Cousins in Arms

[Gifted]

"We have." Willow said without looking up.
Liam nodded. "Thank you. It's really been great."

[Raven]

"Thanks dad," Kailen piped.
Adam smiled and pulled into the driveway. "Off you go, then. I'll come get you when it's time for Liam to go home."

[Gifted]

Liam beamed, nodding. "Come on, then! Let's go see what Aunt Isobel's got for us to steal." He grinned and led the way into the house.
Willow put her book away and followed.

[Raven]

Kailen followed eagerly, going for where he knew his mom stored the brownies. Adam smiled and went to find his wife, giving the kids some space. It had occurred to him in the first little while that Liam could be a bad influence on Kailen, but since then he'd long pushed the idea from his mind. Even though Aaron was raising him, Liam was a good kid.

[Gifted]

Liam hung out with his sister and cousin - his two favourite people in the world - until he had to go. He sighed when he heard. "Alright, I suppose I should." He got up. "See you guys later, yeah? Don't be strangers now."

[Raven]

"See you, Liam," Kailen agreed, smiling. He hugged Willow after Liam was gone.

[Gifted]

Willow hugged him back and spoke quietly in his ear. "Let's talk after your dad goes to bed, okay?"

[Raven]

"Alright," Kailen agreed hesitantly.

Later that night, when both his parents were asleep, Kailen crept to Willow's room and quietly opened the door.

[Gifted]

Willow had a computer in her room for the purposes of schoolwork, and she was up staring at it when Kailen entered the room. Glancing at her computer monitor, Willow had pulled up the website to a theme park Adam had taken them to on Kailen's birthday once. "Hey." She looked over and smiled at him. "I'm doing research into where we could go for our next trip. You have anywhere in mind?"

[Raven]

"Not really," Kailen admitted. "Will we ever visit Liam?"

[Gifted]

"I'd love to." Willow admitted. "But I admit I am kind of nervous about it... why doesn't Uncle Adam ever let us visit him?"

[Raven]

"Dad doesn't let us do a lot of things," Kailen pointed out

[Gifted]

"Yeah, but it's weird. We're not allowed to go by ourselves, that I understand, but from what I've seen Soudoyer isn't really that far away by car. He doesn't want us going to my grandpa's house, I get that too. But why not go to a restaurant there instead of here? Why not meet up with Liam and Grandpa somewhere for an outing there? It's a big city, there must be stuff to do, so why does Liam always have to come over here?"

[Raven]

Kailen shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "He doesn't seem to like grandpa much. He never even told me about any of my grandparents before you came and Liam was living with him."

[Gifted]

"I just think I want some kind of answer to that question before I pan a trip there. Even if it's a bad answer. Actually I'd feel a lot better if it was a bad answer. But it's definitely something I'd like to do."