By some miraculous turn of events, things went smoothly for awhile. Ben was still more than irritated at his mother, but she had kept to her word and kept Darren out of the picture whenever the kids were around. Unfortunately, that meant more babysitting of his sibs, but he was truly okay with that. Unless he had plans too. But, Erin seemed to have a soft spot for Liz and she’d come help, so it all worked out in the wash. Sort of. He couldn’t get past his grave disappointment in his mother. No matter what he did.

Neron hadn’t been seen nor heard from since his appearance at the park, but no one at the Romero’s seemed too anxious to kick Nick back to his own place. Until Aaron came, and then he voluntarily left. He needed to be with his brother. Alone. At least now and then.

But, he was also true to his word to Ro and she got to spend lots of time with her idol. Her Aaron. She had a habit of taking possession of whoever grabbed her heart. How, no one knew, but what was more interesting was that no one complained. Having Ro call you ‘hers’ somehow was an okay thing. Because to truly belong to that little girl, you had to be yourself. She was too smart for any bullshit. And Aaron needed that right now. No faking allowed.

Thanksgiving was finally upon them, as was the meeting of the two boys. If it didn’t work, it was going to be a long weekend because Nick had promised a boat outing to both Ben and Aaron. Over night. Far from home. The only way out was into the water. Of course if Ben’s jealousy became too much of an issue “man overboard” might be a nice solution.

“Keys.”

“Keys? What is this?” Nick smirked at his brother and tossed his keys over the hood of his truck. “You just expect to drive all the time now?”

“Basically. I’m better than you anyway.”

“Yeah, you didn’t have four dimwits trying to teach you to drive.” Nick tossed the bags of 2-liter pop onto the floor in back and got in smacking Aaron on the head as he met him inside. For no apparent reason.

Aaron smacked back without so much as a thought and turned the ignition silently thanking the gods for his brother. For his tormenting and mostly for the fact that no matter what happened, no matter how much life sucked, he had Nick.

The truck started with a purr and he backed out of the garage, remembering some of his driving lessons with his folks. ‘Unpleasant memory’ didn’t begin to explain. “I just had mom and dad. Not sure what was worse. His braking the floorboard all the time or mom’s incessant screeching.”

“Mmm…I think I’ll take Kevin’s constant criticism, thanks.”

“Made me figure it out fast anyway…get them off my ass.”

“So, uh…” Nothing had been mentioned yet about the illustrious “mom and dad”. Aaron avoided at every turn and the truth was, Nick wasn’t in the mood to hear it anyway. He invited Aaron so the kid could have an escape from the nightmare that had become his parents divorce. Thing was, Aaron looked like hell. He was pale and gaunt and just…not himself. It worried Nick and also pissed him off that his folks could be so selfish as to let things get so bad that Aaron would be showing signs of wear and tear from it.

“Not now…holiday. Ben. The girls. Nope.”

“When?”

“Never is soon enough, Nick. You know them. You know it sucks. I just don’t want to think about it. I wanna suck down a turkey.”

“You gotta beat me to it, dude.”

Aaron pulled up to a traffic light and slowly turned his gaze to his older brother, raising his eye brows in an ornery competitive lilt. “Is Lani all hyper with manners and shit?”

“Uh, in front of Ro? Yeah. I think we’d better behave today. Too many kids around. She’ll be mothering all of us.”

“How many are gonna be there?”

“Whole Casey family.” Nick started counting on his fingers, previously unaware of how crowded the house would be. “…so that’s Patty, Ben, Jack, Liz, Amy, Kitty and then Lani and Ro, you and me. Ten of us.”

“Damn. And you think Ben’s gonna be a pain?”

“He’d better not be. But, he’s had me to himself for over a year now, Air. He’s real possessive for some reason.”

“Maybe with his family there he’ll be okay?”

“I’m hopin’ so. Take him out for some basketball if nothing else. He’ll probably whip your ass and it’ll all even out.”

“Oh you think so, huh?” Aaron got to the neighborhood he’d become familiar with in the past few days and froze. “Crap. Which way again?”

“Right. Ben lives down this street on the left.”

Aaron nodded and turned the corner, his memory coming back quickly. “It’s the one up here with the cool landscaping, right?”

“Yup. Wait’ll you see her palm tree in back. I can’t believe it’s still standing.”

“I take it you planted it.”

“You don’t have to know everything…”

Aaron giggled and pulled up to the curb, putting the truck in park. “And if Ben hates me?”

“You’re my brother. Ben will have to get over it.”

“Aaron! Aaron! Aaron!” Nick hadn’t even shut the backdoor of his truck before Rosalie had busted out of the house and practically tackled Aaron in the yard.

“Woah, Ro!” Aaron fell to the ground, pulling her down with him and flipping her on her back tickling her mercilessly. Nick just stood there with the bottles of pop looking like an ignored little puppy.

“That’s okay. I’ll just mosey on up to the house myself. No greeting needed for me. Nope. I’m fine.” Yes, he was joking. Yes, he was a hair jealous. Yes, he felt stupid about it. Yes, he knew it was unreasonable.

As his hand found the screen door, he felt a tug on his shirt hem. “I don’t forget you, Nicky…pick me up.”

“My hands are full.” Who said you had to be mature at age 23? Besides, she was cute when she begged.

“Then put that stuff down.” Her hands went up and Aaron swiped the bags of bottles out of Nick’s hands.

“Quit bein’ a putz. Pick up the child.” He marched into the house and stopped cold. The flurry of activity before him stunned him, and seeing as how he knew only one person in the mess, he had an overwhelming urge to run the other way.

Nick and Rosalie plowed into the back of him, totally in their own private world until they heard his “oof” upon impact. “Dude…move in the house.”

“You sure there’s only 10 people here?”

“Yup! 10. I set the table myself. And guess where you’re sitting?” Rosalie kissed Nick’s cheek and wiggled back down to the floor.

“I bet I’m next to you.”

“You bet right.” She pulled him down to her and whispered loud enough for the whole house to hear. “And you can eat my sweet potatoes so Mamí thinks I cleaned my plate.”

“You don’t like sweet potatoes?”

She shivered and skipped off, falling into the hole of helping and being in the way. Right where she belonged.

“She thinks I’m eatin’ her sweet potatoes? I hate sweet potatoes!”

“Then you’ve never eaten mine, young man.” Aaron turned to the voice and stepped back somewhat taken with her, well…with the homeliness of the woman before him. “I’m Patty. You must be Nick’s brother.”

Smooth, Aaron. “Oh. Yeah. Hi.” He finally offered a hand to shake, not even realizing they were still full of bags of pop bottles. “Oh. Sorry. I’ll uh…take these to the uh…”

“I got ‘em, hon. You go on in and meet my family. They’ve been looking forward to this.”

Aaron felt a push on his back and shot a look back to the culprit. “I’m goin’, I’m goin’.”

“Hang tight. I gotta kiss the cook and then we’ll go together, huh?”

“Yeah, um…lemme come with you. I’m feeling the need to kiss something too.”

“Stay away from my woman, dawg. You already stole my girl.”

Aaron was about to plaster his brother against a wall. Nick hadn’t had the decency to warn him he was walking into fan club central. Between Kitty’s refusal to look at him, Liz’s pawning all over him and Rosalie’s…Rosaliness – which was totally fine – he thought he might explode. He decided to make nice with the cute kid stirring gravy, whose name had already escaped him.

“It’s lookin’ good, dude.”

“Yeah, taste it. Miss Romero puts cool seasonings in the bird, so the gravy’s really good.” Jack lifted up a wooden spoonful of the goo and Aaron swiped a finger through it and into his mouth, closing his eyes at the rich, unexpected flavor.

“Mmm…oh God…” Okay, a small fan club over good food. He could deal. However, there was one person he had yet to meet. “Where’s your brother?”

“I think he has Amy out back.”

God, even more people. Aaron looked back to Nick for some support and got none, only seeing his brother pinching Lani’s ass as she bent into the oven to check something. “Hey, hornball!”

“You talkin’ to me?” Nick leaned around Lani and swiped a taste of stuffing before she could shove it back into the oven.

“Out. Now. You’re a nuisance.” She smacked him with her oven mitt and shooed both Carter boys out of the kitchen.

“Yeah, I’m talkin’ to you. Someone’s missing…” He pointed to the patio door and took another lick of his gravy flavored finger. “God, that woman can cook.”

“Why I’m keepin’ her.” He draped an arm around his brother’s shoulder and led him to the patio door. “Let’s get this over with.”

Before Aaron could think twice about it, he was standing outside watching a small toddler squealing and running from her teenaged brother. While the age difference was bigger than it was for he and Nick, he couldn’t help but wonder if this is what they were like so many years ago. A blond boy chasing a diaper-bottomed blonde toddler, no one quite sure which one was having more fun.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaamy…come see me, sweetie!” Nick joined in on the chase and Amy squealed all that much louder, finally tumbling off of her stubby legs and letting the boys gently tackle and tickle her. “Where are your pants, girl? You can’t run around here half naked!”

“This isn’t the first time she’s been on her back. Fell into the garden earlier and soaked her pants.”

“Oops.” Nick picked Amy up, blowing raspberries on her neck, temporarily forgetting about the two strangers left standing to stare.

“Uh, hi. I’m Aaron.” Maybe it’d be better coming from him than Nick anyway.

“Oh. Yeah. Figured. Ben…you, uh…had a good week here so far?” Nick peeked up from his playtime with Amy and went right back to it as soon as he saw the boys were doing just fine.

“Come on, Aims…let’s go find you some pants.” He took her inside, not giving them two cents of his time or concern. The less interference, the better.

And he was right…Aaron already felt more relaxed without Nick hanging around. It made no sense, but there it was. “Yeah, yeah…just chillin’ ya’ know? You comin’ on the boat with us this weekend?”

“Definitely. It’s been awhile. How, uh…how long will you be here?”

“I think through Monday. I gotta get back…” Aaron stopped and heaved a sigh, looking inside at what ‘home’ now was for his brother, aching for what used to be at his own. “Yeah, I gotta get back home.”

Seeing Aaron shoving his hands in his pockets and knowing full well that it meant ‘I’m uncomfortable’ because it was his own signal, he suddenly realized that in many odd ways, they might have more in common than Nick. “You know, this is my first normal Thanksgiving. Ever.”

“Really? I’m not so sure what normal is, but…yeah, this feels like…like it should.”

They shared nervous smiles and took one more glance into the house. It looked like no one was missing them yet, so they might as well enjoy the nice day together. “Shoot some hoops?”

“Yeah, yeah…where’s a…hoop?”

“Up front. On the garage. Come on.”

Lani watched the exchange from her kitchen window and finally turned away when she saw them disappear from the yard.

“Are they gonna be okay?” Patty pulled the stuffing out of the oven and swiped her own taste of it, moaning at the flavor. So different from what she was used to, but oh so delicious. She couldn’t imagine how good it’d be from inside the bird.

“Yep, they’ll be fine.”

“Can I go outside with them, Mamí?”

“Nope, you stay and help Liz put ice in glasses. Ben and Aaron need to be alone.”

“Why?”

“Eh, it’s a guy thing, Ro…boys are silly.”

“Yeah…” She hopped off the barstool and ran to the front window to watch them play in the driveway. “Boys are silly…but I like ‘em anyway.”