"Cole? James?" I said into the phone, feeling thoroughly shaken, "can you guys pick me up, please?"

Immediately, a black car rolled up next to me. The window rolled down and revealed the two of them looking worried.

"That was fast," I joked, "were you guys here all this time?"

"Maybe," Cole answered, "what happened?"

I shook my head, "I don't want to talk about it right now, sorry."

"It's fine," James smiled, "where do you want to go now?"

I didn't even have to think about my answer, "home."

X

I gulped and walked up to the mahogany door. I had a flashback to when I was fifteen and coming here with Elijah.

I pressed the doorbell and waited nervously. Cole and James said that they would give us some privacy and went to attend to some gang business.

The door opened and revealed Mom.

She gasped, "I-Iris?"

I smiled, "Hi Mom."

She sobbed and hugged me tightly. I buried my face in her hair and cried happy tears.

"Lisa? Who was at the door?" Dad called.

"Come see for yourself!" She replied.

Dad came and his jaw dropped when he saw me. He strode forward and cupped my face gently with his palms and looked at me for a moment. Then, he engulfed me in a silent hug that spoke a thousand words.

"Boys!" Mom yelled excitedly, "come see who's here!"

"Unless it's the delivery guy, we're not interested!" Oscar shouted back.

Mom laughed, "I think this person is better!"

Elijah poked his head out of the living room with a bored expression, "who is it?"

Dad stepped to the side and Elijah's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. He ran forward and embraced me, lifting me off the ground and spinning me around. I laughed loudly and wrapped my arms around his neck, resting my head on his shoulders.

"Eli, who's- Iris?" Daimen stopped short. He immediately came to Eli and took me from his grasp- much to the former's annoyance- and squeezed me tightly.

"Hi Dai," I chuckled through tears.

"Iris," Daimen breathed out and set me down on the floor, "don't ever leave us again, okay?"

"Promise," I responded, feeling elated.

"Did somebody say 'Iris'?" Julian appeared. He saw me and rubbed his eyes and looked at me again. He stood in front of me and clasped me tightly, kissing the top of my head, "I've missed you so damn much, Iris."

"I've missed you too, Julian," I replied, leaning into his embrace.

"Is this a party? How come I wasn't invited?" Oscar asked, coming out of the room and closely followed by Brandon.

"Iris?!" Oscar shrieked, "is that you?!"

"Nah, I'm her evil twin," I grinned wickedly.

"It is you!" Oscar cried, "my favourite sibling!"

"Hey!" My brothers shouted at once.

Oscar rolled his eyes, "oh come on, she's all of our favourite. But I'm obviously her favourite," he added as an afterthought.

Chuckling, I hugged Oscar, "I missed you, Oscar."

I then hugged Will, who was grinning hard.

"Don't ever do that to us again, okay?" He said and I nodded.

I let go and turned to Brandon, "I missed you, fratello."

Brandon smiled brightly, holding me tightly, "I've missed you too, Riss. I love you."

"I love you too, Brandon. And all of you," I said, looking at my family.

"We love you too, Iris," they chorused.

All of us went to the living room. Immediately, Oscar grabbed me and put me on his lap, locking his arms around my waist so I don't escape. I leaned back and smiled at my family.

"Did you find Elise?" Mom asked.

I nodded.

"What happened?" Brandon questioned.

I tensed, "I'll tell you anything and everything but what happened between me and Elise is a secret I'll take to the grave. She's dead, though."

We talked for a bit and then Daimen said to Oscar, "alright, it's my turn to hug her, now."

"No," Oscar pouted, hugging me tighter.

Laughing, I loosened his grip on me and hugged Daimen.

Oscar gasped dramatically, falling onto Will, "Et tu, Iris?"

Will rolled his eyes and shoved his twin away. We laughed at their antics.

It suddenly hit me how- around two years ago- I started living with my family. I remembered how much I resented them when I was living with John and Elise. If someone had told me then that I would be living with my father, stepmother, step brothers brothers- much less grown fond of them- I'd have laughed in their face and locked them up in an asylum.

As I looked at each person, I felt a huge surge of love for each of them. I knew that I would do anything and everything for them.

X ()

"I'M GONNNA KILL YOU!" She screamed charging towards me.

"Okay, Mia, let's all just calm down-" I started, nervously taking a step back.

"Don't make me angry and tell me to calm down. That's like stabbing someone and wondering why they're bleeding," she snarled.

"Mia, maybe you're over-" Jay started.

"Choose your next words very carefully because they could be your last," Mia glared and Jay immediately shut up.

My family had called my friends over, wanting to tell them the good news. The boys, Grace and Elizabeth hugged me, and said how great it was to see me and they would murder me if I did something like that again. Mia completely blew up. It took both Milo and Aiden to hold her back from beating me to death with a wooden spatula.

"Come on, Mia," I pleaded, "I'm your friend and I promise never to do it again!"

Mia huffed, "get your hands off of me!" She snapped to the boys who leapt away from her as if she was on fire. She sighed, "I forgive you, Iris."

All of us hugged and I heard someone taking a picture. I raised and eyebrow at Oscar, who was holding his phone sheepishly, "I thought you guys looked nice!" He shrugged.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Jax and Alex strode in, looking very angry.

"IRIS WEST BROWN!" Alex boomed.

"Damn he looks more angry than I was," Mia muttered, "good luck."

"Hi!" I smiled uneasily, "what happened?"

"Oh, well, after you went home five days ago, you texted us saying you reached. The , you went COMPLETELY AWOL until now," Jax glared.

"Wait, five days ago," Dad asked, "you guys knew all this time?"

Alex waved him off, "semantics."

"I'm sorry you guys, but I'm back for good now," I extended my arms, "hug?"

They looked at me and smiled, coming forward and embracing me warmly.

"By the way, Rainbow," Jax smirked, "Tracy is coming."

My eyes widened in fear and I hid behind my brothers, "why didn't you warn me earlier?!" I yelled.

Alex went to the kitchen cupboards and took out a packet of popcorn, "because it's more fun this way!"

"IRIS WEST BROWN!!!!!" Tracy screamed so loudly my eardrums almost popped.

"Hi," I waved, hiding behind Daimen.

"COME HERE, NOW!" Tracy demanded. Her now blue hair was incredibly frizzy and her grey eyes slanted when they saw me.

Tentatively, I crept forward, eyeing her warily, "what's up Trace?" Was apparently the wrong thing to say.

"What's up? What's up?! You fudging faked your freaking death one year ago and you're asking what's up?!" Tracy shrieked. She went on a tireless rant, saying how much of a blockhead I was. And what will happen if I was ever that big of a blockhead again. It was quite an impressive speech.

"And now," she paused to take a deep breath, "that took a lot of stuff outta me. Is there anything to eat?" She gave me a side hug and looked expectantly at me.

Oscar went to the cupboards and grabbed an orange, some sweets and a donut, "this good?"

"Perfect thanks," Tracey smiled, "oh, one last thing," she looked at me, "may the chocolate chips in your cookies forever be raisins!" She gasped theatrically, falling onto Jax. He pushed her away and rolled his eyes.

Oscar blinked and grinned at Tracy, "I think you and I are going to be great friends."

"Let's eat!" I exclaimed. We ordered pizza and ate and talked for the rest of the day. Sometime later, Cole, James and Harry dropped by- so it was like a proper reunion.

Eating a slice of pizza, I looked at everyone. Although a lot of stuff had happened in my past, I was thankful that I was here now- surrounded by those who care about me, and I them.

Finally, I closed the chapter on my old life and started a fresh page in my new life.