He wakes in the grey light of morning, covered in sweat and tangled up in his sheets. He thrashes about a bit before falling off the bed with a thump and reaching down to pull the blankets away with his hands. He glances out the window. It’s near daytime. Bee should probably make breakfast for Wilder before he starts making a mess of the kitchen. It’s not as bad as it used to be, but… Bee just doesn’t have the oomph to clean right now.

  Bee heads down into the kitchen. Through the opening to the family room he can see Iris, who’s sleeping on the couch, and Wilder, who’s lying on the floor next to her. Iris’s hand is hanging over the edge, fingers lightly brushing against Wilder’s, which are curled around hers. Bee takes in the image for a moment. It’s sweeter than he expected. He isn’t certain what he expected.

  Iris had come over for lunch yesterday. Then lunch had become dinner, dinner had become spending the night. Bee was so on edge through it all. She’s nice, fine, she’s nice. Chatty, personable. Easy to get along with. Too easy. She never admits anything bothers her.

  Wilder had talked about meeting her. How they spent more time together, talking for hours on end. They did most of the talking yesterday, too, the two of them. Iris asked a lot of questions about him. Uncomfortable questions. But then she backed off. Sensitive to his mood. Considerate enough to respect it.

  She asked about Mino.

  Bee sets about making breakfast. Time passes as he cooks, light coming in brighter and brighter through the windows. Wilder begins to stir. He always has been an early riser. Bee? Bee just sleeps at odd hours, or doesn’t sleep at all.

  Bee sets the table and sits to wait. He sighs. It’s been five days since he watched Mino disappear into that cave. He had spent most of that in between time hiding from the world and processing the fact that he would never see the kid again. This is why he hates getting attached.

  Fear grips his chest. Will Wilder leave him too? If he’s already this serious about Iris, he might decide to go away with her. Bee will be alone.

  But then Wilder enters the kitchen, yawning, and Bee is soothed slightly. Wilder is here now, and he won’t leave Bee. Not quite yet.

  Iris sleeps late, and when she wakes, she’s surprisingly grumpy. She slumps into the bathroom, where she fixes her hair and makeup. Bee pulls out some things from the fridge, starts making an energizing drink. When she emerges, she looks slightly more awake.

  Bee slides the drink towards her. She accepts it gratefully. So even when she's grumpy, she's not taking it out on other people. Or at least, not in front of Bee.

  A knock comes on the door.

  Bee frowns. He wasn’t expecting anyone. People don’t usually come around this early, not even neighbors.

  “I’ll get it!” Wilder exclaims, bounding towards the door. He opens it, ready to chirp a welcome speech, but chokes and falls silent. Bee leans back in his chair, trying to get a glimpse past his brother’s tall body.

  “Bro?” He calls. Wilder is standing, frozen, in the doorway. Then he unfreezes and reaches down, picking up whoever is there in a tight hug. Bee stands and walks over, curious.

  “Hey, what’s going on—” and now it’s Bee’s turn to choke, because Wilder is holding Mino and she’s beaming happily and she’s back.

  “Mino!” Bee gasps.

  “Hello!” She says. “I hope you don’t mind but I came back and I didn’t know where anyone else lived so I came here.”

  Wilder sets Mino down gently and she runs over to Bee. She wraps her arms around his waist, pulling him close. Bee pats her hair in shock. There are more flowers on her head now. He counts, two, five, seven flowers, cheery yellow blooms waving up at him.

  “You came back?” He had watched her go.

  Mino makes a face. “The Overground sucks. Let’s leave it at that. I still don’t remember anything, but I really don’t believe I’m going to find anything useful there. And I don’t want to be up there.”

  Bee glances at Wilder, who is refusing to look at him.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to go back?” Wilder asks carefully. “If you stay here, you might not ever find your family.”

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  “That’s okay. Maybe down here I can find a new family.”

  Wilder finally looks at Bee, and he uses the opportunity to beg and plead with his eyes. Wilder sighs, but smiles.

  “Maybe,” he says, but he doesn’t have to say anything more. Bee knows what his brother is feeling.

  “Sweetheart,” Bee bursts out. “We know you.”

  Mino blinks up at him, surprised. “What?”

  “Wilder and I know you. Except we didn’t want to say anything. Well, I wanted to say something. But… well, it’s sort of a long story.”

  Mino’s face lights up. “You… you two are my family?”

  “Yeah,” Wilder says softly. “We were.”

  “Tell me,” Mino pleads.

  “Let’s go sit down,” Bee says. “This might take a little while.”

  Iris is standing by the table. Bee doesn’t know how he feels about her being privy to all of this, but he’s not going to kick her out again. She follows them to the family room as they all settle in. Mino examines her curiously.

  “I don’t remember you, either. Are you a part of my family too?”

  “Oh, no, darling, I’m new.” Iris says. “Hopefully, I’m here to stay, however.” Bee grumbles at that comment.

  “I hope so too, Iris,” Wilder says. He’s blushing. Bee closes his eyes. Deep breaths, deep breaths. He feels a small hand on his thigh, and looks to see Mino gazing up at him.

  “Please, tell me,” she repeats.

  Bee nods. “You came from the Overground, sweetheart, but not quite as recently as we led you to believe.” He gathers the facts together in his mind, reaching back through his memories. “You were really young when we found you, but super bright and curious. We took you in and you told us your story, as well as you were able to.

  “You lived a fairly happy childhood, at first. But then your dad died and your mom remarried, and only a few months later your mom died too. Your stepdad hated you for being a reminder of your mother, for being a ‘problem child,’ for not being able to speak. He had three children of his own with your mother, and favored them. You decided to leave, and find somewhere else where you could be happy.

  “That’s when you came to the Underground. Humans don’t come down here too often, but you did, so Wilder and I did the best we could to take care of you, even though he was only fourteen and I was barely twenty. Things continued like that for a long time. We made friends, settled into life here in Finlow.

  “Then, maybe two weeks ago, you fell. You didn’t wake up. We tried to make you comfortable, we asked the healers in town to look at you, but otherwise there was nothing we could do. Nothing changed no matter what we did. Then you woke up all by yourself, and you didn’t remember a single thing. You know, don’t you?”

  Mino nods, so Bee continues the story.

  “Wilder pulled me out of the room so we could talk. He’s been worried that we weren’t taking good enough care of you. He saw this as the perfect chance for you to find a better life. He convinced me not to tell you anything. So… we let you go.”

  Wilder takes a shaky breath. “We both regret it immensely,” he says.

  Mino takes Bee’s hand, then lets it go. “Thank you. I don’t remember details from my past. But… I think I remember feelings, and emotions. I think my heart remembers what you made me feel, even if my mind doesn’t remember why. I missed you, and I thought about you a lot while I was gone. I didn’t know why until now. I believe you’re telling the truth. And I want to stay with you.”

  Wilder moves, kneeling on the ground in front of Mino.

  “We shouldn’t have lied to you,” he says. “I shouldn’t have lied.”

  Mino gazes at him for a while, quiet and thoughtful.

  “I’m sorry,” Wilder whispers, ashamed.

  “Sorry, sweetheart,” Bee says. Will she still want to stay now that she knows what they’ve done?

  “I met a new friend,” Mino begins. “She gets really really anxious. She made a bad choice too, but I hope she had the courage to go back and make things right.

  “You thought you were making a good choice. It probably wasn’t the best one. I came back, I care about you. You love me. We can make things right.”

  Mino is an angel. Wilder reaches out to hold her, and Bee does his best to hold them both.

  Bee’s eyes flick up to the little blossoms. He reaches up and plays with one of them. “Did you find out what these are?”

  “Nope. I want to find out, though.”

  “We’ll figure it out,” Bee promises.

  The room is silent for a moment, then Iris’s voice breaks it. “Well, this was certainly enlightening. I don’t suppose you darlings are interested in sitting through my life story?”

  The room is filled with joyful laughter, which is as it should have been all along.