When the Moon Fell in Love with the Sun

Katelyn gave up on hoping for Brendon to come home as soon as Spencer came over to help set up for the party. Her friend didn't ask what was going on, and she wasn't going to tell. Spencer merely set up platters of veggies, cheese, and crackers, while Katelyn cleaned obsessively and made sure her wine was chilled.

The girl was wearing her favorite dress in hopes of it brightening her spirit, but it didn't make up for the fact that her significant other wasn't at her side, looking down at her with his loving eyes and bright smile. She had to wear a smile of her own tonight, no matter how blatantly fake it was, because she hadn't heard from Brendon whatsoever. It wasn't really a surprise though; he had been livid with her the night before, so she didn't expect to hear from him until he had completely cooled down.

"Katie, people are here…" Spencer pulled the girl out of her reverie when he noticed that she hadn't heard the door bell. She looked up at her friend, flashing him a weak smile before taking a deep breath and heading to the door.

"Graham! I've missed you, cuz!" Katelyn pulled her younger cousin into a hug, breathing a sigh of relief when she realized that it wasn't one of Brendon's friends, but they were on their way and she would have to deal with them.

Once all of the guests had arrived, Katelyn found herself flitting between people, socializing and trying to compensate for the lack of Brendon. She made up some excuse about a family thing, apologizing to all of his friends for his absence. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, except for Katelyn, who wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and hide from the world for a week.

While talking to Graham about the architecture of her new home an hour into it, Katelyn swore she heard the garage door open.

"Did you hear that?" She cut Graham off mid-sentence, glancing around nervously to see if anyone from the room was missing, but was relieved when everyone was accounted for.

"Hear what, Lyn?" Graham shook his head, popping a cracker topped with a square of cheese into his mouth and shrugging.

A few minutes later, an arm wrapped around her waist and she was engulfed by the familiar scent of Brendon. Without missing a beat, Katelyn asked if his family thing was a false alarm, to which he nodded. She didn't even have to look at him to know that he had done so, and she wasn't going to anyways. Graham greeted Brendon before making a tactful getaway, leaving the pair alone in the living room amongst their friends that were all in their own conversations.

"Nice of you to show up." Katelyn scanned the room casually, trying not to show any emotion as she distanced herself from him, making sure he released her waist.

"We need to talk…" Brendon looked at her, trying to catch the girl's gaze only to be unsuccessful.

"I don't really want to talk to you right now, Brendon. Go apologize to your friends for your tardiness."

Without so much as a glance, she turned on her heel and walked into the kitchen. Although she knew that they would have to talk sometime in the near future, Katelyn wanted to put it off for as long as humanly possible.

Throughout the rest of the party, Brendon talked with his friends and joked around with them all while watching Katelyn out of the corner of his eye. Her body language was stiff and forced and she refused to look at him for the rest of the night. No matter how angry he was with her, Brendon hated seeing the girl have to put up a facade for her friends. He knew he was going to have to deal with her later, but for now he wanted the girl to at least enjoy herself for the time being.

"Have some fun, you look miserable." Brendon spoke quietly, trying to remove any harshness from his voice only to somewhat succeed. Katelyn looked up at him as she uncorked a bottle of white wine to bring around, saying that she was miserable.

"Just enjoy yourself for now. We'll talk later."

"No, we won't be talking later. I'll be going to Graham's for a bit to help him with his French." Her cousin had decided to wait until the last minute to fulfill his foreign language requirement, so now he was in his last quarter and needed assistance.

"Are you fucking joking? You're not leaving until we hash this out." Brendon hissed, leaning into her and speaking quietly, letting his warm breath fall across her exposed neck and collar bone.

"Please, I don't want to do this now. Let's get through this last hour and see where it goes from there." Brendon let out a low growl, annoyed with the fact that no matter how furious he was, she could still get to him.

"Help your cousin another day. I have plans for you once everyone's gone." He ran his fingers along her smooth back, enjoying the fact that the dress left her soft skin exposed for him. Brendon noticed that she visibly shuddered, and that brought a smirk to his full lips as he leaned in to place a kiss on her right shoulder blade.

"Cut it out, Brendon." Katelyn shrugged his hands off of her, grabbing the bottle and returning to the living room.

She knew what he wanted, but she also knew that he wasn't going to be getting it as long as they were fighting.

Brendon was more annoyed than he should have been after Katelyn had turned him down. By the time the party was over, most of the guests had already bid their farewells and gone home. Katelyn sent Graham off with tons of leftovers, saying that she knew what it was like being a poor college kid. Spencer stuck around to help clean up, despite Brendon's protests. Even Ryan had been able to take a hint and left a little early.

"Go home Spencer. I'll handle cleanup. Just get out of here." Brendon was fast approaching his last nerve with his friend, who got the hint and made his exit before things could get ugly.

"Why did you send Spencer home? We have so many glasses to wash..." Katelyn groaned, setting her hands on her hips and shooting Brendon an annoyed look as she turned away from the full sink.

"We can do dishes later." The man turned off the running tap, invading Katelyn's personal space and making her feel nervous.

Before she could ask what he was doing, Brendon scooped the girl up in his arms and took her upstairs, ignoring her protests the entire time.

Once in their bedroom, Brendon tossed Katelyn onto the bed, not wasting a single second before attacking her neck with his hungry lips. Katelyn tangled her fingers in his soft hair, torn between telling him to stop and begging him for more. Brendon was acting like a wild, sex starved animal that was hell bent on bruising her skin.

"Bren, you're gonna give me a hickey." Katelyn tried to tug him away from her neck so she could kiss him, but he wouldn't budge. Instead, he mumbled that was what he intended to do, sending shivers along her spine. The girl couldn't just lay there while Brendon's hands roamed her body and slid up underneath her short dress, so she tried to push him away.

"I'm still mad at you..."

Taking a hold of both of her wrists, Brendon single-handedly kept the girl in place while he used his other hand to continue exploring.

"Brendon. I'm serious. This isn't funny.." Katelyn held back a groan, trying her best not to egg him on but ended up doing just that. His rough kisses were beginning to eat away at her resolve, and Katelyn gave in.

---

Around 4 in the morning, Katelyn sat on the living room sofa, playing with her messy hair and contemplating what had just happened in her bedroom. That had been some of the best sex she and Brendon had ever had, and it was angry sex.

Yes, she was still annoyed by their fight, and didn't want to act like it hadn't happened, but Brendon would probably overrule her decision.

"Kate, come to bed..." Brendon's, thick, sleep-filled voice floated from the foot of the stairs, making the girl look up and suppress a smile at his disheveled appearance. Katelyn told him that she wasn't tired, so he came into the living room and curled up in one of the comfy chairs.

"I'm sorry I said that I should have gone go New York." The girl watched Brendon frown as he ran his fingers through his already messy hair. He nodded slightly, acknowledging her apology.

"So you're not gonna apologize for the Tosh comment or freaking out or not coming home until two hours into the party? Tosh is the one that gave me the day off!" As much as Katelyn didn't want to get into it with him at that moment, it was bound to happen sometime soon.

When Brendon didn't respond, Katelyn let out a deep sigh. It was one thing for him to not know what to say, but to have tons of things bottled up and do nothing was something completely different.

"If you're not gonna talk to me, then I'm gonna take a break from this."

Brendon's posture immediately stiffened and he sat up in the chair, gazing at the girl intently.

"What do you mean by 'this'?" His brown eyes darkened angrily, and he was now alert and wide awake.

"I mean that we need to take a break. Whatever's going on with us right now isn't healthy and I think we should step back for a little while." Katelyn hated saying this, but she knew it was true. Between the way Brendon had freaked out and how he hadn't come home last night, she knew that time apart would be good for them.

"What's gonna happen then?" Brendon seemed somber now, his expression rather serious as he waited for Katelyn's response.

"I'm just gonna go spend some time with Elaine and Jess. They moved up to Redondo without Christina and have been begging for me to see their place."

"So you're just gonna leave? For how long? I don't want to take any kind of break, Kate. I spent way too much time away from you and I won't let that happen ever again." Brendon was starting to put up a fight, which actually surprised the girl.

"If we don't, I'm afraid that we're going to start resenting each other. This is only going to make us stronger." She added that she would call Jess in the morning and see if she could spend the week there, which felt like a punch to the gut for Brendon.

"Well, whatever happens over the next few weeks, I love you. Don't forget that I'll do anything for you."

Katelyn got up and knelt in front of the man, pushing his bangs back and kissing his forehead.

"I love you too, Brenny." Taking his hand, she led him up to bed and laid down beside him so that he could sleep easy for the rest of the night.

---

Katelyn spent the next few days in Redondo with her friends, going to the beach and working. If Tosh had noticed that something was going on with the girl, he did a great job hiding it. The Dave after Dentist segment on the show had gone really well, even without her being there. Katelyn hadn't spoken to Brendon at all since the morning she left, and it was eating her away. She missed him more than anything and it was worse knowing that he was at their house and she wasn't there. The girl didn't know how Brendon was doing because Spencer wouldn't say anything, but she had a feeling that he was in a similar state.

Katelyn sat at her desk, staring at her computer screen blankly as she searched YouTube for a hilarious hidden treasure.

"Hey Red, what do you want for lunch? It's my treat since it's Friday." Tosh leaned against her desk, watching with an intense curiosity that would have made the girl nervous, had she seen it.

"Red?" He tapped her shoulder, making the girl jump with fright. She glanced up at the tall man, rubbing her face in a tired manner, trying to appear alert.

"What's up, Bossman?"

Tosh repeated his question and took her order before requesting that she come with him to the sandwich shop.

---

Brendon and Spencer were eating at a Los Angeles deli, talking and having a good time when he saw a flash of copper hair out of his peripheral. Taking a second glance, he noticed that it was Katelyn, and she was standing beside her boss at the counter as he read from a piece of paper to the cashier. Brendon pointed her out to Spencer, who noted that she hadn't spotted them.

He watched Spencer pull out his phone and send off a quick text, then look up at Katelyn expectantly. They watched her glance at her phone and then scan the room, smiling when her gaze landed on the two familiar men. Katelyn let her fingers glide over Tosh's upper arm, nodding to the guys and saying a few words once she had his attention. When he nodded in return, she crossed the room and greeted Brendon and Spencer.

Brendon stood up and hugged the girl once Spencer had done so, and was surprised when she kissed his cheek and smiled warmly at him.

"How've you been?" Her quiet voice held an air of uncertainty, like she didn't know how Brendon was going to react to seeing her with Tosh.

"I've been better. You here picking up lunch for the office?" He motioned to the tall man sitting near the counter sipping a drink and sent a small wave his way.

"Yeah, gotta feed the troops. Um, I miss you a lot." Katelyn shot an awkward glance toward Spencer, who took it as his cue to use the restroom. Once he was gone, Brendon took her hands with his and asked when she was coming home.

"Bogart and I miss you, Kate. It isn't the same without you at the house... It's like a huge part of me is missing." Brendon didn't usually admit that to anyone, but he felt like whenever he wasn't with her it was like missing a limb. He felt lost and alone, no matter how many people he was with or what he was doing, and it didn't help when he was on tour for long periods of time without seeing the girl.

"I know, Bren. Spending time with Elaine and Jess is nice, but it isn't home."

He risked a glance up from her soft hands to her hazel eyes and asked just where home was to her.

"Home is where you are." The certainty in her voice sent a warmth through Brendon and he wanted nothing more than to take her home for an afternoon of love making. Things never go according to plan, though.

Daniel's name was called, signifying that their order was ready.

"Well, I have to get back to work. Duty calls. I'll see you at home, okay?" Katelyn pressed her lips to his, making his cheeks turn red and his smile widen.