Three years later, Hannah was released from the prison she’d been in, as they’d finally found proof that she hadn’t murdered her father and three of his fans. She was upset, alone, and still confused, as well as a bit bitter. She was wandering around, and soon found herself at the mall that she’d been dragged out of three years earlier, after being wrongly accused.
“I got nobody to love…’Cause I’m just not good enough….” She sang to herself softly.
To her, what she sang was true. After her father had been murdered, her mother had taken off and never been seen again – so she’d been told. And as for the other Backstreet Boys – her uncles – they’d never once come to visit her in the three years she’d been locked up.
She wiped away the lone tears that trickled down her face softly. She didn’t want to cry - she was free now, and able to do whatever she pleased – even if she was all alone.
“Hannah?” A raspy voice came from behind her, as she’d stopped just inside the mall doors.
Hannah’s eyes went wide – she’d know that voice anywhere! She whirled around, gasping in surprise.
“Uncle A.J.!!!”
A.J. smiled widely and scooped her up in a tight hug, only putting her down when she shoved him away angrily.
“What’s wrong, Princess?”
“Don’t call me that!” Hannah yelled, covering her ears. “You’re not allowed!”
The other three Boys appeared then, and stared at her in shock. “Hannah?”
Hannah turned to glare at them. “What!?!?”
“What’re you doing out?” Nick asked.
“Coming to kill you too,” Hannah snapped. “What the Hell do you think, Nick?”
“Hey, watch the language,” Brian told her. “We’re just surprised to see you, is all.”
“Well, let’s just say, I’m even more surprised y’all are still hangin’ around here.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Howie asked, narrowing his eyes.
“Don’t give me that look, Howie!” Hannah growled. “Y’all are too good to come see me when I’m locked up, yet yah just magically appear at the place I decide to go too once released.”
“We did go to see you!” Nick argued. “They just wouldn’t let us!”
“Pfft!” Hannah scoffed. “My ass you did.”
A.J. grabbed hold of her arms, when she tried to walk past them. “Listen here, Hannah Marie,” he said firmly, not one to use her two names often. “Just because they wouldn’t let us visit, don’t mean we never cared none or never thought about you – ‘cause we did! Every single frigin’ day you were gone, we thought and worried about you!”
Hannah shrunk back a bit as A.J. stared into her eyes, letting her see just exactly how much he still cared – how much they all still cared.
“Why?” She choked out.
“Why what?” A.J. demanded.
“Why…care?”
“Dammit Hannah!” A.J. exclaimed, still holding her arms tight in his grasp – but not tight enough to hurt her. “You’re family, remember?”
“But it was my fault!” Hannah cried. “It’s my fault he’s dead! I led those bad people here! I led them to him! Me!”
“Hannah, it was not your fault!” A.J. snapped. “Believe me, it was not your fault he got killed!”
“But they were after me!” Hannah wailed. “They wanted me to suffer! I killed my Daddy!”
A.J. shook her slightly. “You did not - I repeat, not kill your father!”
Hannah broke down in tears then, burying her face into A.J. after he pulled her into his warm, loving embrace.
A.J. held the sobbing girl tightly. He’d told the others all along that Hannah would blame herself for everything, and that she’d be a complete wreck.
The other Boys watched silently, hating the fact that A.J. had been right. They hadn’t ever wanted to believe just how hard the little girl they all loved would take everything. True, she wasn’t as little now, but in some ways, she still was that scared little nine-year-old girl who’d walked into utter chaos that lone day three years ago.
