Hello friends! Thanks for the reviews and the messages. I love to hear what bits you like and what you think! It makes me so happy. Another pretty Kasey centric chapter here though spanning a few storylines. I tried my hardest not to pour my current frustrations towards Brandon into this chapter but he's annoying me so much right now it was quite an effort! I also was maybe a wee bit hard on Mariana but I'm sorry - flower in the garden of your face? What can I say? Kasey and Cooper bring out my bitchy side. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy and I would love to know what you think :)

Thanks to Mea23 for the read over and idea bouncing and to TheTBone who helps me form my ideas by politely cyber-nodding and insulting my Britishness a lot as I bombard her with suggestions. Speaking of that crazy Mariska fan, she has a new story out called Lucky Seven and it is well, well worth a read! It'll make your little Judicorn loving heart melt. I got the working copy and even sacrificed my breakfast to read it. Check it out and give her a review!

Enjoy!

"You've got a big smile on your face." Mike looked across at Kasey who was struggling to hide her excitement at meeting her Dad's blind playdate.

"I'm just excited that we can hang out." she tied her bowling shows firmly and hopped up patting her Dad on the back. She scanned the alley to try and get a glimpse of Danny and thought she spotted him sat in the spot she had advised. Her heart gave a little jump. She had spoken to him over the webcam briefly to try and make sure there wasn't anything suspicious about him and he had passed her test.

Trying to keep suspicions down she made her way over to the lanes and threw and excited glance to Danny who smiled back nervously.

They made small talk until they were close enough for her to fake the reaction.

"Mr Lewis! What are you doing here?" Kasey exclaimed springing round to the smartly groomed man leaning at the bar.

"Kasey - right?" he replied nervously while trying his best to seem smooth

"Right! I know your daughter, Alice. This is my Dad."

"Mike Foster." Mike held his hand out to shake Danny's firmly.

"Danny Lewis." he took another swig of his beer as a short silence followed.

"So...your daughter go to Anchor Beach?" Mike asked to try and fill the void.

As Danny flashed a confused look at Kasey she grabbed Mike's arm and dived in to translate.

"No! No - I don't know her from school, I know her from..." she hesitated being caught off guard as both men stared at her expectantly.

"You know it's a long story. So Danny, you here alone?"

"Well, yes actually. Speak of the devil - my daughter blew me off."

"Oh - shame. I guess we old men are used to it though right?" Mike joked nudging Kasey. "Well - it was nice to meet you." he smiled and turned to pull Kasey back towards their lane.

Danny threw her a concerned look as Kasey stood firm to hold Mike back.

"Hey is that a Padres keychain?" she asked, thinking quick..

"Right - yeah. Huge fan!" he smiled.

"Really? Were you at the game last week? Sounded like a whitewash. I couldn't see it because we had this party thing." Mike jumped in slightly excited for the excuse to talk about it.

Kasey watched with a smile as the two men absorbed themselves in a deep conversation. Her plan was falling into place.

"Shoot - phone's ringing. Give me a sec..." Kasey pretended to answer her phone leaving the two men barely noticing her departure.

She talked to herself with an eye on them as they laughed and timed it carefully. After enough time she went back over.

"Dad - I am so, so sorry. That was Mom and this whole thing kicked off with Jesus today and I think I need to get back..."

"What, seriously? We just got here!" Mike's face dropped.

"Welcome to the reject pile, my man." Danny laughed lifting his beer as a toast.

"I wouldn't do it if it wasn't important..."

"OK, OK - I'll drive you home. Nice to meet you, Danny."

"Wait, look. I don't wanna ruin your night. We have the lane already...why don't you use my ticket Mr Lewis? You guys can make something of your evening after all. Hell it can't be worse than sitting here drinking alone right?"

Mike looked nervously across at the shrugging man at the bar.

"I dunno - I mean no direspect, Danny, I'm sure you're great company but..." he looked at Kasey, irritated she would put him in this situation but she stared him straight back. "Dad come on - you've been desperate to talk about the game. You were practically asking the alley employees." He looked at Kasey and round at the bustling room.

"Would be a waste of a ticket, I guess...I need to drive you back though, Kase..."

"No you don't, I've grabbed the bus a million times from here. They're super frequent. Please, Dad. It'll be good for you to have some guy time - no?"

Mike gave a belly laugh. "You sound like you're trying to set me up!"

Kasey's heart jumped for a second with fear before quickly hiding it with the most convincing smile she could. "Right - like I'd have time to run your social life and mine."

"Well - can I get you a beer then?" Danny asked with a shrug.

Mike squinted between them for a moment before resigning with a sigh. "I guess it can't hurt." he turned back to Kasey pulling her to him by her shoulders. "You owe me a date, young lady!" He kissed her head pushed her back with a pat on the arm.

"I'll speak to you later, Dad. Nice to see you again Mr Lewis." she smiled as Danny gave her a small wave.

Kasey left with a buzzing feeling through her body. This was all falling into place.

"They clicked immediately. Honestly Cooper - this is perfect. Danny seemed really nice." she sipped away at her soda as Cooper rocked back on his chair to look behind them.

"Mustard burrowed in the crack of your frown? God these poems are awful. I can't wait until we get our café back."

Kasey rolled his chair back onto four legs with his foot. "Are you listening to me at all? This was your idea."

"Yeeeeah - I was in for if you went for dating drama. You setting your dad up with a football buddy isn't exactly scandal worthy."

"Well here's scandal worthy" Kasey lifted her eyebrow. "The guy who spoke before with the old man cap and the hipster clicking. Garrett - does he ping for you?"

"You know him?" Cooper asked surprised, looking back as Garrett and two girls that were obscured by other passers by sat down at a table.

"He's our Moms' friends' kid. Known him since we were small."

"He's cute - I'd hope that he'd ping but always hard to tell with the artistic types." Cooper took back to his drink.

"Seriously?" Kasey looked back slightly surprised.

"Why? You interested in a toy boy poet?" Cooper teased, nudging her.

"Hell no." Kasey cut him off immediately. "But my sister seems to be, my Mom rinsed me for suggesting he was gay."

"Ha!" Cooper laughed gulping down a mouthful of his coffee. "Well I'd say it's a close call but I guess I'd have to judge by the definitive test..."

Kasey raised an eyebrow.

"See if he'll go out with me or not." Cooper explained arrogantly dusting off his shirt as Kasey laughed.

She instinctive patted her jeans as she felt a buzz in her pocket. She looked down curiously until she saw it was an old number of her Mom's. She suddenly panicked about if Mike had contacted Stef. Was she trying to trick her in hope she no longer had the number saved?

"Hello..." she answered cautiously.

"Kasey..." Callie gasped out in relief, almost having expected the call to fail.

"Wait - Callie? Are you OK?" She put a finger to her other ear and squinted to try and hear what she was saying over the poetry going on at the other end of the room.

"I'm fine - look uhm...any chance you're near a car?"

Kasey covered the mouthpiece. "You got your car?" she asked Cooper who shook his head.

"I'm sorry Hon, I'm not home and we didn't bring transport. Are you sure you're alright? I can hear sirens." Cooper looked up at her concerned as she shrugged back. She could hear Callie's obvious fear on the other end of the line.

"It's fine...look I just need a car or I'm gonna miss curfew. Stuff didn't quite go to plan with our evening...I'll tell you all about it, I promise, but I can't get your Moms to pick me up here." Kasey sighed deeply. She was getting to know Callie better and as someone who had done her fair share of Mom avoidance damage control she didn't have any reason to not trust Callie to have not done anything too serious. Unfortunately, that trust wasn't enough to help her. She told Callie the inevitable, the answer that she had hoped calling Kasey would avoid.

"You could try Brandon?"

She could hear a small sigh on the other end of the line.

"Yeah...I guess I'll have to...thanks..." Callie replied, disheartened before hanging up.

Kasey put the phone down and studied it, thinking back. There was more to this.

"Hey, looks like Callie isn't your only sister in need of help..." Cooper commented as they both turned at the familiar sound of Mariana's voice. Putting Callie's unsettling response aside, Kasey shifted focus to her younger sister. They listened, cringing, as she launched into a poem.

"Oh honey..." Kasey whispered aloud as if Mariana could hear her. Cooper sniggered into his drink. "She needs to get over this guy..."

"The garden of your face..." Cooper giggled out, not taking in anything further Kasey had said. She punched him hard on the arm. "Don't make fun of my sister...God love her." Kasey looked at Mariana with pity but was still unable to hide a smirk at the quality of her poem. "I should really go talk to her...she's gonna come down hard."

Kasey waited until Mariana had finished speaking to one of the judges before making herself known.

"Well hey there Emily Dickinson." She shouted over. Mariana froze, embarrassed.

"Kasey - where did you...? You heard me?"

"Yes..." Kasey smiled. "It was...very bold of you to do something like that. So!" she quickly changed the subject. "Taking up poetry...?" She guided Mariana down to a nearby empty table as Mariana looked up at her nervously.

"What...?" Mariana asked accusingly, being able to detect the cynicism in Kasey's voice even though she was trying to hide it.

"I'm just interested in what's going on with you. What's going on with you and Garrett. Come on, I'm your big sister. You're supposed to keep me in the loop with this stuff!" she nudged her.

Mariana looked around nervously.

"I just don't know what to think...I mean...I really like him but I just don't know how to grab his attention."

Kasey was trying her hardest not to make the jokes that were on her mind. She coughed one back.

"Well, honey, if he's not interested maybe it just isn't meant to be. Or maybe he doesn't know that you are...maybe he doesn't get the right vibes."

"I just wrote a poem for him..." Mariana shrugged as Kasey couldn't hide her dismay.

"He's garden face?" She replied without thought as Mariana cast her a hurt look.

"Wait, that came out wrong - I mean, I just didn't realise he was your muse..." she tried to recover as Mariana looked as if she was about to leave. "Kasey, if you don't have anything useful to say...look I'm going home."

"OK - I'll come back with you. Look, all I'm saying is that maybe you're just not his style. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with who you are...maybe he's just into other things. I mean look at these guys..."

Mariana looked at her and back around the room. Kasey was right - she didn't for the part at all.

"So what do you suggest?" she looked up pleadingly at Kasey.

"Honestly? Enjoy what you have with him and maybe look further afield. Well, that or pierce your nose, right?" Kasey laughed as Mariana sighed. Kasey's face broke seeing her joke hadn't cheered her up.

"Come on, let's go home." Kasey hooked her arm around Mariana with a head nod to Cooper who lifted his drink in acknowledgement.

As the girls got back to the house, Brandon and Callie could be seen talking outside the front door. Callie strode off into the house leaving Brandon lingering. Kasey's mind flipped back instantly to the call she'd had with Callie. Mariana, still consumed with her thoughts about what Kasey had said, passed right by both of them with a half-hearted attempt at a "goodnight".

Brandon had immediately recoiled as Mariana appeared, not easing Kasey's suspicions. As he turned to follow her in, Kasey shouted after him.

"You been out?" she asked as he turned back.

"Uh, yeh. I was just..."

"Picking up Callie?"

"Right. She was out with Wyatt." He spat his name out before continuing his walk through the door before Kasey stopped him again.

"Brandon..." She folded her arms as he turned again, frustrated.

"What's going on?" Her face was wrought with concern, the porch light reflecting the crease in her eyebrows. Worried about who may be listening, Brandon closed the door behind him and moved back to face her.

"Nothing."

Kasey snorted out a laugh. "You know if you ever want to start lying to Moms, you better learn how to do it better than that."

"What do you mean by that?" He asked defensively, his voice dropping low. "What are you accusing me of?"

"I dunno, what do you mean when you say Wyatt's name like you're allergic to it?"

Brandon rolled his eyes and dropped his hands to his side. "Why is everyone on at me about this? He just about got her arrested - I don't trust the guy and I'm looking out for her. Aren't we supposed to do that?"

Kasey raised her eyebrows at the anger-laced response.

"I'm not 'on at you' about anything, I'm just worried about why you've clearly got Callie rattled recently." Kasey kept her tone calm and concerned. "Look I know you and Talya broke up and that may be affecting -"

"Jeez!" Brandon swung away from her, cutting her off before flapping his arms out firmly. "How about you lecture me on my feelings when you've had a relationship that lasts more than a couple hours and doesn't involve scaling a building."

Kasey crumpled her eyebrows and stared him down. "Nice. You know it's exactly that kind of aggressive response that makes me think there is more to this..." Brandon pushed his hands firmly in his pockets before turning back to the house.

"Do you have a thing for Callie?" Kasey asked bluntly, stopping him in his tracks.

"Kasey, stop looking for drama." He snapped back immediately, a look of outrage trying to mask his panic.

Kasey looked him up and down, keeping her calm demeanour.

"You know, it's OK if you do..." she began as his eyebrows drooped in shock.

"Brandon. She's hot, she's our age and she's a cool girl. There's nothing wrong with you noticing and liking that - I'd be kind of surprised if you didn't."

He tilted his head, confused. He wasn't sure what was happening but he didn't trust it.

"That doesn't mean you can act on it though - you know that, right?" Kasey added with genuine sweetness, providing the rub. Brandon looked at the floor and up at her again. He knew approval was too good to be true. He remained silent as she took a deep breath. He wouldn't admit anything but she could read his face almost as well as she could read her own. She had hoped she was wrong but what he wasn't saying was speaking volumes.

"Brandon, I don't know what is going on with you and Callie, if it's mutual, if it's even anything or what - but she doesn't need more complications in her life..."

He shook his head, frustrated at Kasey's new direction.

"And what would you know about what she needs? Since when are you two even friends? Five minutes ago you were pinning her for drug dealing!"

Another accusation was enough to prod at Kasey's temperament.

"Wow!" she laughed in disbelief. "Maybe if you'd pulled your head out of your ass even for a second recently you'd have been able to think up more than cheap shots. We may not be BFFs but if you hadn't noticed, a fair bit has happened since then. If our relationship is so inferior to yours then tell me, why did she call me first?"

"Oh nice." He scoffed. "So what is this? A competition?"

Kasey checked her temperament and took a deep breath. If he was going to be petulant, she at least needed to attempt to remain calm.

"Brandon, we're not in kindergarten. I couldn't care less who Callie is closer to - the fact is she called me because she was too nervous about how you'd react to call you."

"Or maybe she just knows you're more likely to have experience dodging prison stripes."

Kasey turned and guffawed. Her attempts weren't working. "Do you even hear yourself or is your jackass filter on? Stop deflecting, Brandon, and face facts. If you care about her enough to worry Wyatt is gonna cause her trouble, then do what you wanna do to help her - just make sure you don't end up being the one causing her the trouble." Kasey replied, firmly, stunting any response from Brandon. "This isn't some fairytale you can play around with - this is her life."

"This isn't even an issue anyway." he finally grumbled as Kasey looked at him hard in his averting eyes.

"Good." she responded firmly as the door opened and both turned.

"What are you two arguing about out here?" Stef crossed her arms, her figure silhouetted against the light of the hallway. "It's past your curfew and...wait, Brandon I didn't even know you were out?"

"I was just..." he looked back and forth to the car, struggling for an excuse that wouldn't drop Callie in it.

Kasey looked between them realising she was better equipped at protecting Callie here. She'd have to act fast to make up for Brandon's amateur dithering.

"Relax, I was joking." Brandon and Stef both looked at her in confusion.

"I wanted to freak Brandon out pretending he'd scratched the car. I was hoping he'd run out in his PJs or something."

Brandon looked over to her without saying another word.

"Kasey, when are you gonna grow out of picking on your brother?" Stef scolded her. "Come on, get in. If you're going to bicker at least do it inside." she stepped aside as they passed her.

"I think we're good." Kasey stared hard at Brandon to make sure her meaning was understood. He gave her a nod through a deep breath.

"We're good." He replied coldly. He could see Kasey's point, even if he wouldn't admit she had been right about him. This was complicated, even if he didn't want to accept it.

Next Chapter Preview: Jude starts to doubt his confidence and at work, Stef reflects on her position with Lexi leading to an important decision.

Stef put a hand on her knee and looked deep into Lexi's terrified face. She was trying to be so strong, that much was clear, but she was all alone. No matter how independent Stef herself was, she knew what it was like to feel alone with your fears, even when surrounded by people. It had been her life for many years before she found her soulmate.

"I'm not here to talk about your parents. I'm here to talk about you. I want you to make this decision but I want you to do it with the support to understand what your decision means. Without restriction."