Family Comes First (For Thomas_III)

[BlueFlower]

Sophia rolled her eyes at her brother's comment. For some odd reason, Thomas always liked to be called by his formal name, never a nickname of any sort. So he always hated it when people tried to call him Tom, including herself. Still, she often tried to do it every once and a while to see if he noticed.

He has never missed once.

Still, Sophia happily followed her brother, and grinned as soon as they entered the room Thomas planned to give her.

"Thank you, brother! This is amazing!" she said as she looked around her new room. She was already imagining what she could decorate the room with and how to sort everything she brought when she heard her brother speak again, and spotted Thomas sitting on the bed, a serious look on her face. The happiness faded a bit when she heard that he wanted to "talk straight" to her.

She knew what that meant.

"Please don't tell me you are going to lecture me on how to do in school and such, Thomas. I already received an earful from Mom and Dad, and once is enough, thank you." she said with a small frown, but went over and sat beside her brother anyways, setting the stuff she was carrying down next to the bed.

[Thomas_III]

“Don't worry. I'm saving that lecture for when I notice your schoolwork slipping or find out that you're putting your education on the back burner. You have at least a week or two before you have to listen to that one.”


When she sits down, Thomas scoots in closer to her, maintaining eye contact so he knows that he has her attention.


“Sophia, I know that you understand that you're an important part of my life, and that Loraine is another important part of my life. Between the two of you, I have the loves of my life, but don't tell our mother that I said that.”


He smiles, hoping that the small attempt at humor would cut away some of the tension that he could not feel in the room.


“I want the two of you to get along, sis. I know that Loraine is trying to make it work, but I really need for you to try your best to make it work, too. You're my little sister, and I love you, but I love my wife, too. There's no reason that you both can't be in my life without being at each others' throats. Do you understand?”

[BlueFlower]

Sophia remained silent for a long moment, looking away as her brother was now finished speaking. She knew what her brother said was the truth. Both she and Loraine were very important to Thomas, in more ways than one, and Sophia understood that, for otherwise she would not be living here now, and Loraine would not be married to him either.

But still, Thomas was the only person Sophia both trusted and liked. No, she did not know why she did not like Loraine, she just knew that she did not.

"Look, I can't promise to like her, but I can promise to not get in her way. As long as we stay out of each other's way, then nothing should be wrong," Sophia said with a shrug, not even looking at her brother as she spoke. She knew her brother would not really like that response, but that was the best she could give right now.

[Thomas_III]

As predicted, Thomas doesn't like the response, and isn't willing to accept it readily. Reaching over to his sister, he puts his hand under her chin and lifts her face back around to look at him. He continues to speak in soft tones, but firm enough for her to know that he's being serious.


“Sis, you and I both know that's not acceptable. You won't be able to stay out of each others' way while living under the same roof, and I don't want either of you to have to do that. Now, I don't know what Loraine did to upset you, but I think that an adult like yourself would be mature enough to sit down with her and discuss it. Don't you?”

[BlueFlower]

Somehow Sophia was not surprised to find herself forced to look her brother in the eye once more and he expressed his dislike of the response she had given him. She sighed just as soon as he had finished and pushed his hand away, but continued to look him in the eye.

"Look, I gave you the best response I could, brother. I honestly don't think I can sit down and talk to her without something happening, and I don't want to tempt fate. Anyways, what does it matter? In a few days I will be attending college and I will be so busy I doubt I'll even get to see you that much. So I don't think we need to worry about this," she said, then ran a hand through her straight, brown hair, just showing how agitated she was with all this.

"Thomas, I just promise I won't start any fights with her, alright? Look, I am tired and I would like to be able to rest some before I get to unpacking my stuff. Let's save this for another time, please?" she said. Of course, usually when she said this she meant that she did not ever want to talk about it again, but she did feel tired and wanted to be left alone for a while, so she hoped her brother wouldn't mind letting her be for at least an hour.

[Thomas_III]

Thomas thinks this over, and decides that he would have better chances of reasoning with her if she's rested, than if she's tired and cranky. This is, after all, why he believes she is being so negative, so the thought of allowing her to rest sounds like a good idea.


“Very well. I'll let you lay down for a bit and take a nap, but we're not doing talking about this. I love you and Loraine both too much to allow any strife in my home. I want you to come down to my study after dinner, and we'll talk more about it then.”


When he says that the talk isn't finished, he positively means it, and already plans on coming and finding her after dinner if she doesn't come to his study on her own. While he doesn't want to have to come down on her with a bunch of lectures, he knows that she needs to grow up if she's going to make it in life. Standing up, he starts towards the door to let himself out.


“I already told Sophia that you'd like some tea, though, so she'll be bringing it up in a moment. It would be a good time to try to start learning to be civil, because you're going to have to learn it, eventually, anyway.”


He then exits her room, allowing her the time to herself to rest and think about what he's told her. Thinking that Loraine is probably still in the kitchen, he heads downstairs and looks for her.

[BlueFlower]

Sophia frowned at her brother's comment, realizing he intended for them to continue this conversation. Feeling upset with him because of this, she just laid down on the bed, pulling the covers around herself and turning her back to him just before he left the room, not even caring about listening to his last words before he left the room.

She did not know why Thomas was so intent on getting her and Loraine to like one another. There was no way that was going to happen, and if her brother did not see that soon, he was going to be in for another huge disappointment... the first being Sophia failing college.

Sighing, she allowed herself to relax, and just as she was thinking of ways to attempt to avoid the conversation with her brother later, she found herself fast asleep.

~~~~~

Loraine had just finished fixing up each drink and putting the pitcher of tea in the refrigerator when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Hoping it is Thomas, she grabs one of the glasses of tea and walks over to the kitchen entrance. Sure enough, as soon as she looked over towards the stairs she saw her husband and smiled as she handed him his tea.

"Hi, dear," she said softly, reaching up and giving him a small peck on the cheek. "So, did she like her room?"

[Thomas_III]

Thomas tries to hide a sigh as he takes the refreshing glass of iced tea from his wife, putting it to his lips to take a small sip to see if it was sweet enough for his tastes. He likes a lot of sugar in his tea, mostly because he really doesn't like the taste of tea. It could be worse, though, as he puts enough sugar in his coffee to turn it into syrup.


“Well, she loved the room, but she didn't care much for my attempts to keep the peace between you and her. I don't know what it is with her that makes her so damned stubborn about that. Regardless, I told her that I'd let her take a nap and I'd talk to her more about it later down in my study.”


He takes another few sips, apparently finding the flavor to be to his liking, though it could still be a bit sweeter.


“Go ahead and take her up a glass of tea, though. If she's still awake, try to say something nice to her, and maybe she'll at least try to be civil in return.”

[BlueFlower]

Loraine sighed as she now grabbed the second glass of iced tea.

"I don't even know why you try, Thomas. I know you mean well, but Sophia doesn't like me, and I doubt she ever will. No point in getting our hopes up that one day she will," she said with a small shrug, then made her way up the stairs before her husband could respond. When she reached Sophia's room, she knocked gently, then slowly entered when she did not get a response. Loraine found herself smiling when she saw Sophia was fast asleep, so quietly placed the tea on the bed stand before exiting the room once more.

As she made her way back down the stairs, she walked over to Thomas and wrapped her arms around him in a gentle hug.

"She's asleep, love. So I didn't get the chance to talk to her. But look, I know this is going to be rough between all of us at first, but I promise to try to keep things civil and not get into any fights with your sister... okay?" she said softly.

[Thomas_III]

Thomas pulls his wife to him, enjoying the closeness as he returns the hug. His mind is heavily weighted down, though, pondering how his sister has been acting, and how to resolve it before it becomes an issue in his household.


“You're not the only one that should be making an effort, Loraine. I'm not going to have my wife walking on eggshells in her own home for fear of how my sister is going to act around you. One way or another, Sophia is going to have to learn that you are not going to be treated poorly, and you're not going to be ignored. Through me, you and her are family, and I expect her to start acting like it and not treating you like a pariah.”


He doesn't know exactly how to accomplish that at the moment, though. A part of him has considered dishing out some of the same treatment to her that his wife already receives. A good spanking would probably do the young girl a world of good, and she's certainly been acting like a child with this silly cold shoulder treatment. He doesn't think that their parents ever spanked her, though, so he doesn't know how she would react to it. He hopes that he'll never have to find out.


“Regardless, I told her that we'd talk after dinner, and I'm not going to allow her to weasel her way out of it. Let me know when you're about to put it on the table, and I'll go and wake her up. After we all eat, she's going to join me in the study, even if I have to drag her there by her ear.”