Lizzy and Lacey are sat on the couch in the living room, Lisa curled up in Lizzy's arms. She'd woken up just after the boys had left and refused to go back to bed until Uncle Jimmy and Brian had re-read 'The Tales Of Metallica' (their own creation) to her, and serenaded her with a lullaby (which was 'Walk' by Pantera. She questioned their parenting skills sometimes). She'd had a few glasses of wine, and really wasn't in the mood to deal with Lisa being difficult, so Lizzy had brought her downstairs.

As soon as she sees the headlights of the truck pull into the driveway, she jumps up and runs over to the door, only to be greeted by a solemn looking Jimmy as he walks in, quite the opposite of the wannabe ninja he was when he left.
Something must be terribly, terribly wrong.
"Jimmy what happened? Who got arrested- WHO DIED?" she almost yells, startling even herself by how panicked she sounds, and as the others walk in, tugging off balaclava's and jackets, she finds herself counting heads.

"Brian, Zack, Mattie, Jim Jam, Short Shit-thank God you're all OK!" she breathes, running over to Zacky and wrapping her arms around his neck, pressing their lips together in a crushing kiss which has Matt making a nauseous face behind him and Brian disappearing into the living room, to find Lacey sat next to Lisa, counting out her toes. When she sees him, she stands up and the two of them hug.
"You haven't told Matt anything, right?" he whispers and she shakes her head, nodding behind him. Matt's obviously right there- so he shuts up.

"Baby, what are you still doing up? I thought you went to sleep earlier" he scolds lightly, picking his little sister up in his arms and kissing her forehead lightly when she curls up around him, clutching at his black t-shirt with her little fists.
"Me not tired, Bwian. Story now!" she yawns, and his heart almost melts into a puddle at how cute she sounds when she's sleepy.
"Come on Baby, let's get you up to bed. Say night-night to your Uncles and Auntie Lacey" he says and she waves at them, and each one of them smile at the sight of her.

"Jim Jam, you're requested for story telling duty" Brian says with a grin and Jimmy bounds up the stairs, grinning like a wolf- obviously to mentally prepare for his performance of 'Tales Of Metallica'. As he carries Lisa up the stairs, Brian feels her clutching a little tighter- almost as if she wants his attention.
"Bwian?"
"Yeah baby?"
"I missed you. When you went away"
"Well, I'm back now, OK? And I'm never gonna leave you, baby" he whispers in reply and notices that her little eyes are already closing softly.

As soon as he gets her into her bed, she's fast asleep and softly snoring. He doesn't want to leave her side, in fact, he wants to keep her in his arms until he falls asleep himself- but he has to get back to the guys. They have to tell Lizzy and Lacey about the files and what they plan to do next.
"I AM READY FOR MY BIG MOMENT!" Jimmy cries, jumping into the room in a position that makes him look like he's auditioning for Hamlet and Brian shushes him, pointing over at the softly sleeping Lisa. Jimmy pouts but smiles, leaning down to kiss her little forehead.

He loves her like fucking crazy- hell if she wasn't Brian's sister, he'd make her his in seconds.

"Come on, we've got some explaining to do" Brian says, taking one last look at his little sister before he ushers Jimmy out of the bedroom and into the living room downstairs, where the others are sitting, talking. Matt and Johnny both have beers, Lacey lounging by her brother's side, and Lizzy's curled up on Zacky's lap, clutching him like he's going to disappear under her grip if she lets go. Once Matt spots the others, he sits up, pulling the brown file from the table.

"We found this, well Brian found it, at Larry's office" he says, waving it in the air, and Lizzy sits up, but doesn't say anything. She looks worried.
"What is it?" Lacey asks curiously, and Brian looks over at her- seeing as he's the only one who really knows what it is.
"Larry's been keeping tabs on everyone in this room, as well as all of our families. Cousins, uncles and aunts, grandparents- you name it, someone's probably been watching them" Brian explains, wishing he had a beer in his hand.

"In short, it's like a stalker that pays someone else to hide in your bushes!" Jimmy announces happily, flopping down next to Zacky and Lizzy and giving him a look. He still hasn't forgiven Zacky for hurting Lizzy- he's the next most protective person of her after Brian, and Zack cowers away a little. He's not scared of Jimmy- but the man's six foot three, and Zacky barely reaches five ten. Height freaks him out a little in fights.

"Mostly though, he's been following Lacey, Lizzy and Lisa. The only female siblings that revolve around this band, and he wants to know if they'll be a threat to something. What that threat is- we have no idea. He seems extremely concerned about Lizzy and Zacky's relationship..." Johnny says, and Matt opens the folder, flicking through to his sisters name. There's not as many notes on her as there are with Lizzy, but something catches his eye.
Pictures. Of Brian and Lacey.

He stares at them, confused for a moment, and starts to glance over them. The two of them hanging out, walking together- in a restaurant together. Holding hands over the table.
Calm down Matt, he tells himself, though he can feel anger bubbling in the pit of his stomach. He hates his temper sometimes, but when it involves his little sister, he gets protective.

Very, very protective.

As soon as he sees the picture of the two of them kissing on Main Street, he loses his cool and stands up, the picture in his hands.
"Brian. Lacey. What the fuck is this?!"
Brian stands up, his eyes widening, and Lacey jumps in front of her brother. She knows the warning signs, and if she doesn't clear things up he's either going to punch in the walls or Brian will end up in ER later on tonight.

"Matt, we were going to tell you, but we knew you'd react like this. I'm old enough to make my own decisions, you don't need to be protective of me anymore!" she tries, but he just pushes her roughly out of the way, heading straight towards Brian. There's nowhere else for him to go, so he's backed up against the wall, and Matt's big hands grab at his throat, trying to choke him.
"You think my sisters just there for you to fuck around with Haner? Huh? What if I did that to Lizzy- you wouldn't be so damn happy would you?" he snarls and Brian shakes his head.

Truth be told, he's fucking terrified of Matt.

"Get out of my house Brian. And stay away from my sister, or so help me God I'll knock your front teeth down your throat" he hisses and without even thinking about the two women he's related to, still watching him in amazement, he runs. He doesn't even look back at Lacey.

How did being in love make things so complicated?