AN: This is a Just Because chapter... Just because I couldn't sleep. Just because I found some time. Just because katydidwrites reminded me I have been negligent in my updating responsibilities ;) So even though I updated a couple days ago, I thought I'd upload this one too... Just Because. I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a friendship chapter. Because sometimes we overlook how important the people who are always there for us are when we are busy focusing on boyfriends and jobs and life. Dedicated to my real life Aria... she knows who she is.

The front door had slammed. Aria had been worried until she saw Branwen stomp up the stairs. Aria didn't bother stopping Branwen as she continued all the way up and slammed her bedroom door. Aria just figured it was Nathan's fault. When he said he was going to pick Branwen up after class, Aria had figured it wasn't wise, but why put in her two cents now, nobody had asked for it before this mess began.

It was the second slamming of the front door that got her attention. Usually Nathan was amused by Branwen's annoyance. Not this time. He was just as furious when he came up the stairs. "Where's Maggie?"

"She went to lie down. Something I don't see working if you two keep slamming doors."

"She in her bedroom?"

He didn't have to say who. "Yeah. You want to explain what happened."

"I would if I had any idea what happened."

Well that was new. "You want to walk me through it?"

Nathan sighed as he dropped onto the couch. "I got to the building, searched the halls, and found her talking to a guy. I was perfectly polite. Then I made a joke about this sheet thing that happened earlier in the week. I said I'd changed the sheets. I thought it would be funny but then then guy, who wasn't very polite at all, took off and she beat me up and then took off. I waited for her to come back but she never did so I left."

Aria got a sinking feeling in her stomach as Nathan described a broody impolite boy that would have a problem with a dirty sheet comment. Pogue wasn't impolite but he wouldn't tolerate having his broken heart rubbed in his face either. Which he probably now thought Branwen was doing on purpose.

"Did the guy happen to be Pogue Parry?"

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Another Son of Ipswich. I don't know why Branwen hangs around with them. Aren't they supposed to be avoided? They're cursed or something, right?"

Aria leaned forward. "Another Son of Ipswich?"

"Yeah. We ran into Caleb Danvers last week when we were heading to the engagement party. He showed up here when we were waiting for the car. He seemed to be a little more personable than Pogue."

"That bitch." Aria said, getting up and heading for the stairs. How could Branwen not have told Aria Caleb had stopped by?

Nathan followed Aria. "Is something going on?"

"Murder."

"Ooh," Nathan smiled. "What's the cause? I'd like to be able to attest to your motive."

Despite her anger at Branwen, Aria didn't like Nathan either. Turning in the middle of the stairs she looked down at him. "Listen, you tool, You don't get to enjoy destroying our lives, okay."

Nathan held up his hands. "Hey, what'd I do?"

"Branwen isn't the only one fraternizing with the Sons of Ipswich. Caleb was here looking for me because we are involved." God that sounded cliché. Not to mention she had barely spoken to him since the whole hollow-ones, black eyes thing. "At least we were. I don't know what we are now."

Nathan smiled and Aria pointed at him. "And you're the reason Pogue wasn't friendly and that Branwen beat you up. That's what you get for messing with people's lives."

Aria turned and continued up the stairs. "Wait," Nathan said, starting to sound genuinely concerned. But of course he was; he was starting to realize he was hurting Branwen, who he really did care about deep down. "Can you please explain what I did here?"

Aria rolled her eyes. "You forced Branwen to choose between repaying a favor, a McMansion townhouse and dedication to an old friend and his sick grandmother on one side and herself, her dreams and her desires on the other side. And if you know Branwen at all, you'll know that she always puts others needs before her own." Aria's anger started to die as she thought about that. She was angry Branwen hadn't told her Caleb had come looking for Aria but that would have been right before all the drama of the engagement party and the Pogue incident. Branwen had been dealing with a lot at the time.

At the top of the stairs Nathan stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Please just tell me what I did."

Sighing, Aria turned to look at him. He actually appeared to be an acceptable human being when he was trying to be sincere.

"Pogue was impolite because he had been trying to win Branwen over for months and then he showed up at the restaurant the other night just in time to hear you announce your wedding to Branwen and then you kissed her. Branwen beat the crap out of you because she was probably trying to explain to Pogue that she wasn't stringing him along, that she actually wanted to be his friend, but she probably wasn't getting very far since she can't tell him about any of it without telling him about our magic, which we are forbidden to do. Which is why she had been keeping him at arms length since September despite the fact that she's in love with him. So, my dear not-so-friend Nathan, what you've done is complicated my life and completely destroyed any chance of Branwen having a relationship with the guy she loves. Way to thank her for doing you a favor."

Turning on her heel, Aria approached Branwen's door, but when she knocked and called Branwen's name, there was no answer. Aria tried the handle but the door was locked. They had a rule about locked doors staying locked, so Aria turned away.

"Aren't you going to go in and check on her?" Nathan asked.

"No." Aria said, "And neither are you. A locked door means she wants to be left alone and after all you've done, you owe her that. I'm going out. If I find out you've bothered her while I was gone, I will separate you from your man-parts and barbeque them. I hear that's a thing they do down where you're from."

Aria left the house and drove to the campus. It took her a little bit to locate Caleb's dorm and a little longer to get the courage to knock. She had a feeling there wasn't going to be anyone on the other side that would be too happy to see her. Damn Nathan!

And damn herself. Of course when the door finally opened and Pogue stood there glaring at her all she said was, "Hey." Aria, you tool. No wonder he shut the door in your face. She was about to knock again when Caleb opened the door and despite chastising herself earlier, she still opened with, "Hey."

This time the door didn't close, thankfully. But he did reply with the same, monotone sentiment. "Hey."

Finding some brains, Aria gave him a hesitant smile. She was still a little wary of him. She couldn't help it. Every time she closed her eyes she saw his eyes, black as coal, terrifyingly nightmarish. "I was just informed you stopped over the other day looking for me. I figured I should come over. I mean I know I could have sent a text, but Nathan is driving me crazy and I really needed to get out. And I figured that I was more likely to get a response if I showed up in person. I know I'm not particularly adept at returning texts and given the situation of late I was worried you would be insulted by me not getting back to you and I really wanted you to know I didn't mean anything by it, I just…"

He reached out and wrapped one hand around the back of her head and used the other to cover her mouth. "You're rambling." He said, slowly releasing her.

"Sorry." She was impressed she hadn't blasted him across the room when he'd grabbed her.

"Yeah, I figured that was what you were trying to say in the first place."

She looked at him and there was definitely a smile floating in his eyes. Yeah, so she should have just said sorry in the first place but she'd be damned if she would do it because he said she should. Crossing her arms she glared at him. "You know, I probably do owe you an apology but considering you've made things like ten times worse, I no longer think you deserve one."

That threw him. He frowned and leaned against the door-frame. "How do you figure?" She looked past him and saw Pogue sitting on the couch. Caleb followed her eyes and grabbed his coat off the counter. "I'm going out for a bit." He said to Pogue before stepping out and closing the door behind him.

They were both silent until they made it to the parking lot. He opened the passenger door of his mustang for her but she shook her head. "I have my own car."

"You want to take two cars?"

"That depends, where are we going?"

"I figured we could go get coffee or something and talk."

"So you're asking me out on a coffee date."

He frowned. "I was just suggesting we go somewhere to talk."

"Yeah, I'm sure you tell all the girls that. Try and worm your way out of actually paying for dinner."

She watched, amused, as he tried to figure out what she was trying to do. Even his confusion was charming. Aria didn't have a problem with people being charming. She did, however, have a problem with people who tried to charm her into doing what they wanted. But perhaps she was being too picky. She did want to go out with him, and they did need to talk. And coffee would be nice on a day as cold as this one, but the stupid romantic in her wanted him to really ask her out. She knew she shouldn't be pushing a relationship right now when everything was so messed up and secretive. And when she was still a little terrified of what he could do and how he was using his powers. But her hormones had a mind of their own.

Eventually he shut the door and leaned against the car, contemplating her. "Fine. You explain to me what I did to make things worse and I will buy you dinner."

He was completely missing the point, and she was a little insulted that he thought she was trying to worm a free meal out of him. So, leaning on the car beside his, she smiled. "I will tell you how you made things worse and you will take me for coffee and then ask me out on a real date."

He opened his mouth but shut it again, smiling. "Deal." He stood up and opened the door for her again. This time she got in and they drove to a little coffee shop. Caleb got them drinks while Aria got a table and when he returned to the table he let her take a sip before he asked her to explain. "What did I do that made things worse?"

"You told Pogue about the engagement party."

He seemed a little shocked. "I wasn't supposed to tell my best friend that the girl he loves is getting married to another guy?"

Aria's heartbeat picked up and she smiled. "Pogue loves Branwen? Oh my god that's so sweet. Did he actually tell you that?"

Caleb frowned. "Are you forgetting the engagement part?"

Like she could forget that mess. "No, but you shouldn't have been eavesdropping. Everything would be fine had you minded your own business."

Now he looked to be getting mad. "Fine? Pogue would still be waiting around for some girl who is marrying another man."

"She's not going to marry him. I mean she is, but not for real."

Caleb just closed his eyes as he rubbed his temples. "Do you know that I don't think Pogue or I have had a normal day since we met you and Branwen?" Sighing, Caleb sat back and looked at her. "Why don't you start at the beginning?"

Aria frowned, realizing it might have been better had she not said anything. But since it was too late for that… "I can't tell you everything. There are certain things that have to stay private. But I can tell you, well Branwen won't like me telling you but I think she'd made a real mess of things so… well, the engagement isn't real."

Leaning forward, Caleb narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean it isn't real? Pogue…"

"Is only involved because YOU told him. This is what I'm saying. You really screwed things up." Caleb motioned for her to continue. "Well, it was all going to be kept under wraps. Nobody but the people involved were going to know about it. And at first there wasn't even going to be a wedding, but they really didn't think it through and now they might have to go through with a fake wedding to keep up appearances. It's really stressing Branwen out."

Caleb rolled his eyes. "Then maybe she shouldn't have gotten in the middle of it."

"That's what I said. But it means a lot to her."

"What does? Why would she agree to it?"

"Well, Nathan is an old friend of hers." Aria said, trying to maneuver through the tricky parts. "She lived by him after she and her mom left Ipswich. She got really close to his family. In fact I'm pretty sure they treated her more like family than her own ever did. Nathan and Branwen met up again a few months ago and he did a favor for us over the holidays. He let us use the townhouse so my parents wouldn't find out we were living above the club. They would flip their shit and tow us back home if they found out about the fire."

"They're parents. That's what parents do. They worry about you." His eyes were dark and she made note that parents were apparently a touchy subject right now.

"Anyway," she continued, "He visited after my parents left and told us we could stay because he didn't really use the townhouse. But he asked Branwen for a favor. They fight a lot and he annoys the hell out of me but she still cares about his family. That's why she's doing it. Nathan's grandmother, Maggie, is dying. It's her wish that Nathan is happily married. He wants to ease Maggie's mind and Maggie loves Branwen, so he asked Branwen to help convince Maggie that they were in a happy relationship. But Maggie is really motivated and she keeps pushing them. So now they are going to fake a wedding."

"So they're lying to a dying woman?"

"Right! That's what I said. But every time I do Branwen just tells me that she would do anything for Maggie, even if that means lying to her to make her last days happier. It's screwed up, but when Branwen cares about someone, she will do some messed up things for them."

"And this has nothing to do with her having feelings for Nathan?"

Aria shook her head, certain. "I'm pretty sure that if it weren't for Maggie, Branwen would have gutted Nathan by now."

"Really? Because Pogue seems to be under the impression that they're sleeping together."

Aria ground her teeth. Stupid Nathan and his big mouth. "No. There was a stupid joke made about Branwen's sheets, or something like that, but it was just Nathan being an idiot. He's sleeping on her floor tonight because Maggie is at the house and they're trying to keep up the charade."

Caleb shook his head. "This is a mess." He sighed and took a drink of his coffee.

She couldn't resist. "It would be less of a mess had you not gotten Pogue involved."

"You don't think he would have figured it out? They have two classes together."

That was news. "They do?" That would explain why Branwen had been talking to Pogue today.

"Yes. And I don't imagine she could hide it for another month."

"Yeah well she might have been able to break it to him gently had you not told him something you weren't even supposed to know and had he not shown up at the engagement party."

They both narrowed their eyes at each other. "Well then why don't we just tell Pogue what you just told me?"

Because Branwen would skin her alive. "Branwen likes to handle her own problems. Besides, you've already caused problems by getting involved."

"He needs to know that he's not the idiot he thinks he is for believing she liked him. He doesn't deserve to torture himself over something that isn't true just because Branwen can't get her shit together."

Aria stood instantly, he chair falling backwards. "You are talking about my best friend. She may not always handle things the way I or anyone else thinks she should, but she doesn't set out to hurt people and I didn't explain things to you so you could condemn her for her actions. She is trying to do something good for someone who doesn't have much time left."

She grabbed her purse and left the café, charging down the street, despite not knowing where she was headed. She was two blocks away when a car pulled up in front of her. "Get in." Caleb said.

"No." She walked around the car and refused to look back when she heard him get out of his car and follow her.

"Aria, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pick on Branwen. She's a good person, I just don't like how she's treating my best friend."

"Yeah well it's not like he's making it easy. She told him she just wanted to be friends and he hasn't done the best job of sticking to that."

"Is it really so bad that he cares about her? Aren't girls supposed to appreciate when guys like them?"

Aria spun around. "Well, Branwen's not just any girl… and neither am I."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Caleb asked, stopping in front of her. "You don't want me to like you?"

Aria shook her head. "No, that's not what I mean. I like that you like me, because I like you, but I'm not just some girl that's going to swoon because you're the best thing that ever happened to me. Because you're not. Branwen is. She is my best friend and our lives are really complicated. We've managed to get through really messed up stuff by being there for each other and trusting in each others instincts. So no matter how messed up things are right now, I need to trust her. And I'm going to. And if you can't live with that, I'm not going to act like I'm conflicted about what side to choose, because I'm not. I will chose her every time. She is my sister." Aria took a deep breath, her chest heaving from the emotion coursing through her.

She hadn't realized how much Caleb dissing Branwen had upset her. But she stood by what she said. And maybe there was a little guilt in there because she hadn't been as supportive of what Branwen was trying to do as she could have been. But she was back on side now. And if Caleb wasn't, then Aria would have to live with that.

Caleb took a step forward and brushed a strand of hair off her face. "And Pogue is my brother. And I will choose him. So instead of making this a choice, how about we let it go? Because I don't want to let you go."

Aria was glad to hear that, really she was, but she needed time to calm down. "Okay. But I need to go home and check on her. She was very upset about what happened with Pogue when I left."

Nodding, Caleb took her hand in his. "I'll drive you home. I have to walk you to your door and ask you out for dinner anyway."

She turned and looked at him and he was grinning. She couldn't help it... she grinned back.