AN: I know...I know. I've been super later with the chapter this time. I am really bad. I know. But please don't give up on me! I'm back and promise to be regular! Anyway, here goes! Hope you enjoy and hey, every review counts, good or bad. So make my day considering I was in the hospital and ...anyway, we're back so read.!

.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇..₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇..₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇..₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.

A LITTLE MORE THAN FOREVER

(CASSIE'S POV)

As soon as the sunrays hit my skin, I felt my senses opening. I inhaled a musky fragrance that I knew belong to my Brownie. I could hear his heart thumping strangely just next to my ear. I had no idea of where was I. I was felling warm and it was kind of comfortable to hold him and have his arm against me. I opened my eyes and moved my face up to look at him. He was fast off and looked so innocent and peaceful as if nothing had happened. We were still in mom's room. I rolled out of his hold and kissed his forehead.

"I'm really sorry, Brownie. And I love you a lot, more than you know." I whispered and ran upstairs. Because it was early morning, no one was up and mom was in the next room. I went to my room thinking what I wanted and got into my bathroom for a shower. I put on my black skinny jeans with a blue long sleeved top.

No one was up yet so I decided to make everyone some breakfast. I put some milk to boil as I pulled my hair into a pineapple bun and then took out the eggs and stuff. Our fridge was always overloaded because of Paul and Brady and others whenever they hung out up here and mom had re-stocked it most probably 10 hours ago. Might be when I was sleeping and she gave me over to Brady.

"Good morning, Princess." I heard Brady's warm voice. I didn't look back but replied.

"Morning."

"It's 'good morning', not 'morning', Hot Chocolate." He said as he walked over to me. He was acting so normal as if nothing had happened ever. I looked at his face, that charming smile that always overwhelmed me.

"Okay." I answered. I got back to what I was doing. He grabbed another bowl and started beating eggs and stuff grabbing half what I was making. "You brushed?"

"I am not that unhygienic that I won't." he replied and bumped into me.

"Where did you find the brush?" I asked. Stupid question, I know.

"Well, there were some, out here in the cupboard." He said and pointed overhead to the cupboard.

"Oh, I didn't remember they were here." I answered.

"You know what? Ronnie came over at Emily's yesterday while you were asleep and all of them were so shocked to see her back to her normal self which she was before she started going out with Leonard. You know, the large specs, no lip-gloss… Oh, good news, Mark made her break up with him because he showed her his reality, ding, ding, ding!" he chuckled. I was staring at him. "Salt?" he asked. Not moving my eyes away from him, I tried to make my hand reach the salt that was actually next to the stove and big thing; I messed up the boiler and made it fall on my hand, not on purpose but without any intention.

VOILA!

"Crap." I shrieked and pulled it to myself.

"Let me see." He said, pulled my hand gently and blew at it softly. "It hurts?" His eyes looked into mine and I looked away.

"It's much-much lesser than the pain I've ever caused you." I replied. My skin had turned dark red and I knew it was going to be turning brown.

"What?" he asked me, confused.

"I…nothing." I muttered. He made me wash my hand under cold water and it felt a bit better. Then, he sat down on the chair grabbing the first aid kit and applied some anti-blister cream. It hurt a lot but still, I didn't feel much because he was applying it and yet all I was doing was staring at his face.

"Done. Better or hurts more?" he asked me.

"Thanks." I replied and got up.

"That's it." He said, grabbed me by my wrist and pulled me back to sit on his lap now. I didn't want to look into his eyes and yet again, I had begun crying.

"Look, it's okay." He said as he put his arm around me and made me bury my face into his neck. I know this might sound weird but his fragrance was like my own personal drug and made me feel better.

"I…I am sorry. I really love you, Brownie and I…." I broke in half words.

"Look here, you don't need to be sorry. I have to be because it was my fault. I mean…I am your protector and I should've been there to save you but I just was so careless. Listen to me now, Cass. I love you too and no one…I repeat NO ONE, can change anything that we share. This will never change anything between me and you because I knew you were always loyal to me. Yeah, it hurt me when I came to know he kissed you and I couldn't do anything, but nothing except one thing you did hurt me which was that you kept it to yourself and never told me what had happened. You were never wrong, I know and you didn't want me to overreact like I did last evening about which I am sorry." He said. I felt soooooooooooooo good that no other feeling could have ever been better.

"You know what?" I muttered, silently inhaling his musky scent.

"Hmm?" he asked.

"I wanna be yours, forever." I said and smiled.

"Baby, you are mine. A little more than forever." He answered. He tilted my head up and kissed me on my lips.

"Seriously guys, not in the morning." We both heard Louie who was usually really irritated in the morning. We both let go off each other as lightning struck between us and then, I laughed as I pulled back.

"I hate him at times." Brady whispered.

"Heard that, Asshole!" Louie replied back. He was busy searching through the cupboards, cursing under his breath in irritation.

"Louie, no cursing in front of the girl." Brady said and I laughed. Yeah, really.

"What do you want?" I asked as I went to his side.

"Where's my cereal?!" he countered, annoyed.

"Okay, Louie, 1. Calm down. 2. Go and sit by Brady, I'll give it to you." I answered.

"What's wrong with your lefty?" he asked. He bent down and began talking to my hand. "Babe, you okay? I know…I know. Don't work for this damned woman now. She won't give you any rest."

I kicked him in his shin.

"Ow. What was that for?!" he shouted.

"Did anyone ever tell you how flaky you are in the morning, Louie?" I asked, pulling my lower lip over my upper one.

A sign of annoyance.

"Seems I am better now." Louie replied shaking his head and went to sit by Brady. He knows my look. Brady was looking at him and laughing. Louie was giving him cold glares as Brady just laughed. And there was a time when they both hated each other more than anything.

"You kids up?" mom was at the kitchen door. Okay, if I was in one guest room with Brady and mom in the other, where did Louie sleep?

"Good morning, mom!" I called.

"What happened to your hand?" she asked me.

"Uh, that? I dropped the boiler on my hand." I answered. "You know one time experience. Won't ever do it again. Louie, where did you sleep last night?"

"With Marley, in your room. God, he's such a good company for night." He answered me. The three of us stared at him.

"You…slept with Marley?" mom broke the silence. Brownie and I had begun laughing hysterically.

"Mom, don't mind him. He's like that in the morning, usually." I told her.

"Brady, pass me the apple." Louie said with a knife in his hand. It seemed as if he was going to commit a murder.

"Louie, keep it down, would ya?" I said, raising my eyebrow. Brady passed it to him and he cut it into pieces and dropped it into his cereal. "Louie, wasn't it a…"

"Don't disturb the master chef." He said putting his finger to his lips. I stared at him, shaking my head. God, this guy could be so weird at times.

"Cass, you free today?" Brady asked me while helping me with the dishes. Mom had gone to help Rachel with Max and Louie went to take a shower in my bathroom. Louie and Brady often slept over, so we had a lot of clothes of both their sizes. Brady could wear Paul's anytime (which sometimes drove Paul crazy) and Louie kept his stuff here since he rarely went back home.

"Why would you ask me something like that?" I asked him, confused.

"Isn't that what guys ask girls before asking them out?" he questioned me.

"Oh…Yeah, I'm free." I answered, popping the 'oh'.

"Great. How about going to the Fall Carnival? Been days since we went out, right?" he asked me.

"Pick me at 5:30?" I asked.

"Aye, Aye, captain." He replied.

I helped Rachel with Max for some time. He is a pretty cute kid anyway. It was fun to watch Rachel get mad at Max and Max beaming at her while his mother was shouting at him and finally Rachel would end up laughing. Then, I went to mom, watching her video conferencing with her patients. My mom is a psychologist and she helps a lot of teenagers and gets them out happy but her own daughter is such a unique piece that she can't understand. Sometimes, when she tried to psychoanalyze me or whatever, she breaks down completely and ends up shouting on me. So, she usually doesn't try it on me. Mom was currently talking to a girl, teenager and her file was kept in front of her.

NAME: Dylan Brigham

AGE: 15

SEX: female

It was in bold, so I could see it from the door and then there was a form which was handwritten. It usually is a kind of form that mom makes these kids fill up so she can understand them. She made me fill these kinds of forms a thousand times but now she's given up because she can never understand what I mean. The truth is I'm pretty hard to get.

A little while later, I got to hear some part of mom's conversation and it was: "Sweetie, you have to trust him. If this guy got himself in danger because of you, I know he's a great guy. In today's world, who does that? He loves you more than you can understand and will always save you like this, no matter what happens. If he trusts you, respects you, you have to give him the same what he deserves."

Later in the afternoon, Louie and Brady towed me to Uley's. Who could've known that these two guys fighting each other for me would turn out to be best friends one day? Not that I don't like it. I love it very much because I don't have to hear whole day bickering which really gets me mad. I didn't very much want to move out of my room and I had been grumbling but Brady literally picked me up and Louie held my arms so I don't hit Brady while he moves. Louie actually tied my legs with a piece of cloth.

So, it turned out that Hayley came over to help me choose my clothes. She chose a black off shoulder sweatshirt. It was with a pastel pink skirt and black tights with brown boots. I was wearing a star pendant that Louie gave me because he said it was lucky for him. Coming back to the present situation, Hayley put some lip-gloss on my lips and kohl in my eyes. I don't ever get why this girl loves mascara so much that she always smears things with it and those things are known as people's eyes.

"God, Hayley, I'm not your Barbie doll." I told her. I had wanted to keep it simple because I wasn't in a condition to make it really special anyway.

"Ah ha! Simple beauty! My specialty." She said; which is so not true.

"Cassieeeeeeeeeee!" mom's excited scream came from downstairs.

"Okay, now, may I leave?" I asked her since I had been called down by mom who meant Brady was there and well, I had heard the door.

"Okay, go and enjoy." She said. These people are acting real weird since a few hours, I'm telling you. We both ran downstairs, slipping and stumbling. She was racing to stop me from going while I was trying my best to avoid her from annoying me. I was in a good mood and I didn't want to shout at her. Finally, once again I stumbled down the stairs ending up in Brady's arm once again. God, who keeps this rug here? I need to know.

"Hey." I said, nervously.

"Hi." He replied, suppressing a laugh.

"Cassie?" Paul said, in a no-nonsense way, his tone suggesting that he had gotten just annoyed seeing me like that. Baby Max was in his arms and Paul was trying to make him sleep.

"Yes, Paulie?" I asked sweetly.

"Brady, where are you guys going?" he asked him.

"The Fall Carnival, I heard it's kinda fun." Brady replied, excited. He had been wearing coffee brown trousers with a orange t-shirt that had white colored sleeves with blue and white sneakers and was holding a blue hoodie jacket.

"When will you guys be back home?" Paul asked. Seriously, if you have Paul as a brother, you don't need your dad to be questioning you.

"Oh, don't be that ridiculous, Paul. Let them enjoy." Mom said. Ha, I love this woman! When Paul was annoyed enough by Brady's smirks, he went inside and mom continued, "Okay, have fun, honey and be back by 10 or your brother will surely flip."

We went to the door, Brady's bike standing just in front of us. He kick-started it and it roared to life asking us to jump upon it. I was thinking about that evening when I had seen Shane near the cemetery. It had been a strange experience.

"Would you sit now?" Brady asked me.

"Yeah, yeah, sure." I replied. We went for a while on a normal speed; I was in my distant thoughts and wishing one thing, that I don't see Shane ever again in my life, never ever again. I just wanted to be with Brady and live a normal life, not quite a happy one, just a normal one but it hadn't ever been. First of all, the stuff with my dad then this. God, this was weird. Just then, he drew the brakes. I hit against Brady's back.

"Would you quit thinking already?" he asked me. I shrugged nervously. "Hold onto me." I chuckled and wrapped my arms snugly around him. "That's like my Cassie."

"Now, let's go." I said. It was just a ten minute ride from my place and Brady kept my mind all mixed up with different thoughts so that I don't think about Shane. It was really sweet of him but the reality was I already knew that it was deliberate and it made me think more about Shane. When we stopped there, I saw the distant Ferris wheels, the Columbus rides, the different stalls. Nothing seemed to be really interesting but it was, I didn't get what was wrong with my mood. We walked in silence because every time Brady said something, I either didn't hear it or had no answer. Almost everything seemed to remind of that evening.

"I don't feel fine, Brady." I said after a long time.

"What happened?" he asked me. I looked down towards the ground, fidgeting with my shoes. "Sweetheart, c'mon. Tell me." He turned my head up with a finger.

"I don't know. It's just….I want to go back home." I said. Tears had started flowing down my cheeks and I had no idea why.

"Okay, calm down for now. Come with me." he took me to a bench by my hand and made me sit. He sat by my side, and tilted my head on his shoulder.

Ah, much better.

"Why're you crying?" he asked me.

"I dunno." I replied.

"Okay, look, we're not going anywhere either till you tell me what the matter is or stop crying." He answered.

I stayed silent; thinking why exactly was I crying. Then, I started babbling.

"I'm scared of Shane, Brady. He's…he's really dangerous. I don't want anyone hurt because of me. You remember the last time, don't you? Theo kidnapped everyone. It's…it's kinda…I'm like a stupid forest fire and I feel like I burn everything around me."

"Hey, shsh. You don't burn anything, Cass."

"Brownie, I don't want to hurt you. I do it every time, without knowing. First, with that amnesia, then when Louie took me to Richland and then, on Halloween…I want you to be happy. I just don't want you sad, because of me."

"Cassie, it's nothing like that. It's never your fault, okay? This Halloween thing, forget it. Shane screwed up, before that Louie and your grandma screwed up and the first time, I screwed up. Even though, I pretty much miss that badass Faith. She was pretty hot, ya know." He said and I laughed. "But it was you, when you troubled me a lot and I loved it. And you should stop worrying that much. Now, I'll let you alone for a while and when I return, I want a smile on your face and mind it, I demand that smile."

He got up and went somewhere while I stayed there, trying my best to control my emotions, or tears to be precise.

"Jeez, seriously, I can't handle your PMS at times." He replied after he returned. For once, I got mad and then I laughed. Wow, I am pretty hard to control. "Now, come with me." He covered my eyes with his hands.

"Where are we going?" I asked him.

"You think I'll tell you just like that while covering your eyes?"

"Point." I replied.

"Now, sit." He said and helped me sit. I heard voices, like: "You tickets, please?" and stuff like that but didn't get what it was.

"When are you really letting it go?" I asked.

"Not yet." He answered. I felt something moving, cool breeze sweeping against my skin.

"Okay, now, tell me what is it?" I asked. He slowly opened my eyes. I shut them tight and then opened them slowly, feeling something was really wrong. I looked down to see….

OH MY GOD!

I WAS ON THE FERRIS WHEEL!

"B-B-B-Brady?" I stuttered, freaked out. I caught him tight, nuzzled into his chest and shut my eyes tight.

"Cassie?" he asked.

"Hmm?" I asked, gulping in.

"You won't fall down. I'm here." He said. I shook my head, keeping my eyes shut. "Cassie, don't act like Eva….Okay, look at me."

I slowly opened one of my eyes, then the other one. He was right. I wouldn't fall when he was holding me so tight; I wouldn't fall because he's never going to let anything happen to me.

"Now, look there." He pointed towards the setting sun.

"It's beautiful." I replied.

Okay, needless to say, I enjoyed on the Ferris wheel, don't ask me how but I just did. We then went towards different stalls. Then, in between, Brady and I had cotton candy and then, we went to the giant teacups, which were my favorite. We went to a play-an-win stall. It was a ball toss game.

"I wanna play that." I pointed towards it, like a kid. I was holding his arm and it kind of comforted me.

"Okay, babe. Let's go." He and I went towards the stall. He paid the guy and I got three balls, i.e. three chances. "Keep your eye on the target and shoot." Brady told me.

I was basically aiming for a chocolate box. And the scoreboard is as follows:

CHANCE ONE: Missed

CHANCE TWO: almost there

CHANCE THREE: Exactly there!

"YAY!" I shrieked and hugged Brady. That guy gave it over to me. I opened my box and beamed at those shining chocolates that looked extremely yummy and pleaded me to eat them. I started walking away happily. But Brady wasn't with me. I looked back and saw him at the stall.

"I'm gonna try it too." He replied. I waited and in two out of three chances he won a small key chain and a large teddy bear. That guy gave it to Brady and they both shook hands.

"Here you are, sweetheart." He gave it to me.

"Awwwwwwwwwwww! Isn't someone really cute?" I said, and kissed his cheek. You could've seen his face. That guy was really blushing like crazy.

On the way back, we decided to grab some dinner. We had Noodles and chicken Manchurian at 'Yo Chings!' at our favorite table that was just by the window giving a beautiful view of the sea. It was a full moon night. We had our Milky mango slush, which is my favorite again. We took them and left. We walked hand in hand and we decided to go to the park for a while since it was just 8: 45 yet. I threw the straw out now, since there was little left and had it. He began laughing.

"What?" I asked.

"Cass, you got a moustache." He replied and wiped it off. I was freaking blushing really bad.

We sat on our bench in the park (which actually is the bench we usually sit on, not that it belongs to us) and I laid my head on his chest. We kept quiet for a while but it was a happy silence and I could notice him sniffing in my head but I didn't complain.

"Cassie?" he said, after a long while.

"Yep?" I asked, popping the 'p'.

"You remember how that day you were admiring Hayley's wolf bracelet?" he asked me. Wow, how did he notice that?

"The one that Seth gave her?" I replied.

"You know what its significance is?" he questioned me.

"No, not exactly. Hayley said that it was kind of a gift." I answered.

"It's a tribal equivalent of a promise ring, Cassie." He told me. "Look, if I give one to you, it will mean that I solemnly promise you, that I, Brady Nicholas Fuller, will be by your side, in good times and bad, will look after you, no matter what. I will have your back even when the world gives up on you. Make you smile, whenever you cry, protect you and love you till the last breath of my life. I will love you every second of my life and make you feel loved like no one else."

I got up and looked at him. Tears actually had been slipping down my eyes. They were tears of happiness, is all I knew. But…he hadn't given me one.

And that was when he drew my hand out, and tied a charm bracelet on my wrist. It was a wolf charm bracelet, a lot like Hayley's but my chain was prettier.

"Oh my god…" I gasped.

"Here we go." He said and beamed at me. And then we kissed each other…

AN: Shyne: Thank you so much!

AvenG7: Thank you so much and the first chapter of your fanfic was awesome!

Jacobdraco: Thank you having my back!