Flames of Love

Disclaimer: Don't own Shake it Up.

A/N: So I'm posting chapter 2 kind of faster than I normally would, but I wanted to kind of get this jumpstarted, because this is where you'll begin to start seeing more of what's going on.

Chapter 2 (Preparing)

Gunther slipped in through his window, soaked from head to toe, and extremely concerned about how he'd explain this to his parents. Of course, he'd dry while sleeping, but his clothes would be damp. Plus, he brought with him the crumpled, muddy dress that Cece had thrown out her window. The girl had a hell of a good arm on her!

Now he just had to think of a place to take her for their first date. He didn't want to call the dating before as real dating, since it was all one big plan of Tinka's to humiliate her. A part of him had been excited when Cece first came to him that day and asked him out, then Rocky declared she had a crush on him, but now he saw that Rocky pretty much flat out lied the entire time. Hell, the entire time, she made fun of them for dating. So he wasn't sure how Rocky would react to their going out for real.

Of course, if they told Deuce or Ty, then most likely they'd tell Rocky out of excitement. Flynn could blackmail them, and if they told anyone, then Tinka may find out. He just wanted to have a relationship without Tinka trying to pull him away, especially since it was Cece.

He did have an idea of where he wanted to take her, but neither of them had a car and they would have to take a bus to get there. It might make up, because the restaurant he had in mind was called "Geja's Café". His parents had their anniversary dinner there once. The restaurant's website detailed the perfect explanation of the restaurant.

"Chicago's most romantic restaurant features fondue dining and live classical and flamenco guitar. We are open 7 days a week. Fondue dining-cooking at the table-is a great way to give your family and friends a unique experience…"

Of course, he remembered it being heavily expensive, so he would have to pull this from his allowance money. Rather than buying the latest band shirt for collection, he'd use the money for the date. A good cause. As for now, he needed to sleep, if only he could curb his excitement. The moment his head hit that pillow, though, he fell into slumber.

The next morning, the abrupt sound of Tinka's knocking woke him from sleep. He opened his eyes and glanced down at the pile of damp clothes beside his bed and sighed. "Gunther! Gunther wake up, it's time to start the day. I've planned a list of activities for us to do today!" He groaned and pushed himself up partially, glaring down at the pillow.

"Like what?"

"We could go out for a manicure together." He stared at his hands and grimaced. Was she crazy? He didn't have time for this, he wanted to do his own thing today. "I was thinking maybe we could go volunteer at the zoo for the day." He lifted his eyes skyward and slowly rolled out of bed, listening to his sister's ranting about her daily schedule. After a minute, he heard his father talking to her, telling her to let him get up.

He was ready for the day in twenty minutes, and out the door. Breakfast had been noisy, with Tinka going on and on about her daily plans. He was wearing a silver vest and neon green pants with a brown shirt that had a glitter G on the chest. Tinka's choice. Once more, he failed to say 'no' because he didn't want to upset her.

After breakfast, he and his father were hanging out in the kitchen. Kashlack put his hand to his shoulder and looked to him. Gunther met the man's curious gaze and smiled slightly. "Gunther, is there something on your mind? You've been incredibly silent, more so than usual."

"Sort of, sort of not." He lifted his shoulders and gazed out into the living room at his mother. Squitza was watching television and Tinka was reading. "I really want to spend this evening on my own, but I don't know how to tell Tinka that."

"Why not just tell her, Son?"

"You know how she gets, Dad. It's like she can't stand being separate for five minutes." Kashlack rubbed his chin and raised an eyebrow. Gunther didn't want to sound harsh, but it was true. "At least after six, I want to be on my own." He knew it was unlike him to ask such a thing, hopefully his father wouldn't ask anything of it.

"I will try and talk to her for you. Keep in mind, your sister's condition." He lifted his eyes up and lifted his shoulders, he knew the reason for his sister's pushiness was due to her homesickness. It was mixed in with a bit of bipolar depression. Unfortunately it was her bipolar that made her explode against Rocky, Cece, and most people they didn't care for. They had a lot of enemies because of her. She wasn't a bad person at all, she was clingy and emotional, there was a difference

"Yeah, that's why I wear the clothes she makes me."

"She makes them for you because she is happy when you do things with her." He clicked his tongue and sighed. There was no desire within him to argue with his father, especially since he knew his dad was right, but that didn't mean he had to spend every waking moment with his sister.

"She's the best sister a guy could ask for, but in all honesty…I don't know. You saw how flared up she got when Rocky and Cece gave their advice to our cousin. All of us, minus Tinka, agreed that Cece probably didn't mean anything by it…and she didn't…"

"Right. Now how did your dance with her go?"

"That was Tinka's big ploy to humiliate her…she does not like Cece. She knows I like Cece, and that's why she hates her, it has to be!"

"Try not to analyze that too much, Gunther." Kashlack pat his shoulder and moved from the kitchen, leaving Gunther reeling with discomfort. He looked down at his outfit and tugged at his tight pants. No way in hell did he want to be seen in public today. He mouthed his father's words and crossed his arms, looking off to the window above the sink.

Cece wasn't the first girl he was into that Tinka tried to humiliate or destroy, there had been others. Her reasoning, the girl was coming between the two of them, and so she deemed them a threat. "This one time, I can't let her know. I won't let her ruin this for me." He moved to push his hands in his pockets, but his fingers were only able to slip a fraction of the way inside. He stared at his hands, then tilted his head back, closing his eyes and groaning loudly.

"Hey Gunther!" He flinched and looked over his shoulder, smiling at his sister. "Are you ready to begin the day? We should call up Gary Wilde for another dance idea."

"I don't know, we call him every weekend, let's give him a break today. What do you say?" She lifted her shoulders and started to speak, but paused as Kashlack called her name. She spun around and quickly headed out of the kitchen. Relief washed over him and he quickly charged through the doorway opposite the front kitchen entrance. The doorway led to an L shaped hallway that emptied out into the hall where the siblings' bedrooms were. In between the bedrooms was a bathroom. His room was on the far right end of the hall, hence he had the window and Tinka did not. The doorway leading from the living room into the bedroom hallway was on Tinka's side.

He entered his bedroom and rushed to the laptop on his desk, where he searched for the website to the Geja Café. He smiled at the images of people dipping fruit, and other small bits into fondue pots. His eyes moved towards the cell phone on the desk, his heart began pounding and his body started to heat up. This was probably the best chance he'd get to call Cece up. They could make a reservation for seven, maybe.

With haste, he grabbed the phone and dialed her number. It wasn't long before she answered, her greeting was a bit muffled, as though she were eating. "Hello? Hold on one minute…" He heard the swishing sound of ice cubes in glass, followed next by her angelic voice. "Sorry about that, I'm eating breakfast. Who is this?"

"I am-" He paused and slowly shook his head. "It's Gunther."

"Oh! Hold on mom, I have to take this." The next sound that came was a pair of rushing steps, then a door closing. "Sorry Gunther, had to get into my room. So what's up?"

"Well, I found the perfect place to take you, we'd have to take a bus or taxi, but it would be worth it."

"If you say so. When should I be ready?" He hummed and swiveled around in his chair. He traced the outline of his door with his eyes and tilted his head to the right.

"Well, how does a seven o'clock reservation sound?"

"Seven? I think I can do that…" The sound of a chair clattering against a desk shot through the phone. He waited for a second before she spoke up again. "Rocky and I are heading to the park today, but that's hours before then, so I should be ready. If we're going to do this without anyone knowing, we need a place to meet."

"True." Where could they meet? There was actually a quiet place in the park that he found once a while back that nobody else went. It was in the middle of a hiking trail, a small alcove that he found past a couple trees. It was a like a tiny oasis, a small creek surrounded by trees and grass. Some days he'd go lay down and gaze up at the clouds rolling overhead. "I think I know a perfect meeting place. You know where the hiking trail is?"

"Yes."

"If you walk down a ways, you'd come up on your first bench on the right. Behind the bench, there are two trees with a five-foot gap between them. If you go through there, you'll come out to this small opening with a creek that runs through it. I go there all the time, it's like my own personal quiet spot."

"I see. I think I can find that." Gunther tapped his fingers one at a time on his desk and gazed out the window with a widening grin. "By the way Gunther, I noticed the dress I threw out is gone, how is Tinka going to feel about that? I figure she worked hard on that, so I really do feel bad about throwing it out like that."

"It's okay, you were angry. I'll have to take it to the cleaners or something, Tinka won't be the wiser."

"Still, I wish I could make it up to her somehow. Think it's possible?" Gunther frowned and leaned back in his chair. He threw his legs up onto the corner of his desk and sighed.

"Cece, Tinka's a very…emotional person. She's clingy and…she has bipolar disorder." She gasped softly and he closed his eyes. He knew Tinka probably wouldn't want anyone knowing this, but he wanted Cece to understand just why it was that Tinka acted the way she did. "Normally I wouldn't tell anyone about it, but you need to understand it's the reason she is how she is. She can't stand separation, she's probably humiliated every girl I've liked, because she thinks they're going to steal me away from her or something…"

"So she really doesn't want to be alone, that's the thing?"

"That's a part of it, yeah. I struggle a bit with independence because of that, but I do care about her. She is my sister, after all, and I do love her. Even if that means I have to wear embarrassing outfits and let her have her way in order to keep her from having some sort of emotional breakdown."

"Gunther, I am so sorry, I didn't know."

"Well, you know a little about me, but tonight I'm going to let you really get to know me. I just have to work around Tinka…she's already planned our whole day. Dad is talking to her, he doesn't know that I'm taking you out, but he knows I want to be 'alone' this evening."

"So your father's talking to Tinka for you?"

"It's virtually impossible for me to talk to her, I'm weak when she starts getting upset. Dad knows how to talk to her without hurting her feelings or saying something wrong, keeping her calm."

"I have a cousin who is bipolar, so I know a thing or two about it. When did all of that start?"

"She's had it for years, whenever she started missing the old country and stuff. She started getting really homesick and depressed, and as kids, I did everything with her to keep her mind off of the issues. So unfortunately, I think that had a hand in giving her a false sense of security, cause now she thinks I don't care about her if I don't want to do something with her or wear one of her own outits."

"Yeah Gunther, that would create some issues. Anyway, I'm being called, breakfast is getting cold. Call me later?"

"Yeah, I just need to confirm everything first. I'll call you later."

"By the way, what do I wear?"

"Something nice, I think it's a casual formal type place. I'll probably wear a suit and tie."

"Wow, that formal huh? All right, I guess it'll be a nice first date. I'm looking forward to it." He smiled and heard Flynn in the background, calling out Cece's name. "Okay! That's my cue."

"I'll call you in a few."

"Till then." They hung up and Gunther set down the phone. His eyes drifted to the website and traced the restaurant phone number, he didn't have to make a reservation, but he would if he wanted a private booth. He did want a private booth.

After about twenty minutes, setting up the reservation and whatnot, he met his father in the backyard. The back was fenced in and had a large 8-shaped pool in the center. The edges of the pool had at least seven feet of concrete leading out to a flower garden that surround the far left side of the fence. The right side had trees and monkey grass running along it as well, ending only where the gate was. The back of the fence had some trees and small stones running along it, and the side closest to the house was a patio with chairs and a small white table with an umbrella. His dad was at the table, sipping some hot tea, and gazing off at the covered pool. It had been covered since the weather wasn't looking good this week. It was a nice heated pool, so they were able to swim during the winter if they wanted, but they didn't often do it.

"Hey Dad." Kashlack looked up to him as he moved to the chair across the table. "Where's Tinka?"

"Taking a nap. I spoke with her about your wanting to have the evening to yourself." The man sipped on his tea and closed his eyes. Gunther felt a tad guilty for doing this to his sister, but he needed this. Also, if Cece had a cousin who was bipolar, then maybe she could help him to better talk to Tinka about things.

"I don't want to hurt her feelings, it's just…there are some times when I don't want to spend all day with her."

"I know. You have your own things to take care of." Kashlack set the mug down and smiled at him, giving a quick wink. "Tinka will be fine after six, you're free to go off and do whatever you like. She's going to watch a movie with us at that point. I hope you'll have a relaxing evening tonight."

"Thanks dad, you don't know how much this means to me…" He smiled at his father and glanced towards the house. Now, he just needed to find an outfit for later. He was truly looking forward to his date!

Yes the father is smart, and yes the father is vague. You may eventually find yourself being shocked by the things this man knows. Anyway, when I say that I'm I'm loosely following the series, it is until my writing catches up with whatever episode will be the current episode (I'm a fast writer, but the show may have a couple more episodes before I catch up). Once I catch up, I plan to have something big happen to change the path of the story, which will then deter the story away more so from the show. That big thing, I'm not sure just yet what it'll be, but I have an idea.