"She was so effortlessly herself, it is hard not to fall for her." He said to himself, shaking his head, a warm smile on his face.

In her arms, there was home. Funny how home turned to someone's embrace from a place.

"I am never gonna understand my brother." Zach walked inside the room, shaking his head, making Faye look at him in confusion.

"What to do you mean?"

"He is cooking, that fucking bastard is cooking, for you. He never cooked for me." He said pouting.

"Oh poor Zachy boy, he just loves me more." Faye said, laughing, making Zach roll his eyes.

"If you only knew Faye." Zach whispered under his breath, making her look at him with surprise.

"Zachy?"

"Oh, yah, nothing, well, I want you to do something." And she looked at him with an arched eyebrow.

"What is it?"

"River's mom wants to meet him this weekend." And Zach scratched the back of his head, suddenly his eyes becoming sad and making its way towards the floor.

"And?"

"I could not bring myself to talk to him about it." He said, sitting on the couch, Faye taking the seat next to him.

She patted his head, giving him a small smile, "Hey, its okay, aha?" She ruffled his hair.

He looked at her with a bitter smile and scoffed, "I have been trying to talk to him about this since weeks, its just, I just can never bring myself to do it. You know how River is about all these things, it hurts him, a lot. I mean, he, he does not deserve it, he never did."

"I... I know Zach, I know. So, you want me to talk to him about it?"

"Yah..."

"Hmm... how about we talk to him about this together?" She asked as he looked at him.

"I do not know Faye, I am not sure..."

"Oh, that's it, we are gonna talk about it, now."

"No, not tonight, its too soon." He whined, standing up from his seat.

"Fine, fine, than tomorrow morning?" And he slowly nodded, gulping.

"Now that it's settled, Zachary Blake, have a game of COD with me?" Faye looked at him with a smirk, waving the controller for him to take.

"You see, I would love to beat your ass in this game, but, but I have some places to go, some people to meet." And when Faye heard his excuse, she scoffed.

"Seriously? Is that the best you can come up with? Oh boy, we all know who will beat whose ass. Remind me when you won a game against me." And Zach playfully glared at her.

"Oh shut up Lockwood. I swear, I would have loved to see you cry. But, I really need to go, have to crash a party." And sticking out his tongue he turned around to go.

"How mature Zach, how mature." Faye said, laughing as he blew her a kiss.

As he left the room, Faye sat the controller on the couch, waiting for River to come.

How is she going to bring that up to him?

She knew better than anyone how it is for him, how things revolved in River Blake's life.

She knew better than anyone what River Blake has been through, what pain is for him.

She knew better than anyone, how much it hurts him to bring up his past.

Sighing, her eyes went to the ceiling.

He never shows it to anyone, he never shows how much it hurts to him. How can someone be so, so so strong?

Suddenly, she felt moisture in her eyes and she rubbed her eyes furiously.

Maybe his mom wants to heal their relationship. It's the least she can do.

Anger spilled through her nerves as River's mother's image ran through her mind. She did not hate her but she was angry, really really angry.

She wanted her to give River a chance. Damn, even if it was not his fault, he got punished, he got punished for something that he never did, she owed him an apology, she owed him millions of apologies.

"Dinner is ready." And Faye looked up to see River standing there with a satisfied smile on his face.

Her eyes went to his face and she chuckled. Standing up from the couch, she walked up to him, shaking her head with a small smile.

"Idiot." And muttering that, she slowly wiped the patches of flour that were on his cheeks, making him close his eyes as he felt her touch on him.

"So, what did you make for me?" She asked as she wiped the tip of his nose, her eyes going through his each and every feature.

He did not reply for a moment, taking her in.

Slowly, as if coming back to his senses, he scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly.

"Come and see." And intertwining their fingers, he pulled her, both of them walking towards the kitchen.

And soon as they reached the kitchen, he picked up the plates that were in the counter and brought them to the large table that sat on the hall.

"Milady." And he placed a plate full of mashed potatoes along with what looked like cheese.

He ran up to the counter once again and came up with another set of plates.

There was spaghetti and meatballs on them, and Faye's grin widened as she saw those delicious dishes coming on her way.

She was grinning so wide that she was more than sure that her mouth was gonna hurt. She did not care though, she was too overwhelmed with the fact that River did that for her.

"Did you make all of it?" She asked, chuckling as she took the hold of the spoon to taste the mashed potatoes.

"Well..." And he shrugged, scratching the back of his head.

She rolled her eyes and shoved a spoonful of potatoes in her mouth, just to moan in delight.

It was awesome, it tasted so good that she had a certain urgency to shove everything inside her mouth.

"When did you learn to cook this good?" She asked as she saw him starting with his own food.

"You liked it?" He asked, stunt.

"I fucking loved it. I mean, this, is haven. Ugh, cook for me everyday." She whined, licking the plate, making him chuckle.

"Eww, look at you, no table manners." He said, shaking his head, trying hard not to laugh.

"Who cares?" She said, starting with the spaghetti now.

"You know, I need to learn from you, all these skills, ugh, I wanna kiss you so hard." And she grinned, not realizing how much those words affected him.

He froze for a second, heat rushing to his cheeks. Scratching the back of his head, he chuckled awkwardly.

"Ah, Mom called yesterday." And that made her look at him from the delights she was devouring.

"Oh."

Did she tell him?

"She... she wants me to meet her, this weekend." He said, shaking his head.

"It does not matter if she wants to meet you or not, what do you think? Do you want to give this a chance?" She asked, her hand making its way to his.

She gave it a squeeze, a small smile on her face.

"I do not know, I do not think I am ready to face Annalise anytime soon." He said, shaking his head.

"It's been years. I think you should finally give them a chance."

"I know, but it is just, I do not know, hard. Returning to that town brings memories, memories that makes me hate myself more and more. It is just, makes me never forget what I did."

"For the hundredth time, it was not your fault that he insisted to drive even if he was fucking drunk, it is not your fault." She said.

"I could have stopped him."

"Did not you? Did not he punch you because of that? What were you supposed to do, ha?" She scoffed and silence drifted in the surrounding.

None of them said anything, one was deep in thoughts and the other one let them be.

She wanted it to scream to him, she wanted to scream this to him that it was not his fault that his stepfather died, it was not his fault.

She slowly started to take in the stiffening surrounding, playing with the food, thinking what he was going to do.

"I... I think... I think I will go." And she looked at him, her eyes narrowing slightly, a grin making its way to her lips.

"But."

"But what?"

"Only if you come with me." And trust me, she was more than happy to go with him.

************************************

@tomboy_16