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It's a cold evening when Courtney’s sister comes home from her part-time job. Her dad is at work, leaving her three younger siblings and her mom at the house.
She goes inside and nothing is abnormal. Her mom greets her, and directs her towards her plate of dinner before wishing her goodnight and going upstairs.
She eats her dinner alone, everyone else having eaten while she was at work, but it doesn't take long to finish her food and put her plate away, allowing her to head to her room and unwind before doing some school work and heading to sleep.
But she opens her door to find Courtney curled up on her bed, asleep.
This isn't totally abnormal, since discovering her sister is a little, they've been spending a lot more time in each other's rooms. But usually Courtney would wait for her upstairs and greet her as she comes up.
She carefully closes her door, not wanting to wake her sister, who obviously hasn't had a good night.
Courtney's face is stained with tears and despite being asleep, her face is still pinched slightly in discomfort.
Her thumb is planted in her mouth, something she's never seen from her before. She'd clearly been attempting to soothe herself, something that breaks her heart.
She takes a few minutes trying to decide what to do, before settling in doing homework, in case Courtney does wake up and needs her.
After working for about 45 minutes, she hears movement behind her and turns around.
Courtney is stretching, her eyes slowly blinking open as her sister speaks.
“Hi honey,” she murmurs gently, moving over to sit on her bed, “Are you ok?”
The little whines through her thumb, reaching with her empty hand towards her sister.
She pulls the girl into her lap, gently running a hand through her hair.
“Can you tell your sissy what happened?” She questions gently,
Courtney pulls her thumb out of her mouth, rubbing her eyes with her other hand, before taking a deep breath as she collects her thoughts, “Mom.” She mumbles, “Hungry.”
Her sister takes a few seconds to translate before getting angry. “Mom didn't give you dinner?” She clarifies, attempting to keep her anger out of her voice.
The little nods, “Baby no food.” she answers, ”Try big” she adds sadly.
Their mom had been getting worse with her treatment of Courtney, behavior that seems to have escalated to refusing to give her dinner while little.
Before the woman would simply scoff at her, and give her a plate to eat in her room, but apparently even that was too much now.
Deciding she'd need to have a conversation with their dad later, she stands “Let's get you some food, baby.” she says with Courtney in her arms, but the little shakes her head.
“No ‘llowed down.” She reminds her sister nervously as she walks towards the door, “No ‘llowed out.”
“I'm not leaving you unsupervised upstairs and you need food, Courtney,” her sister says firmly, standing in the doorway, “Mom should be in bed, and if she comes out, sissy will protect you.”
Courtney whines, burying her face in her sister's neck as she carries her downstairs. “You're ok,” she murmurs gently, “It's just us,”
The little looks up hesitantly, looking around the kitchen to see no one else around. Still scared, she places her thumb back in her mouth and her sister rubs her back soothingly.
“Can I put you down while I get you some food?” she asks gently and the little shakes her head and grabs her shirt.
“Scared,” she mumbles through her thumb, “Cold.”
Her sister hums, walking into the living room to grab a blanket from the couch. She wraps it around Courtney as she walks back to the kitchen.
“How about you sit on the counter, wouldn’t that be fun?” she bargains, “I’ll find you a cookie.”
She whines as she nods, allowing her sister to place her on the counter. The blanket slips and she grabs it, kicking her legs lightly as her sister walks away to find her some dinner.
Hoping for the best, she opens the fridge and actually finds a plate of food from dinner sitting there with a note. ‘For when you’re normal’
She angrily grabs the plate and takes the foil off to put it in the microwave. “There’s a plate for you,” she tells the little, “Just gotta heat it up.”
Courtney smiles happily through her thumb, kicking her legs a little faster.
“You’re so cute,” her sister coos as she starts the microwave, ruffling her hair as she giggles quietly.
The two wait quietly in the kitchen, Courtney continuing to look around warily as she sucks her thumb.
Her sister pulls her closer to her, pulling her face into her shoulder, “Hey dude,” she says nervously as her youngest brother walks into the kitchen.
He looks between the two of them curiously, “How old is she?” he asks, seemingly unbothered by the little.
Courtney peeks up at her brother hesitantly and he smiles kindly at her. “This explains mom,” he adds.
“She doesn’t really know how old she is usually,” her sister answers, “This is younger than normal. Mom wouldn’t give her dinner.”
He hums, “Mom’s dumb,” he replies easily, “I’m neutral I think, but like, who cares.”, he adds as the microwave beeps.
“One minute,” her sister says, picking up the little and walking to the microwave to grab the plate, placing it on the table before setting Courtney in the chair.
The three siblings sit at the table and Courtney looks over at her brother curiously again, before looking at her food confused.
“Help?” she asks quietly, fumbling with her fork before holding it out to her sister.
She coos, and moves her chair closer to her. “I got you, sweetheart,” she murmurs, grabbing a spoonful of mashed potatoes and lifting it to her mouth.
Courtney opens her mouth happily and eats the bite, smiling gratefully at her sister.
“I don’t get mom,” her brother says annoyed, “Littles are sweet, look at her.”
“I’m pretty sure out of all of us, only mom cares.” she admits, “Only didn’t know about you younger two.”
“We’re both pretty sure we're neutral, and neither of us care,” he tells her as she continues to feed Courtney.
“Court,” he calls, pulling her attention to him, “If you're little, you can always come to your brothers,” he assures her, “We won't let you go hungry.”
Courtney smiles at him, “Thanks bubba.” She mumbles, opening her mouth for more food.
“Youre doing so good.” Her sister coos, feeding her the last bit of her dinner.
“All done!” she chirps, clapping quietly, “Cookie?”
Her sister laughs, standing up and grabbing a pack of Chips Ahoy, opening it before handing it to her.
“Yummy.” the little mumbles, shoving a cookie in her mouth.
She holds out two cookies, one to her brother and one to her sister.
“You're so sweet.” Her sister coos, taking the cookie.
“Thanks Co,” her brother says, taking the cookie and tossing it into his mouth.
He stands, holding his fist out to Courtney, “Nice to meet you, kid,” he says, fist bumping her, “See you later.”
Courtney waves as her sister picks her up, watching her brother go back to his room. “Let's leave this for mom,” she decides, leaving the plate where it is, “Let's get the baby to bed.”
She giggles as she's carried up the stairs, placing another cookie in her mouth with a small smile on her face.
It's nice to have good siblings.