'If you don't put that down, Hendrick, I'll make sure Santa knows what you've done.'

Nanda didn't agree with her brother's parenting but she would rather not clean up shattered glass. She watched the small boy slowly lower the decorative trinket while under his father's piercing stare. Hendrick rose from his squat before turning back to the plastic bricks sprawled out on the rug. The old muse became new again, the mindless babble resuming like he hadn't just risked a moment of mania and chaos.

'Our lives were altered as soon as those chubby legs found their strength to stand,' Hugo said half-bitterly. He loved his two-year-old son to the ends of the Earth. His blonde hair, blue eyes and his explorative yet cautious demeanour made Hendrick the cutest thing to ever grace Hugo's life. But with curiosity came the horrors of grabby hands that didn't always grip so tightly. And now at the height of most coffee tables, Hugo and his wife, Tallulah, spent most of their time making sure nothing was within their son's reach.

'Do you mind watching him while I finish off the cake?' Tallulah asked Nanda. 'I haven't iced it yet since there was no way it would've survived the road trip here.'

'I can for a minute, but why doesn't your husband do that?'

'Yeah, Hugo, why don't you do that?'

'I'm watching him!' the man defended, gesturing a hand to his son from the sofa. His gaze then returned to the TV, where a football game was resuming after half-time. Nanda and Tallulah exchanged a look that communicated the same thing.

The truth was that Nanda would have gladly watched Hendrick all day. She loved her nephew, but any minute now, there was going to be a knock at the door that she had to tend to. Under no circumstances, could Hugo answer it out of a desire to be helpful. So, while Tallulah slipped into the kitchen, Nanda crouched to peer out the window as subtly as possible.

'You know there's a cigarette smell up in my old bedroom, right? Did you leave the windows open or something?' Hugo asked without looking away from the TV. Nanda cursed Joost's friends who had stayed over a few months ago. She knew that them smoking out the window would do the opposite of their intent.

'Sorry. Must have been one the neighbours in their back garden.'

'What, old Muriel and Jack? They'd keel over at the sight of a cigarette. There's no way they'd be smoking at their old age.'

'Their daughter used to smoke. Remember when we would come home from school and see her out the front?'

'Boy, do I remember...'

Nanda resisted swatting at her older brother's shoulder. The fantasising look on his face was half-hearted and he snickered when he caught his sister's glare. They both knew that his wife was the only woman he would ever think about.

The series of knocks against the front door made Nanda perk up. She felt Hugo's confused stare that moved from the TV to her retreating back. He would have gone to the window to see who had arrived, having not been told that they were expecting more visitors. But as a tower of bricks fell from Hendrick's clumsy hands, the sniffles and whines drew all of Hugo's attention.

Swinging the door open, Nanda ushered the couple in with a hushed greeting. The living room, where Hugo was consoling a sniffling Hendrick, was only a few strides away. She would hate for the surprise to be ruined in the thin, cramped hallway. It would also increase the chances of Joost being shoved back out the front door before he could even have a chance to talk.

'We brought strawberries because I didn't what else everyone would like,' Elke admitted. She held the bowl of cut-up fruits sheepishly while Joost shrugged of his coat behind her.

'No, these are perfect. Tilli can put these on her cake.'

Elke beamed at Nanda's suggestion and happily handed over their addition to the evening. The older woman offered Elke a small smile before meeting Joost's eye over her shoulder.

Her youngest brother loomed with a troubled brow and a tight jaw. She could tell he was nervous, the back of his shaggy hair puffed out from how often he had shaken it in a twitching figit. A blonde beard occupied his face, making Joost even more different than the last time Hugo would have seen him. Nanda and Joost hoped that Hugo's reaction would be as subdued as possible.

But while Elke was calm and anchouring the two with her relaxed shoulders and smile, Joost struggled to contain his raging anxiety.

'Come on,' Nanda turned and gestured her head down the hallway. 'If you don't do it now, you never will.'

Joost took a deep breath. He waited for Elke to take the first step and found his heart pulling out of his chest in an attempt to follow. Having her in front of him made Joost feel protected, like anything that was thrown at him would be minimised just by her presence. Joost feared straying too far behind her, so careful not to tred on her heels, the man slipped his hand into hers from behind.

At Nanda's entrance, Hugo adjusted his son on his lap without turning and said,

'I think Tilli brought some apple pouches. He might have to eat early-'

He paused as he looked up and became aware of the new people in the living room.

While Hendrick continued to fuss around, Hugo stared at the bearded face he recognised. It was the same face that used to bother him to play on his PlayStation. But instead of round cheeks and a cheeky grin, Hugo's younger brother had grown up in their years apart.

'What is he doing here?' he couldn't stop the venom that hinted his words. Letting Hendrick shrink to the ground, Hugo suppressed his urge to stand by focusing his offended stare on his sister.

'Why don't you ask him instead of me?' Nanda deflected and turned to head to the kitchen. 'Elke, you might want to remove yourself. This could get ugly.'

'It's okay. I'll stay.'

Nanda admired the way Elke didn't even consider leaving Joost alone. The young woman even pulled the man from behind her through their interlinked hands. Forcing him to stand in front, Elke wasn't fazed by the intensity between the brothers. While Nanda slipped out the room with the bowl of strawberries, the living room was blanketted in a heavy air.

Joost needed a cigarette, maybe three. Not only was Hugo staring up at him, but the toddler that had stiffled his whines was now doing the same with identical eyes. As if one male Klein wasn't enough, Joost was suffering two stares that held the same confusion, but for different reasons.

'Hey, Hugo...' he tried, clearing his throat. 'How are you?'

'I really couldn't tell you, right now.'

Joost was spared an uncomfortable moment as he glanced to Elke beside him, who hadn't said anything about the iron grip he had on her small hand.

'Um, this is Elke.'

'Nice to meet you,' her soft greeting made Hugo lower his head into a nod.

In contrast to the tall, tattooed man beside her, Elke was different than any woman Hugo imagined Joost would ever be seen with. Her dress sense was drastically different; flowy pants and a mini tee accompanied her wavy, brown hair and soft brown eyes. Hugo found her strikingly pretty, something that he understood Joost's infatuation with. But next to the blonde, who stood in knee length shorts with writing over the crotch and with a long-sleeve compression top underneath a polo, Elke looked like she was from a different world.

'We've uh... we've just moved back here. We're in the next suburb over,' Joost decided to say.

'Amsterdam not enough for you anymore?'

'More like too much. I quit the shop. I don't drive anymore.'

This made Hugo's eyebrows shoot upwards. It was something that he thought he would never hear from his younger brother.

He witnessed, first hand, the type of things Joost was involved in. Once he and Nanda became aware of Joost's profession, he was already too far in to be pulled out. So before now, Hugo had abandoned the idea that Joost would ever step away from the illegal work.

'Well, that's a surprise. Is that why you're weeding your way back here?'

'I'm not weeding anything. I'm... trying to reconnect with my roots...'

While Joost was struggling to explain himself, Elke felt a tug on her pant leg. She looked down to see the once whining toddler now at her feet with a building brick in hand. With golden hair and a heart-shaped face, Hendrick bawled Elke's pants in his tiny fist.

Elke never found herself around children. She offered an awkward smile at the boy in an attempt to make him do the same. When he didn't, Elke glanced up to see if she could get some help. Hugo stood from the sofa and scooped Hendrick up from the floor. The boy unlatched his fist from Elke's pants and was now face-to-face with him as he was balanced on his father's hip.

'If you're looking for some sort of forgiveness, then it's going to take more than that, Joost,' Hugo spat, mustering a glare at the man. 'You can't just walk in and expect things to be the way they used to be. Things have changed.'

And so have I, Joost thought to himself.

Walking around Elke, Hugo left the living room with Hendrick in his arms. Elke resisted a grimace at his harsh words and snuck a glance to Joost beside her. With a crestfallen expression, Joost slipped his hands into his shorts. He knew it wasn't going to be easy but it didn't soften the blow of his older brother's rejection.

'I deserved that,' he mumbled.

'No, you didn't. I think he's just getting over the initial shock of seeing you. You'll just have to work at it.'

Joost looked to the girl beside him and softened at her smile. Elke was hopeful, even more so than he was. He adored her optimism, faith and slight naivety at rekindling his and Hugo's relationship. It made Joost hook his arm around her shoulders to pull Elke into his side. She willingly stepped to be flush against him and looped her own arm around his back.

'I wasn't exactly a saint, liefje. Hugo has every right to be like this,' he mumbled against her hair. Joost's lips moved against the soft strands, heating the side of Elke's head in a comforting huff. He eyed the pictures lining the fireplace's mantle over the top of the short woman and caught the photos of himself, Nanda and Hugo. It made Joost feel worse that he had thrown away what he used to have. But he was determind to get it back, because for the first time, Joost had a support beam that he trusted with all his heart.

'He'll come around,' Elke said, her chest soaring at feeling Joost's lips in her hair. 'With Nanda's help, I'm sure you guys will be brothers, again.'

---

The dinner wasn't as tense as Elke expected it to be. Sat next to Hugo's wife, Elke's attention was drawn to the toddler in the highchair. In between her own bites, Tallulah fed Hendrick some soft foods with a baby blue spoon. He opened his pouty lips expectingly and chewed with big cheeks as his mother fed him his dinner.

At one point, Hendrick's blue eyes shifted to the young woman he didn't know. He swallowed his food as Elke smiled, making the corners of his lips curl with a twinkle growing in his eyes. His smile was infectious, much like Joost's, and Elke giggled when Tallulah caught tht exchange between the two.

'Oh, he likes you!' she cheered.

'Really?'

'He almost never smiles. It's only when he sees things he likes,' Tallulah commented as she fed him another spoon. 'And when he sees his dad, of course.'

At the mention of the Klein, Elke looked to where Hugo sat at the end of the table with Nanda next to him. He avoided looking at the seat opposite, where Joost sat in conversation with his sister. Nanda was attempting to draw Hugo in with the willingness of the youngest of the three. But most attempts were shut down with a clipped, one word answer.

'How's your car going?' Nanda tried. 'Have you looked into that noise you said it was making during the ride here?'

'It's fine. It started up again but I'll deal with it later,' Hugo said tonelessly.

'We should do it soon, schat. I don't want to breakdown on the side of the road on the way home,' Tallulah leaned around to peer at her husband. Hugo glanced to her and pondered the nuissance of breaking down with Hendrick in his carseat.

'Joost could take a look?'

Elke's suggestion made a pause settle over the dinning table. Joost, Hugo and Nanda simultaneously turned their heads to the brunette, showing their similarities in looks and expressions. Nanda bit her lip while Joost's parted. Elke's suggestion had momentarily stunned him but he turned to gage Hugo's expression amidst his surprise.

With a slight scowl, Hugo's eyes shifted to his brother. Joost was hopeful when Hugo looked at him for longer than a few seconds, making it the longest exchange they'd had since sitting down to eat.

'Y-Yeah, I can have a look after this,' Joost gestured to their half-eaten dinner. 'I have a job now so I can even take it in tomorrow if you'll still be here.'

Hugo hesitated. He hated to feel himself giving in at the combination of Joost's hopeful look and his wife's persistant stare on his side.

'Alright. Thanks, Joost,' he sighed and scooped up some of his dinner. Joost tried not to grin and sufficed with a,

'No problem.'