HoD 2

Brick's POV:

I was finally whole. I could feel it. My body was warm again. I couldn't hear that voice- the cold, ugly voice of my father- in my head. All I felt was...

Blossom.

She'd always been there for me.

Hell, even when I tried to get her to leave, she'd stuck it out.

I pressed her closer to me, letting the world fall away so I could keep her. Never let her leave me. Not now. Not ever.

Suddenly, Blossom was yanked from my arms and fell to the floor. "OW!"

"Blossom!" I moved to help her.

"You traitor! You could never be happy with what you had could you?" Berserk hissed. She tried to stomp on Blossom's hand with her red spike heels. I caught her by the ankle and tipped her onto her ass. She bumped into a waitress carrying hot curry and the tray's contents ended up on her black leather dress.

Blossom started to get up, only for Berserk to try and kick her. Instead, she gave Blossom the perfect opening to lay her out flat.

"That's it. I'm out of here." She glared at her sister, and then at me. What did I do? "Obviously you two deserve each other."

How did I deserve Berserk? I stood and tried to follow; the manager caught a hold of me.

"Young man, what is the meaning of this mess?" he thundered. "Do you have any idea the ruckus you've caused?!"

I glared at the middle aged balding man. "Bill it to Cyrus Rush." I bit out.

I ran off before he could do anything more.

XXXX

Blossom's POV:

My head was sore, my emotions were scattered, and my eyes were producing tears I refused to let fall. Yep, a perfect first date. Even worse than the one Berserk had set up for me with that jerk who'd left me in the parking lot after puking on my shoes. I'd had to call Brick to come get me with a pair of shoes from my closet. The only reason I'd called him? My dad was at a business conference and I was sure Berserk had planned around it all to make sure she and Brick were alone.

"Blossom, wait!"

Of course, Brick would come after me. "Look, I'll pay my half of the bill-"

"Not that!" He grabbed my hand. "Are you okay?"

"What?"

"Betsy yanked you pretty hard. Are you okay?" he asked.

"She calls herself Berserk now." I pointed out. "And I just have a little headache."

He touched my cheek and I nearly melted into him. Damn his irresistible charisma, I thought, my eyes closing as I leaned into his hand. I almost wanted to beg him to kiss me.

"Dammit, this is too tempting..." He cupped my cheeks in both hands and kissed me.

It was heaven... His tongue stroked mine and swept it up into a sensual dance. So hot...

He broke it for breath. "Let's go."

My brain was mush. I couldn't argue as he led me back to his car.

"Here," He got the door for me.

Once I was seated, and still dazed, he went around to his side. When the car started, I snapped out of it. "What about the mess?" I was OCD like that- never left a mess unattended.

"Billed it to my stepfather." Brick said offhandedly. He turned onto a narrower road.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere special- to both of us."

It dawned on me. "The cave lake?" I hadn't known he remembered.

"The cave lake," he confirmed.

It was a pre-Berserk's return location. Brick actually found it for me, as a birthday present. He'd even taken me here after prom- after Berserk had passed out from the free champagne in the limo's mini bar- so we could have our own last dance. It had been sweet, right up until my sister called, still drunk, asking if my "fat ass" was keeping him away. That had shattered the romantic notion in it. Even the natural glow of the cave had dimmed at the sound of her voice. He became Brick Rush, millionaire's kid and coolest boy at Sea Price High; not Brick Douglas, the boy who used to live next door and come over for our housekeeper's famous s'more cookies.

"Why?"

He glanced over at me, his eyes amused. "Because its our place. No one else knows about what it means to you but me and vise versa."

I melted inside. He was really an uncensored guy. Our shared college professors agreed, he didn't mince words.

He stopped at the outskirts of the forest and killed the engine. "Let's go; I have a blanket in the trunk, and I even prepared dessert."

I raised a brow. "You made dessert? You can't even get Jell-O to set right."

He frowned. "Cut me some slack. I had Rosa make some berry tarts."

"Not s'more cookies?" I taunted.

"She... thought these would last longer in my company. Actually, she told me these were your favorite- not s'more cookies like you always led me to believe." Brick pointedly looked at me.

"I confess, I only requested them for snacks because it was Brick-bait. You sure you aren't part bloodhound? As soon as the cookies were out of the oven, you had this inescapable urge to go back to my house for snacks."

"I have a sixth sense for them."

We trekked all the way to the cave and into it, rehashing the past and laughing over Berserk tales.

"And she once even pushed Betty Pitman into the deep end at the summer camp pool, and Betty dragged her into the pool with her. I swear the life guard was torn between agonizing over Julie's little boo-boo and letting them drown, or doing the right thing."

"So that's why boys had pool time cancelled..."

"I didn't even get to swim. I spent the day in the infirmary with Berserk, holding her hair back so she could yak back up the pool water. The nurse was too terrified of being bit again."

Brick chuckled. It was a nice sound. Almost a great as when he laughed. I know, usually the two are synonymous but with Brick they are totally different.

We walked over to the lake to lay out the blankets.

"So..." I began.

"So?"

"Why now, Brick?" I asked. I was dying to know. "Why are you trying after all this time?"

Brick looked up at the ceiling for a while. I looked up too. The crystals protruding from there glowed a serene blue light. "I just couldn't take the distance anymore."

"What distance? Brick we were close-"

"Were close; past tense. I couldn't touch you anymore, or ask you to do me favors, or even ask you to just come over without there being a reason. You shut me out, Blossom."

I blinked. "No, I didn't, I just-"

"Backed off; you gave into Betsy when she wanted you to, even when it made us farther apart."

I winced. It was true. I hadn't really stood my ground where Berserk was concerned. I just let her do whatever she wanted... Even when it took him away.

I blinked as a tear fell to stain the blue plaid blanket under us. "Oh, crap... I just couldn't fight her! Have you ever tried fighting her?!" I wailed.

Brick embraced me, rubbing my back soothingly.

"She's always been tougher, and even when she's mean, people love her. I mean, she took all my friends, and I thought- I thought she'd taken you too. I thought you wanted me to give you space to be with her. I was just happy when I got to be your girl Friday."

He pressed a kiss to my forehead. "I'd rather you just be my girl. I'm sorry it took so long, but if you want to, could we be together?"

His gentle plea... I nodded against his chest. "I'd love to."

XXXXX

Brick's POV:

It was morning and I didn't feel like sleeping in. That was a first. I looked down to see Blossom, sleeping with her head on my chest. That explained everything.

She started to stir, and she looked up at me, smiling sleepily. "Morning..."

"Morning, beautiful. Wanna head to IHOP for some breakfast?"

She hummed as she started to rise. "That sounds like heaven... Hold on, I've got an incoming call."

She answered it. "Hi, dad. Sorry I stayed out with Brick. But we didn't do anything- What?! When? Which hospital?" Her green eyes darted all over the cave.

I started getting up. This sounded serious.

When she finally hung up, she looked shaken. "Berserk got knifed a couple hours ago... She's in the hospital."

I rolled up the blankets. "I'll drive you there."

XXXX

AK: Isn't that just sad. Don't worry. There's a reason to this. But we're gonna skip ahead a few years. R&R, please.