Hello again! My brain decided that it wanted more Brallie after the finale and this happened. As usual, many thanks to Anya for being an awesome beta, like the most awesomest ever. Ever.

The title comes from the song of the same name by A Cursive Memory. Also, I used a lyric from a secondhand serenade song. If you can guess the lyric, you get a virtual cookie from me.

Enjoy.

"Matt took me on such a nice date last night," Mariana started, with cereal still in her mouth. "We went to the beach, it was kinda messy but you know, the sacrifices you put up with for boys."

Callie just nodded her head, nibbling on her bagel and Jude forced a weak smile.

If only Mariana knew what true sacrifice was, but she would never wish that upon her...what was she now to her? What would she be now that she wasn't going to get adopted? She had spent a lot of time thinking about what would happen now, not just with her relationship with the Fosters but also with Robert and his family. She felt like she had owed him something after the fundraiser that he had thrown, but after finding out about the papers, she never wanted to see or think about him again.

"Hey, where are Moms?" Jude questioned, getting up to put his dishes into the sink.

That was a good question. When she had gotten downstairs everyone was eating breakfast aside from Stef, Lena, and Brandon. Jesus had left as soon as she arrived, muttering something under his breath about practice.

"They went upstairs to Brandon's room a little bit before Callie came downstairs." Mariana responded nonchalantly. "They must still be having a hard time waking him up."

Callie grew concerned. Though his nightmares were nothing new - he had had them since his accident - he seemed to snap out of them relatively quickly; but now she realized that it had been at least 20 minutes that they were focused on their task. That couldn't have been good.

"Do you think they need help?" Callie asked, despite not even knowing what she could do.

"You should go." She was surprised to hear that it was Jude who responded, but simply nodded and went upstairs.

Entering his room, she felt herself freeze up. There he was, the boy who she had spent the past year falling in love with laying on his bed, experiencing such a strong nightmare that he was shaking from fright. She could see the sweat drenching his blue tank top, turning it black around the edges. It took her a moment to compose herself; finally she spoke, quietly at first but then louder when she realized neither Stef nor Lena seemed to notice she was there, "Is he...is he okay?"

It was Lena who looked up, a bit startled. "I didn't even notice you came in. He's been like that for the past half-hour. We've tried everything but nothing has helped."

"Do you...do you mind if I try?" Callie questioned with a shaky voice. He had been there so many times for her, she thought this time she would be the one to help him.

"What do you think you can do that we haven't tried," Stef replied. Callie was taken aback by how harshly she had responded.

"Stef, honey," Lena began again, placing a gentle hand on her wife's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down, "why don't we let Callie give it a go? Maybe she'll have some luck. Besides, aren't you going to be late for work?"

Reluctantly, Stef got up from her position, gave Callie a look and left the room.

"Don't take it personally; she's been having a rough time lately." Lena smiled softly. "We'll be downstairs if you need anything…." She hesitated a moment before continuing, "Callie, if anyone can get him out of this, you can." With one final look at her son, she left the room.

The truth of Stef's words hit her hard. What could she do that his mother's hadn't been able to?

If she were in his position, she'd want someone to just lay there with her, remind her that she was safe. And so that's what she did: laying down behind him, burrowing her head into his neck.

Up close she could see the sweat covering his face. Slowly, Callie leaned towards his ear.

"Hey, Brandon, it's me," she whispered. Almost immediately she could feel his shaking stop. "It's going to be okay, you are just having a bad dream. You will be okay." He continued to remain still for several moments and she couldn't resist placing a soft kiss against his cheek.

The brief skin contact had seemed to do something because she heard him suck a deep breath in. With that, she knew her job was done. It would have been a perfect moment to just stay with him until he actually woke up, but despite how innocent that was, she still felt like being in his room was forbidden; she doubted she would ever get over that feeling.

Just before turning back towards the door, she heard him murmur her name so softly, she almost thought it was a rush of wind. Looking over to him, she saw that his eyes had still been closed; she could easily pretend that she hadn't heard anything, gone back downstairs and went off to school….

"Cal, is that you?" His voice was louder this time and she couldn't pretend she hadn't heard him. He was half sitting up now, his hair was in shambles and he wore a slightly confused expression on his face.

"What's going on?" Brandon asked.

"You had another nightmare, that's all," she replied quickly. "You should get cleaned up, we need to leave or we'll be late." With one final look at him she turned away and made for the door.

"Wait, Callie, please," she knew she shouldn't turn around, but she felt herself being drawn to his voice like that of a siren. There was something in his voice that she couldn't ignore, something that she hadn't heard in a long time and missed.

Taking a shaky breath in, she turned back around, seeing his eyes light up at the sight of her.

"Just stay for a moment?" He asked softly, patting the bed for her to sit next to him. She could never say no to him, especially not now.

Making her way to his bed, she saw him pull up the covers to make room for her; the simple gesture caused a smile to form on her face. She decided to simply sit down, though the desire to cuddle up in his covers was overwhelming, and not just because she was still sleepy. Brandon smiled softly at her and closed his eyes; for a moment she thought that he had fallen asleep.

The only thing that had fallen though was a small curl of his hair, he was really getting shaggy. She couldn't resist moving her hand to his hair, dragging it back into its original place. Callie always liked his hair, it was so...him - it was beautiful and orderly but there was always that little curl that escaped the confines of his hair gel and did its own thing.

His hand found hers, and at first she thought he was going to scold her for whatever reason, but instead he moved it to rest on his cheek, looking up at her with eagerness and trepidation at the same time. Staring into his eyes at that moment had been like staring into the eyes of a giant sun about to explode. How could there be so much warmth radiating from his brown eyes?

"It's been so long since I've touched you," he whispered as if not wanting to share the moment with anyone else but them. Slowly she felt him trail his hand down to her elbow and then back up. His movement had made her mouth dry and her heart race.

She tried not to place too much thought to his words or his actions because the memory of the last time they had touched was still fresh in her mind. Seeing him rush after her had opened a door she thought she would never be able to open again. The choice to kiss him then was as simple as breathing, but it had left her wanting more than was possible at the moment. They had to leave not soon after and hadn't had a moment alone with him since.

Callie thought it was for the best. It would give her time to process everything without being distracted by her feelings for him, but of course that was fruitless. The only thing she could focus on was getting a chance to kiss him again. And now that she was this close to him, the pull of his lips was getting harder to ignore.

"I really want to kiss you." The words came out of her mouth before she could even process what she was saying. She wasn't sure how but they had moved closer, their faces mere inches apart and she could feel his heavy breath on her lips. She felt his hand stop just above her elbow, pulling her in and saw him suck in a breath.

"I know," his voice was full of longing as his eyes shifted away from her face towards the open door behind them. Despite the fact that there would be nothing wrong with their actions now, she knew that now was probably not the best moment.

"I should go, we'll talk later." Callie said regretfully, untangling herself from his hold. She knew that for the rest of the day, she would spend hours daydreaming about the feeling of his lips on hers.

It was as if the universe was not done with them yet, because by some invisible force, Callie gave him another glance before walking out. That most definitely a mistake because the moment she turned around their eyes met. Rising from his position, he made his way over to her, not once breaking eye contact. It was as if his stare had caused her body to stop functioning, making her mind forget about everything aside from him. Even from far away, she could see the hunger that lived in his eyes.

It took her a while to register that that their lips were finally having the conversation they needed to have. The kiss was slow and she knew that Brandon had no desire to speed it up, and honestly neither did she. She was going to revel in the feel of his lips for as long as she possibly could.

He moved his hands to cup her face, drawing her even closer to him. After a few moments, she was given a brief second to gasp for air as he made his way down to her jaw, kissing along until he made his way down her neck; the sensations causing an involuntary moan to escape both their lips.

The interlude didn't last too long as he quickly recaptured her lips and trailed his hands down her neck and arm, eventually making its way to the small of her back, pulling her flush against him. His hands left trails of fire in their wake, flames that seemed to engulf her very being.

The last time she had been in such a situation she was with Wyatt a few months ago, but the two couldn't have been any more different. With Wyatt, despite how good and right it had felt, she had never felt complete hope for the future; but now, as she pulled her body tight against Brandon's and feel his arms secure her, she could see that with him, the only thing she could see was the future.

Suddenly, Lena's voice echoed from down the hall, "Callie…?" The sound caused them to break apart. "Are you alright?"

"Uhh, we are okay," Callie yelled back, throwing a warning look at Brandon, who was still trying to catch his breath. "We'll be down in a few minutes."

"I should..." "We probably..."

They both said at the same time.

"You first," Brandon said, tugging on a loose strand of hair that had escaped from Callie's braid. That reminded her, she would definitely have to go to the bathroom to make herself presentable before going downstairs, she didn't want any unnecessary questions.

"I was saying," she began, placing her hands on his chest, tugging at the boundaries of his t-shirt, "that I'll go down first. We do have school and since Lena called everyone is probably waiting for us."

"Yea, you are right," he replied, a mischievous smile forming on his face. "Though, I must admit, I did enjoy you waking me up."

"How did you know it was me?"

"Come on Callie, you think I wouldn't know what your voice sounds like, even if I was sleeping?" The directness of his words made her want to kiss him again, but this time she fought against it, allowing herself a fast and chaste peck on his cheek.

"Wait a few moments and then come down, okay?"

He nodded in response.

The scene was considerably quieter than when she left. Gone were Mariana and Jude being replaced with Lena sipping at her coffee. She wondered how Lena had managed to get Stef to leave.

"Is he okay? You were up there for quite some time." she asked in the voice that only a concerned mother could have.

"Yeah, he's much better," she replied, trying to hide the blush that formed on her face, "though I think he's still shaken up." Except it wasn't due to the nightmare, that she was sure of.

"Do you think he'll be up to go to school?" Callie was caught off guard by her question, but answered honestly.

"I'm not sure, you'd have to ask him," she answered as she made her way to her backpack which was lying by chair where she was sitting earlier "Though I don't think he would mind staying home, we have subs in like half of our classes today."

"Well if you'd like to stay home with him and make sure he's okay, I'd be fine with it, and I think you missed first period anyway," Lena replied casually, getting up to grab her car keys. "I have a few errands to run so I'll be back in a few hours. Just don't throw another party, okay? I'm not sure we have enough windows to break." And with that she was out the door, leaving Callie speechless.

The past few weeks had been hard on Lena, from losing the baby to now losing her job, but now letting them both skip school? She made a mental note to worry about that later because right now, she remembered she had a TV show she needed to catch up on.

"Uhh, Callie, what are you sitting around for?" Brandon's voice echoed from the kitchen a little while later. "Don't we have to get to school? And where's Lena, I figured she would drive us?"

"Yeah, funny story," she began, "Lena said that we could have the day off; for you to recoup and for me to, I don't know...make sure you are okay?"

As she heard the sound of his bag dropping, it hit her; she wasn't sure why it had taken this long to figure it out because it was simple really: she was going to be alone with him. Alone with the boy she had just kissed; the boy whose arms she had wanted to be wrapped up in for a very long time.

"So," he began, sitting down next to her on the couch, "What should we do?" His voice was low and she could see the intensity with which he was staring at her; it made her heart flutter like butterflies, searching for a drink. "Because I could think of a few things…Oh is this that show about the musician and his song writer?" His expression changed drastically as he saw what was on the screen.

She had to slightly giggle at his change of demeanor, going from lusty to acting like a complete five year old over a TV show. "Yeah, I've been meaning to catch up with it...I know it's a kid's show but I really like how music brought them together, it kind of reminds me of…"

"Us?" He answered before she could finish her sentence. She just smiled in response, not knowing what else to say.

It was finally during a commercial break that he broke their comfortable silence.

"You don't have to sit so far from me, I'm not going to bite, you know?" He teased, opening his arms up to her. She'd be stupid to ignore his invitation; as she made her way, Brandon swept his arms and pulled her into his chest, essentially cradling her there. Warmth started to spread throughout her body as soon as her back made contact with his chest. He must have taken a very quick shower because she could smell his body wash; she fought against her desire to nestle further into his the crook of his neck.

"That's much better." he said, planting his chin on her head.

Callie realized that she was going to have to rewatch this episode because she knows she wasn't going to be paying attention to the TV anymore; rather she's focused on the gooseflesh that appears on her skin as his hand slowly traced its way down from her shoulder to her hand, much like he did this morning.

It wasn't just the gooseflesh that started to form, the need to feel his skin underneath her fingertips began to rise as well. As his hand made its way down hers, she captured his, squeezing hard. Suddenly, he pulled his hand back, the look on his face was of someone who just touched a hot kettle without knowing it was set to boil.

"Brandon, what's wrong?" Her voice full of concern.

He ignored her question, examining his hand for some defect. A few moments later, he spoke, a confused smile forming on his face. "I felt that."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your hand, Callie. Your hand holding mine, I felt that!" He exclaimed, his voice full of joy. "Its not like I was just imagining, but I could actually feel it."

Realization quickly replaced confusion as he pulled her in for a kiss, entangling their hands. His hold on hers started to become so tight she was sure she was losing feeling, but at that moment, she didn't care because his lips were on hers again. Warmth spread throughout her entire body and she was sure that if winter descended, she would never need a blanket, not as long as he was kissing her

As his tongue darted out to touch her lips, it felt just as right as the last time she kissed him, not less than an hour ago. Why did they ever fight this? How did they ever fight this when the feel of him pulling her to sit on his lap felt like two puzzle pieces fitting together? Seconds turned to minutes as they sat there, hands exploring, lips dancing. Eventually the need for air became too powerful to ignore.

Pulling away, Callie could see that the smile that was plastered on Brandon's face was bright enough to light a dark room. She wanted to tell him she loved him at that moment, but something stopped her. Now that they weren't kissing, the forbiddenness that haunted her for months quickly came back to the surface. What if Lena came back and caught them?

"What's wrong, Callie?" Brandon whispered, pulling her in for a soft kiss.

"How do you know something's wrong?" She asked and smiled at his uncanny ability to know when something was wrong.

"Well," he began, "you always seem to get this crease, right here," he caressed the middle of her forehead.

Why would it matter if Lena found them? There was nothing holding them back anymore, not Jude, nor the adoption, certainly not Callie's fear of being sent away.

"I love you." The words escaped her mouth as easily as effortlessly as breathing.

"I love you too, Callie. And I don't ever want to be away from you again." He responded almost immediately, as if he was waiting for his chance to release them. Pulling her in for another kiss, she knew this was where she belonged. So what if she didn't get adopted? She would be able to have a family and be happy at the same time. And who knew, maybe one day in the future she would become a Foster.

And being a Foster meant looking out for one another. That thought had reminded her of this morning. Specifically, she remembered that every time she had tried to talk to him about his nightmares, he had brushed it off as nothing and she'd taken him at his answer, never tried to press him for more. But now with everything that had happened this morning, she needed to know and not just out of curiosity.

"What do you keep dreaming of? And before you say it is nothing, I know its obviously not nothing. This has been going on for months and nothing would've stopped long ago."

He froze up, just as she was expecting him to, remembering when the subject of her nightmare, of Liam, first came up and her reaction to it. She pulled away slightly, cupping his face, causing him to glance up at her. She continued, "I know how it feels to keep something inside, better than anyone, and trust me when I say that talking about it—letting it out – helps. And I want to help, Brandon. "

He opened his mouth but no words were coming out. They sat there in a pregnant silence for several moments, the characters on TV joking about the weather report, or something of the sort. She sighed in defeat a few moments later, figuring that he wasn't going to let her in. "Just...talk to someone Brandon, it doesn't have to be me but…"

"I dream about that night, Callie." He interrupted her. "It keeps replaying over and over. And not just him breaking my hand either - I can literally see everything I'd worked so hard for fall to pieces around me. And the worst part is that there's nothing I can do about it; I thought I was over it all, gotten used to the idea of never playing fully again, but I guess I haven't. "

She knew exactly what he was going through, and the thought made her sigh internally. He did not deserve to go through the lingering regret that remained after everything you knew got thrown upside down. "You have, but...things that change your life in an instant never really leave you, you just...learn to adjust, you know?"

He nodded in response and pulled her in for a quick kiss. "Thank you," he said. "Thank you for this morning and for right now, and for...for everything."

"Of course."

"I was...I was actually wondering if you could do something for me." Callie raised an eyebrow at his question, confused as to what he meant.

"Tonight, can you come over?"

Callie looked up at him, stomach dropping, eyes growing wide. The thought of spending a night in his room had crossed her mind ever since she had first kissed him at his mom's wedding. And the thoughts of what she would allow him to do were now rushing to the forefront, making her blush.

"No, not like that, Callie, not tonight anyway" he whispered, bringing her close for a hug. She wasn't sure if it was the feeling of his hot breath against her ear or his words that had caused her stomach to drop more. "I just think that if I can have you in my arms, even for a few hours tonight, I'll be more relaxed and maybe won't have those nightmares anymore."

She didn't hesitate in her response. "How could I say no to you?"

Hope this helped fill the Brallie shaped hole in your hearts that the finale made. The ending is a bit ruff so cut me some slack there. Cheers for reading (and reviewing).