Winter in Rhy'Din was proving a long one for a young man who was originally from California and accustomed to sun and surf nearly year round. Matt Foster had accompanied his mother to Rhy'Din not because he had any fondness for the place, but because it was clear his parents' marriage was over, and he'd been forced to choose one over the other. It was kind of a no-brainer, seeing as his father never had any real time for him anyway. He missed his brother Lucas, who'd moved to Rhy'Din before them anyway, and so he and his mother had joined him there. It wasn't until Matt had met Cas Delaney and had started interning at the Rhy'Din Aquarium that he'd found a place and a purpose and a reason for being there.

That was a friendship that had endured, despite the upheaval in the city when they were first laying their foundation. It helped that, when Cas found herself feeling unwelcome to live on campus at Bristle Crios, Matt's mother had offered her a place to live with them, and despite the fact that the pro- and anti-human protests were well and truly over, she was still living there. Jessica didn't seem to mind - she certainly trusted them enough to take on night shifts at the hospital, that was for sure.

It didn't hurt that Jessica Foster had never had daughters and was thoroughly enjoying the company of both Felicity Storm and Cas Delaney. She had high hopes for her boys in capturing the hearts of these two lovely girls, but she knew better than to butt her nose into their business, letting nature take care of matters in her own good time.

As Matt was quickly approaching seventeen, he found himself having to make some decisions, and they were not easy decisions to make. It was not easy for a seventeen year old to decide what they wanted to do for the rest of their life, but these were decisions he was going to have to make, sooner or later. Today found him at the aquarium, where he worked part-time, immersed in a tank of water without the use of an scuba tank, attempting to get a better look at a pregnant dolphin.

He wasn't alone in the tank - Professor Granger, aka Ashlyn, was in there too, as well as Cas herself, though they were both in scuba gear. Since the year at Bristle Crios had proven that neither Matt nor Cas were comfortable with purely theoretical learning, Ash had arranged for them to take on something like an apprenticeship with her - they split their days between the aquarium and the museum, not always in her company, but learning more about the practical side of marine biology than they would have done remaining purely at school. Ash was teaching them how to swim with marine mammals without causing distress, something that was much easier for Matt than Cas.

Easier only because Matt was like a fish in water, not needing equipment of any kind or a cumbersome tank for breathing. Even the animals seemed to sense there was something different about him, allowing him to get closer than they might another human, and Matt was eager to learn and do more.

The dolphins certainly liked him, that was for sure. Cas couldn't stop grinning at the way the males kept gently butting at her friend to get his attention so he would play with them, even when he was supposed to be learning how to be a calm influence in the water.

Matt couldn't help but engage with the dolphins, despite the fact that this was supposed to be about science and not just about having fun, but that was what he so enjoyed about the time he spent at the aquarium. It wasn't about learning and working; he was having fun here, too.

It was just as well Ash could read the situation herself. The professor knew she'd lost one of her students when the males started to butt at her, too. Grinning herself, she made the sign for surfacing, rising through the water with Cas not far behind. Matt could stay in there longer if he wanted to, although that did mean he was sort of an exhibit for the customers, too.

Matt bid his dolphin friends farewell and followed Ash and Cas to the surface, grinning broadly once they had all climbed out and were wrapped in towels to dry themselves off. "Did you see them?" he asked in an animated voice, unable to hide his excitement. "It was like we were one of their pod."

"You done good, kid." Ash chuckled as she dried off, protecting her modesty for his sake, rather than her own, as she shucked into her underwear and clothes. "It takes time to get really comfortable swimming with the different creatures, but dolphins are a good start. They're naturally curious without being aggressive."

"What's it like, getting right up close like that?" Cas asked him enviously.

Matt beamed a proud smile at the professor's praise, happy he'd done well and excited about what he'd just experienced. He was finding it easier and easier to adapt to life underwater, almost as if he belonged there - as at home in the water as he was on land. "It was amazing!" he gushed in reply to Cas' question. "They're warm, like humans, but they feel kind of smooth and sleek. Not like a fish at all. It's hard to describe."

"I am never going to not be jealous of that," Cas laughed in answer, disappearing under her voluminous towel to pull on her underwear.

Ash grinned, buttoning her own shirt. "When we go out to the Novellan Strait in March, you'll be able to swim with the dolphins in the wild," she predicted for them both. "Without a suit, too - the water is amazingly warm."

"Jealous of what?" Matt asked, unsure just what it was Cas was jealous of - his ease in the water or the fact that he'd touched a dolphin" There was no reason she couldn't share in that experience, if she was persistent enough. "March?" Matt echoed. "That's next month!"

"Yeah, it is," Ash agreed in amusement. "All the documentation is in your pigeonholes in the breakroom. You're my students, so you get priority places on the trip. If you want them, that is. No one's gonna force you, and you should probably know that there is no guarantee we won't be wrecked. It's happened before."

Cas surfaced from her towel, tossing it aside now she was in her underwear. "Wrecked?"

"Are you kidding" Of course, we want to go!" Matt replied for them both before Cas emerged from her towel and echoed the something the professor had been saying. He was so excited about the dolphins, he hardly noticed the fact that his companions were changing their clothes behind their towels. Besides, it wasn't like he'd never seen this before. As for himself, he wasn't quite as modest as either of them, though he did make sure he had a towel wrapped around his waist before changing from his swim trunks to his boxers.

"It was a freak Nexus storm," Ash told Cas, sitting on the bench to pull her boots on. "Besides, the captain will be coming with us, and probably Peter and Cora, too. You can bet we'll be taking every precaution."

Cas bit her lip thoughtfully. "When do you need the paperwork by?" she asked, wondering if she needed her father's signature. She had been legally emancipated last year, but sometimes she wondered if she should include him in her mad schemes from time to time.

"Before the 20th," Ash told them.

Matt might have remarked on who else was coming on the trip and ask more about the Nexus storm, but instead, he was biting his lip as he looked worriedly in Cas' direction. "You're going, aren't you?" he asked, having assumed she would and trying to hide the disappointment he'd feel if she didn't.

"I want to, but ..." She hesitated, not really wanting to admit to how low her income was in front of the professor. To be honest, if she hadn't been living rent free at the Fosters and been fed for free as well, she would probably have had to go back home by now.

"But what?" Matt prompted, not letting her off that easily and not really caring if the professor was there to witness. It never occurred to him that it was money that was making her hesitate. He'd assumed maybe it was fear.

The look Cas gave him was a little indignant. "But I probably can't afford it, okay?" she said unhappily, buttoning her jeans and turning to pull her top on over her head. "I'm not swimming in money here."

Ash winced ever so slightly, not entirely certain she should be present for this. But she could always have a word with the Old Man; Cas was living on the Grove. She was practically family.

"So, what? There have to be scholarships and stuff, right?" Matt asked, looking to Ash for confirmation. He knew enough about Cas' situation to sympathize, but he also knew there were ways around it, so long as she wasn't too proud to accept help.

"Do you think this is what you want to do for a living?" he asked, more out of a need to make conversation than out of any real curiosity. They'd discussed their future plans before, and the more time that passed, the more they seemed to want the same things. "Cold?" he asked, noticing her shivering beside him. Though it was sunny, there was still a cold chill in the air. Winter wasn't over quite yet.

"Little bit," she admitted, raising her free hand to rub at her damp hair. "It'll get better when I dry off." She flashed him a warm smile. "I don't really know what I want to do. I do know that I don't want to raise sheep like my dad, and I do really enjoy learning all this and getting to swim with the fish and stuff. I'm not very ambitious."

"Maybe I can help," he said, letting go of her hand and winding his arm around her shoulder to draw her closer so that she could share a little of his warmth. He would have given her his jacket, but it was a little too cold to walk around without one. "I always wanted to be a professional surfer, but ..." He shrugged. Maybe he'd grown up a little since coming to Rhy'Din and settled on more practical dreams.

"There's no reason you couldn't still be that," she pointed out, hesitantly looping her own arm about his back as he drew her under his arm. He was all about touching today, it seemed, but she wasn't arguing. It was ....nice. "I bet Mr King would help you out if you asked."

He shrugged. "I don't think surfing is ever gonna be more than a hobby for me, and I'm okay with that," he replied. "I guess I've grown up or something. The truth is I really like working at the aquarium, and I'm excited about ..." He trailed off before he could mention the trip again. "I'm excited about what we do there."

She smiled faintly, understanding what he hadn't said. "It's a good place to work," she agreed. "And all the tanks at the museum, too ....I could lose hours tickling the rays there."

"I've always felt a connection to the water, ever since I was a little kid," he explained, though he'd probably told her all this before. "It's not just about surfing anymore, you know?" he asked, looking to her and hoping she understood a little.

She tilted her head up, the rosy chill on her cheeks disguising what might have been a very faint flush at the look in his eyes. "I know," she agreed with a slow nod. "You're hopelessly in love with Roxie." Who was a three-flippered green turtle living in the aquarium.

He laughed, blue eyes sparkling with amusement at her remark. "Oh, yeah ....I asked her to be my girlfriend, but all she did was wave her leg at me," he teased with a smirk.

Cas snickered softly. "At least she didn't steal your shorts again," she pointed out impishly. "Imagine, all those kids who got a short lesson in what men look like under their knickers."

"I was wearing a towel, Miss Smarty Pants!" he pointed out, chuckling again. It occurred to him belatedly that she'd referred to him as a man, not a boy, and he furrowed his brows in thought at that. "Besides, I'm not a man just yet," he murmured, though whether that was what he truly believed or what someone had told him was hard to say. He was almost seventeen, still a boy at heart, but well on his way to becoming a man.

She smiled, tightening her arm about his back as she leaned into the wrap of his own. "You're perfect, just as you are," she pointed out. "Don't get broody like your brother. That is not an attractive look."

"Broody?" Matt echoed, brows arching upwards. "You think Luc is broody?" He considered that a moment. "I guess he is sometimes. I can't really blame him though. Dad was a lot harder on him than he was on me."

"He's very serious." Cas nodded. "But he's loosening up a little. Fliss doesn't really give him much option but to be less "grr" about the whole world."

"Fliss is good for him," Matt agreed. He didn't like to think about all the crap his father had dished out to his older brother that had made him so serious, but then his father had been hard on them both.

She was quiet for a long moment as they walked. Then ...."I'm sorry I snapped at you," she apologized softly. "It's a touchy subject, always has been. But I didn't mean to be cross with you."

"What's a touchy subject?" he asked, blinking out of his thoughts as she seemed to changed the subject yet again. She was obviously not talking about his brother anymore.

"Money," she sighed, shaking her head. "I really am sorry. I get defensive easy about it; happens when you spend most of your time having to blow people off because you can't afford to do things they don't even think about."

"Yeah, well ....I have the opposite problem," he admitted with a small frown. He didn't feel it was necessary for her to apologize, though it was hard for him to understand. "Money doesn't make you happy, Cas. People think money solves all your problems. It doesn't."

"I know you're right, but ....lack of money causes more problems that would otherwise not be there," she tried to explain. "Having to choose between food or heating, decisions like that happen every day when you don't earn enough to live comfortably."

He stopped, turning her to face him, a serious and even sympathetic look on his face. "You don't have to worry about that anymore, Cas," he told her, not so long as she had him, but he didn't want her to stay with him just because of that. The thought had occurred to him once or twice, but he wouldn't insult her by asking.

She sighed, managing a small smile. "It's hard to explain," she admitted. "People like me, people who have to count every penny, we ....we have a lot of pride in the way that we keep going. It's difficult to ask for help. It feels like a failure, to have to ask for help. And I don't want pity, or charity. I just, I have to make decisions every day. I send most of my paycheck to Dad, so do my brothers, and that keeps him ticking over. He loves that farm. I don't think he'd be able to leave it happy."

"Do you want to go back there?" he asked, point blank, needing to know what her plans were, at least to a degree. Was she planning on making a life for herself away from the farm or was she going to return there to take care of her father"

"To visit, yeah, but ....I hate that farm," she admitted ruefully, shaking her head. "I hate sheep. I love the water, and the ocean, and the city, and ..." She trailed off, a little too shy to admit to what else she was attached to here.

He couldn't help but chuckle a little. "What's the matter with sheep" I think they're kind of cute." Not to mention smelly, but what did he know" He smiled at her answer, swinging his arm back around her shoulders to continue on their way, feeling a little relieved to know she had no intention on going back there - not to live, anyway.

"Uh-huh, from a distance, sure," she agreed in amusement. "But you've never had to shear one, or dip one, or been chased screaming through a field by a ram with a bad attitude."

"No, can't say that I have. But I have been snapped at by a turtle and chased by a shark," he countered with a grin, though it was hardly the same thing. He paused a moment before speaking again, as if he was a little hesitant about what he was about to say. "I've been meaning to ask you something."

She tilted her head to glance up at him as they walked. "What?" she asked innocently enough, her gaze flickering to a group they were passing briefly before returning to him.

"Well, I ....uh ..." he stammered, unsure just how to word what he wanted to ask her. He'd been dancing around the subject for a while now, but the professor was right - it was about time he found out for sure if she liked him and made it official. He sighed, coming to a stop again and turning to face her. "I like you a lot, Cas, and ....I was wondering if ..." Oh, come on, just say it. The worst she can say is no. "If you'd like to go out with me."

He blinked again, about to remark on Fliss and Lucas when she changed the subject back to that of his rear end. "I do not have dimples," he insisted, though he didn't know for sure as he'd never really looked.

"You do," she insisted. "They show up when you flex. I'll draw them for you later, if you really want to know what your own backside looks like."

"Uh, no, thanks! That's okay!" he replied, just as the server was bringing their food over to the table. Rescued by the burgers!

"See" Cute blushing." Cas grinned over at him, leaning back to thank the server before applying herself to her meal with enthusiasm.

He'd ordered a cheeseburger with the works, fries, and a chocolate milkshake and set to work on his own meal with equal enthusiasm, but first he lifted his milkshake in a mock toast. "To us and to the future," he told her.

Mouth full, Cas chewed furious to clear her mouth as she hurriedly set down her burger, manners an after-thought when she was hungry. Wiping her fingers, she lifted her own chocolate milkshake, tapping it to his. "To seeing more of your ass than you'll ever be able to take back."

"That works both ways, you know," he replied, tapping his milkshake to hers before slurping a gulp. His mood had lifted again, the talk of his father forgotten for the moment. "You know, Valentine's Day is coming soon," he said, unsure if they even celebrated that in Rhy'Din, as it was an Earth holiday.

"I do know that," she agreed with a nod, licking her top lip clean as she set her glass down. "Are we going to make it properly official and do something disgustingly romantic to mark the occasion?"

"It doesn't have to be disgustingly romantic unless you want it to be," he replied, knowing their idea of romance was probably different than most other people's. "We could kick Mom out of the house, order a pizza, and watch scary movies."

Cas snorted. "We could double date with your mom and Gordon," she suggested cheekily, though that was likely to land with a clang. "Or maybe we could camp out on the beach for the night, if it's not too cold."

Matt laughed at her first suggestion. "And watch them drool all over each other" No thanks!" he said, picking his burger up and taking a bite. He paused a moment to chew and swallow before going on. "Might be too cold to camp on the beach. I'm sticking with pizza and scary movies."

"Works for me," she agreed happily enough, lifting up her own burger in both hands to take another bite. She'd never stood on ceremony around Matt, though her table manners were better when Jessica was around. "Blanket fort, scary movies, pizza, and fighting with the dog about who gets to cuddle you more."

He laughed at the mention of his dog. "You don't think she'll get jealous, do you?" he asked regarding his dog, who was still little more than a puppy. He wondered briefly who'd take care of her while he was on the research trip, but he didn't bother to mention it.

"She's used to me," she pointed out. "I was in your house before she was, after all. She probably thinks I'm one of the pack." She got on reasonably well with Lexi, though Matt's dog was definitely Matt's dog.

"Probably," he reasoned, though he found the thought of his dog getting jealous of his girlfriend or vice versa amusing. "Should I get her a Valentine's Day gift, too?" he asked, almost giving away the fact that he'd either bought her something or was planning on doing so.

"Too?" Cas blinked, surprised to hear that he'd obviously been thinking about V-Day longer than just now. "Uh ....Well, uh, I guess you could get her a heart-shaped toy or something."

"Or a heart-shaped box of puppy treats," Matt replied with a grin, ignoring the look of surprise on her face. Did she really think he was going to overlook buying her a Valentine's Day present now that she was officially his girlfriend"

"Or just a really big bone," she laughed, licking her fingers clean before wiping them on a napkin. The youngest of six, and five of them brothers, she'd never learned to eat slowly.

He was still working on his cheeseburger when she'd already finished hers. "It's not going anywhere, you know," he reminded her, looking amused at the speed with which she'd inhaled her lunch.

She glanced down at her plate, only fries still to eat. "Sorry," she apologised ruefully. "Five brothers." She shrugged. "You learn fast not to be a slow eater when there are five pairs of hands waiting to steal food off your plate."

"It's okay," he replied with a warm smile, though he wondered why, after all this time living with him and his mom, she still hadn't realized neither of them was going to steal her food. Old habits were hard to break, after all. "You know I'd never do that, right?" he asked, even as he reached over to rob one of her fries, not because he wanted one but just to tease her.

She smacked his hand, laughing. "You have to be quicker than that to get at my plate, mister," she warned, exagerrating ninja hands across the table at him. "These hands are lethal."

"I bet they are," he replied with a grin, though from the look on his face, he was imagining her doing something else with them than karate-chopping him. "You have any homework?" he asked, changing the subject again as he finished off his burger.

She grimaced, dipping her fries in mayonnaise as she ate them. "When don't I have homework?" she pointed out - he was much better at the academia than she was. "I'm still struggling with that essay on black-tip sharks."

"Mm, I was just thinking maybe you'd like to go ice skating," he suggested, though it could probably wait, so long as the ice didn't melt. He had homework, too, but nothing that needed to be done right away.

"Really?" She paused, considering the contents of her wallet mentally for a moment. It was very tempting. "I, uh, I've never ice skated. Have you?"

"A few times. We had an indoor rink back home that we used to go to sometimes," he said. It went without saying that "we" probably included himself, his brother, and his mother, but not his father, though he didn't say so. It was an excuse to hold hands in public, anyway.

Not that he needed an excuse anymore, but that was beside the point. "I, uh ....yeah, that sounds like fun," she admitted almost shyly. "Promise you won't let me fall over too much?"

"On my honor," he said, raising his right hand and making the Boy Scout sign, as if that would prove his intention to keep that promise, though it might be fun to fall on top of each other once or twice, so long as no one got hurt.

She laughed quietly. "All right, let's go skating," she agreed. "Once we've finished eating, anyway. It's not like Fliss and Luc are done on shift for another few hours, anyway." And given that it was either Fliss or Matt's mother giving them a ride back to the Grove, that solved a few problems at once.

"I'll text Mom and let her know, and text Fliss for a ride later," he said, not really worried. One way or another, someone would be around to give them a ride home. "I'm thinking about buying a car, as soon as I have enough money saved," he admitted, dipping a couple of fries in catsup, and alluding to the fact that he wasn't just given everything in life.

"Well, you passed your test, that makes sense," Cas agreed. Hers was coming up; she was not looking forward to it. But she'd made a deal with her father - learn to drive a car before looking into learning to ride a motorcycle.

"Maybe I can teach you," he suggested. Though he didn't have a car of his own just yet, he did have a license, and the rules in Rhy'Din were a lot less stringent than those back home.

"I do need more practice," she admitted reluctantly. "On the maneuvers, anyway. My three-point turn is terrible. It's more like a fifty-point turn." It didn't help that her instructor had insisted on teaching her maneuvers in the city's busy streets, rather than taking advantage of all the quiet stretches of road just outside the walls.

As it happened, the news Jessica Foster had to share with her sons wasn't good news, but it wasn't necessarily bad either. It was all a matter of how the boys took it. Though she didn't ask them to leave, Cas and Fliss had enough sense to excuse themselves, allowing the little family to talk in private. They were going to find out what it was about sooner or later anyway. Both boys reacted differently, Lucas turning quiet and retreating with Fliss to their apartment where they could talk alone. He had already made the choice to separate himself from his father, and there was little love lost between them, but for Matt, it was different. From the look on his face when he exited the house he shared with his mother and Cas, it was obvious the youngest of the Foster boys was angry.

He slammed the door shut behind him, his face flushed with bitterness. There was pain there, too, beneath the surface, but he'd rather embrace the anger than feel the pain.

"He's divorcing Mom and disowning us," Matt said in a clipped voice, not angry with Cas but with his father. "He's making a bid for governor and says he needs to distance himself from the mistakes of his past," he said, using air quotes to denote his father's words. "So I guess we're not his sons anymore. We're just mistakes."

The door slamming certainly got Cas' attention, raising her head from her play withwith the ever-bouncy Lexi, his dog. She gave the adorable canine a warm pat, rising to her feet to look over at Matt as he vented. It was not good news. "He's the one making the mistake," she said quietly. "If he can't recognise that you are the best thing that ever happened to him, then he doesn't deserve you."

"I'm sure my father would say that becoming a senator was the best thing that ever happened to him," Matt said, feeling angry enough to punch someone, but it wasn't Cas or Lexi that he wanted to punch. "Walk with me?" he asked her. "I need to cool off."

"Sure." Tucking her hands into her pockets, she fell into step beside him, at a loss for what she could possibly say. The snow had been falling for longer on the Grove, ankle deep in soft drifts that crunched underfoot and offered plenty for Lexi to plunge through and shake from her fur.

"Good news is the divorce is final," he said, his coat hastily tossed over his shoulders and not buttoned or zipped, as the trudged through the snow. He didn't plan on going far; he just needed to walk off his anger, feeling a little like a volcano about to explode. "So, I guess there's nothing stopping Mom if she wants to remarry."

"That's moving a little fast, isn't it?" Cas asked as gently as she could. "Your mom doesn't seem the type to rush into something just because she can. And besides, it's a big change. You all need time to get used to it."

"No, I ....I didn't mean she's getting remarried. I just mean there's nothing stopping her now," Matt said, feeling a little confused by it all, even though he sort of knew this was coming in a way. "I just don't understand, Cas. We used to be so close once. What happened?"

Cas could guess what had happened - or rather, what had been revealed. But she couldn't just outright tell him that his father was a bigot. "Some people don't like change," she shrugged. "They can't handle it, it doesn't fit in their world. It's not fair, but that's how it happens."

"I know what this is about, Cas," Matt continued, in complete agreement with her, even if he didn't know what she was thinking. "It's about me and Luc. It's about us being different. It's about Dad not wanting to risk his lofty position in government because he has a couple of freaks for sons."

"You are not a freak," she shot back vehemently. "Neither is your brother. He's the freak for not having enough basic decency to be able to see past what makes you just a little different!"

"His words, not mine," Matt pointed out, frowning sadly. He wasn't sure if he was ready to let go of the anger yet, a little afraid of what might follow. "I just don't get it. How can you just decide your family isn't your family anymore?" he asked.

"When they weren't your family to begin with," she told him sadly. "I hate to say it, Matt, but it's looking more and more like your dad wanted props to make him look good, rather than a wife and children."

Matt came to a halt, turning to face Cas, a look of shock on his face. "Are you saying we were nothing more than window dressing?" he asked, shocked to hear her say it, though that increasingly seemed to be the case.

She winced, hating that she was the one pointing this out to him. "I, uh ..." She hesitated, but chose to go with honesty. "It seems so," she said regretfully. "I'm so sorry, Matt."

The news of that opened another whole new can of worms. Was this just about politics then or was there something else going on in his father's life that he didn't want anyone to know about' But then, he wasn't sure he even cared. His father had decided his sons were no longer his sons, and that was that. "Luc said as far as he's concerned, our father is dead," Matt told her, the anger starting to waver, replaced by sadness.

"Luc cut all ties a long time ago," she reminded him gently. "He's done his grieving already. But you're allowed to grieve about this; you're allowed to be angry and sad and disappointed. Don't ever think that you're not."

"I am angry," he confirmed, wishing in a way he could stay angry. Anger seemed easier to handle than grief. "But mostly I'm disappointed," he added. "I mean, I knew Mom and Dad were getting divorced, but I never expected him to completely dismiss us from his life. What kind of father does that?"

"Someone who never deserved to be a father in the first place," she said, her voice quiet. She glanced away over the snow, turning back to lay her hand against his chest. "I know it hurts, but it doesn't change anything, not really. He won't be a presence in your life, but has he been a presence since you grew gills" Has he cared at all what you need since you grew into the amazing man you are?"

He frowned at her, but it was more contemplative than sad. He didn't think of himself as either amazing or a man. He was just a silly mixed up kid trying to find his true purpose in life. "You're the one that's amazing, Cas," he told her, his voice softening.

Her smile was lopsided as she looked up at him. "I'm a farmer's daughter who likes to swim," she pointed out in amusement. "Who got very lucky when she met you. So no, I'm not amazing. But I am constantly amazed by, and proud of, you."

"Maybe we both got lucky," he said, his smile returning, though there was a hint of sadness behind it. It was going to take some time to work though the feelings his father's betrayal had stirred in him, but he was lucky to have a mother and brother who loved him, and a girlfriend who understood him.

Her hand rose to stroke his cheek as she stepped closer, lips gently brushing his. "Here's to staying lucky," she murmured, the closest she'd come to stating outright that she didn't want this to change.

Change was a difficult thing, especially when it was filled with pain and grief, but sometimes change was necessary. Not all change was bad, but like her, he was hoping nothing ever changed between them. Forever was a long time, but even at the tender age of sixteen, he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with this very special young woman. "I'm lucky so long as I'm with you," he told her, brushing another kiss to her lips.

Maybe all first loves felt like that, maybe they didn't. It didn't really matter what everyone else thought. Cas was certain she didn't want whatever she had with Matt to end, and with an example like Lucas and Fliss to look to, there was no reason to think that it might. "Is that good luck or bad luck you're courting there?" she teased impishly, nuzzling close for a long moment.

"Good luck, I think!" he replied, the teasing smirk returning to his face. Was he really all that shocked at his father's betrayal" Was it going to change anything in the long run" Probably not, but it hurt just the same, and yet, the anger was fading, the smiles returning, all because of Cas. "Maybe you're my good luck charm."

"What, like a lucky rabbit's foot?" she asked with a soft laugh. "Does that mean you have to rub me in just the right way to get what you want?" It took a moment for the penny to drop about what she had just said, then she burst out laughing, her cheeks rosy with more than the chill.