Disclaimer: I do not own Home and Away
Chapter Two
"I couldn't find any sign of her on the way to the beach" said Brax as he entered the house.
"And there was nothing headed the other way" said Heath, dropping onto the sofa, "mate are you sure there was even a kid out there?"
"Yes, she was right there by the table then as soon as my phone went off she ran" said Kyle loudly.
The boys had tried to find the girl as soon as Kyle told Brax she had been out there but there wasn't a trace of her anywhere.
"Kyle, calm down, I'm sure she's fine. Maybe she went back to her family or something" offered Brax giving Heath a warning look.
"Yeah, maybe, but you should have seen her. She looked like a half starved little pipsqueak" sighed Kyle leaning back in his chair.
The brothers looked up as footsteps headed towards the front door. Casey popped his head round the doorframe.
"Seriously, you stood me up" he said with a half smile at Kyle who smacked a hand onto his forehead.
"Oh god, Casey, I am so sorry, we just got caught up" said Kyle apologetically.
"Yeah, Kyle's been seeing things" laughed Heath who received a sharp smack round the head from Brax.
"What? Never mind you can tell me now, food should be ready at the Diner if we hurry back now" said Casey. Kyle jogged across the room to grab his wallet and followed Casey out of the door.
Brax raised his eyebrow at Heath who shrugged his shoulders.
"Yes, fine, I will try to be nicer" he said before heading back to his room.
Casey listened as Kyle explained to him what had happened at the house. He had heard that there were a group of travellers who had set up camp a bit further in land and suggested that the child might have come from there. Kyle agreed that it could have been the reason but a niggling thought in his mind was telling him that Casey was wrong. However Kyle pushed the thought aside, he wanted to get on with Casey and wasn't about to let something like this get in the way.
"So are things getting back on track with you and Tamara?" asked Kyle, thanking Leah as she put his plate of food on the table.
"Yeah, everything's working out now, we're back on track and she seems really happy" said Casey grinning widely, "you're not thinking of stealing my girl again are you?"
Kyle snorted and shook his head, looking down at his food.
"Trust me, you don't have to worry about that. The boundaries are clear to me now and I don't want to mess up anything anymore" he said, picking at his cake.
"You sure? I sometimes get a little déjà vu with you" said Casey, hoping beyond hope that Kyle meant what he said. He did seem serious though.
"Casey, I get it, you don't trust me completely because I've put you through so much rubbish, but I really do mean what I say. I know I can't go anywhere with Tamara, I mean yeah I still care about her, but I think I can deal with it just being friendship. My relationship with my brothers is far more important" said Kyle earnestly, looking up to meet Casey's gaze.
"Wow" said Casey, momentarily stunned, "thanks, and you know what, you really aren't that bad when you're not being a jerk"
Kyle was overjoyed. He could finally call Casey his brother without guilt and shame ripping through him. Casey laughed as Kyle looked down and stared firmly at his cake.
"Think your eyes are watering mate" laughed Casey, rubbing his arm as Kyle punched him.
"Shut up, you're still my little brother and I can beat you up easily" said Kyle smirking and stealing a fork full of cake off Casey's plate.
"Psh, no way, and stop stealing my cake" laughed Casey, pushing Kyle away from him and quickly shovelling up a mouthful of cake.
"You are disgusting" said Kyle, picking up a napkin and pretending to daintily mop a crumb from his lips.
"Oh please, you're a Braxton, you know what we lack in manners we make up for in charm" said Casey smiling winningly at his brother.
He was so happy. Not only did he have his girlfriend back, he had gained a brother, and clearly a smart arse at that. Things had definitely got better over the past few months and Casey wouldn't have it any other way.
A couple of hours later, Kyle and Casey had found their way to the beach and were messing about in the surf, unaware of someone watching them from between the marram grass.
Tamara had known that Casey was going to meet Kyle and hoped that he would text her to let her know how things had gone. Sometimes things got out of hand between the brothers and Tamara knew that some of that was due to her, something she never failed to feel guilty about. She grabbed her bag and headed down to the Diner where she was told by Leah that Casey and Kyle had been and gone. Tamara thanked her and made her way down to the beach. Her heart started pounding when she saw Kyle grab Casey in a headlock and dunk him under the surf. Oh no, she thought, he's going to kill him.
"Casey, Casey" cried Tamara, running down the path.
She stopped short when she realised that both the boys were laughing their heads off. Her hand flew to her heart and she breathed a sigh of relief, locating their belongings and settling herself down next to them.
"Hey beautiful" shouted Casey, running up the beach towards Tamara. Kyle followed, making sure to shake his sopping wet hair out all over his brother.
"What is this?" smiled Tamara, pointing to the two of them.
"It's a bromance" laughed Kyle, flinging his arm over Casey's shoulder.
"Yep, sorry babe, you've been replaced" sighed Casey, before pushing Kyle into the sand and sitting down next to Tamara.
"You guys are nuts" said Tamara trying to get away from Casey who was determined to give her a hug, "everything ok between you now? You had me worried you big doofus. I was expecting a call or a text or something just to let me know you hadn't killed each other"
"Sorry Tamara" said Kyle.
"Yeah, sorry, we were just getting along really well" said Casey with a shrug.
"Well, I'm glad. Finally we can actually all hang out and not try any casual murder" said Tamara lightly, wiggling her eyebrows at the two boys.
All three agreed that the past was behind them and the relief at having a fresh start was clear in the way they acted. Kyle was more relaxed than he had been in a long time, both Casey and Tamara could see that already. Now just to get rid of the awkwardness that was there with Brax and the animosity with Heath.
As they walked back to the house, Casey kept looking over his shoulder. There was a slight breeze but the long grass was moving a little too much. After all that had happened in his life, Casey was very wary of people following him.
"Guys, I think someone's following us" he whispered under his breath.
Kyle looked round and spotted where Casey was nodding his head towards. The area was thick with tall shrubs and weeds. Anything could hide in there and not be noticed. Before anyone would get suspicious, Kyle quickly jumped into the undergrowth but all that ran out from between the grass was a ginger cat.
"Wow, what a scary stalker cat" said Tamara sarcastically, wiggling her fingers in Casey's face.
"Hey, that cat could be a ninja just waiting for the right time to strike" retorted Casey, making both Tamara and Kyle laugh.
The three laughed and joked the rest of the way home. Most of the jokes were at Kyle's expense but he gave as good as he got. As the house came into sight, Kyle's nerves rocketed. He would have to face Heath when he got back and he was not looking forward to that. He could only thank his lucky stars that Bianca was around to keep a lid on the majority of Heath's temper.
"Perfect, house to ourselves" said Casey happily, collapsing in a heap on the sofa.
"Anyone would think you had done hard labour all morning" said Tamara rolling her eyes and raiding the fridge for a drink.
"Hey, making up with your clown brother is hard work" claimed Casey, pulling a face at Kyle who just pushed him off the sofa.
"Oh my god, seriously, you guys are worse than children! Do I have to put you in separate play pens or something?" laughed Tamara.
"Ooo talking of children, I'm going to do a test" said Kyle, rushing into the kitchen suddenly.
"What's up with him?" Tamara asked Casey, settling down next to him on the sofa.
"He saw some mysterious kid in the back yard earlier and now he's slightly obsessed" said Casey, flicking on the telly.
"What? Shouldn't you call the cops or something?" exclaimed Tamara, turning to look at Casey.
"Nah, Brax went to look round but they couldn't find the kid so I guess she's from the traveller's site that just set up" said Casey pulling Tamara back into his side and looking up as Kyle came back in.
"I left some food out there" he said triumphantly.
Casey and Tamara looked at him blankly.
"Congratulations?" said Casey slowly. He had no idea what Kyle was on about.
"Well, I figured if it's gone in an hour then I know I wasn't making things up and that girl actually exists" said Kyle grabbing the remote off Casey and changing the channel.
"Genius" said Tamara rolling her eyes and shaking her head.
"Just you wait and see" said Kyle kicking his shoes off.
An hour passed and Kyle went outside as quietly as he could. Sure enough the plate of food was empty, not a single crumb was left on the plate.
"Told you so" said Kyle triumphantly as he went back into the house.
"She's not an animal, Kyle, you don't have to keep feeding her" said Tamara taking the plate off Kyle.
Kyle rolled his eyes and went back to the garden, a movement catching his eye. The girl was crouched under a bush just the other side of the fence. Kyle looked over his shoulder. He could still hear Casey and Tamara talking in the kitchen. Turning to the child, Kyle crouched down near the fence, his mind going blank. What should he say? He had to say something before he scared her off. Kyle took a deep breath.
"Hi, my name's Kyle, what's yours?"
Note: Did you like this chapter? I really wanted Casey and Kyle to have a good relationship because I just love both characters.
QUESTION: I can't for the life of me work out how old Darcy is meant to be! Anyone have any idea? Thanks.
This is posted very quickly after the first chapter because I'm going away on holiday until the 18th and thought you should get a little bit more story first.
Thankyou to my reviewers, followers and readers! It really does mean a lot to me!
~Brani