Forgive or die trying

A new start?

(A/N: I'm just so overjoyed seeing people reading this silly little fanfic so I decided to write an extra long fluff chapter for you guys! I'd love any suggestions for future chapters if you'd like to leave any! Thank you again!)

By the time the others woke up, Aubrey had calmed down fully. Of course, her and Vance looked exhausted but neither minded. They spent the rest of the night talking about mindless things to keep the negative thoughts plaguing the poor girl away. He wanted to tell the others, to give her more support, but he refused to go back on his promise. He knew she trusted him fully last night, he wasn't going to make her second guess that trust.

Basil was the first to wake up, shocking both the other two teens as he quietly came into the kitchen. He was silent, staring at the floor and not even sitting down. He just stood there, scared that if he moved at all he'd get yelled at. Polly had told him of the rumors around Aubrey, of course he didn't believe them at first but seeing her new look made him a bit nervous. And Vance looked incredibly intimidating as well, like at any second he would beat up the pale boy for even glancing at him wrong. Of course he wasn't wrong, Vance had done that to people before, but he didn't need to know that.

"Basil, howd you sleep?", Aubrey's voice shook slightly as she spoke, not wanting to scare him and having no clue how to act normal around him after four years. She looked confused when he didn't say anything, just nodding slightly instead, before realization set in.

He hadn't spoken in those four years, had he?

God she felt stupid. Of course he wouldn't be able to talk to someone who was essentially a stranger now!

Instead of beating herself up over it, she took a deep breath and tried a different question,

"Do you want some breakfast? Vance is making some cereal for myself and him, I can make you a bowl as well!" She smiled at him, not seeing the small smile make its way on the boys face as he nodded. But Vance noticed it. And seeing how much that single nod meant to Aubrey by her excited rocking made him smile too.

Vance put together a third bowl for Basil and sat the three of them down at the table, a comfortable silence falling over them only broken by the occasional sound of spoons hitting the bowls and crunching of cereal. For some reason, Basil felt a sense of calm take him over. Even though he had no idea who the others in this house were, and barely knew the two in front of him, he felt safe here. He hadn't felt this sense of safety since before Mari's death.

After eating, Aubrey took the dishes to the kitchen as Vance took this as an opportunity to learn more about Basil. He knew if Aubrey trusted someone, they must be a good person. And seeing the raw reaction she had to seeing him again, he couldn't help but welcome the kid in.

"So, you're Basil right?", he started, making sure to keep his tone calm and not scare him. As Basil nodded, he continued,

"Nice ta meet ya! I'm Vance, I'm the oldest here!", Basil smiled softly, the teen before him reminding him a lot of Hero. He waved before remembering he had his notepad in his pocket still and took it out, quickly jotting something down and passing it to Vance to read.

'Nice to meet you Vance! Thank you for letting me stay. I'm unable to speak but can communicate with this!', the note said. After reading it, he looked at the shy boy and smiled brightly again,

"Of course you can stay! You can stay as long as you'd like! And don't worry about not talkin, Charlie's pretty quiet so we're all used to adapting questions to yes or no answers!", it was true. The younger girl was hesitant to talk a lot and so the group decided if she was having a hard talking day to just ask her yes or no questions instead. To their surprise it made things a lot easier and made her a lot happier as well!