Welcome to the Family

008.

The next morning, Danii found herself in pain before she even opened her eyes. Although, she was quite confused on why her neck hurt more then her stomach, as well as why was it so cold....

Once she opened her eyes, the mystery was resolved. She was not in her bedroom, or her boyfriend's bedroom.. In fact, she wasn't in a bed at all. No, she was in the bathtub, her head cocked at a weird angle.

"This isn't what I was wearing last night..." she muttered, looking down at herself. She was wearing a big t-shirt and some basketball shorts, although she couldn't tell who they belonged to.

"Mattie!" she shouted, knowing she could never get out of their without someone else's help. She was afraid that if she stood up, she'd get dizzy and fall over, or just throw up all over the place and then fall and then crack her head open on the bathtub. Or the tile.

When she heard the bathroom door open, she sighed of relief, glad to know he had heard her, and wasn't being an ass and letting her sit there and 'think about what she did,' like the last time she got really smashed.

"Zacky?" Danii questioned, staring up at the man who had entered the bathroom. It most definitely was not her brother.

"Yes?" he asked, crouching down so he could pick her up and out of the tub.

"Why am I in the bathtub? And why are you in my house?" she asked. She could only vaguely remember the night prior; and what memories she did have involved freely flowing booze, dancing like a hoe, and throwing up on her brother's shoes.

"You're in the tub because you passed out here last night. And I'm here because it was a part of our deal with Matt."

"Deal?"

"Well, Brian and i took Matt up on his offer of us taking care of you and Em, instead of him kicking the shit out of us... Do you remember any of last night?"

Danii pursed her lips as she thought. "Only a little..."

"Thought so. Now, would you like me to get you out of the tub?"he asked, his voice gentle and soothing. If the look on her face was anything to go by, he could tell she was strongly feeling the effects of her liquor.

"Yes, please."

He carefully lifted her out of the tub, holding her bridal style in his arms. "Do you think you can stand on your own if I put you down, or do you want me to carry you to your room?"

"I want to brush my teeth."

"Well, that wasn't an option but I can let you do that." He set her down on her feet, keeping his arms around her as she teetered back and forth. "You okay?"

"I'm not sure..."

"You gunna be sick?"

She nodded, so he sort of gently shoved her in the direction of the toilet, holding her hair back as she puked up what was left in her stomach. He waited for her to compose herself for a moment, before asking her if she was okay.

"I think I am now..." she said, although she looked unsure. She then hesitantly walked over to the sink and brushed her teeth.

Once she was done, she turned around and looked at Zacky with big pathetic eyes. "Can you carry me?"

"Of course," he said, and kissed her forehead before picking her up again, and carrying her out of the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Brian was kind of glad that he and Zacky took this bargain with Matt. So far, things hadn't been too awful this morning. Sure, last night was awful, with both twins throwing up and falling all over and just being general wrecks. But this morning wasn't so bad.

Then again, he had seen Emily much more drunk, not that he was about to tell Matt that. He figured it was best to keep that kind of stuff a secret from him, even if he was his best friend. He was also his girlfriend's over protective older brother.

"Bri?" Emily asked from across the kitchen table.

"Wha?" he said, his eyes opening wide as he snapped out of his daydream.

"I want pancakes."

"Are you sure you can stomach them?"

"I said I want pancakes," she hissed. Her demeanor quickly changed though, "So can you please make them for me?"

Brian got up quickly, knowing that Matt was listening from the other room, and he wasn't about to give Matt the satisfaction of hearing Emily bitch him out. "Sure, babe, if that's what your heart desires."

"Don't be sarcastic."

"I wasn't!"

"Brian, I don't need the attitude, so cut it."

He just sighed, not bothering to mention the fact that she sounding like his mother, back when he was in high school.

It didn't take him long to make the pancakes, and when he was done he placed the plate down in front of him.

"Get me the syrup."

He nodded, still not saying anything and went over to the fridge, searching around for it. "I hate to tell you this, Em, but there isn't any."

"Then get some," she demanded, her eyes narrowing as she glared at him.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"But I've yet to clean your vomit out of my car. Can't you just eat them without it?"

Emily groaned. "Fine, I guess."

Brian muttered a quick 'thank God..' as he turned to do the dishes.

"What was that?"

"I didn't say anything."

"Yes you did."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes you did."

"No, Emily, I really didn't. Now be quiet and eat."

That shut her up real fast, since even when she was pissy and hung over, she knew that once Brian got annoyed enough to snap back at her, she needed to cut it.

"I'm sorry," Emily said, once she was done eating.

"For?" he asked. He wasn't being an asshole, either. He really didn't get why she was sorry. He accepted her for who she was, bitchiness and all.

"For being a drunk whore."

He couldn't help but laugh out loud. "You're not a drunk whore, Emily."

"Yes I am!"

"Drunk whore implies that you get really smashed and then fuck everyone. And I can for sure and for certain tell you that you got absolutely nothin' last night."

"Not even from you?"

"Nope. I wasn't drinking, and I would never take advantage of you like that. Plus, we were here. Matt would'a skinned my ass," he said, grinning.

"You got that right," said Matt, having quietly snuck into the kitchen.

"Mattie! I'm sorry," Emily said, looking up at her big brother with the look of guilty child on her face.

"Yeah, yeah. Just don't ever let me find you that shit faced ever again. Got it?" he asked.

Emily nodded furiously, "Got it, Mattie."

"Good. I knew you would. Breaking the evil twin might be a little harder," Matt said with sigh.

"Who you callin' evil?" Danii asked from the safety of Zacky's arms as she was carried into the kitchen.

"You," Matt said, staring her down. "Zack, can you put her down? I want to know that she's paying attention while I talk to her."

Zacky did as he was told; he carefully put her down and made sure she could stand on her own before he took a step back and leaned against the wall.

"Now, Danielle," Matt began.

"Yes?" she responded, making her best innocent face.

"I assume you know I hope to never, ever find you that intoxicated ever again. And find doesn't just mean me seeing it in person. I mean me hearing of it, seeing pictures of you tagged on Facebook acting like an idiot, of you getting brought home in a cop car. Nothing! None! Got it?"

Danii bit her lip, not wanting to answer. She knew the answer she was supposed to give was yes. But she definitely enjoyed her life in the fast lane, and didn't want to give it up. She also knew her brother had a way of finding about every little thing she did sooner or later. So she just stood there, staring at him.

"Got it?' he asked again, sharper this time.

Everyone in the kitchen was tense, especially the on lookers who most definitely didn't want to clean up another Mat and Danii brawl.

"Got it," she said finally.

Matt sighed of relief and accepted his little sister's hug. "Good," he said, hugging her back. "I just want you to be safe."

"I know, Mattie. I know." she let go of him, and then looked in the kitchen sink. "Who's the lousy good for nothing that
made pancakes and didn't save me any?"

Brian weakly raised his hand. "Me..."

Danii went over and smacked the back of his head. "Well, get up. I want to sit down. And you should go make more."

"Me?"

Emily giggled. Usually she'd stick up for Brian, but not now. This was too entertaining.

"Yes, you. Now get up," Danii demanded.

Brian did as he was told, and Zacky shot him a glance of sympathy.

Once Danii sat down at the table (it only had two chairs, due to an accident involving Jimmy and a few too many Jaegerbombs...), she sighed, putting her head in her hands.

"Do you feel as awful as I do?" she asked her twin.

"Probably. How awful do you feel?"

"Really awful."

"Yeah, me too."

"Let's make Bloody Mary's and toast to never getting that smashed again."

"Sounds good to me."