Once the cake is on the way and Danny, carrying it, starts singing a happy birthday song, the entire party goes to a halt so we can all sing along. I just silently murmur the happy birthday lyrics, because I can't imagine anything more awkward than that, but Annabelle, on the other hand, faces no such problems. She even holds up Devon's hand and waves with it in the rhythm.

Two kinds of people.

Aidan is ushered to blow out the candles and in doing so, he uses all his lung strength to get out as much breeze as possible. He succeeds in a first try, thankfully, otherwise, he'd start crying or hide his face in Pats' stomach.

When the ritual is behind us, everyone and I mean everyone, head to get a piece of cake. If the crowd has looked engulfing before, I don't know what to call it now. So, Annabelle, Devon and I stay in the back of the party. Devon probably shouldn't even eat cake yet, and I don't really care about it that much. I'm not so sure about Annabelle, though.

Nonetheless, my sister surprises me when she sends her two kids, Bram and Ewan, to bring both of us a portion.

Bram, the eldest one who turned seven this January, gives a plate with more than one piece of chocolate cake to Annabelle, while Ewan, who is still to celebrate his seventh birthday, gives me the smaller piece. I won't even start to object how this is unfair. I'm taller and heavier than Annabelle, but somehow she gets more material than me!

"Oh, thank you!" Annabelle smiles and graciously takes her plate, for which I try to reach, but she angrily swats my hand away, "You got your own!"

"I'm not a pigeon in a park to feed on this one breadcrumb!" Poutingly and a little bit insulted I later smile at Ewan, who, the moment I grab the plate, glues himself to my leg and refuses to move, nearly knocking me over in the process.

"E-Ewan!" I exclaim when I struggle to stay upright.

"I'm a tick!" He yells proudly and loudly. I never thought my own idea how to irritate May would backfire at me like that!

I don't bother to shake my leg or try to get him off of me. I've taught him everything he needed to know in order to stay glued to me like that.

I sigh and look at Annabelle instead, who is giggling silently to herself. Bram, on the other hand, looks bored and sick of this party. It's not a surprise, he is the eldest of the children here.

"Why don't we ever come over to your place, Nathan?" Bram asks completely out of the blue. He and Ewan did have fun over at my place, but I never thought Bram would care about it at this age when he already has friends in his neighbourhood. I think if he came to my place, he'd be even more bored than at this party.

"Erhm," I hesitantly say as Ewan is gripping onto my leg tighter. "It's because of things like that." I point down at his younger brother, "Your mother doesn't appreciate things like that. I'm sure you're not missing out on anything."

Bram starts to toss over the stone he found on the ground, the only entertaining thing he found here, "I had fun and Ewan did too."

"Your Mum did what she thought was best."

"Do you think you could convince her to drop us at your place? It's not that fun at home anymore." He mutters and acts very reserved, but I know what's happening.

May and Thomas probably didn't always manage to keep it quiet and both Bram and Ewan are of the age where they're very much aware of what's going on. Ewan doesn't seem to be touched by it as much as Bram.

I'd kneel down to him, but the little one is in the way, his grip tight around my knee. "I'm sure your parents will handle it. It may be rough right now, but it will get better, okay?"

And your Dad's about to fucking die.

Bram nods slowly, not particularly satisfied with the answer. He makes sure Annabelle sees it when he looks at her for a moment. "Mum says that you now live together and don't have time."

Both Annabelle and I pale a little. She from embarrassment, I from anger. Why do women in my family continually try to portray me as an egoistic bastard who doesn't have time for anyone else but himself and his 'sexual exploitations'?! "She must have misunderstood me. Looks like I'll have to talk to her. How long are you going to stay here?"

Ewan yells, "Forever!" and squeezes my leg tighter. I nearly feel my knee cap dislocating.

Bram ignores Ewan's little game and shrugs in response, "I don't know, Mum said we'll probably leave soon, but she didn't say when."

"Okay, before you leave I'll tell her you two can come by whenever you want. That sounds alright?"

Bram finally smiles, but not as enthusiastically as Ewan or Aidan. Unlike them, he's always been a freakishly calm kid, but after having two nutjobs like those two running around and causing chaos, a kid like Bram is like a gift sent from God.

"Fine, Ewan, you win." I sigh and fake a cough, "Meningitis killed me, my brain has melted."

He smiles triumphantly and finally lets go of my leg only to jump and frolic around. "I win, I win! I'm the best tick there ever was!"

"You sure are," is the last thing I say that he probably hears. Bram then takes Ewan among other kids and I can finally shift my leg and have some blood flowing through it.

"I had no idea kids fight for your attention," Annabelle says while she's busy mashing a small bit of the chocolate cake, probably preparing it for Devon. If she thinks he's old enough for it, he probably is. I definitely wouldn't know about that.

I shrug and observe how Bram keeps his eyes on Ewan and Aidan who play in the sandbox together along with a bunch of other kids. "As Patty put it earlier, I'm a clown, not a parent, which is why kids like me."

"Like being a parent is all about being serious."

"No, she's not wrong. If there is a rule, I break it. It's how you build an army of children and brainwash them into loving you."

"If you wanted to freak me out with that, you're about six hundred statements too late." She scoffs and carefully gives Devon a piece of the liquified cake. It looks like something that would make me throw up excessively, but the kid seems to like it and wipes the fork clean.

"Are you sure he's old enough for cake?"

"We gave him ice cream before and he was fine. One or two bites of this won't kill him. Unless he has an allergy?"

I blink at the sky like wondering why do people have such an opinion about me, "And how would I know that? The social worker put him in my lap and said 'good luck figuring it out'."

"Given he's never had a reaction to food we've fed him so far, I think it's safe to say he won't magically become allergic to this cake."

She accidentally then bumps the plastic fork with some cake on it against Devon's cheek, which of course, he smudges all over his face. It's what babies do, like stupid people, they make life fucking difficult for everyone else.

Without saying anything, she reaches into my back pocket and pulls out a packet of tissues. The entire event is closely observed by a couple of old ladies, probably from Patty's side of the family, because that's the first time I've seen them. They don't seem exactly happy about the show of Annabelle browsing through my back pocket and are more like thoroughly disgusted by it, which they don't try to hide. I, on the other hand, find it amusing how judgemental they are. I'm sure they'll rush to Patty or Daniel and tell them how Annabelle is going down on me in front of all the kids, while also holding one!

"Okay, there," she smiles when she wipes Devon clean and by doing so makes him extremely unhappy. He discovers a whole different kind of joy when he's as dirty as possible.

"Thank you," I smile, and Annabelle first understand I'm just grateful she took care of Devon, but then I add: ", for rubbing my ass in front of everyone."

She looks up momentarily, clearly unaware of her actions, "What? I just reached for the tissues!" Then it hits her, "Oh... If we weren't... then I wouldn't... Oh, no."

"Yep. But it's not like they aren't aware I'm a sexually active man. I just think they never thought I'd do it at a kid's birthday party."

"Oh, shut up!" She barks and eventually, her mood starts spiralling, "Oh, boy, this is bad. Why didn't you stop me!"

I snort, "Yeah, like any guy would."

"Can you for once not put your libido first? It would be very appreciated because now I look like a pervert in a dress!"

"And in high heels."

"You're not making this any better!" Angrily she reaches with her fork for my cake and takes a third of it away. I protest loudly, ready to fight for death, but she makes a grimace by crossing her eyes at me, and then protests, "If I rub your butt, I might as well eat your cake!"

I snort and nearly choke on the piece of cake I was just about to swallow. "I don't mind if ladies eat my cake. I even prepare special icing for them." She makes a gagging sound on the cake, and I smirk, "That's exactly what they say as well!"

When she's done chewing and choking, she peers up at me, "How are you the same guy as the one who throws a tantrum when he hears his sister might get a divorce?"

My smile slowly drops. Dirty jokes are one thing, but where my siblings are concerned it all takes a different turn. "I'm her big brother, it's how it's supposed to be."

Annabelle notices the change of tone in my voice. She'd be incredibly stupid if she didn't. "Caitlin was pissed off when Mason and I broke up, but that was it. You looked like you could go all demon on your sister's husband." Her voice gets shaky in-between out of obvious reasons, but she does her best to keep it steady. At least she can say his name now. Not long ago he was just 'an ex'.

I look at the sad piece of my cake and think about what do I tell her. It's kind of hard for me to talk about people I find... distasteful, especially when they're someone's sibling. Frankly, I'm not surprised Caitlin barely reacted, I'm surprised she was pissed at all. She just doesn't strike me as someone with more than one emotion. "May and I don't really get along, but that doesn't mean her husband's bullshit doesn't piss me off. I mean, it's sort of that... protective thing."

"I think your sister can handle it on her own. It's not easy, but she is the epitome of a strong independent woman if I've ever seen one. Besides, she has all of you to back her up. You, your brother, your father and your mother."

"Oh, yeah, my mother is real Mother Theresa," I groan and put so much sarcasm in it one could choke on it and die a painful death.

Annabelle just silently nods to it. Looks like it she doesn't want to get involved in this type of a conversation. She obviously knows not everything is hunky dory between my mother and me, and thankfully that's enough for her.

"Why exactly are you so against your mother?"

I take it all back.

I sigh heavily, trying to compose something that would keep me from strangling my mother after saying it.

I can't tell her that in my opinion, she was a bad mother. I think Annabelle has figured that one out on her own. But I don't want to tell her exactly everything that happened, from her shamelessly sleeping with every fucking guy that came by and while her children were right in the next room, to her forgetting we even existed and sometimes didn't even bother to cook us a proper lunch.

"Plenty of things happened."

"Given your reaction, I can see that, but Daniel and May aren't as angry with her as you are."

I shrug to it, "They find it easier to forgive, apparently."

"And they had you. Like three piglets."

I meet her eyes and force out a small smile, something to keep her happy and satisfied. "Yeah, I guess. We had each other. I'm the eldest one and there's an obvious age difference between us. It was more apparent when we were kids, which really showed."

Annabelle inspects me carefully at first, but then like someone sprinkled sparkles and rainbows on her, she smiles playfully, "You took a big step back in that department."

I give her a small smile and when she sees she won't get more than that, she nudges me under my ribs gently, "Come on, you're one of the cool kids. Everyone wants to hang out with you!"

"All the kids, huh?"

"When kids love someone as much as they love you, that means something. It means you're doing something right."

It's not like I do much, but sure. I just don't mind about all the rules their parents give them, like no amusement parks and no fast food. The moment Patty or May or anyone else says something along the lines, that's the first thing I let the kids do when their parents are gone. "I exist to entertain them, nothing more."

"That's just a bonus they get. They wouldn't want to spend time with you unless they trusted you. Kids can love adults and have no respect for them, but that's not the case with you." Her words are flattering, but for some reason they don't touch me. It's like they emptily hang in the air between us.

Normally, I'd give myself some extra credit, because I am damn good uncle. I love all my nephews and I want to give them the childhood they deserve. They can have fun under my watch and forget about homeworks and other responsibilities. I know that I know how to deal with kids, but now that I look at Bram and Ewan, I feel worried and guilty for not trying to convince May into trusting them to me again.

***

We stick out till the very end. I don't want Aidan to remember me as the uncle who was the first one to leave his birthday party. I think that would completely devastate me, which is why Annabelle and I are one of the last people to leave the party.

May left with Bram and Ewan soon after the kids have eaten the cake. That's understandable, since they live in the other side of the city and the family probably isn't in the mood to party anyway.

Before they left, I tried talking to May about the kids, but before I even mentioned my proposition, she said she'd rather push her Jeep with the kids inside headfirst into the Grand Canyon. According to her, Bram and Ewan would have better chances of survival there than under my watch.

Fine, screw up your kids as well.

But at least I got Aidan back, though now that I have Devon, I'm not sure how that would work.

"Thanks for coming, Nate." Daniel smiles when Annabelle and I are about to leave. "I gotta say this turned out better than I expected."

Of course, he's referring to me bringing Annabelle and Devon, and Patty not freaking out. But if I know Patty, I know that freaking-out part is still about to come.

"And uhm, it was great to meet you, Annabelle. I hope we'll see more of you around." Daniel gratefully smiles at her. Probably because she's the first not-pregnant woman who is also not blood related to him.

"Thank you for having me," she smiles back not just politely but very thankfully. She has a reason for it; there was a part of me that thought Annabelle might leave today's party with her eyeballs gauged out.

When she squeezes his hand he offered to her, Patty, standing next to Daniel, refuses to look away from me, as if she's daring me to do something. But when I stare back at her, she breaks the handshake and says, "Better be careful. We don't want to make Nathan jealous."

A bit confused, Annabelle looks at me as well, but in the end she decides this is probably Patty taunting me, which is true. Does she expect me to 'break', fall down on my knees in agony of jealosy or punch Daniel in the face because he shook Annabelle's hand?

I want to say 'Or we don't want to arouse Daniel because you've been pregnant for the entire decade.' but I decide to play nice. She finally said I could look after Aidan, no need to ruin that the very same day.

"We'll be on our way. You know, so I don't get too jealous."

"Actually, Nathan," Patty jumps in, but the tone of her voice is very unsure. It doesn't sound like she's plotting something. "I'd like to have a word with you, if that's alright."

As if I seek confirmation, I look at Annabelle who doesn't see this problematic at all. "Just give me the car keys and we'll wait for you there."

I toss her the keys of my car, then Patty drags me into the house. Daniel sticks around like some sort of a witness to this whole deal.

"Okay, what have I done wrong now?" I ask the most sensible question. I usually always do something wrong according to Patty's standards.

"If you called May every now and then..." Patty's voice trails off a bit, but she doesn't have to finish the sentence in order to know what she's trying to say.

I nod "Yeah, might make it easier for her."

"Danny told me she's not doing as good as it looks." She sighs, then looks at me accusingly, "You two apparently are related, then."

I snort at that, because it is one of rare things May and I have in common. But if she thinks she's referring to me being in a bad place right now, she's become a poor judge of character. "I find it hard to believe it myself, I know."

"Since you've always been the protective brother, I think she could use one, now."

"Do you want me to beat up Thomas?"

"Is that how you usually dealt with May's boyfriends?"

"Well, yeah. You break my sister's heart, I dislocate your jaw."

She squints her eyes at me, "Not what I was going for really." She stretches over to inspect my car or more like the woman who's making sure the baby won't hit the front seat headfirst if I have to step on a break. "And you be careful with her."

I lift up my brows. Has she labelled Annabelle as a psycho woman with the crazy eyes, now? It would be funny, since Patty was the one throwing stuff at me if I pissed her off with anything. "Interesting how you'd say that. I think I still have the scar from the stitches I needed after to threw a plant at me."

"You deserved that one." Patty barks, but her voice softens, "That's not what I was going for, though. No girl just dresses up this nice for a guy who wants to piss off his ex."

"Guess what, she doesn't need to dress up. She is quite beautiful on her own."

"Spare me, Nathan. You can be with whomevwr you want to be, get an STD if that's your kick. But I know what it's like to fall under your charm."

"Oh, please," I chuckle, "Annabelle is going through her own things. I'm just here to help her relieve sexual tension. And it's not like you stayed single for long. You and Danny hooked up pretty soon after we ended. Guess I didn't really charm you that much."

"God, you can be such an idiot. There were months of only hooking up before I dived into a relationship with him. I mean it when I say you ruin other men for women."

"So, I did faze you, huh?" I press my lips together and smile contently.

Patty shakes her head, "I'm telling you, be careful how much you lead her on."

"I'm not even leading her on. She just got out of a long-term relationship. She is a mess, and trust me, I know she doesn't want a relationship unless it's her ex crawling back to her."

"How nice to know you're taking advantage of her. Classic Nathan."

"I'm not. We got things sorted out. Whenever it happened, we talked about it, and she was the one who said it was nothing."

Patty widens her eyes like an old lady that can finally catch up on some good gossip, "So, it happened more than just once."

"What?"

"I knew you two have done it, but I had no idea it turned into a habit." She crosses her arms and leans on the doorframe.

"You're the one calling it a habit, not me."

She chuckles and smiles into the distance when she probably makes eye contact with Annabelle, "I know that it's in your habit to sleep around, just not with the same woman. Look, Nathan, I'm just gonna say you be careful and don't make the same mistake."

The emphasised ending makes me shift uncomfortably. A reference to something that has happened ages ago... It's a weird thing to hear, especially it wasn't even something I'd call a mistake. I suppose that's how Patty tried to get over me, saying it was a mistake.

"Right..."

She smiles weakly, "Have a safe trip."

"Thanks. And I will call May."

Patty nods gratefully, and I start walking away and towards the car where Annabelle and Devon are waiting for me.

I sit inside and first take a deep breath. This day has been exhausting, all the women, the nephews running around, it's been crazy.

"That was actually fun," says Annabelle, despite being just as tired as me.

"It turned out better than expected, huh?" I ask and start the car. In that moment, I look at Devon in the rearview mirror and he's already dozing off. It's a miracle what a car does to a baby.

I drive to the road and then away from this neighbourhood. I take the same directions as before.

"You and Patty still have chemistry, you know?"

I sigh "It's what I keep hearing, yeah."

She sits up and steadies her head on her hand and her body weight on the elbow she puts on the windowsill, "Which confirms my suspicions. You two were a power couple."

I chuckle and nod, "We could make people around us jealous, yeah. But it could get really tense between us, so it wouldn't work out in the long run anyway."

"You can't know that. When I met... Mason, I called him a jerk who should jump off a building."

I furrow my brows, slow the car a bit just so I can safely blink at my disbelief, "You ushered someone to plunge to their death?"

She laughs, nodding and not one bit ashamed of it, "He and his friends from highschool had a gig or something in a real dump of a place and they sucked."

"And then you suddenly had a change of heart?"

"Ahm, he found me after the show has ended and he asked me if I'd like to get a drink with him. That was our first date."

"Why exactly did you say yes?"

Annabelle shrugs, lazily getting comfortable in the seat, "I don't know. I thought it'd be a funny story to tell some people how I went out with a sucky rock star or whatever he wanted to be. He ended up charming me and... Here I am, desperately trying to forget him."

"If it counts for anything, you seem to be doing much better now." I smile and apparently she sees that, because I can hear her smile back at me.

"Definitely better than that night when I had completely broken down. Otherwise, I think I'm slowly getting used to everything changing around me." She makes a smacking sound with her lips, "Not that Caitlin helps with that or anything."

"What do you mean?" But I know what she means. Either Caitlin doesn't show much care or she shows it in a way that is not helpful at all.

"She thinks I'm like her, that I can just turn off feelings for someone and focus on other things, but I'm not." She looks at me, leaning her cheek against the seat, "I always wanted a big brother, but people never understood why. Well, it's Caitlin."

I snort, "I don't either." And I bet May would agree with me.

"You have no say in that, you are the older brother."

"Exactly, I know what kind of things we're capable of."

"Humour me!"

"Okay, let me think," I take a moment to select one of the memories that isn't as bad as most. Before Dad and Mum divorced and I was struck with a sense of responsibility, I probably traumatised May and Daniel for life. "Got one. Alright, understand that May and Danny didn't have to do much to annoy me. My parents had a dog that died when I was around two years old, but we never bothered to get rid of his house. One time May said that they were turned into worms in the kindergarten when the teacher rolled them into their own sheets, and she asked me to do it. I ended up rolling her in a carpet and dumping her in the dog's house, where I left her until my Mum heard distant screams from the backyard. I was seven and May was five at the time."

I look at Annabelle curiously, desperate to hear what she can say about the story. I should've told her the one when I tore May's plushie apart and muffled her mouth with its head. Totally not sociopathic.

Annabelle is glaring at me like she had never heard a more fucked up story. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

I chuckle at her response and relieved I didn't tell her one of the other stories that includes me jumping on May when she was buried under a pile of leaves. I really didn't like May as a kid. "Told you, big brothers are hell. You still want one?"

"And then you claim you took a turn for the worse when you became protective of them? I don't think you have it all sorted out."

"I mean, I was not the nicest brother at home, but if anyone else that wasn't me wanted to mess with them, they had to get through me first."

"Then why were you mean from the start?"

I sigh as I realise I don't have an answer to that. I just... liked it. As an older brother I have the right to torture my younger siblings. "I don't know, I was the eldest kid, Annabelle, I was the superior. But I never took it out on Daniel as much."

"Yah!" She exclaims, "It shows on May."

I stiffle a chuckle. She sounds so accusing it's amusing me. Does she think other older brothers are any better? We all like to torture our little siblings, just because we can.

"It was weird seeing you with your brother and sister, though," she remarks, like half lost in thought. "And it's even weirded that they both have a similarity to you, but not between themselves. It's like they're your kids not siblings."

I make a gagging sound, "I'm gonna stop this car and throw up."

"If this were a Hollywood mystery, the distant relationship you try to show you have with your mother would be a perfect cover."

"Annabelle," I slow the car again, so I can safely look at her. I want her to see how disgusted I am. "I pride myself on my sexual capabilities, but I doubt I could inseminate my mother as a two-year-old!"

"See, you're not denying it."

"Oh my God... This conversation is over. Definitely over."

She chuckles loudly, apparently super happy she can make me feel so disdainful.

Her laughter dies down, but the next second emerges again. I seriously hope what she finds so funny is not the image of me screwing my mother.

"What?"

"Ah, just remembered how Devon couldn't stop gawking at everyone and everything. And he started to jump in my arms when people sang happy birthday."

I smile a little, "Babies and their fascination with the world. How is he doing, though? Is he asleep?"

She shifts and when looks back at him momentarily smiles, "Is somebody still awake? Is somebody a little silent troublemaker?"

Annabelle starts entertaining him, teasing him by tickling his tummy and making all sorts of cute sounds, while I drive us home.

Despite her being dressed so nicely and looking a model next to me, I don't think about Annabelle and her legs or arms or anything about her at all. My thoughts are fixated on Patty, which sounds pretty concerning. She didn't flip. After she had met Annabelle, she really chilled down and I don't trust that.

Patty is not a calm person. She's a cholerical freak-o, not someone who just accepts what happens in the world.

Then my thoughts shift to May. How could I help her in any capacity? She said it before, the thing with the kids and the Grand Canyon, so I'm not particularly sure she wants any of my help. What could I even do for her? Watch a movie with me? We'd kill each other before we'd even get to the TV, and picking a movie is a process I don't want to go through with May ever again.

I'll give her a call in a day or two anyway. If Patty thinks she could use some of my spiteful character, maybe that's really what she needs. Maybe that will warm her up to the fact Bram and Ewan to spend some time at my place. I'd then get the kids for a day or two, she would have time to sit down with Thomas or just think it all away, and by the time they're united again, they'll be at least a little bit happier.

I never thought my sister would ever need me like that. At least, not again.

A/N: It's just one more week of exams and then I'll be free to write and get back on the schedule! Thanks for being so patient with me and sticking with Nathan through thick and thin! Tell me what do you think about this chapter in general. I just like hearing your opinions and points of view!

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~Blackie