Only True Weakness

After Aiden finished talking, silence ensued. They stared at each other for a long time before Colton's serious and unreadable expression changed into a wide satisfied grin.

"Well I guess we're going to be seeing each other more often aren't we?" Colton said as he relaxed in his seat.

"I hope so." Aiden replied as he too grinned.

---------

As soon as Claire shut the door behind her she cupped her own face.

She was embarrassed beyond words. Ignoring the fact that Colton discharged himself from the hospital, something she would severely scold him for, too much happened for her head to process. Aiden did as promised and kissed her senseless on top of her kitchen island, he met her brother in the most horrible way, Colton immediately tried to spook him AND the cat's out of the bag in regards to their relationship status. She wasn't trying to hide it, but her idea of how they would first meet didn't involve her being half naked on a countertop whilst in a compromising position!

'And to top it off, Ben saw us too! Great. Just great.' She thought to herself as she cursed inwardly.

Taking a deep breath she calmed herself. Thinking about it now would do her no good. Besides that, her little flower would be there any moment now and she didn't want to greet her all sweaty.

The room Claire stepped into was her bedroom. The apartment had three rooms in total. One for each family member and a bathroom for visitors which was the other door next to the kitchen. Each room having it's own bathroom, she had everything she needed inside.

It was rather small compared to the rooms she would usually sleep in, but she didn't mind since it had all the essentials. There was a twin size bed in the middle of the room, a dresser with all of her clothes and a vanity with a few other things. It was decorated with some colorful decorative cushions, two plants and one big painting of a flower filled vase on top of the bed. Simple and clean, just how she liked it.

Claire took a quick shower and got dressed. She wore a pair of tight light blue jeans with an off the shoulders, long sleeved flowy white blouse. Paired with a pair of white sneakers and simple jewelry, she looked very casual. She styled her freshly washed and dried hair with a topknot and left her face bare. Her plans for the rest of the evening didn't include anything in particular so she wanted to dress comfortably.

Facing the door she took a deep breath. She wasn't sure what she would be walking into. Colton would surely try to shake up Aiden regardless of her death stare and she knew it. It wasn't that she really minded, he had always been protective of her, and she was sure he wouldn't cross any lines, but it wasn't something she knew how to handle. Seeing as her dating experience was close to zero, Claire was going with the flow of things. So now that she had something serious going on, she felt a bit uneasy about not knowing what could happen between Aiden and her brother.

Raising her chin up and chanting reassuring words for herself, she opened the door hoping her brother hadn't sent Aiden running for the hills with his antics.

To her surprise, as soon as she took a step outside, her brother's booming laughter was heard.

Claire stood still as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. Colton and Aiden were sitting side by side on the couch while staring at something she couldn't see from where she was. Whatever it was had Colton laughing hysterically and Aiden smiling. Taking a few silent steps closer to them, she looked over Aiden's shoulder to see what had them in such a good mood. As soon as she caught glimpse of a photo album on his lap, Claire felt like strangling Colton with her bare hands.

"DON'T!!!" She yelled as she squeezed in between them from behind the sofa and snatched it from his hands."DON'T LOOK AT THOSE!!"

"Come on Angel they're adorable." Aiden said as he saw her face seem like it would blow up.

"ADORABLE MY ASS!" Claire dashed towards her room and threw the album inside. She closed the door and barricaded it with her body as if somebody were to try and get in to keep looking at it by force. "COLTON! YOU ARE SO DEAD!"

Aiden had already stood up and approached her. He did so just in time to grab her by the waist when he saw her charge at her brother who was still laughing in his seat. "It's okay Angel there's no need to be mad."

"That's right Cece." Colton said as he wiped the tears from his eyes from laughing so much. "It's better that he sees that side of you early on don't you think? That way he knows what he's really in for."

The photo album was a collection of Claire's most embarrassing teenage years moments. From awful fashion choices to boy style hair cuts, it was her worst nightmares compiled into one single book. She would try to erase all the evidence of that part of her past self constantly, but Colton always managed to make it reappear. He wasn't the type to bully her, but he would always bring those pictures out when he felt like making her feel mortified. Claire felt like crying, hiding and beating Colton to a pulp all at the same time.

"It's fine Angel." Aiden said as he pulled her into his embrace. Seeing as she was trying to avoid looking at him, he knew she was embarrassed.

As soon as she felt his arms around her, she buried herself in his chest while covering her face. Making Aiden tighten his hold on her. She was too cute. "Tell you what. How about next time you come to my house and I show you all of my childhood albums?"

After hearing him, Claire slowly looked up to meet his gaze. A few seconds passed before she lifted her hand a bit and showed him her pinky finger without saying a word. Aiden chuckled as he raised one of his own and locked pinky's with her. He then bent his head a bit and kissed the back of her hand. "It's a promise."

"Hey hey no need for the dog food." Colton said as he threw a cushion their way which Aiden caught.

"Don't think this is over you jerk." Claire said as she glared at him. "First you discharged yourself from the hospital against the doctors orders and then you pull this stupid move. You better hope your bones heal better and thicker than you originally had them because as soon as you're recovered your gonna suffer another near death experience by my hands."

Although Colton tried to hide it, Aiden clearly saw that his little sister's threat shook him up.

"I love you too Cece. " Colton cheekily answered as he internally felt relieved she wouldn't do anything to him for the time being. "Now can you help me into my room? I'm dying to sleep in a bed that isn't connected to a thousand machines."

Claire's eyebrows were pulled together as she stared at Colton. A few seconds in silence went by before he gave her his iconic goofy smile making her serious demeanor crack. Sighing, she walked over to him and started to help him. Aiden followed closely behind to avoid having her do the heavy lifting. After they both helped him out of the seat, into the wheelchair and then into his bed, Claire sat next to him as she pulled the covers over him.

"The medic will come and hook you up to an IV drip." She began to say. Colton was about to refute, but she didn't let him get the chance to do so. "I'm not going to play push and pull with you Colton. You either suck it up and abide by my conditions or I'll have you knocked out and taken back to the hospital."

Colton sighed and let his head fall onto the soft pillow in defeat. "That's what I thought. Besides being in your own room, everything will be done as your doctors recommended so follow instructions." Her voice turned worrisome as she caressed his hair which mimicked the color of her own. "Don't push yourself. You know I'll worry, so quit it with the stunts like the one you pulled today."

Colton's eyes softened as he looked at her. He slowly reached his good arm up and cupped her face. He gestured for her to lower her head and gave her forehead a long loving kiss once she did. His girls were always too cute for him to handle. No matter how badly he could ever get beaten, they were his only true weakness.