A NOTE FROM CRYSTAL: To everyone that emailed me during my period of no writing, thank you. The emails that you sent to me were so wonderful that I felt I needed to come back to writing. Thank you all for reading my stories.

Sass slept, tucked away in the couch downstairs in the computer room as Nick and Brash lay, tangled in each other in her bed upstairs in the loft.
“I like this,” she softly claimed. “I could lay like this forever.”
“You’d have to go to the bathroom sooner or later.”
“Thank you for spoiling the moment, Nick.” But instead of scolding him, Brash nuzzled her nose up against Nick’s chin. In return, he wrapped his arms even tighter around her body. With a soft kiss on her forehead, Nick began to drift off into a land of deep sleep.
“Have you ever been in love, Nick?”
Nick opened his eyes but kept them on the ceiling. “I thought I had.”
“But you weren’t?”
Nick exhaled. “I thought I knew what love was, long ago. But now I see it as something completely different.”
“What changed your mind?”
Nick shifted so that he was nose-to-nose with Brash in the bed. “Honestly?” She nodded her head. “A bag of Crispy M&Ms and an airplane bathroom. Falling at the skating rink. Midnight kisses in the Taco Bell parking lot. You.”
Brash closed her eyes and smiled softly.
“I really, really like you Brash. And I hope you and I can continue getting to know one another better.”
“I can’t wait either.”
Nick smiled. You know which smile. “Are you losing your edge, Brash?”
“Heck no Blondie!! Just because I think you’re cute, that doesn’t mean I’m going to start knitting sweaters for you.”
“Just don’t go anywhere.”
Brash kissed him. “I’m not going anywhere.”
And as their kiss deepened into something more, Nick and Brash lost themselves in the prospect of things to come and love to share. As they came together, a bond formed that neither of them understood, but recognized. Little did they know how that bond would be tested.