Kevin sighed, and glanced down at the phone in his hands. He wanted to throw it as far away as possible. He wanted to chuck it into his pool, and hear in splash. Sitting with his legs hanging over the edge of his deck, brooding in the dark, he felt as low as possible. Added to his depression was the fact that Brianna was the hardest woman in the world to be ignored by, simply because she is a cold-hearted bitch, and she feels no guilt over extracting revenge.

And his conversation with Miriam had gone exactly the way he had thought it would. Sitting outside in the moonlight, surrounded by the beauty of the willow trees that hung over the deck, she'd said exactly what he feared she would.

Flopping back, he groaned as his head came in contact with the hard wood of the deck surface.

"Most people sleep indoors," Brianna said, peering over him.

"Are you talking to me again?" Kevin asked stonily. She laughed, and flopped down beside him, and pushed him out of her way to make more room for herself.

"If you are lucky. But I guess things aren't going your way tonight, are they?" Brianna asked. She had been watching from out of her window for about a half hour. While she was still incredibly angry with him, and had considered keeping up her "heinous bitch" routine for a little bit longer, she had been unable to resist his completely defeated-looking posture.

"No, they aren't. Miriam ended things tonight," he said, looking at her from the corner of his eyes.

"Dude, that sucks. Can't say I didn't see it coming, though. What happened?" Brianna asked quietly.

"Just time. It catches up when you don't think it is. You may find that ridiculous, Brie, because I don't believe you live in the real world. But the distance, and the amount of time that went by just forced us apart. And even when we saw each other, it was clouded with the fact that we'd have to say goodbye soon," he explained.

"I don't live in the real world, Kev. I live in a wonderful world where I can make mistakes, and they don't have too many repercussions. If anything gets too hard, I can just give it up, and find something else to mess around with. If I get hurt, I go crawling to my mother, who can still make everything all right. I'm a child, still. I'll never grow up," Brianna promised.

"How did you and Nick stay so close, when you hardly ever see each other?" Kevin asked, sounding almost desperate to know her secret.

"We weren't in a relationship. I didn't love him, so it didn't hurt when he wasn't around. I've never really been in love with anyone, but I know that when you are, normal things like…breathing become so much more difficult when that person isn't around. Time seems to drag on, and all you can think about is them. That's love, and that's not what Nick and I are about. We were about fun, first and foremost, and all that serious crap if we had time," Brianna answered.

"You've never been in love? Honestly? What about that Jesse guy you were seeing?"

"That wasn't love. That was definitely just lust. Again, we had fun. There wasn't anything intellectual about that guy. He was hot, but he was an idiot."

"Did you ever sleep with Nick?" Kevin asked. As soon as he asked it, he regretted it. It wasn't any of his business, and even if they had, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. To his surprise, Brianna didn't freak. She just sat there, quietly, looking up at the sky.

"Only once. My dad had just left, and my mom was really sick. There was so much going on, and I just didn't know how to cope with it. I felt dead. I was a complete wreck and I had no one to turn to. I was by myself all the time because Mom was in the hospital, and it was horrible. And then, Nick was there. I was out on my deck one night, feeling like I was dead, and all I wanted was to feel alive again, and suddenly he was there. He made me feel alive again," she explained softly.

"He never said anything about it."

"That's just the kind of guy he is. If it had been on of his conquests, he would have. But it was something more than that. I had completely fallen apart, and he put me back together. You know, after that night, he dropped everything for almost two weeks, so he could stay with me. So that I wouldn't be alone. That night…he made me feel alive," she repeated.

"And you said that you and Nick were only about fun?"

"We had our moments. Times when we'd help out each other. But mostly, we just have fun. And I can't lose him…not yet. I'm not ready to let go, and live in the real world yet. He's my history, my past and my childhood," Brianna said.

"You won't have to. I know you won't," Kevin promised, putting his arm around Brianna's shoulder. The two of them sat in silence, just enjoying the peaceful night.

* * * *

"For the love of God, Carter, this had better be really good," Kevin barked into the phone the next morning.

"So, I take it you found Brie. Thanks for letting me know, Kev," Nick said, sounded angry.

"If you were so concerned, why didn't you call? Or try to find your best friend yourself?" Kevin asked grumpily.

"Because I know Brie, and if you give into her temper tantrums, then she'll think she can get away with that shit. Anyway, that's not why I'm calling. Laurie and I got a call today that I think you should know about," Nick said seriously, changing his tone.

"Oh?"

"She's been moved up the list. She's sitting about number three right now. She's very close to getting that transplant, Kevin. And with all the stress and waiting that we've been going through, I think I'm going to take her away for a few days."

"What?"

"She needs to take her mind off of this, to focus what her life will be like without her handicap. So, I'm going to take her away for a few days. Just her and me, you know how it is. I'm thinking maybe Hawaii would be a choice spot. Any suggestions?" Nick asked.

"You are planning on telling Brianna about this yourself, right?" Kevin asked with a warning tone in his voice.

"Of course. What, did you think that I was going to ask you to tell her? No, there'd be hell to pay if I did that. No, I'm going to take Brie out to dinner tonight, and let her know where I'm going and that sort of thing. I wonder what her other plans are, while she's down here," Nick thought aloud.

"Yeah, I wonder," Kevin said sarcastically. Sometimes, Nick was true to his hair color. He wasn't the most observant person in the world. Kevin did not want to be in the area when he informed Brianna of his plans.