Hey guys! Oh my gosh! Thank you all so much for 1.3K reads. I mean, holy crap, that's a lot of people. I really appreciate that you;ve stuck with my story, even when I don't update ( super sorry about that by the way). I love each and every one of you so much! Thank you! xxxx

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Sabine

I could smell the most glorious thing I'd smelt in a long time. Bacon. Actual, real-life bacon. I'm not sure I've ever gotten out of bed so fast in my life.

Rushing down the stairs, I felt like a teenager from one of those soap-opera shows. The ones that bound down the stairs and kiss their mother and father on the cheek before making themselves porridge and skipping their way to school.

That thought made me slow down. Well, that, plus the fact that I'd almost run into the door. But let's just ignore that.

Entering the kitchen, that luscious bacon smell grew even stronger and to be honest, I almost started salivating at the mouth.

Riley stood, facing the stove and away from me. His biceps and shoulders flexed as he moved the sizzling bacon around.

I realised that he didn't know I was in the room yet, so I decided to play a little prank on him. Slowly and as quietly as I could humanly manage, I crept closer to the officer, getting ready to jump on him. My plan was seconds away from action, knees bent and arms ready. Quickly, I lept up, aiming for his back, until Riley turned, gripping me around the waist and leaning over, preventing my jump.

"Well good morning to you too, Sabbie."

Oh, shit. Blue eyes stared back into mine and I released I wasn't being held by Riley, but the older brother that I had forgotten was here.

"Nate. God, I thought you were Riley." My voice was breathless and raspy from the night. I wiggled, attempting to retract myself from Nate's grip but he simply clenched tighter.

"I'm hurt, Sabbie. You were only going to jump me because you thought I was my little brother? I'm wounded truly." He was good, I'd give him that, but I wasn't believing the whole 'pained' act.

"Wait, did you call me Sabbie?" I asked as realisation dawned. Nate's only response was a cunning smile. I rolled my eyes, still struggling within his hold.

The door opened and slammed shut with a bang. I could pretty much feel the testosterone rolling off of Riley as he stormed his way toward us.

"Get the hell off her," he shouted as his brother, reaching under me to pull me from Nate's grip.

The older brother remained unfazed and let me go without a fight, instead turning back to the still cooking bacon.

"So nice you could join us, little brother. I cooked breakfast, if you're interested."

Riley ignored him and instead turned to me. "Are you okay?" He asked, a growl still in his tone. I tried hard not to laugh.

"Riley, I'm fine. Seriously. My ego's a little wounded, but I'm fine," I gave him a reassuring smile and he stepped away.

Nate had finished cooking the bacon and emptied it onto a plate. I quickly snatched a piece and sat myself up on the bench, swinging my legs.

"Oh, help yourself there princess," Nate retorted sarcastically.

"I always do," I shot back with a wink, which in turn made Riley growl.

The Bacon tasted great and I almost moaned at the greasy taste. Nate laughed at my reaction to the food.

"You sound deprived. I'm disappointed little brother. You obviously haven't been feeding her well enough," He said with a fake condescending tone.

Riley growled again and stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door in his wake. I sat still, shocked into silence. Riley's always been aggressive and easily to annoy but this was different.

"What's wrong? Why is he being like that?" I eventually spoke, turning toward Nate who stood with a hung head, leaning against the counter.

He looked up at me, and I could the regret clear in those pretty blue eyes. He shook his head before returning his gaze to the floor. From that simple look I knew I was crossing into territory that was none of my business. But I couldn't just leave Riley alone when he was obviously hurting.

Ignoring Nate, I quickly grabbed a rasher of bacon and the punnet of strawberries before following Riley out of the kitchen door.

-

When I finally found Riley, it was on the tire swing hanging from the oak tree to the side of the house. I had never expected to see my big protector sitting on a swing with his head hung low. His vulnerability had me both shocked and on edge. I had no idea what could make such a large and arrogant police officer look so helpless.

Riley didn't say anything as I approached, and so neither did I. Crossing my legs and sitting on the grass next to Riley's feet we kept the silence going, even as I offer the bacon and strawberries.

No one speaks for a solid ten minutes. Riley rocks quietly on the swing and I munch on the strawberries with just as little sound.

When Riley does eventually speak, his words are not at all what I expected to hear.

"We had a swing just like this when I was younger. Nate and I would always fight over who got to play on it first. He usually won, being bigger. But sometimes I beat him. Those were always good days. We stopped playing games like that as we got older," he laughed to himself. "That made mum both happy and sad. Happy we weren't beating each other up over a swing every day but sad that it meant we weren't spending as much time together anymore. All she wanted was for us to be family. A close family. But dad was always away, Nate couldn't sit still and I was never at home. She wanted more than she had. We were too caught up in our own lives to notice. And mum never complained. Not once. How stupid of us to not notice."

I looked up at him as he shook his head, as though disappointed in his past actions. I didn't know what to say. Riley had never opened up like this. He'd always been so reserved.

"You growing up isn't a bad thing, and it certainly wasn't your fault. I'm sure your mother is so proud of what you have become. What's wrong, Riley?"

He didn't answer me. He just looked at the ground, slowly rocking on the swing. It was as if I didn't exist.

"We thought it was gone. Done. No more to be said about it. I remember the day that they told us it was over. That was one of the best days in my life. Mum cried happy tears. I actually hugged Nate, if you can believe it," he let out a sad laugh. "I've watched it slowly kill her once. I can't do it again."

Realisation dawns. Riley's mum is sick. She's dying. There's nothing I can do about it. Nothing I can say to make it better. So I say nothing.

Instead I reach for Riley's hand and he lets me hold it. Squeezing mine back as though it's all that keeping him together.

-

After a few hours of sitting in complete silence, Nate comes to join us, bringing a platter of sandwiches and cupcakes he's found the ingredients for and made. Who knew the army officer was a natural in the kitchen?

We slowly coax Riley out of his depression and get him to join in. Nate told us stories of his time on base, most of which consisted of hilarious pranks between soldiers.

"I remember one time; a newbie, Sam wanted us all to get our commanding officer, Frank. I don't know what part of him thought that would be smart but we were all eager to see him get his butt kicked by Frank so we agreed to 'help' him out. We organised that Sam was to run in and steal Frank's clothing when he was in the shower. Sam snuck in, on his tip-toes and all, returning a few minutes later with our commanding officer's towel and uniform. He quickly palmed the materials off to me. The plan was that I was meant to get rid them somewhere Frank wouldn't ever find 'em. But when Sam was training, I hid them in his allocated drawer. Almost five minutes straight after that, Frank came storming in and we all stood at attention. 'You all think this is funny?' he shouted. 'It'll be funny when whoever did this has five hundred push-ups on the dirt outside. And a storm's coming, boys. It'll be plenty fun'. " Nate had to stop the story as he laughed. "So Frank went around and checked each of our beds and drawers along the line. Sam was still at training at this point, so he had no idea the trouble he was in for. Anyway, when Commander Frank got to Sam's station he found the clothes and towel straight away. Best part was–" Nate burst out laughing, disjointedly trying to finish his sentence. His laughter was contagious and Riley and I couldn't help giggling along with him. "–Sam... walked... and... he... and then–" We waited for Nate to calm down so he could finish the story. "Sam and the other boys walked in just as Frank lifted the clothing. You shoulda seen the boys face! His eyes were wider than saucers! Ah, he knew he was dead meat. So then he got the scolding of his life, plus he had to do those five hundred just as the storm hit us. He was absolutely covered in mud by the time he got back. Boy didn't smile for the next week, he was so pissed." If there was any more to the story we wouldn't have known because there was no way Nate was gonna be able to talk in between his laughter. Riley and I just looked at each other before we joined him. Our laughed only partly at the story, the rest being for Nate himself.

We spent the entire day out by that tire swing, chomping on the sandwiches and telling stupid stories of each of our very different lives. I've never laughed so much in my life, I don't think. Especially when Nate decided to bring back an old habit and began fighting Riley for his position on the swing. I had to move over so I wasn't pummeled by the two equally large and martial arts-trained men.

Between you and me... The best part was when they decided it would be easier to punch each other with their shirts off. Which is completely stupid reasoning, not that I was at all complaining.

The fighting didn't even end when Nate finally pushed Riley off the swing, instantly taking his place. The police officer came straight back at the army official and the struggle resumed.

I don't know how they lasted for as long as they did, I would have been puffed after throwing a single punch. Not that I did. That was so not my territory.

As I looked at the two grown men lying side by side, laughing their butts off after wrestling like children I released that despite whatever was wrong, they would be okay. Because they had each other.