#rydel

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Ross loved his siblings with all his heart but ever since the band went on hiatus, he had to admit that a few differences had crept in between them. There was no bad blood between them but things weren’t like before either. Ross’s siblings had moved on in life. Riker and Rydel had gotten married. Rydel was pregnant. Ellington had gotten engaged and things had gotten quite awkward after his break up with Rydel. Rocky and Ross had managed to stay in contact and even created music together but something was still missing. They all could feel it.

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Ross’s biggest fear was that he and his siblings no longer shared that same closeness and friendship like before. He often wondered if they would still do anything for each other.

Riker had invited them over for an end of year get together. Ross had spent the night before worrying if all of his siblings were going to be there and how awkward would it be to be around his siblings’ partners. He knew them but lately they had been so distanced that he felt like he barely knew his own siblings.

With all those doubts clouding his mind, Ross traveled to Riker’s, wishing that everything would go smoothly. But little did he know that he was soon going to experience something that would put his doubts at ease.

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Riker had caught on Ross’s uneasiness as soon as the man reached there. He noticed how happy Ross got when he saw Rydel but still maintained a distance with Capron. If Rydel sensed something she didn’t say anything. The same thing happened when Ross met Savannah. Ellington had arrived with his fiancée and the atmosphere got a little tensed.

Wanting to speak to his little brother alone, Riker asked the boy to accompany him to the bank. It seemed like an opportunity to get the boy away from the crowd as well as get to know what was bothering the kid.

Seemed like a normal thing to do except that it all turned wrong.

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“So what’s going on?” Riker asked as they got to the bank.

“I don’t know. You’re the one that brought me to the bank” Ross said, deliberately trying to be ignorant.

“Ross…” Riker sighed.

“Things have changed, Ri… I don’t know… It doesn’t feel like before” Ross trailed off.

“Why do you think that things have changed?” Riker asked.

Ross shrugged but never got to answer as some men barged into the bank with guns, taking everyone hostage.

Within seconds, panic was spread all around as they all got down on the floor.

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“Stay calm… They’ll take what they want and leave. Just stay down and stay calm” Riker whispered to Ross.

“They can’t rob the bank, Riker. We need to do something” Ross countered.

“Don’t… The cops would be here soon and we’ll be out. Don’t do anything” Riker warned.

Ross stayed quiet for a while until the robbers got hold of a kid on their way out as the cops had already arrived. They planned to use the kid to get away.

“Leave the kid” Ross shouted.

The robbers looked behind, surprised as they aimed their gun at Ross.

Using the moment of surprise, the cops barged in.

Realizing that they were gonna be caught, the robbers thought of taking Ross out as their shot at the boy.

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Ross was frozen on his spot. He saw the man firing at him but he just couldn’t move. But Riker was right there. He shook his head at Ross trying to distract the robbers from going out with the kid but as soon as he saw the robbers going to fire at Ross, he jumped right in between.

It happened too fast for Ross. At a moment, he had a gun pointed at him and in the other moment, Riker had jumped in and threw him to the ground, taking a bullet for him.

“Ri… Riker?” Ross shouted, patting Riker’s cheeks as he inspected the bullet wound.

He heard the cops checking on them and heard them call for an ambulance but he had eyes only for Riker.

His big brother had taken a bullet for him.

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The bullet had only grazed Riker’s shoulder but that wasn’t going to keep Ross from feeling guilty. Once Riker woke up, Ross stood in the background and watched his siblings fuss over Riker. But Ross stayed rooted in his place, at the door, watching his siblings.

“Ross?” Riker called out but Ross shook his head, not wanting to approach them.

“Ross? What’s wrong?” Rocky asked.

“It’s all my fault” Ross broke down.

“Oh Rossy” Rydel sighed.

Riker tried sitting up but gasped as his shoulder protested. He wanted nothing more than to pull his little brother in a cuddle. But Savannah beat him to it.

“It’s all right. It’s not your fault. If you would have been in Riker’s place, you would have done the same, right?” Savannah said.

Ross blinked up at the woman and let her pull him in a hug.

Riker watched them, a smile creeping on his face.

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Maybe this was the incident that could have removed Ross’s fears. This incident reminded Ross and his siblings that their bond was still strong. As he closed his eyes, lying in his hospital bed, with Savannah sat next to him and Ross cuddling in his side on the bed, Riker knew that nothing could come in between him and his siblings. They would always have each other’s back.

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A/N