ELIJAH 

"Olivia?" Elijah called from the kitchen.

"Yeah?"

"Could you come here, please?"

When she walked into the room, Elijah motioned to the seat next to him on the couch. "Sit. I have to tell you something."

Olivia sat. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Elijah sat on his trembling hands, but he could do nothing to hide his pale, pinched, and terrified expression. Unable to figure out how to begin, he said, "We have a problem."

"Are you - do you want to -" She took a shallow breath, and said all in a rush, "Elijah, please, I don't want to go away."

"What? Olivia, why would I - where on earth did you get that idea?" he asked incredulously, slightly hurt that she would even think that of him, that she could think he would call her a problem. "I would never, ever send you away."

She visibly relaxed into the couch. "Okay. Never mind. What is it?"

"Olivia..." Elijah braced himself for her reaction. "Logan and Blake went to your old house today."

Olivia jumped out of her seat and stood up, her expression one of absolute terror. "Why would they do that?" she cried. "That was one of the rules! I told you that you had to follow them! You promised!"

"Olivia, sit down, please-"

"I'm not sitting down!"

Elijah had no patience at that moment. His brothers were sitting in some god forsaken place, waiting for Olivia to tell him what was going on, and he wasn't going to wait for her to see reason.

So he ripped off the bandaid. 

"Someone shot at them while they were there," he told her. "Do you know anything about that?"

She went still, staring at him like a deer in headlights. Her chest heaved and her mouth trembled. "No," she whispered faintly. "Are they okay? Did they get hurt? Is it-"

"They're fine," Elijah managed, knowing full well that she knew something about what was going on. "If you don't know anything, they're just going to call the police and make sure-"

"No, no, no, please no!" she protested, shoving her hands into her hair. "Please, I'll - I'll do anything, just don't - please don't call them."

For the first time since Olivia had walked into his house, Elijah felt like the answer was so close he could almost tell what it was. "You have to promise me you'll tell me what's going on."

"Elijah, please don't make me-"

"Olivia, we can't keep going like this," Elijah said, forcing his words to come out harder than he wanted, inwardly cringing at his harsh tone. "We can't keep pretending it's fine, alright? Because this isn't fine."

"I know," she rasped. "Just don't call the police, please."

For the upteenth time, Elijah wished he knew what he was doing. It was already hard enough having his sister suddenly in the house after nine years, but now this was becoming something much worse.

"What is it about the police that you don't want to tell me, Olivia?"

"Can you - can you tell them first to just come home?"

Elijah exhaled all his frustration at her trying to order him around. "Alright," he said, and sent a quick text to Blake. "What is it?"

Olivia sat down stiffly on the couch and clasped her hands together tightly in her lap. She shifted where she sat and bit her lip. "Elijah...I, um -"

Elijah knew the right way to do this was to wait for her to speak, but he couldn't wait while his other two siblings could be in danger. He finally demanded, "Come on, Olivia, spit it out!"

As she pressed her hands to her eyes, tears began leaking from between her fingers and onto her lap, giant wet spots staining her jeans. "I just don't want you to die," she sobbed, desperation clear in her voice. "First it was Mom and now - now Blake and Logan and - Elijah, I don't want anyone else to die, please."

What on earth was she saying? Did she think they were all going to take their own lives like her mom had done?

"Honey, look at me." Elijah took her face in his hands. "Look at me. No one's dying, okay? I'm not going to let anyone die."

"How can you say that?" she whispered. "They can get anyone."

Elijah felt a little chill run down his spine. Those words coming from a fourteen year old should have made him laugh, but instead, he felt the sudden urge to make sure the back door was locked.

"Who's they?"

She took a deep breath and swallowed hard. "My mom didn't kill herself, Elijah."

Elijah froze.

"Someone....someone did that to her."

"How do you know for sure-"

"Me and her..." Olivia squeezed her eyes shut against the memory. "That night, we were trying to get away."

Elijah wished to high heaven she would tell him what it was in one full go. Everything she said just made more questions come up, and he was tired of asking.

"Get away from who?"

"I don't know," she said. "She just told me not to call the police except one man. She only knew the name of one good one."

"So..." Elijah couldn't wrap his head around it. He finally understood what she was saying, but it all seemed too elaborate, too fanciful to be happening to them. "You're saying the police killed her?"

"I don't know if it was them. But they knew about it. They're the reason why..." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Why she's dead."

"Honey, your mom probably just mistakenly thought-"

"She wasn't crazy! She wasn't high on drugs when she told me! She never, ever knew anything about that."

Elijah didn't admit that that was where his train of thought had been heading.

"Besides, I saw them. They were running after us. The night she died."

"Are you sure they weren't-"

"Elijah, they killed her!" She angrily wiped at the tears on her cheeks. "She told me there was someone after her, and there were people coming after us! Why won't you believe me?"

Elijah remembered Blake's voice on the phone, squeaky with fear, Logan's voice raspy but so sure he saw a police officer's badge. He remembered the way Olivia furtively glanced around the parking lot the day he had taken her to school for her placement tests. The way she almost sprayed him with her pepper spray just because he had startled her from sleep.

Maybe he had no idea what was happening, but he did know that his little sister was scared to death of something, and he had to trust her if he wanted to help her .  

"I believe you," he said, and he meant it.

*****

By the time Olivia calmed down, Logan and Blake made it home. The door opened and Elijah barely had time to stand up before Blake threw himself in his arms. Elijah let out a little oof of surprise and stumbled back a little.

"Oh my god, Elijah, we almost died, that was the scariest thing I've ever done, even all those horror movies I've watched couldn't even come close to those guys and I thought we were going to crash the whole way home the way Logan was driving and he had a panic attack and I thought for sure I would-"

"Blake, will you shut up?" Logan grumbled, pressing his fingers to his temples. "It really isn't helping."

Blake paid him no attention. "Livy?" He extricated himself from Elijah's arms and hugged her too. "I didn't want to break that rule, I swear, and I'll never break your rules again, but we saw your house and I thought we could just look around but then-"

"Blake," Elijah cut in. "You're suffocating her. Sit."

Blake sat, and Elijah followed suit, but Logan remained standing stiffly against the wall, staring them all down. Elijah looked around at his terrified siblings and wished he knew what in the hell he was doing.

"Alright, Logan, tell me what happened."

Logan briefly and gruffly recounted their visit to the bar and what happened after they visited the graveyard, but Elijah could tell he was shaken up too.

When he was done, Elijah asked, "Are you sure it was a police badge?"

"Yes," he said shortly.

"Olivia, do you know why the police are doing this?"

Olivia wrung her hands in her lap. "I don't know."

"Your mom never told you?"

"All she told me was that there were corrupt police involved, and she was afraid of them ."

"She must have been involved somehow," Logan said.

For the first time, Olivia looked at Logan. "She wasn't part of anything," she said in a hard voice.

Logan glared back at her. "That's the only way she would have known."

"She was not involved!" she protested.

"You fucking lived with gangs all in your apartment complex! How do you know she wasn't a part of it?"

Olivia slammed her hands down on the coffee table, stood up and shoved her face in Logan's, and yelled, "Just when I think you're being nice, you always have to say something mean and ruin it!"

Elijah was a little surprised at her outburst, even though he knew he should've expected it. Olivia was quiet and tried not to start anything that would thrust her into the spotlight, but that didn't mean she was a pushover. She was glaring at Logan, her hands balled into fists and her jaw clenched tight.

"I'm saying the truth!" Logan retorted.

"The truth? First you call me a psychopath, then you tell me I can't live here, and now you're calling me and my mom a bunch of criminals!" she shouted, her face red as a stop sign and her eyes murderous. "If you hated me this much, you should've just told Elijah not to go through with the adoption!"

Logan's breath audibly hitched and he abruptly turned around so they couldn't see his face anymore, trembling arms pressed into the kitchen counter so hard his wrists began to turn white.

Elijah stood up from his chair. "Alright, that's enough," he commanded. "Both of you, stop it."

The room became quiet, punctuated only by Olivia's heavy breathing.

"Both of you need to cool off. Olivia, go to your room. Logan -"

Logan stalked out of the kitchen without waiting to hear what he had to say. After a moment, Olivia left as well.

Elijah shoved both hands into his hair and exhaled loudly, pouring out his frustration. He glanced at Blake, who had his head in his hands as well.

"Remember when I said that thing two months ago about mushroom clouds?" he asked.

Elijah dragged a hand down his face. "Too clearly."

"Well," Blake said, leaning his head over the back of the chair and throwing an arm over his eyes. "I lied. It's much worse than that."

"Much worse," Elijah agreed.

He looked through the window as he heard the front door slam and saw that Logan was marching towards his bike, his helmet under his arm. "I'll get him," he said, but Blake grasped his sleeve.

"Elijah, I really don't think he's going to listen to you-"

Elijah shook him off. "Relax. I won't do anything stupid. I'm just going to talk to him."

Blake grumbled something under his breath, but he obediently sat back down. "Alright, but if he leaves, I'll be really mad at you."

Elijah had to jog a little to catch up to Logan just as he was nearing the bike. "Logan?" he called.

Logan didn't respond, only threw his leg over the seat and pulled out the keys.

"Logan!" Elijah said a little more loudly, but his silence confirmed that he could hear him. He was just unwilling to talk.

He reached for his arm. "Hey, hang on-"

Logan wrenched his arm from Elijah's grip and scowled. "Get the fuck off of me," he said, brushing off his jacket where Elijah's fingers had been.

Elijah narrowed his eyebrows, but he didn't try to touch him again. "Where are you going?"

"Where does it look like?" Logan jammed his helmet on. "I'm going home."

He felt something in his heart crack. "Logan, this is your home."

"It never was, and it never will be," Logan spat out. "Now if you could get away from the bike, I would very much like to rid you of my presence."

Elijah crossed his arms over his chest and lifted his chin. "No."

"No?" Logan repeated in disbelief. "What the fuck do you mean, no?"

"Why won't you try, for once, to just calm down and try to understand her?"

"I am not having this conversation with you."

"What are you so afraid of Logan?" Elijah had always known this was the case, but he had never dared to voice it aloud, until now. "Are you scared you're going to care for her? Love her like you used to?"

Logan didn't respond, instead turning the key and starting the engine.

"Look, Logan," Elijah said. "It's okay if you don't understand her anymore. It's okay if - if what you two had before can't come back. That doesn't mean it's totally ruined. You just have to try."

Logan showed no sign that anything Elijah was saying was affecting him. "If you're through with your holier than thou lecture, I'm leaving."

Elijah felt his blood boil. He was going to leave them, again. He was going to pretend he hadn't created any chaos and run from his problems. Again.

"You're not going anywhere," he gritted out, and in one swift move, he reached out and pulled Logan's helmet from his head.

Logan's eyes turned murderous. "Give me that back," he growled, reaching for it, but Elijah took a step back, now out of his reach unless Logan decided to get off the bike.

"Fine then," Logan snapped. "I'll just go without it."

"The hell you are." Elijah reached for his arm and Logan shoved him away with such force that Elijah had to grab onto his shirt to keep from stumbling. He inadvertently pulled Logan from the motorcycle, the two brothers crashing to the ground one way, the bike the other.

They scuffled on the ground, Elijah trying to pin him down and Logan shoving at his face in an attempt to push him away. He felt Logan's finger catch in his eye and he shoved his elbow down against the grass to stop him from poking him again, blinking rapidly.

"Why do you always just get up and leave?" he demanded as Logan squirmed beneath him.

"Shut up, Elijah!"

"How are you ever going to have a relationship with Olivia if you can't be civil to her and you can't own up to your mistakes about it?"

"I don't want a stupid relationship with anyone!" he said, spitting out the word relationship like it was some disease. "I fucking hate you and I hate everybody!"

Anger and hurt clouded Elijah's vision for a full five seconds before he could see Logan's glare beneath him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew Logan didn't mean it, but that didn't mean his words didn't hurt after all he had tried to do for him, sacrificed for him, how hard he had loved him.

In his anger, Elijah grabbed him by the collar, yanked Logan's face close to his, and demanded, "What the hell is wrong with you?".

Almost immediately, Logan's face went pale, and his breathing ragged. "Just get off me," he hissed, thrusting his hands against Elijah's arms again.

Elijah was so taken aback by his reaction that he let Logan push him over, and silently watched as his brother righted the fallen bike, swung his leg over the seat, and kicked the engine to life. The bike's wheels spun against the driveway, leaving clouds of fumes as Logan left without another word.

The front door creaked open and Elijah didn't have to look back to know what kind of expression Blake had on his face.

"I don't know why I thought this time would be magically different," he grumbled. "Would it have killed you to just let it be for now?"

Elijah laid there on the pavement and groaned.

*****

He found Olivia sitting between the bed and the wall again, her head down against her knees. Elijah wished his siblings would get along so he could focus on one thing at a time, but fate had never been in his favor, and it sure as hell wasn't going to make things easier anytime soon.

He knocked on the door. She jumped and spun to see who it was, then relaxed when she saw it was just him.

"Mind if I come in?" he asked.

"No."

He sat next to her, shoulders almost touching, in silence. He felt huge sitting in that tiny, cramped space next to his tiny sister, making the whole thing even more awkward than it had to be.

He felt out of place. He wasn't being a brother but he wasn't being a father. He couldn't be her friend like Blake could. He tried understanding her but the past hour taught him that he really knew nothing about his sister.

"I'm sorry I got angry," Olivia said, breaking the silence. "I shouldn't have yelled."

"I'm not the one who needs an apology."

"He just made me so mad." Olivia hugged her knees tighter to her chest. "I didn't like him talking about my mom like that."

"Logan has a certain way with words," Elijah admitted. "And it's not usually...a good one. But that doesn't mean you can raise your voice at him like that either."

"I know," she said morosely. "I'll apologize."

"Well, you'll have to do it when he gets back."

Olivia shoved her face into her hands. "I can't believe I made him leave again."

"Again?"

"The night after he - he came into his room and we scared each other."

"Honey, this isn't your fault. Logan does that a lot, but it's not anyone's fault."

She was silent for a moment before she whispered, "I don't know why I wanted Logan to like me so much."

Just another piece of the convoluted puzzle that made up the mystery that was Logan.

"He was your favorite brother when you were little," Elijah began. "He could quiet you when no one else could. He could make you laugh harder than anyone else could."

Elijah smiled a little, remembering the way baby Olivia would go from tears to giggles in seconds if Logan only said the right thing to her.

"You know, I even used to be jealous of him when we were younger. Of Logan. Because I wanted to be your favorite." Elijah let out a little laugh. "You used to have nightmares and you always wanted to sleep with him and I always wished that just for once you'd come to me."

Elijah remembered a time that five year old Olivia would sit in his lap and pull on his cheeks and freely give him kisses all over his face. She loved him too, but when it came down to the first person she would look for when she woke up scared and confused, it was always Logan.

He sighed. "I always wanted me and you to get along better but...not like this. I wouldn't trade then for now. For anything."

But Olivia wasn't satisfied.

"Well, it's obvious he doesn't feel like that anymore. So why didn't he protest the adoption if he was so against it?"

And there it was. The reason why Logan had suddenly gone silent at her angry words.

"Olivia..." Elijah pressed his fingertips against the bridge of his nose. "He wasn't against it. He's the one that found you. He's the one who told me about you. He's the one that told me and Blake our sister was alone and we needed to adopt her."

Instead of being relieved like Elijah hoped, Olivia grimaced. "Then why does he hate me so much?"

I fucking hate you and I hate everybody!

Elijah forced himself not to make a face. He didn't like Logan very much right now either, but that didn't mean he had to thrust all those bad feelings onto Olivia.

"Olivia, look. Don't say that. He doesn't hate you, it's just..."

Just what?

Elijah wished someone would tell him.

"It's just complicated -"

"What?" She crossed her arms over her chest. "Being nice is complicated?"

"No. He should be nicer," Elijah conceded. "But being able to let yourself be