Hearts in Need

"Rebecca! It's Christmas!"

Rebecca groans and flips over to her other side. A small hand pops her on the back, trying to get her attention.

"Rebecca, Christmas!" Rebecca's youngest sister, Shana, urges, trying to get her older sister up. Rebecca sighs out and caves in to her insistent sister. She turns her head and opens her eyes, looking at the lit up face of Shana's.

"Okay, squirt, I'm up..." Rebecca croaks, wincing at the dry sound of her voice. She slowly sits up on the edge of the bed and looks out the window, frowning when she sees it's still early in the morning, light barely having broken in the horizon.

Rebecca gets up and follows after her sister, who's long since gone from the room, and finds her coming out of the third oldest and second sister's room, followed by said sibling coming out behind her. Jill looks up and sees Rebecca, frowning deeply and looking listless.

"I'm gonna kill her..." Jill murmurs, walking next to Rebecca as they head downstairs to the Kitchen.

"Don't worry, I'll beat you to the punch." Rebecca murmurs back. Jill grins and nods her head in approval.

When they reach the kitchen, they see that Shana is already in company.

"So, I'm NOT the only one." Josh, the second oldest and only brother, laughs, nibbling at a bit of toast.

"Nope, you weren't." Jill sighs, sitting at the dining table, placing her head on the table and closing her eyes.

"You didn't start breakfast?" Rebecca asks, looking straight at Josh. Josh shakes his head and looks offended.

"Nope, I don't cook." Josh replies back.

"Well, apparently you do if you are eating toast, genius." Jill responds, looking up and smirking at her older brother.

Josh glares at Jill and flips her off. Rebecca grabs Josh's finger and bends it back, scolding him for flipping off Jill in front of Shana. Josh just mutters and continues to eat his toast, secretly flipping Rebecca off as she walked into the kitchen.

"Why did you do that?" Shana asks, looking up at Josh with curious eyes.

"Just letting them know they are number one." Josh sniggers, a devious smirk on his face.

Shana looks down at her right hand and tries to stick up her middle finger up only, but just can't seem to succeed at doing so.

"I can't do it..." Shana pouts, her lower lip puckered out and looking quite sad. Jill smacks her hand against her forehead and when she lowers her hand, sees Josh put Shana's fingers down except her middle one and raises it to Rebecca as she starts cooking eggs.

"Look, Rebecca!" Shana smiles, looking achieved.

Rebecca looks and she loses train of thought, staring at her little sister flipping her off.

"Shana! Don't do that!" Rebecca exclaims, looking horrified, yet trying not to laugh. Kids!

"But Josh helped me do it!" Shana pouts, feeling down at being told off.

Rebecca walks up to Josh and knocks him up his head, gaining an evil glare from him.

"Don't show her how to do that!" Rebecca exclaims.

"What, she wanted to know how to do it, so I showed her!" Josh exclaims back, causing Rebecca to roll her eyes and smack herself on the forehead. Jill looks up and laughs at the exchange. Her siblings...

As breakfast is finished up, Rebecca sets the food in bowls along the kitchen counter and calls for her siblings, who've taken off throughout the house.

"Mmm, that smells delicious!" Rebecca hears over her shoulder. She turns and sees her mother pop out of what seems to be nowhere and is looking around at the food scattered about.

"Hey, mom." Rebecca smiles, gathering her mother into her arms and hugging her tightly. When she pulls back, she notices her dad isn't there.

"Where's dad?" Rebecca questions, turning about and grabbing plates from one of the many cabinets lined about the wall.

"He's still out." Lily laughs, shaking her head.

"Still?" Rebecca asks, looking quite impressed.

"Oh yeah, he's gone to the world." Lily laughs, walking to the fridge and pulling out milk and juice.

"Wish I could do that..." Josh mutters out of nowhere.

"Yeah, I wished that, too." Jill sniggers, causing Josh to give her another glare.

"Okay, you two, be good and bow your heads." Lily laughs coming up behind her them and placing a hand on the others shoulder. As they do so, the others bow their head and say grace before getting up and making their plates of food.

As they set themselves about the table, their father comes in, still looking a bit dazed from sleep and he makes himself a plate and grabs a cup of coffee, as well.

"Too early..." They hear him mutter.

"I agree." Josh sighs.

"Oh, you two..." Lily sighs, in return, shaking her head.

"What, it's still morning time!" Josh exclaims.

"Dude, it's only nine, it's not that early." Jill banters.

The two stare daggers at each other before their mother steps in to stop the ensuing argument.

"Hey, settle down." She calls out, her voice taking on it's motherly tone.

The two look away, returning back to their food.

"Wow, hon, this is great!" Nick smiles down at his wife, kissing her on the head before sitting down on the chair next to her.

"Nope, wasn't me, it was Rebecca." Lily smiles, looking over at said daughter.

Rebecca looks up and then down, embarrassment painting her cheeks red.

"It was nothing... really..." Rebecca murmurs, not looking up.

"Well, it's delicious sweetie." Nick smiles before returning to his food.

Josh fake gags and is punched in the arm by Jill for doing so.

"Don't be mean to Becca." Jill scowls, her brows knit in anger.

Rebecca looks at the exchange, stunned.

"Hey, I was kidding..." Josh mutters, rubbing his arm.

Jill just returns to her food and says, "I like it."

Rebecca just smiles and continues to eat her food, smiling to herself.

---

"Oh, I'm sick..." Nick complains, laying back on the chair and sighing in content.

"Well, you had three or so pancakes along with how much bacon and such?" Lily asks, sarcastically.

Nick rolls his eyes and responds, "Well, if Rebecca didn't take after you, I wouldn't be hurting."

"Oh yeah, blame the daughter..." Lily laughs, rolling her eyes.

As the two banter back and forth, Rebecca starts to clean up in the kitchen. As she finishes, she leans back against the counter and closes her chocolate brown eyes, sighing slightly at the work she just did. She was definitely busy this morning...

She opens her eyes and looks around for a scrunchie to tie up her quite long, brunette hair. As she finishes that, she heads upstairs and gives herself a once over in the mirror.

Besides her hair and eyes, she had prominent cheek bones and looked very soft in her facial features. Body wise, she was soft as well. Not too skinny but definitely not thin. She had a soft stomach and was curvy. Her greatest attributes, she'd say, lied in her butt and breast. She was about a D in breast and had to wear different sized jeans from her hips and butt alone. If it weren't for them, she'd be in a smaller size.

She took her physical features almost detail for detail from her mother. From the head down to her feet, she was her mother.

Her siblings were more like a mix match of her parents, except for Josh who was her dad, up and down, but Jill had black hair, that was brunette at one time, and hazel eyes. Shana somehow had gained blond hair and sky blue eyes. Josh looked like their father and was built quite bulky looking, and was pretty tall, too. However, the one thing Josh definitely inherited from her mom where her chocolate brown eyes. All in all, she'd say her brother was handsome.

With all of that said, Rebecca liked the way she looked. Sure, she wasn't model like in fitness or what have you, but she didn't really care all that much. She liked how she looked, sometimes, and sometimes, she could just about despise herself.

As she pulled away from the mirror, she heads downstairs and is stopped by seeing someone else downstairs with her parents.

Not her siblings, no, but her best friend, Adam Levine.

Adam Levine... what a person...

Rebecca and Adam had been friends since she could ever remember. It seemed to have started about Kindergarten, but it might have been more afterwards or so, who knows...

Adam had brown hair and hazel eyes. He was a great person and loved his women, as he himself put it. However, deep down, he was a goofball and had a huge heart. He absolutely loved music and played guitar quite well. To say he loved it so much that he had a band was right on the dot. However, from what Rebecca had heard, it wasn't going quite so well... what was the band's name? Oh yeah, Kara's Flower.

That's a name, right there...

However, deep down, there was other things Lily had picked up on about Adam during the course of their friendship that really showed off his handsomeness.

He had a square jaw, prominent eyebrows, prominent cheekbones and dimples when he smiled. His nose fit him just right and in his eyes, he held all of his emotions right in them. Deep down, Rebecca thought he looked pretty hot. She wasn't going to lie...

During the course of their friendship, things seemed to brew inside of Rebecca that she would never have thought would brew for her partner in crime. She started to feel deeply for the man with the beautiful hazels and the lovely dimples. She had never acted on these feelings, no, never... she wouldn't either. She feared deep down that if something happened between them, she would lose the one true friend she had from back when and she just couldn't let that happen...

However, she wasn't the only one that had feelings for the other.

As Adam looked on at Rebecca as she came downstairs, he was struck dumb at her beauty. Not one to wear much make up or none at all, really, she had some great skin and was absolutely beautiful. She was much more beautiful then he would say, that's for sure.

Those chocolate brown eyes that would suck him in every time and her build was just perfect on her. She was softer then most girls at school, but honestly, Adam had no qualms about that.

Rebecca was different from the others at school. For one, with the family she was raised in, she was raised to be God fearing. That alone set her apart from most of the others. She was made fun of for how she was, but with all that said, Adam didn't hold it against her one bit. Sure, maybe he didn't believe as she did, but she wasn't hurting anyone with how she believed. If it's how she wanted to believe, who was he to say anything to her?

That's one thing that really brought Rebecca to Adam. Rebecca loved that Adam never held anything against her and was always sticking up for her, no matter what. She knew that Adam believed differently, but she never held that against him or anyone. They way she saw it, what they did was between them and God.

With that said, Rebecca and Adam were two totally different people, but they never saw those issues. They remained close and stood by the other throughout all the things they had went through.

When Adam's parent split, Rebecca forsake many things, like friends or even family time, just to be there for Adam. She never asked anything in return for the time, and Adam constantly tried to return the favor. But no matter what, he felt he could never return it...

However, with that said, during that time and before that, even, Adam came to love Rebecca. After they started high school, he always wanted to bring his feelings out to the table and wanted nothing more then to date her and love her like he wanted. However, he feared that with his passion for music and wanting to really invest himself in his band, that something would happen and that they would split apart. So, with that said, he never acted on his feelings, no matter how strong they were, for fear of losing her. Because if he lost her, he wouldn't know what to do with himself...

"Hey, Becca." Adam smiled, watching Rebecca walk to him and smile that smile that always took his breath away.

"Ad..." She whispered, hugging him tightly.

"I thought you were going to your father's for Christmas." Rebecca asks, pulling from the hug and looking at him, confused.

"Eh... some things came up and I thought... I'd stay here." Adam lies. Honestly, he didn't want to head to his father's, for his own reasons... like wanting to spend it with Rebecca and her family.

As Adam thought this, he felt a little ashamed with himself. Here he was, spending time with his best friend, when not too long ago, his girlfriend, Jane, wanted him to spend it with her. So, instead, she went with her family elsewhere (he couldn't remember) and they were spending it there.

Jane... that was something Adam didn't want to really think about, at the moment...

Adam had decided that, since he wouldn't go through with dating Rebecca, that he would date someone else. So, one day, at school, his eyes came across a very beautiful girl that attracted his attention. She was model in shape and had brunette hair and lovely brown eyes... but nothing like Rebecca's...

Adam scolded his thoughts and felt horrible for thinking that. Jane and him has been together for a year or so, now... and honestly, it wasn't really all that bad. Heck, he even came to love Jane, but deep down, it just wasn't Rebecca...

Again, Adam felt shamed by his feelings, but he wouldn't lie, not to himself, at least. He loved Rebecca and he probably always would...

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that... where's your mom?" Rebecca asks.

As if on cue, Patsy came through the door, carrying a few gifts in her arms.

Patsy and Adam had become a part of Rebecca's family ever since the divorce and, honestly, Rebecca couldn't be happier. She already thought of them as her extended family.

When they put the gifts under the tree, which they discovered were meant for their family and were theirs as well, they went into the living room and got cozy.

They talked for what seemed like forever, drinking cocoa and sitting in the warmth of the Williams' home. Soon, time came and went and then, it was time to open presents. Every one started to tear through presents one by one.

Rebecca was elated when she got her gifts, mostly books, and she couldn't wait until Adam opened his gift from her. When he did, he was stunned at seeing a leather jacket he had wanted, tucked inside the box for him to have. He smiled at his best friend and hugged her tightly, much to the expense of Rebecca's heart, which soared as it always did when she hugged Adam.

Soon, all the gifts were opened and Rebecca's parents were getting some of the food ready for Christmas dinner the next day. The siblings and Adam helped here and there, mostly taste testing or making some of the food. In particular, Rebecca and Adam had fun making the cheese balls with Shana and Jill. Josh would come and taste teste, then would leave and continue playing his new Nintendo 64, which he requested for in particular for Christmas, along with Super Mario 64. Rebecca was quite impressed with seeing the game system and planned on trying it out when she got the chance.

When Rebecca and Adam weren't needed, they sat at the dining room and Rebecca would read while Adam played on his new acoustic guitar. After a while, Rebecca put down her book and would listen to Adam pick away at the guitar, amazed at his playing skills.

"I so wanna learn to play..." Rebecca said out loud.

Adam looked up and smiled, "Wanna?"

"Huh, oh... no... I..." Rebecca starts, but Adam gets up and places the guitar on her lap.

As Adam teaches guitar to Rebecca, Jill looks up from making some frosting and watches them from afar. Lily looks up from making the batter when she notices Jill stop and looks from her to the two in the dining room.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Lily asks, noticing the sad look in Jill's eyes. "I just... can't figure out why they aren't dating..." Jill whispers, not wanting the two to hear her.

Lily's eyes widen, and then she looks over at Rebecca and Adam. She watches as the two interact, seeing a look come over Rebecca's face that she'd always had when it came to Adam, and she finds that she has someone that agrees with her.

"You know, I keep wondering the same thing." Lily responds, smiling slightly. Jill's eyes widen this time, but she smiles, nonetheless.

Jill watches the two a little longer and returns her attention to cake frosting at hand. In her mind, she wanted Rebecca to be happy, the thought came suddenly, and she seemed to be happy with Adam. Besides, she liked Adam and Adam was a good person. Why couldn't they just date? Jill would never understand those two...

Soon, things started to wind down and it was time for Patsy and Adam to leave. As they leave, Rebecca hugs them tightly and tells them she loves them. For Adam, she meant more in the words. It seemed one of the times she could really say it...

As the two left, Adam hated having to leave his other family. Tonight, it'd be just him and his mother, seeing as how the others, Michael and Sam, wouldn't be there. They went to visit dad.

Just as Patsy and Adam were about to get into the car, the door opened once more and they looked to see Nick standing at the entrance.

"Hey, stay here for the night..." Nick called out to them.

Patsy was stunned by his request, and looked over at Adam. Adam was grinning and looking back at Patsy.

"Can we, mom?" Adam asked, sounding a bit breathless.

Patsy smiled and nodded, then called out, "Okay..."

So, instead of going back to the house to be by themselves for Christmas, they went back into the Williams' house for the night.

To be honest, Patsy and Adam were glad they didn't have to be by themselves for Christmas...

The Williams were glad that they didn't have to be, either...