Burning It Down, All the Way to Bat Country

Kat’s POV

“Thanks Danny, it was nice meeting you Trish!” I said as I shut the door to my best friend’s car, I had met Danny in boot camp and we had become attached at the hip.
“No problem Kat, have fun with your man!” Danny shouted out the open window, Trish just smacked his arm and waved as they drove off. I laughed as I walked inside the building, god it felt good to be home. After two years in that god forsaken desert, I was finally discharged from the Army and allowed to go home. I was so excited to see Max, my boyfriend of three years. Checking the time on my watch, I saw that it was about nine, perfect, Max would be home from work. I walked inside my apartment and was met by groans coming from our bedroom. I smirked, figuring Max had dug out the porn collection he thought I didn’t know about. I was sadly proven wrong as I walked into our room and saw my now ex boyfriend getting a blowjob from some chick. I didn’t say anything, just waited for him to finish before announced my presence.

“Wow Max, three years down the drain, was she worth it?” He just looked at me before standing and pulling on his pants. The whore just stayed on the bed, wow, he her well trained.
“I guess so, since I’ve been screwing her since you left. Did you really think I was going to go two years without sex?” I just looked at him before picking up the nearest object and chucking it at his balls. The bottle of cheap cologne hit dead on and I watched in satisfaction as he went to floor with a cry of pain, then walked out of the apartment, grabbing my bag on the way out. What the fuck was I gonna do know? I couldn’t call my parents this late, and I wasn’t going to call Danny back, he didn’t deserve to have his homecoming ruined. At least I was still in Huntington, so I knew where everything was. I slapped myself in the forehead, I’m such an idiot, BRIAN lives in Huntington, I could call him. My twin always knew what to do. I started to pull my cell out of my pocket before remembering that Danny had killed my phone on the way here. I sighed, I wasn’t about to go back into the apartment to use the house phone, what was I gonna do?

“The bus station, duh,” I said to myself, the greyhound station was only a few miles away; I could call him from one of the terminals. I got up, grabbed my bag and started walking. It took about an hour for me to get there, and in that short period of time, I got propositioned twice, groped once, and punched some guy in the face. Jesus, what has the world come too? I shook my head and walked inside, heading automatically towards terminal seven, mine and Brian’s lucky number. I managed to bum some change off a really nice old lady who noticed my bag and BDU’s. She thanked me for protecting our country, and gave me a hug. I was still smiling as I dialed my brother’s cell number.

“Hello?” came my brother’s groggy voice, I winced, I had woken him up.
“Bri, it’s me, Kat. I need your help.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“I’ll explain when you get here; I’m at the bus station in Huntington, terminal 7.”
“Ok sweetie, I’m on my way, I’ll be there in twenty.” I heard the dial tone and smiled again, he always hangs up without saying goodbye. Grabbing my bag, I went and sat down in one of the hard plastic chairs.

“Excuse me, but how long have you been back?” I turned to the teenage girl who had asked the question.
“About 5 hours. How did you know I had just gotten back? I could have been leaving.”
“My brother is in the Army, you don’t have that look that says ‘shit, I have to go back’ so I figured you must be coming home. Where were you stationed?” I smiled at her, liking how she was so honest.
“Afghanistan, where’s your brother?”
“Fallujah, we’re hoping to have him back in June. I have to go, I really just wanted to say thank you; it’s because of our soldiers that I have a safe place to call home.” I smiled as she gave me a quick hug and walked away. I love those types of reactions; it made the hell of the desert seem worth it. Ten minutes later and I saw my twin weaving through a group of people. I stood up and waved; calling his name,

“Brian, over here loser!” His face spilt into a huge grin when he spotted me, and he ran over and scooped me up into a huge hug. I laughed and hugged him back; I had missed him so much.
“Damn, you would think after four years in the Army you would have gained some weight in muscle at least, but nope, you’re still a twig,” he stated, setting me back on my feet.
“I tried, I really did, but damn they make you run a lot in the Army!” He laughed and nodded; grabbing my bag and leading me outside. I laughed when I saw his car,
“Brian, that thing is almost as big as our Humvees!”

“Dude I know! I was gonna get an Escalade, but Matt beat me to it, so I was gonna get a Navigator, then the sales guy was a dick, so I got a Tahoe instead. Isn’t she pretty?” He hugged the hood, and I just shook my head, some things never change. He grinned before unlocking the car and throwing my shit in the back. We were on the road before he finally asked the question.
“I’ll ask you why you didn’t write any of us for a year later, now I wanna know why you aren’t with your boyfriend, doing things that I don’t want to think about.”
“I’m not with my ex boyfriend because he’s been cheating on me since I left. I walked in on them when I came home, had a very calm conversation with him about it, then chucked his very heavy cologne at his jewels. Hit dead on too, my aim is AWESOME.”

“He’s been cheating on you the whole time? Are you fucking kidding me? I’m gonna kill him.”
“Bri, calm down. Seriously, it’s not a big deal ok? Right now all I want is food, a shower, and hugs from my boys.” He smiled and nodded.
“Kat, everyone is gonna be so excited to see you, and Matt made two new additions to the family.” I looked at him, seriously confused, waiting for him to elaborate.

“Well, he adopted a 15 year old, and he has a new girlfriend named Steph. I’ll have him explain everything to you; it’s a really confusing story.” I nodded and we stayed in silent for the rest of the ride home. When we walked in, everyone was awake, sitting in the living room with two new people. I looked at Brian, who just shrugged.

“I woke everyone up; I figured they’d want to see you Kat.” Lynnie explained, and I smiled and nodded, before running and tackling her in a hug. Lynnie had been my best friens before she met Brian. The other three soon joined the pile, and I somehow ended up on the bottom, getting the life hugged out of me.
“We missed you so much!” They squealed at the same time, it still amazes me when they do that.
“I missed you guys too, now GET OFF ME!” They laughed but complied, it didn’t help much, seeing as I was soon lifted off my feet in a bone crushing hug.
“God Matt, I missed you too, but I need to breath man!” He laughed, kissing my cheek before setting me on my feet, where I was pulled into another hug, this one from Zack. I smiled, I had missed his hugs. I was yanked away by Jimmy, and lifted off my feet again.
“Hey Jimbo! I missed you best friend!” I yelled, wrapping my arms around his neck and giggling as he spun me around. He set me down, and I was pulled into a hug by Johnny. I smiled, I was at home with my boys again. After everyone had finished squeezing me to death, I finally turned my attention to the new people in the room. I smiled, hugging the girl first.

“Hey there honey, my name’s Kat, I’m Brian’s twin sister, you must be the kid Matt adopted, you have got to tell me how THAT happened, because I’m pretty sure I once heard Matt say that he was giving his kids away once they turned 15. Granted, he was dealing with crazy screaming fan girls at the time, so I’m sure it was just the stress talking. So tell me about yourself.” She just looked at me before scooting closer to Matt, making the room erupt in laughter.
“Jesus Kat, scare my kid why don’t you?” Matt said wrapping an arm around the girl’s shoulder. I just stuck my tongue out at him, real mature, I know. The girl smiled and laughed.
“Yep, she has to be related to Brian dad. Anyway, I’m Trinity, I’m 15, almost 16, and Matt adopted me about a month and a half ago. OH! And that’s Steph, we brought her home with us one day when we saw her ex being a jackass. She’s with my dad now. Everyone caught up? Good, I’m going to bed now; I have school in the morning. NIGHT!” She yelled before grabbing her phone and running upstairs. Well that was weird…

Matt’s POV
After spending about an hour with Kat, explaining Trini and Steph's stories, I walked upstairs to check on Trin, I knew she wasn’t sleeping. I knocked softly on her door before opening it and poking my head through.

“Oh, hey daddy, what’s up?” She said before looking down and texting furiously on her phone.
“Just wanted to say good night, who are you talking too?” Jimmy had told me about Mitchell earlier, so I had a pretty good idea of who she was texting,
“Oh, this kid I met at the restaurant, his name is Mitchell.”
“I know honey, Jimmy already told me about him.”
“I kinda figured he would, it’s cool though, I mean it’s not like I really have a chance with him anyway, he’s a senior, I’m a sophomore.”
“Don’t say that honey, I’m not going to tell you that I’m happy about a 17 year old talking to you, but short of taking away all forms of communication, I can’t keep you from talking to him. Just be careful ok?”

“I know daddy, I will be. He wants to hang out on Saturday, but I told him he has to meet everyone first, so he’s coming over on Friday after school to hang out for a bit so you can get a feel for him, is that ok?” I was impressed, she had thought of everything.
“Yeah honey, that fine, now lights out, you have school in the morning.”
“Ok dad, night.” She smiled as I kissed her forehead, and I walked out of her room, shutting the door behind me. I had only been a dad for six weeks, was I ready for her to be dating?