A/N: Heyyy guys ;D
Okay, so extra-long juicy chapter for you todayy !

And again, all Jake/Clare interaction = STRICTLY BROTHERLY/SISTERLY!

This story is completely Drew/Clare all the way! And you'll definitely see that in this chapter ;D

Read:')

After a short time of Clare expressing her emotions through tears, Jake suggested a trip to the Dot for some ice cream. He felt bad interrupting her emotional breakdown, but he honestly just didn't know how to handle tears. Sure, he had a heart of his own with real emotions. But he just didn't know how exactly to provide comfort to someone so upset.

He felt even worse about this, considering this was his sister crying into his shoulder; his sister that he'd treated like crap for so long.

But that was going to change. He would start treating her with the same respect she gave him when he wasn't being a jerk.

Clare nodded her head sadly with a bittersweet smile in response to his offer of ice cream at the Dot.

She asked that he'd give her a few minutes to calm herself down and change.

Jake left her room, giving her privacy and went downstairs to warm up his truck.

Clare sighed deeply as he shut the door, leaving her alone once again. She shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind and to stop the tears completely.

She quickly found a pair of dark jeans and a tee-shirt along with a wool sweater to shield her from the bitter February cold.

She got dressed, deciding against fixing her hair. She honestly just couldn't be bothered with her appearance at the moment.

Clare made her way down stairs to the red truck to find her step-brother already seated behind the wheel.
She noticed he was talking on the phone so she slipped into the passenger's seat quietly and put on her seat belt.

He hurriedly hung up the phone with a "See ya' later, man"

She stayed silent, looking straight ahead, trying to concentrate on something- anything - to keep her mind off Drew. She needed to stay calm or else she knew she'd just break down again. It amazed her how much of an impact this whole thing was having on her.

"You okay?", Jake questioned, noticing Clare's silence.

She nodded her head in vain.
"Let's just go..."

He nodded his head in understanding and began pulling out of the driveway.

D&C D&C D&C D&C D&C D&C D&C D&C D&C

Clare sat across from Jake in a booth at the Dot. They each had scoops of ice cream sitting on the table before them. Jake practically devoured his, while his sister just watched hers melting slowly.

"You know, by the time you decide to eat that it'll just be cold vanilla soup", he said with a smirk.

She smiled weakly at his attempt at humoring her. She pushed the bowl of ice cream toward him. "Here you can have it"

Just as he was about to dig into the offered snack, he stopped himself.

"I wasn't asking you for it, I just want you to eat it", he said pushing it back toward her.

She shook her head sadly.

Jake frowned. None of his attempts at making her feel better seemed to work.

He looked down at his watch for the millionth time in the past half hour.

He should be here any minute, he thought.

"Why do you keep looking at your watch?", Clare inquired. "Am I holding you up? Did you have plans or something?..."

"No", he said hurriedly. "I just-"

The ringing of the bells on the front door triggered Jake to look toward the entrance. Clare followed his eyes to see Drew walking into the Dot.

Her heartbeat suddenly sped up at the sight of him and she looked back to Jake with wide eyes.

But he didn't seem very surprised with Drew's arrival. In fact, Jake seemed almost to have been expecting him.

Drew's eyes wandered all about the restaurant as if to be looking for someone. Then he spotted Jake and Clare and began making his way over to them.

"Hey, man", Jake greeted him.

Jake rose from the table automatically, gesturing for Drew to take his seat.

"I think you guys have a lot of talking to do", he said mainly to Clare, who was staring at him with wide eyes. "I'll see 'ya later sis"

After patting Clare on the shoulder, he made his way toward the exit.

Drew awkwardly seated himself in the booth, across from Clare in Jake's absence.

The two looked at each other for a moment before Clare looked back down to her lap.

"Drew-""Clare-", they both began at the same time.

"No, let me go first", Clare pleaded.

Drew noticed the pain in her eyes at the moment and nodded his head in agreement.

"Drew, whether what I accused you of is true or not... I'm so sorry. I blew up at you and I didn't even let you speak. I just accused you and left and I am just so very, unbelievably...sorry", she finished with letting out a deep breath.

"It's okay, Clare. I understand", Drew said calmly, taking in how upset she was. He just wanted to take her in his arms and never let go. But he wasn't sure if it was appropriate to do that yet, being that they hadn't been over the Adam/Bianca situation yet.

Clare continued, "I just... I don't want to lose you"
She looked down ashamedly as tears began streaming down her face.

As soon as Drew saw the tears, he couldn't help but rise from his seat and relocate to her side of the table.

He sat next to her and took her hand in his. "Clare you'll never lose me. I'm not going anywhere, okay? If anything, you'll be the one running and I'll be chasing you", he finished with a smile.

At these words, Clare couldn't help but wrap her arms around him tightly.

She knew they had not yet gone over the Adam/Bianca situation yet. For all she knew, he could still be in love with her best friend. But she didn't care. Clare had been crying over him nonstop since the night before. She just needed him.

Drew firmly wrapped his arms around the girl in response to her actions. It felt so good to hold her in his arms. After last night, he was positive they'd never share a moment like this again.

As Clare's mind met with reality once again, she loosened her grip on Drew. Drew noticed this and realized it was time for an important talk. He let go of her, taking her left hand in his. As he did so, about to start explaining the events of last night, he saw her face cringe in pain.

"Oh, I'm sorry", he apologized, assuming he had gripped her hand too tightly. He looked down at her hand and saw it was bruised immensely, with cuts trailing down her fingers.

He looked up at her worriedly.
"What happened?"

She realized he had noticed her damaged hand.

"Nothing", she said quickly hiding her hand in her sleeve.

"Clare... Wait did you fight Bianca or something?" his eyes widened.

"No, no I didn't. I just...", Clare began hesitantly, "When I got home last night, I was upset and did something stupid"

"And that is...?"

"I punched a wall..."

Drew's eyes widened in shock. Had he really caused her to get that upset?

He looked down at her hand and gently caressed the bruises that he assumed must have been causing her horrible pain.

He looked compassionately into her eyes, realizing how hurt she was, thinking that he had feelings for another girl. She really must have loved him.

At this realization, all anger and hurt from her lashing out at him the night before had disappeared.

His heart ached at the fact that she had hurt herself this way because of him. But it wasn't his fault. She refused to hear him out. But he guessed now was his chance.

"Clare, I don't have feelings for Bianca", he said.

Clare's heart dropped.

She wanted to believe him. She really did.

But she needed more explanation first.

"Okay... But... Then, why were you looking at her and Adam together the way you did? Why aren't you happy with them being together?"

"Because, Clare... Adam's my brother. I don't want him Involved with a girl like her."

Clare wore a confused expression. "What do you mean by 'a girl like her'?", she asked defensively. Was he calling Bianca vulgar or mean?.. She's changed. How could he not see that?

"I mean... A girl with a history involving gang members"

"Oh... But, Drew, we're friends with her. So wouldn't we(italics) be in danger of that stuff too?"

Clare was having trouble believing him. She hated to admit it, but it was hard for her to trust Drew, or anyone for that fact. She needed every little detail cleared, and to fall into place in order for her nerves to be calmed.

Drew grew worried at her apprehension. He knew he was telling the truth, but he was having a hard time explaining things. And he absolutely needed her to believe him.

"Yes, technically we would be... But I doubt we'd ever get caught up in that mess again like I did"

"So, why is it any different if Adam dates her?..."

Drew sighed.

"Clare, have I ever told you that after me and Bianca broke up... Something in me changed...?"

"Well...i mean that's understandable, Drew... Crap changes people"

"Yeah, but...it didn't just change(italics) me. All that gang trauma and stuff... It left me with PTSD"

"PTSD?", she questioned.

"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder"

She looked at him with a mixed expression of both shock and compassion.

He continued, "It's why loud noise scare me. It's why I can't play video games with guns in them. Why I'm emotional when I never used to be... Why I'm leery of guys in baggy jeans and hoodies."

Clare's expression softened completely as she caressed his hand that was holding hers.

"I just don't want my brother to go through the same crap that I did. And I know I'm probably just being paranoid because if anything was going to happen, it would have happened to one of us already. But I just can't help but worry."

"I know... I'm so sorry, Drew. If I would have known, I would have never yelled at you and left the way I did"

"it's okay", he said smiling slightly. He was happy that she seemed to believe him now.

But his heart was still aching from the fact that she had been so hurt by the thought of him liking another girl.

"Clare..." he began while holding her injured hand in both of his. "Why would you do this to yourself? Why would you get so upset over this? I mean I know anyone would be upset, but I would have never expected this", he ended this statement while gesturing toward her hand.

Clare felt ashamed at her reacting so drastically to her weakness. "I honestly don't know... I just... I guess I just care about you so much. The thought of losing you just drove me crazy"

Clare felt tears filling her eyes just thinking about how much pain she'd been in.
"And then when Jake talked some sense into me, I couldn't stop thinking of how I drove away someone I love so much"

Drew felt his heart melt into an oozing puddle. There it was again; the spell she had him under.

She had just said she loved him. Was he dreaming?

Drew stared at her lovingly as his mind subconsciously fell under rule of his thoughts.

Unsure of why he'd be staring at her, she realized what she had just said.

Did I just tell him I love him?, she thought. Oh no! What if that freaked him out?
Stupid!, she mentally face-palmed herself.

"I mean... I know we've never said that to each other before... And you don't have to say it back if you don't want to. But I just really-"

She was cut off by him gently placing his lips over hers. He ended the kiss way too soon for her, though.

If it weren't for the fact that they were sitting in a booth at the Dot, he would have kissed her with a long, desperate kiss and never let go.

But he had to settle for a small kiss in response to her confessing her love for him.

Just as he was about to respond in words also, he realized it should be saved for a better time. Not in the middle of a restaurant where their feelings could then be expressed with cheap kisses that lasted a second.

So instead, when he ended the short kiss, he just smiled, looking at her longingly.

Clare smiled back at him but truly inside, she was dying. Did that mean he loved her too? Why didn't he say it back?

Well, she had told him he didn't have to say it back if he didn't want to so... maybe he just didn't want to.

But she could live with that. She was just glad she hadn't lost him.

Shortly after, they decided to order some food. They ate and talked and exchanged loving looks.

At around 4:00pm, Clare looked at her phone and realized the time. She told Drew that she probably should get going because she and Jake hadn't told Helen they were going out earlier. Her mom would be home soon and would wonder where she was. So, Drew offered her a ride home.

As the small green Jeep pulled up in front of the Edwards/Martin home, Drew and Clare began saying their goodbyes.

Clare sighed, hating that she'd now have to leave her boyfriend's side.

"Well, thanks for the ride", she said genuinely smiling at him.

"No problem", he replied, his heart fluttering at the sight of her smile. "I'm just glad we got all that crap sorted out"

"Same here", she agreed. "Well I should probably get inside now"

"I'll see you tomorrow, Clare", he said smiling at her.

As she opened the door to exit the car, he stopped her.

"Hey, make sure you ice your hand and ask your mom to wrap it in an ace-bandage or something"

"I will", smiled at his caring advisory.

As she began to exit the car, she was stopped once again when he said, "Clare"

"Yeah?" she inquired, turning to face him.

And that was when he leaned in and planted a sweet yet firm kiss upon her lips. As they both got caught up in the moment, Clare cupped his face with her hand while he wrapped his arms firmly around her body, pulling her closer and closer to him as possible. He made sure to eliminate all space between them as he gently caressed her lips with his own, melding their mouths together into one big explosion of love. He had transformed the kiss into the desperate, loving one he had wished for earlier.

And now, he decided, was the perfect moment.

As their lips parted, they leaned their foreheads against one another's. They breathed heavily; smiling at each other, while slill having their arms wrapped around one another. Drew still had the taste of her on his tongue. And as he looked into her absolutely breath-taking blue orbs once again, making sure what he was about to say was completely and absolutely true, he whispered:

"I love you, Clare"

A/N: See? Told ya you'd like it! :D Well, at least I hope you guys did...
Let me know! Por favorrrr...?

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