Laughter and snickers were heard in the living room as Merina and Critias were sprawled on the floor, looking at the photo albums that they decided to bring over and share with. “Oh my goodness…” Merina giggled as she took up photo of Critias, as a kid, and smiling with a gap between his teeth. “Look at you! With a tooth gape!”

Critias shyly laughed as he scratched his cheek, “Well… I just recently lost my tooth and my mom just couldn’t help but take a picture of it.” He then looked at in her album and grinned at a picture of little Merina, all dirty up with dirt and laugh. “And why don’t you explain this, huuuh? You’re messy!”

“Ahahaha…” She laughed nervously but couldn’t help but grin. “I was helping my mom in the garden and well… I tripped over some fertilizer and got messy.” She snickered a bit, at the memory that was brought up. “Mom thought it was too funny and she just had to take a picture of it.” She gave a shrug as she looked at the album. “I can’t believe it though… Look how we were back then…” She smiled and looked up at Critias. “To how we are now…”

Critias gave a nod, “It’s all about growing up but…” He pouted. “I do miss taking an hour nap while we were in elementary school…”

Merina laughed, “Oh Critias! You can still take naps in between your jobs! In fact…” She grinned at him. “I’m surprised you're not napping now!”

“But that’s not what I meeeeeean…” The taller blond playfully whined before looking back at Merina with a grin of his own. “During junior high and high school, you get so sleep in the middle of the day that you just wanna nap but you can’t!”

“Oh Critias!” She cried out loud, laughing and holding her sides. He was too silly but Merina was having a good time.

Critias snickered as he watched blonde girl laugh and he looked over at the photo album and noticed one picture in particular. He blinked a few times and picked it up. In the picture, it was a woman with long blonde hair, sharp yet beautiful lavender eyes, fair skin, dressed nicely and she seem to be looking at a musical score but she glanced up in time to smile for the camera. Automatically, he smiled and he turned the picture over towards Merina once she caught her breath. “This is your mom, right?”

Merina was able to breath and when she looked up, she was surprised that Critias was holding a picture of her mother. She couldn’t help but smile and nod her head, “Yeah… That’s her. Kaoru Hika… The one who inspired me to go into Musical Theater.”

“She’s really pretty, Merina.” Critias commented as he looked back at the picture and looked back up at her, giving her a smile. “I can see where you get your looks from! You look exactly like her!”

She chuckled, “Yeah. Even my dad says so too.” Her smile soften as she gently took the picture from Critias and she looked at it. “She really was amazing, Critias. If you ever heard her sing… It was like you were in the presences of an Angel… She was just…” She trailed off and she seem to having a missing look on her face as her smile disappeared.

Critias notice the look on blonde’s face and he gave her a smile. He scooted her closer towards Merina and wrapped an arm around her, snuggling close to her like a brother would with their sister and it earned a giggle from her, “Critias…” She smiled and snuggled back with him.

“You know, Merina… I think your mom is very proud of you.” He got a surprised look from her and he held up a finger. “Here me out, first. You have an amazing voice too and you work hard to get where you want to be. On top of that…” He grins at her. “You have friends and family who support you! So if your mom saw you today, she’d be beaming with pride!”

A huge grin broke on Merina’s face and she glomped Critias, earning a surprised yelped from him before he was hugged and he laughed, hugging back. “You are a sweetheart, you know that, Critias?!”

“Nyyyeeeh…” Critias grinned before sitting back up and hugging Merina back. “I was just being honest with you, Merina. I mean every word of it, plus…” He ruffled her hair. “I can’t have my sister looking sad.”

At that, Merina smiled more and hugged Critias again. “You’re the best bro, you know that?”

Critias smiled and hugged Merina back, “I know. We’re alike, just you and me and--” He perked up smelling the air. “Do you smell that?”

Merina blinked and looked at him with a confused look. “What smell--?” She stopped and smell the burning scent. What was…?

“.... THE COOKIES!!!” They both exclaimed as they quickly scrambled, stumbling over one another before rushing over to the kitchen to save the burning cookies that they forgot to set the timer to.