scars

Twenty four: back to somewhat normal

This chapter is somewhat shorter than the previous ones but I wanted to let you all know this book has been entered to the wattys I am not expecting anything from it but thank you guys for enabling me to have the opportunity to do so - Emi :3
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Ajax's Pov
After we had all slept for a good ten hours I woke the other two up before heading down to make us all some breakfast.

Ximena and Ace seemed to have both decided to change out of the clothes they slept in into different pajamas they could relax in.

I decided to make them pancakes for breakfast as it would probably give them a bit more sustenance than anything they had eaten in my absence.

"Come on you two breakfast is ready!" I said ushering them to sit with me in the kitchen I had sat in the middle of the island in the kitchen meaning that they had to sit either side of me.

"Now I know I was in the wrong for not contacting someone to inform you of where I was but you two have to take care of yourselves with or without me being here to help you because you have both scared me you have lost so much weight." I explained hugging them both into me.

"I tried to but I got burnt out and then could only focus on the fact that you weren't here to help me out of that uncomfortable situation that I was in. I just fell back into my old habits I had from living with Maria." Ximena reasoned crying into my side it was quite clear that even though we had slept for well over ten hours that she was still incredibly tired.

Ace just looked like he was going to break any second.

"Hey bud, it's okay we all get a bit in our heads sometimes we just need to know when to pull ourselves out of it and try our best to grow from it." I said looking Ace in the eyes noticing that he shared Ximena's tired expression.

We basically dragged ourselves through breakfast before I picked a sleepy Ace up giving him a piggyback whilst guiding an equally tired Ximena to her own room.

Third person Pov
The three of them knew they were exhausted and the only way to fix it seemed like sleeping.

Ajax put on a Disney movie before they all settled into Ximena's king sized bed like they had the previous night.

Assuming their positions they were asleep in no time.

The stress had built up on all of their bodies, they all knew they would need to do something about the stress they were experiencing but none of them wanted to do something just yet.

Bandit who had slept in his own bed the night previous had decided that they needed cuddles this night and settled himself between Ajax and Ximena.

The boys were just happy to know that Ximena and Ace were sleeping and had actually eaten something.

The fear of losing them had been so intense that they tried everything to get the two to take care of themselves or ever each other.

But their efforts were useless as neither one had the energy to take care of anyone.

The only thing they seemed to look after was bandit who was always fed and walked.

Their routine had scared the Bedoya boys as they hadn't seen anyone function quite so robotically even in all their years running and being a part of their mafia they had heard of people who had hit such a low they became robotic but had never witnessed it.

Ximena could be seen visibly shaking when you past wherever she had been sitting or existing for that day.

Also as time went on Ace became more sullen whether that was in appearance or overall just presence in daily life.

If you would have asked any one of the boys what had caused this they would have assumed the worst and guessed that someone had died.

That's why it shocked most of them when they woke up and after a whole month of this they walked past Ximena's room to see that it wasn't just her, bandit and Ace in there but Ajax was alive and breathing.

However the change Ajax brought in their sisters and Ace made them incredibly happy that no one had in fact died but their was a miscommunication and a disappearance that had caused all the distress.

Life slowly began to become more normal as time went however there were still the occasional hitch in the road especially when Ajax took on another mission causing arguments leading up to his departure, resulting in Ximena and Ace becoming distant and removed from the situation when he left.

Luckily the mission was only short and no long term damage was made to their progress out of the headspace they been so set in.

"The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one."