**Kota**

As soon as I drove away from Sang standing in my driveway all I wanted to do was go back to her. To hold her in my arms, to kiss her soft lips again. Our first kiss and already I was anxious for another. The only thing that crosses my mind on the drive is her. How her giggle is the most beautiful sound in the world, how bright her emerald eyes light up when she's happy, and how the reasons for her happiness include us. The way her blush spreads across her face when she's embarrassed, or that little pout she does when she's upset. God! No matter how much I think it's the most adorable face ever, I hate to see her in pain. I'd sell my soul if it meant keeping a smile on her face, I'd do anything for that girl. My girl. My beautiful little Ten.

I arrive at the place where I'm supposed to meet Mr. Blackbourne. It's a beautiful spot, a huge park surrounded by trees. The perfect place for an Academy meeting. I can see docks extending from the bank of trees every few yards, I suppose this helps keep the aspect of privacy. I park my car and get out to take in my surroundings; I see Mr. Blackbourne standing near a tall Oak tree staring out at the water. I approach him cautiously as to not frighten him.

"It's a beautiful day isn't it Mr. Lee?" he asks without turning around.

"Of course sir. But if I may ask, why are we meeting out here?"

"We're here because there's something we wish to share with you."

I wait a beat for him to continue, when he says nothing I ask, "We sir?" I don't see any other member of my team around so his statement has me confused.

"Mr. Griffin is waiting for you by the dock," he says, I shift my gaze from him to the water and see Nathan standing on the edge of the closest dock, his back to us. "I'll let him speak to you first, you can come back here when you're done."

Without further discussion I walk towards my best friend to see what is so important. He knows that he can tell me anything, why bring Mr. Blackbourne into this? It must be serious if we couldn't just discuss it amongst ourselves. Before he even gets to speak I make a vow to myself to hear what he has to say, because at the end of the day we're family, and family is a choice.

"Nathan?" At hearing my voice, he looks over his shoulder and gives me a small smile.

"Hey Kota."

I go to stand next to him on the edge of the dock. From past experience I know not to rush him, so I just stand there next to him enjoying the view. When he finally gets his thoughts together he says, "Remember when we were little, how after my mom left, Erica practically took me in as her own?"

I don't see where this is going, but it's better to let him get there in his own time, so with a smile of my own I reply "Yea, I remember."

"I use to be jealous of all the attention she gave you, knowing I could never get the same from my own mom."

He seems lost in his own memories I don't interrupt him. I'm not sure what this is all about, but if the look on his face is any indication, this is important to him.

"It took joining the Academy for me to realize that even though you were her blood son, she could love me just the same. *sigh* I need you to hear me out Kota, because what I'm about to say... just promise me you'll listen ok?" He looks to me for confirmation, and with a nod of my head he begins his story.

"When we first met Sang, we all agreed that having any kind of physical relationship with her would have to wait until she was ready. These past few months... getting to know her... finding the secrets she tried to hide... learning that her family situation was just as fucked up as ours were. I didn't understand how someone so perfect could come from all of that. How she's still able to smile and laugh and be so open. Not knowing how to trust people but still believe there was good in the world, good in us...complete fucking strangers. She didn't deserve that life; her heart is so big for someone so tiny. I still don't get it. How she can be so loving and loyal. How she trusts us so deeply when we we're keeping things from her. I think that's what made me fall in love with her. I love everything about her. The way her big green eyes light up when she sees me. The way her laugh is just so infectious, you'd do anything for her, all she'd have to do is ask." He turns to me and says "I'm not the only one who feels this way." Without waiting for a reaction he turns back to the water. How can he just drop a bomb like that and not wait to see my reaction! Apparently he's not done twisting the knife in my heart because the next words out his mouth are unbelievable.

"Mr. Blackbourne and North met up with an Academy team like ours. Four dogs and one bird. They all fell in love with her, and she loves them all back. They married her Kota, all of them. They live in this house in the middle of nowhere, just her and them. They say it's the only way to keep their team together, that it's the only way it works. If we want to keep Sang with us, we all have to be in agreement. We either love her or lose her, no in-between. I'm pretty sure you love her too... would you be willing to share her completely? It's a hard pill to swallow I know, but finding her in that tree was the best moment in my life. I can't lose her Kota. I don't think I'd survive it. I can't live a life without her in it, even if that means I have to share her with my brothers. Share her with you. If it meant being able to keep her in my life I'd do it, no question. The rest of us are in agreement, we can't lose her. The final decision is yours. Do you love her enough to share her with us? If not then we may lose her, if not to another team then to one of us. Victor or Silas could have her on a plane tonight, out of our lives forever. She could hop on the back of North's motorcycle and we'd never see her again. She trusts us so completely that she wouldn't think twice about going with one of us until she realizes she's never coming back. I see it in their eyes, the way they look at her. They want to, but they know she'd probably never forgive them for breaking up our family because of her. They don't want that, if we can find a way to make this work... for her, they're willing to try. The question is, are you? Can you share her brother? Can you try and make this work... to keep our family together?"

After asking his final question he looks at me, and the depth I see in them tells me that everything he just said is true. Not that I'd expect Nathan to lie to me, I'd just never expect to hear any of those words come out his mouth. The silence that he lets hang tells me that he understands the gravity of what he's asking of me, but I'm not thinking about me. I'm thinking about her, I'm always thinking about her. He says that they're all in agreement, what about her? She couldn't possibly know about their asinine plan. Share her!? Like she's some toy we can pass around? Like what she wants couldn't possibly matter! Apparently all of those questions were visible on my face because his next words shock the hell out of me.

"Sang knows. She doesn't want our family to break up because of her. At the same time, she's calling herself selfish for trying to ask this of us. Like we wouldn't give her the moon and the stars if she asked us. She thinks it's selfish to want all of us, while we only have her. If she could only understand that she's all I'll ever need. All we'll ever need. She may not believe us, but she would believe you."

Why would she possibly believe me! I haven't even kissed her until today and now I'm supposed to just go in tell her that I believe in a plan I don't even think could work? Again Nathan uses his ability to read my face and says, "She's worried that you won't go for it. That you would hate her for even thinking about this."

His last words make me snap, and all the counting in the world couldn't keep me from laying into him. "I could never hate her! How did we get here Nate? How is it possible that we end up saving the one girl whose perfect for us individually and together in every way? The odds of this ever happening are slim and none! And the odds of this asinine plan? Even lower! God! I can't believe North is even considering it! His tempers so short if anyone even comes near her he turns into a guard dog!"

"Anyone but us." Nathan says quietly.

"What?"

"He turns into a guard dog with anyone but us. Wanna know why? It's because he knows that we love her as much as he does. He knows that if he can't be there for her, for any reason, we'll take care of her! He knows that we'll be there. Always! The way I see it, I feel good knowing that if I can't be there for her, one of my brothers will be! And she'll never be alone because they know how much she means to me, because she means the exact same thing to them! This is our family Kota! She is a part of our family now! And if you care anything about this family, you'll save your questions for after you go to her and tell her how you feel! GO ON! I dare you! Tell her how much you love her, tell her that you want to run away with her, tell her that it'll just be you and her from now on! But before you do get ready to see the hurt in her eyes at having to leave the rest of us behind to make you happy! She'd do anything for you Kota! HELL she jumped off a second story balcony so you wouldn't have to!"

He takes a step back and runs his hands down his face, and then back up into his hair. I've never seen him get this emotional before, not when his dad hits him, not even after his mom left. This is a whole new side of Nathan that I've never seen before, and I already know why. She brings it out of us, she goes into the deepest parts of our soul and just stays there. She lets us know that she'll always be there, and that it's ok to lose control every once in a while; because she'll be there, and she'll never judge us. I think it's in that moment that I finally admit to myself what Nathan has been trying to say. I'm in love with Sang Sorenson, and I'd probably die without her.

"I need to talk to Sang." I say quietly.

Nathan must have been deep in his own thoughts because my words bring him out of his haze. He looks over to me and sighs, then slowly shakes his head. "Don't mess this up Kota, I know you love her too but... please... don't take her away from me."

The pained sound in his voice makes my next step obvious, and with equal pain in mine I turn and say, "I need to talk to Sang." As I walk back to where Mr. Blackbourne is waiting I know that I don't have as many questions as I did when I first got here. And only one of the few questions in my mind are for him. As I reach him, he regards me intently, watching my every move.

"Mr. Lee?" he says.

Without the pleasantries I skip right to the heart of the matter, our heart. "Do you think this will work?"

He doesn't seem all that surprised by my question because his answer is "In short, yes, I do believe this could work."

"So you love her too?" I ask.

Again, not surprised by my question, "Yes, I do. Very much."

I turn this over in my head and wonder how I didn't see any of this sooner. It may not matter much now, but I suppose I can understand why they saved me for last. My upbringing may have had something to do with it, but deep down I know it's because of who they see me as: Dakota Lee-Team Lead, Control Freak. Because if this works, I'd have to give up control. It would rest solely on her shoulders, her tiny little shoulders. Who are we to put that kind of pressure on anyone, let alone her. The girl we all love; the one person we would do anything for. But I get it, because if this is going to work... it has to be her choice.

I break out of my self-imposed drama to look back at Mr. Blackbourne. I give him a small nod and tell him, "I need to talk to Sang." I suppose he understands why, because he doesn't stop me as I walk back to my car. When I get in the driver's seat I pull out my phone and compose a text to Sang.

Kota: I need to talk to you.

Putting all of my hopes and fears to the side I press send and go to buckle my seatbelt, because I'm sure I'm in for a long, bumpy ride.