IT'S BEEN TWO WEEKS SINCE GEORGE WILSON DIED. They didn't believe it when they were told by the young officer. They didn't believe it until they saw George's lifeless body, the same grey eyes were fixed blankly above him. The same grey eyes as Anthony, the same black hair as Anthony. Will had personally talked to them minutes before their deaths, and couldn't do anything about it.

But George's death wasn't like Anthony's. Will didn't know Anthony that well, and his emotions revolved around sadness, shock and guilt. Especially guilt. But it was different with George's. They had become attached to George, and it was very difficult to process. There was a tremendous amount of sadness and guilt, shock and pain.

His emotions were all over the place, reminding him of his darkest days. But those days had been the worst. What was the first image that flashed through Will's mind when he was first told that George was dead?

George banging his head on the table repeatedly? George chuckling at Rose's enthusiasm? George's face glowing when Will handed him ice cream? George shipping Kai and Rose? George attacking them with lame jokes? George helping them with their studies? George giving us the recipes to his mouthwatering dishes? George helping Shay? George opening up to us about his past? The first time we met George?

The answer was nothing. His mind went blank, not really acknowledging the fact that George might be dead despite the conversation he had with them. The funeral reminded him of his mother's and Tyler's, and Will not only cried for his dead friend but for his mom and a fatherly figure.

It was hard for Will to accept the hard truth that George was no more. It still was. It broke their hearts. Will went through the feeling of losing someone all over again, and he couldn't hold all those feelings on him. All the citizens of Blackwood attended George's funeral, just as they did for Will's mother's and Tyler's. George's last words had been ringing in his mind when he was attending his funeral: There's no way in hell I'm losing you guys too. But they ended up losing him.

The funeral had been hard for Will's dad and Jessica too. Jessica had gone out of the funeral for a brief period of time as it reminded her of her husband's, her parents' and her best friend's funerals. She had apologized profusely afterwards, for leaving her daughter and Will when they needed her the most. That night, he heard the conversation Jessica had with Shay. Jessica had called herself 'a bad mother' for not being present with Shay, and Shay had reassured Jessica that Shay wasn't angry or sad with her mother. The next morning, Jessica had apologized to Will too. He simply hugged her in response, telling her that it wasn't her fault and he wasn't angry with her.

Leo too had been sad since then, as he understood something was wrong with George, but he couldn't figure out what. Since then, he was trying his best to make them smile, just once. And when one of them would smile for Leo, he would understand it wasn't a genuine smile but a fake one to make Leo feel better, he would still try.

All of them stuck together since then, but all they did was spend the time in silence. They would just speak a few words and then dive headfirst into the everlasting silence. Leo would take turns sitting in everyone's laps, spending some more time when he sat in Shay's or Will's lap as he could sense that they were not only reminded of George, but even Will's mom and Tyler, and Shay's grandparents.

He wrapped his arms around himself as if to contain all the feelings going through him.

If only they had reached earlier, George would be alive right now. Cooking for them, helping them study, joking with them. All of it destroyed in a matter of minutes.

Nearly two years back too, if only Will had hugged his mom back when she kissed his forehead instead of pushing her away. She probably would've jumped up with excitement after realizing Will forgave her. She would immediately make something to eat, take him to the hall, and they both would end up binge-watching some series, and the day would end with her final apology. She would ask her boss to excuse her for the day and spend the day with him.

She would have been here with them, a smile creeping onto her face when she sees that it's raining.

She loved the rain.

She would've had a soft smile on her face, looking outside as the sky comes down in sheets. She would sit in her favourite spot in this house, humming along with the song playing on the radio. Or she would be taking a video of rain and then failing in an attempt to take a video of Will without spotting her doing it. Or pushing his dad away whenever he tries to joke but fails. Her awfully long conversations with Jessica, her shopping trips with Shay.

Her time with her family and friends, her dreams, her ambitions, her life.

All because of Will. He could've prevented it from happening. He doesn't deserve to-

A loud bark snapped Will back to reality. He was startled as he looked at Leo who was barking loudly into his ear. When did Leo come and sit on his lap?

Will patted him to show that he now had his full attention. He absent-mindedly ruffled Leo's hair and noticed that it has gotten really long. His mom would've cut it and tie a bow over Leo's head, Will thought with a smile. Even if Will argued that Leo was a boy, she wouldn't have agreed with him and would do it anyway.

He continued to pat his hair and some of his hair gets stuck between his fingers. Will had to trim Leo's hair slightly. The last time he cut his hair without his permission didn't end very well. He refused to talk to Will for one whole day, which was very long for L.

So, Will thought that it would be better if he gave Leo a disclaimer, then continue.

"Leo?" Will asked and Leo looked up at him and whimpered, indicating him to continue whatever he was saying. Will held Leo closer to him, wrapping his arms around him tightly than earlier, so he doesn't escape.

"I think your hair needs a trim, buddy. It has grown slightly lo- Hey! Wait!" He somehow got out of Will's arms and ran away from him. Will ran behind him, but he increased his pace and when Leo spotted Shay, he hid behind her.

Shay knelt down in front of him, "What's wrong Leo? Why do you look scared and angry and anxious?" She asked him gently. Leo growled in Will's direction. He sighed.

Shay looked in his direction and frowned, "What? The armchair?" She asked gently and Leo growled again. She looked up and her face glows after finding the answer to Leo's problem, "Oh! The bug in Will's hair. Is the bug bothering you? One minute," Shay said as she walked towards Will.

Shay took his face in her hands and Will's heart pace quickened, "What are you doing?" Will asked as she tilted his head and took something out of his hair.

Both disappointment and relief flowed through his body as Shay stepped away from him. Mostly disappointment. Oh, she was just removing the bug, Will thought, as Shay showed him a red bug that looked like a ladybug and let it fly away. She looked at Leo, "No need to be angry Leo! It's gone now." Shay frowned when Leo growled in Will's direction again.

"Will?" She asked incredulously. She looks at him and back at Leo, "You are angry at Will?! You are scared of Will? But you were never angry at Will except for that day when-" She broke off, putting all the pieces together. She looked at Will, and he nodded, confirming her thoughts.

She looks at him and mouthed, 'Just apologize to him. We'll think about his hair later' Will sighed as he nodded, looking at Leo who had a suspicious expression on his face, narrowing his eyes at Will.

Ah, here we go again, Will thought.

+++

"You gotta admit it, this arrangement of the furniture looks a lot better than the earlier one," Jessica said as she stepped into the living room and threw herself onto the couch. Will looked up and nodded, "You know that Kai loves rearranging furniture. He rearranged it at least 25 times, I tell you."

Jessica just laughed. Shay defended Will, "Hey, he isn't lying. Kai rearranges the furniture whenever he is happy or stressed or angry or sad. That's basically his whole life."

Will spoke up, "Actually, he made Theo take photos after he was done each time and I think you should check them out and decide what's the best. Then you rearrange them in whichever pattern you think suits this room," he said as he took his phone out and handed it to Jessica.

She scrolled through the pictures and Leo walked from behind her, watching Will warily. Will opened his arms to Leo, and he immediately rushed towards him, but he stopped after a second, narrowing his eyes at Will again.

He accepted Will's apology earlier but continued to watch him warily as if he expected Will to draw out something to trim his hair. He walked slowly and sat at his feet, his eyes never leaving Will's hands and his face.

Will pouted slightly which elicited a reaction from him. He completely turned towards Will and rested his head on his knees, watching Will with his brown eyes.

"Where's Nick?" Shay asked her mother and Jessica looked up from the phone, "What was that?"

Shay repeated her question and Jessica answered, "He's on a phone call with our boss."

"Mom, I wanted to ask you. Is your boss forcing you to come back to work or something?" Shay asked anxiously and Jessica frowned, responding after a minute or so, "Kind of. We took a leave as we've been working a lot at this moment, and we wanted to spend some time with you guys too. You know how we work, first, a selected group of members does all the travelling, working, and collecting information while the other group has less work and helps them in writing articles and stuff. Then, the other group does all the travelling and the first group does the writing and helping."

She paused and continued, "Now, our group is supposed to be the one with less work and help the group with writing articles, but our senior is telling us to join with the other group and travel even though both of us are on a leave. You guys don't need to worry about this, it's fine, happens all the time," She waved it off.

Will heard footsteps and saw his dad coming downstairs, who had a worried look on his face but after meeting Will's eyes, he smiled at him and sat beside him.

Leo jumped into his dad's lap and continued to watch Will warily. His dad laughed amusedly.

"What were you told during the phone call, dad? You looked kinda worried," Will asked him, but he waved his concern away, "I always look worried to you, don't I?"

Will narrowed his eyes at him, and he laughed, "You and Leo have matching expressions now."

Will sighed as he realized that his dad wasn't going to reveal anything to him. He knew that his dad and Jessica were currently having work pressures judging by the phone conversations with their senior. But both of them weren't telling Will and Shay anything.

Will watched as it rained heavily and after a while, the rain slowed and stopped completely. His mind wandered around, and he remembered how they no longer had access to his dad's and Jessica's team's drive. They had changed their password, so Will and Shay had to enter the password again in order to gain access to those files. They only had the shitty newspaper to know about the happenings in Blackwood, which only gave numbers and no news. Will was glad for the fact that he had taken some time to download all the files they had read into his computer. Will knew that his father would give him his laptop if he asked, but Will felt guilty suddenly.

A notification ping sound made Will draw my eyes away from the window and look at his father who fished out his phone.

Nick squinted at his bright screen, although it was in the lowest brightness. He scrolled as he read the message and his expression turned from incredulous to horrified, "What the actual f..." He started but looked at Will and Shay, "...fish."

Will snorted, "Dad, I wasn't aware we were using elementary school terms here. Seriously, we're eighteen," Will said as his dad looked back at his phone, "Fuck," he whispered lowly that they almost couldn't hear. Nick spoke after a second and looked up, "I'm gonna get struck by lightning or something. I just swore in front of my child."

"What's wrong?" The three of them asked at a time.

Nick looked at Jessica, "Check your notifications."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Just check it. Hope it didn't happen to you too," Nick muttered as he read the message again, "God, I can't believe it," he grumbled.

Jessica frowned and reached for her phone, tapped at the screen three times, and read something. Her eyes widened at what she read, and she looked horrified like Nick, "I can't believe this."

Dad looks up from his phone screen, "Shit. Don't tell me it happened to you too."

"What's wrong?" Shay and Will demanded, looking at both of them.

Neither answered, they just read the message again.

Will raised his voice, "Dad! Jessica! Can any of you tell us what's wrong?"

His father looked at him in alarm and looked at Jessica again. An unspoken agreement went through them, and he looked at Will and Shay, answering their query.

"I just got handed a termination letter. Our boss is threatening us to return to work, or he would fire us. Jessica got the same thing."

+++