Author's notes: I lost all of my live stats! AAAGH! That means I lost all of my chapter counts on how many people had visited it. So now I have like, 12 for the first chapter and it steadily decreases down to 11. Uggghh... I hope I get them all back soon. VISIT OFTEN AND GET YOUR FRIENDS TO READ!

Chapter 13

They stayed like that for a long time, Lily curled up against Brendan's body, his arms around her. After a little while, she stopped crying and relaxed slowly.

"It's all my fault," She said blankly after a little while, "I let him... I could've stopped him, I just didn't know how. It's my own fault I'm so broken."

"No, Lily. It was him and him alone. He made that decision, there wasn't anything you could've done. He probably would've hurt you even more if you had tried to stop him. You saved yourself from much worse, if anything." Brendan replied immediately and firmly, looking into her eyes.

She shrugged, looking away but he pulled her back toward him, "You're a very strong girl, Lily. You didn't do anything wrong."

Sighing, she just curled up against him, hiding her face in his chest and closing her eyes. Brendan held her there until her breathing became deep and slow.

"Lily?" He asked quietly, shaking her a tiny bit. She didn't reply and he reached over to the DVD remote, turning off the long forgotten movie along with the TV. Picking her up, he carried her into his room and pulled back the blankets from his bed before tucking her in under them.

She sighed and rolled onto her side toward him, curling up in her sleep. He crouched down next to her, brushing the hair away from her face and tracing over a cheek with a finger.

"Even after all of this, even after you hating me and finding someone else... I've always loved you. Even now. Especially now." He whispered, running his fingers through her hair, "I'll never let anyone hurt you again. I promise."

He pulled away, moving to his closet and pulling out a spare blanket before exiting the room quietly, shutting the door behind him.

Lily opened her eyes, sighed softly and rolled over.

Brendan set up his 'bed' on the couch in the living room, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket and setting his alarm for 6 AM. He had to be at work by 7. He had two jobs and the one he was working at tomorrow was definitely not his favorite of the two. He worked at McDonalds doing shifts when he could, but he didn't enjoy it. That job paid his apartment's rent every month.

His second job was a photographer at certain, usually small shoots. Thomas's dad got him in once he found out how much Brendan liked photography and just how good he was at it. He didn't do big things, but it was still something he really enjoyed and it paid a hell of a lot better than McDonald's.

Stretching out over the chouch, he thought back on the evening. If he hadn't have started touching her so quickly, he wondered just how long Lily would've let him kiss her...

Deciding this was something best not thought about with her staying in his apartment for quite a bit, he rolled over and let his mind drift to other, more peaceful things.

Lily woke up the next morning, sunlight streaming through the windows and scattering across the bed. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she sat up and looked over at the clock on his desk. It was 8:30. Looking around Brendan's room, she imagined him walking around in there. All by himself.

Pulling back the blankets, she slid out of his bed and stretched, standing up. Walking to his door, she opened it and went into the living room, expecting to find him asleep on the couch. But she only saw his blanket, folded up and set down neatly.

"Brendan?" She called out softly. Lily spotted a piece of paper with his handwriting on the counter. She picked it up.

"Had to work until noon, then maybe we can go to the arcade or something. Help yourself to whatever you want.

Love, Brendan"

'Love, Brendan'. She stared at those final words for a moment, then set the note down, sighing softly to herself. She still wasn't hungry due to the huge amount of chinese food she'd had the night before.

Lily sat down on the couch and flipped on the TV. Brendan was being so nice to her... Coming to her rescue, buying her her favorite food, letting her stay in his apartment and even today he was going to take her to the arcade. There had to be something she could do to repay him... She looked around and it struck her. She'd clean up his apartment!

Smiling to herself, she turned off the TV and rolled back her sleeves, determination in her eyes.

She started in the kitchen, sweeping the floors, cleaning the counters, doing the dishes and putting them away. Then in his living room, she put away his dance pad and PS2, vacuumed the carpet, put all the throw pillows on the couches correctly, and dusted his entertainment center (TV, VCR/DVD combo, XBox, and stereo system). She vacuumed the hallway and cleaned everything in his bathroom, finished a load of laundry he'd started and then moved into his bedroom.

First, she mad his bed, then straightened up his closet, dusted around his computer table, began to defragment his computer's harddrive (gotta clean everything!) and began to vacuum around his bed. She stopped whenever it collided with something very big and heavy under the bed.

Turning off the vacuum, she crouched down and reached under his bed, feeling around and pulling out the object. It was a box. A thick and heavy box without a lid, pictures scattered everywhere in it, all turned upsidedown. Slowly, she began pulling them out; most were framed, some were not, but they were all pictures of her or both of them together, when they were still a couple.

At the bottom of the box were all of the cards she'd given him on different occasions, gifts from anniversaries and birthdays, and one preserved rose from Valentine's Day.

He'd kept it all... She'd always assumed that he had just gotten rid of everything she'd ever given to him when he broke up with her, as angry as he'd been. Then again, she had a shoebox under her bed with pictures and cards as well. He pictures were much better than hers. He was very good at really capturing the moment and her true smile when took pictures of her, which he did often.

She was surprised when a tear slid down onto the photo of them together, his arms around her, that she held in her hands.

Did she still love him?

Just then, she heard the door open and Brendan's voice call out her name. Lily panicked, shoving everything back into the box hastily and pushing it under his bed, standing up just as he entered the room.

"Wow, Lily... You cleaned my place? Why?" He had a soft smile on his face and she tried her best not to look flustered.

"Oh. Well, you've just been so nice and helpful... And you're letting me stay here, so I thought it was you know, the least I could do..." Lily shrugged, trailing off and giving him a small smile back.

"Thank you. You really didn't have to, but it's very appreciated. Dod you want to go to the arcade? Thomas said he wanted to do something today. Since Caleb's not around for him to abuse anymore." Brendan moved over to his closet, sorting through and pulling out a shirt. "Wow, you even did my laundry..."

"Sure, but um... I don't have any money. I do have that bit from the chinese you paid for last night..."

"Oh, it's fine. You can pay for drinks, I'll take care of the rest."

"Ok... I'm gonna go take a shower real quick, then." She had to get out of there before he noticed she was blushing.

"K. I'll take one when we get back."

Lily slipped out of the room, sighing softly to herself. Picking out some clean clothes from her bag, she headed for the bathroom.

Brendan closed his door and pulled off his McDonalds work shirt. Sitting on the edge of his bed, he bent down to untie his shoes, but stopped when he noticed something on the floor. Picking it up, he realized it was a photograph of them. How did that get out? Kneeling down, he looked under his bed and noticed the Box was pushed back further than his usual shove. Lily must've found it while cleaning...

He groaned inwardly, wondering if she thought he was some kind of stalker freak that never let go of anything. That was why she'd looked so freaked out earlier...

There was no way he could talk to her about it, what was he supposed to say? He never threw any of the stuff she'd given him away because he never really stopped loving her? Yeah, that'd go real smooth. It wasn't like she'd saved everything he'd given her. He was just pathetic.

Slipping the picture into the box, he stood up and stared at the floor. He heard the water in the bathroom turn on. She was taking a shower. Once again, he decided this was something best not thought about with her temporarily living with him.

He changed quickly and called Thomas, waking him up and telling him to come over Or Else. Thomas grumbled what Brendan assumed was a yes before hanging up. Then he headed into the kitchen to make them some lunch sandwiches.