Siblings with benefits

"And?" I asked, why did I not get a good feeling about this.

"Well honestly Megan Mark has a lot of issues and they're not all his fault and you know maybe me just turning my back to him isn't the answer. Maybe I can help him."

"Help him?" I repeated numbly.

Krissy nodded and picking up the picture looked at it.

"He still has that sweet side Megan, it was always there when it was just the two of us. I know he misses me, I know he still loves me. Maybe thinking I would walk away will help get him back to who he was." No I thought. No. No. No.

Krissy looked up at me and gave me a little smile.

"I'm going to call him tomorrow and see if he wants to go grab a coffee and talk. I'm not saying I'll take him back just yet but maybe we can work it out." She sighed looking at the picture. "I do still love him."

"But..." Think Megan. "What about your father? I mean Lisa said..."

"I'm nineteen Megan. I'll see who I want. I won't ever bring Mark here but my father can't stop me and my mother said if that's my choice she'll help."

With that Krissy nodded and smiled at me again.

"So if you were coming here to try to get me to take Mark back you can tell him that I'm going to call him. No promises but we'll see."

I stared at her for a moment. I couldn't let this happen I needed my brother more than ever. For the last month we had been everything to each other and now Krissy wanted him back? Mark would be thrilled, he would go on best behavior and start spending all of his nights with Krissy again. Her father couldn't stop her and my parents loved her, they would be thrilled. I was going to lose my brother! If I was lucky I would see him a couple of nights a week and would be back to getting his second best, I would be the whore and Krissy his love.

"Megan?" Krissy asked looking at me.

I wouldn't let this happen. Taking a deep breath I looked at her and taking her hand in mine began;

"Listen Krissy umm, well you were right about me coming to talk to you about Mark."

"I know." Krissy said looking down at my hand over hers.

"Well Krissy the reason I came is, um." I sighed and shaking my head said; "Look Krissy I came here tonight because I know my brother meant everything to you and you know I love you like a little sister so I wanted you to hear it from me rather than some kid at PC."

"Hear what?" Krissy asked

I looked away and said it quickly;

"Krissy Mark's been seeing Cynthia from Mitch's"

"What?"

"Yeah you know the redhead well she..."

"But," Krissy started then stopped. As I watched her big brown eyes began to fill up with tears. "But it's only been a month, I mean he loved me!"

I swallowed hard as tears began to run down her cheeks.

"Yeah well you were pretty serious Krissy and you know how it is. Cynthia knew you were done, knew he was upset and she's older and hot and well..."

Krissy put her head in her hands and began to sob. I put my arm around her and told her it would be okay, that she was a beautiful girl and there were plenty of guys out there who would love a chance to treat her right. Krissy just shook her head and continued to cry, she was still holding that damn picture. I looked at it and found myself having to look away. I sat there quietly, finally dropping the picture Krissy put her arms around my neck and started crying into my shoulder. I held her thinking, Megan you are a real bitch; I did feel bad but I wasn't lying, Krissy had chances, all I had were issues, I belonged in my brother's arms not her.

After a few minutes Krissy stopped and as she sat up I got up and grabbing a box of tissues from the nightstand passed them to her. Krissy wiped her eyes and looking at me whispered;

"Thank you Megan, I'm glad I heard it from you." Oh that one made me feel good.

"Yeah well, it wasn't easy Krissy I didn't want to hurt you, I was hoping you'd say it was over." Well no lie there anyways.

Krissy nodded then leaned over and taking the box with the bracelet in it put the lid on and handed it to me.

"Krissy I..."

Before I could finish Krissy reached down and sliding the ring off of her finger put that in my hand as well.

"You can give these back to Mark maybe Cynthia will like them." She started to tear up again.

"Krissy you keep them."

She shook her head. I took the ring and put it on the nightstand.

"You know what hon?" I asked. "You say that Mark's not who you fell in love with anymore? (^)well the Mark who gave you this ring was. So why don't you keep it?" I smiled at her.

"You always said it was the best day of your life, keep it that way."

Krissy stared at the ring for a minute then still crying nodded.

"Okay I'll put it away."

I stayed for awhile longer then went downstairs and told Lisa what had happened and that her little sister was going to need her. Lisa shook her head sadly telling me Krissy had told her yesterday that she was still in love with Mark. As I left Lisa also thanked me for being the one to break it to Krissy and give her a chance to get over it. Yeah that was me, I thought, a real giver.

Three hours later I was lying on my back in my brother's bed with Mark cuddled up next to me. He was on his side his head buried in my shoulder and my arm was around him. He hadn't taken it well. For the first time since Krissy had walked away from him he had been in tears. He asked me if I really tried and I assured him I had done my best. As I had done with Krissy I sat there with my arms around him as he cried. I gave him the bracelet which he held for a minute and handed it back to me telling me I could have it. I tried to tell him no, maybe he could sell it but he shook his head and said it should go to someone special.

On that note I sighed and turning my head raised my left arm and looked at the bracelet on my wrist, it really was beautiful. No one had ever given me anything like it before. My brother was heartbroken and I did feel badly about it but he would get over it, his big sister would make sure of it. Right now though I thought as I watched the bracelet sparkle in the candlelight, all that mattered was that from now on I would be all that mattered.

Note from the author; Once again thank you to everyone who is still following and commenting on this series! To address the question I am hearing more and more with each chapter I am going back to the present shortly. You are reading 19 and 23 will bring us back to the here and now and Megan's dilemma of whether or not to accept Mark as her elusive "One". Also revealed will be why Doug now hates Mark as well as Megan's last days as an addict, how her engagement ended as well as the night that she and Mark are not supposed to ever bring up.

Trust me I am well aware that I have probably spent too much time in the past however I always saw this as a 3 part series with the past being part 2 and the finale as part 3. A big part of what I am trying to show is why M/M have not been a couple their entire lives as many people have asked me. Also please keep in mind that I plan on self publishing this series at the beginning of next year and am putting all of this up for feedback to see what to keep or not to keep. In the end for those of you who are unhappy with how much time I am spending getting back to the present please keep two things in mind:

One; that many of the small seemingly meaningless things I have mentioned will play into the end of the series and two; I am an amateur writer who is not getting paid for this I am doing the best I can with no experience whatsoever to fulfill a dream of finishing a novel. Having said that once again thank you to those who continue to support me and for those who have lost patience all I can say is you will miss out on a hell of an ending.

One final note; mixed in between chapter 23 and 24 will be a one shot story; Siblings with Benefits Lex Talionis which will chronicle the oft mentioned showdown between Mark and his abusive foster father Max. It will be pretty long and will go under novels/novellas and although there will be several sexual encounters it is a very story driven look at Mark and his inner demons. The story will also carry a warning for graphic violence. The end will not be pretty and honestly the entire thing will really only appeal to true fans of the series. Once again several minor things in it will feature into the very last chapters.