Wounded; A Brallie Fan Fiction *EDITING*

Chapter Sixteen: Terms and Conditions of A Household Romance

Brandon's POV
Four days later, Moms came home from the hospital with Callie. She had a cast on her right arm, but other than that, there was nothing strikingly different about her.

It was refreshing to have Callie back in the house, and we could all finally calm down and relax again. But things weren't going to be the same, at least not with Callie and I, and of coarse, Moms had to lay down the ground rules.

We a gathered around the coffee table with Moms standing before us, just like we did days after we began fostering Callie and Jude, and Moms had announced that we couldn't adopt them. Months later, we found ourselves in the same spot on the day of Moms wedding, being told the complete opposite. That was the day all of our lives changed; the day everything twisted so longly we couldn't find our way back, until today.

"So as we all know, Callie and Brandon have been put through a lot in these past couple months, as have all of us," Lena began. She took a deep breath and looked between Callie and I. "We've decided that, as your parents, we shouldn't be keeping you from each other if it's only going to cause you pain."

"So you're gonna let them date?" Mariana asked, amused. "When did you guys become so cool?"

Moms ignored Mariana's shyly untrue remark, and continued on with the sympathetic exlanation, which I could feel was shifting to gentle scrutiny.

"Yes," answered Mom as she pulled her blonde hair to her left shoulder. "The two of you can maintain a romantic relationship, but under very strict circumstances. You will not be alone in the house together, and there will be no butt-grabbing, boob-groping or man-handling."

"So basically they can't have any fun?" Jesus joked, which provoked an angry glare from Jude's angle.

Lena raised her eyebrows at Jesus, a mother's worst threat, and continued with our probation rules. "No sex, no foreplay, no nothing that isn't kissing or hand-holding."

"And most importantly," Mom interjected, "as far as everybody at school and outside this house is concerned, you two are brother and sister. Strictly. Do not wink at each other or glance at each other or pass notes, and no texting each other."

"Don't you mean sexting?" Jesus asked.

Despite how lightly out siblings were taking this, Callie and I were finding ourselves falling fragilely back into place. Finally, after almost a year of being forbidden from truly being happy, we had our chance, and the only thing that could mess it up was one or two of us.

But as my gaze stretched to Callie's hopeful brown eyes, I knew that wasn't going to be happening any time soon. For now, we were perfect. Everything fit together, and our happiness was in sync. Nothing could go wrong.