-Cecelia's POV, after school-

"Are you sure it's ok that I'm coming over?" Morgan asked depositing her backpack on the floor next to the door as we entered the house. "You didn't ask and you guys are supposed to have this big family talk tonight." I rolled my eyes before grabbing my kit off the counter.

"I completely forgot about clearing tonight with the boys, there has been a lot going on lately and it just slipped my mind," I defended quickly pricking my middle finger and feeding a bead of blood onto a strip before sticking the injured digit into my mouth.

"Eww, gross," Morgan spat crinkling her nose in distaste, "Dia-vamp much?" Slipping my finger from my mouth I promptly flipped her off, she smirked. "Just sayin."

"I'm sure the boys will be fine with you staying," I said ignoring Morgan's comment on my choice of cleanup, "You always stay here when your parents go out of town for ministry stuff. Besides, what are they gunna do, send you home with nobody there? On second thought, maybe we should just both stay at your house." Shooting Morgan a devilish smirk I grabbed us each a yogurt from the fridge.

"HA! So I can aid and abet in a night of debauchery with Josh? No thanks," she said rolling her eyes before peeling the lid off her yogurt and giving it a lick.

"First of all it was ONE kiss, that doesn't even come close to qualifying as debauchery and I was thinking more along the lines of avoiding awkward family discussions."

"Surely it won't be THAT bad Cee," Morgan teased. "Nick has had time to cool down."

I scoffed, "Yea, well I haven't."

Morgan's brows knit together in confusion, "and you are mad because...?"

"Because Nick already has a kid to raise...ME." I spat peeling the lid from my yogurt and licking the underside, "getting Cat pregnant was super irresponsible."

"Just because she is pregnant doesn't mean he is suddenly going to abandon his previous responsibility," Morgan argued, "besides Cee, everything happens for a reason."

"Could you not go all preacher's daughter on me right now."

Morgan held her hands up in mock surrender, "Sorry, I'm just sayin."

The sound of the front door closing brought our conversation to a halt as Joe entered the kitchen cocking a brow in my direction before greeting Morgan with a smile. "Hello there Morgan."

"Hey, I asked Cee last week if I could stay here when my parents went out of town and she said it would be fine, if it's too much trouble..."

"Don't be silly," Joe interrupted, "it's no trouble, you are welcome to stay anytime." Locking eyes with me he jutted his head slightly toward the hallway before walking out of the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes dramatically at Morgan before setting down my yogurt and following him out. "I know, I'm sorry..." I said starting my defense before Joe's lecture could start.

"We have a VERY important family meeting tonight CeCelia..."

"I know, I completely forgot about her asking to spend the night until she showed up at my locker after school. Things have just been so crazy lately that it slipped my mind, I promise..."

Joe held up his hand to stop my constant string of ramblings, "Morgan is like family, it's no problem that she spends the night...that being said, from now on you ask BEFORE you give the ok, understand?"

I nodded quickly letting out a sigh as I realized I was not in trouble. "Yes Sir."

Joe nodded slipping his tie from his neck, "If you have homework you should get started on it, Nick will be home shortly."

I nodded before making my way back into the kitchen and tugging on the sleeve of Morgan's uniform. She took my nonverbal cue quickly hopping off the stool and grabbing her backpack following me up the stairs. "Did you get in trouble?" she asked as soon as she entered my bedroom.

"No," I said plopping down onto my bed, "just got a mini sidebar lecture about asking permission BEFORE giving the green light on plans. Joe says you are like family and you are welcome to stay."

Morgan's eyes sparkled as a smile spread across her face, "Awwww...I love your brother. I'm glad you aren't in trouble, I was a little worried."

"Joe has been surprisingly cool lately, he is the only one that is willing to look past the transcripts and give Josh a chance."

Morgan's eyes lit up again with the promise of gossip, "OHHHH that's right! You kissed! How was it? Was there tongue...I want details!"

I cocked a brow, "I dunno, it was good and tongues were involved..."

"Just good?" Morgan pried, "that bad huh? Was there too much tongue...gross. He isn't one of those guys who tries to eat your face is he, I hate that."

"It wasn't bad at all, it was VERY good, perfect amount of tongue and zero eating of my face."

Morgan smiled, "So...compared to Matt..."

I rolled my eyes, "Why did you have to go there?" I had managed to keep my thoughts of Matt at bay since kissing Josh and now was being flooded with a twinge of guilt.

"Different than Matt, not necessarily better just....ugh...new subject please."

Morgan held her hands up in mock surrender, "So, did you ever find out why he got tossed out of so many schools?"

If there was one skill that Morgan possessed it was interrogation and she rarely bothered to spare feelings or embarrassment when it came to getting the information she was looking for. "Fighting mostly and drugs."

I watched Morgan's eyes widen and her jaw drop open in shock, "Your brothers are NEVER going to approve of him, you know that right?"

I rolled my eyes at her knee jerk judgment, "it's not his fault...his dad..." I bit my lip stopping myself from spilling secrets that were not mine to tell, but being Morgan she had already figured it out.

"OHHhh," she said her lip jutting out as she shot me sad eyes, "Do your brothers know?"

I cocked a brow shooting her a 'yea right' look, "If it's not in his file, they aren't interested," I spat, "drunken abusive fathers aren't usually mentioned." Morgan's response was cut off by a knock in my doorway, my eyes shot up to see Nick leaning against the doorjamb.

Fuck me, how long had he been there?

"Why don't you come downstairs to my room so we can talk." he said jutting his head toward the stairs, I nodded shooting Morgan a small smile before maneuvering past Nick and down the stairs without another word. Walking into his room I readied myself for a long lecture taking a seat on his bed and kicking my shoes off before folding my legs underneath me. "Comfy?" Nick questioned with a chuckle as he walked into the room and pulled the door closed behind him.

"Very."

"Were you two talking about Josh?" He questioned throwing me off guard, I simply shrugged my shoulders, it wasn't my secret to be spilling...especially to my nosy ass brother. "What kind of abuse?"

My brows knit together in irritation, "Does it matter?" I spat, "besides...it's not my secret to tell."

He nodded making the decision to back down from the obvious touchy subject, "Alright, then let's talk about this whole baby situation."

"What about it?" I said trying my hardest not to roll my eyes...I failed.

Nick cocked a brow and folded his arms across his chest, "What are your thoughts, how are you feeling?"

"Fuck that, you don't want to know how I feel, trust me."

I watched my brother's eyes once squinted in frustration widen in shock. "Watch it."

"You are the one that called this little meeting, which do you want Nicky? You want me to watch what I say or tell you how I feel?" I spat challenging my youngest brother.

Nick paused before raising his hands in mock surrender, "Fair enough...go ahead."

Without hesitation I blurted out my unfiltered thoughts, "I'm pissed at you!"

A small smile peppered Nick's face as he absorbed my first outburst, clearly anticipating a much harder blow. "This isn't exactly something we planned Cee."

With my fists balled up into the comforter I felt my cheeks flush with anger, "You are supposed to be the responsible one, you over-think everything! Everyone knows where babies come from Nicholas it's not like it's some big mystery, perhaps you should have taken some preventative measures before you tapped that." I spat looking in his direction.

"Tapped that?" he repeated in shock, I disregarded it immediately and continued with my rant.

"You already have the responsibility of raising a child! You PROMISED you would be here to help Joe raise me...you PROMISED!"

"First of all, not that it's any of your business Cecelia but I did take precautions and she still got pregnant." He defended seeming nervous and out of sorts, "I know the situation is not ideal but things happen in life you cannot plan for and I am just trying to make the best of the situation. I am not reneging on my promise just because I have this new responsibility, I will still be here."

This time I made no attempt to stop my eye rolling. "Yea, sure you will be, just like Kevin right? You will come around for family dinners and step in on occasion to deliver a lecture or punishment when Joe can't handle me."

Nick's eyes glared at me. "That is NOT going to happen!"

"It's already happening!" I spat pounding my fist into the mattress for emphasis, "You haven't been here!"

"Neither have you!" my youngest brother retorted raising his tone to match mine.

"I was here last night," I said pointedly and watched as Nick brought a hand up to the back of his neck to rub at it in frustration. "Josh kissed me."

Nick's jaw noticeably tightened, "Yes," he seethed, "I heard."

I cocked a brow mockingly, "Oh yea? When? Today?"

"Joe and Kevin told me about it today at lunch."

"EXACTLY!" I spat jutting my finger in his direction, "You are supposed to be there for me when things happen not find out about them the day after! You haven't BEEN HERE since my diagnosis, ever since you found out Cat was pregnant you checked out. You may have been here physically but you were letting me get away with everything and at first I thought it was cool so I took advantage but what kind of parent does that?" Immediately after the words left my mouth I wanted to fly through the air and take them back. "I'm sorry...that was mean, I shouldn't have said that..." I quickly back peddled, not because it wasn't true but because it was a low blow and the pain it caused immediately contorted my brother's face.

"No, don't stop there," Nick said, his voice barely above a horse whisper, "You sound like you are just getting started."

I felt tears streak down my face and I hastily wiped them away, before taking a deep breath. "It seems to me you have already made your decision as far as the living situation goes...it's nice to know I'm so expendable."

Nick's face quickly turned serious, "First of all...You are NOT expendable and no decisions have been made as far as the living situation goes. I don't want to leave but Cat doesn't want to move in...she is very stubborn like you. I'm just trying to come up with a solution that makes everyone happy."

I let out a mock chuckle, "Good luck with that."

My brother let out an exasperated sigh, "If you want to stay mad at me I can't stop you but this attitude with no repercussions thing ends when we leave this room, you don't have to like me but you do have to be respectful and that goes for your behavior towards Cat as well."

As if on cue Nick's bedroom door opened and Joe's head peeked into the room, "How is the conversation going? Cat is here..."

I shot a glare in Nick's direction, "She is coming to the family meeting?"

He shrugged and nodded, "I figured this discussion involved her so I invited her to come."

I rolled my eyes and stood from the bed, "Let's not keep her waiting then."

-15 minutes later...-

"It's a big house, there is plenty of room for you to have your own bedroom as well..." Cat said with a hopeful smile.

"I'm not interested in moving," I scoffed "Pass."

"Not full time of course," Cat bargained, "I just wanted you to know you will have your own space at our house as well, I know that Nick doesn't want to move because he has responsibilities here and..."

My brows knit together in frustration when I realized what she was suggesting, "Are you proposing some sort of joint custody?" I scoffed my anger level rising quickly, "You want some sort of 50/50 split deal? No thanks...not interested, I'd rather live on campus than be shuffled back and forth between two houses."

"Well, that's not happening." Nick quickly dismissed

"WHY NOT?"

"The Dean wouldn't allow it first of all," Joe interceded, "and even if he would you arent going to go live in the dorms when you have three brothers who live within pissing distance of campus."

"As if this family wasn't broken enough before this whole baby mess."

"Cecelia Marie," Joe's tone was warning and it immediately reminded me that I was no longer in the room of no consequence.

"Can I go now?" I questioned standing from the couch fully irritated and DONE with the conversation on the table. "This meeting is really more of a formality anyway right? I've told you how I feel but what I want doesn't really matter cause I'm not calling any of the shots...I have homework to do." With that I took my leave jogging up the stairs without resistance from either of my brothers.

Chapter End Notes:

Morgan is back! Who missed her? Who missed me? Ive missed me...no writing,no bueno.

Josh is a good kisser who doesnt eat your face and Nick is playing house with Cat...lots of drama and mischief in the works.