Silence

Rory is in his room, and Trace is seated at the kitchen table, head in his hands.

"What the hell was I thinking?" he groans, and I lean in to massage his tense shoulders. He jerks away from me, and I step back quickly. "Don't touch me. Why are you even coming near me?"

"I'm going to talk to Rory," I say quietly. "And there will never be a time when I don't want to touch you, Trace Estlin Cain, so get used to it."

He doesn't laugh, doesn't even smile.

I knock on Rory's door.

"What do you want?" he snaps.

"It's Ken," I say quietly.

"I know it's you," he snarls. "Trace would've just kicked in the door."

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Trace flinch at the words.

"Can I come in?" I ask Rory gently.

"Fine," he snaps. "But he can't."

He opens the door, and looks up at me defiantly, but he is like Trace, and I know Trace, and I can see that he has been crying.

"Hey," I say softly, stepping inside.

"You can't fix it," he says harshly, stepping back. "You can't fix us, Ken."

"I wouldn't even want to try," I say truthfully, reaching out to touch his face.

Rory tries to scowl at me, but I shake my head. "It's okay," I tell him, and then he is crying and I have my arms around him.

"He hates me," he manages, and I know, I know Trace must hear this through the thin walls of the house. And I can almost see how it is breaking him.

"No," I say firmly. "Trace doesn't hate you. I don't think it's in him to hate you."

"But it's my fault," Rory mutters, clawing at the tears on his face. "He said so. It's my fault that Adie got hurt."

"He said that because he blames himself, not you," I say softly. "And he was wrong, Rory. Sometimes things happen and nobody's to blame. Sometimes you can't do anything to stop the people you love from getting hurt."

The door slams open and Trace is standing there, his eyes red and wild. He pushes forcefully into the room and wordlessly pulls Rory into a hug.

Rory says nothing, just leans against Trace, who pulls me into the embrace.

"I'm sorry," Trace says, and I hear how the words cost him, see how heavy his shoulders are. "I'm so sorry, little bro."

Rory says nothing, just holds onto Trace as if his older brother is the only thing holding him to life.