Hello folks! Long time no see. Sorry for huge delay. I have been visiting family and wrangling small nieces. Also spent a good 24 hours on a train over the last 3 days! OK - here is the next of the chapters. While I was hanging with the littluns I had an idea for a slightly different angle for my upcoming Kasey/Stef heart to heart. It's spun things out to another chapter, but basically look for pretty much an entire flashback sequence tomorrow. I really wanted to write some young Kasey in order to focus a little more depth on her relationship with Stef and some of the parallels that explain the way they interact - plus how Stef coped with 5 going on 15 Kasey through the divorce. Hope this is OK for everyone - the next 2 chapters after this will pretty much be pure Stef/Kasey - that is based on requests though as it was brought to my attention by a couple of folks that there's actually been very little of S/K to this depth in this story! I reckon we have about 4 more chapters in total...oh and small shout out to TheTBone who pretty much worked out Brandon's punishment with me...

Just an aside - I'll also be updating 4th chapter of Fosters, Nerds and Dummies tonight with the penultimate chapter of the Halloween Short. Have a look out for that for some more fluff in this AU!

Anyway, a bit of a filler before the flashback chapter but I hope you enjoy...

Brandon lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. He wondered how long he'd have to be doing this now he would have no distractions. He was relieved that his Moms would never take away his keyboard as he would surely drive himself insane did he not have at least that as a release. His head drummed playing the last few days over and over - he had initially played over his entire relationship trying to look for all the signs but he found it made his head spin and had quickly abandoned it as a strategy.

He was interrupted by a knock on the door. He looked across to see Callie who he indicated come in. This had been happening a lot over the last few weeks. That was maybe the only good thing about all of this - he did cherish those moments, even when they began angry.

She walked over to him and immediately smacked him over the head. This clearly was one of those.

He shook it off with a wince but didn't complain.

"I guess I deserved that." he stated bluntly as she then put her arms around him and pulled him tightly towards her.

"Don't ever scare me like that again." she instructed, eyes closed and shaking slightly with the force she was holding him.

He paused for a few moments before returning the hug and wrapping his arms around her.

"I'm sorry. It was beyond stupid."

"Damn right." she agreed, breaking the hold and shuffling back against his head board.

"how are you doing with it ...?" she asked sympathetically knowing that if it had been bad for Kasey it would be even worse for Brandon.

"I dunno - I guess I'm still sorta in shock. I just can't quite believe what happened. I mean...he all but threatened us with a gun...he had Kasey pinned against the wall by her throat!" his voice cracked as he rubbed his forehead firmly with his fingers.

"She didn't tell me that..." Callie acknowledged hesitantly.

"You should have seen her Callie. She was like a machine. It was terrifying. I swear for a second I thought Mom had come out of nowhere. Not sure if I was more scared of Kasey or Carl..."

Callie laughed but could tell Brandon wasn't joking. Her voice regained an affectionate tone.

"She's safe now Brandon. You all are."

He nodded with a sigh.

"Michelle isn't."

Callie put her hand onto his head and massaged his head softly.

"She made her bed Brandon - whether she was used or not she knew what she was getting into. The important thing now is that she sees what she was trapped in. She'll have a shot at making things right."

He shook his head lightly as tears pricked his eyes. "She wasn't all bad Callie. I dont believe it was all an act, even if it began like that." Callie left him a few moments silence before bringing up what had been playing on her mind.

"Kasey said you thought she was pregnant. I can't even imagine..." the reminder made Brandon reflect painfully on something he had been trying to forget.

"Yeah. That screws with your head a bit." he looked down remembering the fears that had kept his rational brain hostage after he found out. Callie quickly realised how far out of his comfort zone he was and regretted bringing it up.

"She wasn't pregnant, though. It's over now B." she reassured him.

"Is it?" he looked at her. "Over for us maybe...but not for her. And it was so close Callie - I mean she really could have been carrying my baby...and what then? My kid could have been born in prison..." his voice cracked to a whisper. "You just don't even think...I mean. It's just sex...and then that. I mean sure what are the chances you're screwing someone who's actually pulling off a huge drug operation...but still."

"Pretty scary wake up call, huh?" Callie added sympathetically as Brandon nodded.

"Like when Mom threw that bucket of water over me that time." He chuckled as much as his mood would let him. Callie tried to join in the laughter but was preoccupied wanting to try and help his serious emotions.

"You'll get over this Brandon. Trust me...and so will Michelle. Take it from someone who has had a disproportionate amount of bad luck."

He gave her a smile and squeezed her arm just as Lena came to the door.

"Hey guys - sorry to interrupt but Brandon...you're up." she leaned against the doorframe with her arms folded as Brandon got up and passed her. Callie slowly followed.

"How's he doing?" she asked once Brandon had disappeared.

Callie shrugged with a smile. "He's doing as well as someone who's had the morning he's had could do. Put it this way - I don't think there's any punishment in the world that could bring this home to him more than seeing Kasey in that kind of danger could - or the pain Michelle has brought him for that matter."

"I figured that would be the case - and Kasey?"

Callie's eyes widened with a breath.

"I think the adrenaline wore off. She wasn't doing so good but I think she's passed it."

"Poor baby." Lena whispered. "Poor stupid baby but poor baby nonetheless. She's her mother's daughter. Heart over head." Lena squeezed Callie's arm affectionately before heading over to Kasey's room.

She poked her head in and watched her for a few moments. She was sat reading on the bed.

"Trying to take your mind off things?" Lena asked as Kasey looked over.

"A little...not sure reading crime drama is helping much though."

Lena raised an eyebrow with a half smile.

"We're gonna talk to Brandon now then we'll come up and get you OK?

Kasey nodded gently as Lena turned to a distraction emerging from the boys' bedroom.

"Looks like you have a visitor." she commented as Jesus took her place by the door.

"Hey - " Jesus hovered around Kasey's doorframe as Lena disappeared.

Kasey looked over at him, unsure of what to expect. She didn't know about Jesus' role in anything yet or how much he knew about what had happened. She wasn't sure whether he'd be mad or oblivious.

"You OK?" He asked quietly, still hanging onto the side.

"I've had better days." She commented. "You coming in or are you just gonna watch me be miserable from afar?"

He smiled affectionately. "I guess we could be miserable together for a little bit..." He wandered over and took a seat next to her as she sat up on against the wall.

"So...I hear you kicked ass this morning?" He smiled as Kasey mouthed her admission silently through a breath, the novelty for her wasn't quite there at the moment.

"Look Kasey - I owe you an apology...and you may be mad with me - but I don't think you know yet."

She turned to him slightly confused as Jesus took a deep breath.

"How much do you know about the whole pot situation?" He asked as her eyes narrowed slightly.

"That Michelle got Evan caught with it and somehow got it to him too...now you mention it nobody ever really explained it to me. Why? What do you know about it?"

Jesus bit his lip. "Well - it was me that brought it into the house. Carl's brother gave it to me - clearly now it was Michelle that set it up...but the point is I brought it here and Evan covered for me."

Kasey's eyes swelled as she gawped slightly, unsure of what to say.

"Ryan persuaded me to try it to help my ADD, I had a chat with Evan and he took it off me to destroy. When we got caught he took the blame and I didn't stop him even though I should have."

Kasey looked across to the opposite wall and shook her head gently.

"I can't believe you'd be so stupid." She said frustrated but without raising her voice. "Or that he would be. He must have known that would bite him in the ass!"

Jesus shrugged. "He thought he was doing what was best - it wasn't his fault. Moms put through the wringer anyway."

Kasey sighed. "I bet...is that what all the yelling was about yesterday night?"

Jesus nodded. "Callie figured it out and persuaded me to come clean. I would have done sooner but I had a bit of a confrontation with Michelle and she threatened me."

Kasey's eyes widened. "Wait - so you knew about her and didn't say anything?"

"Not everything - just that she had something to do with the drugs...I did think about telling you but you were so stressed out about Evan and stuff - and I had already got too involved."

Kasey looked at him sternly. "I wish you had just told me. I think, anyway."

"You mad?" he winced as Kasey shrugged.

"I dunno - probably. I'm too tired of it all to be honest. She wove such a complicated web - I just can't waste the energy trying to put it together."

"If only moms felt that way, huh?" he teased with a smile as Kasey breathed out a laugh.

"You get in a lot of trouble?"

Jesus shrugged. "I was already in so much for the bar thing I think they've bulked it together. I thought Mom was gonna strangle me yesterday though..."

"Well...I would have probably were I not about to get strangled myself. I can't really judge. "

"So you heard us yelling, huh? I wish we had just told you then. Mom didn't want us to worry you because of your SATs."

Kasey stared down at the floor. She couldn't help but still resent Stef keeping it from her, even though she knew she had no right to. There was just a niggling feeling that this all could have been avoided had her Mom not cared so much about what in her mind was an unnecessary hoop to jump through.

She realised she had been silent for a while as Jesus bent his head round to make eye contact.

"You OK?" he asked snapping her out of her daze.

She smiled. "I'm fine - just been a weird day." she responded sleepily.

"I'll maybe leave you to it..." he replied pushing himself to the edge of the bed.

"I'm sorry again, Kase - and just in case you don't know...none of this was Evan's fault."

She nodded and slapped her hand on his leg. "I know...I just hope he's not mad at me now." she said with a sigh.

"Ha. As if." he smirked before getting completely off the bed and disappearing.

She lay her head back against the wall trying to process the new information with everything else.

"You assured me you would never run off and do something like this again Brandon." Stef said sternly, as they got well into their talk.

"I know - I don't know what came over me."

"Well the fear and confusion probably." Lena added firmly. "Not that it's an excuse for such recklessness."

"The kind of danger you put yourself and your sister in is absolutely inexcusable - under any circumstances. Especially considering you practically held her hostage yourself - never mind what Carl did!"

"It's one thing to be impulsive and careless because you're hopped up on adrenaline - it's another to still be so when you have a person you love and trust right there telling you to stop."

Brandon's head dropped. "I know. It was like I was possessed or something."

"Well unfortunately for you possession is not a legitimate defence in this house - and let's not forget you were already grounded."

"Yeah...I thought you'd forgotten about that detail..." he responded as Stef raised a stern eyebrow.

"So guess what...your grounded some more. The length we will wait until your Dad is back but don't bank on anything less than 6 weeks."

"And we're taking your car keys away for the foreseeable future. You can get them back when you've earned them back. You wanna take the car on runs to that side of town you won't have a car. Simple."

"It's not like I'm gonna be making a habit of it..."

"You're not seriously arguing?" Lena responded, arms folded.

"No..." he looked to the floor.

"And damn right you won't be making a habit of it. I can't even contemplate how you would end up in this situation more than once - but I promise you if you ever do anything this stupid again you will be begging for a punishment like this. Not that we'll hear you from 6 feet under ground - and if you think I'm talking about drug dealers putting you there you're wrong. I will be."

"And more than anything Brandon we want you to talk to us over the next few weeks. If you're struggling we want to know about it. We're not expecting you to get over this fast and we want you to include us in the way you handle it."

"No more you against the world - got it? We may be mad at the decision you made but we understand why you did what you did - and we don't want you to shut us out." Stef folded her arms.

"And we also want you to write a journal about this." Lena finished as Brandon raised an eyebrow.

"A journal? Really?" he responded cynically.

"A journal. It's more of a processing technique than a punishment but we want you to commit this to paper...we think it'll help you. There is a heck of a lot to deal with here Brandon and if you try and do it all in your head you will go mad."

He nodded, realising he already was proving them right.

"We know you had a lot of difficult emotions affecting your decisions and we can't punish you for that - plus we're not gonna take lightly the fact that seeing the danger you put Kasey in will have been a lesson in itself...that along with the other restrictions of course." Lena rationalised.

"That and the fact I'm gonna be reminding you of this slip up every time you get too full of yourself for the next ten years!" Stef threatened sternly. "Oh and we also want 200 lines promising never to chase drug dealers again."

Brandon scrunched up his face. "Lines? Are you serious? That's ridiculous..."

"So is what you did this morning." Stef added smugly as Brandon rolled his eyes.

"A written apology to Kasey wouldn't go amiss either..." Lena added.

"Should I be writing all this down?" he replied with a hint of attitude.

"Keep protesting and we'll get you to write it down 200 times too..."

"OK, OK...I'm sorry. Is that everything?"

"Till your Dad gets back, yes."

Brandon nodded and quietly got up with his hands in his pockets.

"And for the record - I really am sorry. If I'd have ever imagined Kasey would have been in that kind of danger...not that she can't hold her own of course."

"Well I'll not pretend I'm not glad she was there to save your ass." Stef taunted with a raised eyebrow as he hunched up the stairs.

"Speaking of which..." Lena said across to her.

"My turn..." Stef pushed herself off the sofa and made her way up the stairs to Kasey's room.

Chapter 59 Preview: The situation casts Stef's memory back to 13 years earlier as Kasey acts out during the divorce.

Stef blinked hard carefully letting out a long breath. Criminal interrogations were easier than extracting coherent information from her five-year-olds.

"Who did you fight with, and why?" she asked Kasey, her exhaustion showing.

"Mommy - I've told you already... I'm not talking to you." she repeated firmly as Stef's hands shook trying to stop herself from strangling her. "Right. So I've heard. Brandon. Tell me what happened."