Blossom followed a few steps behind Boomer into the interior of Mojo's lair. She could feel her hands shaking, and tried to convince herself that it was just from the cold. That excuse, however, was not able to explain why her heart was trying to beat it's way out of her chest.

Before she knew it, they had moved beyond Mojo's lab space and down a hallway that she had never paid any attention to before - anytime she had gone into Mojo's lair in the past she had found herself in the lab. Although, now that she thought of it, she supposed it made sense that they would have a living space somewhere in the building.

Boomer took her down to the end of the unfamiliar hallway and into a large den. Blossom cast her eyes around the room and took in the surprising comfort of it; she was startled to find that it looked like a normal living room. Somehow she had expected some sort of dungeon or lair. This room was actually...cozy.

Her eyes eventually landed on two figures sitting on a couch in front of a large television. Their backs were turned to her, but she recognized Butch's wild hair and Brick's wonderfully unkempt auburn locks. The two of them were talking to each other in a low murmur, and Blossom could not quite make out what they were saying. Next to her, Boomer cleared his throat, effectively calling the attention of his two brothers, who turned to look at him. Brick's eyes widened as he took in the sight of Blossom standing behind him, while Butch stood up quickly and hopped over the backside of the couch, landing with a clumsy thud in front of the pink-eyed girl.

Blossom took a step backwards as Butch continued to moved towards her. His entire frame shook and his eyes darkened with anger. Soon his face was mere inches from hers, and his hand shot out to her neck and held her in place, squeezing just hard enough to hurt.

"What is this bitch doin' here?" A little bit of spit shot out of his mouth and onto Blossom's face as he spoke. She tried to take a deep, calming breath - it wouldn't help her at all to get angry and fight back - but Butch's hold was increasingly getting stronger.

"May I speak to your brother, please," she croaked out, the words barely forcing their way past where Butch's hand clutched her throat.

"Hell no. I'm not 'bout to let your crazy bitch ass-"

"Butch, just let her go," Brick cut in. His voice sounded oddly hoarse - more so than normal, at least.

The dark-haired brother let her go with a shove before stalking out of the room, grunting obscenities as he went. Blossom rubbed at her neck and shifted her eyes back to Brick, who refused to meet her gaze.

"Get outta here Boomer. I gotta talk to our guest," Brick said with his old familiar sneer that Blossom hadn't seen or heard since the last time they fought as enemies. Boomer hesitated, then backed out of the room in the same direction as Butch.

As soon as they were alone, Brick rose from the couch and turned to face Blossom, though he still refused to look her in the eyes. "What do you want," he spat.

Blossom pressed her lips together and looked down at the floor. She hadn't actually thought about what she was going to say. Brick began to tap his foot, the sound only serving to add to the tension that was quickly building in the room. Finally, Blossom spoke.

"Look, about earlier - I guess I wasn't really thinking about you or...or us. I was only thinking about myself. Do you think that we can try to talk about this again?"

Brick gave a contemptuous snort. "Talk? I think you've said enough. It ain't my fault that you're a prude-y lil' Puff who can't handle a little bit of adventure. Sorry that I tarnished your reputation or some shit like that. Don't worry, I won't do it again."

"Brick, wait. There has to be something we can do. Surely we can work something out, right?"

"Seems to me like you've already got somethin' worked out. So why the hell are you still bothering me about this?"

"Really, Brick, I just-"

"Just what? Don't you think you've done enough tonight? You already told me that you don't give a shit about me. What more do you want to do to me?!" Brick's voice had risen to a yell. Blossom closed her eyes and searched for something - anything - to say. This time, however, words failed her.

"Get out of here," Brick said quietly, his voice coming out as a mere croak. "Please, if you care about me at all, just go."

"No," she said authoritatively. He looked up in surprise as she continued to speak. "You remember why all of this started, right? Well, Him thought it would be a good idea to mimic that situation until we could work this out. We still need each other."

Brick sighed. "So that's why it's so fucking hot in here? Dammit, I thought the air conditioner broke again. Whatever, doesn't matter. So you're here to use me again, is that it?"

Blossom's eyes widened. Shoot, she had come across as a pompous jerk again, hadn't she? Geez, what was her problem. "No, wait, that's not what I-"

"Whatever. Here-" Brick tossed her the blanket she had once given him, "take this. I sure as hell don't want it anymore. And for the record, you may need me, but I don't need you. I can...I can chew on ice cubes or some shit like that until Him gets bored of this. Anything is better than being forced to run back to you."

Blossom nodded, her face creasing with sadness as she turned and ran from the room, wiping at her face as she left. Brick sank back down onto the couch as soon as he heard the door slam. He placed his face in his hands. It really was hot as hell. Dammit, even his eyes were sweating. He swiped at the offensive drops of water that had leaked from the corners of his eyes and shook them off of his hands. Yep, sweat. That was what that was.

Blossom's pink streak shot unevenly through the sky and, to be quite honest, she wasn't entirely sure what direction she was going in. Her eyes stung and her vision was blurred - she thought it must be an especially windy night. Eventually she gave up on her flight and settled down on the edge of a random skyscraper, rubbing her face with her hands. Now that she was no longer moving, she noticed the goosebumps flaring up on her arms. It was freezing. She looked ruefully at the blanket in her hands before slowly wrapping it around her shoulders - the blanket she had been using earlier had fluttered away when she took off, and she really just wasn't in the mood to go after it. Her nose wrinkled as the soft material settled around her; ugh, the blanket one smelled like boy now.

The wind was no longer whipping at her face, but her eyes still stung and watered. Angrily, she swiped at them. What the heck was wrong with her? Had she really just screwed up twice in one night?

No, not twice in one night. It was no longer nighttime, after all; the sun was just beginning to peek out from behind the buildings across from her. The gleaming white stone of Townsville City Hall caught Blossom's eye, and she frowned at it. She sat there staring angrily at the building as the sun climbed slowly into the sky. All of a sudden she realized what a stupid, stupid building it was. A stupid building with stupid people inside. How dare they put her through this...this...crap, after all she had done for them?! They had no right, the dumb fools.

She caught sight of Ms. Bellum entering the building, followed shortly be the Mayor an other city officials. The sight of the two of them made her blood boil almost enough to warm her up again.

Without realizing what she was doing, Blossom slid off the building she had been sitting on and floated towards the stupid City Hall. People shot her strange looks as she approached; she supposed she must look a mess, what with her unbrushed hair hanging around her and her wrinkled pajamas and her excessive shivering. Oh well, she didn't care what they thought. She just continued on inside of City Hall.

She retraced the steps she had taken through the building hundreds of times over the years, soon finding herself entering the Mayor's office. The Mayor and Ms. Bellum looked up in surprise at her sudden entrance, but quickly recovered and sent her polite smiles as she approached the desk at the back of the room; she refused to return the favor.

Soon she was standing in front of the Mayor's desk, gripping the blanket around her. What was she doing here? Vaguely, she registered Ms. Bellum talking to her, but she didn't really care what the woman was saying. Instead, Blossom was thinking about the night before, when Brick had told her what he would have said to them if they had made him choose. With a small smile, she cut off Ms. Bellum mid-sentence with, "Hey, remember what you told me about the Brick thing?"

"Oooooh, have you made a decision," the Mayor asked excitedly.

"Yes," was Blossom's simple reply. The three sat in silence for a moment before Ms. Bellum quietly asked, "Well, what is it?"

Blossom's smile widened and she let out a small giggle before saying, "Go shove it up your asses." Both the Mayor and Ms. Bellum froze as Blossom turned and shot out of the room.

"YOU SAID THAT?!"

Blossom was sitting under the newly re-formed blanket pile on her bed with both of her sisters lounging on the bed next to her. She had just finished telling them about all the events of the past night and where she had gone that morning, and had received two entirely different reactions from them in return. Buttercup sprawled out on her back howling with laughter and pounding the bed with her fist, while Bubbles's eyes were wide and her gasping mouth was being covered by both hands. "Blossom, you...you can't just tell people to shove it up their butts! Especially not the Mayor," Bubbles exclaimed.

"Tell me, were those your exact words," Buttercup gasped as she sat up, her laughter in a momentary lull. Blossom looked down bashfully and mumbled, "I said asses, not butts." Buttercup threw herself backwards on the bed once more in a renewed fit of cackling. Bubbles looked astonished, as though she had never heard such language in her life.

"I agree with Him," Buttercup said as she calmed herself down once more and wiped the laughter-induced tears from her eyes. "Y'all need to work this out. Brick's obviously a good influence on you. After all, you're always trying to expand your vocabulary. Seems he was able to teach you a few new words."

Just then, the hotline began to ring and all three sisters turned to stare at it. After a few seconds, Bubbles lifted herself off the bed and went to pick up the receiver. Blossom could hear faint mumbling voice speaking rapidly from the other end of the line, interrupted occasionally by small comments from the blonde girl. Eventually, Bubbles hung up the phone and turned to face her expectant sisters.

"So, umm, Fuzzy Lumpkin is throwing a temper tantrum downtown and we're supposed to go and stop him. But, they...um, well they asked Blossom to stay home."

The room was silent for a few moments before Blossom answered with, "Well, I guess that means they fired me. You guys go on. Good luck."

"You sure about this Bloss? Honestly, just say the word and I'll sit this one out with you," Buttercup said. "I'm tired of cleaning up this crap anyways."

"No, no. You go on. Somebody has to take care of the town. Besides, it's just Fuzzy. You really don't need my help for that."

"Well, if you're sure," Bubbles said slowly, "then I guess we should get going."

"See ya later Bloss," Buttercup called back as she and Bubbles flew out the window.

The calls on the hotline followed a similar pattern through the next week, with either Bubbles or Buttercup answering and always telling Blossom that she was asked to 'stay behind' again. It seemed that Townsville's villains were beginning to notice Blossom's absence, as the crime rate had started to pick up significantly. Blossom refused to allow herself to be bothered by it - if the city officials were really going to be that stubborn about it, then they could suffer for all she cared. Instead, she used her new free time to get ready for her first semester at Townsville University. Since it seemed she wouldn't be called to action any time soon, she had decided to stay on campus instead of at home. A few days before the move-in date, Blossom had walked into her room to find a pink note written in swirling, bold letters sitting on her bed that read the following:

Blossom, it seems my plan has failed. Don't worry, we'll win him back yet. Xoxo -Him

As she read she felt the sensation of cold that had gripped her for the past week slipping away, though this time it was quite unwelcome. She sat on her bed and put her hands in her head. For the past week she had been hoping that Brick would decide to forgive her after all in wake of Him's intrusion. With the dissolution of Him's little spell came the abandonment of what little hope she had left.

Blossom had been trying for days to contact Brick, but it seemed he was ignoring her completely. She supposed she couldn't blame him for it, but his avoidance of her did more than sting. It caused an almost physical pain. Her mood had steadily become worse, and she had begun to search for synonyms for the word sad. Melancholy, gloomy, depressed, grim, trite, sorrowful, wistful. Pensive; there, that was an adequate word for it. However, this time she found no relief in finding the proper description for her situation.

Her sisters had noticed that Blossom's downcast mood and were careful to avoid any mention of the subject, which was something that she appreciated greatly. There had been a few times when the Rowdyruff Boys had disrupted the town, but they kept their mouths closed about it in case it upset Blossom. They needn't have worried - Brick was never there with his brothers when they went out on the town.

Blossom set the note down on her desk and wandered over to her phone. She picked it up slowly and stared at it for a few moments before unlocking it and going to her contacts for the second time that day. Her heart rate began to pick up as she sought out Brick's number and called it. It went straight to voicemail. She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together in a firm line - he had been ignoring her for days. It shouldn't bother her this much anymore, should it?

She figured she may as well begin packing for her move while she waited for her sisters to return, and moved to her closet to grab a pile of clothes. Once her hands were full of hangers and materials, she moved back to the bed and began to fold. She was so lost in her thoughts and the mindless folding of clothes that she didn't notice the pebbles hitting the window until one of them managed to shatter the glass and scare her. Carefully, she got up and picked her way past the broken glass that now littered her floor and peered out the window for the source of the intrusive rock - and let out a gasp. There, standing in her front yard with a casual smirk and the light of the setting sun dancing on his hair was -

"Brick?"

Sorry that this one is a little bit shorter, but I wanted to put in an eleventh chapter because I don't like ending on an even number, and I had to save some source material for it.

I'm back! I just wanted to give y'all a brief update real quick. It's been over a month since I updated anything, and what a heck of a month it's been. I initially intended to finish this two weeks after its last update; I had gone out of town for a week and I figured that when I returned I would continue writing. However, I got hit with a bunch of things I needed to do before school started. This is going to be my first semester of college, and I wasn't expecting how much I had to do before school even began. Once that was all cleared away, I thought that I would be able to get back at it again, but then other things happened which I would rather not talk about right now, and my update schedule got pushed back again.

Once more, sorry for the delay. I hope you can understand. Thank you for your patience, and I'll see you on the next update.

-ICantThinkofanOriginalName-

p.s.- I went back and read my author's note from the last chapter and it sounded really...whiny. Sorry about that. However, I don't want to delete it because that seems a little childish. It has already been written and seen, and I'm not going to pretend I didn't put it there. I admit that there are things more important than a computer crashing, and it really wasn't worth ranting about. I'll try to avoid putting such trivial things in my author's notes in the future.