Eternal Blossom

While waiting for Brian to finish with the police force Aiyana had called the hotel Zack and Rayne were staying at and left a message with the front desk to let them know to come to her home before going to their own when they checked out in the morning. The last thing that she wanted was for them to walk into a completely trashed house.

As Aiyana and Brian sat down to breakfast the next morning, she heard Rayne and Zack walk in the front door. Looking over at Brian as she heard Rayne’s giggle, Aiyana got up from the table and went to make their friends each a plate from the copious amounts of breakfast she’d prepared just in case they showed up in time to eat.

“I hope you’re hungry,” Aiyana called from the kitchen in a sing song voice.

“Feed me, and I’ll love you forever,” Rayne returned in the same voice as she bound into the kitchen with a wide smile on her face. “Your message had us coming in early and skipping breakfast. I’m starving. What’s cookin’ good lookin’?”

“Migas and coffee. You grab the coffee. I’ve got ya’lls plates,” Aiyana smiled and kissed her cousin on the cheek by way of greeting since her hands were full.

Zack had taken a seat beside Brian and was anxiously awaiting the food that had his mouth salivating with it’s glorious scent. The moment his plate was put before him, he smiled at Rayne, giving her a wink as she set his coffee before him, “so, what was so important we had to come here first? Thanks for breakfast, Yanna.”

Aiyana smiled at him and sat beside Rayne across from the boys at the table. Biting on her lower lip, she waited as Zack began to eat, composing in her mind the best way to relay to him just what had transpired at his home.

“Well, someone broke into your house. The alarm company couldn’t get ahold of you two, so they called us,” Brian offered up in an attempt to air the dirty laundry. “We figured you could stay with us while the repairs are done.”

“We didn’t want you to walk into the destruction and be overwhelmed after your weekend, which by the looks of you two was quite splendiferous,” Aiyana rushed to add, picking up her own fork.

“Fuck,” the outburst fell from Rayne’s lips as her eyes met Zack’s across the table. “How bad was it?”

Aiyana cleared her throat after taking a sip of her coffee, “Well, there was a lot of broken glass, stolen merch, and a lot of your clothes were in the bath tub soaking in bleach.”

Rayne dropped her fork with a clatter to her plate, not sure who would be so callous against them. To her, it didn’t feel like a simple break in considering that her clothing was ruined. It felt like a personal attack.

“Do the cops have any leads yet,” Zack muttered, pushing his migas about on the plate.

“Not yet,” Brian offered lamely, his own plate lying all but forgotten as he tried to gauge the other couple’s reactions.

Zack nodded and sighed before taking a bite of his breakfast, chewing it thoroughly as his mind raced through all of the people that might have been the culprit. The action he knew was foolhardy, as it could have been veritably anyone, but he couldn’t stop his mind from tearing through a mental mugshot listing of possibilities.

Rayne sat back in her chair and sighed, suddenly no longer hungry. Looking over at Aiyana, she leaned over and rested her forehead on her cousin’s shoulder. “Tell me that my favorite dress wasn’t in that tub, Aiya.”

Biting her lip, Aiyana kept her mouth shut. She’d distinctly seen the deep maroon garment fading to a dusky pink at the bleach’s edge. Rayne knew that the silence wasn’t a good sign and she cried out in frustration as she rose from the table, heading for Aiyana and Brian’s guest room on the first floor.

The moment she opened the door, she saw that her luggage and Zack’s were already in the room. Mentally thanking her cousin for rescuing the remnant of her clothing, she let out another frustrated yelp. Once Rayne threw herself onto the bed, she growled into the pillow, hurt and anger overwhelming her small frame. The thought that someone had invaded their home and privacy so blatantly made her stomach churn.

Before she knew it, she was up and rushing to the toilet to void her stomach of it’s meager contents. Hearing footsteps behind her as she turned to brush her teeth, she didn’t even bother to turn to see who was coming to check on her.

“Do you want to go see it before we find a crew to clean it,” Aiyana offered softly from the doorway, knowing her cousin’s impulsive need to see the damage first hand.

Rayne simply nodded as she rinsed out her mouth and put her toothbrush away. When Aiyana wrapped her arms around her cousin, Rayne placed her head on Aiyana’s shoulder, still mad at the situation, but thankful for the comfort that she was being offered.


After walking through the house, Rayne stood in the master bathroom, her eyes glued to the brown bathtub where all of the dyes from her clothing had melded together to stain the tub a disgusting color of tan mud.

Zack stepped up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist as he peered at the ruined bathtub with her.

“I already called someone to clean up for us, and I’ve got the alarm company coming to put in better security so this doesn’t happen again. None of it will be finished until after Rock in Rio. So, I guess that’s a good thing,” he sighed, placing his chin on her shoulder. “We get to come home to a clean home instead of a hazard zone.”

“Silver lining and all that shit,” Rayne sighed, placing her hands on top of his, her gaze still stuck to the bathtub. “My dress for Lacey and Johnny’s wedding is in that tub.”

Zack grimaced at the sound of her voice, as it was completely void of emotion as she pointed out the latest travesty. The couple stood there a little longer, soaking in all of the destruction, assimilating their feelings on the matter.

Brian and Aiyana picked their way amongst the wreckage hand in hand to stand beside the two wrapped together in mutual desolation.

“Ray, I don’t mean to be the bearer of even more bad news, but the necklace Mimi gave you is missing too,” Aiyana said very softly, hurt in her own voice at the loss of the family heirloom.

With that simple statement, Rayne’s emotional dam broke. Tears slid silently down her face as she turned to her cousin, the two dropping the hands of their lovers to cling to one another desperately. The guys looked at one another, completely at a loss as to why a necklace was so vastly important compared to everything else.

Aiyana managed to hold her tears back for her cousin’s obviously shattered heart and her own pain, her hands clutching at the back of Rayne’s shirt as she allowed her cousin to cry it out. Rayne didn’t cry often, and she didn’t think that she would cry over this. She honestly thought that Rayne would yell, cuss, run around kicking shit, anything other than break down in a puddle of tears.

Brian watched Aiyana’s stoic face for a moment before kissing her temple as his hand landed on Rayne’s shoulder in a comforting manner, Zack’s arms already wrapping around both of the girls in an effort to give them some support.

Once Rayne felt she could stand without full support, she pulled back and turned to Zack, burying her face in his neck as she took a deep breath of his scent. The calming effect of his subtle cologne mixed with cigarette smoke instantly calmed her nerves, reassuring her that she was safe even though her entire life had been tumultuously thrown about by an unseen invader.

Brian wrapped an arm around Aiyana’s waist and gave her a questioning look, one eyebrow raised high.

“Mimi was our mothers’ mom. We were very close to her until she died when we were twelve. Rayne more so because they gardened constantly, and bonded over it. The necklace was made from several family members’ wedding rings. It was a family thing where when someone died instead of passing the ring on for the next younger couple, it was melted down and added to the necklace,” Aiyana explained to the men, her heart breaking the moment
Rayne closed her eyes in an effort to shut out the emotion pressing down on her shoulders.

“I lost four generations and seven women’s rings,” Rayne sobbed, tears once again racing down her cheeks in fresh waves along the previously drying tracks of their predecessors.

“Lets get you back to Brian’s. It’s not helping anything you being here and seeing everything,” Zack spoke reassuringly in her ear, pushing a lock of her hair behind her shoulder.

When she hesitated to move, not trusting her knees to not give out under the weight of the world on her shoulders, Zack picked her up bridal style and carried her to the car.

Watching the couple retreat, Aiyana leaned into Brian’s strength as they followed at a more sedate pace, making sure to close and lock the door behind them as if the destruction inside needed to be secured against further attacks.


Once back home, Zack and Rayne retreated to their room while Aiyana set to work cleaning the mess from breakfast, Brian on his usual perch atop the counter.

“She’ll be okay. Any time she gets this upset she gets a migraine,” Aiyana offered up to break the silence looming in the room. “I expected rage rather than tears.”

“But are you okay,” Brian asked, tilting his head to the side as he watched her keep her hands busy with their task.

“I’m fine,” Aiyana rushed out, keeping her worry and sadness at bay by sheer willpower. “I’m just concerned about Rayne.”

Brian didn’t buy her quick response, and instead of letting her get away with it slipped off the counter so he could wrap his arms around her from behind, causing her to halt all cleaning. The moment her hands stilled, they began to tremble.

Watching her fingertips shake for a second, Brian kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her tighter, “It’s alright, Aiya. They’ll be fine. They’ve got eachother, and you’ve got me. You don’t have to go into worried mother hen mode.”

Aiyana laughed softly and looked up into his stunning chocolate eyes. All worries and cares vanished from her world as she stared into the most beautiful orbs in the world. Brian was her safe haven, the place where nothing could go wrong, and she clasped him tightly in her embrace, allowing herself to drown in them for a moment, the safety, security, and love he offered up so whole heartedly making her feel lighter.

“I’m not a worried mother hen,” she threw back at him, a grin tugging at her lips.

“You are definitely a worried mother hen. Your little chicks are in there crying and you’re out here frantic because you can’t make it all better with a band aid,” he chuckled. “Come on, Mother Goose, this mess can wait.”

Brian turned them, his arm sliding around her waist so they could walk together. As he led her out of the kitchen, Aiyana’s mind began to race as to where he could possibly be taking her. She didn’t want to go too far in case Zack or Rayne needed anything, but she would go anywhere Brian took her without hesitation.

Outside, Brian sat in one of the patio chairs by the pool, pulling her down to sit on his lap.
“We’re going to have a cigarette, and then you’re going to get a book and relax.”

Aiyana smiled at him, kissing him softly. She was overwhelmed with his consideration of her, and his knowing just what she needed to help her relax. “Is that the prescription for being an old mother hen,” she teased, her lips centimeters from his.

“It’s what the doctor ordered,” he told her with a smirk.

“Mmmmm. Doctor Haner,” Aiyana hummed in appreciation. “I think I could get on board with that.”

Brian chuckled, kissing her deeply. One of her hands slid up his chest and around his neck to clutch at the strands of hair at the base of his neck. With a groan at her actions, Brian opened his mouth to her, allowing their tongues to dance together in a heated tango of love and passion.

The worries and problems of everyone she'd been carrying lay scattered on the floor, forgotten in favor of his embrace and love.

Notes

They know, and it looks like they'll be there a while.
Any predictions?