Smiley and Sunshine

41.

"Home sweet mother fucking home."

Glen couldn't help but grin as the car pulled into the familiar neighborhood.

"Watch yourself," Austin fixed him a glare, making Glen's cheesy grin widen across his face. He wasn't intimidated by his eldest brother when there was a jesting twinkle in his matching blue eyes. "We're gonna need to clean your mouth out with soap, Smiley."

"Nah," Glen brushed away the warning, his eyebrows wiggling up and down to show how threatened he felt. He breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing in his seat as his foot tapped off beat against the floor of the car. "Just happy to be back is all. Is that such a crime?"

"No, I suppose it's not." Austin conceded as he briefly glanced up in the rearview mirror. "Sunshine, wake up, baby. We're home."

Glen shuffled around in his seat to look curiously at his sister, who had remained dead to the world for pretty much the whole car ride. Whereas the kid had not wasted a second, jumping right into the passenger seat as soon as they had dropped Baker off at his home, the growing teen appreciated all the leg room, Hayes didn't even flinch when Baker pressed a kiss to her head.

It wasn't everyday that Hayes skipped an opportunity to play with Chubba.

Hayes stirred, moaning as she palmed her eyes. "I'm awake," she muttered, dropping her hands and revealing the dark purple circles living under her eyes. She subconsciously returned Glen's cheerful expression with a tiny, sleepy grin of her own.

Being stupid, Glen ducked his chin to his chest, giving himself a double chin as he crossed his eyes inward.

In return, Hayes pushed her nose up with her index finger, making a pig face complete with a snort.

Austin wasn't able to see what they were doing, but the sound of his kids' genuine laughter made him chuckle right alongside them.

Slowing down for the stop sign, Austin put the car blinker on to make the upcoming left turn into their cul-de-sac.

"Can we have chicken nuggets for dinner?" Hayes randomly asked through a loud yawn.

The car came to a complete stop before Austin turned his head over his right shoulder to look at her properly. His lips twitched upward into a soft, handsome smile at this sight of his sleepy sister. "I dunno, Sunshine. Colton's on dinner duty."

"I really really want chicken nuggies," Hayes mumbled under her breath making Austin chuckle lightly as he scrutinized her face.

His heart strings pulled as he took in the result of all her night terrors, nightmares, or whatever the hell they were called. These past two days in particular had been anything but easy for her or Glen, but the nights were absolutely horrific for the little girl.

Don't get him wrong, Glen had his fair share of moments of panic during the night, but Hayes was on a whole other level.

Not even Glen could help keep the monsters away last night, the three of them ending up as snug as a bug in a rug on the queen-sized hotel bed.

Yes, that means Baker got the other bed all to himself.

Smug bastard.

But when Austin returned to the hotel room after slipping in a quick sunrise run through the countryside, he found Hayes had migrated to the dark side, craving the comfort that Baker could provide her. Whatever it was, it worked, because his three siblings didn't come alive until almost 9 am.

Then they got changed, packed the car, swung by a local diner for breakfast pancakes, and then left Florida in the dust.

He could only hope, that as they crossed state lines first into Georgia and then South Carolina, that they left the past in the past, for good.