It had been a few days since Callie's failed adoption, since her kiss with Wyatt, and since Brandon had been brutally beaten up by Vico and his friends. Brandon had gotten up, suffered through the pain alone and drove to the hospital with one hand badly broken and dripping with blood. His Mom's questioned it, of course, but he maintained that he 'accidentally' trapped his hand in the car door, and fell over, bruising his face and body, because of the pain. It was a good story, but no one really bought it, especially not Callie.

Brandon was officially moving back into the Fosters' home today. Back in his room, he struggled with unpacking a box of clothes. His blue cast was great for healing the broken bones, but terrible for handing fabrics. Callie knew he'd be home today, and she'd attempted to keep her distance. She'd felt kind of awkward approaching him, despite knowing how much he must need a friend right now. That's if she could even call herself that. She didn't even know why she felt like this. They left on good terms, before Brandon's 'accident,' but Callie knew that something wasn't right about the whole thing, and she wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Callie jumped up off her bed after hearing a box drop in the other room. She left her room and noticed the noise came from Brandon's room. His door was wide open, so she went over to the doorway, and saw him struggling to pick things up. Instinctively, she walked right in and helped him to pick up the contents of the box. He barely even looked at her, but Callie's eyes were burning into him. With everything put back into the box, Brandon sat back down onto his bed, and Callie went to sit on a chair by his desk.

"Hey.." He spoke quietly. His face showed evidence of how embarrassed he was that he couldn't even pack some clothes into a box by himself.

"Hi.. Um, how are you?" Callie nodded towards his hand and Brandon just shrugged.

"Oh, this, yeah this is.. it's great.." He laughed softly, and Callie smiled.

"It must suck, huh?" She went to rub her nose and he nodded.

"Yeah, the symphony aren't exactly happy about it. It could cost me my place.."

Callie didn't know what to say. She hadn't realized before, but this would cost Brandon everything. What if he could never play piano again? Brandon without music just wasn't Brandon at all. She sighed, nodding slowly.

"I'm sorry."

"Not your fault."

Their eyes lingered on each other for a few moments, until Callie broke the silence.

"You know, Brandon.." She sighed, and changed her approach. "Look, was this really an accident?"

She noticed Brandon fidget a little and she spoke quickly. "You don't have to tell me, you don't have to tell anyone." Brandon sat still and just looked at her. "It's just that from my experience, a problem shared is definitely a problem halved.."

Brandon gave her a look and Callie couldn't quite read it. He sniggered slightly.

"So, is that what you're doing with Wyatt? Halving your problems between make-out sessions?"

Callie felt the blood drain from her face, she'd gone cold. She was both taken aback and completely shocked at how he knew that they'd kissed, and why he felt the need to bring this up right now.

"Wow." Callie just looked at him, her mouth wide open. Brandon didn't say a word, he just looked down guiltily.

"So this is what you want to talk about then? On your first day back?" Callie's eyes were wide and her voice was loud. Brandon looked up and laughed, perhaps a little too dramatically.

"It's as good a thing as anything else. I'm right, aren't I?"

"God, you're such a jerk, Brandon. What even happened to you?" Callie was now standing and heading towards the door.

"You wanna know what happened?" Brandon had gotten up himself now. His voice had been loud, but now it was soft. "A girl broke my heart."

Callie stopped walking but kept her back to him, not sure how to respond. She slowly turned back around again.

"Yeah, well a guy broke mine, too."

She left the room.

"Callie, sweetie we're going to take Jude for some new shoes, you gonna be okay? Mariana and Jesus are out but Brandon's in his room. We'll be a couple hours." Stef put a few final things in her bag and Callie nodded.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Have fun."

Stef hugged her. "Thanks, love. Make sure you go and check on Brandon, make sure that he isn't overdoing it with his hand, okay?"

Callie nodded, but rolled her eyes when her back was turned. I doubt that will be happening, she thought. A few moments moments later, Stef had left and joined Lena and Jude in the car. The car started up and drove off, so Callie got herself a drink and headed upstairs.

Not long had passed, and Callie was flicking through a magazine, sat on her bed. She couldn't stop thinking about her argument with Brandon earlier; they couldn't go on like this. He hurt her, by what he said, but she couldn't shake the thought of how much she must have hurt him by kissing Wyatt.

Just then, a knock was heard on the door. It could only be one person.

"Come in."

Brandon opened the door and stood sheepishly in the doorway. "Can we talk?"

Callie sighed but nodded, turning her attention away from the pages in front of her, and towards the guy now sat on the chair by her desk. It was a complete reversal of earlier.

"Look, Cal, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been such a douche when I know you're only trying to help.."

Callie remained quiet, unsure of what to say.

"God, you really must hate me now. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have -" He got up to leave but Callie stopped him.

"No, no wait. Look, I don't hate you. I, I could never hate you.." She shook her head. "You were a jerk this morning, that's true. I just don't know what to say because you're kind of right. I did kiss Wyatt on adoption day."

Brandon swallowed and nodded slightly. He already knew about it all, he wasn't stupid, but hurt shone through his eyes like sunlight through stained glass windows. Brandon's eye's could easily be compared to stained glass, but the hurt was definitely not the light.

"It's not, well, it kinda is what you think, but not really. It was kind of a test.."

Brandon looked confused. "A test?"

Callie's cheeks reddened. "Yeah.. Kind of a nasty thing to do to Wyatt, actually. I, I initiated the kiss, because I wanted to see if I felt anything. Compared to when I kissed you."

Brandon's eyes widened, and for a second Callie could have sworn that she saw his old self in there. He looked down, trying to hide his faint smile with a nod, but Callie could tell.

"So, what was the outcome of this little.. experiment?"

"Brandon I can't tell you that, we're finally getting somewhere as siblings -"

"No, we're not." Brandon almost laughed at the ridiculous statement. "Callie, I'm jealous. Of Wyatt. I'll always be jealous of any guy that even gets to be near you when I can't. It's just the way it is and I'm sorry but I can't help that. Whether you get adopted, or not, I'll always love you in a way that isn't right for siblings. I wish I could turn it off but I can't."

Callie couldn't disagree with him, with anything he'd just said. She tried to look away but every time she did so she kept going back to his face.

Brandon's voice went low and husky. "So, what was the outcome?"

Callie leaned up a little and crossed her legs, holding onto her feet as she picked a part of the floor to look at.

"I felt more looking at you, than I did kissing Wyatt."

Brandon inhaled, then exhaled deeply. His body was sort of hunched over, his arms resting on his knees, but he tilted his head a little bit so that all Callie could see was his eyes.

"I'm, I'm not over you Brandon. I don't think I ever will be."

At that statement, Brandon looked directly into Callie's eyes and she did the same. There was a distance between them, but it didn't matter. Brandon got up slowly and walked towards her, and Callie did the same to him. They didn't say, or do, anything, they just stood, both perfectly in tune with each other.

Brandon gave her the look. The look he always gave her before something was about to happen, and Callie knew exactly what it meant. With no hesitation, she took a step closer and traced a finger along his cheek, along the bruises. It was her turn to prove herself.

And she did.

Callie moved forward, almost in a leap-like fashion, and pressed her lips onto Brandon's. They kissed fiercely, with a burning passion that was the result of waiting for this moment for so long. Brandon didn't stop her when she roamed her hands in his hair, or when she arched her body into his, or when she started to unbutton his shirt..

They moved messily, bumping into things as they walked backwards, trying to get to Brandon's room. Callie's shared room was way too risky. They hobbled across the landing and almost knocked over a potted plant, causing a fit of giggles to erupt, only to be silenced by one pair of lips on top of another. They reached the door and Callie backed into it, opening it. Brandon closed the door with one swift movement, only moving his hands away from Callie for a second. They walked over to his bed and cleared the boxes, making noise fill the room as everything fell out and cluttered the floor.

"Oh, man." Brandon pulled away and looked at the mess. Callie giggled and pulled him back. She lay down and he supported himself on top of her.

"Are you sure this is wise, us?" Brandon asked her.

"Of course it's not wise. But it's what I want, what you want. It's what we both need."

Brandon smiled, sensing Callie's brain working overtime to deal with all of her doubts and stresses that filled her brain constantly.

"We'll figure something out," he leaned down to kiss her forehead, "I promise."

Callie's eyes welled up, and she smiled at Brandon. "I love you so much, do you know that? I've loved you all this time.."

"Well then it's a good job I love you too, always have." Brandon kept his eyes glued on hers until the tears disappeared.

Callie wiped her eyes slightly, and then sighed before giving him a cheeky smirk.

"Good. Now, shut up and kiss me."

the end

sorry that it's kinda short and perhaps kinda unrealistic but it all just flowed out so i hope you like it :) if you did enjoy this then you have TeamBrallie_ & KalieMorris on Twitter to thank because they gave me the final push to just go ahead and publish it, hahaha

as always, i hope you liked it and please review :D

(also new chapter of heart & home will be up asap if any of you are wondering)