Author's Note: I apologize so, so much for the delay in updating this. My life has gotten suddenly very hectic over the past couple of weeks, and the amount of time I had to write went from a lot to almost none at all. I'm still working on this and Expect the Unexpected, and I have a new idea thanks to the amazing summer finale we had on Monday, but we'll see how much writing time I have!

This chapter deals with Liam, so if you are sensitive to the implications of what the Liam storyline holds, proceed with caution. Otherwise, let me know what you think and enjoy!

(The rating on this fic will probably be going up in the next chapter or two, just as a fair warning. This chapter serves as the preparation for that.)

"So, Callie, how was your day at school?" Stef asked, as Jesus passed the salad bowl over to her. "Learn anything interesting?"

Callie took the bowl and grabbed a scoop of lettuce forcefully with the tongs. "It was okay. Not really. Just...a regular day of school."

"Surely something interesting had to have happened," Stef said.

"Uh..." She thought back on her day, and how she had spied Brandon out of the corner of her eye every so often, and how he had smiled at her and made her insides melt. How he made her feel, without him even trying. That hard, at least. With him around her at school like he was, it was kind of hard to worry about things like classic American literature or algebraic equations, or whatever else her classes could throw at her. "No, not really, no."

"Mariana? How about you?" And she passed the salad bowl onto Brandon.

Thank God the focus was off of her. As Mariana talked on and on about the really young, really cute substitute teacher she'd had in her science class, she shifted in her seat and smiled over at Brandon.

He nudged his foot next to hers and smiled back, dropping his hand to brush against hers. He interlocked their index fingers and squeezed gently - once, twice - and she squeezed back - once, twice. It felt good to have a silent reassurance from him, and she was sure that he felt the same way. Probably.

After dinner was over, they cleared aside the dishes, as Jesus prepared to wash them. Brandon walked next to her, and whispered, his breath warm against her ear, "I'll be in my room."

"Later," she mouthed to him.

He nodded, and walked on by her; Callie busied herself with wiping down the tabletop of all the crumbs. "Who wants to play Cranium?" Stef asked, holding up the box with a grin. "Get Brandon down here, he'll want to play."

Guess a little alone time with him would have to wait.

Later that night, Callie slipped down the hall after everyone else had fallen asleep. The family game of Cranium - complete with her own horrendous attempt at humming "We Will Rock You" and Jesus attempting to mime an Olympic gymnast on the balance beam - had worn just about everyone out. Except for her.

And, she was guessing by the dim, orange-ish light that still shone at the end of the hall, Brandon too.

She only just had to tap lightly the one time before he opened the door and drew her into his arms. "I was waiting for you," he said, pressing a tiny, muffled kiss into her hair as he shut the door behind her.

It was amazing how at ease he made her feel. One touch from him and she leaned into it, like a magnet meeting a magnetic force. She couldn't resist him. Not that she wanted to, though. "I was waiting until I knew Mariana was asleep," she said, looking up at him thoughtfully.

"So, in other words, when she stopped talking."

"Something like that, yeah," she said. "It was hard waiting."

"Tell me about it," he replied, still holding her tightly against him as he gently shifted them toward his bed. "I wasn't sure if you were still going to come."

"I told you I would," she said. "Ask Jude. I don't break my promises."

"I know you don't." He pressed two kisses to the tip of her hairline, as the two sat down on his bed. "I don't have to ask anyone."

For what was once seemingly forbidden territory, she knew now that here, this place, was her sanctuary. They were beginning to take a few more risks, in tandem lockstep with each other. Maybe because they were becoming more comfortable together. She knew that she could never fall asleep in this bed, no matter how much the idea appealed to some romantic side of her. Whatever they did together, she'd have to go back to her own bed by morning, and pretend like nothing ever happened. Else, Mariana would spoil the whole charade, and she didn't trust Mariana like she did Jude.

(Then again, the only person she trusted like she did Jude was currently holding her like she was a delicate leaf that would blow away in the wind, if he was to only loosen his grasp just a little.)

She wasn't normally such a risk-taker, but when he had her heart in his grasp - even if she hadn't admitted it out loud, not to him, not to anyone else, and barely even to herself, she still knew it to be true - it was hard to remember where her train of rational thought ended and her emotions and desires began.

She glanced up at him, flicking her gaze to meet his cautiously. Was that desire she saw in his eyes, or was it some trick of lighting? She pursed her lips together into a pout.

"What are you thinking about?" He tilted his head to match her pout.

"I - uh -" Damn him and his ability to magically short-circuit her brain without even trying. Damn that his pout looked so much better on him than it probably did on her. "You." It was simple, and more importantly, the truth.

He nodded and bent his head to hers, halting just in front of her lips. "I kind of figured that much," he said in a low whisper as he leaned in to kiss her. He pulled back. "Wasn't sure if there was something else on your mind." He kissed her again, and she pressed herself into his side.

"Like what?" How could there be anything else on her mind, when he was kissing her and making her feel all these feelings inside her? How could she even think about anything else?

"How much do you trust me?" His eyes were dark, and she couldn't tell it if it was the desire she thought she'd seen before or something that went much deeper than that.

"What? You know I trust you -"

"How much?"

"You know how much." It was ridiculous to her that he'd even have to question it. "Why are you asking me this?"

"Because," he said, settling his hands on the side of her hips, his right thumb idly massaging tiny circles along the ridge above her pelvic bone, "I don't want to do the things I want to do with you, if you don't trust me enough to let me do them to you."

Oh. "Oh." She remembered telling him about what had happened with Liam, and she thought that that almost had to be the process going through his head right now. "Because Liam, right?"

"Because I'm not going to be like him," he said. "If we're going to have -" he seemingly caught himself and shifted on the bed, moving his knee to brush against hers, "-make love - I want it to be because you want it, and not just because I do."

She felt her eyes glisten with tears that threatened to come pouring out of her at any second. "I always thought, you know, that no guy would ever want me, that he had tainted me."

"That's not true."

"You do?" She looked up at him.

"Of course I do. You're beautiful, intelligent, loyal, loving, and so, so much more than that. You are not defined by what has happened to you. No matter what has been done, is done, or will be done to you in the future, I love you, Callie. And when you're ready, I will be too." He kissed her again, long and slow, and gently wiped his finger under her eyes. His finger sparkled in the lamp light with her tears.

She nodded and sunk her face into his shoulder, kissing the fabric of his t-shirt. "Thank you," she said, simply. Even if she thought she was ready tonight - which, she'd thought it had been a slight possibility - she knew that she wasn't in the sort of romantic mindset to even think about it. And she definitely didn't feel sexy.

(Not that she ever really had, but there were things she felt as though being with Brandon empowered her to do.)

(Feeling sexy: yeah, could potentially be one of those things. Not tonight, but potentially.)

"So you're willing to wait?" she asked. She knew about Talya, of course; she knew that he had to have urges that weren't being satisfied right now. And if he went back to Talya, he got someone without suitcases of former foster brother baggage. Or the label of current foster sister, for that matter.

"As long as you want. Promise." He scooped her into his arms and leaned her back against the bed, pressing his face into her neck as he pressed her into the blankets covering the mattress. She felt him leave a line of tiny little kisses leading from her jaw to her collarbone. She laughed and ran her fingers through his hair, and moved her foot up to rub against his calf. "Just tell me if you ever feel uncomfortable."

"I don't."

"Callie -" His voice was almost like a warning, rumbling against her collarbone.

"Honestly, I don't." She stared at him through the hair that had fallen in her eyes. He looked a little different from this perspective, with little brunette hairs coloring her line of vision. "I'd let you know if I did. But you make me feel comfortable."

"I'm so glad." He left a warm, sloppy kiss against her collarbone, before he came back up to capture her lips in his. They lay there like that, kissing each other and saying unspoken words to each other through the course of their lips; she cupped his chin in her hands, and he tangled his leg around hers, drawing them closer together. "I'm so, so glad."

"I am too." She liked feeling like this, like she was worth something to someone, that she wasn't disposable. She gently ran her teeth along his bottom lip, and he swiped his tongue along the tops of her teeth. She looked at him, from beneath a heavily lidded gaze. He really was beautiful from this close of proximity.

She was unsure of how long they stayed like this, just the two of them holding each other, exchanging soft, warm kisses. It felt like it lasted all night; half of her expected to hear the first song of the morning songbirds at any moment. Yet, she knew that it had been far, far too short in reality. "I should probably go," she said, a hint of reluctance in her voice. She didn't really want to go, but she knew she had to.

"Yeah." Brandon seemed unconvinced, from his position laying against her chest. "I - you're right."

"I want to stay," she said.

"But you can't. I understand that." He didn't seem as though he was in any great rush to disentangle himself from her grasp, and it wasn't as though she was making any great strides toward trying herself. Finally, after a few moments, he propped himself up on one hand. "I understand. Go, then."

She leaned up and kissed him one last time, and then ducked out from beneath the tangle of limbs. "I wish I could stay."

"I wish you could too," he said. "But I'll be good." He drew her in for a final embrace, and she clung to him for dear life; he kissed the corner of her lips and smiled down at her. "Sweet dreams, Callie."

"You too," she said, as she crept out into the hallway and tiptoed back down to her and Mariana's room. She knew what her dreams would entail, and they would be more than sweet. Thanks to Brandon, at least.

-to be continued-