Edith was so cute falling asleep while all of us were talking.

It was late, but I had so much energy still to talk to my parents finally with Wyatt included.

I gently picked her up, relishing the closeness between us, hugging her a little tighter as I carried her to my room. There was no where else I wanted her to be- but on my bed. As I tucked her in, she nuzzled a bit closer to me, feeling the loss of me, making me smile as I took her in for a second, looking peaceful.

I only wanted her to look like this from now on, I thought to myself walking back downstairs.

Pulling out my phone, I sent a quick text to Theo asking how he was, thinking he was sleeping since it was nearly 2 AM. Like always, Theo surprised me responding with a picture of him watching TV with little Nora sleeping on his legs captioned:

I settled back into the couch, and Mom pointed her finger at me in warning, "You better treat her right or else."

"Will do," I promised. That was going to be easy.

"I love you guys," Mom sighed out, happily. I'm so glad this really seemed to lift up her mood big time. "I need a wedding." Leave it to Mom to think of these things, but the thought of seeing Edith in a wedding dress..."Please- I will definitely convince Edith. I know she'll do whatever I ask."

"Why do you want a wedding?" I laughed nervously, thinking of Edith telling me a straight no.

"The question is why not. Would you think about it?"

I looked over at Dad to help me out here, but he shook his head slightly, not wanting to be a part of it, smirking at me.

To my side, Wyatt unhelpfully added, "I'm all in for a wedding." He gave Mom an air high five.

"It's really more for me than you guys."

"I'll give you a wedding right now if you want it." Dad was serious.

"No thanks," Mom teased him, patting his shoulder. "I know it's not at all our tradition, but why not celebrate such a happy occasion? I don't regret anything I've done, but I think it'll be so much fun."

"I'll think about it."

Mom grinned like a Cheshire Cat. "Trust me buddy, I get what I want." Mom already knew all three of us would do whatever she wanted.

"So," Dad crosses his arms, down to business. Wyatt and I exchanged looks. "Tell us how both of you got into this."

"Well I did because of Edith at first but then Wyatt was also involved so naturally I had to take care of this little troublemaker." I put my hands around him, messing with his hair. "I think we need to talk about more pressing matters. Please get a haircut."

"Excuse me, but I like my hair," Wyatt fixed his hair I just messed up, flopping to the side. It grew even longer than I remember. He told me he wanted a physical feature to distinguish between him and I, so he grew out his hair, hoping our- mine- friends could tell us apart. Wyatt's friends were mostly mine- he met them through me. Mom once voiced her concern to Wyatt to go hang out and he shrugged saying ". Dad said Uncle Zeke always used to say that his brother was his only friend for years too, so he understood the sentiment.

Wyatt didn't really like to socialize much, loving to draw instead and being super artistic, which came from Dad who never really had time to paint, but that was one of his secret hidden talents.

Mom was like me- we weren't artistic in the least.

Wyatt completed the story, leaving out the lashed and collar I got, telling us that in the end of the day, he saved us.

"Way to go, Captain America," I clapped my hands at my brother who shook his head, done with me.

"Can't we just fight Silas?" Wyatt asked our parents.

"Without question, Cole, Grayson, Heidi and Paxon would go to war with me," Dad said. "And your grandpa already has an entire army at his own disposal he's ready to use. But you can't just go to war with Edith's pack- her pack members will die too. Her pack needs to know the truth. They're innocent in all of this. For all they know Silas is the rightful one. So stay of out the challenge. It's Edith's battle. As much as you want to get in the middle of it-"

"Like you do everything," Wyatt inputs. "Nosy."

I shot Wyatt a fake glare.

"Edith can take care of herself. You need to support her in training," Dad finished.

Mom started to yawn, and she looked ready to knock out as did Wyatt. I rose up as Mom walked towards me, giving me another tight hug, and Wyatt mentioned he was going to sleep too. "Love you," she kissed my cheek, and asked Dad if he was coming, but he told her he was going in a minute.

Once Mom and Wyatt were out of the room, Dad walked past me, nodding his head towards the infirmary room.

"You need to put ointment."

I blinked in surprise at how he knew- but followed him instead. As soon as we walked in Dad called out Reggie's name and sure enough, the sneaky vampire was there.

"How could I not detect you?" I exclaimed.

"Just because you can use magic to mask your scent doesn't mean I don't have a few tricks up my sleeve to not be unnoticed too," Reggie smirked, his massive frame filling almost the hospital bed in front of me.

"Dad told me he had you watch over West," Dad took out a small white bowl. I recognized it as his own ointment he uses for himself sometimes. I took off my shirt, feeling a little self conscious of the scars.

"He did," Reggie eyed me, a hard frown forming on his face. Reggie was Grandpa's second in command. Meaning it was as serious as it got.

"How did it go with Grandpa? Did you catch the rogues?"

"I believe their names were Nicholas and then there was Evans," Dad said. "They gave us information and afterwards..."

"Afterwards?" I prompted.

Dad replied, "Luxe came out and Dad ripped some of them apart."

"Literally," Reggie chuckled. I swallowed, not trying to imagine my grandpa who was so loving and caring to me become the fearsome Vampire King he is. Reggie waved goodbye to us, saying he was going to rest, leaving Dad and I alone.

"Your mom didn't want to cry in front of you," Dad mentioned, gently dotting the ointment on my back. "I don't think she can handle it if she saw."

"She cried the whole way here, didn't she?" I asked because the first thing I noticed when she caught Edith and I making out.... was her unusually puffy eyes. Mom was definitely acting strong for me. But I could see it in her from the first moment she came back. Mom is strong for us. She's always been.

Dad's silence is all the confirmation I needed.

"Don't worry about it too much," Dad assured gently, trying to make me feel better. "It's our jobs as parents to worry. You're safe now. That's all that matters." Dad finished up bandaging me, so I put on my shirt and faced him, his scrutinizing stare made me look away. I saw it in his eyes too. An undercurrent of anger for me.

No wonder he went straight with Grandpa.

I clutched my jeans tightly.

"It's all my fault, Dad. I didn't mean to make you guys worry. Make Mom cry. It's my fault. that this happened. If I just figured out sooner not to follow Nicholas, this wouldn't have happened. It's my fault."

"West-"

I continued, more angrily than I have felt in days because he's the one that truly could understand me the most. "Dad, I couldn't even use Salvatore or my magic properly. Why am I so useless?"

"You think saving your brother and mate is useless?" Dad remarked. "If you weren't there, who knew what would happen to Wyatt. You guys take on too much, just like your Mom. You both want to do the right thing and have to see things through. We taught you no less."

I slowly lifted my head to meet Dad's eyes.

"You came out alive, and that's what counts. That's what your mom and I keep telling ourselves because it could've gone worse, like death. What happened to you-" Dad stopped himself, and with the claws extracting, and his eyes closed I knew Luxe was urging to come out of sheer emotion- "I feel it, West. Seeing you in front of me, seeing your neck and now your back, I feel your pain and your hurt. You don't have to hurt alone, you know. You're not alone."

A flash of what Dad went through when he got the whipping post at a younger age than me made me realize all to well, Dad went through it completely and utterly alone. More brutally than mine. Grandpa and Uncle Zeke didn't know until much later.

My lips trembled, the anxiety and panic that has built up since the collar and whip- all my emotions bottled up since came out in a huge flood. Dad was already hugging me as I clung onto him tightly, his warm comforting presence finally made me feel completely and totally safe, I felt like a kid again.

I buried my head to his shoulders, and the tears just wouldn't stop.