MERCEDES | SEBASTIAN STAN

THIRTY

CHANGES

030.
❝I missed my big sister.❞

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

Mercedes sat down in her home office and let out a defeated sigh as she looked at all the paper work that had piled up over the past couple of months.

She had been putting it off for as long as could remember. Her agent, Haisley, had called her earlier asking if she could go through the extracts of the scripts to see if she liked any of the films or TV show options.

A few of them had asked for her personally and she was still yet to look at the roles. Others, her agent had chosen specially as he thought she would suit the role.

The brunette let out a defeated sigh as she picked up the first one, as well as a highlighter. She decided that she would highlight all the things she liked about the script and character, then decided from that.

Bentley noticed that his sister was busy working, so he knocked on the door before entering.

"Are you okay?" Mercedes questioned her brother, it was very rare that he came to visit her when she was in her home office.

The mousy blonde haired boy nodded and went to take a seat in the corner of the room on the hanging egg chair. He brought his legs up into his chest and rested his head on his knees.

"You look like you have a lot to get through." Bentley motioned to the stacks of paper.

Mercedes chuckled softly, her hands resting on the stacks of paper work. She hummed in response before saying,

"You're right. But it's no ones fault but my own." She smiled at her younger brother. "I haven't really being in the mood to go through masses of paper work and cause of that it's just gotten bigger."

"I can leave you to it-"

"No stay." Mercedes said a little too quickly. "I like the company."

Bentley knew his sister better than that. He knew that she was just scared to be completely alone. He knew that with everything that happened at comic con, the mention of Lexus and the guy punching her, it would have brought back some very vivid and awful memories.

"Okay." Bentley nodded. "I didn't want to be alone anyways. I missed my big sister." He muttered so that she felt like she didn't pressure him into staying.

The siblings sat in a comfortable silence for a while. Mercedes made a pile of 'yes' or 'no' job opportunities and so far the majority of them ended up in the 'no' pile. She wasn't loving acting as much as she used too.

"What?" Mercedes smiled as she felt her brothers eyes on her.

"I barely remember when you were taking, Mer," Bentley spoke up. They rarely spoke of the event. It wasn't something that either of them liked talking about. "but I remember Mamá and Papá crying for you to come home."

Out of all her siblings, Bentley was definitely the most vulnerable and in touch with his emotions. He was very open about the way he was feeling. It was something Mercedes admired.

"I remember them praying, and we're not even religious." Tears stung his eyes, threatening to spill as he spoke. "I remember Cruz having nightmares."

Mercedes stood up from her seat and made her way over to her younger brother. This was the first time he had told her anything like this.

"I remember hearing him scream your name as he woke up." Bentley sniffled. "I slept in your bed most nights." She shuffled over so that Mercedes could sit beside him. "Mamá and Papá always got mad at me for it, but Cruz defended me."

The brunette wrapped her arms around her brother, pulling him into her chest. She couldn't have imagined how hard it was for a four year old to spend every day with his sister and then one day she just be gone.

When they were children, the Coleman siblings were all incredibly close and didn't spend a day without one another. They were still close now, but not as close as they were.

What happened to Mercedes changed them all.

"When you came back, you didn't speak to anyone. You were gone for four months, Mer, and I still don't know what fully happened."

Mercedes tensed as she got vivid flash backs of the man that beat her and the other children.

"I don't want you to know, Bentley, the events were too horrible and I don't ever want you to look at me with pity. I don't ever want you to think that I'm weak."

Bentley pulled away from his sister with furrowed brows before saying,

"You're the strongest person I know. But if you don't want to talk about it, I understand. Just know that I'm here. You have two brothers and a sister. You don't always have to go to Cruz."

"I know and I loved you all to pieces." Mercedes turned her head towards the door where she saw her younger sister crying, hugged into Cruz's side. "Come here."

Astra and Cruz both made their way up to where Bentley and Mercedes were stood up. The four Coleman siblings all held one another tightly, never wanting to let go.

"Sleepover in my room tonight?" Mercedes whispered to them, making all three of them nod in response.