A/N: sorry for the super-super long wait. Give me your thoughts and your opinions. It's 5 am...again so sorry for errors enjoy

"No way. Are you insane?" Heather asked incredulously at Bridgette and Geoff.

"Oh come on it's a good plan!" Geoff said trying to convince Heather.

"Yeah, the most she'd do is get mad at us right?" Bridgette chimed in to help.

"No, she'll skip mad and go straight ripping out spinal cord out of our bodies?!" Heather exclaimed standing up off the couch that was across from the other couch Bridgette and Geoff were sitting on.

Courtney recently went home and Bridgette had Geoff come over to tell them their plan.

"We saw ourselves it was a misunderstanding." Geoff attempted to say before Heather cut him off.

"Which is why two grown adults can work it out themselves. This is way too delicate to pry if this goes wrong-"

"But if it goes right!?" Geoff asked thinking the reward outweighed the consequences.

Heather shook her head. "I'm not getting involved. If you want to that's you." Heather declared before walking out of the room.

"Maybe we should just wait," Bridgette said sighing.

"What but they need our help" Geoff protested.

"Look I know but maybe we should see how it plays out maybe it's too early." the blonde said standing up and grabbing her stuff. Geoff sighed and reluctantly agreed with his significant other.

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Gwen's pov

"I missed you so much! We have to see each other more often!" Gwen exclaimed hugging Lashawna. They've been friends since elementary.

"I know I've just been so busy with my job and god it's so time-consuming," Gwen let out while pulling away.

"Oh, I know. I never thought you would've been a teacher." Lashawna spoke out heading to Gwen's living room to sit on her gray couch.

Gwen followed and laughed. "Hey man art teacher."

"Yeah yeah. Tell Me how's work? Anything new?"

The teal-streaked girl just sighed. " work is great, except for a few students and this co-worker. She's such an uptight bitch."

"Ugh, she sounds like a pain to work with." lashawna said shaking her head in Pity.

"It gets worse. I think the guy that I'm sleeping with, who just so happens to be my co-worker, likes her." Gwen said annoyed.

"Wait wait rewind. You're fucking your coworker?" her Bestfriend asked in disbelief.

"Well... yes. It was the Night before the first day of school and we agreed after the first night to be friends with benefits." Gwen explained excitedly.

Lashawna slapped her friend's arm playfully. "And how good is he in bed?"

Gwen blushed which made Lashawna squeal.

"Oh shut up! But like I said, likes someone else. I tried asking to be exclusive but he wasn't feeling the idea..." Gwen said trailing off.

"What makes you say that?" lashawna questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"When I brought up being exclusive he got really tense and said that he doesn't want to be exclusive 'cause that makes room for more feelings." she shrugged.

"Maybe you should be more of a friend than the benefit. He'll start to like your personality and it'll push the other girl out of the picture." lashawna said knowingly nudging her with her elbow.

" you think it'll work?" Gwen asked hopefully.

"It's worth a try. Go for it!" lashawna encouraged her close friend with a wide smile.

Gwen smiled and excitedly started to plan ways to get Duncan with Lashawna.

—————————————————————————

Duncan walked onto campus Monday morning feeling guilty and dreading for day to come.

He was nervous to talk to Courtney but Duncan knew he had to apologize. He went inside the teacher's lounge and put his stuff in the fridge mentally kicking himself for forgetting to buy himself a mini fridge.

"Hey, I didn't hear from you last night is everything okay?" Gwen asked as she walked in with a bag of food that he assumed was her lunch.

" yeah. Just had a rough night." Duncan replied not in the mood to think about the girl that he desperately wanted to talk to and yet was afraid.

"Wanna talk about it?" Gwen asked standing next to him and folding her arms in a friendly manner.

"No. I just wanna forget it you know." He shrugged before closing the fridge.

"Well, I was thinking we should go out and do something fun. Let's do some laser tag and go-kart racing." Gwen says with a smile trying to cheer him up.

"I don't know..." Duncan says doubtfully.

"Dylan can come too. he works hard, you work hard and I work hard. Come on let's get a break from reality." Gwen quickly added in Duncan's brother so he'd be more likely to say yes. Plus lashawna said the more Dylan likes him the more Duncan will.

"Mmmm. I'll ask Dylan about it. Maybe. When do you wanna go?" He asks leaning against the counter.

"Today. After school. It is an early out day after all." Gwen told him trying not to look too eager or desperate.

"Okay, we'll see I'll get back to you," Duncan said before looking at the clock on the wall.

"Got to go. I need to set up my class." Duncan said before walking off leaving Gwen looking after him.

Meanwhile, Dylan was in the cafeteria eating his food with his friends. While his friends were talking about Halo and other things, Dylan saw his eyes wandering toward his crush Selena for the tenth time. She was so flawless in his eyes. He'd do anything to impress her and make them more than just be "acquaintances ".

"Hey, Dylan can we talk to you." A boy said from behind him.

Dylan mentally groaned when he heard his classmates.

He turned around to see Scott and his gang looking at him.

"I'm busy. I have to go to the office." Dylan said flatly before standing up and waving bye to his friends.

"We'll walk you," Scott said either not seeing Dylan didn't want to talk to him or choosing not to care.

"Yeah no. I want to be alone." Dylan said annoyed after grabbing his backpack and walking off leaving Scott and his friends looking annoyed as they watched him walk away.

Dylan walked down to the office and stood there wondering if he should go in to tell on Scott and his friends. But he didn't want to be dragged in the middle.

So he just walked in a different but familiar path to Duncan's class.

He walked in Duncan was at his desk doing who knows what.

"Hey," Duncan said absentmindedly.

"Hi. I came in here 'cause I was bored and people annoy me." Dylan said sitting down at a desk near where Duncan was.

"What happened," Duncan said closing his laptop and pinching the bridge of his nose.

Dylan saw his brother looking tired and felt bad. He put a lot of blame on himself. If he never tried to help Scott his brother could have had a chance with Courtney. He ruined his brother's love life and now he feels extremely guilty. He hasn't felt this guilty since his father.

"Nothing. But have you talked to Miss.- I mean Courtney yet?" Dylan asks changing the subject.

Duncan sighed. "I don't want to talk about it. But we got invited to laser tag and go-kart."

Dylan got excited, and finally, something good to look forward to.

"That's awesome! Who invited us? Alexis?" He questioned curiously.

"No, She's on her honeymoon still. Gwen did, we're going after school." Duncan said deciding to go since Dylan wanted to go with a shrug before looking at his watch.

Dylan at that moment knew he had to make up for his mistake and at that moment he knew he had two options.

1. He can try to hook up Gwen and Duncan so he'll forget about Courtney.

2. He can try to fix what happened with Courtney and Duncan.

He knew both of them were practically impossible. His older brother is whipped over Courtney and doesn't feel the same with Gwen. And Courtney is probably gonna hate Duncan forever. He just hoped it worked either way. He hated the guilt he was feeling.

"But anyway what made you annoyed earlier?" Duncan asks remembering why his younger brother was in his class and not out with his friends in the first place.

Dylan didn't want to talk about it or his feelings but luckily...

The bell rang interrupting their conversation. "Welp gotta go to class," Dylan smirked grabbing his stuff and walking out of the class.

—————————————————————————

Today was very awkward for Duncan. He rarely saw Courtney today and when he did she'd turn around and walk the other way. As he walked to his car he was thankful that he decided beforehand to give her space instead of talking to her immediately. She would have avoided him anyway.

He waited for Dylan in the car so he could leave campus. While he sat there he decided to text Gwen about the hang out cause now that he thought about it a break from everything in his head sounded good.

Duncan: Are we still on for today?

He was prepared to put his phone down but she texted immediately.

Gwen: yeah I'll send the address in a sec I need to copy and paste it. But I'll meet you there in an hour I have a quick errand to take care of.

Duncan was putting the address she sent shortly after in the GPS when Dylan opened the door. "Hey, man."

"Hey. we're gonna go home and relax and then we can go hang out with Gwen," Duncan said putting his seatbelt on as his brother did the same.

Soon they were home and Duncan took a shower and changed out of his work clothes. He had a little while to spare so he lay on his bed scrolling through social media when Geoff's phone call popped on the screen.

Duncan decided to answer it, hoping maybe he'd tell him that Courtney wasn't mad at him or how to fix it.

"Hey dude how was work? How's Dylan?" Geoff's loud hyped voice said blaring through the phone.

Duncan was used to his friend's loudness and couldn't help but smile. "Work was lame and he's okay I think?" Duncan said questioningly.

"Okay? Why did You say it like that?" Geoff said confused.

"Well, I don't know I just have to check on him. But I'm pretty sure he's fine." Duncan shrugged.

"Okay just check to make sure," Geoff added.

"I'll do it. So... Have you talked to Courtney yet?" The green-haired man asked trying to sound casual but failing.

"I haven't, but bridge has. She's still really pissed. She thinks you're better off giving mocha space for a while."

Duncan just sighed. "This is driving me crazy."

"Try to get your mind off of it maybe? It might help. "

Duncan sighed. "Well, I'm going out to this one place that has laser tag and race car driving."

"Good start you and Dylan will have quality bro time." Geoff cheered.

"Gwen is coming with us. She's the one who invited us."

"Oh. Do you like her?" His bestfriend asked.

"No. No way. I mean we're like sleeping with each other but that's about it." He shrugged even though Geoff couldn't see him since they were on the phone.

Dylan was listening by the door trying not to be seen. Maybe he could see if there was potential if he played matchmaker. He silently went into the bathroom in the hallway and looked at his reflection. His big brother has been taking care of him for a long time.

Dylan and he had always got along and never really had problems, but there were unspoken issues about their dad. He wasn't stupid. Duncan never talks about it. And Dylan stopped trying a long time ago. It wasn't like he knew how to anyway.

How could Dylan say he has problems that he doesn't even know anything about yet?

-Flashback-

"This is our place dill, it's not as big as the last place, but it's a start," Duncan said as he walked Dylan into the apartment that they were living at.

CPS followed right behind and did a brief wellness check on the house much to Duncan's dismay.

They took Dylan to the only bedroom in the house and closed the door.

Dylan was extremely nervous about why they closed the door or what they were doing.

"Are you sure you feel safe and comfortable with Duncan taking care of you?" One of them asked, her name was Jane.

Dylan nodded and he saw Jane looking at him closely before nodding. He overheard her talking to the sherry in the car ride here about Duncan being too young to take care of a 6-year-old. Duncan just turned 16 a few weeks ago. 6-year-old Dylan thought Duncan was practically a grown-up. He had his place, a job, and his car.

The sheriff just smiled before reaching into her pocket and giving Dylan a card. "If you need anything just call me okay? My name is Vanessa."

The boy looked at the card and saw a phone number on it.

"Okay," Dylan mumbled and put it in his pants pocket.

"I have a feeling he'll be okay. Let's go talk to Duncan, then we can go?" The sheriff said to the CPS lady. The lady reluctantly agreed and headed to talk to the teenage boy.

Later on, after CPS left Duncan asked Dylan what he wanted to eat.

"Y-you're letting me pick?" Dylan was used to his dad controlling everything.

"Yeah, I'm not him so pick," Duncan said not mentioning their father's name.

"Can I have pizza? With wings?" Dylan asked with a hopeful smile.

Duncan told Him yes and that the god would be there soon. What Dylan didn't know was that his older brother had to overdraft his bank to get the food he wanted.

Soon it was time to eat and they sat there in silence before Duncan broke it. "Are you okay? I just you know.. Never got to ask ." Duncan said awkwardly. He was never good at showing his emotions.

"I don't know..." Dylan said not being able to describe how he felt.

"Well, when you do tell me?" Duncan said trying to be helpful but not knowing what to say. They both ate the last of their pizza and they played Duncans Xbox before they went to bed.

———————end of flashback————————

"Dylan, are you ready to go?" Duncan yelled from downstairs.

The now teenage boy snapped out of his painful memory. He took one final look in the mirror and started walking out of the bathroom. "Yes! Here I come!"

—————————————————————————

Duncan parked in the parking lot at the place Gwen sent. Dylan got out of the car and his older brother followed.

"Do you see Gwen's car?" Duncan says to Dylan.

"What color was it again? Green? Red?" Dylan said not remembering anything about Gwen's car.

"It's white dude." Duncan said looking at Dylan flatly.

"There's a million cars that are white you dick." Dylan frowned at him. He was right. There were about eighteen white cars in the parking lot.

Duncan snorted at his brother before he heard footsteps. He turned towards the entrance of the building and saw Gwen walking towards them.

"Hey did you get my text? I said I'd wait in the lobby?" Gwen asked the older brother confused.

"Oh no sorry, I have drive mode on my phone. I don't get texts. Sorry, I should have checked." Duncan said with realization.

Gwen had a casual smile on her lips. "Not a big deal. Just glad you aren't texting and driving."

"Let's go inside already. I see a line inside." Dylan cut them off before walking inside with Duncan and Gwen following.

A little later Dylan went to the arcade while Duncan stayed with Gwen.

"It feels nice to get out of the house. All I do is work and be a part-time dad." Duncan joked sitting at the table watching Dylan. Duncan was very overprotective of his younger brother. He's seen crazy stories on the news of bad stuff happening to teenagers. He'd be damn if he let the last person in his be hurt in any way.

"You two seem pretty close. My younger brother and I aren't close at all. We didn't fight or anything, but we never clicked you know." Gwen says honestly biting a pizza they ordered an hour ago. She thought that if Duncan could feel open to talking to her it would make him develop feelings faster.

"I get it. Some siblings just Don't click. Fortunately, I have a brother clicked with. He's my reason for everything." Duncan said watching Dylan play an arcade shooter game.

Duncan thought about all the nights he didn't eat to make sure Dylan did. He remembered all the birthday gifts he had to make happen just to see me smile on his face. The times when he'd take double shifts and overtime just to make sure his brother could buy stuff at school, participate in events, buy the clothes and jewelry he wanted, and do sports.

He'd do it all over again if he had the chance. Nothing in this world meant more than his brother.

"I can tell you have love for him. You are doing great. Ever thought about having kids? You'd be a good dad." She said trying to make conversation.

Duncan snorted at that. "I have my hands tied enough here." He then gestured to Dylan.

"Yeah I don't want kids anytime soon either but I think I'd be a good mom." Gwen smiled.

Duncan smiled politely. This conversation was making him think of Courtney and he didn't like that. He looked around desperately trying to find a way to change this conversation. After a second he found something.

"You wanna shoot baskets? Winner gets head first?" Duncan leaned forward and whispered in Gwen's ear.

Gwen felt a small blush creep up but smirked back at Duncan. "You're on."

Duncan got up confident he'd win. They went to the booth that was still in the eyesight of his brother and started the game.

Duncan quickly made shots as fast as he could. In the corner of his eye, could see Gwen doing the same thing. It was fun to hang out with Gwen. He felt like he could forget everything which he desperately needed.

Gwen tried to bump him to throw him off his game. Duncan immediately stopped thinking and laughed. "Oh, so you play dirty." Duncan cackled.

Gwen just winked and laughed. "One way or another I'm gonna kick your ass"

Duncan and Gwen continued to laugh and flirt with each other as they played the game thinking Dylan was into a game himself.

Little did he know Dylan was watching him from afar looking at his interaction with Gwen.

Duncan when the game ended beat Gwen by one point.

"By one point? That was luck." Gwen rolled her eyes.

"No, you just suck," Duncan smirked. Duncan and Gwen for the rest of the time had bets around the arcade till Dylan was ready to go go-karting.

"Whoever wins picks desert." Gwen prompted with a smirk.

—————————————————————————

Courtney made sure to avoid Duncan in any way she could. She was not ready to talk to him whatsoever. Courtney was debating calling out sick.

When the day was over she bolted out the door. But she thinks Duncan pretty much got the hint cause he didn't try bothering her at all.

She couldn't believe he'd call her a liar. How much does he know? And who told him that? What if he got the wrong information? Should she clear her name?

Courtney snapped out of her thoughts as her phone buzzed on the table. It was her friend Bridgette. Courtney decided to text her back later and instead tried to think about what she should do at work.

She lay in her bed thinking and eventually falling asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Courtney it's been passed 4 months. Why can't you just do it." Adrien angrily said.

Courtney folded her arms as she saw he found her card she got her new birth control.

Adrien was looking in their bed stand for the spare car keys when he found Courtney's new prescription for birth control.

"You don't understand! I'm not ready." Courtney glared.

"You've said this since the doctor said it was okay don't you want kids courtney? I don't get it?"

"I do want kids. But I need to focus on myself right now." Courtney defended herself in a hostile manner.

Adrien looked at her appalled.

"Yourself? You need to focus on yourself?! What about me and what I want? What about what we want as a soon-to-be-married couple? We have plans that revolve around this and you're being selfish and putting yourself ahead of everything else!" He yelled infuriated.

Courtney turned around and looked at him appalled."I had a miscarriage and you're calling me fucking selfish?"

Adrien looked at her with a blank stare. "I get that. But it's been months and I want to try again. And now you're getting birth control?"

"It's my body okay!" Courtney snapped.

Adrien looked at her for a few moments before standing up. "I can't do this anymore," he said taking the wedding band off his Finger.

Courtney looked at him confused. "What are you saying?" Her heart dropped as he put the ring on the bed stand.

"I'm done, Courtney." He said walking passed her.

"Wait! What do you mean? Stop don't do this I never said I didn't want to not have kids. I still want to... I'm just not-" Courtney ran after him desperately trying to save her relationship.

"Ready?" He finished as he turned around to face her.

"Well, I am. I'm tired of waiting. Life is too short to wait." He said with his face stoic.

Courtney felt the hot stinging tears in her eyes. "I promise you won't have to wait long just please. I love you and I want the future you and I planned."

He looked at her before shaking his head and walking to the door.

"Wait! Adrien please!" She cried out following him desperately trying to talk him out of what he was doing.

He ignored her however and just as he reached the front door and opened it, she pulled his wrist.

Adrien looked at Courtney's tear-streaked face and Courtney thought maybe she could break through to him.

Until he ripped her heart out.

And he pulled his arm from her grasp and left her.

Of course, she followed but she got the same results. And she was standing in the cold rain sobbing. Courtney hoped he'd come home so they could talk this out. But he didn't. He never came home.

When she came home from work 3 days later, Courtney walked into her apartment and immediately noticed that most of his things were gone.

Another thing she noticed was his key on the kitchen counter with a note.

"Don't worry I came with my friends to get my stuff. I left the key on the counter. I'm sorry things couldn't work out."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Courtney jolted awake as he heard banging on her front door and her phone vibrating. She was panting heavily and was sweating. She hated that dream... she hated remembering those painful moments.

She grabbed her phone and saw a string of messages and missed calls from Bridgette.

She got up and went downstairs and saw it was Bridge. She opened the door and the blonde sighed relieved. "I thought something happened to you or something Don't ever do that again!" she said hugging Courtney tightly.

"Don't do what?" Courtney asked perplexed.

"I was waiting outside like 10 minutes. I thought something bad happened." Bridgette says walking inside and closing the door behind her.

"I'm sorry I was just sleeping. I was just super tired. I had a long weekend..." Courtney trailed off sitting on her couch.

"I'm guessing it's because of Duncan?" Bridgette asked knowingly.

Courtney just sighed. "It's not even just about him. It's all of it. I'm getting memories and stuff. This is just a sign. I'm not ready to date yet. What the hell was I thinking? That Duncan and I would have a good relationship with all this baggage?"

"Court you are ready. In Hawaii, you weren't even thinking about your past. Of course, there are gonna be some better days than others. That's life court." Bridgette said comforting her friend.

Courtney just folded her arms. "It's not fair that he has to deal with my burdens. I saw how he reacted when he thought I had a kid and when I was married. Imagine when he finds out I'm practically infertile. Or that my fiance left me for another girl cause he wanted kids. He's not gonna think of me the same."

"Courtney you do not even know if he wants kids and I'm sure if he does it's not right now-"

"He does. We talked about it that night at the club. He asked me if I wanted kids in the future and of course, I was honest and said yes. Then when I asked him he said when his brother is older. I can't give him what he wants. And just like Adrian, he's gonna leave me for someone who can." Courtney says with bitterness in her voice.

Bridgette just sighed and rubbed her friend's knee. "I think you're just concerned about how he would react. He is not Adrian. I feel like if you slow things down and maybe try to get to know him better, you'll feel more comfortable with telling him the whole truth."

Courtney listened to what her best friend was saying before nodding. "I think you're right. But I think I already screw things up. I lied to him and I purposely hurt his feelings. I've been so harsh with him. What if it's too late?" she asked apprehensive.

Bridgette just smiles. " Something tells me it's not too late. Besides maybe you can work through the feelings you have about your other problems."

Courtney hugged her friend tightly and Bridgette hugged her back.

"I think I need therapy." Courtney laughed into Bridgette's neck.

Bridgette chuckled. "I think you do too. It's always good to talk to someone."

Courtney pulled away and smiled. "So wanna call Heather?"

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A/N: as you can see writer's block is gone!