Callie shook Brandon awake, "Brandon, remember you said we'd wake up early before everyone?" Then, feeling bad for her less than gentle wake-up call, she leaned in and kissed him softly on the cheek three times. When he pulled her close to him but made no effort to open his eyes or move, she shook him again, harder this time.
"What time is it Callie?" he yawned sleepily, realizing the room was still dark.
"Six so we should probably..." she responded immediately.
He cut her off. "6? God Cal, this is vacation. There's no work, no school. No one is getting up until after 8 the earliest. We're fine. Go back to sleep. I am." He kissed her shoulder and shut his eyes.
Callie lay there for awhile unable to settle back into sleep. "Brandon, are you sleeping again?" she whispered. "Not anymore," he whispered back.
"Sorry. I'm just nervous. And it's been so long since I've been on a real vacation, I forgot that people sleep in."
He pulled her on top of him and held her tightly, kissing her nose. He wanted to tell her that he would take her on a million more vacations. That they would see the world together. But he simply said, "I know. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about anything."
"I bet you regret suggesting this sleepover."
"No chance. I have waited so long to wake up with you."
He said it with such sincerity that she couldn't help but kiss him immediately. His lips were warm and soft, and Callie felt her head spinning with growing arousal as she felt the tip of his tongue against her lips. This kind of intimacy, this kind of wanting was terrifying to her after everything with Liam. Except, as Brandon gently parted her lips and slowly moved his tongue inside her mouth to play a passionate, familiar game with hers, she wasn't scared. What they were doing, she realized, had absolutely nothing to do with what had happened with Liam. This couldn't be further from that. She was with Brandon, only Brandon, and it was warm and safe and wonderful.
She couldn't tell exactly how long the kiss lasted but she knew it wasn't as long as she would have liked. He broke the kiss and smiled shyly at her. "Can I ask you something, Callie?"
"Of course." She was hoping he would ask if he could keep kissing her.
"Do you ever pretend that things are different? With us."
"Well I mean I wish things could be easier for us. All the time. But what do you mean, pretend?"
He looked at her thoughtfully. "We have like an hour before we have to get up. And for that hour, I really don't want to be Brandon and Callie, the foster siblings who are at the beach with our family sneaking around like some dirty secret and who can't ever be together."
She wasn't quite following, "Well if you want me to go...I'm confused, Brandon."
He pulled her closer. "No silly. That's not what I meant. For an hour, let's pretend. We're Brandon and Callie Foster. We're 23. We came to the beach to celebrate our second anniversary."
She looked at him quizzically, "We're married?"
He kissed her cheek. "Yes, right now, we are."
She couldn't help but smile. Brandon and Callie Foster. She liked that. "Tell me more."
He didn't want to elaborate on anything that might be too real or too raw for her so he stayed away from the specifics of the adoption that was currently up in the air, Robert signing the papers, and his Moms although god knows he played out possible scenarios in his mind all the time. Instead, he stayed far in the future with Callie where it was less complicated.
"Well, we had our tiny little apartment with the loveseat and the kitchen table for awhile. But after college, we took the kitchen table and moved it to a little cottage not too far from Moms. And Jesus and Mariana and Jude and Sophia all visit a lot. And I have perfected my pancake making skills."
She found herself getting a little swept up in this world that he'd thought out for them. "And I make biscuits and gravy?" she asked.
"No. You only make them when you're sad. And you aren't sad anymore." He brushed a hair from her face. "We're happy, Cal. So happy. Largely because you've learned to cook things I like."
She laughed. "Okay and we're here for our anniversary?"
He snuck in a kiss. "Yes, happy anniversary, babe. We came last year too. We're thinking it might be a tradition. And we brought the baby this year because we missed her too much when we left her with the family last year."
"We already have a baby?"
"Yes, we're young but we were ready to be a family. After we got engaged, we weren't exactly trying but we weren't doing anything to not try if you know what I mean...and you got pregnant like immediately. Fortunately, we have the perfect child and it's all been pretty awesome."
Callie felt insanely warm inside at the thought of her little family with Brandon. Even if it was pretend. She reached up to caress his cheek. "Tell me about her."
"She's just a little over two. Everyone has probably done the math back from the wedding but no one has called us out. It doesn't matter anyway. Her name is Colleen and she is so, so beautiful."
Callie felt her eyes fill with tears. "Colleen. Like my Mom. How did you know that's what I would name her?"
Brandon wiped her tears with his thumbs. "I just knew. She looks just like you except her eyes are green. You take like a million pictures of her a day on your phone. She appears to have the same milkshake obsession as you and Robert. She loves singing and I'm really optimistic that she's Julliard bound since I made you listen to classical music every day when you were pregnant. But right now she just likes to sit on my lap and bang the piano keys loudly and you just laugh and tell me to let her."
"And she has you completely wrapped around her little finger." Callie could see him at the piano with their little daughter so vividly.
"Obviously I am madly in love with our baby girl who looks like a mini clone of you. You yell at me for spoiling her all the time but I would like to point out that you were the one who bought like 300 toys last Christmas."
Callie smiled, "I couldn't help it. I just wanted her to have a nice Christmas. Like I never had."
"I know, baby. It was perfect. And I think we had just as much fun playing with all her stuff when we were wrapping it as she did."
Callie was fully playing along now. It all seemed so real. She whispered seductively in his ear. "Speaking of Christmas, I packed that nightgown you gave me. . .I'm not really sure if that's my present or yours."
Brandon was surprised she had taken the conversation there but he didn't show it at all. "It was a present for both of us. And why didn't you wear it last night?" he asked as he began kissing her neck.
"Because we were in a hurry and I forgot. We're always in a hurry. But tonight...if you serenade me after our little monkey goes to sleep..."
"All you have to do is ask and I will serenade you anytime you please, remember?"
"Oh I remember," she said pressing her lips to his.
The kiss intensified for a few minutes until Brandon broke away. "Hey, we've been playing pretend for quite awhile. It's probably time to head down. So you go first and I'll be down in a few minutes."
He was right but Callie felt a wave of disappointment crash over her. She wanted to stay in this room forever where she got to be his wife celebrating their anniversary and where they were both crazy in love with their little girl. Where she got to love him with no drama or complications or rules.
She gave him one last kiss. "I liked pretending to be married to you. I liked dreaming about Colleen and Christmas and our little house."
He was glad that she was happy, that he hadn't freaked her out too much. But his eyes gave away just a hint of sadness. "It would be pretty amazing, right?"
She pulled him into a tight hug. "Beyond amazing. And the best part was it felt so real."
"I know." He kissed the top of her head. "I think about it all the time, Cal. I try not to but I do."
She knew she would too after this. "What are we going to do, Brandon?"
"Whatever you want." With that, he gently prodded her toward the door, out of his arms and out of their dream world.
Ahhhh I have so many feels feels just writing this chapter. Whenever I see Brandon looking at her so seriously, I always think that he's envisioning the life he thinks they won't get to have. Anyway, I'm getting quite a few requests to include a Brallie love scene in this story...and I am thinking about it. And if anyone wants to talk Brallie during this entirely too long hiatus/withdrawal, feel free to PM.