A/N This is a time travel series by Elle Strauss. Clockwise is her original book and the kindle edition is FREE on amazon. She has a novelette companion to the book, called Clocked, which follows the events of Clockwise, but from the point of view of Nate rather than Casey. Unfortunately, Clocked only takes us through half of Clockwise. This is my take on Nate's POV through the rest of the book, effectively continuing Clocked.

If you haven't read Clockwise or Clocked, I highly recommend it. And her other books too.

Disclaimer - Clockwise and Clocked are owned by Elle Strauss and she (not me) has all rights to any of her characters and their dialogue.

...

"I still had her hand in mine and I squeezed it, hoping to comfort her. "This is my fault I guess."

I meant it as a joke but Casey didn't smile. Her eyes went to our interlocking fingers and a tear ran down her cheek. It killed me to see that. ... I guessed we'd have to see what this second trip back in time would bring. I was certain it would be an adventure.

...

I followed her as we headed back to her stash. The wood was quieter than last time, thanks to the blanket of fresh snow covering the forest floor. Good thing I had worn my old boots today instead of sneakers, otherwise my socks would have been soaked. We walked along in silence, I was thinking of how to let her know my feelings without, well without scaring her I guess. I kept thinking of the almost kiss, and wishing it hadn't been "almost". It appeared I would have to woo her the old-fashioned way. Fitting for the situation I suppose. With that plan in mind we arrived at the stash and I turned to give her space and privacy to change into a dress. I pulled my shirt down over my jeans to cover the zipper, since they apparently hadn't been invented yet. Unfortunately, that meant Casey made me leave my Toronto Maple Leafs hoodie in the clearing too. When Casey wasn't looking I rubbed my hands over my bare arms as the temperature dropped with the dropping sun. However, I wasn't about to let her see me shiver. If she could handle it, so could I. Plus I knew I would get it back when we returned to the present, since I had been wearing it at the mall. That part of the whole time-travel thing I didn't quite get. Of course, the fact that I was trying to figure out a time-travel thing at all was pretty remarkable.

As we resumed our now perfected awkward silence on the walk to the Watsons, my thoughts drifted back to how to woo Casey. Or how to "court" her, was that the word? Well, whatever. I liked her and if I could only get her to realize that - My musings were suddenly interrupted by Casey remarking, "I guess we're back to brother and sister now," Casey suddenly remarked, interrupting my musings. Shoot, I had forgotten about that part. I suppose trying to court isn't exactly "brotherly" behaviour. I sighed and then immediately flinched as I realized Casey probably mistook the meaning. She stared at me for a couple of second, let a long sigh too and began the same arm rubbing motion I had been secretly doing earlier. By reflex I leaned towards her and put my arm around her. She started and it then occurred to me that perhaps that wasn't the most "brotherly" move to make. I tried to justify it,

"You're shivering."

If she'd let me keep the hoodie, I would have draped it over her shoulders.

But instead, she shrugged off my arm and pulled away, muttered "I'm fine" and resumed walking towards the farmhouse, albeit a bit faster this time. Ouch. I watched her go, wondering if I had misread the signals during the last trip. Maybe she really wasn't interested and I should just go with the brother/sister thing. Nope, too late. I had already let my feelings start to develop and I wasn't going to be able to just turn them off. Which meant playing big brother at the Watson farm was going to really tax my non-existent acting capabilities.

The sound of an approaching wagon jolted me out of my reverie and I hurried to catch up to Casey, who was already several yards ahead of me. I caught up to her just as the carriage caught up to us. It slowed and I was simultaneously grateful and annoyed when the driver turned out to be Cobbs. Afterall, it was still a few more miles to the farm, but Cobbs was not on the top of my list for getting rides from. The smarmy grin plastered on his face as he pulled up alongside us only increased the contempt I felt for him.

"Well look what we have here, ain't you two the happy wanderers," he smirked.

"Hello Cobbs," I replied, decidedly not returning his smile, "we were just on our way to the Watsons. You don't mind us hitching a ride I hope." Before he could respond I swung my leg over the side of the cart and pulled myself in, then reached down to give Casey a hand. That wiped the pompous smile off his face. "Course you are", he mumbled as he gave the reins a shake and the cart started forward again, "I don't get why the Watsons put up with you folks."

I grasped the side of the cart with one hand as it rumbled along the bumpy road and with my other hand grabbed one of the blankets in the back. Though not as soft as my hoodie (again, still missing it, it was my favorite), the blankets were at least warm and the sun has almost fully set by now. The other nice thing about cold air and bumpy roads - it makes a great excuse to cuddle! I pulled Casey closer to me and this time she didn't resist. I could smell her strawberry shampoo and feel her chest move up and down as she rested against me. Oh boy, pretending to be a brother is going to be really hard this time around!