You guys know the drill. Here's the situation:

Katie is three years younger than the guys, blah blah blah, they looked fifteen in the show and Katie looked twelve, blah blah.

Now for the important stuff. This is a sequel, but people, you can surely understand after attaining some basic knowledge:

So James and Katie are together. If you want to find out about their dramatic adventures beforehand, I'd advise going to my page and the story "The Only Exception".

All you have to know is that James and Katie are together. :) It's good to be back, homies. I can't get away from my little world I've created, and to be honest I don't want to. I have the entire plot worked out, pretty much, and am excited to deliver it to you, hot and steamy, on a fresh sesame seed bun.

I can't even believe how lucky I am.

The fact that I am sitting here, in the arms of none other than James Diamond, is enough to take my breath away and make me contemplate whether I deserve to be with such an amazing person.

Do I deserve him? my mind asks me. I think about that for a moment, feeling the soft breeze on my cheeks.

Of course you do, I scold myself, believing that I'm starting to sound like one of those sappy, annoying, insecure girls from romantic vampire novels. You didn't go through all of those things last year to come out not deserving him.

"What're you thinking about, Katie?" a voice asks, and I look up at James. I smile slightly at him, tracing one finger down the arm that's wrapped around my waist.

"Nothing," I tell him, looking out at the ocean. I've always loved this spot, since the first time he brought me here. It's away from everybody, and quiet. James leans his chin on the top of my head. "What are you thinking about?" I ask him, and he laughs lightly.

"Well," he begins, "I was thinking about how Valentine's Day is coming up…"

I want to squeal aloud at this, but I don't; it's our first Valentine's Day together and I really don't want to sound like a giggling schoolgirl. But I'm extremely excited, and for a moment I wonder at this; seven months ago I would have been running some sort of Anti-Valentine's Day Campaign, not getting all nervous and bubbly about it.

But things have changed for me. And that's okay.

I turn my head to him, and he leans in to kiss me.

"Ugh!" James suddenly exclaims, and I jump, resulting in me falling off of the rock we were perched on a few seconds ago. I snap back up, looking for whatever startled James, and I see him rubbing the back of his head.

Carlos pokes his head out from behind a tree. "Well, helloooo, lovebirds." He picks something off of the ground near where we were just sitting. He holds up a Frisbee, grinning. "Sorry about that. You know I have crappy aim."

"Yeah," James mumbles, pulling a small mirror out of his pocket. He lifts it up to check his flawless appearance, seems to find something wrong, and pats his hair gingerly. I roll my eyes.

"Hey, I thought you took that thing away from him?" a voice, which I recognize as Kendall's, asks from beside me. He's smiling, Jo on his arm and looking equally as happy. I roll my eyes.

"Psht," James scoffs. He turns to Kendall. "No woman will ever break apart me and my mirror. A person doesn't look this good by being sloppy." He begins patting his hair again, though I can't see anything wrong with it. I cross my arms, and he sees the eyebrow that I raise. "Well! You can't expect me to just walk around with some greasy mop on top of my head!" I tip my eyes up at Kendall, who is standing by me now. He just shakes his head, laughing, and tugs Jo's hand.

"C'mon, Jo," he begins, smiling slightly. "I think I can feel his hairspray fumes damaging my brain." They trot off, leaving James to glare in their general direction. I take his hand and lead him back to the rock we were seated on.

Even though it's completely corny, something that belongs on some cheesy sitcom, I say, "Now where were we…?" and get on my tiptoes to kiss him.

He smiles cockily. "I think we were-"

"Hey, guys!" a voice interrupts, and I groan. I tap my foot impatiently at Logan, who has Haile's hand clasped in his own.

I've tried to get used to this kind of interruption, but in the four-and-a-half months (well, more like six, because the whole Zack thing was a joke; we wanted each other almost the whole time, so who are we kidding?) that we've dated, I still get angry with my brothers.

Haile understands my pain. "Sorry, Katie," she says with a shrug. "I couldn't keep him away." She nods toward Logan, who has already dropped her hand to join Carlos in his Frisbee game. I just sigh and wave her off.

"It's fine. I'll live." I grab my phone and dig through my bag, pulling out a set of mini-speakers. I plug my cell into it and play Augustana's "California's Burning", swaying with the music. Sitting back down, I see James looking wistfully after the two boys playing Frisbee.

I sigh. "Go on. But you might mess up your hair," I warn, and I see a flicker of doubt flash across his expression. He touches his brown locks softly once more, and looks between me, the Frisbee-playing boys, and the mirror that he's just slid out of his pocket.

"I guess I'm willing to risk it," he says, and stays for another moment before dashing after Carlos and Logan. I laugh, even though I pretended to be annoyed, and Haile does, too.

She claps her hands together. "I'm gonna go play, too," she says apologetically.

"It's okay," I say, letting out a big breath. "I'm fine just watching."

"Really?" she asks.

"Really. Now go." She skips merrily off to the guys, and I chuckle at the look on their faces when they realize a woman wants to play with them. I see Logan ask her something, and then Haile puts her hands on her hips. He seems to quickly backtrack, holding his hands in front of him, and I laugh.

I lean back, closing my eyes and listening to the waves. "California's Burning" tapers off into nothing, and I switch my speakers off before anything loud and aggressive can come on and destroy my peace.

I hug my knees to my chest, feeling chilly in my sweatshirt. I hear James and Carlos shouting each other down about something. I can't help but smile when I hear James say something about his hair for the seventh time today.

Even though we've officially been together almost five months, I love him. Of course, I loved him beforehand for years, but this is a bit different; more passionate, intense, so all consuming that it makes my heart flutter whenever I see him. I try to disregard the fact that I sound like Cinderella.

And, I remind myself in my head, he's loved you since the scandal. Which makes him having been in love with me for nearly seven months. I smile to myself when I remember the camera's flashing as they captured our second kiss, and how dramatic and heartbreaking that night seemed. It pales in comparison to the depressing, awful Zack era.

Zack.

A tremor shakes my body violently, partly from cold, partly from remembering my abusive ex-boyfriend. Memories flood back, memories of closed fists and angry eyes. But most prominent is the recollection of him choking me, moments before James walked in and kicked his ass.

I blush scarlet; I'm still embarrassed that my brothers and friends found me being beaten by my boyfriend. No words can describe the shame that comes with being abused by someone you love. It makes you feel worthless, undeserving, and pathetic.

I notice that Kendall and Jo have come to a halt and are now sitting in the sand thirty yards down the beach. He slings an arm around her shoulder, and she grabs the hand that's hanging limply around her neck. They nuzzle their noses together, in a little Eskimo kiss that makes me cringe; sometimes they are too embarrassing for words.

But I wonder if Kendall feels the same way when he sees James and I holding hands and laughing while walking down Rodeo Drive (and believe you me, the first time we did that, it was a paparazzi circus). I decide that it's different, though how that makes sense I have no clue.

I think it's very likely that Jo and Kendall will get married. They've broken up maybe three times since they began dating, and sure, there was that Selena Gomez rumor flying around, but it's inevitable that they'll get married and have little blonde children. I nearly chortle at the thought; those kids would have some crazy family members on their hands.

I wonder if James and I will have kids?

This thought comes out of nowhere, startling me into falling off of the rock again. I land on the sand, letting out a muffled 'oof' when my stomach hits the ground. Standing and brushing myself off, I look around to see if anyone saw.

James, Carlos, Logan, and Haile are pointing and laughing. I smile wryly and flip the bird. Carlos puts a hand over his mouth, eyes widening as he waggles a finger at me, and I roll my eyes; sometimes he acts like my mother.

I still can't shake the thought that struck me, and allow myself to ponder it further, which I'll probably regret at some point in the future. It's not really the thought of the children; it's what has to take place to get the children that makes my body flush with heat. I look down at my Converse and feel my cheeks burn, unable to stop the mental images that flood

my brain.

"Hey!" I hear James exclaim, and he jogs over to me. He's breathing heavily, and no wonder; he's been running around, trying to keep up with Carlos, for goodness sake.

He throws an arm around my shoulder and kisses my cheek. "What's wrong? Why are you hiding from us?" he jokes. I look up more this time, and he cocks his head curiously. "What are you blushing about?"

Thankfully Carlos chooses then to throw the Frisbee our way, thwacking the object into James's hair and effectively pissing him off, allowing me to change the subject.

….

"Mail!" James exclaims as he comes through our door the next morning, holding a bagel and a stack of letters. Every morning he goes to get our mail from the box downstairs, and today is no different.

"Oooh!" Carlos exclaims from behind me, and I turn to see him in his baggy boxers and a Katy Perry t-shirt. I choke back a laugh as he pushes past me to get to this month's issue of Helmet Monthly.

"Dude, what's with the shirt?" Kendall asks from the table, where he's munching Cheerios and looking anything but cheerful; as he grows older, his Man-Menstrual Morning Madness (or at least that's what I call it) just seems to get worse. "How about you not gay up the apartment before lunch?"

"Ha-ha, Kendork," Carlos says sarcastically. "Maybe you'd think twice about mocking my Katy Perry garb if a certain someone happened to dig up the Britney Spears shirt of '09." Kendall's mouth snaps shut and he just glares at Carlos, chomping his cereal more angrily than usual. Carlos ignores the look, and proceeds to grab his magazine from James. He marches off back to his room, forgetting breakfast, already flipping avidly through the pages of the periodical in his hands.

I would roll my eyes if it weren't for the look on James's face distracting me.

He's looking down at a thick envelope, scanning the paper with his eyes and touching it with the tips of his fingers. His gaze stops moving, and his eyes widen. I tilt my head, observing with interest; what could bring such a strange reaction out of him?

I walk toward him and peek over the top of the envelope. I can just make out the letters C-A-L, before he realizes that I'm looking and snaps the paper against his chest. I raise an eyebrow.

"It's nothing," he says, waving a hand. "One of those things where you think you win a sweepstakes, and then realize that they're screwing with you." He slips it into his back pocket, an odd thing to do when disposing of junk mail. I am still suspicious, but I guess I trust him.

Maybe he has a secret passion for contests? I try to reason in my mind, but I shake my head slightly. No, I know all of his passions, maybe even all the secret ones. And why would he keep his love of sweepstakes a secret?

I can't honestly draw anything from these pointless questions, so I sit down across from Kendall and begin making my breakfast. He just stares forward, chewing loudly, and I can't help but feel sorry for Jo, the almost certain future morning companion for the beast sitting across from me.

James goes to his room, walking quickly and without saying anything. I'm almost certain that he'll come back, claiming to have forgotten something.

He doesn't.

I'm so happy to be back you don't even know. What do you think? REviews= love and quick updates :)