As she shimmied up the drainpipe, Brianna cursed her impulsiveness once again. She was in the only person that she knew who would plan a vacation overnight, without planning a place to stay, without their phone, calling their mother, visiting the bank machine and their house keys.

As she reached the overhang of the roof, she finally remembered where her house keys were. Her keys were on her desk, next to her phone, with her car keys and beside the key to her apartment. She was screwed.

Angrily, she pulled herself onto the roof and carefully scaled across the shingles to the big bay window to her bedroom. She knew the trick to pulling off the screen, and it had never failed her during her rebellious teenage years. She pulled it off, and easily opened the window. Eager to get inside and call her mother to yell at her for leaving her dog outside, and figure out how she was going to get inside her apartment once she got home, Brianna slid through the window and jumped to the floor.

Which happened to be two stories below her. She had failed to notice that there had been a gaping hole above her head when she had been in the foyer earlier that day.

* * * *

Kevin hadn't been able to sleep very well that night. Brianna had seemed trouble or preoccupied, he wasn't sure which, when he had dropped her off at her mom's house. But he had been too impatient to get home, so he could call Miriam like he had promised. He was irritated that a favor that was supposed to take only a few hours had taken all day.

After he had finally gotten over the guilt of just not caring what had obviously been bothering Brianna, there was the fight with Miriam. She just couldn't understand why he hadn't called her, and they had spent a good twenty minutes arguing. After he had managed to calm down, it had been very, very late.

And then the phone woke him up at eight in the morning.

"Nick, you fucking bastard, this better be good," he growled as he checked the call display.

"Brie's mom just called. Wanted to get Brie to get her dog. She left it at home. She seemed to think that Brie would be staying with me. Anyway, the problem is that Diane has Brie's house key. She confiscated it from her when she moved. Brie had no way to get in last night. I tried to call, but she wasn't there. Diane dropped off a key for her at my place."

"So why are you telling me this?"

"Because I was hoping you'd be able to come get the key and drop it off. Do you realize that Brie probably spent the night outside?"

"She's your best friend, act like it you idiot! Get her the goddamn key yourself," Kevin ordered.

"You are the closest. Plus, I don't really want to leave Laurel. She just had an appointment with the specialist, and she's kind of upset about it."

"Bad news?"

"Just no news. C'mon, man, I owe you huge already, this would be soul-owing huge," Nick said.

"Nick, you're twenty-three. Stop talking like a punk teenager and I'll do it," Kevin groaned.

* * * *

When Kevin pulled into the drive way where he had left her less than twelve hours ago, Kevin noticed that her bag was still on the porch where he had left it. Frowning a bit, he walked over to the front door and tested the lock. Who knows, Brie isn't the most together person I've ever met. She might have left her bag outside by mistake, Kevin thought.

As he took a step towards the door, a burst of angry barking had him pulling out the house key he had been entrusted with, and unlocking the door as quickly as possible. He glanced around and saw a small Labrador racing towards him with excitement more than malice, but he still shut the door behind him. And nearly tripped over Brie's body.

She was stretched out on her back, sprawled across the foyer. Rolling his eyes at her eccentricity, Kevin reached into his pocket for the envelope that came with the keys to leave it with her. Then he noticed a thin trail of dried blood coming from Brianna's nose. Kneeling over her, he tried to wake her up. Then he noticed the giant hole above his head. Checking to see if there were any other observable injuries, he reached for his mobile and started to dial for emergency help.

And then she woke up.

"Goddamn it! How the hell is it that you can get in here with no problem, but I have to fall two fucking stories. Christ, my head hurts," she muttered quickly.

"Don't move, Brie. Did you fall from the second floor?" he asked, doing a double take away from the phone.

"Jumped from it, more like. Don't call an ambulance, I'm fine," she said, easing slowly into a sitting position.

"Dizzy?" he asked, seeing that she almost definitely had a head injury.

"Gonna vomit," she whispered, reaching out to hold on to his arm.

"Looks like I'm your knight once again, Brie. Let's not make this a habit," he whispered.

"Bastard."

"I'm really worried about your head. Let's go to the hospital," Kevin said, standing up.

"No! Really, Kevin, I'm fine. I just bumped my head, and there's a few bumps and bruises, but I'm fine, really. Didn't break any bones, see?" she said, jumping up and walking around. She seemed really nervous, which struck Kevin as strange.

"Brie, you really should see a doctor. What happens if you have a concussion?" he asked.

"I am fine, Kevin," she spit out, almost angry.

"Have it your way. Get in the car," he ordered. He was no longer worried about the stubborn girl. Her anger had played on his lack of sleep and brought out his well-hidden temper.

"Why?" she fired back, she hands on her hips.

"Unless you want to sleep on the floor tonight, grab your bag and get your ass in my car," Kevin said coldly. Glaring at him, Brianna exited the house, picked up her bag and stormed off to wait for him by his vehicle. He unlocked the doors, and she got in. Before she closed the door, she whistled.

Her puppy came flying around the corner, and took a flying leap onto her lap. Kevin stared at the excited dog as she licked Brianna's face.

"What do you think you are doing?" he asked.

"You don't expect me to leave my puppy alone, by herself, do you?" Brianna asked, her eyes flashing. If he thought she was mad before, he had another thing coming. When it came to animals, nothing upset her more than neglect.

"I have cats," Kevin said weakly.

"Sienna will get alone with them fine. She likes cats," Brianna lied, hoping that the dog wouldn't start to chase them down as soon as she saw them.

"He asks for one stupid favor…" Kevin muttered bitterly under his breath. Brianna smiled, knowing she had won.