Wren stopped counting how many times he'd been on a long ass flight by himself when he was thirteen and that's when it was at twenty. He liked flying but once he'd gotten off whichever flight it was, he was disappointed. For the last fourteen years his home had been England, only coming back to the US during the summer holidays. He'd been living with his great auntie Margot so he could attend a prestigious school for 'troubled boys' which was just a nice way off saying it was an all boys school for delinquents, rich kids with drug problems, potential criminals and the mentally unstable. Wren was unfortunately considered all of the above.

As much as he was looking forward to being back with his sister and living on the outer banks again it wasn't his choice, if he didn't agree to it he would have had no were else too go accept maybe prison and he couldn't put Margot through any more of his shit. So here he was, far too hot and far too many bags waiting at the pickup station with a cigarette in his mouth as he looked in every car for his mom.

She texted him too say she'd be five minutes but that was ten minutes ago and he was starting to get impatient. Just as he'd finished smoking he heard his name being shouted and as he turned too look where it was coming from he was practically tackled, he stumbled slightly but stayed upright because of his size compared to the body that was currently wrapped around him.

"mum get down will you" Wren said as he tried to pry her from him.

"sorry baby I just missed you so much" she had tears streaming down her face as she looked up at him, "when did you get so tall"

"you saw me like six months ago" he said his eyebrow raised.

"yes and you definitely were not that tall" she grabbed the smallest off his bags, "come on, cars over here"

Wren picked up the rest of his bags and followed after Zara as quickly as he could so she didn't get lost in the crowd. When everything was packed in the trunk Wren slid into the passenger side of the car and looked over to his mom with a smile.

"so your still smoking?" Zara gave him a look as she pulled out of the airport.

"what gave you that idea" he gave her a childish grin.

"oh don't look at me like that, I can smell it on you" she tilted her head at him.

"okay then, yes I'm still smoking" he admitted.

"its bad for you Wren I wish you'd listen to me" she rolled down both their windows.

"nice try mum" he smirked and took a cigarette out of the box.

"don't say I didn't try" she shrugged and then turned to him, "give me one will you"

Wrens jaw dropped and he burst out laughing, "what kind of stop smoking speech was that" he lit the cigarette and passed it to her before lighting another for himself.

"just don't tell Delilah" she took a drag and looked over to Wren. "or your dad"

"secrets safe with me" he chuckled between drags of his own cigarette.

When they finally arrived at the house Joseph gave his son a hug and grabbed his bags from the car, the second that Delilah heard the car pull up she started running from her room and immediately jumped into her brothers arms making him drop the bags he was holding.

"I could literally cry right now" Delilah said as she was placed on the ground.

"don't cry you know I hate it, bad enough that mum was blubbing when she picked me up" Wren laughed as he wrapped one arm around Delilah's shoulder and they walked back into the house.

"right I'll get the rest of the bags then, nice one son" Joseph huffed as he lugged multiple bags behind them.

"thanks dad!" Wren shouted back at him.

Straight away Delilah dragged him upstairs to the room next too her own. "your humble abode" she said as she threw herself on the freshly made bed.

"who chose the bedding?" he eyed the blue and white striped duvet cover.

"I wanted to get you the jungle patterned one but dad got his own way" she pouted and ran a hand across the bedding.

"thank god dads got some sense, if I would have came in here and saw jungle bedding i'd turn right around and go back to England" he said sitting down next to her.

They chatted for a while about life and what they'd been up too, Wren was shocked when he very easily found out that Delilah smoked weed. It took him like ten minutes, he went on her balcony and found her bong hidden terribly behind a plant pot.

"oh your very subtle" Wren held up the bong with a smile on his face.

"put it back, dad won't look in a plant pot for paraphernalia" she cocked her eyebrow.

"my little sisters a stoner, where did I go wrong" he said sarcastically and put the back of his hand on his forehead.

"so when are you going to tell me why your home?" Delilah changed the topic.

Wren groaned and sat down on her bed putting his arms over his face, "can't we just pretend that its because I've been really good" he gave her puppy dog eyes.

"no we certainly can not, come on spill" she sat cross legged facing him.

"promise me you won't give me that look" he said as she looked at him confused, "you know the look, the 'your a terrible person' look"

"ah, that look. I promise you I will never ever give you that look" she clasped her hands together and picked at her nail beds.

"well, I may or may not have, slightly, accidentally, burned down one of the buildings on the school grounds" he said through his teeth as he watched his sister.

"I'm sorry, you burned it down? like on fire" she questioned.

"fuck, yes. I burned it down using fire" he ran his hands through his hair.

"how on earth did you manage that?"

"well for a start it was the science building so the chemicals and shit didn't help"

"let me rephrase that question, how did the fire start?"

"oh, I smashed a bottle of vodka on the carpet and then I threw a lighter at the spot that the vodka was in" he grimaced.

"do you have a reason for why you did it?" Delilah was using every technique that her therapist used with her so that he wouldn't feel judged and so far it was working.

"my science teacher failed me and then tried to embarrass me infront of the whole class" he had a look of regret on his face.

"you did this in the middle of the class, like people were in the room?"

"yeah, everyone got out okay, teachers eyebrows got took right off though" his look of regret shifted into a small laugh when he mentioned his teacher.

"see that wasn't bad and I don't think your a terrible person" she held his hand and reassured him. "I'm just glad your home, I've missed my big brother"

"I've missed you too, now come on lets go down stairs before I get sent back to England." he stood and started down the stairs with Delilah following behind her.

The first dinner they had all together again was actually quite pleasant and Zara and Joseph hadn't argued once since they'd got there. Joseph had made them carbonara which was Wrens favourite and Delilah loved it too so it went down quite quickly. When they'd all finished and they were chatting at the table, the topic of Wrens fire came about and of course Zara had to make it uncomfortable.

"So honey" Zara spoke as she put her hand over wrens, "are you still taking your meds?"

Delilah's face practically fell to the floor and Joseph looked at his wife with a look of anger on his face. Wren just snatched his hand back and looked at her dead in the eyes.

"Yes mum, I'm taking my fucking meds" he stood up in a swift motion sending his chair flying backwards.

The one thing Wren hated more than anything was the fact that he had been prescribed medication, he hated being on them but when he weren't on them he couldn't cope and nine times out of ten his violence would take over. Quite frankly neither Delilah or Joseph were surprised when he stormed out into the back garden.

"Nice going mom" Delilah glared as she stood up and went after him.

As Delilah was walking away she could hear it starting, "you just couldn't fuckin' help yourself could you!" Joseph shouted.

The second she was outside she closed the door so she couldn't hear them and spotted her brother sitting by the dock so she hurried over to him. He was smoking and barely noticed her arrive.

"You good?" She questioned.

Wren nodded, "how long was that like three hours" he scoffed, "got to be a new record"

"Try living with them full time" Delilah joked.

"Well I don't want to go back in there" he put out his cigarette on a patch of grass.

"I have a great idea" Delilah said mischievously.

She took out her phone and dialled Sarah's number. Ten minutes later she sent a text to her dad telling him they'd gone to Sarah's and the two of them were in Delilah's boat on route to the Cameron household.

"We're here!" Delilah shouted as her and Wren walked through the door.

"In the kitchen!" Rafe's voice called out.

Delilah and Sarah both watched in awe at the reactions of both Rafe and Wren, boys constantly accuse girls of being dramatic but watching the two of them reunite after so long was the most dramatic thing ever.

"Get a room" Sarah shook her head after the fifth bro hug. "Shall we make food?" She turned and asked Delilah.

"Ooo definitely" Delilah's stomach did a flip at the thought, "but first, let's smoke" she took a pot of weed out of her bag.

"Uhm when did I say you could smoke infront of me" Wren chirped in with a terrible attempt at a straight face.

"Want first hit since this is basically a welcome home gathering" Sarah grinned as she linked onto Delilah's arm.

"Oh go on then" he shrugged and the four of them went outside.

They all took turns smoking and Rafe and Sarah were updating Wren on what was what with them now, Wren shared a slightly more filtered version of what his life had been like recently. Rafe pointed out the fact that Wren had tattoos which led too him giving them a tattoo tour, Delilah's favourite tattoo of his was the dandelion he had on his left shoulder because he'd had a D put into the centre of it for her.

Rafe was most intrigued with two that were on his right arm the first being one of barbed wire that wrapped around his wrist and snaked up his forearm, the second was a strange looking one on his bicep. It was the outline of the top half of a body, the head however was morphed into flames. Almost like it's head was on fire.

"don't you have any dainty cute ones?" Sarah asked as she walked around him studying the tattoos.

"Do I look like I'd have any dainty cute ones?" Wren raised his brows at the blonde.

"No, not really" she shrugged.

"what about this one?" he held out his wrist. There was a small rune tattoo'd over his pulse spot. It was the closest to dainty as he was getting.

"what is it?" Rafe asked as he leaned over too look.

"Have you heard of the mortal instruments?" he let out a low laugh ask he looked at the other boy.

"I have!" Sarah excitedly jumped, "the books by Cassandra Clare" she nodded.

"well its the rune for calming anger" he explained, his sister smiling at the meaning behind it.

"its pretty" Sarah smiled.

The four of them spent most of the night eating and talking until it was almost midnight and Ward came into the kitchen, he was shocked to see Wren and immediately pulled the tall boy into a hug.

"you look more and more like your dad every time I see you" Ward spoke as he looked over the boy. "except that full head of hair you've got" he laughed.

"I've definitely got my mums hair" he nodded.

"oh I don't know, Jc had great hair back in the day" Ward shrugged pouring himself a drink.

"Why do you call him that?" Delilah asked trying to seem as sober as possible.

"what Jc?" he looked at her and she nodded, "oh its just a nickname from when we were younger, Joseph Carlisle... Jc" he explained.

"our dad should not have a nickname" Delilah grimaced as she looked over to her brother.

"he was young once too y'know" he chuckled. "the stories I could tell you" he paused to sip his drink, "he was a right menace when he was here"

"you have to tell us now, come on" Wren protested as Ward walked towards the door.

"Your dad would actually kill me if I told you any of them" he shook his head making the brunette girl pout. "it was good to see you Wren, don't be a stranger" he called as he walked back to his office.

"speaking of dad" Delilah held up her phone showing her brother the three missed calls and five texts, "we best get home before they send us both to England"

Wren nodded and they said their goodbyes to Rafe and Sarah before hopping back on the boat, when they got home Joseph was standing in the kitchen with a glass In his hand and a bright red mark across his face. Delilah rushed over to him and inspected it, he also had a few spots of blood at the corner of his mouth. Joseph smiled at his daughter and then looked up at his son who had sat behind the kitchen island.

"what happened?" Delilah asked, still staring at him.

"y'mum's ruthless, that's what happened." he put his glass on the side and grabbed ahold of his daughters hands gently, "I'm fine Delilah, I promise" he kissed the top of her head.

"where is she, gone back to aunt Tara's?" Delilah said angrily.

Joseph shook his head no, "she's gone to bed, looks like i'm sleeping on the couch" he laughed sadly.

"you can stay in my bed, I'll share with Delilah for now" Wren smiled at his dad.

"you sure, its your first night home." he asked.

"I was probably gonna make up some sort of excuse to bug him all night anyway" Delilah shrugged, "this way I can do it without leaving my room" she grinned cheekily at her brother.

"Thanks son" he nodded.

Joseph gave Delilah a hug and then patted Wren on the shoulder before heading to Wrens room to sleep. Delilah made a bunch of snacks and then her and Wren went upstairs too, They smoked on the balcony and then Wren got at the bottom of the bed whilst Delilah was at the top.

"So, are they always like that?" Wren asked his little sister.

She sighed and nodded, "mom spends most of her time anywhere but here, when she is here they're at each others throats"

"why didn't you tell me?"

"hardly anything you could do from the other side of the world." she game him a sheepish smile.

"well, i'm here now" he assured her. A few minutes of silence passed before he spoke again, "does he hit her back?"

Delilah sat herself up and looked at her brother. "never, he won't lay a hand on her. I've had to literally pull her off him a few times" she choked the words out.

"i'm so sorry" Wren whispered and dragged his hands over his face.

"it's not your fault our moms a bitch" she tried to lighten the mood.

"No, I mean I'm sorry for not being here with you to deal with it"

"it's okay, honestly. Your here now that's what counts"

✵ ✵ ✵

When Delilah woke the next morning she opened her eyes and was greeted by a giant foot in her face, she squealed and jumped falling out the bed. The sound of her body colliding with the floor made Wren shoot up and look around disoriented. "Bug are you okay?" he looked at her on the floor.

"great thanks" her tone was dripping in sarcasm, "I love seeing nasty ass feet when I wake up in the morning" she stood and straightend her pyjamas.

Delilah made herself an iced coffee and Wren a regular one and brought them back up to her room, he was smoking a cigarette on her balcony and had his phone pressed to his ear. When he looked over at her she pointed at his coffee letting him know it was there and then very badly tried to do cherades to tell him she was getting in the shower to which he just laughed at.

When she was well and truly clean she clicked on her phone and checked her texts, she clicked on the one from JJ first, it read 'is there a reason your ignoring me?' she internally screamed at herself and text him back. 'Busy with Wren.' she nodded to herself, being petty and giving him short replies should have made her feel better but no she still wanted to strangle him. When she left the bathroom Wren was scrolling through his phone with one hand and drinking his coffee with the other.

"who were you on the phone too?" she questioned her brother as she started to brush her hair.

"just one of the lads" he set down his phone.

"what 'lads'?" she looked at him confused.

"My mates from London"

"oh" she turned to face him, "is he hot?" she asked him with a straight face.

"are you kidding me?" he widened his eyes and looked at her sternly.

"yes. maybe..." she gave him a giant smile.

"I wish you were six again, only interests you had back then were turtles and playing princesses" he sighed and stood up.

"hey if you want to play princesses again, all's you have to do is ask" she looked up at her brother who started messing up her hair in retaliation.

Wren left to shower and get ready for the day in his own room and Delilah turned on her music, which was a compilation of fleetwood mac songs,so she could dance around. When she had gotten ready and put on a sundress and tied up her hair into a ponytail she looked over to her phone that was buzzing away on the bed, the photo she loved so much off JJ blinked away and she sighed picking it up and answering it.

'Lilah?' his voice was low and he sounded upset.

'Yeah, I'm here' she'd just sat down on the chair on her balcony and she had her phone between her ear and her shoulder as she situated herself.

'can you' his voice was shaky, 'can you come here please' his words were slurred.

'I'll be right there give me a minute' she said before hearing the call end.

Quickly Delilah rushed downstairs and told Wren and her dad who were sitting in the kitchen that she just had to run to Sarahs to get something and she'd be back for dinner seems as they had some ominous topic to talk about. She threw her bag and phone down onto the seat of the boat and sped off too the cut.

When she got there Luke's car wasn't in its usual spot and she walked into the living room to see that the coffee table had been flipped over and all of the picture frames that used to reside on the mantle were now scattered across the floor. Panic set in and she flung open JJs bedroom door, he was passed out and there was a half empty bottle of vodka lying on the floor next to his bed.

She picked up the bottle and put it on the desk in the corner of his room before sitting down on the bed next to him. She ran her hand down the side of his face, there was a bruise starting to form around his eye. She looked at his hands and they had blood on the knuckles.

"Hey you" he slurred.

"what happened?" she asked softly returning her hand to his face.

"m'fuckin dad' he sat up slowly.

"are you okay?" she asked and he nodded pulling her into him.

She curled up next to him and wrapped her arms around his torso making him flinch slightly indicating that there was more bruising under his shirt. He sighed and stroked her hair, she placed a kiss in-between his collar bones and then lifted her head to meet his lips with hers.

Delilah suddenly forgot why she was mad at him in the first place and all of her worries seemed to fade away, the only thing she had room in her mind for was him. JJ's body started to tremble a little and she realised that he had started to cry, so she manoeuvred herself out of his grip and sat next to him now pulling him into her lap cradling him in her arms.

"hey it's okay, i'm here" she soothed, "I'm not going anywhere don't worry"

He continued crying burying his face into her chest to drown out the sobs. It went on for a while until he'd calmed down and he looked up at her blue meeting hazel, she gave him a reassuring smile and kissed his forehead.

"I love you" he whispered so low that she almost missed it.

"I love you" she looked right at him when she said it hoping that he really believed her when she said it, because she did mean it. She loved this idiotic boy more than she'd ever loved anything and she was pretty sure that given the chance she'd die for him, it was dramatic and she knew that but it was true.

An hour or two later her phone rang and Wrens contact photo popped up on the screen, JJ handed her the phone and told her to answer while he used the bathroom. So she answered.

'Delilah were the fuck are you, the tension in this house is gonna make my head explode' he said with stress oozing from his voice.

'shit, dinner. I'll be home soon, give me an hour' she assured him.

'okay, where's your stash if I have to listen to mum drone on for a minute more I might just pass away'

'In my dresser. Second draw down, back left. Don't smoke it all' she said with an authoritative tone.

'Well that's gonna depend on how fast you get home, bye bug' he said as he ended the call.

Before JJ had the chance to come back in and protest she grabbed his backpack and threw in some clothes and his phone charger, along with various other things that he might need. When he did come back in he looked at her confused standing at the end of his bed.

"what are you doing" he pointed to his backpack.

"I have to get to a dumb family meeting and i'm not leaving you here to face your dad when he gets home, so your staying at my house" she slung the backpack over her shoulder and walked passed him into the bathroom to get his toothbrush.

"We're going now" he followed her and took the backpack from her putting it on himself.

"Mhm, see anything else you'll need" she walked out into the living room with him closely behind.

JJ stopped and looked around for a second before walking over to the discarded photo frames and picked one up, it was one of him from when he was a toddler and he was sitting on his moms knee smiling up at her, "that just about covers it." he nodded and they both left the house.

The tricky thing about Wren being home was that it was now going to be ten times harder to sneak JJ in. She briefed him on the plan three times on the way over and when she parked the boat she went over it again.

"So wait back..." she started.

"ten minutes" JJ finished her sentence.

"then when you see me on my..."

"balcony, that's when I make my way over and climb up" he finished it again.

Delilah frowned at him and then placed a quick kiss on his lips, "you sure your gonna be okay getting up?" she asked him concerned.

"Lilah I've climbed into your bedroom a million times, a few bruises won't stop me" he ran his hands along her jawline and gave her another kiss.

Delilah picked up her bag and phone and hurried over to the back door of the house. Joseph was cooking in the kitchen and told her that dinner would be ready in ten minutes, Zara and Wren were both in the living room watching tv. She let them know she was home and then she made her way to her bedroom locking the door behind her, in one swift movement she was on her balcony waving over to were JJ sat on the boat. When he saw her waving he jumped up with his backpack on and put on a show.

Instead of just walking to the side of the house like a normal person, JJ thought it would be hysterical to act like he was in an episode of NCIS:LA and he started doing forwards rolls, hiding behind bushes and making hand signals too her that she didn't have a clue what they meant. The fact he was capable of doing it with bruised ribs was probably down to the alcohol in his system. Eventually he climbed up the side of the house and met her with an out of breath kiss on the balcony, she pulled him inside and kissed him again.

"okay so I have to go and have a family meal" Delilah said with air quotations around the last two words, "but you'll be fine up here won't you"

"of course" he said hardly paying attention from where he sat on the bed because he was too busy staring at her.

Every time JJ was around Delilah it was like some magnetic force was making him act like a horny thirteen year old, he had to be touching her in some sort of way. He had his arms held out to her and when she moved into them he wrapped them tightly around her thighs, his face was burried in her stomach and he looked up at her smiling. Delilah moved her legs so that she was straddling him and she kissed him making him deflate slightly. They lost track of time while they were making out and they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Delilah why's your door locked?" Wrens voice called from the other side of the door.

"I'm just getting changed" she called back holding in whines as JJ continued to kiss up and down her chest and neck.

"okay well be quick dinners ready" She heard him retreat down the stairs.

JJ didn't stop until Delilah pulled his head away, "I have to go down"

"okay" He kissed her neck again, "okay, but hurry"

She nodded and stood quickly throwing on a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, "lock the door when I leave" she said before leaving.

When she walked into the dining room still flustered she gave everyone a smile and sat down across from Wren, once they'd eaten one half of the meal in silence Joseph spoke up.

"so your mum and I have something we need to tell you both"

"go on" Delilah carried on eating the last bit of her salmon.

"well, you guys know we've been having marriage counciling. So our decision really has been thought out a lot and its not something that were taking lightly" Zara chimed in.

"Can you just get on with it, we really don't need to know what your counciling sessions get up too" Wren made a face to Delilah who chuckled a bit.

"okay then" Joseph put down his knife and fork and clasped his hands together, " your mum and I are going to be separating" he leaned back in his chair.

"separating?" Delilah looked at both of her parents, "like your getting a divorce" she said dryly.

"not a divorce, well not yet anyway" Zara spoke, "I've bought an apartment in Wilmington, so its not that far"

"wait what? this is why you fucking brought me home!" Wren looked at the two of them with a vile look across his face.

"no baby, we wanted you home" Zara gave him a loving look which made Delilah roll her eyes.

"Bullshit!" he threw his cutlery onto his plate, "You wanted me home but your not even going to be living here!" he scoffed.

"Look, your mum and I... were not happy together" Joseph ran a hand across his face, "we were best friends at one point and its just a lot less— a lot less messy if we separate now." he looked at Zara across from him with a sad smile, "while we still have love for each other" he nodded and Zara wiped a tear from her face with the sleeve of her shirt.

"I don't want us to hate each other" Zara spoke to Joseph with a cracked voice, tears slowly streaming down her face.

"Do we get a say in this" Delilah spoke softly.

"Do you want us to carry on the way we are?" Joseph looked directly at his daughter and gestured to the spot on his face that Delilah was fussing over the previous night.

Delilah looked from her dad down at her hands and shook her head no.

"then this is the best option" Joseph nodded.

"the Important thing is that you both know how much I love you" Zara took her children's hands in hers.

Wren who hadn't spoke in a while just tightened his lips and looked from his sister to his parents and then nodded at his mom. "don't tell me were gonna be one of them divorced families who have scheduled visits" he pulled a face at them all.

Joseph laughed through his nose and smiled at Wren, "your both old enough to make your own decisions, you have the choice to stay with your mum whenever you want. This is your home but mums gonna have a room for you in her apartment" he agreed.

"Does this mean we don't have to celebrate my birthday at the club" Delilah grinned at the thought.

Zara looked at her shocked, "It's your sweet sixteenth! we've already compromised and let you have the say on who is and isn't allowed to come. That party is happening and you won't be able to pry it from my cold dead hands" Zara furrowed her brows and shook her head.

"worth a try at least" Delilah shrugged, yawning she looked at her dad and then back to her mom. "can I go to bed now i'm exhausted"

"of course you can love" Joseph smiled weakly.

Before she left to go back to her room she gave her mom and dad each a hug and then said goodnight to Wren who excused himself to go and smoke in the garden. Delilah grabbed supplies from the kitchen and text JJ to unlock the bedroom door, when she walked in her room he was tucked under the covers scrolling through his phone but put it away when he looked up at her.

"everything okay?" he asked her.

"mhm, they're getting a divorce no biggie" she shrugged setting the snacks and drinks down on the bedside table.

"Shit Lilah are you sure your okay" he sat up concerned and pulled her onto his lap.

"I'm fine, its better this way. As much as I love them they're just not good for each other"

"Well you know I'm here to talk about it if you need too" he said as he kissed her shoulder.

Delilah nodded in response and leant in to kiss him.