"Then why is she the 'other' woman," Finn questions.
"Because I still really like the person I was in the relationship with, I still want to be with them," Kezia answers.
"Then why aren't you?" Finn asks.
"It's difficult to explain," Kezia shrugs, "we can't be what the other needs."
"So you're not a trollop?" Finn responds.
"No, no I'm not," Kezia shakes her head.
"Then I apologise for my choice of wording," Finn states, "John was wrong, you didn't strike a nerve, that wouldn't happen. I like our bickering. It's fun. I know it's all a joke, I can't joke with the others."
"Sure you can," Kez replies.
"No I can't, they're always so serious," Finn pouts, "they just view me as their kid brother."
"I view you as my kid brother," Kezia states.
"They view me as their useless kid brother," Finn shrugs, "they just dismiss me. They don't care all that much."
"Would they be sat around downstairs indulging games nights' if they didn't care?" Kezia replies.
"That's one instance," Finn says.
"I love you, Finn, you know that, don't you?" Kezia states, "they do too, they just don't know how to express it. They show you love in ways that they wish they had been loved at your age, you might not feel loved, but it doesn't mean they don't."
"Because of Dad?" Finn questions.
"Probably," Kez nods.
"I love you too," Finn grins, hugging his sister.
"I know," Kez says, gently stroking his hair.
There it was, Kez thinks with a smile. The first time she'd heard 'I love you' probably Finns first time too. She was glad she could share this moment with him, their first familial 'I love you'. She needed that given the previous nights hardship.