The door slams loudly, and Toni sits up. "Oh, shit, I shouldn't have let you stay this long! Oh man!" She says, her hand running through her hair.

We had been talking the whole time, and we let time get away from us, the sun has set and the moon and the stars are shining. She loves starry nights, and her favorite season is winter. Her favorite sport is basketball. Her favorite teams are The Spurs, The Celtics, The Golden State Warriors and The Bucks. Her favorite players are Danny Green and Rajan Rondo. She doesn't believe she's pretty, but doesn't try to cover up in make up. She prefers Italian food, and she loves to cook. She doesn't like heels, her favorite shoes are converse. She hates dresses. She loves Uri with all that she has, and will never, ever let anyone hurt him.

I snap back to reality when she stands up and starts hugging herself. "You're not actually going down there?" I say, standing up. "If I don't-I have to." She says. She's crying now and the fear is evident in her eyes. I reach out to pull her to me and she flinches at my touch. "I can't let you go down there." I say. "You don't understand, if I don't-if he finds you here... It'll be worse." "Not tonight it won't."

"TONI!" He yells. She flinches. I can't let her go down there.. I really can't. I pick up her backpack and sling it over my shoulders. "What are you doing?" She whispers. I open the window in the corner of the room, then go back and pick her up. I walk to the crib and gesture towards Uriah. She picks him up in his cover, and wraps him up tight. I look at the door when I hear footsteps.

I jump out of the window with them in my arms right before her door opens. I run around to the front of the house and open her truck door. I sit Toni down, and she looks up at me, her eyes wide. I go to the other side if the truck and climb in, then get the keys out of my pocket.

I drive in silence, and eventually, Toni falls asleep, tears on her cheeks and her hand in mine. I pull up to my house, which I know is empty because my mom is on a business trip, and my sister is with my dad.

I get out if the car and pick up Toni and Uriah. I carry them into my house, and straight to my room. I lay them gingerly on my bed, the only part of my room that's clean, and cover them up. I kiss Toni's forehead, and then Uriah's. I really like him, he's an awesome kid. I pick up the room silently and shove the garbage and clothes into the hamper. I'll deal with it later... much later. I collapse in the chair in the corner, and slowly close my eyes.

The Next Day
Toni's POV
I open my eyes slowly, and look around. Brady's in a chair in the corner, in a huge black room... That is so not mine. My eyes widen.

I'M IN HIS ROOM?!

IN HIS BED?!

I'm gonna die, I know when I get home the beatings will only get worse because I disappeared. But Brady was determined to get us out if there, and I'm grateful that he did.

A snore comes from the corner of the room, and I look over at Brady, whose shirt has mysteriously disappeared. And I actually let myself think about him. He's a very... handsome boy, all in all really cute and adorable.. If that makes since. And he's so gentle to me, and caring.

And he loves me.

So what am I really waiting for? It's not like I feel any different. Yeah, I've definitely fallen in love with this boy. If it isn't love, I don't know what is. I'm just waiting for the bad thing. The thing that I know will come. There had to be something, no body's perfect. I don't know if I'll be able to take it either... I have a feeling it's pretty major. Maybe it isn't all bad, but I don't know. But I know there's something.

And love stories, they just don't happen like this! Unless love at first sight is real? No, it's not like we've never seen each other before. Well, before the whole growth spurt and steroids. Maybe steroids make you feel like you're in love?

He's not on steroids, stupid.

But I love the feel of his touch. It's doesn't really matter what it is.. When he holds my hand, or kisses my forehead. The few times I've sat in his lap I felt safe. He makes me feel safe. Even if it's just his arm brushing mine. It's all intoxicating and sweet...

The sun peeks through the clouds and shines on Brady's face. He frowns, then opens his eyes. When they land on me, he smiles wide. "Morning Toni." He says. I smile back slightly. "Umm I hope you don't mind that I brought you to my house." He says, rubbing his neck with a light blush on his cheeks. "It's better than mine." I say quietly. He gets up and crosses the large room in two strides. "Is your head hurting at all?" He asks. I shrug, "A little." But my head is always hurting! He picks me up and I immediately lean into his touch. He sits down on the bed again, and I curl up on his lap

Safe.

We sit in silence for a couple minutes when his door bursts open, "BRAAAAAAAADDDDYYY!" Someone yells. I I get up quickly and stand in the corner. Brady gets up too, "Shut the fuck up Quil!" He hisses, gesturing to Uriah. "Yeah well Sam's pissed at you!" The curly haired boy trills. I laugh, a sound that high should not be coming out of a man that big. Then his eyes land on me. He grins, "Aha, so you two are playing hooky huh? By the way, Brady is so in love with youuuuuuuu. You're all he thinks about!" He whispers loudly. Brady's eyes widen and he pushes the man out of the room and closes the door. "By the way-there's a bonfire today. It start in an hour or twoish." He says through the door.

Brady turns around and glances a me. "Sorry... He's an idiot." "It's ok." I murmur, smiling slightly. "Do you wanna go to the bonfire?" He asks. "What if they don't like me?" I whisper. "What do you mean? Of course they'll like you. They'll fuckin love you! I mean, what's not to love?" He says, grinning. That had become his thing with me, saying 'what's not to love?' whenever I doubted anything about myself. Uriah had started saying it too, usually it was about himself though. "But I've been in the same clothes since yesterday and I probably stink-" "You don't stink. And you could borrow some of my little sisters clothes, you're so small you could probably fit into them."

He's also convinced I'm the smallest girl alive.

"And Uriah-" "We could take him to daycare, we might not be at school but there's still daycare right?" He says. "Fine." I whisper. He smiles, "Come on, I'll take you to get the clothes." He takes my hand and leads me out of his room. He leads me down a hallway, then into another big room. It's purple, orange and green with polka dots, so in other words its really cute. It has one of the canopy beds that every little girl wants, and on the wall there's a huge picture of a crown that says princess. "Whoa." I mutter. "Yeah, she's girly." Brady says, smiling slightly. He opens a door and a large closet comes into view with shelves as tall as Brady, full of shoes. "Brady, I can't wear this stuff, I feel like I'm trespassing." Brady shrugs, "Sure you can. She's not coming back. She moved to Texas with my dad when he left our mom." He says, his eyes dark. I know he's mad because his hands are shaking, and I can guess it's at his dad. That I understand. I wrap my arms around him and hug him tight. No words were spoken, and they didn't need to be. I'm sorry that his dad is a jerk, and I understand how it feels. I feel like I've lost my father and a stranger had replaced him.

He lets me go an pulls out a shirt. It's pink and it sparkles. "You wanna wear this?" He asks, wiggling his eyebrows. "Um no thanks." I say, grinning. "But I though you loved pink." "No, I said I hate pink." I say. "Oh well excuse me. I was just trying to help." He says, holding his hands up, pretending to sniffle.

Then I do something unexpected by both of us... I go stand in front of him and stand on my tippy-toes. I kiss his cheek, then seriously say, "Thanks for all the help." His places his hands on my cheeks, and says, "You're welcome Toni, just please don't push me away? I really like to be around you, alright? I don't care what anyone else says. I love you." He says, then kisses my forehead. "I won't hurt you, I swear." He wraps me in his arms and I lay my head on his chest. "I know." I whisper.

I love you too.