Back Again • •

[Ember Thistle Grant]

Ember was starting to forget when the last time was that she’d had a civil conversation with anyone in her life. In work, she was professional, but only did what needed to be done before she left the office and she only spoke to those who she actually needed to speak to. There were days when people didn’t even know she was in the office. University was the same. She did the work and then got out of there, snapping at those who got in her way or pissed her off. As for everyone else, well, she was avoiding them as best as she could, determined to live her life without anyone else in it to let her down or to turn on her like everyone seemed to be doing recently. Well, everyone except the one person she wished would leave her alone; Brandon. Despite all the fighting between them recently, he kept coming back, determined to break through the wall she had put up to keep him out.

She had taken to avoiding the gym now since the doctors had cleared her for light workouts again. Kickboxing was out of the question, but light jogging or cross training was alright. The scar on her chest was still a little red and would itch under the skin enough to make Ember want to claw the ICD out, but the little machine was doing the job it was implanted to do and that was good enough for her; it didn’t control her like the medication used to do. She didn’t get warning palpitations from exerting herself and she didn’t have to remember to pop those pesky pills at certain times of the day. The ICD worked away without Ember knowing what it was doing and it calmed her need to rebel against the doctors a little more.

The blonde woman tied her hair back and cranked up the volume of her iPod before easing herself into a jog along the edge of the lake. Since she was trying to avoid Brandon and the obvious feelings she was fighting, jogging through Central Park at the end of a long day was the next best option. The sun was just starting to set, but Ember was in no rush; she had handled the park at night since she was just a kid. Leisurely, she moved along the path and the feelings of daily frustration left her body and her mind emptied of all thoughts, leaving her entirely as herself. She was glad of it too. She couldn’t handle any more stress without getting physically violent with someone. She was just so tired of people thinking she was incapable of being serious or sensible. Ember had spent most of her life having her choices or actions criticised and yet everything she had done had still got her where she was today; successful, on her way to something great and independent. Unlike some other girls he age, she didn’t see the need in boyfriends, romance or happy endings. She could take care of herself and anything that fate threw at her.

Ember was lost in serene self-bliss when a figure in the distance ruined her calm. Her sapphire eyes didn’t need to look for long to recognise the man as the ex-detective she had been working so hard to avoid over the last few weeks. She was tired of fighting with the persistent Brandon, but she wasn’t about to make the effort to welcome him into her life and surrender to the feelings she had for him. Still, if she turned back now he would notice and quicken his pace; her best chance was to try and sneak by and act as though she didn’t see him. All efforts were futile, she knew that, but Ember didn’t give up – ever.

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• • •

TAGGED! Brandon!
WORDS! 665
OUTFIT! Fitness Freak!
LYRICS! Runaway - - - Pink
NOTES! <3

[brandon emmett larkin]

Brandon had to find a way to get Ember to talk to him again. He knew that she was running from him and whatever else that was the matter with her. She had been a totally different person in the hospital and Brandon had known her long enough to know that the girl in the hospital bed had been Ember with her defences down; they might have been chemically induced, but she had been sincere with him right up until Andrew’s mysterious vanishing act. Then, she had reverted back into the Ember he had known back in his early twenties; the cold, distant and reluctant girl who would rather push everyone away than give in to what she really wants.

He had tried contacting her in numerous ways, but she turned her phone off, ignored his buzzes at the door and he knew that using the spare key would only lead to another blazing fight with the blonde gunslinger. Fighting was getting them nowhere and he was tired of trying to argue with her when she would just grow more aggressive and storm off from him after a string of screamed insults. He didn’t know where to start with her now and her stubborn streak ran deeper than he had imagined. Some things people grew out of, but Ember was still the same person at twenty one as she had been at sixteen and she was starting to treat Brandon as though he was the same detective trying to prise information from her about her more dangerous life.

It was all starting to drive him insane and staying in his apartment alone wasn’t helping him either. Getting dressed in workout gear, Brandon chose to go for a run; the gym just reminded him of Ember and the amount of times they had seen each other in there or sparred together. The park would clear his head and hopefully the fresh air would give him a fresh perspective on everything with Ember. Life would be so much easier if he could just move on and leave her alone like she wanted him ro. It would be so much more simple if he didn’t have these feelings for her, but the reality was that he did and he couldn’t leave her alone, especially when he was pretty much all she had on her side in New York, right now.

Breaking a sweat, he turned towards the lake; Brandon wanted his muscles to burn before he turned back to his apartment. Adjusting his headphones he looked up and saw a familiar figure on the track in front of him. Great, when he wasn’t trying to see her she appeared in front of him. New York was a busy, heavily populated city and yet wherever he seemed to turn lately it was the same attractive blonde sourpuss who caught his attention. Well, he wasn’t about to let her get away; in the park she might not yell at him. He saw her act oblivious and sighed, shaking his head. As she grew closer to him, he helped to close the distance and then reached out to grab her arm before she could run by him. “Ember, this is ridiculous. What exactly are you trying to achieve?”

[/justify]

Word count of 570
Written for Ember
Listening to Rest in Peace by James Marsters
Outfit to come later.

[/size]

[Ember Thistle Grant]

Self-preservation was what Ember knew best. Her whole life it was how she had survived the streets of New York and the gangs she had encountered. Revealing true feelings, especially ones that implied romantic desires or feelings for someone left a person vulnerable and that was something she was couldn’t afford to be. Ember had done it once before and all it had done was left her with a shattered heart and the need to be reckless with her own fragile health. She didn’t want to expose herself to any of that again; it had cost her dearly once before and all she had left from it was a locket and a tattoo.

She didn’t need to let Brandon in that way. She knew it was a mistake agreeing to the friends with benefit deal he had proposed. Spending as much time with him as she had done had been dangerous and she had found herself starting to feel things for a person she never imagined having feelings for. He cared for her and she saw that, but she didn’t want it; at least she told herself that. After Robert had died, she never wanted to feel anything close to what she felt for him ever again. It had changed her and Ember had been exposed to heartbreak and found it harder to hide behind the lies she had used to protect herself throughout her youth. She couldn’t put herself through that again; she was safer with her walls up.

The park had seemed like a safe bet until she saw the bearded detective in front of her. Her chest tightened and not from anything HCM related. Hoping he would leave her alone was too much to become a reality and she ought to have known better. When his hand closed around her arm she came to a halt and breathlessly glared at him. Why did he have to keep chasing her? If he had just left her alone then things would be so much easier for them both, especially since he was just torturing himself by confronting her over and over again; she had no intention of backing down and surrendering to these feelings that were growing, mutating and bubbling inside of her. She put on her mask again and shot him a blue eyed glare. “Get the hell off me! What part of ‘leave me alone’ do you not understand?”

[/color] She asked, her muscles aching from the sudden stop. “And I’m not trying to ‘achieve’ anything. I just want nothing to do with you, is that so hard to understand, Larkin?”[/color] She snapped, not meaning a single word of it, but playing it as though she was in the running for an Academy Award.
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• • •

TAGGED! Brandon!
WORDS! 665
OUTFIT! Fitness Freak!
LYRICS! Runaway - - - Pink
NOTES! <3

[brandon emmett larkin]

He was surprised by how easily he could read Ember despite how well she played her role. He could see the cracks in her composure and her lies were growing to be more obvious to him all the time. That was why he refused to let her walk away no matter how hard she tried. If he was convinced that it was what the blonde gunslinger really wanted, then Brandon would hang his head and walk away with a defeated heart, but he knew that she was just fighting against letting someone in again. He blamed Andrew. Right up until the moment the older sibling vanished, Ember had been growing closer to the bouncer, laughing and talking to him about things that he never expected to be hearing from her lips. Once he was gone, however, the cold and distant Ember returned before Brandon could say or do anything to convince the blonde girl that this wasn’t the end of everything she held dear.

He had seen her deal with a lot in her young life so far and he didn’t want to see her put herself through hell again now when she had a chance to be happy. Maybe it was just his feelings outweighing his own sanity, but somehow he thought that by continuing to push her that he might actually get through to her. He had even called in a secret favour with one of his friends still with the NYPD and had him allow Brandon a look at the file they still held on the twenty one year old. He was surprised at how much he didn’t know about her turbulent teenage years. The car accident, the death of Robert Lyons…it all began to slot together and Brandon understood more than he ever hoped to. He hadn’t told Ember of what he knew, knowing it would probably backfire to just confront her like that, but he had reverted to his old detective ways and things began to make sense when he put the information with the bigger picture. Her cold heart had always been a survival mechanism, but he thought it was all just from growing up on the streets and not from anything else. He thought coming into the Grant lifestyle and the money was the reason she vanished from the crime scenes, but it had been down to a teenage boy with his head screwed on, it seemed.

Still, none of that helped him now when his hand was still closed tight around her clammy arm. With a sigh he let go, knowing that she would still knock him to the ground despite health warnings if it came down to it; he wasn’t in the mood for a physical fight, not one bit. He was tired of fighting her, verbally. Never before had showing a girl how you felt been such hard work. “How about the part where you don’t actually mean it?” There was a chance that anyone who might pass them would think he was something of a stalker but right now all he wanted was to finally make Ember see that what she was doing to herself was going to make no one happy, her included. “I’m tired of fighting with you, Ember. I just want you to see what you have in front of you. I don’t get why you’re ignoring this.” He remained calm, determined to avoid a brawling fight with her in the park. Plus, with the location they were both in, there was a high chance one would end up in the lake itself.

[/justify]

Word count of 599
Written for Ember
Listening to Rest in Peace by James Marsters
Outfit to come later.

[/size]

[Ember Thistle Grant]

Ember didn’t talk about her past for a number of good reasons. She didn’t want to relive her eighteenth year and the condolences that everyone kept wishing her before adding how lucky she was to have survived the crash and the nearly fatal cardiac arrest she had suffered on that dreaded day. She didn’t believe in luck and that wasn’t what had saved her during all of that. She didn’t know what it was, but like Brandon had said in the hospital; she was a survivor. If she knew how to do one thing well, it was that. It still didn’t change her dislike of thinking about it, let alone talking about it. It may have defined the person she was now, but she didn’t need to explain it to the rest of New York City or the ex-detective that was taking on the role of her shadow.

She was growing tired of fighting with him, but she wouldn’t just give her heart to someone she was still trying to convince herself she had no feelings for. Brandon didn’t know who she really was and she had no intention of opening up and reading her life story to him. Sure, it would get her nowhere, but that was kind of the point. If she could be alone, remain alone and live out her life alone then she wasn’t about to get hurt again or let anyone down or disappoint anyone when she ended up in hospital or ruined something else that came naturally to everyone else in life. She didn’t want to turn into her mother and she didn’t want to become a replica of her father either. The person she wanted to be was not the person she was going to become with the way she was acting, but at least this way she was safe from anyone hurting her or vice versa, and after twenty-one years of screwing things up, it really did look like the best option for the young gunslinger.

Ember glared at him, pulling her arm back to her body when he let go. The adrenaline was pumping around her body from the run and she didn’t know what way to turn or how to react now for this confrontation. Every other one had been in her apartment, or at the office where the upper ground was hers. Still, it wasn’t as though she was afraid to lash out or scream at him in the park. “What makes you an expert all of a sudden? You don’t even know me.”

[/color] She said quietly but venomously. If she could just make him see that she wasn’t worth wasting his time over, then everything would be simple; the way she liked it. “What’s in front of me is a guy who took ‘no strings attached’ and decided to add strings.”[/color] Her eyes narrowed to a glare and she hoped he would take the hint. “I told you back then I wasn’t looking for a relationship; nothing’s changed now just because you called an ambulance and did the decent thing of saving my life.”[/color] Ember didn’t understand why it was seemingly too much just to want to be left alone to live her life the way she wanted to. Why did Brandon insist on having a role in it?
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• • •

TAGGED! Brandon!
WORDS! 584
OUTFIT! Fitness Freak!
LYRICS! Runaway - - - Pink
NOTES! <3

[brandon emmett larkin]

He didn’t want her to sit down and tell him everything. He didn’t care about half of the things in her past and he didn’t want to hold her hand whilst she talked about her post painful memories. None of that mattered to Brandon. All he wanted was Ember and the promise of a future. He had seen more bad pasts than he cared to remember and he didn’t want the details of more. He knew enough about the blonde woman that if it was going to chase him away it would’ve done so already, but instead it only made his feelings for her stronger and made him more determined to get through to what she was trying in vain to ignore.

Part of him could understand why she was fighting this, but most of him couldn’t understand why a girl who ran from her past was also clinging to it so damn much. He wanted to help her move on from it, but there was no way he could do that if she was going to keep pushing him away. There had to be a way to show her that there was he was in this for more than just thrills. He felt things for her that he hadn’t felt for another woman and it wasn’t like he had intended to fall for the gun wielding blonde. If he had a real choice in it then she was probably one of the last women in New York City he would’ve chosen to fall in love with. However, it had happened and now he could hardly get Ember off his mind even when he tried his hardest to.

Trying to get through to her though was about as pointless as a dog chasing its own tail. The only way to get through to Ember was to hit her hard with something she couldn’t ignore, but she had spent her whole life running from that sort of thing, dodging the bullets that ought to stop her in her tracks and make her face whatever it was she was trying to ignore. “I know you better than you think.”He said, blocking her path before she could find the chance to run away from him. “And you think I did? Ember, if I was looking for a relationship I’d go to eHarmony, not the Grant Corporation.” He had only gone with her that fateful night to try and protect her and anyone else who might’ve ended up getting hurt during her reckless streak. If he had known a month or two later that he’d be chasing her around like this, doing everything but beg her to give him a chance he probably would’ve looked the other way and just gone home to another TV dinner. “You expect me to believe that nothing’s changed? Blame the morphine all you want, but I know that the girl I saw in the hospital was genuine and that’s not the girl standing before me right now.”

[/justify]

Word count of 529
Written for Ember
Listening to Rest in Peace by James Marsters
Outfit to come later.

[/size]

[Ember Thistle Grant]

Ember, during her time in the hospital, had considering spilling the truth to Brandon in one of their moments alone when they would both just laugh and talk openly. He had reminded her of times when she was younger and he’d haul her ass into the precinct for questioning and she would tease him about half of the things he would say to her to try to get her to talk. It had been something she hadn’t been able to do with anyone in a long time. She blamed it on the morphine now, but back then she knew that it wasn’t and she looked forward to his visits. It had been Andrew’s sudden disappearance that had thrown her back into the cold hearted bitch she once was. The one person she thought understood her before had left, just like Robert had been snatched from her when he understood her too. Her heart couldn’t go through it a third time with Brandon leaving too, which he eventually would. They all did.

If she was honest to herself for a moment when Brandon was staring her down, she had to admit that she was scared. She was scared of putting herself out there again and she was scared of letting someone in. It was hardly like she had had the greatest role models in her life; her mom was a drugged up alcoholic who forgot she had a daughter most of the time and her dad was an adulterer who had ignored her until her teenage years. Genetically, she didn’t stand a chance in making a relationship work and since developing unwanted feelings for Brandon she had done what she did best and ran.

Still, she wasn’t about to let her walls down, even if Brandon was persistent. Nothing could be worth putting herself out there again for a guy, she was sure of it. “Yeah, sure, you know me.”

[/color] She said sarcastically, rolling her eyes and folding her arms. “You’re wasting your time, Larkin, just give it up already.”[/color] She pushed him aside and went to walk down the path, needing to get away from this circle they continued to move in. Ember just wanted him to go away and deal with all of these feelings alone. She didn’t need anyone and she could take care of herself. If she repeated it enough it might just overpower what her heart wanted. She threw a glare his way and bit her tongue to stop her from lashing out at him. “You’re still the cop who dragged me into the box time and time again. You’ll never be anything more than that.”[/color] She changed tactics, hoping that hurting him would make him leave her alone, just like she wanted him to. “The only reason I went with you that night is because I’d never slept with a cop before. You’re just another notch in the bedpost.”[/color] It was what she was thinking on the night at the Marquee and whilst it had changed very quickly from that, she never had to admit to the truth; she just had to get him away from her.
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• • •

TAGGED! Brandon!
WORDS! 533
OUTFIT! Fitness Freak!
LYRICS! Runaway - - - Pink
NOTES! <3

[brandon emmett larkin]

He knew he had been getting through her defences when she was in the hospital. He had seen her sans make up and fancy outfits and with a genuine smile on her face whenever they were chatting. She had been curled up in her pyjamas, growing frustrated with IV tubing and the constant beeping in the room. When Ember came to from her operation, Brandon had been sitting at her bedside, just waiting to see those sapphires blues once again. They were doing great, just healing and talking and then the second her discharge papers were signed it was like she had switched herself off. He knew ways to get through to her when there was a badge clipped to his belt, but now she didn’t even respond to those techniques, but fought him off with very little effort. There was no waver in her voice, no break in her tone and her eyes never gave away any other feeling than contempt. The only thing that kept him going was that gut feeling – that cop’s intuition. He knew that Ember was putting on a front, trying to protect herself, but she didn’t need to and that was all he was trying to prove now.

Brandon wasn’t about to let her slip through his fingers. Love was something he didn’t think he wanted or would have a chance at, but that was all he could feel when he thought of the feisty blonde girl whose name was perfect to summarise her with too; always a flame, always sharp. Before her, he hadn’t been one to show his feelings and just like Ember he didn’t want to let anyone in. Their fling had changed his mind completely though and just seeing how strong she was because she felt she had to be, proved to him just how wrong they both were to try and shut everything good out of their lives. The fact that he wanted to show her how he felt said more than words ever could to him and there was nothing he wouldn’t do to make her see what she had right in front of her very eyes; him.

His jaw clenched and he stared at her for one long moment, watching as she moved to walk away from him. He had to take a chance and he had to take it now. “Your favourite song is Bruce Springsteen; Born to Run and it has been since you were fourteen!” He started, calling after her to grab her attention before he continued. “Your favourite ice cream flavour is vanilla, but you tell people you prefer strawberry, for some reason. You love Xander more than you let on to strangers and you cry whenever you think about the day when he won't be curled up at the foot of your bed. Fairytales are for suckers, but let’s face it you went from rags to riches just like Cinderella and you know it. You hate not being in control, but you long for someone to take the strain from time to time. Andrew is probably the only person in the world who you trusted 100% but you wouldn’t tell him that. You carry the weight of the world on your shoulders because you're scared to let anyone else in, or trust them, and it's the perfect excuse to push people away with. You're attracted to danger, but only because you're scared of feeling safe and happy for once in your whole damn life. Your favourite colour is cobalt, you're allergic to shellfish and your left hook is stronger than your right; which is odd, considering you've always been right handed. You hate romantics, loathe hip-hop and only wear heels that are at least four inches high. There's an old teddy bear in your dresser for the nights when Xander isn't quite enough and the locket in your jewellery box is what keeps you clinging to your past. You hate wearing yellow or beige and you've always been paranoid about your nose, which is why you got it pierced. Mornings make you cranky and you love apple scented bath products. You hate getting behind the wheel of a car and you get far too angry on the subway. You can stare a lot of things in the face, but your feelings are the first thing that you run from, and whether you're going to admit it or not, I know you're terrified of finding love in case something tears you apart. You always plan an exit strategy before you’ve even got one foot in the door.” He paused again, taking the time to walk closer to her only stopping when he was close enough to reach out and touch her, though his arms remained by his sides. “You're scared in case I chase you and fight for you when no one else has, and the very fact that you're still standing here means that you might actually want me to do it." He studied her expression and watched her reaction closely. “I’m not just a notch in your bedpost, Ember.” He finished with, staring her down with his own oceanic eyes, trying to make it clear that he refused to give up on her and what they could have together.

[/justify]

Word count of 906
Written for Ember
Listening to Rest in Peace by James Marsters
Outfit to come later.

[/size]

[Ember Thistle Grant]

Ember planned on walking away from this the same way she had done for every other encounter she had had with Brandon since she’d left the hospital. She would give him another snappy retort about how she wanted nothing to do with him and then she’s storm away, head held high and without a glimmer of wanting to look back at him. It was a move she had perfected long ago, even before the first time the pair of them met on the rough streets of the city. It was one of her first manoeuvres to keep her heart safe and it had never failed until now when Brandon insisted on chasing her each and every time.

It was just like he was the detective again and she was the teenager in the alley with the torn jeans and the knotted hair. He could call her bluff back then and it seemed it was a skill he hadn’t lost yet. Still, her ability to be stubborn was strong and it drove her more times than she cared to admit, but it had worked up until now when it seemed she had met her match in Brandon Larkin. She was planning on making her exit right when he opened his mouth and blurted out something that stopped her dead in her tracks, her eyes wide like saucers as a memory she’d forgotten about flooded back to her mind again.

She sat with her arms folded in the back of the cop car, popping her gum and glaring at the world beyond the glass pane of the window. It was the first time she had been picked up by Detective Brandon Larkin after a street fight had gotten out of hand and now he was adamant about driving her home, despite her not wanting to go there. She heard him moving in the front and the car stereo flickered to life, his softened blue eyes peering up at the rear-view mirror to gauge her reaction.
“You like music?”
“Stupid question for a teenager.” She responded cheekily, acting disinterested again. The familiar opening came from the speakers and she moved her attention back to the front where the sound emitted from.
“You’re a Springsteen fan.” Brandon stated with a small smirk, noticing her response to ‘Born to Run’.
“I guess.” She said, keeping up the attitude she had shown him the whole time, despite her love for the song wanting her to sing or at least bop.
“This one of your favourites?” He focused on the road, but still kept an eye on her and how she reacted.
“This one makes sense.” She said, meeting his eyes in the mirror and accidentally revealing a glimpse of herself to the newly shielded detective...

She couldn’t help but to turn back around, her eyes still wide as they rested on Brandon. She listened to the rest of his speech, her law falling slack halfway through. Ember didn’t think anyone knew her this well; not even her big brother. Most of the stuff he was saying was things she had never told anyone or had mentioned to him years ago, like the song. Her fingers came up to brush against her nose stud, but her eyes never left his, her breath hitching in her throat when he came closer to her. When he stopped speaking, she could do nothing but stare at him in shock for a few long, torturous moments, during which she willed her brain to give her words to say, something to push him away with…but it couldn’t. “That night with the song was seven years ago.”

[/color] She whispered, unable to think of anything else. His words were echoing in her head, the truth slowly sinking in as each noticed trait knocked another brick out of her wall. Her mind swirled with memories, both good and bad, but her eyes could not move away from his. There was something in them; something that told her this was a risk she should’ve taken a long time ago. Clinging to the past did no one any favours and the locket, whilst it meant a lot to her, was a golden noose, choking her of the life she could’ve lived. Denying her feelings for Brandon was no better either. "How did you know all of that?"[/color]

Ember stared up at him, her hand coming to rest over her scar. Who had she been punishing all this time? Brandon had been right in front of her with more insight into whom she was than anyone else had. No wonder he had never given up on her, despite her cruel words and bitchy personality. He was the only person to crack through her façade and find the girl within and now she saw it. “Why me?”[/color] She whispered, her blue eyes glistening as all those feelings she had tried so hard to keep under lock and key were finally unleashed. She’d never felt so vulnerable before and yet, she’d never felt safer either.
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• • •

TAGGED! Brandon!
WORDS! 840
OUTFIT! Fitness Freak!
LYRICS! Runaway - - - Pink
NOTES! <3

[brandon emmett larkin]

If this didn't work, then nothing probably would and Brandon might actually have to try to move on from the gunslinger who had gotten under his skin. It really was the last thing he could think of trying with her to make her see the sense in all of this. The second she stopped in her tracks, he saw a glimmer of hope that this might actually work with her, which was why he continued, chancing the move closer to her so that he didn't have to yell at her across the distance between them any longer.

He tried to read the expression in her wide eyes, but all he saw was the shock that was just as obvious on the rest of her face. The silence was agonising and Brandon just wished that she'd do something, say something to give him a clue as to what she was thinking. A small smile twitched at his lips and he nodded, remembering the first night he met the much younger Ember Grant. "You're not exactly an easy girl to forget about." He said quietly, his eyes unwavering from her own. "You said it 'made sense', and that was the first time I saw the girl behind the mask." He was honest, telling her the truth about what he realised about her that night. It seemed strange and he had told no one else, but that little glimpse of her had been what had made him the 'expert' at handling the teenage tearaway. Even if it wasn't his case, the other detectives would call him in just to talk to her when they believed she could help them. His smile widened and he shrugged slightly. "I don't know how I remembered it all, but I know you Ember; I read between the lines of what you would say and do and I paid attention when you thought no one else was looking." He was hoping that this would work out now that she seemed to have lost that hostile exterior she had been showing him since she had been able to leave the hospital.

There she was; the girl he remembered seeing in the hospital and the girl he was falling heavily for. Stepping closer, he reached out to cup her face with one hand, his fingers lingering on her jaw as he gazed down into her eyes full of emotion. "I'll be damned if I know, but there's always been something about you, Ember Grant. No matter how much I try, I just - I can't seem to get you out of my mind anymore." He confessed in an almost whisper. Stepping closer, closing the gap between their bodies, Brandon bent down, taking another chance, pressing his lips tenderly to hers. His empty hand brushed her side to hold her close, hoping that now the fighting between them both was at an end and they might actually be able to jump into this together.

[/justify]

Word count of 573
Written for Ember
Listening to Rest in Peace by James Marsters
Outfit to come later.

[/size]

[Ember Thistle Grant]

She hadn’t expected Brandon to catch her off guard like that or in any other way really. She didn’t think anyone knew so much about her when she deliberately went out of her way to keep people in the dark about almost everything in her life. He knew her favourite colour! How did he even manage to work that out when it was probably the least obvious fact about her?! It wasn’t like her bedroom was painted that colour or her wardrobe was primarily cobalt. Part of her wanted to laugh at how crazy it all sounded, but she was too much in shock still that someone knew her so well.

Ember brushed the hair from her forehead and eyes, still processing everything that he just said to her and what he was saying now. It all sounded so weird; like it wasn’t meant for a girl like her. Not even Robert had done anything like this back when they were foolish teenagers and Ember momentarily believed in the idea of romance and happy endings. She wasn’t foolish though, not this time and she wasn’t about to jump on the fairytale bandwagon and go all doe-y eyed over what Brandon had just told her, even if it did bring a smile to the lips that were usually turned down into a frown.

The kiss they shared was different to any kind they’d had before. There was no drunken lust or meaningless desire there and it was so tender and full of everything she had been trying to ignore for a long time now. Her hands came up to his neck and she pushed herself closer as her fingers weaved through his thick, messy curls. She pulled back from the kiss, her lips tingling and her sapphire eyes met Brandon’s. Biting her lip in an unusual nervous manner, she stepped back, wanting to make sure that everything was one hundred percent crystal clear before anything more happened between them. She was still terrified about letting anyone in, but she couldn’t deny what Brandon did to her and how much she did secretly want this. “Y'know that you're making the worst decision of your life, right? I'm not going to make this easy for you. I'm going to be angry at you over nothing, I'm going to argue with you whenever I've had a bad day and there will be times when I blame you for everything. I will call you names and say things that I don't really mean, but never know when to apologise, and the chances of me agreeing with you are slim to none. I'm not going to be able to tell you everything just because you ask me and there will be times when I'll push you away for no reason at all. I'm a mess and just because I'm better now it doesn't mean that I'm going to be alright, that I'm going to behave and make life easy on myself or anyone else. I'm not the kind of girl you can take home to mom or the girl who will let you spoil her and play her knight in shining armour. You saved my life once, but I'm big enough to take care of myself and I'm probably never going to depend on you for anything. I'm going to need my space sometimes and I'm going to be as sarcastic and as blunt as I ever was and I'm going to die still being stubborn over the craziest of things, even if our opinions clash something horrific. You know who I am and you know that there are things you'll hate about me or my past, but I'd never change them, because they brought me here. I'm making it sound like I hate you, but I don't; I really don't, in fact it's the damn opposite, but I am no good at showing it and I'm going to freak out about this more times than you can count and I'm going to try to run but I do want you to stop me. I can't promise that this will work, but I want it to, more than I know how to say. I just don't know if I can be the girl that a guy like you deserves."

[/color] She said in one go, not pausing for fear that she might suddenly panic and turn back into the false, cold Ember of ten minutes ago. If she said it and got it out there then she couldn’t take it back and whilst her words felt jumbled and backwards, this was her way of saying that she was ready for this, despite her fears and previous excuses. She wanted to be with Brandon, and if she followed her heart instead of her street smarts, they would’ve been here some time ago. She needed him to know though, that she was by no means ready to make this relationship a sickly happy or easy one; she wasn’t capable of all of that immediately.
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• • •

TAGGED! Brandon!
WORDS! 866
OUTFIT! Fitness Freak!
LYRICS! Runaway - - - Pink
NOTES! <3

[brandon emmett larkin]

The fact that his outburst worked made Brandon wonder why he hadn’t done it much sooner. Then again, not many people usually had to explain their feelings for another person by shouting a condensed list of quirks and secrets across Central Park. Still, here he was with Ember Thistle Grant in his arms and for once they weren’t fighting or hurling abuse at each other. Right now, there was nothing that could ruin this moment, not even the rambling mess that came out of Ember’s mouth, causing him to smirk and chuckle before pulling back just enough to meet her eyes. He brushed the blonde hair from her eyes, savouring this sweet moment between them. They might have been on this happy high right now, but he knew that Ember was not going to be a walk in the park and they certainly probably wouldn’t have this kind of moment for a long time, if ever again. ”
"You're right. You are a mess and you are going to drive me insane more often than not. I don't think there will be a week that goes by without us fighting and without you storming away from this, but like the idiot I am, I'll follow you and drag you back each time. I can give you space and I love your sarcasm, but there will be stuff that I do hate. I don't want you to change and I don't care if you can't say it all the time or show me how you're feeling because I know. My mom is never going to like the girls I bring home and why spoil you when you can do it yourself? And maybe I do deserve a different girl, but I don't want her. The only girl I want, the only girl I care about, is you."He confessed in a quiet voice, smiling the whole time.

His workout wasn’t finished and he doubted she had planned to stop so short either, but exercise was the last thing on his mind right now. Kissing her softly again, Brandon looked down at the watch on his wrist and then smirked. “There’s just enough time for showers and a movie, if you fancy it?” They’d never actually been on a date of any kind and whilst this was still all new and even unusual for Brandon, he didn’t want to miss spending time with Ember. An actual date seemed like the logical next step for them both and in his mind they had a lot of catching up and making up to get through.

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Word count of 458
Written for Ember
Listening to Rest in Peace by James Marsters
Outfit to come later.

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