"Lift your head a little bit."

Bonnie sat on the stool only clad in a small leather dress. Slowly she raised her hands and brought up her fire red hair. It fell through her fingers as her eyes sparkled across at him and smiled. For the first time in awhile, this was a session that didn't involve sexual motives. Sure she looked sexy, and her eyes were inviting. But it was just something about tonight that made Casey decide to try something different. His more graphic paintings of her were selling, in fact he had just done twelve up for some retired lawyer from the bay. Sitting there, mixing paints together, Casey stared at Bonnie's stunning eyes and smiled.

She smiled back, turning her body a bit before revealing her long slender neck. Casey worked at his easel before something hit him. Looking down at his pain stained hands, he thought about what had been happening in the last week or so. Right away he thought about Bob.

"He was stabbed at least thirty times…"

He heard a voice echo deep in his mind. Looking up at Bonnie he remembered what he said at group the other day. How he finally shed away that cocky jerk of a personality and revealed a part of him that haven't been shown in years. He remembered talking about Bonnie to the others. How one day she just happened to walk into his life and how just something about her made him feel something he never felt before. He knew he was in love, even though he didn't see the same reaction in her eyes. Somehow it was just sex, even though he prayed deeply that perhaps she would stop hiding things from him and open up. Tell him the truth and maybe take a serious risk with him. Knowing that really things like that wouldn't ever happen, he leaned back and then he remembered.

Richie…

Suddenly he thought back at the last couple of months. How Richie always stayed silent and in the background. How he talked and looked. How Casey always poked fun, but somehow felt uneasy whenever he was around him. Looking straight at Bonnie, he couldn't believe it.

Dropping his tray of paints, they fell to the floor. Bonnie blinked and lost her pose.

"You okay?"

Casey took a second to snap out of it before shaking his head and giving a nervous laugh.

"Yeah, sorry…guess my hands are fucking shaking."

Casey got on his knees and began picking up the splattered paint. Bonnie went to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. Looking up he tried his hardest to hide what he was thinking.

"Hey…why don't we skip the rest of this and save it for morning?"

Casey gave out a nervous laugh before standing up and wiping his hands on his jeans. Looking down at her, he saw how truly beautiful she was and now badly he didn't want this to be true. Putting his arms around her slim body he brought her closer, feeling her breasts against him. Smiling, she began to kiss his chest. Standing there he thought of all the fun they had together. All the time that past in which no matter what he had really been falling in love.

And now…

Lifting her head, he deeply kissed her wishing it wasn't true.

"You want me to get my stuff…"

Bonnie teased with a slight smile. Casey shook his head and brought her closer.

"No, not tonight…let's just make love like normal people."

"But I thought you liked that stuff?"

"Not tonight okay?"

Bonnie studied his eyes before leaning in and kissing him.

A few hours later, Casey woke to find a note written by Bonnie. Saying she didn't want to wake him and how she would see him tomorrow. Crumpling the note, Casey sighed deeply and laid back in his bed. The sex had been good, as it always was. But tonight was different, Instead of inflecting pain on each other for pleasure. Tonight they held onto each other and made love. Casey had never felt anything like that before in his entire life. Laying back and looking out at the window as the moon rose high in the darkened sky, he tried to decide what he should do. In the morning he would call Bill. Try to explain what he thought and see if he wasn't crazy. The if he had a chance to talk with her…

Well he didn't know just yet.

Before closing his eyes he dreamed of maybe running away with her, forgetting that any of this happened and trying to start over with her…

But Casey never got to see any of that happen.

And a day later as Rose laid out near the pool with Bill and he told her about one of his patients dying, a silent tear slipped from her eyes.