The Night That Changed It All

'Family' Reunion

"Are you sure you're up for going out today, Ni?" Liam asked worriedly, so I flashed him a smile that always seemed slightly forced now-a-days. We'd all mostly been able to get on with life in the eight months that had passed since Daniel, but it still effected us in some ways.

I don't think I've genuinely smiled in months, Lily Ann, who had turned sixteen just two weeks ago, has thrown herself into her art, painting especially, even more than she already had and Liam didn't sing in the shower anymore. Cathal had been, and still was, too young to really understand what had happened, which I was thankful for. Some days it seemed that he was the only thing that kept us going: him with his innocence. He didn't know yet that bad things happened to everyone, not just the villains, who, to Cathal, only existed in stories.

"I'll be fine, Li. It's been eight months. I think it's about time we did something with the others. If for nothing else, to thank them for how supportive they've been." I sighed, stepping closer to Liam and taking his hands before I stood on my toes and kissed him lightly.

I didn't say it, but I also thought going out would help us. We'd been a bit distant with each other for too long and I wanted to change that. It would take a while yet for us to get back to ourselves but I was getting tired of dancing around the issue of our relationship when all I really wanted was to cuddle with Liam like how we used to.

Tragic events such as this changed people. Of course they did. But that in no way meant that I didn't miss sleeping practically on top of Liam the way we'd gotten into the habit of doing since Quentin used to sleep with us. Quentin had died two years ago, at eleven, and even before that he hadn't sleep in our bed in years, but we'd never broken that habit. Until eight months ago, that is.

"You're definitely sure? Because you know the others will understand if we don't go." Liam worried, catching my elbow, and pulling my attention back to him, as I was about to walk away and look for Cathal.

"I'm definitely sure. Now; go get dressed, you can't leave the house in your pajamas." I commanded softly with a jokingly mocking smile that got a weak smile in return from Liam, who still didn't seem too sure. To reassure him, I squeezed his arm on my way past: rapping my fingers around his upper arm in a way that reminded me of doing the same thing just before I told him to 'go back to sleep, I was fine'.

It was only recently that I'd stopped waking up in the middle of the night: crying bitterly and waking Liam with my sobs. When this happened, Liam would hold me close and whisper reassuringly in my ear until I calmed down enough to tell him he could go back to sleep. I always made sure he'd fallen back asleep before bursting into silent tears again.

"You might want to take you own advice, Ni." Liam called after me with obvious amusement in his voice and when I looked down, sure enough, I was still in my pajamas, too.

Thankfully, when we did make it to 'Costa de Zerrie' as Louis liked to call it, all of us were dressed in actual clothes, not pajamas. Costa de Zerrie actually means Zerrie coast in Spanish, but I never told Louis that. It was always funny when he got things wrong in Spanish. Or Irish. I don't even know how many wrong translations I've given him at this stage, but he almost never knew what he was really saying in Irish.

"Hiya!" Bethany greeted us at the door with a huge smile as she stood in the open doorway. She, being just over a month younger than Cathal, also didn't understand or take any part in the sadness that had staunched the group for the last few months.

"Hey Bethany. How are you?" Liam asked, petting Bethany's head on the way past while she all but bounced where she stood.

"I'm fine! How are you guys?" Bethany replied with a smile, closing the door quickly before spinning around so she could examine us with what seemed to be almost suspicion in her eyes. Her smile had dropped and I wondered what she was thinking; it was rare to see Bethany without her smile, which was crooked because one of her two front teeth was missing.