Welcome Home

Ellie smiled back at him in response. Despite not knowing exactly where things stood between them, she was still glad that Will had become much more of a friend to her than he had been in the past. The truth was, in Morgan's absence Ellie had felt herself needing to fill the giant hole that her sister had left in her social circle. It wasn't that she didn't have friends outside of her sister because she had plenty of them, it was just the fact that Morgan truly was her best friend and the person she had always spent the most time with. With her overseas, her time had begun to be occupied more and more by Kensi and Everett, though it was the time that she was able to spend with Will that she realized she had actually enjoyed the most - though she would never admit that out loud to Kensi. Or Everett, come to think of it. The relationship between the three of them could be strange sometimes, she admitted, but she had grown to really love having them both around. With Morgan back, she wasn't sure how everything was going to change between them. "I'm just going to get Morgan a plate really quickly. I'm sure she's starving after all of the traveling that she's been doing for the last few days. Want to keep me company?"

Brody smiled at Morgan, nodding. "Sure, it's not a problem," he told her, taking the carry-on from her. The moment that they were in her room, however, he became acutely aware of the fact that this was the first time that they had been alone together since she had said goodbye to him. Really the first time that they had been alone together since they had slept together that night. And now she had a boyfriend. Brody was quickly coming to realize that he wasn't really sure how to act around her anymore. "You didn't have to get me anything. Your Christmas present was more than enough. I even put it in one of those little display cases on my bookshelf. I figured that this was one toy car that we shouldn't crash in my living room." Aside from the display case, he also realized that he had a hundred things that he needed to update her on in her absence, and there were still a hundred things that he wanted to know about her time away.

Ellie thought about his question for a minute as she loaded up a plate with an assortment of snacks for her sister. In the sudden increase of the guest list, there hadn't been much time to pull together a complete spread, so Ellie hoped that Morgan didn't mind a lot of junk food as her first snack now that she was home. She wasn't really sure how much was going to change with Morgan home now, but considering that Morgan had her own friends, her own boyfriend, and college starting in the fall, the reality was that things probably weren't going to change much from what they had been the last five months. The strange reality was that, for the first time ever, the Tyler girls were probably going to have to start leading much more separate lives than they had before.

She set the plate for her sister aside and looked up at Will, leaning against the countertop. "I don't think so. She's starting college in the fall and I think she's taking a class this summer. I think she might be pretty busy, actually." Ellie gave a small shrug, a smile forming on her lips. "Guess you're stuck with me for a while longer, at least."

Brody was content to just watch her rummage through her things for a moment, his subconscious reminding him how much he missed just seeing her around the last five months. It was so strange to think that it had been so long when having her back just made him feel like not much time had passed at all. But, he had to keep reminding himself, a lot had changed. Being away from the group of people was making it much too easy for him to forget that her boyfriend was just in the other room. He took the book from her and surveyed it for a moment, shaking his head softly. She always seemed to find the most thoughtful gifts for him. "Thank you," he told her, smiling softly at her. "I really missed you too, Morgan. I'm glad that you're back."

Ellie shook her head at him. Truth be told she hadn't given much thought to her plans for the summer. She assumed that it probably wouldn't have been much different than any other time of the year, just with a lot less homework. "I'll probably just be around. I'm sure Kensi has some big ideas for some trouble that we can get into, but other than that I don't have anything penciled in." She honestly hoped that her summer consisted of spending more time with Kensi and with Everett, she had come to really love their company over the last several months and they had been able to find a fun dynamic between the three of them. Actually, she was sure that their dynamic had really just become Everett trying to keep her and Kensi from doing anything that they would regret later, which he did do spectacularly well. A small part of her was starting to think that she had a little crush on the older boy, but she also couldn't help but read into the fact that he had refused her invitation to come today and Will hadn't. And then there was the way that Will still flirted with her and made her feel like maybe it was possible that he did actually want to date her. It all seemed very confusing and complicated, she knew. "What about you? Are you planning on staying in town this summer?"

Brody seemed to have fixated on what she had said about coming over and his thoughts trailed down a very dangerous path as he kept recalling the last time she had been over. He hadn't been expecting that what he thought was going to be a simple goodbye was going to end up with them kissing, let alone with them back in his bedroom. It was a memory that he couldn't help but reference every once in a while when he found himself really missing her. Particularly after he and Melanie had stopped seeing each other in whatever capacity that they had been. He grinned at her as she rambled on about her trip and he found that he really was happy for her for getting to experience everything that she had. "I think that my mom would really like that, and you can tell her all about it too." He paused. "I really am glad that you had a good time. I feel like we have a lot to catch up on."

Ellie watched him for a second, wondering if he actually knew that Kensi and Everett weren't dating. Actually, thinking about it, she wasn't sure if Will knew much of anything about her group of friends. In all honesty, she wasn't sure how well Will fit into her social circle as he never seemed to really want to be involved in any of their activities, but she couldn't say that she hadn't enjoyed the time that they were able to spend together. She shrugged, "Everett and Kensi are just friends," she reiterated. "But he generally just tries to keep us from getting in trouble. It's really kind of sweet come to think about it," she added with a laugh. "But that's good that you'll be in town."

For some reason, Brody had just assumed that Morgan had known that things had ended with Melanie. He figured at the very least that it was something that Ellie might have mentioned in passing, and so he was surprised to find that she seemed to have no idea. "Melanie and I aren't..." he wasn't sure how to phrase what they had been or what they had ceased to be. "I haven't seen Melanie in quite a while, actually." He nodded, realizing that they were really just scratching the surface of everything that she had missed. Though he supposed that she probably didn't know to know the sordid details of what had happened. "But everything is going well, just getting things ready for school in the fall. I decided to go to Cornell to study Econ so my mom has been really focused on making sure we spend a lot of time together as a family."

Ellie wasn't sure that she really liked the idea that it could be misconstrued that Kensi and Everett were dating. Actually, she couldn't say that she hadn't wondered herself, and sometimes she still actually wondered if there was something between them. But she tried not to think about it too much, particularly because she knew that it wasn't really her business. Besides, Kensi was more than capable of taking her own love life into her hands, and if she really needed Ellie's help on it then she knew where to find her.

Smiling at him, she nodded. "Well, the fun part is the important part," she said before picking up the plate for her sister. "I'm going to go take this to Morgan, but I'll be back."

Brody shook his head at Morgan, dismissing the idea that he liked Melanie. But he supposed that really getting into his lack of feelings for Melanie wasn't going to make things any easier with the redhead in front of him. Instead, he decided to focus on school considering that was something that he knew that had the potential of not making her more upset with him. "I just thought it might be a nice change of scenery. But," he added, "It's not so far that I can't come home and visit." That was actually a large part of the reason why he had chosen Cornell, it was far enough that he could get away from some of the drama over the last couple of years, but it was still close enough that he could come home when he wanted to. "And I promise that you'll have more Cornell gear than you know what to do with. You'll have to come visit, too."

Ellie hesitated just outside of her sister's door, not sure if she should interrupt her and Brody. It had been a very strange last year as she watched her sister's relationship with their childhood friend unfold into something much more before everything changed dramatically for them. Upon finding out that Brody had unceremoniously left her sister for another girl, Ellie had gone wholeheartedly to being anti-Brody herself, but when things ended with Melanie and the two of them found themselves missing Morgan, it had seemed much easier to at least go back to being friends with each other. Now, watching them together, she wasn't sure where they stood. It seemed to be a reoccurring theme, she knew. Knocking softly on the doorframe, she held up the plate as a way of trying to excuse her interruption. "I brought you some snacks. I'm sure we can con Mom and Dad into an actual dinner later if you're still hungry."

The tension in the room was almost palpable, at least Ellie had convinced herself that it was. Whether or not she had been interrupting something, she suddenly still felt like the third wheel in this situation. When they were little, it had never been strange or uncomfortable to be around the two of them, and when Jamie Benson had been added to the mix it had really just felt like their little playgroup was meant to take shape in this way. But as things continued to change and their social circle continued to expand, the only thing that had ever really felt like it was changing for Ellie was how it felt to be around Brody and her sister. She wasn't entirely convinced that Morgan hadn't been in love with him from the very beginning, and as things continued to change, Ellie had become suddenly aware of the fact that she was fairly certain that Brody loved her too. The more she thought about it the more she wondered whether or not she should just shut the door on them and let them figure out whatever it was that they needed to.

Actually, she was convinced, that was exactly what she needed to do. "Well, don't let me interrupt, I'll keep the masses entertained," she said, excusing herself from the room and pulling the door shut behind her.

Brody hadn't been sure what to say when Ellie walked in the room. It was like someone had hit the pause button on his conversation with Morgan and he was just waiting for the opportunity to pick up where they left off. He was glad for whatever had caused Ellie to close the door behind her as it gave him the opportunity to turn back to Morgan, sighing softly at how sad the conversation seemed to have become. It was the way that she had said that he was going to meet a bunch of people that he thought bothered him the most, it somehow made him think that she thought he was going to replace her. "I still want us to keep in touch too, though. I want to know how things are going at Columbia and if there's anything that I should know about everything that's happening here. I don't - I mean, just because I'm going away to school doesn't mean that I don't still want you to be part of my life, Morgan."

Brody smiled softly at her, nodding his agreement to still be her study buddy even if they had to do it long-distance. He was going to say something to her about her new boyfriend, but she started justifying it before he could. He didn't even know Remi well enough to judge at this point but the little bit of conversation that they had hadn't made Brody particularly fond of the Frenchman. It was a little reassuring to think that she hadn't intended on bringing Remi home, but the fact remained that she had, and they did still seem to be dating for whatever it was worth. "He seems... nice enough, I'm sure. As long as you're happy."

He couldn't help but feel like she had reiterated what he had said to her at the Halloween party and he hated it even more hearing it on this end. "Morgan, I mean it."