Aaliyah was grateful for the time off Gina had given her. It meant she could spend extra time with Riley. Not to mention the fact she didn't have to see either Bianca or Casey at school everyday. Aaliyah could just take Riley to school, go home, lock the door and shut the rest of the world out.

The thing is Aaliyah was hurting and not just because of her injuries. She was hurting over Casey. She missed him so much. Aaliyah had never felt this way about any man before not even Johnny, and it scared the hell out of her.

Aaliyah had spent the last few days wondering whether she did the right thing breaking up with Casey. As her thoughts started to wander again she did what she always did when she thought like this. She headed into the bedroom and took the photo Album of Riley out of her drawer. She sat gently on the bed and started to turn the pages, looking adoringly at the photos. Aaliyah smiled as she remembered the memories, which went with each picture. She had reached Riley's 4th birthday photos, before being interrupted by a knock at the door.

Aaliyah walked back through the house and opened the door. It was Brax; he smiled gently at her, waiting for her to invite him in. "Come in" Aaliyah smiled as she opened the door a little wider, so he could get past. "Can I get you a drink"? She asked as she went to the fridge and poured herself a glass of orange juice. "No I'm ok thanks" Brax replied as he watched the woman hobble around the kitchen. Brax was a little confused as to why Johnny hadn't done anything about this yet. "Something wrong?" Aaliyah asked curiously, as she noticed the look on Brax's face. Brax's attention was now back on Aaliyah.

"Someone has been talking to Darcy at school" Brax started. Aaliyah was horrified

"You serious, when?" she exclaimed, as she sat on one of the chairs around the table, it had now become too painful for her to stand any longer. "Last week, Heath has told the school to keep on eye on her, thing is Darcy says this man's name is Scott" Aaliyah put her hand over her mouth as Brax explained. "Do you think it could be Dylan?" Brax spoke finally. Aaliyah shook her head "Nah, he's not that stupid. I'm certain he's behind it though?" she said looking at Brax who had now stood up and started to pace the floor. "What would he want with Darcy?" Brax snapped.

"I don't know" Aaliyah was confused; she had no idea what Dylan would want with the Braxtons.

"Maybe it's because we've helped you and Johnny?" Brax suggested. Aaliyah just shook her head again "No it's not his style, when some-one crosses Dylan, he only usually focuses his revenge on that person or the people close to them and in this case it's Johnny. There must be another reason why he is targeting Darcy" Aaliyah explained.

Brax was now more confused than ever. "Have any of you done anything to him? I don't know, stole something from him or taken business away from him" Aaliyah suggested. It had suddenly dawned on Brax, as he cast his mind back to a few weeks ago. Heath was dealing in a couple of new areas, trying to get rid of some pills in a hurry. "Damn it" Brax exclaimed as it hit him. "What?" Aaliyah asked curiously.

"Heath, he was selling some pills down Reefton Lakes a couple of weeks ago. I told him to ask around first to make sure he wasn't on anyone else's turf" Brax couldn't believe his brother had been so stupid.

"That would probably do it" Aaliyah replied dryly.

Aaliyah's phone started buzzing frantically, interrupting the silence. She looked at the screen before answering it. It was a private number. "Hello beautiful" Aaliyah recognized the voice instantly as Johnny's; his greeting had cause Aaliyah to cringe a little. "Hey, what's up?" she replied

"I need to talk to you are you home?" Johnny asked, he sounded like he was in a hurry. "Yeah" was all that Aaliyah managed before Johnny hung up the phone.

It was about 20 minutes later, when Johnny finally arrived at the house. Brax had waited for his arrival; he had sensed the uncomfortable tone in Aaliyah's voice and felt that she probably didn't want to be on her own when Johnny turned up. Besides Brax was eager to know what plan's Johnny had made and how they involved the River Boys.

Johnny walked through the door confidently; he noticed Brax and Aaliyah sat at the kitchen table. He walked straight past them and headed to the fridge, taking a bottle of beer out. Johnny's coolness had surprised Brax. It was almost as if Johnny had just come in after a day at work. Not plotting to kill someone.

Johnny slid in casually into the chair next to Aaliyah "Ok so this is the plan" Johnny's voice now had a more serious tone. Grabbing Brax's full attention "It seems Dylan has had someone informing him of my every move" Johnny explained calmly before turning to Aaliyah "It's Scotty".

Aaliyah was horrified, how could it be Scotty, he was like family. "I thought you said he only did it because Dylan threatened Kelly and the kids" Aaliyah said trying to make sense of Johnny's recent outburst. "So did I, but I got some of the boy's to follow him and it turns out, Scott's been getting a share in every crop, every deal and every job Dylan and his gang have done in the last two years. You don't get paid if you are being threatened" Johnny explained calmly. Brax nodded in agreement, before replying "So what's the plan?"

"Well, I figured sooner or later Dylan's gonna want to know where I am, and he's gonna send Scott here, to you" Johnny took a deep breath as he looked Aaliyah straight in the eye "Baby, I need you to be the bait". Brax's eye's widened at Johnny's idea.

"You can't be serious?" Brax exclaimed, still in shock. "You can't expect her to that" he cried in disbelief.

"It wouldn't be the first time" Aaliyah finally spoke up. "I think you underestimate me sometimes" she continued calmly as she looked at Brax.

"Beside it's not like she will be completely alone" Both Brax and Aaliyah turned to face Johnny, as he spoke. "Out of all the houses for sale in Summer Bay, why do you think I chose this one?" Johnny paused for a moment giving Brax a few moments to think "Because the Braxton's live next door, I knew she would be safe here. I mean lets face it, it wasn't gonna be long before she drew you all in. Look at her she's hot" Johnny grinned as he looked at Aaliyah. Aaliyah returned his grin with a glare; she could have slapped him for that comment. Johnny stayed for about an hour, discussing his plans with Brax. When they had made the final arrangements Johnny said goodbye to Aaliyah and left. Brax didn't hang around much longer afterwards. Aaliyah was now by herself again.

Later that night after putting Riley to bed, Aaliyah settled down to watch a DVD. As she pressed the play button on the remote she was interrupted by a loud knock at the door. "Great" she sighed as she reluctantly got up to answer it. Standing the other side of the door was an extremely drunk Casey. Before she had chance to shut the door Casey barged his way in "What's the matter baby aren't you pleased to see me?" Casey slurred uncontrollably, before almost falling on top of her. Aaliyah some how managed to hold him up. She helped him into the bedroom "Ooh, you are happy to see me" Casey giggled.

Aaliyah took deep breath before helping him into bed. As she turned to leave her heart skipped a beat. Casey had grabbed her hand "Please don't leave me. I couldn't bare to watch you walk away again" he said looking into her eyes.

Aaliyah's eye's filled with tears. Although he was drunk, she could see the pain in Casey's face. "Casey, I" she tried

"Lay with me, please. It doesn't have to mean anything. I just don't wanna be by myself" Casey pleaded.

Although Aaliyah knew it was wrong, she couldn't help thinking that she didn't want to be alone tonight either. She took a deep breath before slipping into bed next to Casey. As he put his arms around her, Aaliyah felt her heart beat faster.

It was then Aaliyah realised, it was going to be harder than she thought to keep away from Casey. How could something so wrong, feel so right? She thought to herself before drifting gently off to sleep.

Hope you are all still enjoying this. As always please R & R. I promised there wil be more Casey and Aaliyah in the next chapter

Coming up-

Will Aaliyah admit how she really feels about Casey?

Aaliyah catches Brax in a compromising position, but who with?

Johnny's plan starts to come together, but will it work? And if it doesn't who ends up getting caught in the crossfire?