Chapter 17—All You Wanted

Casey slowly began to pack his last bag. Earlier events still seemed a little surreal to him, even as he was packing. There was a real chance that he wouldn't be coming back here, and the next time he would even see this bed might be in a London apartment. The next time he dreamt on this pillow might just be about a new school, new friends, a new love. It was almost too much for him to take. It felt like he was packing away his life for a new translation.

His clothes for the stay were already in his suitcase, and now he was just getting his backpack ready to go. He had packed the usual stuff; snacks, music, and a few good magazines. His father would be flying over in a few days because of work, but Casey couldn't wait. His dad was fine with him leaving early, well as fine as he could be given he forced permission. Casey was strong willed, Max admired that. He was just like his mother that way.

The blonde teen circled around his bed and sifted through gift bags from his birthday just days before, looking for his passport. He knew it was on his desk somewhere. Reaching under a sparkly blue bag he accidentally knocked some others over onto the hard wood flooring. Casey slumped down to pick up the contents of a yellow gift box and found himself holding a small necklace. He took in a short breath, feeling the pain that had come with the people inside the locket.

Two days ago…

"Promise not to hate me for this," Xander whispered.

"How could I hate you?" Casey asked, genuinely confused.

"Well…I kinda had to steal from you to get you this present…" Xander replied

as he pulled something from his jacket pocket.

Casey slowly opened the felt case that Xander handed him. What his eyes settled on caused his breathing to go short.

"I-I'd been looking for this. I thought I'd lost it," Casey managed to choke out.

"Vida told me it was a gift your mom gave you for your 6th birthday…the year…well…yeah," Xander trailed off.

"Although I hate you for almost giving me a heart attack, I'm…overwhelmed. You even got it furnished!" Casey gaped.

"Open the locket," Xander pushed.

Casey unclipped the locket's casing, molded out of a pentagonal shape.

On the inner left side was a picture of Casey and his mother that Xander had to shrink to fit in. On the right side was a picture of Casey and Xander the night before at Casey's early birthday party.

"How did you…" Casey began.

"Maddi's a good girl, but she knew your dad kept a spare key under the mat…so I skipped 3rd one day, came and got the picture, and managed to slip the locket off you when you passed out at my house last week," Xander explained.

"You are one sneaky bastard!" Casey laughed, then looked back at the locket, then back at Xander, "But I love you."

The words echoed in his mind as Casey stood up and put the locket around his neck. He wasn't sure if he could take Xander's picture out just yet. He moved back over to his bed and grabbed a few more things, stuffing them into the back relentlessly. Just as he had thought he had everything in the bag, there was more he felt he needed.

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Although not exactly in their favor, the game went astoundingly well. They only lost by a field goal, which was better than they'd ever done.

"Who's up for drinks on me?" Brent shouted rambunctiously.

A bunch of "hoorahs!" went up in the air, but Jeremy was not one to elicit it.

"What's wrong Jer? You don't wanna go?" Chase asked as most of the

teammates began to horse around.

"Ah…nah, I got something to do back at home. I might catch up with you guys later," he explained.

"Alright, suit yourself," Brent interjected as he grabbed chase by the shoulder, pulling him into the wrestling match that ensued behind the row of lockers.

Looking at the ground, Jeremy knew he had a choice to make. Instead of undressing in the locker room, he left, padded and all, and took off in his truck.

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Nick finished rinsing off his dinner plate, grabbed his jacket, and was about to open the door when the doorbell rang.

"Xander, I swear, if you didn't—" he stopped when his eyes settled on someone that was not Xander.

"Well, well…" the figure sighed.

"Brice…what do you want?"

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Xander pounded, and pounded, and pounded on the door but no one answered.

"Casey, are you there?" he shouted for probably the tenth time.

"Excuse me?" an elder woman asked, peaking from her front door.

"Yeah?"

"Um…if you're looking for Casey, he just went to the airport. He and his father are going to London. Sad really, Casey was such a nice kid," she said.

Xander's mouth hung open in shock. He couldn't even reply, he just nodded and dazedly walked off.

"Xander, what are you doing here?" Vida asked as she opened her door.

"V, I need your help! I fucked up bad! You gotta get me to the airport,

please!"

"Wait, wait. I think I thoroughly enjoy the confession part. Repeat that and

then explain what this whole Airport thing is about."

"I'm a screw up V. Everything has gone horribly wrong!"

Now Vida was worried. Xander never admitted to being a screw up.

"What's wrong?'

"It's Casey. He's going to London!"

"Yeah, I know…he came by earlier to say goodbye."

Xander looked down at her, "Wait…you knew about this?"

"Uh, yeah, he's like my best friend."

"And you didn't bother to tell me?" Xander accused.

"Look…I don't really think Casey wanted you to know."

"No, you look, Vida. He can't go. I haven't apologized yet!"

"Fine Xander…I'll take you, but I'm not sure what your apology can do."

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Nick knew it was a bad idea to just accept Brice's apology and go on a walk

to 'catch up.' He knew it was a bad idea. And now because of it, Brice had wound up in the hospital.

"You did the right thing son," the officer said to Jeremy, who sat in a chair at the police station.

"You really did…thanks," Nick added.

Jeremy shrugged and twisted his sprained wrist just a little.

"No…it's more than a shrug, you probably saved my life. If you hadn't come when you did, I don't know what would have happened…"

Jeremy said, "The fucker deserved it. Stay away from that guy, Nick, all he does is cause trouble."

"Yeah…I know."

"Promise?'

"Promise," Nick said, unable to hide the smile that crept up at Jeremy's protectiveness.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. Why don't we go and get you some actual clothes?" Nick suggested.

Jeremy nodded and walked up to the officer to ask if it was okay to leave. He really didn't want any more trouble that night, but if he just strolled out of the station, there could be trouble.

Luckily, he got out fine. Brice was probably gonna spend sometime with the big boys in jail for attempted murder…or something close to it, Jeremy's thought process was all whacked and he could only hear half of what the officer was saying.

"Ready to go?" Nick asked.

"Uh, yeah."

"Want me to drive?" Nick asked, eyeing Jeremy's wrist.

"Please."

Xander's lungs expanded and shrunk rapidly, never getting the proper

amount of air. His head spun in every direction, trying to find Casey.

"Excuse me," he tried to ask several people, but they all shrugged him off.

Bewildered, he took off in another direction, hopefully for a service desk without such a long line.

Finally, he saw a security guard.

"'scuse me, can you tell me where the international flights are?"

"Terminal C…are you trying to board."

"Uh…something like that. I have to find my brother before he leaves. He has my car keys," Xander lied.

The guard nodded, buying the lie.

"If you head through there, we have a separate security line for those not boarding."

"Thank you so much!" Xander thanked the elderly guard.

He nodded and went back to swaying forward and back, intent on helping people and stopping idiots.

Xander rushed through, finding the security area and heading through the 'bagless' line.

In moments he was walking under the metal detector, which beeped loudly once he walked through.

"Shoes," she woman snapped as she popped her gum.

Xander took his shoes off with a sigh, making sure his pockets were empty.

He walked through again, only to have the beeper ring.

"You got a belt?" she asked.

"No."

"Cell phone?"

Xander's eyes widened. His morpher.

He quickly took out and threw it in the smaller bin for phones and such.

He walked through again and recollected his things, taking off in a sprint yet again.

He looked around the lettered Terminals and easily found C. There was a metro waiting to take him out to the actual terminal.

He rolled his eyes and ran towards it just as its doors shut.

"NO!"

People around the airport looked at him oddly, but he didn't have time for this.

He pulled out his wand and silently opened one of the doors, hopping in.

"How did you do that?" a little girl asked.

"Magic," Xander smiled sarcastically.

The girl's mother laughed a shrill laugh that made Xander wanted to stuff a sock in her mouth. Thankfully, the metro stopped seconds later.

Again, Xander broke into a run, up the escalator, down a hall, through people, and finally caught sight of Casey, who was three people away from being let on.

"Casey!" he hollered.

Several people looked back, but not Casey.

"Casey!" he shouted again.

This time Casey turned, frowning.

"Casey, wait!"

Xander panted, catching up to him.

"Hey!" Several people protested as he cut through the line.

"Casey…you can't leave…I'm sorry…I'm really sorry…please don't get on the plane."

"Are you serious?" Casey asked in annoyance. "Xander. You're not getting it. I don't want an apology. It's time to move on, both of us," Casey whispered harshly, "And, I've already paid for the ticket. I'm not wasting $900.00 dollars just so we can try to fix something that wasn't broken. Just leave it alone."

With that, he handed his boarding pass to the woman, turned to Xander and said, "Goodbye Alexander."

With that, he was gone.