A car slowed down, almost forcing Cassidy to stop as it pulled to the side of the road.  “Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah… yeah, I…” Was as far as she got before she began to cry.  “No….”

 

Garrett turned his car off and walked over to her.  “What happened?   Did you and your sister duke it out or something?”

 

“No.”  But the anger returned.  “It’s all her fault, it’s all Grace’s fault, she tried to get me in trouble or whatever and Dad hit her and Mom shot him… and now no one’s going to stop Mom, she’s going to kill me, she’s already said she’d do it, and it’s all Grace’s fault!”  Cassidy imagined that at any other time she’d have been horrified to discover all that she’d told him, but right now it didn’t seem as important as surviving to go to school tomorrow.

 

“Hey…come here.” Garrett pulled her into a hug.  “You don’t have to take it….you could fight back…or leave.”

 

“I can’t fight a bullet, and I don’t run quite that fast.  And I don’t know where I’d go… not with Dad… gone.”

 

“Well…spend as much time as you can out of the house.” Garrett suggested.

 

“I never really liked going home much anyway.”

 

Garrett looked at her for a minute.  “You okay now?” He asked.

 

“No… yes… I don’t know.  But hopefully I’ll make it to school tomorrow morning.”

 

“I’ll come by and pick you up…how does that sound?”

 

“I’d like that… why are you being so nice to me?”

 

Garrett kissed her.  “Because I like you.”

 

She paused a moment and then kissed back.  Firmly, as intensely as she dared.  Maybe… maybe if she acted like her mother, things wouldn’t be so bad.

 

~*~*~*~

 

Aidan sat down on the floor next to Grace.  “You okay?”

 

“He’s dead.” Was her only response.  Grace’s gaze was fixed on the blood stain left by her father on the carpet.

 

“Yeah, I know… I know.  But I’m still here.”

 

Grace turned to stare at him.  “You’re in my house.”

 

“I noticed,” he said dryly.  “And nobody else is.  Just us.”  He smiled.

 

“The baby.”

 

“I think your mom brought him,” Aidan said casually. 

 

“Why’d she leave?”

 

“Make sure your father was taken care of.”  Aidan put a “consoling” arm around her.

 

Grace started to cry.  “It wasn’t my fault….he was going to kill me…”

 

“Shh.  No, no, it wasn’t your fault,” he assured her, wiping away a few tears.

 

Grace leaned into the arm he had wrapped around her.  “He was going to shoot me.”

 

“He’s not ever gonna hurt you.  Shh,” Aidan said, then pulled her to him firmly and kissed her.

 

Grace froze, not quite sure what to do. 

 

Once she started to kiss back, he intensified the kiss.  He pulled her to him so she was sitting in his lap.  “Where’s your room?”

 

She had to stop and process the question.  “Upstairs…”

 

“Okay, let’s go.”

 

“Go where?”

 

“Up to your room… unless you wanna do it here…”

 

“Do what?”

 

Aidan looked concerned.  “I mean, if you really wanna fuck in here where your father just got shot, I’m game but I just thought…”

 

“No…I don’t want to be in here ever again.”

 

“Okay.  Upstairs.”  He kissed her once more.

 

Grace followed.

 

~*~*~*~

 

Garrett looked in between the front seats at the clock.  “Cass…do you want me to bring you home?”

 

“I… don’t know… what time’s it?”

 

“Two thirty.  It’s up to you.” He kissed her shoulder.

 

“I don’t want you to get yelled at, but I don’t know if I really wanna go home…”

 

“I won’t get yelled at…it’s up to you…”

 

“I just… don’t wanna be at my house by myself.”

 

“Do you want me…to like…sneak in with you?”

 

“You’d do that for me?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

She smiled.  “I think… well that’d be nice.”

 

“Okay.” Garrett kissed her before climbing into the front seat and driving to the house.

 

“You might want to put some pants on.  Just, y’know, if you get a second.”  Cassidy, for her part, still hadn’t dressed.

 

“I put the top up if that counts.”

 

“Yeah, but the top won’t help much when you get out of the car.  Just, y’know, in case someone heard gunshots at my house and called the police.  Two naked teenagers showing up at 2:30 would probably be bad.  As far as I’m concerned you don’t ever have to get dressed again.”

 

“Good point,” Garrett reached back and grabbed his pants, putting them on as he pulled into the driveway.

 

Cassidy rapidly dressed as well.  “We can slide in better from around back.  There’s a shed, we could climb in and never even use the door.”

 

“I take it you’ve done this once or twice?”

 

“Once or twice.  But usually out.”

 

“Where’s your room?” He asked.

 

“Upstairs.  The window on the far left.  You’ll see it, it’s right under the shed.”  On impulse, she reached out to take his hand as they got out of the car and crept around back.

 

The two walked to the shed and climbed up.  “Need help reaching the window?”

 

“No… I got good at it a long time ago.”  She deftly pried the window open and the pair slipped through.

 

Grace stirred.  “It’s cold.” She muttered, pushing Aidan off the bed.

 

At the thud, Cassidy turned around and just barely suppressed a shriek in time.  “What the hell do you think you’re doing???”  She hissed quietly.  “Up here stark naked with a boy!”

 

“Mom left.  And Aidan stayed and then he said he wanted to fuck me.”

 

Cassidy made a disgusted face.  “This sharing a room has to stop if you’re going to bring little hornballs up here to screw around with.”

 

“And what about you? You bring him up here to show him dad’s gun collection?” Grace retorted, glancing at Garrett.

 

“I didn’t decide that gee, he just wants to fuck me and that’s real flattering so let’s just neglect the little brother and go feel each other up since neither of us knows how to do it properly!”

 

“Neglecting our little brother?  You left! And for your information, mom did too, and she took Dylan with her.  And it’s not like I had anyone else to comfort me.”

 

“Yeah, I’m afraid I’m not into that kind of comforting my sister,” Cassidy retorted, then simply kept walking.  Garrett followed her, and she flopped down on her bed with a sigh.

 

Grace rolled over.  “If you’re going to fuck again, do it in dad’s room.”

 

“If we’re going to fuck, we’ll do it wherever we damn well please.  And what makes you so sure we did the first time?”

 

“Your shirt’s on backwards.” Grace replied.  “And blondie over there has that stupid, dopish look on his face.”

 

Garrett raised an eyebrow.  “Least I’m conscious.  Looks like your lover boy there can’t handle himself.” 

 

Cassidy smiled a bit at that.

 

“I pushed him.” Grace said.  “He’s sleeping.”

 

“No, he’s comatose,” Garrett replied.  “He hasn’t so much as budged, and he fell pretty hard.”

 

“I don’t care.” Grace replied, rolling over to face the wall.

 

Cassidy guided Garrett to sit with her on the bed.  “Sorry about her…”

 

Garrett shrugged.  “You okay?”

 

“Yeah.  Thanks.”  She gently placed her hands on his shoulders.  “For everything.”

 

“You don’t need to thank me, Cass.”

 

She kissed him softly.

 

Garrett pulled her to him.  “You tired?”

 

“Little bit,” she admitted, leaning against him.

 

He settled himself against the pillow and pulled her to him.  “Try and sleep.”

 

Cassidy had only time to nod before she fell asleep, the events of the day catching up to her.

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