"No, I'm telling you, Atlas. Mum said I have to start practice sleeping," Winter tells me with a groan. "How the hell does one practice how to sleep?"

Not a damn clue. "Close your eyes and sleep."

"No, that's sleeping."

Perhaps. "Why'd she want you to practice how to sleep?"

Winter answers, but it mostly sounds like gibberish in my brain as I try to focus on cooking. Huge mistake. "ATLAS! LISTEN TO ME!"

I have learned one thing over the past couple of months. Cooking with a talkative person in the room leads to cooking with getting yelled at when I don't listen. And apparently, it does not matter if the person yelling is my wife or my sister. They'll be yelling.

"I am listening." I totally wasn't. "But, would you repeat the last thing you said?"

Winter sighs annoyingly. "I said, mum thinks I'm staying up too late and then never wake up. Which isn't true because I have school in the morning. I do wake up."

I chuckle, remembering how our mother used to tell me the exact same thing back when I was fourteen, and how I, too, thought it was ridiculous.

"She's good for you, you know."

I turn around to look at my sister, who happens to sit by the kitchen island, eating Sierra's precious donuts. Why is everyone always eating her donuts? Come to think everyone sees my fridge as a free grocery store or something.

"Sierra?" I question. Like who else would my sister be talking about?

"No, your spatula. Of course Sierra."

"Hey, a little less sarcasm here."

"Try the word 'please' and I might cut down on it," she replies, still mocking me. "Oh, I forgot you're old. You probably think I'm being serious. Sarcasm is when-"

"I know what sarcasm is."

She laughs, hysterically. I haven't heard Winter laugh in years. Though, to be fair, I'm barely around so that might be why. Another reason could be that I don't usually joke around with anyone. Not even my family.

I do happen to think I'm a bit nicer to all of them, outside of work only though. If they call me during work hours or show up at the office, they get the same grump-me my employees get. However, I think I mostly just call once a week and ask if they need anything. I never really tried to connect with my sisters, well, Winter.

Summer is a pain in my ass. She calls me daily, talks all about her day and I barely have the heart to tell her to fuck off. She's my sister after all. Rai is only a year younger than me, we've been close right from the start. Not as much anymore now that we're older, but it's alright, I guess? But since Winter is almost to half my age, I kind of always found it more difficult to connect with her.

Don't get me wrong, I love her as much as a brother should love their siblings. She's important to me, and I'd do anything for her to be happy. But between working my ass off to be able to make her life as perfect as possible, for her not to be lacking of anything, and being family...I might have taken a step back from being her brother.

"So tell me, why do you think Sierra is good for me?" I ask, genuinely curious to know what she thinks.

"I didn't know you could experience joy, Atlas," she tells me. "And you're so...smiley, and laughy."

"I doubt 'laughy' is a word."

"I doubt Atlas is a word."

"It is. But nowadays it's called google earth."

Her jaw drops to the floor. "You know what the Internet is?"

I roll my eyes with a faint smile on my face, turning back around to the stove. "You're such a smart-ass, you know that?"

"Well, it certainly ain't you, Mr. Arrogant." There is only one person out there calling me that.

"Athena." I would ask how she got in here, but then I'm reminded that Cody has a key to my house. Perhaps I should take it away now that I no longer live all by myself.

"Happy Birthday, Atlas." Athena walks up to me and kisses my cheek. Sometimes I forget she's not just an employee, but actually a good friend of mine. I mean, I suppose I have to be somewhat close to her since her husband is kind of my best friend. "Where's my best friend?"

"My wife is upstairs, sleeping." Or I hope she's asleep.

"She's my best friend before she's your wife, you hear me, Mr. Arrogant?" Athena takes a fork out of the drawer I keep my utensils in, using it to try the food before it's even officially done.

"First of all, keep your hands to yourself. That's not for you." I take the fork away from her, throwing it into the sink. "Second of all, I'm pretty sure she's my wife first."

She's not. But I won't accept defeat.

"She's my sister first, suckers," Cody throws in, now officially being a part of the fight.

Everyone's head turns to look at my sister, who's suddenly all shy. She's never shy, that much I know. She's a lot like Summer. And Summer is...everything to aspire.

She talks. And I mean talks. Her mouth is never closed. Summer loves drama and everything that's "artistic". She finds a new hobby felt like every other minute, and she doesn't have any problems approaching people. If the other person is a shy one, Summer will do the talking and call dips on that person. Making it "her person". Seen that happen way too many times.

Winter is just like that. Maybe a bit less sleeping around with every guy she comes across.

Okay, to be fair, she's only fourteen, so perhaps that's why. But I do hope she doesn't go fuck half the city once she's a bit older.

"What?" she asks, her eyes staying locked with mine. "I'm not going to team up with one of you. You're all adults, solve your problems like one too."

"Candy Cane, choose one's side," Cody says, strictly. Ever since I can remember, Cody has called Winter Candy Cane, why ever that is.

"Sure, let the fourteen-year-old be the adult." She rolls her eyes and hops off the barstool, rushing right up the stairs. She doesn't go all the way up yet; she stops for a second and turns to look at us. "I'll always choose family." She shoots me a look that, not going to lie, has my body fill up with guilt. "And I happen to think Sierra is really good for, I quote, "Mr. Arrogant". She's hers." Now she runs up the stairs.

I assume she must have tripped as the next sound hanging between the walls is a yelled, "I hate your fucking marble flooring!"

"Where is she going?" Athena asks, suddenly looking a bit startled.

I shrug. "Taco, maybe. Or she goes to wake up Sierra, telling her all about this guy she crushes on that is most definitely using her."

-♡-

Sierra laughs at the story my mother has just told her about my nine-year-old self. The very same she loves to tell every new person she meets. Must be even more exciting now that she can tell it to my wife. Certainly couldn't tell it to a girlfriend, since I only ever had two. And I didn't exactly let either of them meet my family.

"God, I don't remember it at all and I am mad at him for it ever since," Summer adds to it, nudging me in the rips with her elbow. She do be holding a grudge for something she can't remember.

And now we all know why I was all in for shipping her away in a box at nine years old. She was good a few months old, only ever crying and annoying me. I've been put through this before, with two other siblings. I wasn't going to let another one do the same.

So I wanted to ship her away. The plan would've worked, if Rai didn't rat me out.

Truthfully, I'd still ship her away, but now at twenty years old, Summer is all okay. Still annoying, but with a simple end of call, she'll be gone. For a few seconds, then she'll call back and complain about being hung up on.

It's currently 10 p.m., which means the house is a lot quieter than a couple hours ago. All the kids around found a place to sleep, or just fell asleep on the floor. Like Harriet.

What I've said earlier, about Ava and the kids being dead to me; it was an act on impulse. Neither Ava, nor her children have fault in Nico being whatever the hell he is.

He's lucky he didn't even try to call me today. If I could, I would've killed him right through the phone. I'm yet to come up with a plan to get him...handled.

My mother knows what he has done, I told her right the same evening. She cut him off as well as I did. My siblings are yet to find out. Neither my mum nor I have the heart to tell them though. I know it's for the better, but especially for Winter, it would just be really cruel. If someone at her school found out...

I don't even want to think about what they'd potentially do to her.

My family appears to love Sierra, but that's not too surprising. Sierra is amazing. She's adorable, the sweetest most bubbly person I know. And as we established, I am surrounded by bubblees—that's how I refer to these specimens of humans.

While everyone is deep in conversation, I lay a hand down onto Sierra's thigh. She immediately looks at me wide-eyed, but that's better than her tensing up. She barely does that anymore, at least not when I'm around.

My thumb brushes over her bare skin, a second later I can feel her shiver, her body covering in light goose bumps.

She leans into me, whispering, "I think Cody wants to stab you with his fork." And that just proves how she never fails to surprise me. As she leans in, I thought she'd share her dirty thoughts with me, as she does so very often. But no.

I laugh. Genuinely laugh. Not some strained chuckle. And I regret doing so immediately as everyone's eyes are suddenly on me. Wide eyes. Eyes filled with shock. Except for my mother's. She smiles at me, blinking slowly, like a cat telling their human they love them.

Sierra drops her head against my chest, letting out a slight groan, I assume. It could be a weird laugh. Not sure. I can only feel her vibrate against me.

Instantly, my arms wrap around her body and I pull her right into my lap. From sitting next to me, she's now sitting on top of me. But I really don't give a shit. Not even now that my family, and Cody and Athena, are staring right at me as though I'm a whole different person.

"See, I told you!" Winter shrieks, giggling. Then she holds her hand out to Rai. He mumbles something unintelligible and lays a ten-dollar-bill into her palm.

"What were we betting about?" Cody asks, rubbing his palms together. He might be even more dramatic than my sister. Cody is always in for some gossip, especially some from Winter. Apparently she knows the "juiciest" things, things one has to know.

"I said Atlas will break eventually and show his wife some love before we leave. Rai said no way, he'll be his usual brick-self. He also thinks he doesn't show love to Sierra in the first place," Winter fills him in. "And I also said he'd laugh around her, Rai didn't think so."

"I mean, have you ever heard Atlas laugh?" Rai defends himself, roughly. Annabelle, his wife, is shaking her head like she can't believe who she's married to. My mother does the same, though I think she's more embarrassed of her children than anything else.

And in a canon, a bunch of "No's" sound through the room. The only yes comes from my mother. And of course, her yes is followed by a story when I was a child and done some mischief, not being able to keep it to myself though. I had no filter, so when I thought doing something mischievous was funny, I would laugh at it.

Luckily, from here it doesn't take too much longer until my mother says it's getting late and they all should grant Sierra some peace. So they all collect their children and leave.

Sierra and I go upstairs, she heads for the bathroom while I choose to change into sweatpants and a loose shirt first. Once that's done, I enter the bathroom, finding Sierra sitting on the counter to brush her teeth.

I don't think I'll ever get behind that. She always sits there while brushing her teeth instead of, like a normal person, stand and do their thing. And I've told her like a million times not to do it anymore when I'm not with her. She might fall or something. And jumping off that thing while being pregnant? I'm no expert but I don't think that's so healthy.

Anyway, I, too, go to brush my teeth.

"You need to take off your shirt," she says right after washing out her mouth with water. "It's distracting."

"How is my shirt distracting you from anything?"

"I won't be able to sleep if you wear it. It's distracting me from getting distracted by your abs."

I put my toothbrush away, together with hers. The corners of my mouth lift as I walk over to her, standing between her legs. She wraps them around my waist, pulling me even closer to her. I rest my hands on her lower back, aiming to go deeper down.

Sierra runs her hands through my hair, knowing I don't like having messed up hair. And that's just why she loves doing it. All the goddamn time.

"I still haven't given you your present, Mr. Storm," she speaks against my lips. She's so close, I can already taste her.

"You didn't have to get me anything, Mrs. Storm." Just like I hate messed up hair, she apparently hates me calling her Mrs. Storm. Though, I know she loves it. There's always a slight blush and smile on her face when someone else addresses her as that.

"You'll love it." Her lips press to mine in a quick, loving kiss before I help her off the counter.

I think I've officially reached the line; having kissed my wife more often in a couple of months, than I have ever kissed all the people I've been with.

I carry her into our bedroom, only letting her down once I've stolen another kiss of hers.

Sometimes I really wish I could just tell her how I feel about her. How much she means to me. But I fear scaring her away. It's bad enough I'm head over heels in love with the mother of my child, while she probably feels nothing for me at all. It'll only be worse when I tell her too early.

Sierra walks off to her nightstand, opening the drawer and takes out a small box covered in wrapping paper. She hands it to me with a grin, impatiently waiting for me to open it.

I do. I open it up, feeling a bit strange as I barely ever receive gifts. But whatever is inside this box, I know I'll love it. Simply because Sierra got it for me.

As I lift the little lid, I see red. Bright fucking red that might as well burn my eyes like acid. Okay, it's not that bright. But I honestly don't think I own anything red. Especially not a tie in red.

Which seems to be the reason why she got it. "You only ever wear a black one. It's time to switch it up. We've got to add some colour to your life."

You're the whole rainbow in my life, I want to say but bite my tongue.

Despite the colour red threatening to burn away my sight, I love it. And so I tell her.

Sierra smiles and wraps her arms around me, kissing me so deeply, she might as well be clogging up my airways. And that's when I know that I'm about to do something really, really stupid.