She's My Little Sister

I Told You, I'm Her Favorite, Aren't I?

"GUESS WHAT MICHELLE?" Shawn asked his little sister as he and Cory walked into the Matthews house. "Cory's a genius!"

Cory shook his head, his ears turning red. "I am not. I cheated on that test, and soon everyone is going to know!"

"No one's gonna know." Shawn tried to reassured his friend.

"Their gonna know." Cory insisted.

"How?" Shawn questioned, picking his sister up. "How is anyone going to know?"

Cory looked at his friend in disbelief. "They're going to know when they come to give me that test, and I fail!"

Shawn shook his head, tickling his sister's stomach. She laughed a bit, and grabbed at Shawn's fingers. She played with them, not paying attention in the slightest as her brother and her uncle figure. She felt herself begin to bounce, and looked up at Shawn as he walked towards the door. Michelle lifted her her hand, as if to wave to Cory. Cory smiled and waved back. Shawn felt Michelle lay her head on his shoulder. She sighed, digging her nose into his neck. Shawn smiled as he walked home.

When he opened the trailer door, he was shocked to see his dad sitting on the couch. Chet turned to look at him, smiling as if he hadn't been gone for nearly a week. "Hey, Shawn. Hey Michelle."

Shawn barely greeted him, as he rushed Michelle to his room. Setting her in her crib, he listened as she babbled. He nodded, leaning back on his bed. He could listen to Michelle talk for hours. As she babbled, she could have sworn she heard her say an actual word, but didn't think to much of it. She was still pretty young, he doubted she would be talking anytime soon.

"Shawn!"

Shawn sat up with a gasp. He turned wide eyed to look at his sister. She was sitting up in her bed, looking at her brother.

"What did you just say?"

"Shawn!" she repeated.

Shawn's face lit up as he looked at his sister. He jumped up with a laugh as he picked her sister up, and kissed her all over her face. Michelle laughed happily as well as she repeated her first word over and over again.

"Shawn, Shawn, Shawn." Michelle babbled.

Shawn gave a goofy smile as he listened to his sister. He was touched that he was her first word. He was glad that her first word was 'Shawn' and not 'Mama' or 'Dada', seeing as neither of them ever helped with her. He decided tomorrow he'd go see Cory and tell him about what Michelle had accomplished.

(What was your guy's first word? Mine was Cat),

"I'm proud of you, Munchkin." Shawn smiled.

He set Michelle back down in her crib and started on his homework. He knew Michelle didn't know what it meant for him to be proud of her, but he wanted to remind her. He didn't want her to feel like he did, because no one ever told him they were proud of him and who he was or what he's done. He didn't want Michelle to grow up insecure like he was.

No one deserved that. Michelle didn't deserve that.

{}~{}~{}~{}

Shawn headed to the Matthews house, excited to tell Cory about Michelle's first word. He opened the door, a happy smile on his face as he made his way to Cory's bedroom. As soon as Shawn walked in and set Michelle down, Cory shot him with a Nerf gun making Michelle laugh.

"What was that for!?" Shawn asked, his voice cracking.

Cory began complaining about being taken away to a genius school making Shawn roll his eyes. Man sometimes Cory was not very bright.

"Hey idiot." Shawn snapped. "Are you a genius?"

Cory looked at him, from his spot next to Michelle. "No."

"Do you have the answers to this test?" Shawn asked.

A smile grew on Cory's face. "No."

"Do you see what I'm getting at?"

"So you want me to throw this test?"

Shawn shook his head with a scoff. "No, I want you to take this test to your best ability. No guessing either, wouldn't want you to stumble into a right answer."

Cory smiled and nodded. He turned to Michelle who made grabby hands at Cory. Cory smiled and picked her up. Michelle sighed happily as she leaned back into the curly haired boy's chest. Michelle babbled to Cory and he nodded his head. His head snapped down to look at her though when she said Shawn's name.

"Did she just..."

Shawn nodded with a proud smile. "She said it last night. She's been saying it ever since."

Cory turned to look at the baby in his arms. Shawn stretched, saying, "I'm going to get a drink. You want anything, Cor?"

Cory shook his head as he sat Michelle across from him on Eric's bed. As soon as Shawn walked out, Cory said, "Can you say 'Cory', Michelle?"

"Shawn."

"Come on, Michelle. Say it. Say Cory."

"Shawn."

"Oh, for—"

"Shawn."

"Listen Michelle, I'm your your Uncle and I'm supposed to buy you stuff. That's the deal." Cory lectures. "So the least you can do for me is say Cory. Your brother is smart, you should be able to pick this up fairly easy."

"Shawn."

"No, Cory."

"Co—"

"Yes, keep going!"

"Co—"

"Come on Michelle! Say it!" Cory begged.

"Shawn."

Cory looked as if he might cry. "This is ridiculous, Michelle. Cory."

"Shawn."

"Shawn! Your sister is broken and needs to sort out her priorities." Cory yelled.

Shawn walked back in with a Can in his hand looking between the two. Michelle began to bounce excitedly as she saw her brother walk back in. "What's the problem?"

"I keep trying to get her to say my name," Cory complained. "But she won't. She keeps saying Shawn."

"I told you, I'm her favorite, aren't I?" Shawn asked looking at the little blonde baby.

Michelle clapped happily. Shawn smiled and sat next to her as he watched his friend pout.

"Come on, Cor." Shawn said, trying to reassure him. "She's only just started talking. She'll say your name eventually."

Cory sighed, laying on his bed. "Alright. As long as she doesn't say Eric's name before mine, I'll be okay."