Disclaimer: I don't own the Covenant nor any characters from it. I just own Brooke and her siblings and Pogue's sibling.

A/N: Hooray! A new chapter! Thanks so much to everyone for reviews, alerts, and the like. Enjoy!

ONE BY ONE

Reid

There were no words for how pissed off I was when Caleb and Pogue practically dragged Tyler and myself back to the dorms. So what if their girlfriends were mad at them. It didn't give those two a reason to drag us down too.

And I was not planning to apologize. I didn't do anything wrong! When she comes back unannounced, after two fucking years she should expect some hostility. She was lucky we went so easy on her. I had half a mind to throw her into something the second she showed herself.

But damn, she looked good. The time away had been very kind to her features. She was taller now, the top of her head was barely the same level as my chin. She had always had a kickass body, but it filled out more since the last time I saw her. Her hair was longer too. She didn't smile when she saw us, but I knew that if she did I would've melted on the spot. All in all I was happy she didn't, it was easier to stay angry this way.

"When we get there, behave yourselves." Caleb warned us, but mainly me. Pogue had simmered down after Kate slapped the shit out of him. Baby Boy already felt bad about the whole thing, she used to be his best friend. I was the only one still holding a grudge against her. It would be so easy to just accept whatever excuse she had for leaving. I'd probably feel loads better if I did that. But I didn't want to believe, because I knew I was never good enough for her; I didn't deserve her. I wanted to believe that she left because of me. It was a stupid and selfish thought, but it was the only thing I could wrap my head around. We stopped outside her dorm room- we got the number from her brother Mason- and paused. There was a lot of giggling and it sounded like some girl was telling a story. Caleb hesitated and then knocked three times.

The door pulled back and Kate was on the other side. Her eyes narrowed when she took in the visitors. "Sarah, check this out." She was accompanied by the petite blonde, but Sarah seemed more shocked than angry. She nodded to Kate and they let us into the warm room. My eyes scanned the room quickly but I found the person of interest to be missing. The only people in the room were Sarah, Kate, Riley Lennon (Brooke's college age sister), and Quinn Parry (Pogue's sister). Quinn and Riley were definitely the most surprising guests.

"Quinn?" Pogue seemed startled at his twin's presence. She shot him a glare before resuming her story with the rest of the group. Man, he was in deep shit. "Very mature. Sure, just ignore me. Whatever, where's Brooke?" Riley looked up now, her dyed black and red hair swaying at the sudden movement. Her blueish green eyes passing over each of our faces before she stood up.

"We should let them talk to her. Let's go to Kate's room. Sound good?" The other girls just nodded, Sarah mouthed a thank you to Caleb before following the long line out. Riley was the last to the door, and she stopped to face us. "She went to give something to Mason on the 5th floor. She'll be back soon. When you're done talking, tell her where to find me. I'm only home for this weekend and I don't want to lose any valuable quality time with her." We just stared. "Oh, and another thing, you already hurt her once, try not to fuck it up again. She is my baby sister and I will castrate any one of you who makes her act like that again. She was crying so bad when I saw her..." Riley shook her head sadly and then gave us a small wave as she left, but she looked like she wanted to cry a little herself.

We had been alone in her room for maybe five minutes when I heard talking outside the door. I knew that voice, and even when I was pissed, it still made my heart skip a beat or two. By this point I was leaning on the far wall, Pogue was sitting in a chair at the desk, and Caleb and Tyler were sitting on the beds. The tension in the room rose as the talking grew louder and the faint sound of a key in the door was heard. It opened and Brooke was staring at the floor with a phone pressed to her ear. Not once did she glance up at us, she simply turned and closed the door.

She pressed her forehead against it, completely unaware that four teenage boys were lingering just behind her. "Yeah.... I know. -sigh- I'll be fine. Stop. Mom, stop worrying." She raised her head as the frantic voice on the other line raised a few octaves. "For Christ sakes, who the hell cares?! Get over your fucking paranoia! Whatever, I don't even care anymore!...... NO! Good Night." She slammed the phone shut and threw it behind herself. "I'm so grounded." She muttered as Tyler walked up behind her and touched her arm.

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Brooke

The hallways of Spencer were always very dark and eerie at night. It reminded me of something out of a horror movie. I headed back to my room on the third floor after dropping off Mason's shirt at his dorm. How it ended up in my luggage I'll never know. I tried to focus on the insignificant screw up to keep my mind off of what happened earlier that evening. I hadn't cried like that since I was 5.

I knew that eventually I would have to explain everything to them, but making the guys stop and listen would be the hard part. They were very stubborn sometimes and it would take a great deal of persuasion. I just hoped that Kate and Sarah would make good on their word and get Caleb and Pogue to drag ass and come apologize.

Tonight hadn't turned out for the worst, though. Riley came home for the weekend unexpectedly and it was the perfect surprise in a moment like this. My older sister was always one of my best friends and the go- to person when you were having problems. And Quinn, Pogue's sister, always had my back too. It was nice to know that when you're at your worst and weakest moment, your best friends can always be counted on to be there.

My phone rang and caused me to jump and clutch my heart. God, these hallways were silent. I answered on the third ring to my frantic and overprotective mother.

"Yes, Mom?"

"How are you? Where've you been? I've been trying to reach you for the past thirty minutes!" I remembered that I shut my phone off when I got back to the dorms. I just wasn't in the mood to take calls and texts. I turned it back on when I reached the fourth floor on my way down, just to check my messages. 15 missed calls from Mom. I didn't bother to return them.

"Oh. Something came up and I was... busy."

"You should know better than that young lady! I was so worried! What if something happened to you when you were 'busy'?! What would you have done?!" I opened the door to my room and walked in, the girls must've left and kept the light on for me. That was nice. I turned and closed the door, leaning my head against it. She was giving me a headache.

"Yeah." I replied, not paying attention. That clearly wasn't the answer she wanted, though.

"Are you listening to me Brooke?! You should be more conscious of the danger you put yourself in!"

"I know." I sighed. "I'll be fine." She tried to protest and I shut her down. "Stop. Mom, stop worrying." Her voice suddenly shot up and became very angry at my tone or something, I really didn't give a shit. She was making my head hurt more.

"Brooke Elizabeth Lennon! Do NOT use that tone of voice with me! I am your MOTHER! I am warning you about the risks you are taking! I am protecting you."

"For Christ sakes, who the hell cares?!" Talking back. Strike one. "Get over your fucking paranoia!" Using the F bomb. Strike two. She began to speak. "Whatever, I don't even care anymore!" Having the last word in an argument. Strike three.

"Come home right now, you are GROUNDED. Get in your car, Brooke! You're coming back, because obviously you aren't mature enough to handle going back to school here!!" Her shrill voice reminded me of nails on a chalkboard. But, being in the mood I was, I pressed my luck further.

"NO!" Her stunned silence followed as I promptly said, "Good Night.", slamming my phone shut. Hanging up on your mother was always a bad idea. I carelessly tossed the device over my shoulder. "I'm so grounded." I muttered to no one.

Or at least I thought.

I was about to walk to my desk when a very strong hand turned me around, followed by a deep voice asking, "Are you okay?" But the question was muffled by my startled scream. I panted and stood against the door for support.

"Tyler!?" I managed. He just nodded and continued staring at me like he was afraid I was going to fall over or something. Ha! When I regained control of my breathing I realized that all four of them were waiting for me. Thank you Sarah and Kate.

"Since when did you start cursing?" Pogue asked twirling an object in his large hands, breaking the silence, in a very big brother manner. I rolled my eyes.

"Since my life went to hell. And stop touching that. If Ashley thinks I messed with her stuff I'll never hear the end of it." I swiped a picture from Pogue and set it back down on my new roommate's desk. Ashley Sanders was one of Kira Snider's friends and one of the biggest sluts and bitches at Spencer. We were never friends, but she could be level headed occasionally. The guys knew who I was talking about too since she was the only Ashley at the school to go by her entire first name. The cringed. "So... why are you here?" I tried to sound casual, but my eyes kept darting to the floor. Even if you couldn't see the evidence that I had been crying, it was still embarrassing having them know that I had.

"We came to apologize, Lizzie." Caleb knew he was the only person allowed to call me that, and he knew that it made me soften up whenever he said it. "We shouldn't have said what was said. It was... out of line."

"Oh. Um..." I put my hand on the back of my neck, a habit I picked up from Reid so long ago. "It's okay I guess." Tyler got a little angry at that.

"No, it's not okay. Why are you saying that?! Usually you would be pissed and storming around, and if you weren't doing that you'd be making fun of us! So clearly something's wrong!" He had my shoulders in his hands and he had bent his head down a little to get a good look at my face.

"A lot's changed, especially me." He frowned and I tried to look down but he tilted my chin back up. I looked him dead in the eye as I spoke. "You can't fix this, Ty. None of you can." I took his hands and put them down at his sides, then I let my eyes wander over all of their faces. Reid wasn't so distant anymore, nor was he cold. It was like he wanted to come over and knock some sense in me, and hug me at the same time. I cracked a smile at his internal struggle causing his face to go blank. I always knew Reid had a weak spot for my laugh so I let myself chuckle a bit at his expression. The atmosphere eased and the guys stared at me with bewildered faced.

"What?!" Reid took a defensive stance at my amused gaze.

"Your face. It was funny." I shook my head, the smile nothing but a ghost now. "Anyway, apologies accepted. Though, I think it'd be a good idea for you to hear why I left before you leave. I don't want you thinking that I left for no reason." I walked to my bed and sat down as Tyler sat down beside me. Man, he and Caleb had these guilty faces. "Hey. You two need to stop feeling so guilty. No harm, no foul." Caleb managed a small smile and Tyler squeezed my hand. I missed this. It would make the situation even more familiar if Reid was flirting with me and Pogue was making fun of us.

"Okay. I don't know where to begin, so I'm gonna try to make this as minimally confusing as possible. Granted, it's not easy for me to talk about, either. So bare with me." I started from the beginning, with the job and then the restraining order. Then the story got more advanced, even delving into some private stuff between myself and Reid. Like how Max had seen us when we snuck out and secretly met up. The guys would sometimes look over at Reid for confirmation, but he was too busy staring at me. I got to the part where I asked Reid to get them all together so I could tell them all what was happening. Caleb nodded in affirmation. He remembered this much.

"I wanted to tell you what was going on, even though my parents made me swear not to tell anyone. I thought you guys deserved to know. You deserved to say goodbye..." I took a deep breath. "But, as you noticed, I never showed up that night." Tyler's hand tightened and Pogue's eyes narrowed. This was what they were waiting for. "I came home from the pier with Reid the night before I was going to tell you, but I told my parents I had been at the store getting some super glue or something. I came home and I went upstairs to get ready for bed since I knew Mom and Dad had been out late talking with lawyers and the police and were coming back soon. Mason was home, Riley was out having one last party with her friends. I probably should've told Reid that night about what was happening, but I wanted everyone to be together when I did. So I kept my mouth shut." I trembled slightly, the next part was one of my most terrifying memories. "I went into my bathroom that night and when I came out, he was in my room. The only things I remember are screaming and him saying he was going to kill you because if he couldn't have me then no one could. Mason came in and then Max fled out the window, he got in because he broke the lock on it." My hands were visibly shaking now, Caleb had lost all the color in his face and Pogue had the look of a martyr. He clearly wanted to shoot himself for what he said earlier. Tyler gripped me protectively, though I knew he was trying to stop the tremors in my body because they scared him. Reid was fighting to use. I knew his emotions so well; he was fighting to use to bring the guy here right now and kill him with his gloved hands. Gloves I had made for him. They used to be a regular pair of gloves from my closet but I accidentally ripped a finger off one and then Reid and I spent the next hour ripping off all the others and making the famous gloves. I decided I didn't want them anymore so I gave them to him. It was cute to see he still wore them after all this time. "So, my parents decided we should.. go. We moved around for about two years, from all the way down to Virginia and back to Boston. He kept finding us via the phone. Which is why I couldn't call. If I did call, I talked to Kate, but only for a few minutes at a time so he couldn't track us. We also didn't use email because he's some computer wiz and there was the risk of him finding us through that. It was hell until about two months ago when the police finally caught him. Mom concluded that we were safe to move back and here I am." I sighed taking Tyler's hand absentmindedly, flipping it over a few times before measuring the size of his and the size of mine. His was a lot bigger.

"Damn." Pogue shook his long hair and his eyes rested on the floor. I twirled my hair around my finger and studied their faces. Nothing had changed, except maybe relief for the fact that the story was over.

"Yeah. It's like some freaky suspense movie. When I watch those now, I totally feel for the heroin." I joked. "I see the freaky dude walk in and I'm like, I know that guy. Oh yeah, he was in my room two weeks ago." I laughed half heartedly and the boys relaxed.

"I like hearing you sound normal again." Caleb smiled approvingly. "It sounds good." I smiled happily and shifted out of Tyler's arms. They weren't the arms I was searching for. I wasn't sure if he had changed his views, but I hoped he had. Yet, there he was, sulking against the wall, following my every step with his alert eyes.

I stood directly in front of him, boldly. A few days ago I would have gawked at the idea of doing this. "You understand now, don't you? I didn't want to leave. But, it was necessary. I didn't want you guys to get hurt... And... I meant what I said at the pier. 'More than anything.'" I quoted myself and stared expectantly. He just studied my face. "Reid, I'm serious. You have to believe me. I-"

"Brooke?" I raised my eye brows. "Shut up." He grabbed my hand and pulled me into a kiss. A welcome home kiss.

Exactly what I had been dreaming of for the past two years.