The brunette stood silently next to the entwined figures on the couch. She nodded her approval. Damn, they make a nice pair. I wonder why they just didn’t go up to bed? Slightly proud of her own matchmaking abilities, C.C. nudged her sister and waited for some sign of life before speaking.

“Hey, you going to sleep here all night or let her go to bed proper like?” C.C. asked as she watched the blue of her sister’s eyes slowly come to life.

Brooke swallowed first, then whispered sleepily, “Hey, you ok? Didn’t get sick, did you?”

“Me?” C.C. pointed to her own chest, “Hell no, I can hold my liquor.” The young woman tried to keep her mouth closed tight, but her body betrayed her. “Hic…” the sound escaped her lips as she covered her mouth with her hand.

“You sure?”

“Excuse me.”

“Okay, C.C. if you say so.”

“Besides, I threw up before I went to bed.” C.C. shrugged her shoulders.

“Thanks for that news bulletin, Sis.” Brooke felt Sam begin to stir in her arms. She looked down at the blonde as a smile came to her face. “I tried to talk her into going upstairs earlier…she said she was too comfortable here.”

“Comfortable huh?” The brunette winked at her sister, then quickly clamped her hand over her mouth as another hiccup came to the surface.

Shaking her head slightly at the antics of her youngest sister, Brooke tried hard not to laugh. “You should drink some water. And yes, I’m very comfortable,” the older woman nestled back into the blonde head with her cheek.

“Brooke…aren’t you scared?”

“Scared?” Worried blue eyes searched C.C.’s face. “What do you mean, scared? What would I be scared of?”

“Scared of falling in love with her.” The brunette reached out to touch her sister’s shoulder in a comforting manner, “What is she going to think when she knows who you are?” C.C. paused then continued, “Or does she know already?”

Brooke took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly as she pondered the questions. “Come on, let’s talk in the kitchen.” She carefully extracted herself from around Sam, making sure not to wake her.

“Kitchen, living room, makes no difference to me,” C.C. mumbled as she headed toward the hall.

Finally out from under Sam, Brooke kissed her on the forehead, then whispered in her ear as she slowly drew away, “Love you.”

The blonde head shifted slightly and the nearly inaudible mumble of “Love you” was reflexively answered back.

Brooke remained standing there for a moment, then smiled and walked out of the room. Entering the kitchen, she dimmed the harsh lights and pulled out two chairs from under the table for both herself and her sister. “Have a seat, C.C.”

Taking a drink from the glass of water that she held in her hand, the brunette turned off the faucet and moved in the direction of the offered chair, bringing the glass with her. “Does she know?”

“About me? Who I am?”

“Yeah, that and how much you love her.” C.C.’s eyes pinned her sister’s, allowing her no room to run.

Brooke closed her eyes, shaking her head. “No, not who I am.” She bit at her lip, “I hope she knows how much I love her.” The dark-haired woman smirked, “I find myself telling her every chance I get.” The woman laughed out loud, “I e-mail her and tell her. I call her on her cell phone just to tell her.”

“You’re really in love…” C.C. looked directly at her sister, “Aren’t you, Sis?”

The older woman let her eyes drift. “I can’t imagine life without her.”

The younger brunette started to jump up from the chair but was stopped when her head started spinning. She placed a hand against her forehead and moved to grab the pad and pencil next to the phone on the kitchen wall.

“C.C. what are you doing?” Brooke watched her sister, totally amazed by her actions.

“I got to remember to write this day down on the calendar,” the young woman exaggerated her actions as she grabbed the small calendar from the wall and pretended to write on it. “Brooke Loran gives her heart away.”

“Funny, C.C.,” the older woman stuck her tongue out at her sister. “James said something similar to that last week.”

“James?” A shocked look came to C.C.’s face. “You’re talking to James after all these years?”

The dark-haired woman shrugged her shoulders, “Uh…” then looked away, “Yeah…I’m going to help him and Peter out.” She cleared her throat, “Produce their new shit.”

“Produce…is that all?” C.C. studied her sister intently.

“That’s all.” Brooke nodded, more to reassure herself than her sister. “I don’t think I can get all wrapped up in that again.”

“I thought you didn’t want to work with them again,” C.C. took a drink from her glass. “James, especially.”

“Well, it’s costing him,” Brooke grinned at her sister. “And no, I sure didn’t want to work with him.” The dark-haired woman crossed her arms in front of her chest, “Besides, Peter’s not so bad when he’s not being influenced by James.”

“So, what made the difference? Why are you doing it?” C.C. studied her sister as the older woman first looked out the kitchen window, then in the direction of the living room. “Don’t tell me that Sam has something to do with it?”

“Well…” the blush slowly crept up Brooke’s neck and the older woman squeaked out a rather weak reply, “…kind of.” There was silence for a moment until Brooke chose to speak once again. “You know that her birthday is in a couple of weeks, right?”

C.C. nodded her head. “So, what’s that have to do with it?

The older woman sighed. “I asked her if she could have anything in the world, what would she like for her birthday.”

Brown eyes stared at the older woman, stunned by the admission. “God, Brooke, you really have fallen off that deep end.”

Brooke now looked directly at her sister. “She said that she wanted to see Anti-Zero and Brooke Loran in concert.”

“Well, that’s obvious.” C.C. pushed her chair back and stood up, walking toward the sink for more water, “She’s had a crush on them for as long as she can remember.”

“Sooo…” she drew the word out before continuing. “James agreed. One night with all the songs, even the stuff we never released.”

Turning around from the sink, C.C. shook her head. “And how are you going to pull that one off?” She asked her sister, then added, “Loran hasn’t made an appearance in years.”

“I know,” Brooke ran her sinewy fingers through her long, dark locks, “Well, I’m not cutting my hair again, that’s for sure.” She thought for a moment, then added more determined than ever. “I’ll pull it off. I have to. That’s what she wants.”

The brunette walked over to her sister and put herself in the older woman’s place. “I can see it now…” she tapped Brooke on the shoulder. “Happy Birthday, Sam. Oh, did I forget to tell you? I’m Brooke Loran.” The woman imitated her sister with a cock to her head and a raised eyebrow.

There was silence for a moment as both women replayed the scenario in their heads, each one ending with a different outcome.

“I just hope that she’ll want me when it’s over.” The words were spoken slightly louder than a whisper as Brooke got up from the table and walked over to look out the kitchen window.

“Want you?” C.C. couldn’t believe her sister’s insecurity. “Hell, Brooke, she probably masturbated for the first time with Loran’s picture in full view, thinking it was the drummer touching her, driving her into a heated frenzy.”

Brooke couldn’t think of a thing to say as the blush began to creep onto her face at the mere thought of Sam doing that exact thing. Lost in a dream, she continued to stare out the window. “I love her, C.C.,” she closed her eyes and lowered her head. “And I’m scared to death that I’ll lose her.” Blue eyes now stared back out the window. “I want her to love me for me…not Loran.”

Feeling her sister’s pain, C.C. turned away, leaning on the sink with her backside. “So, how are you going to know which one she really loves?”

“I don’t know,” Brooke wiped a few stray tears from her cheeks, happy that C.C. couldn’t see them. “I don’t know what to do, Chase.”

“Well, you’d better think of something ’cause that birthday is a little over a month away.” C.C. rolled her eyes. “Talk about surprises.”

“I never thought the day would come when I’d be asking you what to do,” the older woman smirked.

“Face it, Sis,” C.C. grinned at being able to help her older sister. “You’re not too experienced here in matters of the heart.”

Brooke shook her head and sighed, “No, I’m not.” There was a long pause before she finally confided in her sister. “Hell, C.C., I love Randi and Terri but I’m closer to you than anyone. And I can tell you that every time I try to think of life without her…I…I can’t even breathe.”

With a wink and a nod, C.C. reached over and patted Brooke’s shoulder. “Just let ol’ C.C. figure something out. Hell, I got the two of you together, didn’t I?

“Yeah, but can you keep us together?” Blue eyes drove home their point. “I can’t lose her. I’m terrified that if I do, it’ll be because of me. Well…” she paused for a brief second, “because of Loran.”

“Brooke, let’s be serious here. What would it take for you to know?”

“Honestly, Chase,” she stared out the window in a daze, “I don’t know.”

“Come on, Brooke. What would it take for you to really know that she loves you? A word…a phrase…a pledge…an act…what?”

The taller woman turned around and for the first time, C.C. noticed the tear-stained cheeks of her older sister. “God, you’re not kidding here, are you?”

“No, I’m not,” Brooke hung her head. “Part of me doesn’t want to tell her at all, but I know I can’t do that. It’s like I’d be lying.”