AN: Hey guys, I know it's small but I'm uploading another one as soon as it's edited, which will be in like and hour, so hopefully that makes up for it. ;)

Aria rolled over in her sleep and hit a wall. Sighing, she slowly allowed consciousness to return. She reached out to make sure she wasn't going to hit the wall again and found it warm. Fearing her house was on fire again, she opened her eyes and came face to face with Caleb.

He was lying out on his side, Aria so close she was almost under him. He smiled down at her with his head perched on his hand, leaning on his elbow giving him an advantage of height. "I thought you were going to roll right over me."

She felt her face heating and couldn't stop the shudder to her breath as she breathed in his scent. He was all body wash, shaving cream and manliness. It was intoxicating and too much to try and resist so early in the morning.

She had told Branwen what had happened in the kitchen yesterday when they had changed into the pyjamas. Branwen's reaction hadn't been what she'd expected.

"So are you going to make a move on him?" Branwen had asked.

Aria was so surprised she uttered the words she had expected Branwen to say. "He's a Son of Ipswich." After all, that was one thing Branwen couldn't seem to let go of. Even now, when they were staying with them for Thanksgiving, Branwen had taken every opportunity to stress that the Sons of Ipswich were living with a curse thanks to Branwen and Aria's coven. If the Sons ever found out who they had in their midst, their motives could never be trusted.

So why such a change of attitude?

"I know that, Aria, but we've kind of stuck our foot in it now, haven't we. We can't just get back to school and say thanks for the weekend but we're going to go our separate ways. I don't see them accepting that."

"Then what are you suggesting? That we date them?"

Branwen rolled her eyes. "I hardly think I have time to date anyone right now. If I manage to make it through the oral exam by Christmas I'm going to be even busier next semester. Especially if we want to be out of here by the end of the summer."

Hearing the deadline and realizing how close it was had startled Aria. "So we're going to hang out with boys we aren't supposed to be talking to and then disappear."

"I don't know, okay?" Branwen said, getting up off the bed and pacing.

Aria wasn't used to Branwen's emotions being so transparent. "You really like him, don't you?"

Branwen paced back to the bed and looked at Aria as she tapped her foot. After a few seconds of chewing on her lip, Branwen nodded. "Yeah. I do. And it makes things far more complicated than I want them to be."

"Does he know? That you like him, I mean."

"Of course he knows." Branwen sighed, rolling her eyes. "I haven't exactly been subtle. But I told him I didn't have room for a relationship in my life right now."

Aria had to admit that, at least, was true. "What did he say?"

"Not much." Eyes full of worry, Branwen looked at Aria with a hesitant smile. "He said if all I can handle is friends then that's what we'll be."

Not understanding, Aria frowned. "But that's good, right?"

Branwen shrugged. "What if the coven starts trying to get to us by going to the guys? Hurting them, or even telling them who we are."

Aria hadn't considered that but at the end of the day, she still thought they were in too far to bail now. "I think at this point, if we want to live our lives, we have to do what we want and not let what the coven could do stop us. I mean, the coven could follow us when we leave here. We never know. I get that your mom drilled in the idea of obeying the coven until it became hard not to think about it, but if we're going to do this and really have a chance, we can't do it half way. We have to be serious about it."

Throwing herself back on the bed, Branwen closed her eyes. "You're right. And who knows, by the time we have to leave, the guys might have moved on."

The idea of that was a little too uncomfortable so Aria decided to end the sombre moment. Picking up a pillow and holding it over her head, she'd brought it down on Branwen's head. And the battle began.

Now, looking up at Caleb in all his morning hair sexiness, Aria took her own advice. Leaning up on her elbows so that her face was barely parted from his, she said, "If I intended to go for a roll with you, you'd know it."

She didn't know why she had been so bold but as she jumped up and walked away, she thought to herself, Game on, Caleb, Game on.

Branwen almost ran into Aria as she came out of the family room. "Whoa. You're up."

Aria smiled and Branwen was immediately suspicious. Still not willing to interfere when they had agreed to live their lives as they saw fit, Branwen shrugged and continued. "I think we're going out today so you might want to get ready. Tyler and Reid are here. And a girl who I would assume is Tyler's girlfriend, Hayley."

Nodding, Aria walked towards the rear stairs. Branwen followed her to the bottom, but stopped when Pogue called her name. She turned to watch him jog up to her and couldn't help but admire his form. The boy looked too damn good in the morning, all messy hair, dark eyes and slight stubble.

"Hey," he said, "Would you mind doing some shopping with Hayley today?"

"Pogue, I don't even know her."

"You're right. Shopping would be a great way to do that."

Branwen narrowed her eyes. "Why? Fancy we'll be spending much time together? Plan on having us all here often?"

He smirked. "Friends are always allowed back." She rolled her eyes and he ran a hand through his hair. "Look, Tyler, Reid and I need to talk to Caleb about something and we need it to be just the guys when we do it, so I was hoping you and Aria could go hang out with Hayley until we get done."

Branwen knew immediately what was happening. They guys were going to talk to Caleb about using his powers. It was clear he was by how old he looked but Branwen hadn't realized they'd planned to do it this weekend. It made sense because they were all back, but Branwen wondered if being jumped on by all the people he cared about was going to get the desired effect.

Knowing how big of a deal this must be to Pogue, Branwen slowly nodded. "Of course. I remember some nice places to go. Aria and I can get some dresses for dinner."

He tilted his head at her. "That's it? You fight me one moment and then give in the next? That easy?"

She frowned. She knew she could be difficult but she wouldn't do it just to be a bitch. "I can see it's important to you. If I can help then I will. That's what friends do." She added the last part just to make him smile.

And he did. "Thanks. I like having you as my friend." He went to leave but turned back. "Do you need anything, like money or something, to get a dress? I know the fire must have left you a little tight on cash."

Was he offering to give her money, buy her a dress, or support her? Trying not to grind her teeth, Branwen stepped forward and laid a hand on his chest, looking up at him. "I get that you're trying to be nice right now, but if we are going to be friends, you're going to have to try harder not to cripple my independence and sting my pride. I have a lot of both, and asking to pick up my tab and take care of me is going to make me want to strangle you." She lightly wrapped her hand around his throat before smoothing it over his chest and letting it drop to her side. "Got it?"

Pogue nodded before walking away a couple steps. Then he turned back and smiled. "That was supposed to be a threat, right? Not a turn on?" When she rolled her eyes he just smiled and continued back down the hall.

Damn. This 'friends' thing was going to be harder than she thought. Smiling despite herself, Branwen went up to her temporary room and pulled herself together.

Shopping with Hayley didn't turn out to be that bad. Despite her staid exterior, she had great taste and a wicked sense of humor. She explained to them that the reason she had fallen for Tyler was because despite how her parents expected her to act and dress and behave, Tyler had seen her for who she was. Apparently Hayley was a bit of a wild child underneath her polite polishing.

"Yep, I've done some questionable things." Hayley told them over lunch at a little bistro. "When I met Tyler, I was in my Dean's List Study group, we were in the library assigning topics for each person to cover. He looked at me and smiled and I was surprised. It was usually the straight-laced boys that made passes at me. Despite Tyler's dedication to his education, he didn't hang out with the brown-nosers. He was too laid-back for that.

"The second time Tyler and I met, I was streaking through the grounds."

"No way!" Aria laughed.

Hayley nodded. "I had been dared to run naked through the Prospect Garden's but campus security showed up and I took off running, too embarrassed to risk getting caught. I ducked behind a building to evade them and when I turned around, there was Tyler. He was standing there, shock and amusement on his face as he tried to keep his eyes on my face. He put his books down and took off his sweater, handing it to me, before he turned around and waited for me to put it on."

"How sweet." Branwen commented.

Again, Hayley nodded. "Yes, he was. And I repaid his sweetness by taking off in his sweater before he could turn back around." They all laughed. "A week later I finally got up the courage to search him out and give him back his sweater. He asked me out, every day for a month. Eventually I said yes and we've been together ever since."

"Wow." Aria said. "I mean those are the stories you tell your grand-kids."

Hayley looked at Branwen. "Ones like making out with a stranger in a club one night and meeting him at school?"

Branwen closed her eyes. "I assure you it's not as good as yours."

Hayley smiled but it didn't seem like she believed it. The waiter showed up and sat another espresso in front of Hayley.

"I don't know how you drink that." Branwen said. "I get gut-rot every time I attempt it."

Hayley took a sip and nodded. "I understand. I had my first one in Paris on vacation one time and I thought I was going to die but I did a student exchange in Rome in high school and I got hooked on the stuff. Now it's my vice. If I don't have one every so often I practically go into withdrawal."

"That's how I felt about these boots." Aria said, looking at the boots she had worn out of the store. The girls all laughed.

Pogue sat the last book back on the shelf before going over to see if Tyler had cleaned up Reid's face. "How bad is it?" he asked.

Tyler shrugged. "Well it's not like his face can look any worse." Reid swatted Tyler's hand away before getting up and walking up the stairs.

Tyler just smiled but Pogue couldn't smile. "He's going to be okay?"

"Of course." Tyler said. "He has a thick head, he'll be fine. You need to relax, Pogue. You're starting to be as paranoid as Caleb used to be."

"I can't help it. I mean, did you see that?" Pogue couldn't believe Caleb couldn't see himself.

They had all gotten together on the premise that they wanted to talk about why they hadn't heard anything from Chase, but when Pogue had started in about how they were really there because they were worried about Caleb, Caleb wasn't having it. The whole conversation had probably lasted ten minutes. They all tried to say their piece but Caleb had ignored them.

Finally Reid had been Reid and told Caleb that he was an idiot if he couldn't see himself using the way he'd always accused Reid of using.

"You want to see using?" Caleb had asked before letting off a burst of power that had knocked them all over and had every book in the room flying off the shelves. "That's using! I can't believe you guys would be such dicks and to do this to me. So much for trust and brotherhood." And then he had stormed out.

Pogue didn't know what he was going to do next. He didn't know what he could do to get Caleb to see himself.

Tyler sighed. "Maybe he really isn't using as much as we think he is. Maybe having his own powers and William's really is wearing on his body."

"Then he shouldn't be using at all."

"Pogue, it's not like we can stop him if he doesn't want to stop."

"Yeah but we can't just watch him kill himself."

"And I don't want to. I want to help him as much as you do but we all knew this could happen. We all have our crosses to bear."

Pogue rolled his eyes and growled in frustration. "I just don't understand why Caleb, of all people, can't see it."

"He's proud, Pogue. Proud and independent. They're vices. We all have them. I just don't know what it's going to take to overcome his. But I don't know if we're it."

Proud and independent. They were the same qualities Branwen had used to describe herself. The difference was Branwen was using hers to better herself.

Thinking of Branwen and how the girls would be back soon, Pogue grabbed his jacket and shrugged it on before walking over to the stairs and looking back at Tyler. "I know we all have our vices, Tyler, but ours aren't killing us." Tyler nodded and followed Pogue up the stairs.