My Baby, My Darling.

Chelsea POV

It all happened in a flash. After I finished my shift at the cafe, I trudged back up to my apartment coated in food grease and exhaustion. All I really wanted was to shower and snuggle up into my comforter with all of today's events behind me. So much had happened to me today that would make any normal person collapse under all of the stress. But I have never been the normal type. I could handle anything, almost anything.

When I walked up to my apartment door, I realized that it had already been left wide open. I silently and frantically searched my mind for all the reasons that my door would be open. I had left Nicole in there hours ago, but she had to have left not too long after me and she always locked up. It could be Dexter or Gabe since they both have keys to my apartment in case of emergencies, but Dexter would still be at the hospital right now and Gabe and Travis were visiting a few friends in the city today. I heard loud footsteps from inside my apartment, the footsteps of a man. I panicked and quickly pulled my cell phone out of my pocket, dialing Nicole's number. She picked up on the second ring.

"We'll if it isn't my main bitch!" She answered, her voice chipper.

"Nicole, listen to me." I spoke slowly, quietly. "Did you lock up my apartment after you left earlier today?"

"Well, yeah. I wasn't going to just leave with the door wide open." Her voice became serious, concerned. "Why? What's wrong?"

"I think someone is inside of my apartment right now. And it isn't Dexter or Gabe because they're both busy. I'm freaking the fuck out right now, Nikki. The door is wide open."

"Holy shit." She hissed over the other end, "You need to get out of there, or call the cops or something. Are you sure it's not one of the guys?"

"What? Do you want me to ask the burglar inside my apartment, are you crazy?"

"I'm not saying you should ask the creep! Just peek inside to make sure before you go all chicken little on the sheriff."

"You're right." I let out a breath of air, speaking in a whisper. "I'll go peek inside really quick. If you hear my scream, call the police. Alright?"

"Quickly, Chels." She warned, matching my hushed tone.

My heart was beating rapidly, the sound threatening to give me away. I bit my lips and slowly made my way down the hallway, tiptoeing towards my door with my back up against the wall, slowly and stealthily. I held the phone to my ear and attempted to steady my breathing.

"Do you see anything?" Her voice erupted on the other end.

"Shh!" I whispered over the phone.

I slowly inched my face next to the door frame, quickly peeking my head into my apartment. A tall figure moved in the corner of my kitchen, his face shielded behind a cabinet. What was he looking for; my limited edition Star Wars plate collection?

I furrowed my eyebrows, squinting my eyes to get a better look at his face. The tall figure began to whistle a familiar tune lightly, casually. I stopped dead in my tracks, dropping my phone to the floor with a loud thud. I knew that whistle anywhere. I'd listened to that whistle throughout my entire childhood, I spent years trying to master that whistle. I knew exactly who my burglar was.

I let out a small scream, running towards the tall figure in my kitchen. "Marc?!"

My big brother dropped his sandwich onto the counter spinning around to face me as I tackled him to the floor, into a bear hug.

He let out a loud laugh, the same laugh as my father, as he slowly pushed me off of him and away from his grasp. "Hey, munchkin."

I stood up from my kitchen floor, staring down at my brother as he propped himself up on his elbows. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in Indonesia."

"I'll explain everything to you once you help me up, you little twerp. What did I tell you about tackling me like that?" He smiled lightly, reaching his hand up to grab mine.

I hoisted him up to his feet using all of my strength and scoffed. "You're just jealous that I can now take your huge ass."

"Never," he laughed, shoving my shoulder lightly after he got his bearings, "you're still smaller than me. You just caught me off guard."

"Whatever, dude." I rolled my eyes, watching as he took a bite out of his sandwich. "How did you get in here? I thought you were a freaking burglar!"

"I still have the keys to everything, Che-Che. I lived here long before you did, or do you not remember? And you're not very stealthy by the way, I could hear your loud ass from the hallway."

"Shoot." My eyes widened as I darted to my front door, quickly snatching my phone from the ground and shutting the door.

I held the phone up to my ear, catching Nicole in the middle of a frantic rant.

"...If you don't answer me right now I'm going to assume you're dead or something. Unless the burglar has your phone or something and you have tape over your mouth now. In that case, if you can hear me blink once. Shit, that doesn't make sense. I should just call the police. Okay, where's my house phone. Fuck!"

"I'm so sorry, Nikki. It was just Marc. Don't call the cops." I explained, trying to calm her down as I spoke loudly over her rant. "Apparently, he's trying out his breaking and entering skills."

"I had keys, you brat." He mumbled loudly from the kitchen, his mouth full of sandwich.

"Holy fuck, Chels! I almost had a heart attack, bitch." She let out a breath of air. "So you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm so sorry for that!" I assured her. "And by the way, that whole blink once thing, don't ever do that if someone is really in trouble. Please."

"Oh shut up! I was panicking." She scoffed from the other end. "Go bond with your brother or something. Tell Marc I said hi."

I laughed, nodding slightly. "Will do."

Two hours later, Marc and I were sitting on either side of my coffee table in the living room, a game of scrabble sitting between the two of us.

I had learned that Marc was visiting for a few months until the holidays were over, then he was going to a mission in South Africa. Our parents had told him about me moving into the apartment above the cafe, which is how he found me and let himself into my apartment. He was in the middle of telling me about his trip as we played our usual game of Scrabble to pass time. It was kind of our thing, and we usually got pretty competitive over board games as we'd learned over the years.

"So the beard thing is new." I raised an eyebrow, gesturing towards his face as I placed a few block letters onto the board, spelling out hyperbole. "76 points."

He raised his eyebrows at my entry and nodded slowly, a small grin settling across his face as he adjusted his own letters, his eyes inching up to meet mine. "I thought I'd try something new. Plus, my girlfriend really likes it."

"Girlfriend?" I let out a small laugh. "Who would date you with that ferret wrapped around your face?"

"Har, har." He shook his head, rubbing his beard in contemplation. "But seriously. She's pretty great. I think you'd like her. Her name's Serena."

"Pretty name." I nodded, "you met her in Indonesia?"

"Yup. She's a law student from Chicago studying abroad for a few years, doing quite a bit of pro bono work in Indonesia."

"That's pretty amazing, Marc." I smiled lightly at my big brother, so proud that he finally found a girl that sounds so much like him, character-wise. They were both humanitarians.

"So tell me about this Dexter guy that mom keeps raving about." He smirked, putting a few blocks down onto the board. "Syracuse. 102 points."

I raised an eyebrow, nodding at his impressive score. "Um, there's not that much to tell really."

"Oh, so he isn't a successful medical prodigy with charm of a nobleman and the face of a god?"

"Geezz." I let out a loud laugh, "That's what mom described him as to you?"

He nodded slowly, raising his eyebrows in amusement, "And more."

"Well, he's really pretty great." I nodded, fiddling with my letters. "He's just, he's got this mind that could absorb any piece of information and talk endlessly about even the most remote topics. And he has this, this sense of humor that could light up any crowd, even a room of stuck-up, power hungry businessmen. And let me tell you, his eyes..."

"Let's not get all girl-talk on me. I'm not Nicole." He held up his hands in defense, wincing.

I rolled my eyes as I arranged a few of my letters onto the board. "You asked dude."

"So when do I get to meet this fella that's got my little sister swooning like a preteen fangirl?" He raised an eyebrow.

"H-O-A-X." I muttered, furrowing my eyebrows in concentration. "That makes, what, 127 points?"

He scoffed, stroking the stubble on his chin in concentration. "You play this game with Dexter? Is that why you're suddenly a scrabble master?"

"I lose every time." I laughed, shaking my head. "It's nice to finally play someone in my league though."

He nodded, a small grin forming on his face. "Oh, we'll just have to see how much of your league I am in."

Although my brother and I would butt heads quite a bit web we were growing up, we actually grew closer over the years. I missed him, especially since he was always traveling the world a majority of the year. Marc would drop by from time to time during the holidays or for a few days when it was someone's birthday. He never completely forgot about us, always sending emails and postcards to let us know where he was and what he was up to. But I really did enjoy having him around when he did come back to visit, it was like old times when it was us against our parents. When we were younger, we would always cover for each other if one of us was in the hot seat. We had each other's backs, no matter what. I loved the times hen he would come back and visit, even if for a short time.

Just then, a loud knocking erupted throughout the serene atmosphere within my living room, causing both of us to jump at the sudden noise radiating from the front door. I bit my lip, raising an eyebrow at my brother to ask him if he was expecting anyone. He shook his head, furrowing his eyebrows as his gaze returned to the scrabble board in front of him.

I hoisted myself up from my seat on the floor of my living room and stumbled toward the door, pushing a few strands of hair out of my face. I quickly opened the door and swiftly stepped aside as a blur of Dexter stormed past me, into my apartment.

"Dexter?"

"Just give me a minute to say this very quickly." He held up a hand, a concentrated and nervous look on his face. "Today, this intern came up to me and invited me to go out drinking and partying with a group of them. And I'm not going to lie to you, she was coming onto me. And I said no, without even thinking about it. And somehow, it triggered something within me, stimulated a stream of thoughts into my head about the future and us and how much you mean to me-"

"Dexter, wait a min-"

"I'm almost done." He nodded, licking over his lips. "And I started thinking more and more about everything that's happened since I met you, how much everything in my life has changed, how much I've changed. I've come to a realization of how much I need you, how much I depend on your existence to keep me sane, like an anchor. Because that's what you are, my anchor."

"An anchor? Dexter, can you calm down for a second so that I can-"

"That didn't come out right. I didn't mean that you were my anchor to imply a negative connotation but in the most positive way possible. I want you in my life, I need you in my life because you're the most important aspect, you're the theoretical glue that holds me together. And I know that sound cheesy and I really do apologize because I just realized how idiotic that sounded once it was out of my mouth. And I know you'll find some twisted and complex way to mock it later on because you're really impossible like that. Hell, I just might do it for you because I just realized how corny it really did sound. God, that was a stupid line."

"Dex. Stop-"

"But what I'm really trying to say is that I love you. I'm in love with you, Chelsea Weiston. And I'm sorry for not noticing it sooner or telling you sooner, and for lying about talking with Monica, and for the situation I put you in by putting all of my burdens on you this morning and last night. I'm sorry for not telling you all of this during breakfast when I was being an inconsiderate jackass for not speaking. And I'm going to shut up now because you're not saying anything and you look like you really have something important to say. Go ahead."

I bit my lip, my eyes traveling past Dexter towards my brother, whose attention was now directed towards Dexter and I. "Dexter, this is my brother Marc. Marc, this is Dexter."

"Hey, bro." Marc waved absentmindedly from the couch, his gaze traveling back to the scrabble board. "Can you think of an 8 letter word with the letters C-N-A-R-I-E-T-O."

"Anoretic." Dexter shook his head slightly, as if it were the most obvious answer in life.

"Sweet." Marc nodded officially, placing the words onto the board. "Anoretic. 122 points. Looks like I win."

---

"And you let me go through with that whole speech while your brother was just lounging on the couch, absorbing every word?" He laughed lightly, shaking his head as he took another swig of his beer.

We were currently sitting on the stairs that connected the Cafe to my apartment, leaving Marc to get settled on my couch, where he would be staying for the time being. "I tried to warn you, sweetheart! But you weren't having any of it."

"Next time, you could try 'Shut the fuck up, my brother can hear every word you're saying.'" He smirked, taking another swig of his beer.

I grinned lightly, shaking my head as I played with his hand, intertwining our fingers. "It was still pretty badass."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No. The way you just stormed into my apartment, dressed in medical scrubs and professed your love to me. Huge brownie points, man. Two thumbs up."

He scoffed, throwing back the remaining drops of his beer before dropping the bottle to his side. "I just don't think your brother will ever look at me the same, much less take me seriously as the manly man dating his sister."

"Nah, are you joking?" I smiled lightly, pecking him on the lips. "The guy was too absorbed in his game of scrabble to care. You earned mad respect just for helping him. I had him worried there about his winning streak for a second."

"Glad I could be of service, I guess." He shrugged lazily, using his free arm and wrapping it around my shoulder, pulling me close to him.

"And Dexter?" I looked up to meet his eyes, my chin resting on his shoulder.

"Hmm?" He raised his eyebrows, placing a kiss on my forehead.

"I love you, too." I grinned widely, lightly pecking his lips. "But please, promise me you will not become a songwriter. That glue that keeps me together thing and the anchor that keeps me sane does not work for you. Unless you're Kurt Cobain. I'm just saying."

He smirked, pulling me closer to him. "Shut up."

"No, but wind beneath your wings you might want to try. Or maybe even say I'm the sunshine after the rain, that's always a crowd pleaser. That's just totally super duper romantic. I could just, like, die." I laughed, mocking my best Valley-girl accent.

"You're impossible, you know that?" Dexter laughed lightly, shaking his head.

I grinned widely, wrapping my arms around his torso and nuzzling my face into the crook of his neck. "I know. But you called it, remember?"