A/N: OK, just a few things to clarify. The inspiration for this chapter, or rather a song that I listened to a lot whilst writing it is "Rhythm of Love" by The Plain White T's. There's something very laidback about it and it worked well with the general feeling behind what this chapter entails (minus the Ferris wheel thing). Secondly, I was going to put a hold on this one, and have the setting in this chapter for their first date but I decided to bring it forward and use it as an opportunity for them (Blake and Alex) to draw even closer and have a good time together. There are a lot of individual events that happen, but they're all significant in their own way, so bear with them. It's a bit shameless and maybe a bit silly but there you go. I got the idea for it the other day when I was at a children's indoor play centre (with my many, many siblings) and the plot bunny just wouldn't leave me be. So that's why this is in here...and I hope you like it!

Chapter 15 – All The Fun Of The Fair

It was a week later, and the phone rang shrilly, making Alex rise from the dining table where she was doing her homework to answer it. She darted forward to catch it in time, and answered it a little breathlessly. "Hale residence," she breathed, holding the receiver to her ear. "Who's speaking please?"

"Alex, it's me," said the voice at the other end. "Blake."

Alex caught sight of herself in the mirror in the hallway and noticed the blush that was creeping across her cheeks once she'd heard who it was. She turned her back on her reflection and tossed her loose hair from her eyes, trying to even her voice. "Hey – is something the matter?"

"Not at all," he replied and there was a crackle in the line as he paused at his end. "I was just wondering if you were working tonight."

"No, it's my night off. Why?"

"Well..." Blake sounded as if he was a little distracted and sure enough, she heard the sound of someone whispering to him, and the low hiss of "I'm on the phone, Chase" in reply. "Sorry. I have a small child hanging off of my arm. Chase!" She stifled a giggle as there were muffled noises in the earpiece until finally, with a satisfied sigh, Blake spoke again. "Sorry about that."

"You sound as if you've got your hands full."

"When haven't I with my little brother? Anyway, I rang because my parents are out of town, so I'm taking Chase to the fun fair."

"That's nice," she replied lamely, playing with the phone cord.

He cleared his throat and went on. "I was actually wondering if you wanted to come too. It's just, otherwise it'll be just me and Chase, and I could use some sane company my own age."

"So everyone else said no, and you thought you'd try me?"

There was a soft laugh down the phone and when he answered she could hear the smile on his lips. "Something like that. I even tried Reynolds but he couldn't fit me into his busy schedule."

"I don't imagine he could," Alex sniggered. "Now what was it you called him again? A Neanderthal?"

"Ah, no. I said he resembled the creature that crawled out of the primordial ooze," Blake corrected. "I think a Neanderthal might be too evolved for a fair comparison." He paused and took a deep breath. "So...tonight? I know the fun fair might not be your idea of a good time..."

"No, I'd love to come!" she urged, a little too eagerly, and quickly checked herself. "I haven't been to one in years."

"I'll come get you at seven then. I warn you though – Chase is very excited about seeing you."

"He is?"

"He's jumping up and down as we speak." He did sound as if he was struggling with something down the other end and Alex didn't have trouble picturing the small blonde boy using his brother as a climbing frame. She didn't bother to fight her laughter as Blake continued talking. "It was his idea to ring you. I just happened to agree with him."

"I can't believe he still remembers me," Alex scoffed. "I've been to your house once, and he must have so many people going in and out of his life."

"You're mentioned a lot in our house," Blake admitted.

"Ah," she smiled, biting her lip.

"So I'll see you at seven?"

"Definitely."

"Bye then," Blake said, and then, as an afterthought, "Oh, and wrap up warm. It's...er...cold out."

"Thanks, I will," she said, softening at his concerned tone, and replacing the phone in its holder.

XXXXX

Chase's face was pressed against the window of Isadora, watching excitedly as Alex closed the front door to her house – wrapped up in her coat, gloves and a scarf – and sprinted over to the car. She could see Blake scolding his brother for leaving smears all over the glass, but when she got in, he whipped around sharply and gave her a weak smile, jerking a thumb at the hyperactive seven year, bouncing in his seat.

"I told you he was excited about seeing you," Blake muttered in a low voice.

"Hey Alex!" Chase squealed. "We're going to the fair!"

"I know," she laughed, pulling on her seatbelt. "I take it you're looking forward to it?"

"You bet!"

"He's hardly said a word about it on the way over," Blake deadpanned, pulling away.

"He's an excited child – give him a break," Alex whispered, grinning and shivering a little. It was a cold night; as the days edged closer to the winter months, the weather forecast began to threaten snow and frost more often and tonight was no exception. She was wearing five layers including her coat and Alex was still freezing cold. She gave him a grateful smile when, seeing her bury her chin in her scarf, Blake leant forward to turn the heating up.

Alex received Chase's entire life history on the way to the fairground, and they'd barely been on the road for five minutes when she realised she knew his favourite colour, the entirety of his break up and reunion with his 'girlfriend' and how he'd tried to spin on his head and nearly knocked himself out. Blake kept quiet mostly, only speaking if he was spoken to. Chase's demeanour was exuberant and slightly infectious; both she and Blake began to laugh with Chase by the time they had parked the car. The actual fairground was in the city centre, on a large park. She'd seen it advertised before, but never been; she'd always been busy, or working. At the entrance, Blake had waved her money away and handed the girl in the ticket booth a handful of dollar bills and took the ticket strip from her with a polite smile.

"Ok," he said seriously, like a teacher conducting a school trip. He curled the strip round and put it in his pocket for safe keeping. "What are we going on first?"

"The dodgems! No, the bouncy castle! Or can we eat first? Maybe the Ghost train?" Chase said, firing his suggestions at them. Blake raised an eyebrow.

"I think its ladies' choice tonight Chase," he said, cocking his head in Alex's direction. Chase looked a little put out before sighing dejectedly and folding his arms.

"Ok...what would you like to do?" the little boy asked.

"I don't mind," she shrugged. "Whatever Chase wants," she added, looking at Blake. The young man rolled his eyes.

"As if he isn't spoilt enough. I bring you a long for moral support, and he's won you over with his big blue eyes and boyish charm too. Pick something," Blake urged. "Chase can drag us around for the rest of the night. You said you haven't been in years."

"Fine," she said, elongating the word exasperatedly. "The...dodgems."

She knew from Chase's fist pump it had been a wise choice.

XXXXX

"That was awful," Alex mumbled as they came out of the ghost train, Chase running ahead of them a little bit, but just within sight. She'd not been keen to go on it in the first place, but she didn't want to stand outside in the cold and wait, and neither could she stand Blake's smirk when she acted hesitant. He'd laughed when she told him about the last time she'd gone on a ghost train – a story that involved her getting caught on some of the spooky paraphernalia and being rescued by a particularly gruesome looking ghoul. And although he didn't say a word, his shrug and quiet 'ok' seemed to scream 'scaredy cat'. She didn't know which had embarrassed her more; actually getting frightened in the dark tunnel or the part where she'd buried her face into Blake's shoulder to hide. He hadn't said a word until the end where he patted her arm and, fighting laughter, told her it was ok to look again. Chase had been clutching his side from laughing so hard.

"You didn't have to come," Blake told her, offering her the last of the bag of sweets they'd bought earlier. He was glad she had though, if just for her grabbing hold of him. She declined, still feeling nauseous.

"Oh yes I did. Like you'd let me live down the fact that a seven year old is braver than I am."

"What makes you think I'm going to let you live down the fact that you screamed when the mannequin sprung out of the coffin?"

She sniffed haughtily, and tucked some hair behind her ears. "It was a very convincing vampire."

"Yes, I agree. Almost as convincing as that skeleton that was made from clothes hangers," Blake said flatly.

"I hope you're not being sarcastic?" Alex asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Blake! Blake! Can you do the machine?" Chase suddenly cried, interrupting their moment by running back and tugging on his brother's arm. He was pointing at a claw machine near a popcorn stand which was adorned with the words "A Prize Every time!" Alex stooped down to Chase's height and wrinkled her nose.

"Sweetie, those things are fixed. It's a waste of time and money trying to win one of the toys in there," she explained, smiling at his naivety.

"Na-uh – Blake is really good at them!" He frowned at her and looked up at Blake, his blue eyes wide with hope. "Can you Blake? Please?" His brother looked down at him with a reproving look before giving an exaggerated sigh, feigning being broken down and defeated by Chase and rolled his eyes.

"Ok, fine," he said, walking over, readying his tickets. "Which one do you want?"

Alex watched in amazement as Chase stood on tiptoes to look through the glass box and his eyes darted from one stuffed toy to the next. "That one!" he cried suddenly, pointing at one, pressing a finger hard against the box. "Bert and Ernie!" He looked back at Alex. "I'm Ernie, and Blake is Bert."

She snickered at how true the comparison was. "You are such a push over," Alex whispered to Blake. "Waste of tickets, Collins."

"Watch and learn, Hale," Blake hissed back as he slid a ticket into the machine and made a show of flexing his fingers, making Alex laugh softly even though it was more likely for Chase's benefit. The metal claw jerked to life as he began to move the joystick, and eventually stopped, hovering over Chase's chosen toy. Alex stared, incredulous, as the claw lowered with its arms extended and picked the toy up easily, before sliding back to its original starting point. It dropped the toy in the hatch and Chase fished it out gleefully, squeezing it tightly to his chest.

"Yes!" he whooped. "Thank you Blake!"

Blake simply ruffled his brother's hair as they paced away, and looked at Alex with a smug expression, as if expecting her to praise him too.

"You couldn't do that again," she stated simply, folding her arms indignantly. "That had to be a fluke."

He stared at her, but didn't look angry, and he turned and walked back over to the machine. "Oh ye of little faith," he sighed, fishing a ticket from his pockets and feeding it in. "My mother says it's a worthless talent," he remarked over his shoulder, just as Alex joined his side again, amazed that he was even attempting it. "But as you can see it can be quite useful when you have a brother like Chase...Carebear?"

"Pardon me?"

Blake pointed to a turquoise stuffed bear, buried amongst all the others, with a star symbol on its chest. "Do you think we should go for the Carebear?" he repeated.

"Sure. Why not?" she smiled.

He took hold of the joystick again, moving it slowly to just above the bear's head, re-tweaking its position a couple of times before pressing the button firmly. The claw picked it up easily, making Alex expel a short sharp laugh and lay a hand on his back with surprise. He met her eyes with a weak smile and shrugged.

"You did it! You actually did it twice in a row," she laughed as he bent down to collect it.

"I told you I would."

"Well, I take it back. And I bow down to your superior claw machine skills," she smiled.

He snorted and turned the bear over in his hands, looking at it thoughtfully. "Here," Blake said casually, handing it to her, and meeting her eyes. "You can have it."

She stared at it for a moment and then returned her gaze to his face. He looked somehow brighter from all the excitement; younger, carefree, and about a million miles from the thunderous sullen boy she'd been introduced to at the start of school. His hair was hanging in his eyes a little, teased by the wind, and he was giving her a strange barely-there smile. She knew that she was staring at him and would have to say something before she made a total idiot of herself. "For me?" she managed.

"To remind you not to underestimate me," he smirked. Alex took it roughly as she rolled her eyes, but held it close to her chest as they started to walk away.

"Thank you," she blushed, hoping he couldn't see it in the dark. "No one's ever given me a stuffed animal from a claw machine before," she admitted, completely deadpan.

"That's because you've not met anyone up to this point who's been good enough to win you one."

She nudged him with her elbow. "I see modesty isn't one of your hidden talents. How did you get so good at claw machines?"

He chuckled and put his hands in his pockets, strolling slowly besides her. "I don't know. I just win every time. I don't suppose there's any real skill involved."

"Well, Wish Bear," she said, reading the tag, "is going to take pride of place in my bedroom to remind me that there is more to Blake Collins besides his ability to dance."

"There's a lot more to me than just dance," he pointed out, in an exasperated way, tutting at her.

"Enlighten me."

"I can cook a little, I'm a good babysitter," He trailed off as he thought a little harder, "and if you ever need anything alphabetising, I'm your man. Had my entire music collection done in just an hour."

"Whoa, steady on there Mr. Exciting," Alex deadpanned.

Blake stopped and folded his arms. "I think I'm going to have to take that bear back," he said, giving her a crooked grin.

"Why?"

"I don't want you to have it now. You're mocking my talents."

"Talents? Anyone who knows the alphabet can put letters in order Blake."

"Ah, but can they do it as quickly?"

Alex gave him a look. "Probably not." He puffed his chest out proudly. "But then no one else would be lame enough to try."

"That's it," he snapped, "Give me that bear." He tried to snatch it from her but she put it behind her back. He didn't dare reach around her for it, but their faces were very close. Close enough to see her lashes clearly. Close enough to kiss, Blake realised.

"The bear is mine, Collins," she said in a low voice, the corners of her mouth tugging upwards.

"Fine," he shrugged, moving away, although he could have easily stepped even closer into her space and pressed his lips to hers. "I don't need the bear anyway..." He stopped suddenly and looked around him, remembering something. "Where's Chase?"

Alex scanned the fairground for any sign of him. "I have no idea, he was right there."

"Did he say anything? Where he was going?"

"No," Alex said. "He was talking about his toy."

"Check the food court, I'll head towards the rides," Blake commanded quickly, feeling the panic rising in his chest. He'd been so focused on Alex – the touching, the looks, the flirting – that he'd completely forgotten about his brother. So much for being a great babysitter, he thought bitterly, mentally cursing himself as he jogged through the crowds towards the Dodgems. He could be anywhere in this place. Would he know what to do if he got lost? Blake frowned as he turned around to try and see him, trying to put himself in the mind of his brother. Where would he go if he was Chase Collins?

"Hey! Hey Blake! Up here!"

The relief was instantaneous as Chase's voice filled his ears. Blake looked around for him and then cast his eyes heavenward to see his brother in a car on the Ferris Wheel, waving like a maniac, with a grin as long as the Staten Island Ferry. It wasn't a large wheel but Chase was nearing the top, and becoming a smaller figure by the second.

"Chase!" he called loudly. "What are you doing on there?

"Riding with Bert and Ernie!" Chase cried back, lifting his toy to show his brother. "Bert's frightened of heights just like you!"

Blake ran his fingers through his hair, incensed. "You're not even tall enough to ride on that thing without an adult!" He threw a steely glare at the attendant of the contraption, who – along with the queue of people – was watching Blake with interest.

"Blake, you should have a go! It's really high!" Chase squealed. "I can almost see our house from here."

Alex suddenly appeared by Blake's side, having seen him in the crowd. "He's not near any of the..." she trailed off and followed his gaze to see what he was looking at. "Ah, you found him."

"Yes," Blake said through his teeth, breathing heavily. "Wreaking havoc and doing whatever the hell he wants, as usual. And I was headed to the Dodgems," he joked mirthlessly, walking around the railings that encased the queue for the Wheel. "I should have just thought of the place he would go if he wanted to cause the most trouble."

"Alex!" Chase waved. "Look at me!" The cart wobbled a little, making Blake shoot forward.

"Get down from there!"

"I can't," Chase giggled. "The man said I had to stay seated for the whole ride."

"Relax," Alex said soothingly, trying to keep up and seeing that he was tense; he had put his hands on his hips, glaring up at his brother, and was breathing so deeply he was expelling large billows of breath into the cold night air. "It's ok Blake."

"I took my eyes off him," Blake muttered. "I should have been watching him."

"It could have been worse," she pointed out quietly. "You're lucky to have a brother who was satisfied enough to stay in the fairground and not run off into Baltimore."

Chase's car came to a stop and the attendant let him out, and the little boy ran straight over. The carefree smile on his face told them both that he didn't care how much he'd frightened them. He'd just had too good a time to be bothered. "Did you see how high I went!" he yelped, jumping into a starfish shape and blinking at them with his arms stretched out above him, waiting for them to be as amused as he was.

"What on earth were you thinking?" Blake said sternly, bending down and taking his brother by the shoulders. Chase's face fell. "I didn't know where you were. You must never run off, especially without telling me where you're going!" The boy's bottom lip quivered a little as his brother raised his voice to him.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel."

"I know, Chase. But you've got to think things through. You could have been hurt or taken."

"Blake..." Alex tried to say.

"I didn't want to dis-dis-turb you," Chase sniffed, fighting tears. "You looked like you were having a good time," he explained, looking from his brother to Alex. "I thought you'd be mad so I just went. I was gonna come back, I promise."

Blake sighed heavily, looking to Alex with eyes laden with guilt. "It's ok, Chase," he reassured his brother. "Just...don't do it again," he said weakly, ruffling his hair again before rising and standing up straight. "Perhaps we had better go home," he suggested. "It's late and very cold."

"Good idea," Alex said, watching Chase rub his eyes.

They walked away from the fair in a perturbed silence; Blake's telling off had killed Chase's mood, Alex wasn't sure what to say to her friend, and Blake was filled with remorse over the way he'd chastised Chase. He shouldn't have run away, but it was hardly his fault; he had seen his brother enjoying himself with Alex and not wanted to spoil that. And for someone so young, Chase was very perceptive. The seven year old knew that when Blake was with Alex, he was happier, and he wanted to see him happy. But by the time he bundled him in the car, Chase was more sleepy than put out, and started talking to Alex about nonsensical things before falling asleep on the highway. Alex had gone quiet too, looking at her mittens, with the bear Blake had won sat in her lap.

"Trust Chase to bring the evening to an eventful close," Blake tried, when they paused at some lights. "Sneaking on to a Ferris Wheel."

She turned to him with a smile. "He's certainly good at making things memorable."

"I feel bad for shouting at him like I did," Blake admitted, gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"He'll get over it. Kids do."

"I know, and no one bounces back like Chase. Then it's just me left with the guilt." He shook his head. "I don't know – tonight was supposed to be a treat, and now all he'll remember is me getting angry."

Alex watched him carefully. She felt almost privileged to be privy to Blake's insecurities – she knew full well no one else got to glimpse the real Blake Collins as she did, and in an attempt to reassure him she touched his shoulder affectionately.

"You're a good brother to him, you know that?"

He flashed her a grateful smile, but something behind his eyes told her that he didn't believe her. "I just try to give Chase all the stuff normal kids should have. Growing up, I didn't have a brother that would fight my corner and remind my parents that I needed to do...you know, kids stuff, as well as dance. They don't like it, but I make sure that Chase doesn't miss out. I don't know what's going to happen when I leave."

"When you leave?"

"To join a company," he explained. "The plan is London or New York, if I'm lucky."

"You'll be fine," she said softly. "And so will Chase."

"Or he'll resent me for it," Blake sighed, reversing into Alex's drive. She looked out at her street, surprised that it had gone so quickly, but then again, when she was with Blake and enjoying herself, time seemed impossible to hold on to. He cleared his throat as a signal that he was done talking about it and Alex didn't push him. "Thanks for coming tonight," he murmured, glancing back at the sleeping boy in the back of the car. "I appreciated the help."

"I had a good time," said Alex, smiling warmly. An oppressive silence fell, in which they both felt someone should do or say something, but neither did. In the end, Alex said goodbye and got out, telling him she'd see him Monday. He watched her go, giving William a wave when he saw the man appear at the doorway, before driving away to their own home.

It wasn't exactly a date, he thought, as he drove along. How many people took their kid brothers along on dates? He had just wanted her company, and there was nothing wrong with that. But he couldn't help but feel a little hopeful; there had been moments tonight – accidental brushes, smiles and stares at lingered too long – where he was certain that there was something more there between them than his own feelings. But Alex was so hard to gage, and he couldn't tell what would happen if he were just to come out with it, and ask her out. He'd have to take it carefully because, after seeing her clutching that Carebear and knowing she was going to keep it, he did not want to screw it up.