this is a girly looking set but i don't care ;)

this is a girly looking set but i don't care ;) by ssaarah 

"It was about f.ucking time." My nephew muttered under his breath as he opened the door to his place. I smirked at his choice of words. Ben always did have an attitude problem. At least that’s what Ava called it when we were growing up.

"Language Ben, there's a kid here for f.uck's sake." I whispered as I grinned at him, not even bothering saying sorry for being late because I was barely 15 minutes and that was early for me if I had court. Ben groaned but smirked eventually, taking the carton boxes from my hands as he made his way to the kitchen,

"Hilarious." He said flatly, looking worse for wear when his son ran into the room.

"Uncle Ames!" Gabe squealed, grinning wide and looking so much like his father I couldn’t help but grin back at him just as big.  

"Hey big boy." I grinned at him, messing with his hair, "What's up?"

"Is it true that we're having pizza? Papa never lets me eat pizza." He asked seriously, giving Ben a look before smiling at me.

"Never? Lies again Gabriel?" Ben raised one eyebrow at him, grabbing him by his waist to set him on a stool by the kitchen island and I gave him an amused look.

"Uh oh, full name means trouble."

"Sorry papa." He frowned at him, knowing that it was what he wanted to hear, then looked back at me again with a smile. "I'm a good boy."

"Are you now?" Ben grinned at him, setting a slice fuming pizza under his nose before giving a few to me and getting a couple for himself.

"Maman always says so." He nodded and grabbed his slice, his mouth opening wide before sinking his small teeth into the food, looking like a little famished monster. Damn that kid was cute. Ben sighed and looked at me while handing me a beer.  

"See? I'm the one in trouble here."

“Apparently.” I glanced at Ben, he seemed off, usually when he had Gabe he looked thrilled, and even when he didn’t he was a pretty easy going guy. I wondered what was up.

“And I'm up late!” he said grinning as I realized my tardiness might also push his bedtime further back. I forced a yawn.

“Well that’s not good, sleep is good for you.” Gabe blinked at me and then his little mouth yawned too.

“It is?” he blinked and Ben smirked, running his hands over his sons hair.

“It’s bedtime when you’re done with dinner Gabe.” He nodded and then grinned when he looked back at me to lean in.

“Eat slowly.” He whispered making me want to crack up. He was freaking cute. Always. I ruffled his hair again and took a sip of my beer before looking back at Ben who still seemed preoccupied with something. Girl trouble maybe? That would be a little bit of a bummer. Even though Ben was a strong supporter of me leaving Odette? We were kind of on the same page girl wise. Not for the same reasons of course….but it was nice having someone not judging you even if you were being an as.shole. If he went and got himself a real girlfriend I’d have to find someone else to go out with. Then again I guess I kind of had a girlfriend…..that thought made me a little uneasy.

“How’s work?” Ben asked, knowing I was in the middle of some ridiculous sexual harassment shoot with one of our girls. I took those kind of things very seriously but sometimes they were tricky. Either way photographers needed to learn there was a difference between asking a model to change and trying to help her change. A big one.

“Annoying.” I sighed, shaking my head. “The girl’s not exactly innocent, not that that means she deserved it but you know…” I shook my head. No girl is ever “asking for it” but that didn’t stop other lawyers from throwing her character under the bus and making her come off as a slu.t.

“What is innocent?” Gabe asked me, blinking his eyes and looking genuinely curious. I grinned and poked his nose.

“It’s a good thing. It’s what you are.” I teased while Ben smirked.

"Papa?" He turned to Ben still chewing his pizza, "I'm good?"

"No you're not because good boys don't talk while eating." He raised one eyebrow at him, never missing a chance to teach him how to behave, which was hilarious to me since he had been the king of playing with his food as a kid.  "What?" he asked as he noticed me smirking at him.

"Nothing, you're just..." I trailed off, smirking and taking a sip of my beer instead of finishing my sentence. It was weird to see someone so close to me with a son sometimes, especially since he was younger, not by much but still. If only the world had no drugs maybe I’d have a baby by now too.

"Just?"  he pushed, his eyes going back and forth between his son and me friend while we ate. I shrugged.

"Such a dad." I said finally before winking at Gabe, "You're a lucky boy." Gabe just frowned at me, probably not understanding what we were talking about, then shrugged and focused on his food again. How nice it must be to be five. Not a care in the world.

"Can I have some water please?" He asked instead.

"Yes you can." Ben grinned at him as he filled his glass, clearly proud of him behing so polite.

"This is so weird." I shook my head, with a smile. It had been five years but it was still surreal to me sometimes. "You're my nephew and you already have a son." Ben laughed since I never really called him that.

"You're just five years older than me." he pointed out. I parted my mouth to talk, but before I had the chance to Gabe cut him off.

"Can I go papa?" He asked, looking at him with his big green eyes that were the one thing separating him from looking just like his father.

"Where do you want to go little man?" I asked, leaning into him from across the counter and staring at him with a smile.

"I can watch cartoons before sleeping." He said carefully, as if he wasn't sure about that.

"Go little monster, you have until nine." Ben smiled at him as he helped him jump off the stool, watching him march to the living room. "We're joining you in a sec."

"Unbelievable." he ignored me and sat down again, reaching for his beer,

"So, what's up?"

“Same old same.” I replied seriously, finishing my beer and grinning at Ben when he handed me a second. “You.” Ben shrugged.

“I think I'm done with Celeste.” I chuckled.

“You say that as if you just finished a newspaper or something.” I teased him and he smirked.

“Like you’re much better. Aren’t you dating one of my sisters friends right now?” he teased and I gave him a look

“Yeah because you’ve never done that.” It was a plus having a girl like Chloe as a family member. Attractive women seemed to flock to want to be her friend.

“Yes, but as we’ve discussed, I'm 5 years younger than you.” He winked and I laughed.

“Charlotte’s old enough.” I replied, wincing as I thought about our practically unsaid relationship.

“Does she know what she’s getting into?” he asked, his brow raised. I swallowed and ran my fingers through my hair.

“You’d think Chloe would warn her friends about us by now.” I laughed and Ben shrugged, looking lost in a thought again. “Either way sometimes I catch her looking at me. Like she wants to see a future there.” Ben nodded.

“I’ve seen that look. In my book it’s code for time to finish the newspaper.” I nodded and looked back at him.

“What’s up with you? You’re weird. Is everything okay with Gabe? With Cami?” I was always afraid that one of these days Cami and Ben would struggle on how to separate their lives and keep it together. It was fine when they were both living in Paris, single. But what if she got into a relationship, Cami was a damn catch and I was surprised someone already hadn’t snatched her up.

“Everything’s fine with them.” He swallowed. “It’s Chloe.” I blinked.

“She back to her old ways?” I asked, feeling my chest tighten since I knew just where that road ended. He shook her head and stood up, running his hands through his hair and pacing, making me fu.cking nervous. “Ben….what’s wrong?”

“We were running in the park the other day and some guy came up to her.” I just blinked because….well what else was new? “But Ames you should have seen her, it was like she was a zombie or something.” I stood up.

“What do you mean?” Ben shook his head.

“Turns out when she was in New York for school as a teenager? She dated this guy and….he’d hit her Ames. Worse than hit her. It got so bad she ended up in the hospital, she flew back home early and never told anyone.” I felt my blood boiling. As a lawyer? I’d heard of my fair share of abuse cases and I was dead set against any man hurting a woman. But my neice? My own flesh and blood? I’d seen what that could do to a woman and no wonder Chloe went off the deep end. Hell she was more stable than she could be.

“Who….how….when.” I started, so fucking angry I couldn’t even think. I slammed my fist against the table and Ben nodded.

“Yeah that was about my reaction too.” He agreed.

“Who is he?! Where’s Chloe is she okay?!” Ben shrugged.

“I honestly don’t know. I’d never seen her that way….look….don’t tell our parents…” I shook my head. Ava and Corey would want to know…I knew they went through enough wondering what went on in their daughters head and this explained a lot. But I also knew that it was in the past. And if Ben thought it was okay to keep it from them, at least for now? I’d honor that.

“Does she know you told me?”

"Kind of."  he sighed, looking back at me, "I told her that I wanted to tell you but then we dropped the subject."

"Why?" I raised one eyebrow, "Didn't she want me to know?" Ben shrugged again, looking more tired than when he spent the whole day at Disneyland with his five year old.

"I don't know and I don't care, I couldn't keep this secret all alone." he paused, "And to be honest I wanted your opinion since he's here now and I don't want him to get close to Chloe." I nodded, rubbing my chin, and trying to process. On the one hand, I wanted to find the asshole and rip his throat out. But that wouldn’t really help what Chloe was going through poor thing,

"It's a bad situation, hard to handle at least." I pointed out.

"Don't I know?" he sighed again. "And you know how stubborn she is, I suggested her to go to a therapist since she's obviously still kind of shocked, but she just keeps saying she's just fucked up. She repeats it again and again, still doesn't do anything to change that."  Ben was acting like that was hard to deal with but honestly I saw that kind of behavior a lot. Actually a lot of the trouble Chloe got into was explained. Not that it was right….just that she was….well she was a little damaged. She never dealt with her pain. She probably still thought it was her fault.

"I think she's just really scared and too proud to admit it." I said quietly, offering a smile.

 "I don't know if there's some legal way to keep him away from her..." he trailed off, I wasn’t sure either, besides a restraining order but for that to happen he’d have to hurt her again and no way in hell was that going to happen.

"I'll think about it Ben, I'm going to help you to get some sense in her head."

"Good." He  smiled, looking a little relieved telling me, nothing compared to what Chloe must have felt.  Holding that in for so many years? That’s tough. "Can you try to talk to her too?"

 "I'll try but I won't promise anything." I raised my hands as I smirked, since Chloe had always been a stubborn girl even as a kid.

"Papa!" I screamed from the other room, almost giving me a heart attack, "Water!"

"What?" Ben asked back, rolling his eyes at me as I smirked.  

"Water please." He said again, adding the magic word. He reached for a glass and filled it, starting for the living room, "He'll get me deaf one of these days." I chuckled as I followed him,

"He could be so much worse." I paused, smirking at him, "You were so much worse."

"Lies, I was an angel." He lied.

"Far from it." I let out a small laugh before we both sat down on the couch.

"So, when am I going to meet your girlfriend?" he asked, wanting to talk something normal probably. Gabe's head shot in our direction,

"I don't have a girlfriend. Girls are silly." He said seriously.

"I wasn't talking to you little man." He poked his nose, making him wrinkle it before he lost all the interest and his eyes moved back to the tv.

"Be careful with what you say." Ben warned.

“I'm older than you remember? I'm very wise.” Ben snorted and shook his head.

“Sure.” He nodded though his eyes told me he didn’t buy it. There was something about Alere eyes. They were very expressive.

“You can meet her.” I nodded. “She’s lovely really.” Ben rose a brow.

“Lovely?” he asked, and I laughed at my own choice of words.

“It’s true really. She’s beautiful, she’s fun, smart, good to talk to…. Really great at things I don’t talk about in front of 5 year olds.” I added, smirking as I peeked at Gabe. Ben gave me a face that told me he was searching for her flaw.

“But?” he asked, proving my thought right. I shrugged.

“But I don’t feel anything.” I admitted. “I mean other than attraction.” I swallowed. “And guilt.”

“Guilt huh?” he asked, the emotion was a little forgeign to us when it came to girls. But then again, they knew damn well what they were getting into. Any woman would gladly be used by Ben for as long as he wasn’t bored with her. What women saw in me I wasn’t quite as sure. I was good looking yeah, but I was a work-a-holic and would generally rather be around my family than any girl.

“I can’t let her go. She never did anything wrong.”

“Sounds dangerous.” Ben commented. I shrugged.

“Do you think she’s too young for me?” I asked, remembering my conversation with Mila.

“Yeah.” He smirked.

“I thought so. Milena said the same thing. It’s weird I look at her and I know she’s a baby but with other girls I don’t notice the age difference.” Ben looked at me again.

“No offense, but you’re crazy. Milena is no baby.” He said seriously and I laughed.

“Well not anymore I guess….What about you and your girl?”

"Can't tell." Ben shrugged,

"But I want to know." I pushed as I smirked, then looked at my watch knowing he was using Gabe as an excuse not to talk about it, "Isn't late for this little man?"

"NO!" Gabe said suddenly, apparently paying more attention than it seemed. Smart boy. "Papa please." Ben grabbed him by his waist and forced him to hop down the couch, "Change in your pajamas and you can stay up a little more." He said quietly as he smiled at him.

 "Okay." He said back with a silly smirk on his face before marching to his room while singing the song from the silly American cartoon.

"You can talk now."

"There's not much to know."

"If you're about to dump her, then there's at least something." I pointed out, raising one eyebrow at him.

"I don't know about that." He said casually looking off into nothing.

"Hey, you said that when? Less than one hour ago?" He sighed and ran his hands through his hair like he did every time he was stressed or felt awkward. 

"I don't really want to finish things with her, she's nice, fun, sexy, yet I'm not sure if I want to stay with her either." he reasoned out loud, "If that makes sense."

"I understand you there." I nodded, giving my friend a look. "It sucks."

"Maybe I should try harder." he went on, "She's only 20, I'd feel bad if I hurt her."

"20?! And you said Charlotte is too young." I shook my head.

"Double standard?" Ben shrugged and smirked, "We should go on a double date, we'd drink while they'd play barbies." I laughed hard, loving that Ben had the ability to get that kind of reaction out of me, not many people did.

"You kill me." I paused to take a deep breath, "Do you know that Charlotte is Chloe's age right?" Ben smirked even wider as he glanced at me,

"That proves my point even more."

“You give Chloe too hard a time man.” I said smirking as I shook my head. Ben blinked at me.

“No I don’t.” I just raised my brow at my friend and shrugged.

“Okay.” I said, nodding and sipping the last of my beer.

“What do you mean?” I shrugged.

“I don’t know. Some time since Gabe was born it was like you became the jerk big brother that you should have been when you guys were kids.” Ben scratched the back of his neck and looked back at me.

“You think I'm a jerk to Chloe?” I shrugged.

“I thought you knew you were.” I admitted. “I mean, yeah, she’s a little immature, and can fall off the deep end, but now we know that’s not just her losing her mind, she’s trying to run away from her pain. But you kind of treat her like a 5 year old who isn’t capable of making her own choices. And an idiot. I remember watching you two grow up, how you were the one who taught her how to swim, how to ride a bike, you were so patient and protective of her. Made me want a big brother too.” I shrugged.

“This is the thing though. She isn’t capable of making her own choices!!! Look at what happened to her when she did!” he said his eyes narrowed.

“Look Ben. That wasn’t her fault. She was a kid, hell she’s probably still stuck in that kids mind set half the time. I see it with abuse cases every day. She needs help man not a brother who teases her all the time when he used to be the only one who was there for her.

“I'm not teasing her-“ he started, looking frustrated as Gabe bounded back into the room.

“Can I have some more water papa?” he asked. Ben smiled at his son and ruffled his hair.

“Sure.” He nodded. He followed Ben into the kitchen and I stayed on the couch reaching out for a picture on the table of Cami and Ben the day Gabe was born. I’d never understand what went on between them. Girl’s like Cami were damn hard to find.  I looked up when I heard Gabes feet padding back to the living room and I grinned at him.

"Hey buddy you have your shirt backward." I pointed out with amusement while Gabe just shrugged and fixed it.  

"Okay." He said simply. Super cutie. Ben sat back down next to me and Gabe climbed up on top of him, cuddling his tiny body into his chest and making mine tighten. I wondered if I would ever be a father at this rate. No probably.

"Did you brush your teeth?" Ben asked, making Gabe give his dad an annoyed look.

"He looks a lot like you when he does that." I laughed as I took the two of him in.

"He's a sassy little thing." he grinned as he played with his hair as he looked like he was about to pass out.

“You weren't like this when you were little though..." I trailed off as my eyes dropped on Gabe, "It's like he has your looks and Cami's personality."

"We made him, together, didn't we?" he grinned and again I held my tongue. He even still spoke about her like he loved her. I just didn’t get it. "Listen Ames..." he trailed off, the tone of my voice changing.

"Yeah?"

"About Chloe." he paused, being careful to use a low tone, "I don't know what to do for her anymore. I want to help her but I don't know how, every time we talk we end up fighting or arguing."

"It sounds frustrating." I agreed quietly.

"It is." he sighed, "But maybe she'll listen to you, so please, talk to her and give her the help she needs because I'm lost here." I nodded slowly,

"I'll try."

"I count on it."