Tamara looked up to see Casey walk into Angelo's, and he didn't look too happy. She hadn't expected him back so soon, he'd gone to see Brax, it must've been a quick visit. She went to him, wanting to check if he was okay.

"Hey Casey, how was Brax?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Why Casey, what happened?" She pressed, resting her hand on his arm. He was obviously distressed, maybe she could help.

"Nothing," he said, shaking her off, "I said I didn't wanna talk about it."

"Casey please," she insisted, "something's wrong, maybe I can help."

"Jesus Christ Tamara, drop it would ya! I don't need your help!" She took a step back, Casey was frightening when he was angry and he was certainly angry now.

"Alright, I'm sorry. Maybe we can-"

"Is Heath here?"

"No, I'm not sure where he is. Why don't you just come and sit down for a minute..." She tried again to soothe him. She reached for his hand, to lead him to a table but he pulled away from her.

"I said I don't need your help alright! Just leave me alone!"

"Casey..."

"I mean it, don't come near me again. We're done." Casey was being completely irrational, he couldn't really mean that, could he?

"Alright Casey, that's enough," Kyle said, coming to stand by Tamara, she was grateful for the support.

"It sure is," Casey shot back, "you can have her." And then he turned and left, leaving Tamara with no clue what she'd done to deserve this.

xxx

Have to work back late...again. Don't wait up.

It wasn't a surprise, Heath had gotten a lot of messages like this one from Bianca lately. These Mangrove River kids were taking up a lot of her time now...and that was a good thing. Since the night Bianca had almost caught him with Casey, Heath hadn't been able to touch her again. It felt wrong, like he was betraying Casey if he did. Heath had resolved to make it up to Bianca in other ways, and if he was honest, a lot of what he did was to ease his own guilt as well.

Heath's phone was still in his hand when it began to ring, it was his other brother. Even though Kyle was younger than him, he would never be Heath's 'little' brother.

"Hey Twilight."

"Heath," Kyle's tone put Heath on alert, he sounded pretty fired up, "have you talked to Casey today..."

xxx

"Casey?" Heath called as he walked in the front door. He'd just heard about Casey's very public dumping of Tamara and he wanted to check that he was okay. Silence followed but Heath decided to check Casey's room anyway, he knew what Casey could be like when he was upset. "Casey?" Heath said again, more softly this time as he slowly pushed Casey's bedroom door open. Heath had been right, Casey was in here and the sight of him broke Heath's heart. Casey was sitting on his bed, pushed back against the bed head, knees drawn up. His head was bowed and he'd wrapped his arms around himself to hide his face and make himself as small as possible. Who was he trying to hide from? He looked so young and so broken and Heath was ready to do anything it took to make him whole again. "Case...mind if I come in?" he ventured, not wanting to make this worse but seeing that Casey shouldn't be alone. Casey didn't speak, he just shook his head, his face still hidden. Heath wanted to comfort Casey but he was a little unsure on the protocol for consoling your brother over breaking up with his girlfriend when you were also your brother's lover. He wanted to touch Casey, wanted to hold him and decided to go ahead and do it unless Casey told him to stop. Heath lowered himself onto the bed and shuffled over until he was pressed against Casey's side. He slid his arm around Casey's shoulders and leaned down close to his ear. "You alright Case?" Heath said gently, "I heard about Tamara..."

"We broke up..." was Casey's muffled response.

"I know, you wanna talk about it?"

"There's not much to talk about. I didn't wanna be with her anymore so I told her to get lost." There was definitely more to this than Casey was saying, he was obviously pretty upset, but Heath wasn't sure what to say so he just tightened his hold on Casey and waited for Casey to talk if he wanted to.

Eventually Casey lifted his head, turning to fix his eyes on Heath and now Heath could see how upset he really was.

"I went to see Brax today you know..." No, Heath hadn't known. It surprised him, Casey had been so opposed to going before today.

"It's not easy seeing him in there, is it?"

"I don't know..." Casey said turning his face away from Heath once more, "I couldn't go in. I got to the gates and I just couldn't do it, I couldn't go back in there. And I knew Brax was waiting for me, and I thought about how awful it is to be stuck in there on your own and I still couldn't do it..." Here Casey turned towards Heath, fisting his hand in Heath's singlet and resting his head on Heath's chest, "...I let him down, you know?"

"Oh Case," Heath said, bringing his hand up to stroke Casey's hair, "it's alright, you haven't let anyone down, Brax will understand." Casey remained silent for a while and Heath just wrapped his arms around him and let Casey feel whatever he wanted to, with the knowledge that he didn't have to experience it alone.

"Maybe it makes us even," Casey said bitterly after a while, "he left us and I left him waiting..." Fucking Brax, had he even spared a thought for how much his 'noble' confession would mess with Casey? You can't be someone's rock for nineteen years and then just fuck off and expect them to carry on regardless. But getting angry at Brax wouldn't help Casey now. What was done was done and Casey needed to move past it, or the anger would consume him.

"Let it go Case," Heath said into his little brother's hair, "he did what he thought was right."

"Right for who?"

"For him...and for us. He couldn't be the brother we needed with that guilt crippling him." With Heath's words Casey pulled back, fixing his big, blue eyes on Heath in a considering way.

"When did you get so smart?" he asked with a quizzical smile.

"I've always been this smart," Heath said, allowing a smile to curl his own lips now that Casey seemed to be feeling a little better, "I just hid it well before now." Casey's smile widened.

"You know, sometimes I feel like I've never really seen you before..." Casey mused, "isn't that weird?"

"Not really..." Heath replied, because it would be strange to feel like that about your brother except that Heath knew exactly what Casey meant. He was constantly being surprised by Casey these days.

"Heath?" Casey said reaching out and taking Heath's hand.

"Yeah?" Heath managed to say as Casey pressed his lips to Heath's palm. Only Casey could make a kiss on the hand so erotic, it was in the way he watched Heath so intently as he did so. He pulled his mouth away from Heath's hand, still watching Heath's face.

"You'll never leave me will you?" The innocent way he said it, coupled with the carnal look in his eyes, was utterly captivating, how could Heath ever walk away?

"Never." And Heath had never meant anything more in his entire life.

AN: Love it? Hate it? Review it! Thanks for reading :)