Welcome to the Family

(Bradley aka Lennon's POV)

I have pulled all-nighters before, but man, they've been nothing like this before. Everyone had came up with the idea of playing some songs together in dad's music room to create some more everlasting memories with me and of course, Nova was the first to agree to it as long as it meant getting to spend more time with her favorite band. "How about we play something newer? What do you think, Nova?" Brian says as he looks over toward her and I swear to God I thought her eyes were practically about to bulge out of their sockets as she nodded profusely. "Oh! Oh! I know! Let's play Acid Rain!" She suddenly shouts a bit overexcitedly, making Vinny slightly groan and roll his eyes in protest. "God, you listened to that song on replay the entire time we were coming here! I don't wanna hear it live." She immediately kicks him in the shin, causing a rather loud yelp to come from between his lips. "Don't you dare ruin this for me Vincent or I swear I will chop off whatever you have hiding down there!"

Thankfully Matt intervenes and separates them in an instant, saving me a few good breaths of air. Sometimes I swore those two fought more like a brother and sister would. "Vin, just let Nova live her dream. Besides, you can see for yourself, we are as great as she says we are." He then hands an extra mic over to Nova who can only seem to make a tiny screeching noise come from her throat instead of an actual word. I put my head in my hands and sigh deeply. I was having the best time of my life, don't get me wrong, but the sad truth that it was all going to be crashing down and coming to an end exaggeratingly soon was gnawing at my insides. I hadn't turned on my phone the entire time we were here and I wasn't about to do it now because I just knew there was going to be a flood of worried and concerned messages and voicemails that I honestly didn't give a shit about. I had finally found the place that I truly belonged to and felt loved. I was home, I didn't want to go back to Vegas even if it killed me.

I stepped outside of the room while they all played, deciding to go and look around for my mom. I wanted to ask her about life before I was born, I wanted to know what exactly made them have to give me up. Not that I was mad, like I said before, I know they did it because they thought that I would have a better life and I mean look at them; they're thriving in their careers, it's obvious if I had been around, they wouldn't have gotten to do what they love. But still, I wanted to know more and I knew she would be the one with the answers. I trudged up the long flight of carpeted stairs, finally stopping at a closed door that I could hear voices coming from. I knocked lightly as I suddenly felt like I was intruding on her private business. The door swung open rather quick but none the less her face lit up with a wide grin when she noticed it was me. "Why aren't you with the others, kiddo? You feeling ok?" Her voice was calm but I could sense that something was bothering her too.

Shrugging, I ask kind of quietly if it's ok for me to come inside. She invites me in without any question and motions for me to sit beside her on the huge king sized bed. I have to almost pinch myself hard to keep from breaking down in front of her. She obviously could sense that something was wrong with me too as she wraps her arms around me in a rather tight hug. "You're scared, aren't you?" I nod, feeling my lips start to quiver as the tears fall regardless of how hard I tried to stop them. I was more than scared, I was absolutely fucking petrified. The sobs come next and I can't lie, I feel fucking ashamed in myself for letting people see me so vulnerable like this. "Shh, don't cry, it's going to be alright hun. It's ok to be scared, but you're one of the bravest kids I've ever met. I love you and no matter what happens after, I'll still love you, forever and ever. And besides, it's only less than two years until you'll be eighteen. Then you'll be free to get out on your own and you can come back to live with us. Our house is your house and we will always be here for you, I promise."

Well, so much for wanting to get some answers. After the moment we've just shared together after only being reunited after a course of a few hours, I don't even give a damn about anything besides relishing in the love I was currently receiving. "I don't want you to feel forced into anything that makes you feel uncomfortable either. If you want us to call you Lennon instead of Bradley, then we will. And I don't want you to feel obligated to tell any of us that you love us back, because lets be honest, you hardly know anyone and you've only known loving who you know as your parents, not us. No one will be mad or feel disappointed, because making sure you're comfortable and at ease is our number one priority." I just hug onto her even tighter, letting my actions do all the talking. I didn't care if they called me by my real name or not, I was just happy to know they loved me more than anything in the absolute world regardless of anything that happened. Which brought me to my next obstacle I never thought about facing. I was going to open up to my mom about Danny.

You remember him, don't you? My sleazy, good for nothing, piece of shit excuse for a brother who I now know wasn't actually related to me at all. But it still didn't justify what he did, it still didn't make anything that he said or attempted to do right. I probably should have approached the situation in a different way than I did but I just couldn't help myself, I knew I was safe and I knew that someone other than my best friends needed to know what the fuck was going on back there. "I've been molested by my brother. He actually still tries to come after me, but I have to basically barricade myself in my bedroom at night and when my parent's are gone. I've tried telling them, but no one believes me. The only other ones who know are Nova and Vinny, and now, well you, Mom. I've tried to kill myself multiple times but someone was always there to stop me. I even had to be treated for an STD that I got because of him, but no one believed me about that either. They all think I'm some sort of loose teenage girl and I'm not! I've never even had proper sex or even a boyfriend before!"

Her mouth is dropped and I can see the tears are running down her face as well as my own. I didn't mean to blurt everything out like that in one sitting, but I just couldn't hold back anymore. It's not a moment later that we're being interrupted by my dad Zack. He rushes over to us and immediately wants to know what is going on. I tell her that it's ok, that I trust her, that I want her to tell him. She excuses them into the hallway and shuts the door softly behind her. I can hear the sounds of muffled yelling and cursing. Fuck, I hope didn't just start a war between anyone. I listen in a little closer, finally being able to hear everything crystal clear. They were indeed, talking about me. "She's being fucking abused and practically raped, Zacky! I can't fucking in my right mind let her or those kids go back there! I don't give a shit if they arrest me for kidnapping or whatever, I will NOT let her go back to that hell hole! I believe her, I know she wouldn't lie to me about that, who the fuck would do something like that? She's just a fucking kid, Zack! She's our baby and she's being hurt! I knew I never should have let her go! I knew something like this was going to happen! I just fucking knew it!"

In a matter of seconds, I can hear Nova's frantic voice butting in and it didn't sound good at all. "I hate to break up this meeting Mr. and Mrs. Baker but we have bigger problems. The police are downstairs talking to Matt and they want to see you." Fuck, fuck, fuck. They found us.