"If we miss this flight, she might as well disown you," Brian says from next to me as we hurry over to the check-in line.

I shoot a look at him, "Well, you should've thought about that before you decided to fuck for the third time today."

Steve dares to laugh at my words but immediately shuts up when he catches me glaring at him. He sobers up, offering me a pity smile which makes me roll my eyes.

We are late. So incredibly late.

And this wouldn't be the first flight I would miss. I was supposed to be in New York yesterday. Well, I overslept, which is why Mom always tells me to never book early flights but I was super confident I would catch it.

But honestly, I wasn't even surprised when Steve came to wake me up for breakfast. Ironically, three of us didn't even realise that I missed the flight until Mom called and glared at me through FaceTime.

She can be scary when she wants to be. But she told me to come with Brian and Steve since they are also supposed to be in New York today.

"Let's get on the plane, I am holding my breath until then," Steve says to the two of us and his husband nods at him.

Brian Marks is my Uncle from my Dad's side but I feel weird even calling him that, because he's more like the best friend figure in my life. He has actually seen me at my worst, sometimes worse than Mom but I know he would never judge, so we're pretty chill.

When we're finally on the plane, I sigh, thankful that I have a seat next to the idiotic couple. Steve seems to be talking about something while all I can think about is how much I am ready to get away from Chicago and be back in New York.

I mostly sleep through the flight, and the other two don't even dare disturb me because if they weren't so horny all the time, we might as well have reached the airport early.

"Ahh, the lovely people pushing against each other. I wonder why do I even miss New York." Steve chuckles to himself as we make our way to the exit of the airport.

"Is anyone coming to pick us up?" Brian asks.

"Dad wouldn't forget." I shrug, stating the fact and like I said, I spot Charlie who waves at us. "Ah, there he is."

Charlie is kind of the official family driver here in New York, especially for Dad. But whenever I travel around, he's always the one picking me up from airports.

"Hey, Charles." I grin as we reach him and he pulls me into a hug.

"I waited for you yesterday, and you never showed up. I was so worried," He says and I give him an apologetic smile as I part from him.

"Sorry, I kind of slept in?" I offer and he laughs, nodding before he smiles at Brian and Steve.

He takes our luggage and keeps it in the trunk as I slide in the front seat. Charlie's probably in his mid thirties, but he's a charmer with his british accent rolling off.

"Did you have a nice summer?" He asks me and I nod, looking back at those two smiling at me.

"Had the best hosts." I shrug and Charlie smiles at them through rearview mirror.

We continue to make the small talk for another forty minutes until we reach home. Home. I never realised how much I missed this place until it comes into the view and I am getting out of the car before Charlie can even properly park it.

I rush to the porch, ringing the door bell and when the door turns open, I hear a high pitched squeal that makes me laugh loudly as she wraps her arms around me, hooking me down a little. God, I have missed this little ball of sunshine.

"What's going on here?" I hear another husky voice coming from behind but as soon as his eyes land on me, he literally pushes her away and wraps his arms around me.

"Wow, you're small." Caiden jokes, making me jab my elbow in his stomach.

"Can I at least step inside the house?" I look at the two of them and they immediately give me way to get in the house and pass the foyer area to move into the living room.

As soon as I do, my mother looks up from her lap where she's stroking my younger brother's hair. His gaze moves from her to me, making him immediately sit up to rush to me and I pull him to myself.

"Hey baby brother." I kiss his forehead, making him smile at me widely.

Ohana comes behind her twin brother Odion, and wraps her arms around the two of us, making my heart swell a little as I look at the two of them.

"I got you both loads and loads of chocolates," I whisper to them, "Just don't tell Mom."

Ohana giggles while Odion pulls me down to his height to kiss me on the cheek, which is enough gesture for me to know that this is his way of saying thank you.

"Well, too bad, Mom can hear everything," My mother says, standing up from the couch as she crosses her arms and eyes me.

I give her a sheepish smile as I walk to her, but she immediately opens her arms as soon as I am within distance and I hug her, realising I have missed her shit loads.

"Happy Birthday, Mom."

"Happy Birthday, Em." She kisses the side of my head, something she has been doing probably since the day I was born before she lets go of me. "Where are those two idiots?"

"We come bearing gifts." Brian announces as he gets inside the house, Steve following him as they dump the luggage in the foyer.

Brian walks straight to my mother and gives her a hug but Steve's attention is only on Odion as he picks him up in his arms, even though that ten year old is too heavy for him to hold up.

"How you doing, kid?" Steve asks, earning a look from me but Caiden walks upto my side, throwing one of his arms around me, making me wonder how in the hell has he grown so tall just over a month.

"F– f.. fine." Odion grins as he completes the word, and I see now everyone is looking at them.

Odion has a speech problem. He stutters, a lot which is why he developed a habit of mostly saying just Mum at the age of five. Ohana and him are always together, like each other's shadow and it's like she's his sentence-completer.

On rare occassions when Odion does speak up, I see how proud he feels of himself, but at the same time the longer it takes him to complete a word or sentence, the more discouraged he gets.

"Well, I see it's a full house."

I turn around and notice Dad standing by the couch as he looks at me, his face split into a smile that makes me rush to him and he immediately pulls me in a hug.

"Missed you, kid." He kisses my forehead.

"Well, can't say the same. Brian and Steve are pretty awesome." I tease as I take a step back and high five Brian who throws a smirk his brother's way.

"Come here, you a—"

Before he can complete, Mom cuts him off, "Aaron, kids!"

Dad looks at Ohana and Odion who are waiting for him to complete his sentence and realises he was just about to slip up. So he immediately rectifies it, "You amazing person?" He offers Brian who laughs before hugging him.

"Nice try, big brother."

Odion squirms away from Steve's grasp and goes to sit on the couch quietly and Ohana follows behind, taking a seat next to him. They look way too much alike for fraternal twins, having the same dark brown hair. But their physical features are more similar than that, and when they were babies, I actually got confused sometimes until I looked at their eyes because Ohana has green eyes like Mom and Odion has blue ones like Dad.

Caiden bumps my side and I look up at him. God, when did sixteen year old teenagers started growing to be so tall? He grins at me, and I reach my hand up to mess up his brown hair, making him pout at me instantly as his blue eyes shine underneath his locks.

"Mum, Millie's fighting with me." He yells and I gasp.

"I am not!" I turn to my parents who are looking at the two of us with nothing but amusement.

"Yes, you are," He grumbles, shoving at my shoulder and I elbow him in the stomach.

"So not."

"Dad!" I whine, turning to my father who looks between the two of us before wrapping one arm around Mom's shoulder.

He looks down at her with a smile, "Feels like home, yeah?"

"Definitely." She agrees, grinning, making Caiden and I roll our eyes.

"Aren't you both supposed to be at work? It's the middle of the week." Steve frowns at both of my parents who shrug in return.

"We took a day off. It's not everyday your daughter turns twenty four and your wife keeps getting younger," Dad says, setting himself down on the couch and I sit down on the floor, Caiden sitting by my side.

"Don't speak of my age. It's a constant reminder of white hair." I shush him up, making everyone laugh.

"You have white hair?" Caiden asks, immediately moving his fingers in my hair and I push him away.

"Sarcasm, my child. Ever heard of it?" I scowl at him, but he only finds the whole thing amusing.

Before we can get in another banter, Dad speaks up, looking at Brian, "How are Ian and Lily?"

Brian frowns, "I moved out at eighteen, remember? Don't live with them anymore."

This causes my father to roll his eyes, "I know, smartypants. But I haven't talked to them in a while. Have you?"

"Yup, just last night. Mum's fine, Dad's grumpy about old age." He laughs and I smile at him. "Em visited them."

"You did?" Mom asks, a little surprised and I nod.

Ian and Lily are Dad's biological parents, about whom he didn't know until he was an adult, probably in his early twenties. His adoptive parents were a little overprotective of it all, so they hid it from him but when he found out about it, he wanted to meet them.

And that led to the reconnection of their relationship. But he still doesn't refer to them as 'Mom' or 'Dad'. I think my mother once told me that he made some kind of promise to GrandMom and GrandDad, who are Dad's adoptive parents.

My siblings and I have more grandparents than anyone else. Well, first it's my mother's maternal Uncle Marcel and Aunt Shelly, who are Gramps and Grams. They live in New York only, just forty five minutes away from this home. Then it's my mother's parents... Granpa and Granny, David and Viviana Rose. Granny passed away when I was a kid, but I have bits and pieces of it in my mind, only the bad parts though because I remember how much it impacted Mom. However, Granpa refuses to leave Larkspur and come live with us here, and I know my mother stresses a lot over his health.

Then comes from my Dad's side, which includes his adoptive parents, Robert and Patricia McCall, whom I call GrandDad and GrandMom. And then, of course, Dad's biological parents, Ian and Lily Marks, a.k.a, Pops and Mimi. It's not difficult to connect the dots and realise that Brian is technically Dad's biological brother, and I also have an aunt from that side, Amelia. They all have super genes because all of them are super good looking even though they are all so grown up.

I nod at my mother, "Yeah, I spent a day with them. They both miss you, and the kids."

Dad smiles, and I know he misses them too, "Are they good?" He asks and I nod.

"Pops doesn't age, remember?" I joke and Brian laughs, "Mimi's good too. Makes as amazing food as ever, unlike someone I know."

My mother gasps at me, throwing a cushion my way and I duck but her target is way off, so it hits Caiden, making everyone laugh.

"You don't insult the food you've eaten for twenty four years!" She gives me a look and I bite my tongue to stop myself from laughing.

"Mom, I think that food includes burger and pasta only, because I am pretty sure Dad made the rest of it." I tease, and Dad tries not to laugh but fails, earning a slap on his shoulder from her.

"What? I am not even saying anything." He defends himself and she glares at him.

"Yeah, sure. All of you can make dinner tonight then."

"That seriously worked?" Steve laughs, looking at me and I shrug.

My mother looks between all of us before standing up, "You're all the worst. I am never making food for anyone again."

She's about to storm away when Dad catches her arm and pulls her to himself, making me look away because they both can be immensely gross lovey-dovey couple which annoys the shit out of all of us.

"We love your food, just messing with you." He reassures her.

"Speak for yourself, Dad," Caiden says and I finally look at them, noticing how that earned my brother a glare from our parents.

But in reality, we are just messing with her. She makes food just fine, but pasta and burgers are like her go-to when she can't figure out what else to make. So there have been days when I have eaten the same food for two days in a row when I was living here or at our home before this which was basically an apartment.

"If you don't shut up in next two minutes, I am telling everyone what happened on your eleventh birthday." Mom narrows her eyes at him and he gasps, color immediately rising to his cheeks.

"You wouldn't." He looks at her with so much fear that I turn to Dad

"Why do we not know about this?" I ask him.

He shrugs, "Who says I don't?" He smirks, looking at Caiden whose jaw literally falls open.

"Oh my god, you promised me you wouldn't tell anyone! Especially Dad." He accuses Mom, making her laugh.

"There are no secrets between Mom and Dad, kid," Dad tells him before kissing Mom's cheeks and she smiles at him in return.

Odion stands up from the couch and makes his way to Mom. He doesn't say anything, just lies down on the small space on couch, keeping his head in her lap and she immediately smiles down at him, stroking his hair as she leans forward and presses a kiss on his forehead.

"You okay, buddy?" Dad asks him and he nods in return, closing his eyes.

Ohana looks at him with a little worry in her eyes before she turns to me and I pat the space next to me on the floor, making her smile a little as she comes to sit next to me.

"How are you, little girl?" I ask, realising she hasn't spoken a single word since I came.

"Awesome." She smiles, "Did you get me a lipstick?"

I shake my head, laughing a little, "Remember what I told you? Turn a little older and I'll get you a whole stock." I promise her and she pouts.

"Pinky promise?" She holds out her finger and I nod, intertwining it with mine.

"Pinky promise."

Just then, the doorbell rings and I look at everyone, because no one attempts to move, making me groan. "Lazy bunch," I grumble.

"You're one to talk," Brian smirks at me and I shake my head at him.

I move past foyer and open the door, but as soon as I do, my breath catches in my throat as I look at her standing in front of me. She's wearing a blue dress that hugs every inch of her olive skin, her red hair are curled at the ends and she stands with a little smirk on her face.

"Holy—"

She doesn't even let me complete before she steps forward, and her lips meet mine, immediately shutting me up. I sigh at the touch of our lips, kissing her back briefly before I pull away.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, my hands going around her waist as I pull her closer to myself.

"Happy Birthday, Emily McCall." She grins.