POV97: Camelia

The room was empty and cold. There was just something about looking at Brie's room that always gave me chills. I wasn't exactly sure why, maybe it was just the fact that I missed the woman, but for some reason I thought there was something more.

Izzy's arm wrapped around my waist and he pulled me back against him, "What are you thinking about, Cam?"

I placed my hands on his arm and sighed, "Brie," I tilted my head back so I could look up at him, "I'm also worried about Mars. I never thought he'd hurt you."

Izzy shrugged and sighed at the movement, "He didn't hurt me too bad. He could have done a lot worse. I'm just happy I didn't have to be scraped off the pavement with a spatula."

I turned in his embrace, "You know," I wrapped my arms around his neck and sighed, "if it were anyone else I'd be worried about Mars killing himself."

Izzy shook his head, "Mars doesn't strike me as the type of person to kill himself."

I nodded, "He isn't, but he is the type of person that would pull a kamikaze mission," I laid my head against his good shoulder, "He's going to do something dumb, I just know it."

Izzy shrugged as the door opened and closed. My eyes grew wide as the thought that it might be Sebastian crossed my mind and Mars wasn't around. Mars was the only person that had a strong enough will that Sebastian couldn't mess with.

"Brennin is dead," I pulled away from Izzy at the sound of Mars' voice. I peered around Izzy to see Mars standing there leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, "They just haven't pulled the plug yet."

Izzy turned around, "What?"

Mars' cool gaze looked both of us over and for a moment I thought that Mars was going to apologize to Izzy for dislocating his shoulder, "She's brain dead. There is no hope of her coming back, but somehow Sebastian's kid survived the accident. They can't pull the plug until the child is born."

Izzy nodded as I wrapped my arms around his waist, "What's going to happen to the child once it's born?"

Mars' cool gaze focused on Izzy, "Believe it or not, Izzy, I'm a good enough guy to take the kid in. I'm going to be a daddy."

That tone was enough to set off my ire. Mars didn't need to be such an ass and I'd never seen him act that bad towards anyone, even my mother, "Why can't you come to terms?"

Mars looked down at me and his cool gaze scared me. He was calm and I knew that he would never hurt me, but he was too calm for what was happening. Any sane man would be freaking out by this point, but not Mars, "I have come to terms, Cam. I've realized that I'm an adult and can't be the same little pissant I was before. You're the one that needs to come to terms."

Izzy shook his head, "Why did you come here to tell us? It's obvious that you don't care about us anymore."

Mars shrugged, "I figured since the kid is a big part of our plan that you might want to know," he stood up straight, "I'll see you two at school in a couple weeks," he ran his hand through his hair, "I'm going to disappear for a couple weeks and I won't answer for anyone."

I pulled away from Izzy and stepped over to Mars. I grabbed his hand, but he pulled away, "Please, stay with us," my eyes started to water as his dark eyes showed no emotion, "I don't want to spend Christmas without my brother."

Mars blinked a couple times before he shrugged, "Christmas isn't a joyous time of year, Cam," his eyes grew hard and I knew right away that he was remembering his childhood, "I reiterate. I won't answer," at that he disappeared.

Izzy's arm wrapped around my waist as I felt the tears overflow. This wasn't the Mars that I had grown to love. This was the Mars that I had first met. The man that held everything inside. Years of abuse and neglect driving him so deep inside himself that it took years to find himself. Mars was gone…