Promise Me The Stars

The first thing that was said the moment they entered the house was Hazel's awe at the large home, "Your house is beautiful Zacky." Hazel murmured looking around the interior of the house as they stepped inside.

"Thanks." he said scratching the back of his head. Hazel didn't notice the edge of awkwardness in his voice as they stood there.

He wasn't really sure what to do, he had never had to care for two teenagers in his life. Hell he didn't even know he had kids until a week ago when the woman from social services called. The moment he heard Vanessa died and he had two kids he, well he didn't know what to think. It was the biggest shock of his life. And he was stuck with them, not stuck. That made him sound like he hated them and he didn't. He just didn't know how to feel because everything was going so fast and he was still back at square one. He had missed 16 years of their life. What if they hated him?

From what he had gotten from the twins Forest hated him and Hazel, well she was just trying to make the best of everything it seemed. He hoped he wouldn't fuck anything up and make them both hate him. He really wanted a chance to be the father they never got even if he was sixteen years late.

Forest walked into the room with a scowl on his face and Matt followed behind with his head down slightly.

"I'll show you guys your rooms now I guess." Zacky said awkwardly as they stood in the hallway. The twins both nodded and Zacky sighed before headed up the stairs.

As he walked first up the stairs he caught light conversation being exchanged between Hazel and Forest.

"You alright?" Hazel whispered from behind Zacky.

"I'm fine Haze, just walk up the stairs already." Forest muttered back making Zacky glance at them.

Hazel sighed and turned back catching Zacky's eye and smiling while Forest kept his head down and tried not to drop the two suitcases he was carrying, Matt followed behind Forest and shot a look at Zacky over the twins' heads.

"This is Hazel's room. I didn't know how you guys wanted your rooms so I left them as they are. You can redecorate whenever you want." he said throwing a door open at the top of the stairs. He watched as Hazel smiled and looked around.

"It's awesome already." she said gazing around much like she had been in the hallway downstairs. Zacky smiled and set the white suitcases that she indicated were hers on the ground, happy that someone in the house was happy enough at the moment.

"I'll leave you here and show you your room Forest." Zacky said motioning down the hallway before they walked down it, leaving Hazel to gaze at her room some more.

The two suitcases Matt had been carrying were also Hazel's so he set them down and said he was going to be downstairs watching TV. Zacky nodded and called down the hallway for him to answer the door if the guys show up, Matt called back that he would and then it was just Zacky and Forest walking in silence.

Forest followed with his head down and when Zacky stopped at a door that was one away from the end of the hall Forest almost ran into him. Zacky ignored the slight mishap and reached down to throw the door open, revealing the bedroom that Forest would have.

It was simple. Red walls, black furniture and a joined bathroom. It was one of Zacky's favorite rooms because of the windows. There were four on the wall the bed was against and another on the west side, it all looked out onto the large back yard that was fenced in with brick walls.

"It'll work." Forest stated as he stepped inside and dropped his bags on the ground. Zacky looked at Forest his son, that would take some getting used to.

"Do you want a tour of the rest of the house?" Zacky asked.

Forest shrugged and stood there with his hands in his pockets staring around the room nonchalantly. Zacky sighed and rubbed his head, a habit he had, had since he was a teenager.

"Look Forest, you have to work with me here. I have no idea what i'm doing and I can tell you don't want to be here but you have to help me out. I can't help you if all you do if stand there and shrug." Forest looked up and glared at him with such hatred in his eyes that Zacky nearly took a step back.

"Maybe if you had been there from the start when my mom was pregnant you would know what to do." he said harshly. Zacky winced slightly, even though they were just words, it still hurt. He felt bad, really bad, for not being there. It hurt even more to have it shoved in your face like the way Forest was doing now but he knew he deserved it.

"I'll go ask your sister." Zacky said quietly stepping out of the room to leave the boy alone.

The door slammed the moment he stepped out and Zacky placed his hands over his face and rubbed his eyes harshly, groaning in the process. He just hoped Hazel would be more understanding, he couldn't deal with two teenagers hating him.

Hazel was laying on her bed staring at the ceiling, planning on how she was going to arrange her posters on her walls when there was a knock on the open door. She turned her head to look over at the doorway and spotted her father standing there looking slightly distressed.

"Do you want a tour of the house before the rest of the guys get here with dinner?" he asked mustering a smile to make him seem fine.

"The rest of the guys?" she asked as she rolled off the bed and followed him out into the hallway.

"Yea. Brian, Johnny, and Jimmy. They're coming over for a celebration dinner for you guys getting here."

"Are they nice?" Hazel asked.

"Yea they're nice." Zacky said chuckling. Hazel smiled and followed him down the stairs and into a living room where Matt was sitting on the couch drinking a beer and watching a baseball game.

"This is the living room, Matt isn't usually included." Hazel giggled as Matt looked up and glared. Zacky rolled his eyes and grinned before motioning for her to follow him again. She waved to Matt before quickly following after Zacky.

Hazel caught up with Zacky as he headed down the corridor and through a doorway that revealed the kitchen. It was a huge kitchen full of expensive looking things that she was afraid to touch in all honesty. She had never been in a kitchen this large, unless the kitchen at school counted when she had to clean trays after dumping her food on a girl who had slapped Forest for bumping into her.

"This is obviously the kitchen. You can either find me here or the living room usually in the day time. Through these doors is the backyard."

He headed towards the sliding door and they stepped out onto a large deck and beyond that a swimming pool with lots of space to spare in the yard.

"The pool is heated and there's always extra towels in the spa room over there." Zacky said pointing to a small shack that had windows on all sides of it. Hazel smiled, nodded, and continued to look around at the backyard some more.

The doorbell rang just then and Zacky looked back towards the door from where they were standing on the deck.

"Guess the guys are here. Come on." he said pulling the door open and holding it for her.

"Thanks." she said skipping inside. She didn't really want to follow Zacky around like a lost dog so she walked into the living room and sat down next to Matt on comfortable couch.

"Who's winning?" she asked trying to strike up a conversation. She heard Zacky go to the door and open it then the hallway was filled with chatter. Matt groaned at her question and took a drink from his bottle of beer before answering her.

"Not the people I want to win."

"Well that answers that question." Hazel said rolling her eyes and smiling. Matt smiled and set his beer on the table.

"Where's your brother?" he asked folding his hands behind his head and leaning back against the couch. She shrugged and glanced at the doorway as if Forest would just appear the moment he was mentioned. Which was what used to happen back in Colorado so it was a habit that she had.

"His room I assume, unless he's prowling around the house."

"He doing okay? He seems a little....." Matt trailed off and Hazel could guess what he was going to say.

"Hostile?" Hazel asked. Matt chuckled and nodded lightly.

"You said it not me." Hazel smiled.

"He's taking it hard but he's not showing it in sadness he's showing in anger towards Zacky because of the way things worked out. He's even been getting mad at me since we found out we were staying with Zacky. He always gets like this when something big changes." Hazel sighed and looked down at her hands as she played with her fingers.

"Don't worry. He'll come around i'm sure. Everyone's gotta get used to the change."

"Yea." Hazel agreed looking down at her lap.

Before Matt could say anything else a tall man ran into the room and looked at her.

"THERE REALLY IS A MINI ZACKY!" he yelled before he dragged the girl off the couch and hugged her tightly while also spinning.

"Nice to meet you to?" She asked as her breath was squeezed out of her lungs.

Hazel heard people laughing behind her and then the man sat her back down on the floor. Her head spun from spinning and her chest slightly hurt from the hard hug but it was better then being hated. She glanced up at the tall man who grinned down at her and rocked back and forth on his heels like a small child would.

"I'm Jimmy." he said sticking his hand out, Hazel giggled and shook his hand.

"I'm Hazel." He grinned and grabbed her shoulders before he spun her around to face that last two people she hadn't met yet.

"That's Brian." he said pointing to a man with black hair that looked like a hedgehog and a nose ring. He waved and smiled to Hazel who returned the gesture, "And that's Short Shit." Jimmy pointed to a short man with a mohawk who glared at Jimmy.

"It's Johnny." he said looking at Hazel and smiling lightly. She smiled and Jimmy made a disapproving noise.

"It's Short Shit, don't let him confuse you." Hazel laughed at the look Johnny was giving Jimmy and then Brian spoke.

"Don't you have a brother?"

"Yeah, I think he's upstairs in his room unpacking. I'll go find him and bring him down." Hazel smiled at the guys and they all nodded.

"We'll have dinner once you come down and such." Zacky said stepping out of the doorway to let her pass.

"Okay!" She said passing Zacky and running up the stairs to go fetch her brother.

"She looks just like you Zacky." Brian said moving to sit on the couch near Matt.

"You should see her brother." Matt said hitting Brian on the arm so he would pay attention to him, "Looks exactly like him when he was a teenager only not all....fat."

Zacky glared at his friend before flipping him off and collapsing on the chair he always sat in. The guys chuckled as the ones left standing all settled onto the couches and chairs.

"What's for dinner?" Jimmy asked propping his feet up on the coffee table.

"I thought you guys brought dinner." Zacky said looking at them all blankly.

"I didn't." Brian said propping his feet up on the table in the same fashion as Jimmy.

"Don't look at me." Johnny said throwing his hands up into the air. They all looked at Jimmy who was daydreaming.

"I was busy chasing Stallion ducks." He stated leaning back and relaxing. Zacky groaned and put his head in his hands, he couldn't even be relied on to feed his own kids and they had been here for not even two hours.

"Just order out or something." Matt stated not at all as concerned as Zacky was about the food situation. Zacky huffed and went to get the phone.

"Fine, Jimmy, go ask them what they want." Zacky said motioning for the stairs. Jimmy jumped up from the couch and stood stiff as a board looking at Zacky.

"Sir yes sir!" He yelled before saluting them and taking off up the stairs.

They heard the crash of him tripping before he hollered down to them, "I'm okay!" and headed up the stairs again. The guys chuckled and went back to watching baseball on TV.

Jimmy ran down the hallway to the bedroom that Forest had claimed as his own.

How he knew that was his bedroom? He's was a certified ninja and knew everything, plus he was there when he had helped Zacky pick out the rooms that would be theirs. He stood there knocking on the door, bouncing up and down until someone opened the door. Hazel stood there in the doorway of Forest's room with her eyebrows knit together. A look of worry was wearing off her face as she looked up at Jimmy grinning and jumping around like a hyperactive child.

"Zacky told me to come up and ask you what you wanted for dinner. We're having take out." he said.

Hazel smiled slightly and he watched as she looked back into the room at something that he couldn't see.

"Um...pizza is fine, pepperoni if you will." she said smiling.

"Okay!" he yelled before taking off down the hallway, but before Hazel could shut the door again Jimmy was back and looking at her.

"You alright?" he asked, Hazel looked up at him and smiled.

"Yea why?" He shrugged.

"You know you can tell me anything right? We're best friends." Hazel giggled.

"Who said I was your best friend?" Jimmy just kept on grinning.

"I did just now. You sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine Jimmy. Don't worry."

"What about your brother?" he asked motioning at the room behind her. Hazel looked back and bit her lip.

"He's...okay." she said. Jimmy raised his eyebrows but let it go, knowing if he pushed anymore he would lose his new best friend as quick as he gained it.

"Well, we'll be downstairs so just come down whenever."

"Okay, thanks Jimmy." she said smiling. He smiled and headed back downstairs, arriving back in the living room without falling.

Back upstairs, Hazel closed the bedroom door and turned back to look at her brother sitting on the bed.

"You can't just stay up here forever. They're really nice Forest and they want to meet you." she said. Forest ran a shaking hand through his hair and drew in an even shakier breath.

"I can't Hazel, not right now. I need my medicine." he said sighing and putting his head in his hands, "I'm such a fuck up." He said in a pitiful voice. Hazel rushed over and sat next to her brother.

"No you're not Forest." she said quietly wrapping her arm around his shoulders.

"You know I do all this for you right? If you got hurt I couldn't live with myself. That's why I take the meds and make sure no one sends me away from you." Forest said looking at her. That's when Hazel noticed how old, how haggard he looked. Light bags were present under his eyes that looked nearly lifeless in his sockets.

"I know." she said quietly, hugging him tightly.

She wished her mother was here to hug them both and tell them that everything would be okay. That no matter what happened they could get through it together and they would take on the world head on.

"I miss mom." she whispered. A second later Forest felt the warm tears on his shirt and he hugged her tighter.

"I know you do Haze, I do too." he murmured.

"Will you at least come down for dinner?" she asked pulling away from him and wiping her eyes. He looked at her for a minute before letting out a sigh and nodding.

"I just need to...get my head in place and look for my medicine a little more." he said quietly looking at his bags that were open, things everywhere. He had went through all of them and didn't find the orange bottle he was looking for.

"You can go look through mine, they might be in there since I found your toothbrush and stuff in there earlier." he nodded again, keeping his eyes cast down as Hazel stood up from the bed.

"They're not going to hurt us Forest." She whispered quietly placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I can't believe that Scarlet." he said. Hazel tensed slightly, pulling her hand back like she had touched something hot. Forest never called her by her middle name, just like she never called him Shadow unless she was really mad at him, Forest never called her Scarlet unless he was heading towards one of his 'episodes'.

"Forest..."

"Just go." he said standing up and heading towards the bathroom not casting a gaze towards her at all.

"Forest," she ran over and hugged him tightly wishing she could keep him safe from himself, "I love you, stay safe." she whispered.

"Don't worry about me. I'm supposed to protect you remember?" he asked a small smile gracing his lips. Hazel smiled at him and a sigh almost escaped her at the smile that he forced out, it meant he was nearly alright again. She hugged him one last time before heading towards the door to leave him be for the moment.

"Where's your brother?" Zacky asked looking up as Hazel walked into the room.

All the guys were lounging around watching some lousy zombie movie since the baseball game ended ten minutes ago.

"He's upstairs. He isn't feeling too well so he's going to lay down for a bit." she said mustering up a small smile. It was the first lie she told her father, but not the last.

Zacky smiled slightly and patted the spot next to him on the couch as she contemplated where to sit in the room. She accepted the offer and sat to watch the lousy movie with the guys until dinner arrived. Soon the doorbell was being rung by, who Hazel assumed was the pizza guy, and Zacky stood up grabbing his wallet from the coffee table. Jimmy took the chance and stole his spot on the couch and had just put his feet up on the table when Zacky passed the doorway carrying the pizza. The smell of pizza got everyone up and into the kitchen as Zacky set the boxes on the counter and began grabbing plates. Before Hazel could go and get Forest, though, there was a crashing from upstairs and the sound of someone falling.

"Forest!" Hazel yelled taking off for the stairs before anyone else really realized what had happened. Hazel saw Forest tuck a pill bottle into his pocket right before the guys showed up behind Hazel.

"Found them." Is all he said before walking past the guys and towards the kitchen like he had lived in the place his whole life.

"Found what?" Matt asked, his eyebrows raising up into his hairline practically.

"My socks of course." he said holding up his foot to reveal black socks covering his feet.

Hazel raised her eyebrow and smirked secretly as Forest helped himself to a slice of pizza and a glass of water. The guys let it go and Hazel kept her eyes on her brother, watching as he slipped the red pill into his mouth and took a drink of his water. His eyes locked with hers and a silent conversation started behind their eyes.

You okay now?

I'm fine, found my socks.

Hazel rolled her eyes and sat down at the table across from Forest.

"So are you feeling better Forest?" Zacky asked curiously looking at the boy who seemed like the complete opposite of who he had met earlier.

"Huh?" he asked looking up from his pizza to look at the man who called himself his father.

"Hazel said you weren't feeling well." Matt pushed into the conversation.

"Oh yea, that. I feel fine now, probably just jet lag or something." he said forcing a small smile and looking back down at his plate.

"Damn Zacky the kid does look just like you." Forest looked up at the man with hedgehog hair then glanced at Hazel and Zacky, wondering who in the hell this guy was and why he had a porcupine on his head.

"Oh, Forest that's Brian, Johnny, and Jimmy. They're my best friends." Zacky said pointing out the three guys sitting at the table.

"Nice to meet you." Forest said. They all said something in response and then a silence fell over them as they kept eating and didn't know what to talk about with the new people.

"I'm sorry to hear about your mom." Jimmy said finally breaking the silence. The twins looked up the same shocked expression on their faces, he was the first person to offer any condolences here in California.

"Thank you, it means a lot to us." Forest said quietly.

Hazel looked down trying to blink back tears that burned into her eyes. Zacky realized that Jimmy was the first to say anything and thought about how horrible they thought he was. Matt was thinking the same thing as he looked at the pain radiating off the boy and girl sitting at the end of the table.

"How do you like California so far?" Brian asked trying to change the subject and lighten the mood. But Hazel and Forest just shrugged at the question.

"It's okay, different from what we're used to. But we'll deal with it just like everything else." Forest said forcing a laugh.

They laughed along just to lighten the air and Hazel watched her brother closely. She was waiting for something to happen, for him to crack and start throwing things everywhere. But the pills seemed to be working their magic and he was acting normal for the moment.

"Why are you staring at me?" Forest asked looking up at his sister as she stared at him.

"I'm trying to see how people say we look like each other, I just don't see it. Here I am, beautiful and perfect. And there you are...as you." Everyone failed at not laughing their asses off and Forest rolled his eyes and smiled.

"Funny, that's what I think about you all the time." Forest shot at her, Hazel just stuck her tongue out and threw a piece of pepperoni at his face, hitting him on the neck.

"No food abuse!" He yelled peeling the meat off his skin.

The guys were turning red faced from laughing while Hazel and Forest smirked at each other. Hazel was glad her brother was being good at the moment and Forest was glad that no one questioned anything.