August 15, 1989

“Lying beside you, here in the dark, feeling…” he immediately stopped singing when he noticed that he struck the wrong chord on his guitar, which caused an awful pitch to sound out.

“Nicky?”

“Feeling…” he sang out, picking his chords to see which one matched the pitch of the song.

“Nicky!”

When he finally found the right chord, he continue on. “Feeling your heart beat with mine, softly you whisper, you’re so sincere, how could our love be so blind…”

“Gosh damnit Nicky!”

“We sailed on together, we drifted apart, and here you are by my side… so now I…” before he could belt out the chorus to Journey’s song he had just learned to play on his guitar, someone began pounding on his bedroom door.

“Nick!” a female hollered on the other side as she continued banging on the door.

Nickolas Gene Carter sighed heavily as he placed his guitar down on his bed and walked over to open his door. “What?” he snapped as he ripped the door open, revealing his older sister, Billie Jean Carter, on the other side.

“Mom wants you to run to the grocery store and pick up a few things.” she replied as she turned to walk away.

Nick stepped out of his room to stop her from leaving, “Why can’t you go get it?” He didn’t understand it, his parents always sent him, the second oldest, to get or do everything. He was only 9-years-old, and his sister, who was the oldest, was eight years older than him, making her 17. Other kids his age weren’t even allowed to walk to school by themselves.

“I’ve got important things to do.” she answered with a shrug as she continued to walk away.

Nick was quick to follow her, “What do you have to do that’s so important?” he asked as he followed her into their living room. When she didn’t reply, he stood there and watched as she grabbed a video tape and had pushed it into their VCR. “BJ!” he whined when he realized what her ‘important’ duty was. “How in the hell is this so important?”

“Nickolas, language.” his mother said in a warning tone as she passed by the living room.

BJ snickered, “The faster you go to get the things Mom wants, the faster you can come back to play on your… ukulele.” BJ simply replied as she got into her yoga stance.

“It’s a guitar.” Nick gritted out. “And I still don’t see why you can’t go and get it, you’re older anyway.”

“I already told you that I’ve got some important things to do.”

“Well, the faster you go to get the things Mom wants, the faster you can come back to do your stupid yoga stuff!” Nick fired back.

“Aww Nicky,” BJ cooed as she moved to pinch Nick’s cheeks, “you’re too cute, learning from the best!”

Nick ripped himself away from the offending hands and glared at his sister; he really hated that nickname. “Mom!” he cried out as he walked out of the living room to find his mom. He walked into their bathroom and found his mom taking all of their dirty clothes out of the hamper and placing it into another basket. “Mom, why can’t-”

“Nick, sorry for asking you last minute, but I really need you to help mommy out and run to the grocery store to get a few things.”

“But I was busy too!” Nick tried to explain, but his mother kept rambling on.

“Look sweetie, I know and I’m sorry, but I really need you to go get these things because I’ll need it to cook dinner. I’m making your favorite by the way, lasagna.”

“I’m always doing everything, and BJ never does shit!” Nick snapped.

“Nickolas, I already told you about that language! And for your information, I’m gonna be having your sister watch your other younger siblings, so help from both parties would be GREATLY appreciated. I would run to the store and get the things myself, but your father is on the way home and this house is still a mess, so I’d like to have everything at least descent before your father gets home.”

“But Mom…” Nick tried again, but his mother ignored him.

“Thank you honey.” she said as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek and proceeded to carry the full laundry basket out of the bathroom. “The list and the money is on the kitchen counter by the way, and don’t forget to put on a jacket before you leave.”

Nick sighed heavily as he watched his mother walk away. He began muttering his protest as he made his way into their small kitchenette, and just like his mom said, there was the list and the money on the counter. He grabbed the two items and had shoved it into his pocket, making his way out of the house, not even bothering to grab a jacket on the way out.

He opened the door and stepped out into the long hallway, looking around to find one of their neighbors just entering their apartment unit. “Hi Mr. and Mrs. Scavelli.” he voiced out, causing the couple to turn around.

“Hi Nickolas.” Mr. Scavelli answered in a quick tone as he hurriedly opened his door and walked inside, his wife soon following suit and quickly closing the door behind her.

Nick stared at the now closed door in confusion, but shrugged it off and began making his way over towards the elevators. Sighing heavily, he pushed the “down” button and waited for a while; but finally looked up to find that both elevators were on the eighth floor.

“Great.” Nick groaned out. He really didn’t want to wait for the elevators, but then again they were only on the third floor. Without wasting another second, he turned and began sprinting down the stairs down to the lobby.

When he reached the bottom, he started to walk out of the complex but found himself walking slower than usual when he passed by a group of men that stood out rather painfully. They were all dressed in nice suits, almost a business attire, and while three of them stood at the receptionist counter, the other suited men lingered and stood around.

Nick kept his head down but his attention alert, and he could’ve swore that he heard the receptionist tell the three men that stood before her “Apartment number 308.”, but he wasn’t entirely sure what he heard. Due to the fact that he was not paying attention, Nick slammed hard into something, causing him to fly back and land on his rear.

“Whoa kid!”

Nick looked up to realize that he had just walked into one of the suited men that made him feel really uncomfortable. He was a large Italian looking man, decked out in a black pinstriped tuxedo. Nick found himself gaping at the man as he watched him rip off his dark shades. Before Nick could say or do anything, the suited Italian man he walked into bent down and had grabbed Nick by his shoulders, hauling him up to his feet with ease.

“You should really watch where you’re going next time.” he said in a stern voice.

Nick nodded mutely and quickly made his way out of the complex. Once he walked out, he began walking down the sidewalk towards the nearest grocery store. He winced slightly, a dull ache throbbing through his backside with every step he took. He wasn’t sure why those men made him feel uneasy, all he could wonder was why they were there and which unit they were going to.

“We have arrived sir.”

He looked up at his chauffeur, who had opened the limo door and held it open for him. He gave a slight nod as he pushed himself out of the seat and climbed out of the limo. He stepped out onto the sidewalk and had straightened out his pure white tuxedo and the rich golden brown mink coat he wore over it.

“Wait here.” he instructed his chauffeur as he made his way into the apartment complex they were parked outside of.

Two suited men that were standing by the door had immediately reached for the handles and had pulled and held the door open for him to walk through. Once he was inside, he slowly strolled over to the receptionist counter, where three of his main men stood.

“Roberto.” one of the three men addressed him while the other two slightly bowed to acknowledge his presence.

“Where is he?” was all Roberto asked.

“Apartment number 308.” the man who had addressed him replied.

Roberto casually made his way over towards the elevators, waiting patiently for one of the two cabs to reach the bottom level. Once the left elevator’s cab reached the bottom, it sounded out a *ding* and the doors slid open. He stepped onto the elevator first, followed by an entourage of men in black tuxedos. As Roberto began making his way towards “Apartment 308”, two men followed him close behind while the other dispersed and began guarding the floor.

“So, are we gonna be nice and knock or should we make a grand entrance?” Roberto asked no one in particular.

The man on his left pulled out a key from his pocket. “We were able to get the receptionist to give us the extra key.”

Roberto smirked as he slightly backed away from the door, “I always love making a grand entrance.”

The man with the key reached out and had placed it in the keyhole, jiggling it around until the door clicked. He twisted the knob and opened the door, holding it open for Roberto to walk in. BJ, who was still in the living room doing her yoga workout, turned around thinking it was her younger brother walking through the door, but gasped when she found a mob of suited men making their way into their unit.

“Dad!” she screamed out as she ran out of the living room.

Roberto turned towards the two men that were standing behind him. “Someone go take care of her.”

As BJ continued running through the hall to try and find her father, she immediately came to a halt when she felt something hard and sharp slam into her back. She stood there motionless for a while, until she felt her body jerk forward as more bullets entered her body. Her legs immediately gave way, causing her to collapse down to her knees and crumble to the floor, a pool of blood flowing from her body.

Upon hearing her daughter scream and the sound of gunshots, Jane immediately ran out into the hall, to find her eldest daughter lying on the floor, dead, and a group of men standing a few feet away from her corpse.

“Oh my god…” Jane choked out as tears immediately filled her eyes. “Billie!” she screamed as she ran over to her fallen daughter, looking her lifeless form over as she grabbed BJ’s head and placed it upon her lap.

Roberto stepped forward, taking the scene in. “Where’s your husband?”

Through tear clouded eyes, Jane glared up at the man who was speaking to her. “Why did you kill my baby girl, why?” she cried out.

Roberto took a deep breath in and sighed, “I’m gonna ask you again… where is your husband?”

“I don’t know…” Jane cried in a hush voice.

Roberto stood there for a while, staring down at the broken woman in front of her. Without warning, he shot out his hand and had grabbed a fistful of her hair, hauling her to her feet. “This is the last time I’m asking you, where the fuck is your husband?” he spat out this time.

“I don’t know, I don’t fucking know!” Jane screamed her reply as Roberto’s grip on her hair tightened.

Meanwhile, Bob was hiding behind the wall, peering from around the corner to see what was happening. As soon as he heard the gunshots go off, he quickly made his way to Leslie and had told her to grab the twins, Angel and Aaron, and to hide in the closet, making her promise that they would stay in the closet no matter what.

“Jane,” Robert said in a soft voice, “you’re only making this harder on your family. We came here for your husband, all we want to do is talk to him. None of this had to happen.” he said as he gestured down to the corpse, that was now sending a odious stench into the atmosphere.

Jane looked down at her dead daughter again, tears running down her face. “He’s not here.” she whispered.

Roberto stared at her and shook his head. He rose his hand and snapped two times, and the man standing behind him rose his gun and shot Jane right in the head. Bob, who was still hiding behind the wall, gasped as he saw the bullet tear through his wife’s head, causing blood to splatter out.

“Bobby!” Roberto called out in a sing-song voice. “Come out, come out, wherever you are…”

Bob pushed himself away from the wall he was hiding behind and was looking for somewhere to go. There wasn’t many places he could hide, their apartment consisting of three rooms, one bathroom and a little kitchenette that led right into the small living room. He had decided that he needed to get away from the rooms, for that’s where his other kids were, and had began making his way to the kitchenette, hoping that he could lead the men away from the rooms.

As soon as Bob entered the kitchen, he found a man digging through their refrigerator, but he was oblivious to Bob being there, for his back was facing him. Just as Bob turned around to walk back the way he came, he found himself facing a suited man that stood behind him.

“Going somewhere Bobby?” the man asked with a smirk.

Bob quickly backed away from him, looking around the kitchen, realizing that he had nowhere to go. Roberto stepped into the kitchen, walking slowly and casually towards Bob.

“Bobby, Bobby, Bobby…” Roberto said as he shook his head, “why are you hiding from me?”

Bob didn’t answer. Instead, he just stood there, feeling their stares burning holes into his body. Roberto began walking alongside the kitchen counter, his fingers dragging lazily across the countertop. “Did you hear or see what happened to your daughter and wife? If not, well… they’re dead because of you. You were nowhere to be found for their final moments. You know, they both would still be alive if only you gave yourself up. I really hate going after my worker’s families when this has nothing to do with them… all because of money being in the hands of a person that the money doesn’t belong to. Where’s my cash Bobby?”

“I told you I’d have it for you by tonight.”

“Wrong answer!” Roberto exclaimed. “Where… the fuck… is my money Bobby?”

“I said I wou-”

“Stop!” Roberto interjected. “Just say it… you don’t have my money, do you?”

“I have half of it, I’m supposed to be getting the rest of it tonight.”

Roberto stared long and hard at Bob. “You’re supposed to be getting the rest of it tonight?” he asked. When Bob gave a slight nod, he simply turned around and began walking out of the kitchen. “Don’t even worry about it, because you’re fucking through.”

Before another word was said, guns turned on Bob and began firing, sending bullet after bullet into his body. Before leaving the unit, Roberto turned towards one of his men, “No one, and I mean no one, gets out of here alive. Do a clean sweep and kill them all.”

“Yes boss.”

Roberto resumed walking out, but before he did, he turned towards a picture that was hanging right near the door. It was a family picture with the words “Home Sweet Home” printed below it. He gave a small grin before he punched the picture, causing the glass to shatter. He brushed the remaining shards of glass away and grabbed the picture, pulling it out of the frame. He stared at the picture, studying the seven members of the family, and then crumpled the photo within his hand, shoving it into his coat pocket.

The men continued searching the unit to kill whoever was left. They went through each room, tearing it apart before they left. One of the men walked into a bedroom and had looked around, noticing that the room must’ve belonged to the girls of the family. He flipped over the mattresses and had looked under the beds, finding no one.

As he continued to destroy the room, Leslie looked on through the cracks in the closet. She had managed to keep her younger twin siblings quiet the whole time, and she could only hope that they remained silent until the man left. Just when Leslie thought that they were in the clear, little baby Aaron started grumbling. Leslie’s eyes widened as she quickly placed her hand over Aaron’s mouth, in hopes to silent her younger brother.

The man immediately shot a look over towards the closed closet. He slowly made his way towards the closet, gun in hand, aimed and ready to fire. He reached for the handle and was about to pull it open to see who was in the closet, but he figured it was the kids. Sighing heavily, he stepped away from the closet, suddenly not wanting to open it. He really didn’t think he had the heart to shoot and kill children.

Leslie released a slow, shaky breath when she saw the man step away from the closet a bit. She gasped when she heard the gun cock. The man closed his eyes and began spraying bullets into the closed closet. He closed his eyes when he heard the agonizing scream from the child, but continued firing his gun. When his gun started clicking, he knew he had fired all his bullets and was shooting nothing but blanks now. He had wanted the closet to remain close because he couldn’t bring himself to open it and look into the eyes of the children before killing them.

“Find everything alright?”

Nick nodded as he took out the list and money from his pocket. He placed the money down on the counter as he opened the folded paper to go over the list once more to make sure he wasn’t missing anything. The cashier scanned and bagged a carton of milk, a pack of dry noodles, a jar of spaghetti sauce, a bundle of parsley and a small tub of yogurt.

“Alright, your grand total will be $12.83.” the cashier said.

Nick picked up the money and unfolded the bills; he had a 5 dollar bill and five 1 dollar bills. Shaking his head, he placed the money back down on the counter and began patting his pockets, looking for spare change he could use to help pay for the cost. All the while, the cashier was watching Nick with interest, a sense of guilt washing over him. He knew the Carter family, and he also knew how they struggled day by day just to get through.

Nick felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment, “I’m sorry… do you mind if I run home real quick and grab three more dollars?” he asked in a small voice.

The cashier gave a genuine smile, “Don’t even worry about it kid, I’ve got you covered.” he took the ten dollars Nick had placed on the counter.

A big, bright smile broke through on Nick’s face, “Thank you so much! Is there any way I could repay you?”

The cashier chuckled, “Please, it’s only three dollars.” He grabbed the packaged groceries and handed it over to Nick, “Do you, uh… will you be able to carry this home yourself?”

Nick nodded as he grabbed the groceries, “Thanks again!” he said has he turned to walk out of the store.

“No problem. Do me a favor though, will ya? Tell your father we’re having poker night at Jimmy’s house this Thursday, he’ll know what I’m talking about.”

“Will do, bye!” Nick waved with one hand and used the other arm to balance the groceries as he walked out of the store.

Nick stepped out into the cool autumn breeze, watching the fallen red and orange leaves blow past him. He gave a small shiver as he hugged the bagged groceries close to him; he could feel in the air that winter was near. He began his trek back to the apartments, and his mind wandered back to those suited men he ran into on his way out to the store. The fact that they seemed so out of place made him feel uneasy, but overhearing the receptionist tell them “Apartment 308” had a sense of fear settled deep down into the pit of his stomach. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure if he had heard her correct, but he was confident those words came out of her mouth.

Nick finally snapped out of his phase as he was nearing home, and looked up to find a group of cop cars, two ambulances and a few coroner vans parked right outside his complex. He couldn’t help than to think that the suited men were the reasons the cops and paramedics were there in the first place, but had refrained from letting his imagination run wild.

Taking a deep breath, Nick resumed walking into his complex as if nothing was happening. The lobby was bustling with police officers while the paramedics were now exiting the complex. He could only hope that no of them would stop him from going to where he needed to go, so he kept his eyes to the ground; his main goal was to get to his family and see if they were okay.

As he approached the elevators, before he could even push the button, the elevator made a “ding” noise, indicating that the cab was already occupied by someone wanting to get off at the ground level. Nick quickly moved to the side as the doors slid open, revealing two males and a gurney.

“This is absolutely devastating.” one of the men said as he stepped off of the elevator and had turned to help his partner maneuver the gurney out of the elevator.

The other male sighed, “Yeah man… the hardest part of the job. Sometimes I wonder why I’m still working this job, even after all this.”

Nick continued to stare at the two, glad that they were both oblivious to the fact that he was standing to the side of them the whole time. He fell into a trance with the body bag on the gurney, having a hard time believing that there was actually a lifeless body within that black bag. Another “ding” noise sounding out from the elevator broke him out of his trance, and he quickly slid into the elevator before the doors could close. Balancing the bag of groceries in one arm, he used the other to push the “3” button.

Once the doors closed, Nick sighed heavily as he allowed himself to fall against the wall of the elevator. He still wasn’t sure what exactly happened, but he was still convinced that the suited men he had a run-in with earlier had something to do with all this, and he could only pray that his family was okay. When the elevator reached the third floor and the doors slid open, Nick gasped.

He was greeted by the sight of even more police officers, talking silently to each other while the others talked with, what he assumed to be, supposed “witnesses”. Nick slowly stepped off of the elevator and began walking down the corridor towards his unit, but faltered a little bit when he saw two police officers talking with his neighbors, the Scavellis.

“I just knew that illegal activity was going down in that apartment!” he heard Mr. Scavelli say, “I mean, he would come home in the wee hours of the morning!”

“Those poor children.” Mrs. Scavelli cried, “They really didn’t deserve this.”

Nick slowly turned and looked over at his apartment to find yellow “CAUTION -- DO NOT ENTER” tape blocking off the open doorway into his apartment. Apartment 308.

“One of them is still alive, I know that for a fact.” Mr. Scavelli told the officer. “He had walked out before all of this happened.”

Nick grew numb at the discovery and couldn’t say or do anything; he allowed the bag of groceries to fall from his arms. That action caught the attention of the officers and the Scavellis.

“Son, this floor is closed off for investigation.” one of the officers said as he began to approach Nick.

“That’s the one I was telling you about!” Mr. Scavelli exclaimed as he pointed Nick out. “The only one left alive.”

Nick finally began walking towards his apartment, disregarding the officers who were now making their way towards him. “What happened?” he choked out.

“Boy, you cannot go in there.” one of the officers tried to stop him.

Nick wasn’t thinking clearly, due to being in shock, so he continued on, determined to get into his apartment and find out that his family was indeed okay. “What’s going on? Where’s my family?”

A more larger man, who seemed to be the captain of the police squad, approached Nick and had stopped him from walking into the blocked off area. He stepped in front of Nick and had bent down to get eye leveled with him. “I’m sorry, but… I cannot allow you to go in there. Why don’t you tell me your name son?”

Nick began to cry in frustration. “I just want to know where my family is… please tell me they’re okay.”

The captain sighed heavily, this has got to be one of the hardest things he has ever experienced. “Why don’t you tell me your name first?”

“Nick.”

“Okay Nick. I’m Captain Marcell. Why don’t you tell me where you came from?”

Nick chewed on his bottom lip, “I was at the grocery store?”

“You were at the grocery store?” Captain Marcell repeated.

Nick nodded.

“Okay Nick, you want to help me out with something? I’m gonna take care of you and give you whatever you need, but I need your help with something first. I need you to give me a list of numbers of any relatives you may know, okay? So… how about I take you downstairs and treat you to some pop while you think of those numbers, huh?”

Nick vigorously shook his head, “I just want to see family… where are they?”

“I know son, but I need your help with something first…”

Nick completely ignored the captain when he saw activity going on inside his apartment. He looked past the captain to see a gurney in the middle of the hallway. His eyes widened when he saw his father lying in the black bag on the gurney, and male preparing the zip the bag close.

“DADDY!” Nick screamed as he ran around the captain and had busted through the tape. The officers had tried to stop him, but he still managed to get inside.

Nick began bawling at the sight of his father in the body bag, his lifeless features being etched into his mind. He tentatively reached out a hand and had gingerly touched his father’s cheek, sobbing at how clammy it felt. Captain Marcell slowly walked up and stood behind Nick, watching as the young boy cried over his dead father.

“Nick…” Captain Marcell started softly.

Nick sniffled, trying to keep his sobs under control. “Where is the rest of my family?”

Captain Marcell fell and remained silent, he really didn’t know how to answer that question. How could he possibly tell a 9-year-old that his whole family was killed? He took a deep breath in and sighed, “I’m sorry.”

Nick bit his bottom lip as he glared at his father’s corpse. The sight of his dead father and the smell of the blood of his family that stained the walls were now getting to him, crawling under his skin and making him sick to his stomach. He had to get out of there. Without warning, Nick turned abruptly and shoved past Captain Marcell, running right out of the apartment.

“Nick!” Captain Marcell called out as he turned around, only to find that Nick was long gone.

“Where to sir?” the chauffeur asked as he glanced into the review mirror.

“We’re heading on home.” Roberto replied as he leaned back into the long, comfy seat of his limo. “Our job for today is done.”

A few of his main men were riding within his limo, all of them staring blankly at each other, no words being said. Agitated at the silence, Roberto sighed heavily, “What’s with this silence? I don’t really like it… talk, laugh, congratulate one another, we did our job and we did it well.”

At that being said, the men began cheering and bidding each other a job well done. One of the men seated closest to Roberto popped open a bottle of champagne, pouring the bubbling liquid into crystal clear flutes and passing them around to the others, the first glass being handed right over to Roberto.

“Mikey, why don’t you give a toast?” Roberto asked as he rose his glass, glancing over to the man who was seated right beside him. “My right hand man… the one who lead us through.”

Mikey rose his glass, “To another justice served.”

“Justice served!” the other men chorused out as they downed the champagne in one gulp.

Roberto reached out and grasped Mikey’s shoulder, massaging it a bit and patting him on the back. “You do realize how proud of you I am, right?” he asked softly so that the others wouldn’t hear him.

Mickey gave a slight nod, “You remind me time and time again, sir.”

Roberto grinned, “I look to you as if…” he took a long lengthy pause. “I look at you as if you were my own son. You’ve came a long way my boy… the only one of my children to have came through with everything again and again.”

Mikey nodded and smiled. He knew his “children” statement was nothing but a metaphor, but Mikey truly did feel like Roberto was his father. Growing up, he didn’t live in a stable home. His mother had to sell herself just to put food on the table, while his father was never around. Mikey knew there had to be a better way to live his life, and on his quest he found Roberto, who immediately took him in to his mob family. Mikey was only 12 when Roberto had offered to take him under his wing, and now he was 22. He had been working alongside Roberto for the last 10 years of his life.

“Thank you sir.” Mikey replied with a smile.

It wasn’t long until they reached back to Roberto’s mansion, where they all filed out of the limo and right into the enormous estate. Roberto turned to all of his men to address them, “Please fellas, make yourselves at home, help yourselves to the bar. Tonight, we relax and celebrate!”

All of them began cheering once again as they dispersed throughout the mansion. As Roberto stood there to watch his men celebrate, a long time friend of his who was on the phone had approached him.

“Why don’t you have a drink in your hand yet Primo?” Roberto asked as he clasped his hand down on Sergio’s, nicknamed Primo, shoulder.

“I will once we watch our success.” Sergio replied with a smirk. “I just got word that it’s already made breaking news.”

Roberto chuckled and shook his head, “Any murder in Brooklyn makes breaking news. The guy could be a bum off the street that was killed and it’d still make breaking news.” he turned to address his men once again. “Can I have your attention please?” once everyone had quieted down, he continued. “I would like for all of us to make our way into my living room, where we will watch our job well done displayed on the huge screen TV, how about that, huh?”

The men all grabbed their concocted drinks and walked into the living room, where they fixated themselves before the large screen TV. Roberto grabbed his universal remote and had sat down in the large, comfy chair that was placed right in front of the TV. With a grin on his face, he turned his television set on and had switched the channel to 3, where it showcased the breaking news and a female reporter standing outside of the apartment complex they had been at not too long ago.

“… left grief stricken and in shock at the discovery of a grizzly murder that took place not too long ago and has claimed an entire family. The tragic incident occurred right within this apartment complex behind me, and it appears as if the murders were drug and perhaps gang related.”

Roberto scoffed, “I wish they would stop saying that. We’re not a fucking gang.”

“Witnesses say they watched helplessly as a group of men barged into apartment #308 to confront 43-year-old Robert Carter. Neighbors said that he worked at a local car part shop that would close at 9:00 every night, but Robert, or also known as Bob Carter, would come home at the wee hours of the morning. They also mention there had been times where Bob would come home with a company of males and their odd behavior and suspicious activity led people to believe that their very neighbor was involved in something deep.”

The camera cut off to a witness, and Roberto smirked as he realized who the witness was. “He’d be gone all day, and wouldn’t come home till late the next morning.” Mr. Scavelli explained. “We weren’t entirely sure what was going on in there, but we always had a feeling something bad like this would happen.”

The camera then cut to Mrs. Scavelli, who was bawling and trying to ease her sobs. “That poor family… those kids did not deserve this. They were the nicest and sweetest kids you’d ever meet.”

The female reporter came back into view. “Coroners have recovered six bodies and have confirmed them all to be members of the Carter family.”

The smirk that was plastered on Roberto’s face the whole time had quickly faded away upon hearing that information. The reporter had said coroners recovered six bodies, but he could’ve swore there was one more to the Carter family.

No longer paying attention to the TV, he reached into his coat pocket and had pulled out the folded picture he took from the apartment. He quickly unfolded the picture and stared at it, counting each member of the family slowly, one by one. His lips pursed into a fine line at his new discovery. One was still alive.

~*~*~*~*~*~

He had been walking around aimlessly, unsure of what to do with himself. His body and mind were numb, the shock of what had happened hours ago refused to leave his body. His whole family was dead. Murdered. And he was the only one left alive. He wiped angrily at the tears that were flowing once again. How could someone kill his whole family, especially his younger siblings.

For the first time he noticed how hard and fast he was walking, and for a moment he fell into a trance with his feet pounding rhythmically into the dirt ground, watching as red clouds puffed up from where he stomped. With every step he took, he felt a vibration of power shake the earth, and he liked that sense of power, to be able to make the world beneath him tremble. He stopped in his trek, not having a clue where he was, and decided that now was the time to let everything out.

With a blood curling scream, he began to kick at the dirt, watching as tiny rocks and debris flew into the air. He bent down to the ground and had grabbed a rather large rock, throwing it into the oblivious dark. He continued to his rage against the earth, having nothing or no one else to take his anger out on. He wanted to inflict pain on something, anything… transfer the absolute pain he was feeling to something else so he wouldn’t feel so alone. He froze his actions at that thought… no matter what, he was completely alone now.

“God, why?!” he chocked out in sobs as he collapsed to his knees; the sharp, tiny rocks that littered the floor tearing fiercely into the soft skin of his knees, but he didn’t care. He came to the decision that psychical pain felt far better than the emotional pain that was wracking him.

He didn’t like this feeling… the feeling of loneliness and rage that was dancing inside of him. He looked up to the dark night, the faint white rays of the moon shining down upon him, causing his tear-filled eyes to glimmer like the thousands of shining stars in the black sky. In that moment, he felt still.

When he calmed himself down enough, he began to feel a stinging discomfort course through his legs. Sighing heavily, he pushed himself up from the ground and seethed when he felt a stronger stinging sensation hit him. He looked down and could see crimson blood painted on both of his kneecaps, glistening in the moonlight.

He suddenly became heavily transfixed with the sight of his own blood. The blood that trickled from his torn skin was the same blood that was spattered all over the walls of a place he once called home. Although his family was slain, his blood was shed… and he was determined to seek out the very ones who killed him, along with his family.

Drying the tears from his eyes, he began sprinting off into the night, welcoming the sharp pain that had now caused his knees to become numb. He still had no idea where he was, but he knew where he was going. After what seemed like forever, he finally reached his destination, breathing a sigh of relief as he felt the bitter, crisp wind embrace his heated flesh and racing heart.

Standing under the pale rays of the street light, he looked up to the apartment complex that stood before him. He glowered at the now sinister looking structure, feeling extreme disdain towards the ones who took away his life, and all that was in it. Hesitantly, he made his way up to the entrance of the complex, peering in through the glass doors to see the lobby of the apartment looked rather normal, as if nothing tragic had happened hours earlier.

Taking a deep breath in, he placed his hands upon the door and pushed it open, briskly walking in and keeping his head down all the while, in hopes to hide from anyone who might see him and stop him from continuing his trek. He finally reached the elevator and pushed the button repeatedly, wishing silently that the cab would hurry up and pick him up before anyone recognized him.

Finally, the elevator doors slid open, and he quickly maneuvered himself inside the elevator cab, reaching out and hitting the “3” button. When he reached the third floor and the doors slid open, he tentatively stepped out into the hall, looking around to see if anything was out of place. Besides the long stripes of yellow that ran across the doorframe of a place he once lived in, everything looked the same.

Hiding behind the wall, he glanced out to see if the coast was clear. When he realized that no one was around, he quickly made his way over to apartment #308. Glancing around again to make sure he wouldn’t get caught, he reached out and grabbed the doorknob, twisting it to discover that the door was unlock.

Without thinking twice, he pushed the door open and had stepped into the apartment, maneuvering himself through the thick yellow strips of tape that said “DO NOT ENTER”. He quietly closed the door behind him and turned to be greeted by darkness. Blindly, he shout out his hand to the right, groping for the light switch. Once he found it, he flicked it on and immediately shied away at the strong rays of light that blasted out so suddenly.

Through slanted eyes, he could see that the walls were still stained with the blood of his family, and on the ground were chalked outlines of where the coroners found the corpse of his family. He stared down at the first two chalked body outlines on the ground, having a hard time comprehending the fact that two of his family members were lying there in a pool of blood, dead.

He closed his eyes as visions wracked his brain; a vision of his eldest sister running through the hall, calling out for their father only to receive bullets into her back. His mother had ran out to the commotion of her daughter screaming, only to be greeted by the site of her child lying dead. She cried over the corpse of her daughter, but soon received a shot to her head.

He gasped as his eyes flew open, immediately snapping him out of the vision. He bit his bottom lip, willing the tears not to form and for his emotions not to get the best of him. As he continued on through the small apartment, he wandered into their kitchenette, where he found another body outline on the floor. His father immediately came to mind, and he winced as a vision of his father being shot down came to mind. Again, he shook himself of the menacing image and continued on.

He walked through the long hallway, that led back to the bedrooms. He slowed a bit when he noticed bullet holes decorating the walls. Hesitantly, he rose his hand and had let his fingers drag lazily across the small gaping holes, quickly pulling away, as if he could still feel the heat where the bullet had burned through.

He wandered into his and Aaron’s room first to find everything was a complete mess; the guitar he was playing earlier and had neglected to retrieve the groceries laid broken in the middle of the floor. He closed his eyes at that thought… if only he hadn’t went to the shop, he would have been here, he would have been killed right along with his family.

He walked further into his room and straight over to Aaron’s crib, which was destroyed. With shaky hands, he reached out to touch the blanket that was torn up, from what appeared to be a knife. He clenched the soft blanket within his fist, but quickly turned to walk out of his room before his anger could get the best of him.

He closed his bedroom door and had now ventured over to his parents room, which was trashed as well. Besides their broken belongings littering the room, it didn’t appear as if anyone was murdered in their room. He slowly walked out and closed the door behind him, leaving him to stare at the only room that was left in the apartment; his sister’s room.

Taking a deep breath in, he began walking towards his sister’s room, where the door was slightly ajar. He held his breath as he reached out and pushed the door open, wincing at the loud sounds of the door creaking open. He peered into the room to find that the room was destroyed also. He suddenly froze at the sight of the closet area, tears welling up in his eyes upon seeing the closet door decorated with bullet holes and the carpet stained with blood.

His mind forced his body to move over towards the closet, and although he wasn’t prepared to see how his younger siblings had died, he was no longer in control of his actions. As he continued his trek to the closet, his brows furrowed in confusion as the closet door was slowly changing back into normal, with no bullet holes in it and no blood staining the carpet.

He stood there for a while, puzzled at what was happening, looking around to realize that the room was back to normal, everything was in place as it should be. He sighed heavily, this was nothing but a dream… he thought to himself as he turned to walk out of the room to search for his family that would be alive and all okay, but stopped short when he heard a noise come from the closet. He stared long and hard at the closed doors, hearing his sister make a “shhh.” noise.

He smiled a bit, thinking that his sisters were hiding in the closet and were preparing to scare him, but his smile soon faded when he heard commotion going on outside the room. He refused to turn around to acknowledge the racket, instead he remained facing the closet, trying to peer through the shudders to look at his sisters. He heard someone enter the room, but still he refused to turn around. He remained silent and still, waiting for whoever it was to leave the room. When he finally heard the stranger leave the room, he sighed heavily and was about to pull the closet doors open but stopped himself when he heard on of his younger siblings start to grumble.

Just as he reached out to rip the closet doors open, someone had reentered the room, and this time he turned around to face whoever it was. He gasped when he realized that it was one of the suited men he ran into on his way to the grocery store, but this time he was armed and was aiming his gun at the closed closet. He turned back to the closet, knowing he had to act quickly to protect his brother and sisters. Without thinking twice, he ripped the doors open and had thrown himself over his siblings to cover and protect them, but gasped out in pain when his body connected hard with the carpeted ground.

He pushed himself up from the ground, in a slight daze with what had just happened, but found himself gagging and reeling backwards out of the closet at the sight and smell of the blood. This time tears spewed from his eyes like a raging river, and he did nothing to stop it. As if watching a movie, he watched helplessly as the man fired his gun at the closet, hearing the blood curling screams come from his siblings. He quickly covered his ears in hopes to drown out the sound of his family screaming out in pain and for help.

“I’m sorry!” he shouted out to no one, slamming his fists into the carpet. “God, I am so sorry… I should have been here to protect you guys, I should have been here…” he cried out as he curled up on the floor. “I should have been here with you guys. I shouldn’t be alive.”

He remained curled up in a fetal position on the floor, allowing his tears to run dry this time. After what seemed like forever, he was finally able to get his emotions under control. His eyes were swollen and red from crying, but it also burned a fierce, cold blue, filled with utter determination.

“I’m still here.” he said softly as his dark eyes glared at the bloody closet.

He pushed himself up from the ground and quickly regained his composure. He walked throughout the apartment, collecting things he would need in order to survive alone and on the streets. He had no one else to turn to, no other family members, no friends, nobody.

When he finally gathered all he needed, he began making his way out of the apartment, only to stop mid-stride to stare at the shattered picture frame that hung beside their door. Slowly, he reached out his hand to touch the jagged shards of glass, noticing that their picture was gone. He turned to look the place he once called home over one last time before he walked out. He had walked into a broken boy to face reality, and had walked out vengeful, ready to take his life back from the ones who stole it from him.

February 27, 1993

“Man, can you believe this?” Vernon asked his partner as he read over the front page of the newspaper.

“What is that?” Harry questioned, his mouth full of food.

Vernon rolled his eyes, “Hasn’t your mother ever told you not to talk with your mouth full?” he asked, his Brooklyn accent thick.

“Shutup and tell me what you’re reading.”

Vernon chuckled as he focused back on the newspaper, “A suspected car bomb had exploded underneath the World Trade Center in New York, killing at least five people and injuring scores more.”

Harry shook his head as he shoveled another forkful of his breakfast into his mouth, “It’s a sad and crazy world, what can you say huh?”

“Rescue workers struggled to get oxygen to those in the upper floors. About 100,000 people work in and visit the 1,700 foot towers everyday, the blast happened at their busiest time. Several people had called New York’s police claiming they were behind the attack, but authorities are keeping an open mind about possible suspects. Do you know how close the captain was to sending us there?”

Harry shrugged, “Obviously not very close if we’re still here.”

“The only reason we’re still here and not there is because from what they said, they have enough help. That’s complete bullshit. This whole cop-on-cop crime still exists, and if they wanna go ahead and hold themselves up to be these brave macho heroes, let them have their limelight. It’s just sad to know they can’t put this petty shit off to the side for just one second and come together to help protect the people of America.”

Harry dropped his fork and began to clap, “And the Oscar award goes to…” he laughed as Vernon rolled his eyes, “I’m sorry dude, but you sounded so gay right there.”

“Hey look, there ain’t nothing gay about standing up and having pride in your country, alright?”

“I didn’t say that was gay, I’ve got a lot of pride in my country and would lay my life down for it any day, I mean hell, I am a cop. But I said you sounded gay, you see the differ-”

A static sound and distorted voices cackled through their walkie-talkie. Harry placed his fork down once again and grabbed his walkie-talkie out of his holster, staring at it for a while. “You wanna answer this? I‘m eating.” he asked Vernon as he shoved his walkie-talkie in his direction.

Vernon pulled back and snatched the walkie-talkie away from his partner, glaring before he finally answered the call. “This is Unit 1216, go ahead dispatcher.”

“We got a 415C at Daisy‘s Diner, and you two happen to be the lucky couple closest to the party.”

Vernon rolled his eyes, “Very funny Cindy.”

Harry immediately shot a look over, “Is that Cindy?” he mouthed. When he got no answer, he snickered. “Vernon and Cindy sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G…” he sang softly.

“I’m going to kill you.” Vernon whispered harshly right before Cindy’s voice cackled through the walkie-talkie once again.

“Do you think you two lovebirds can respond?”

Vernon turned slightly in his seat, holding the walkie-talkie away from Harry so he could respond back, without Harry shouting something embarrassing at the same time. “10-4.”

When Vernon turned back around, Harry was sitting there with a big smile on his face. “Well?” he asked.

“Well what?” Vernon questioned back.

“Is she jealous that you and I are together?”

“What are you…” Vernon playfully pushed at Harry when he finally caught on to what he said. “Shutup man.”

“I’m just saying… she sounded a bit jealous like… she wanted to be in my place or something. She ain’t gonna be getting her hands on my boo.”

“Will you stop that? You’re starting to freak me out.”

“Fine, but only because we’re in public and we’re acting like a bunch of horny 10-year-olds.”

“I would appreciate it if you excluded the ‘we’re’ from your sentence.”

“You haven’t told her yet, have you?”

“My love life and interests will not be up for discussion. Now, hurry the hell up, we’ve got work to do.”

“Aye aye captain!” Harry playfully saluted as he rose from his seat, taking a napkin from the table and using it to wipe his mouth. “Hey Jackie!” he called out to the waiter. “Put this on Vern’s tab, will ya?”

Both Jackie and Harry laughed as Vernon glared at him. “Sometimes, I wonder why I put up with you as a partner.”

“Because you looooove me.” Harry cooed as he placed his hat on his head, adjusting it so it would sit right.

“This whole ‘love’ shit has got to stop man.” Vernon laughed, shaking his head as they approached their patrol car.

“You should feel fortunate that we’ve got this whole ‘love’ thing going on.” Harry stated matter-of-factly as he got into the passenger side. “Ya know, most cops are paired with people they can’t stand. Could you imagine working with a person you don’t like?”

“I don’t have to imagine.” Vernon replied with a smirk as he started the car.

Harry stared at him for a while, looking as if he was in shock. “That’s cold man… that’s really cold.”

Vernon could only laugh as he began to drive over to Daisy’s Diner, which was only a few minutes away. When they arrived at the diner, they made sure to park their car a few feet away from the place so the kids causing the disturbance wouldn’t see them. From what they heard last, the kids were still in the back alley, and they wanted to catch them in the act.

“Would you like to talk to Miss Daisy?” Harry asked as they both got out of the car.

Vernon shot him a look, “Why am I doing everything today?”

“Your time to shine kid.”

As they approached the diner, a rather large woman busted out through the doors, meeting them halfway. “They’re still back there, those damn kids!” the woman ranted.

“Please ma’am, calm down.” Harry said as he tried to walk her back into the diner so the kids wouldn’t hear them. “Are you the one that called in the report?”

The woman nodded, “Yes, and I’m sick and tired of this shit.”

Harry sighed as he held up his hand to stop her from talking, “Okay, can I get your name ma’am?”

“Elsa… Elsa Grivich.”

“Okay Elsa, can you tell me in a calm and fashionable manner what kind of disturbance these kids are causing?”

“They’re always digging through our trashcans out in the back… leaving scraps of our food all over the creation when they’re done. One of them even came in and tried to rip us off! I’ve pitied them for so long, but they’ve taken advantage of my niceness and I’m just sick of them! They are a menace to society and I want you to arrest each and every single one of them!”

“I really need you to calm down ma’am. If you keep raving you will chase the kids off and we won’t be able to do much of anything.”

“You guys hardly do anything anyway!”

Vernon turned away, simply drowning out the argument that was happening between Elsa and his partner. He decided to leave Harry to deal with the ranting woman. He snickered, karma was a bitch. He began to wander through the diner, looking over the relics that were collected over the years. Daisy’s Diner had been in business for a long time, ever since his father was a kid.

As he continued to look everything over, the sound of glass clanking together caught his attention. He looked up over the counter, realizing for the first time they had no view of the back alleyway. He observed behind the counter, seeing a door that led back into the kitchen, and he figured there must’ve been another back door that led out to the back alley, where the trash was kept.

“May I?” he asked one of the waitresses that stood behind the counter.

When she gave him the permission, he walked to the other side of counter, making his way to the door. He glanced back at his partner and Elsa, chuckling and shaking his head as they STILL continued to argue. Focusing back on the matter at hand, he pushed the swinging door open, walking in to find two cooks there; one of them washing dishes while the other was cooking up what smelt to be chili.

He remained quite as he searched around, not wanting to ask where the back door was and give himself away. When he finally found the door, he slowly and quietly approached it, glad that there was a small circular glass window right in the middle of the door. He peered out the circular glass, seeing no one.

He pushed the door open slowly and stepped out, now hearing sounds of something or someone rustling around in the trash. He stood there quite for a moment, watching as the kids continued to dig around in the trash, looking for food, oblivious to the fact that a cop was watching them.

“You guys looking for something?”

The kids immediately stopped rummaging and looked up; they’re eyes widening upon setting their sights on the cop.

“Oh shit.” one of them exclaimed, “Book it guys.”

The four kids dispersed, which caused Vernon to immediately spring into action. He mentally kicked himself for saying anything, knowing if only he waited for Harry to come back as well, the two of them could of at least had a chance at capturing the four. These kids were smart though, for they all had ran in separate directions, but instead of him giving up the chase, he continued to run after one of the four, deciding it was better he caught one than none at all.

As he continued sprinting after the kid, he ripped his walkie-talkie from his holster to radio in to Harry. “999, pursue on foot!” he breathlessly yelled into the walkie-talkie, pushing himself to run even faster so he wouldn’t lose the kid.

It felt like the boy was leading him in circles around the neighborhood, taking sudden sharp turns and dodging around to try and lose him, but it didn’t work. It seemed like forever until the boy finally came to a screeching stop, his eyes widening upon realizing that he was at a dead end.

Vernon slowed himself to a stop, glad that he had him trapped in a dead end alleyway. “Why… are you… running?” he asked, out of breath.

Meanwhile, the kid, who quickly caught his composure and was breathing regularly, ignored him and looked around, looking for a way to escape. He finally turned around to face Vernon, his eyes dancing wildly as he tried to think of a plan.

“Look… we ain’t… gonna hurt… you kid. Lets just talk man… can we do that?”

The boy continued to ignore him, until he decided to just chance it and run past the exhausted officer. Vernon groaned, not being able to fully recover but had to act quickly. Just as the boy ran past him, he quickly turned and shot out his arms to stop him, which he ended up pushing the boy off balance.

With a yelp, the boy tumbled to the ground, crying out in pain when his knees connected with the hard, graveled floor. Anger grew at the familiar pain and situation. Vernon quickly rushed over to the kid, who was still on the ground, and had pushed him stomach first into the ground of the alley.

“GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME!” the kid screamed in absolute rage as he wriggled around on the ground, trying to dislodge the offending officer.

“I gave you the chance to talk things out.” Vernon gritted out as he used all his weight to pin the bucking child down. “You chose the hard way.”

As the kid continued to struggle, Vernon heard pounding feet and hard breathing coming up from ahead. He looked up to find Harry running over towards them.

“Just… one?” Harry asked breathlessly.

“Of course just one… you didn’t expect me to take down all four of them by myself at the same time, did you?” Vernon grunted out in protest.

Harry shrugged as he tried to straighten himself out and regain his composure, “Well, one is better than none.”

“Lets see who this lucky one is.” Vernon said as he slowly got up from the floor, keeping a hold on the back of the kid’s t-shirt. He hauled the kid up from the ground, biting his bottom lip when he noticed that the boy’s knees were torn and bloody. He felt a sense of guilt rise up within him.

“What’s your name kid?” Harry asked.

“None of your business.” he fired back.

“You’re already in enough trouble little man, you wouldn’t want to add insubordination to your list now would you?”

The kid refused to say anything, he simply glared at them, then tore his eyes away. Harry bent down slightly to get eye-leveled with him. “All we wanted to do was talk to you four. You bought this on yourself though.”

“Why? I didn’t even do anything.” the kid grumbled.

“That’s what you think, but the community seems to think otherwise. You and your three other friends have been nothing but trouble I heard. We, as police, thought we’d be nice and give you guys a chance, but we gave you guys chances after chances and you still manage to blow it.”

Vernon, who still had a tight grip on the back of the boy’s t-shirt, leaned to the side to get a look at the kid, “Do you know what’s going to happen to you?”

At that question, the boy’s eyes filled with tears, to the brim. Besides his watery eyes, he stood there emotionless for the longest, staring blankly straight ahead with hot tracks of tears streaming down his dirty cheek. “Do whatever you want, just don’t place me in an orphanage.” he whispered.

Both Harry and Vernon looked at each other, shock to witness the kid break down right before their eyes. At that moment, they were both suddenly drawn to the boy; the more they stared into his deep, blue orbs, the more they were beginning to understand his story, his pain, his struggles.

“If you start cooperating with us, we’ll start cooperating with you.” Vernon suggested as he now lightened his grip on the back of the boy’s shirt. “Why don’t you start off by telling us your name.

After a moment of silence, the boy finally took a deep breath in and sighed, “Nick.”

“Nick who?”

“Nick Carter.”

“Okay Nick, do you want to tell us where you’re from?” Vernon asked as he glanced in the rearview mirror, but quickly transfixed his concentration back to the road.

When they got no reply, Harry sighed. “I think the better question is why you’re out roaming the streets.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Nick gritted out, the pain in his knees were really starting to get to him. How he wanted to clean and nurse his wounded skin, so he wouldn’t fall into a trance with his blood, which now took on a darker tinge, feeling like dried cement on his knees. It weighed him down.

“You’re a kid, don’t you like to talk?” Vernon questioned, trying to lighten up the mood.

“I don’t like talking to cops,” he simply replied in a dark tone, “and I’m not like other kids.”

Harry was started to grow agitated towards Nick and his rebellious ways, but Vernon quickly shot him a look to keep him quiet.

When they pulled up to the station, Vernon turned off the patrol car and sat there in silence for a while. After a few seconds, he turned in his seat to address the boy, “ Look Nick… about what you said earlier, if you don’t want that to happen you need to start cooperating with us before you go in there. You’re about to enter a place filled with cops. If you want respect you need to give it first, especially towards authorities and elders. We’re not the bad guys here Nick… you work with us, we work with you. Simple as that. Believe me kid, I don’t want to see you placed in some orphanage, and I definitely don’t want to be the one that places you there…”

“Yeah? Well… what makes me think I can trust you?” Nick sneered, “You’re a cop!”

“Because I’m giving you a choice. Most people that come into a brush with the law are no longer given choices, or at least choices they like. We’re forced to step in and take control when they can’t control themselves, but even then they brought it onto themselves. I’m giving you a chance to make your own choice, a decision that’s yours and yours alone, because… I’m not like other cops.” he ended with a smile.

Nick finally looked up at Vernon and made eye contact. His eyes glimmered with hope upon hearing that one word; choice. Growing up, he was never given choices, hell he didn’t even know what that word meant. He didn’t have a choice when it came to doing things people wanted him to do. He didn’t have a choice when it came to what he wanted to do and what he had to do. And when it came to his family... he wasn’t given a choice as to if he could save them or at least die with them. A group of men simply marched in and took his family out, leaving him with no choice but to go out and live his life on his own.

“I was never really given a choice at anything in my life.” he whispered sheepishly, kicking himself for getting emotional in front of the cops. “If I was, my family would still be here.”

Vernon shot Harry a look, his brows crinkling in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Nick’s eyes widened; he couldn’t believe he just said that last part out loud. “Nothing, forget about it.”

Harry wanted to press him to give answers, but with one look at Vernon, he knew to remain quiet. He may be older than Vernon, but when it came to adolescents, Vernon seemed to know everything. He had the ability to place himself on a kid’s level and relate to them, have them open up and confide in him. He had been Vernon’s partner for years, but been his friend longer. They’re captain, as well as the rest of the force would always tease them, saying they were a match made in heaven. Vernon was the negotiator while he was the interrogator, and they worked damn good together.

“Lets get out of this car, shall we?” Vernon voiced out, breaking Harry out of his thoughts.

When they got out, Vernon opened the back car door and had helped Nick out of the car, due to the fact that his hands were handcuffed behind his back.

“Is this really necessary?” Nick asked as he pulled against the restraints. The truth was, he was starting to feel embarrassed at being handcuffed.

“Protocol kid.” Harry replied as he walked around the car and stood behind Nick, latching his hand on Nick’s arm while Vernon had his hand around Nick’s other arm and they began walking up to the station. “We’ll take it off once we get inside.”

Nick didn’t even have time to prepare himself, because before he knew it, the doors opened and they were walking inside the police station. Puzzlement etched his features; the station wasn’t as he envisioned it to be. He imagined a bunch of handcuffed criminals, yelling and trying to escape. Hell, he even thought he’d see oversized cops sitting behind a counter, feet propped up with his black uniform and mouth stained with white confectioners sugar. But it was quiet for the most part, a good handful of cops walking around to do whatever it was they had to do.

Harry chuckled when he noticed Nick’s reaction. “You look shocked kid. Not what you expected huh?”

Nick shook his head, “Not really.”

“Yeah, we get that a lot. You should see our book of police stereotypes… the oversized donut eating, coffee drinking cops, the criminals running a muck in the station, the nonexistence of female cops…”

Nick bit his bottom lip, so his thoughts weren’t exactly kept to himself in this place. As he continued to observe the station, he failed to notice that the handcuffs were removed.

“Alrighty, lets go get ourselves settled in an office to talk, shall we?” Harry asked as he spun the metal handcuffs around.

Nick broke his trance and stared at the dangling handcuffs, finally bringing his hands forth and staring at them as if he had never seen them before. He rubbed at the angry red lines that ran completely around his wrists. Harry and Vernon still kept a hold on both his arms as they led them through the station and over to an office he assumed they’d be talking in.

“Hmm, seems like this one is occupied.” Harry stated as he looked around. “I’ll go talk to the captain to see which office we can use.” and with that, he was gone.

Nick stood there, with Vernon still holding his arm. When he turned to look back at Vernon, he received a grin. “You want to sit down while we wait?”

Nick shrugged and began walking over towards the nearest bench. Once he sat down, Vernon remained standing by his side, wondering if he should let go of his arm or not.

Nick looked up at him, “I’m not gonna try anything you know.”

Vernon looked down, “Really?” he asked matter-of-factly.

Nick nodded, “I was listening to your whole ‘cooperation’ speech. Besides, I don’t think I’d get far if I tried to pull anything in a place that’s flooded with cops.”

Vernon chuckled, “Makes sense.” he said as he let go of Nick’s arm and sat down beside him. After a moment of silence, Vernon decided to ask him a question. “So… I suppose you won’t tell me the names of your three friends huh?”

“You suppose correctly.”

Vernon couldn’t help than to laugh. Although the kid was a pain in the ass hood rat to some, he sounded like a smart kid. “Okay, okay… wouldn’t rat my friends out either if I were in your position.”

“They’re not my friends… they’re my family.” Nick corrected.

“They’re your family?” Vernon questioned in response.

Nick didn’t reply. He just sat there in silence, picking at the hem of his dirty shirt. Vernon’s eyes trailed downwards and saw his now scabbed knees. Guilt was back, and before he could ask him if he wanted to get his wounds cleaned up, Harry walked up.

“Just got orders from the boss. We can use the IR, and he wants to have a word with us after we settle him in.”

Vernon nodded and rose from the bench, waiting for Nick to do the same. When Nick stood up, they began to walk over to the room they were appointed to. Harry fished his pockets for his keys and pulled it out, immediately finding the key and used it to open the door. Once he unlocked it, he turned the knob and pushed it open, holding it and waiting for them to walk inside.

Nick walked in first, with Vernon and Harry trailing behind, and stood in the darkened room. A sudden ray of light blasted on, causing Nick to squint a bit, but soon widened it to discover that the room only consisted of a table and two chairs.

“Isn’t this an interrogation room?” Nick asked, wondering why they were there.

Harry smirked, “My favorite room of the station. But you ain’t being placed here to be interrogated, we just ain’t got any available offices.”

Nick wandered the small room a bit, letting his hand drag lazily across the table top. Both Vernon and Harry stood there for a while, watching Nick.

“Well,” Harry whispered as he placed his hand on Vernon’s shoulder, “Captain wants to have a word with us.”

“Alright.” Vernon nodded and felt Harry leave the room. “Hey Nick, we’re uh… gonna step out for a bit so you’re gonna have to stay in this room for a little while until we come back. Shouldn’t take too long, but is there something you want before we go? Something to eat? Drink?”

Nick shook his head and sat down on the chair. The truth was, he was hungry and thirsty, but he felt too embarrassed to ask. He was so used to just taking things he needed, he didn’t want anybody to pity him.

“Alright… well, if you need anything, there’ll be someone standing outside of this room. All you have to do is knock and ask, and they’ll get you whatever it is that you want, okay?” when he didn’t get a reply, he turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

“We’re busted!” Harry said as he walked alongside Vernon to the captain’s office.

“First of all, you have a lousy poker face. Second of all, you wouldn’t be saying that so blankly if we were really busted.”

“You know me too well. And that scares me.”

“Scares me too. I know you too well, and it’s not by choice, believe me.”

Harry faltered in his walking and watched as Vernon continued ahead, “You’re on it with the comebacks, huh?”

When they finally reached the captain’s office, Harry reached up to tap on the glass door. “Come in!” they heard the confirmation from the other side. Harry grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, pushing the door open and holding it for Vernon to walk in first.

“Yes sir?” Vernon asked as he and Harry stood in front of their captain, both of them quickly taking their hats off.

“Harry tells me you two caught one of the kids that have been running rampant on the streets.”

“Yes sir.”

“Got any information out of him?”

“His name is Nick Carter sir.”

“Nick Carter?” the captain repeated, sounding a bit shocked.

“Yes sir.”

“I’m taking you… know the kid?” Harry asked in curiosity.

The captain rose from his chair and walked over to his filing cabinet. “You could say that.” he said as he pulled a drawer open, “Or, you could say…” he pulled out a manila folder, which seemed to contain a lot of papers. He turned and walked back to his desk, and had dropped the folder down on his desk in front of them. “I know his whole life story. Please, take a seat.”

Both Vernon and Harry sat down in the two chairs that were situated in front of the desk. Vernon reached out and grabbed the folder, noticing that the tab had a sticker with the name “Carter, Robert” printed on it. He opened the folder, immediately seeing a black and white photo of a corpse. Placing the folder back down on the desk, he laid the black and white photos out before them, grimacing at horrifying pictures.

“What happened?” Harry asked, lifting one of the photos to get a closer look.

“This is the Carter family. They were murdered back in the 15th of August, 1989. The eldest of the family, Billie Jean Carter was shot and killed first in the hallway of their apartment, followed by Jane Carter, the mother. The next victim was Robert Carter, Jane’s husband, and from what we gathered whoever committed this murder set out to find Robert, to settle unfinished business I suppose. The last killed were the youngest of the family, Leslie, Angel and Aaron.”

Vernon bit his lip and sighed upon seeing the photo of the young child and two babies that were killed. “This was Nick’s family?”

The captain nodded, “Nick was gone at the time of the murder.”

Harry glanced over at Vernon, “Well, he did mention something about if he had a choice, his family would still be here.”

“And when I was sitting with him, he said that those guys he was with was his family, not his friends.” Vernon added.

The captain sighed heavily, “We’ve been on this case for quite some time.”

“I know, I just can’t believe we couldn’t put two-and-two together.” Vernon shook his head, breaking himself away from the tragic photos to look over the rest of the files.

“It’s been an open case ever since. We’ve been working on bringing it to justice, but it’s hard when you have a handful of probable suspects, yet no evidence whatsoever to pin on them. We know the family was murdered by the hands of a mafia, but the question is which mafia. Throughout the years we’ve done a sweep of every mafia here in New York, and they all came out clean. As for Nick… we’ve been searching for him ever since the murder. He disappeared the night of his family‘s deaths, and we were afraid whoever killed his family would realize that he was still alive and would kill him as well. Although there had been an inactivity in the mafia world, there’s no doubt in my mind that they know Nick is still alive and they’re out there looking for him.”

“So, what’s going to happen?” Vernon asked, his voice filled with concern. “As far as we know, he’s been living on the streets and has nowhere to go.”

Harry shrugged, “Place him in the witness protection program?”

“I told this kid as long as he cooperated, we wouldn’t just place him in some orphanage or whatever, and as far as I’m concerned, that program is like an orphanage. There’s gotta be something else we could do.”

“Between us three, I’m open to any and all suggestions because now that we’ve got this kid in our custody, I’m truly at a loss as to what’s our next step.” the captain said.

They sat in silence, thinking of alternative options. It wasn’t until both Vernon and Harry looked up at each other, obviously having the same idea in mind, and then fixed their look on their captain.

The captain groaned, “I seriously don’t like the way you guys are looking at me.”

“Is it because you’re nervous that we’re checking you out or you have a feeling that our idea involves you?”

“First of all, you’re sick. And second of all, it happens to be the latter.”

Vernon shot Harry a look, “What’s with your man-on-man affection?”

Harry ignored Vernon, “Well… since you have a feeling that our idea involves you, which you’re correct by the way, I’m sure you’ve already figured out what our idea was.”

The captain remained silent, just staring at the two. It didn’t take long for him to figure out where they were going with this. “You want me to… oh no, I ain’t doing it.”

“Why not?” Harry questioned. “You’ve already got two, what’s one more gonna hurt?”

“Exactly. I already have two, I seriously don’t need to be dealing with one more. The last time I checked, my job entailed of protecting people and bossing those who work for me around, I don’t remember babysitting being apart of the description.”

“Then don’t think of it as babysitting.” Vernon shrugged, “If you were to do this, you would be doing exactly what you said your job entailed of you… protecting someone.”

The captain sighed, rubbing his temples. “Please don’t pull this reverse psychology on me…”

Harry placed his hands down on the desk, “Seriously though, with all joking aside… I think you’re this kid’s last hope sir.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but quickly shut it when he realized that he made sense. Out of everyone on the force, he had been the one heavily interested in this case, wanting to be the one to bring the murderers to justice and to help the only surviving boy. He honestly didn’t think the kid would be found alive; after all these years, he didn’t think they’d be one step closer to solving this case.

“Not like it’s any of your business or whatever, but I’ll consider it. You two may go now.”

“You, are a good man!” Harry said dramatically as he rose from his seat. “I’ll have you know, God’s looking down at you right now, smiling and He just wants you to know that this act has spared your soul from ever going to hell.”

He sighed and shook his head, “Vernon, escort your friend please. And what we discussed in here is to remain in here, got me?”

Harry did a fake salute, “Aye aye Captain Richardson!”

He rolled his eyes, “Get outta here.”

He sat there, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the table. He glanced up at the clock, noticing that only five minutes had passed. He sighed heavily, he was starting to get hungry and the ache in his knees was back.

Deciding he couldn’t put off his hunger any longer, he rose from his seat and walked over to the door, grabbing the knob and twisting it to find that it was locked from the outside. Slight anger rose up in him at the fact that they had locked him in the room as if he was some animal, but he quickly calmed himself when he remembered what Vernon had said.

Taking a deep breath in, he raised his hand and knocked on the door, waiting for whoever was standing on the other side to unlock and open the door. He stood there for a while, until he finally heard the jingling of keys on the other side. He backed away when the door opened, revealing an average sized male.

“You beckoned?” the man asked.

Nick looked him up and down. He didn’t look to be much taller, but he did pack a few more pounds of muscle than him. He had a crop of dirty blond hair and his eyes were a deep, striking blue, similar to his. He was dressed in a black police uniform; a silver nametag with the name “LITTRELL” printed boldly on it was clipped onto his shirt.

“Um… yeah, Officer… Vernon said to knock on the door and I guess let you know if I wanted something or whatever.” Nick said softly, his cheeks growing flush from embarrassment.

“Well, what can I get ya kid?” he asked, and this was the first time Nick noticed his strong Kentucky accent.

He bit his lip to keep from laughing, “I was wondering if I could get something to eat… and drink.”

The more Nick stared at the man before him, the less he felt intimidated. Besides the uniform, this man wasn’t intimidating at all. He seems to have a bubbly personality, an infectious smile, and the ability to make any person, even a stranger, feel at ease because that’s how he felt at that moment.

The man nodded, “I can do that. Have anything particular in mind?”

“Not really. Just something to eat and drink is all.”

“Okay, well…” the man turned to grab something and turned back around with a McDonald’s bag and drink in hand. “Ronald McDonald was our guest chef today.”

For the first time in actually a long time, Nick laughed. “Looks like I was captured on the right day.”

The man laughed as well, “I’ll say.”

“No, but seriously… how’d you get it so fast?”

“Vernon had told me it’d only be a matter of time before you buckled to your hunger, so just thought I’d be one step ahead and have your food ready.”

Nick grabbed the bag of food and his drink, “The fries aren’t soggy, are they?”

The man cocked an eyebrow in amusement, “No, your highness.”

Nick chuckled as he turned to walk back into the office. Once he sat down and placed his food and drink on the table, he glanced up at the officer who still stood there. “Um… care to join me?”

The man smirked, “Sure. I love to watch people eat!”

Nick laughed and rolled his eyes, this officer was sure a character. He watched as the man walked into the office, closing the door behind him. “Uh… you didn’t just lock us both in here, did you?”

The man’s eyes widened, “Darn it, I can’t believe I just did that!”

Nick couldn’t help than to laugh. “I’m sure Vernon or Harry will be back soon.”

The man sighed, “I hope so. I’m so busted if anyone finds out about this, and I’ll more than likely be humiliated for the next week or so.” He said as he sat down on the other chair that was situated across from Nick.

Nick’s smile never faltered as he opened his McDonald’s bag. “Do you want some?”

“Nah, you go on and eat kid, I gotta keep my figure.” He joked, saying the last part in a feminine tone.

“Are you sure you’re a cop?” Nick laughed.

“Last time I checked. The name’s Brian Littrell by the way.” He said as he held out his hand.

Nick grasped his outstretched hand and shook it, “Nick Carter.”

“You’re not so bad huh?” Brian asked.

“What?”

“I don’t know… I was expecting you to be some unruly, rebellious kid or something, but you’re not bad at all.”

Nick shrugged as he shoved a fry in his mouth, “I was being unruly and rebellious on the way here. Honestly, it was Officer Vernon who settled me down. I’m giving this whole… ‘cooperation’ thing a try to see how far I get with it.”

Brian nodded, “Cooperation will get you somewhere in life. But glad to know you ain’t one of those typical hormonal youths.”

“I’m far from being your typical kid.”

“I can see that, which is why I’m so kick back with you.”

“You’re not this way with other criminals?”

“Nope. I’m a mean person when I need to be. I have this thing where I can read into someone’s vibe, and with you I just picked up that I don’t have to put on a front with you, nor do I have to come across intimidating to gain your respect. Besides, you ain’t did nothing wrong kid… we just had to take you outta the streets so those darn people would stop bugging us.”

“Well, I guess it’s safe to say that I normally put on a front with people.” Nick said as he took his sandwich out of the bag. “I come across as a badass to push people’s buttons, I think of it as a way of testing them. Those who tolerate and have the patience to see right past my exterior are all that matters, which is when I’ll warm up to them and just be who I am. It’s my way of gaining trust, and although my method sounds simple, it’s actually a bit more complicated then that.”

“Really? How so?”

Nick shrugged as he bit his burger, “I’ve been through enough to know better, so it’s kind of hard to explain.”

Brian nodded as he watched Nick eat. “You’re a smart kid, huh?”

Nick smirked, “I wouldn’t say all that now. I dropped out of school and had been living on the streets, homeless ever since I was 9.”

Brian stared at the young boy with a newfound interest. “Really?”

Nick nodded, “But… enough about me, what about you?”

“What about me?”

“You know a little something about me; I don’t really know anything about you.”

“Well… like I said, my name is Brian Littrell, my middle name is Thomas. I was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky and moved up here to New York a few years back. I’m 21-years-old and my astrological sign is Pisces. I like long walks on the beach and candlelit dinners…”

Nick laughed and rolled his eyes, “You’re something else.”

“What? Don’t tell me you don’t like long walks on the beach!”

Nick shrugged, “To tell you the truth I’ve never been to the beach.”

Brian’s eyes widened, “Are you serious? Man, you ain’t living your life! Besides my long walks, surfing the waves is the best feeling in the world!”

Nick nibbled on his bottom lip; Brian’s statement of him not living his life had settled down into the put of his stomach. He wasn’t living his life, hadn’t been since his family was murdered. “You surf?” he asked, trying to escape the somber mood he suddenly slipped into.

“Don’t let my twang fool you.” Brian said in a low voice, immediately ridding himself of the Kentucky accent. “I think I surf more than I ride horseback. I normally travel around to different beaches on my free time.”

“Cops have free time?” Nick questioned, sounding shocked.

“Boy, your little noggin is filled with stereotypes that we must break. Of course cops have free time. It’s seldom, but free time nonetheless.”

Nick nodded and fell silent. He resumed eating his food, but the moment of silence was beginning to bother him. “So… do I address you as Brian or Officer Littrell?”

“Well, here in the station, around other officials you have to address me as Officer Littrell. Other than that, feel free to call me Brian.”

Nick smiled, “You’re cool.”

“Well, I sure hope so!” Brian cracked, “I try not to act my age, and I think the proper term for that is immaturity.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.” Nick laughed, “And you're not that old."

“Wow, not only are you filled with stereotypes, but with compliments as well. You’re a weird one kid, and I mean that in a good way.”

Before Nick could respond, they both heard jingling of keys from outside. Brian quickly rose out of his seat and walked over to the corner of the room, nearest to the door. He composed himself and stood straight, looking as if he had been standing there, watching over Nick the whole time.

When the door opened, both Vernon and Harry walked in to find Nick eating and Brian standing off on the side.

Harry looked Brian up and down, “You locked yourself in here again, huh?”

Nick couldn’t help than to bust out in laughter, “Again?”

Brian cracked a grin and playfully shoved Harry, “Be quiet man.”

Vernon rolled his eyes at the banter, “Brian’s a total softy, so we always pick on him.”

“And, as you can tell, he ain’t the brightest crayon in the box!” Harry added.

“You guys suck.” Brian grumbled playfully, “Well Nick, I’m gonna excuse myself from this room and spare myself from the unnecessary humiliation.” he shot a look over towards Harry as he said this, “But it was nice meeting you kid, and I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.”

“Alright, bye Brian.” Nick said as he watched Brian leave the room.

“Welp… did you have a good meal?” Vernon asked as he looked at the rubbish that was on the table.

Nick looked down, quickly gathering his mess up, “Um, yeah. Thanks.”

Vernon shrugged and sat down, “No problem kiddo. Look, we have a few things we’d like to discuss with you real quick.”

“Look, I know I’m in trouble and what I was doing was wrong, but I was listening to what you guys said in the car and I am giving this cooperation thing a try, I mean I was so good while you guys were gone, you can even ask Officer Littrell!” Nick blurted out in one breath.

Vernon couldn’t help than to chuckle, “Calm down Nick.” he said as he held his hands up to prevent Nick from saying anything more. “It’s not about that. We know you were listening to our talk earlier and we know you’ll cooperate with us, that’s not a problem. What we wanted to talk to you about is… well, lets just put it this way, you seem to be feeling a lot more comfortable here, right?”

Nick shrugged, “Sure… I mean, beats living on the streets and digging in trashcans to find something to eat.”

Vernon nodded, “Okay… well, do you feel like making yourself comfortable here for a little while longer, at least until we get a few things worked out.”

Nick glanced between Vernon and Harry, who was standing behind Vernon. “Are you trying to sugarcoat the fact that you want to place me in jail or something?”

Harry shook his head, “No, we’re not gonna place you in jail for anything because you haven’t done anything wrong, well… besides not listening to a person of authority and resisting arrest, but that’s minor. We know you don’t want to be placed in an orphanage, and we don’t want to place you there, so I guess what we’re trying to ask is… if you’d want to stay here for a while, until we can figure out what to do with you.”

“What do you mean until you can figure out what to do with me?” Nick asked, feeling anger rise within him. “Look, I was doing just fine on the streets, you guys decided to pick me up and now you’re making it sounds as if I’m some sort of burden you don’t know how to get rid of or where to put it. And by the sounds of it, seems like you guys are gonna place me in an orphanage anyway.”

“No Nick, that’s not what he meant.” Vernon sighed, feeling Nick start to slip away because of what Harry said and how he said it. “We have an idea with what we want to do, that doesn’t involve placing you in an orphanage, but until we get everything worked out we want you to stay here with us. The truth is, we don’t want you on the streets kid… we don’t like to see any youth living on the streets. We take them off and do what we can to help them, and that’s exactly what we want to do with you. But like I said in the car, the choice is up to you.”

Nick remained silent, contemplating over what was said. “You promise me you’re not gonna send me to some orphanage?”

Vernon stared Nick straight in the eyes and nodded, “You have my word kid.”

“Ever took a tour of a police station?” Vernon asked as he looked at Nick.

Nick hissed out in pain before he replied, “Nope. Never thought I’d be here actually.”

Vernon nodded as he continued to pour hydrogen peroxide over Nick’s torn knees. “Well, after we get you fixed up, I’d like to take you on one…”

“OUCH!” Nick exclaimed as he pulled his leg away from Vernon, “Are you trying to burn my flesh off?”

Vernon rolled his eyes as he grabbed at Nick’s leg again, “The sizzling is a good thing. It means that the hydrogen peroxide is cleaning your wound. Just, hold still and try not to think about the pain… the stinging will go away soon.”

Nick closed his eyes and released a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding. After a minute or two, he realized what Vernon said was right, the stinging did subside. He looked down at his red knee to see the gravel and dirt was cleaned from it, leaving nothing but raw flesh.

“Isn’t as bad as it looked.” Vernon stated as he placed a large band aid across his knee. “There you go. Ready to go on that tour now?”

Nick looked down at both his bandaged knees, “You just burned the heck out of my knees, and now you want me to walk around the station?”

Vernon chuckled and shook his head, “Are you a hypochondriac?”

“What’s that?”

“Never mind. But you’re not gonna die and I only cleaned up your cuts, I didn’t take away your ability to walk.”

Nick pushed himself up from the chair, feeling a throbbing sensation course through his legs, but it was dull and his knees weren’t aching as bad as before. He glanced up at Vernon, feeling embarrassed for making a big deal out of nothing. “Sorry.”

Vernon smiled, “There’s no need to apologize. I don’t like pouring hydrogen peroxide on my own cuts. Between you and me, I don’t even like to run my cuts under water because I think it hurts.”

Nick’s eyes widened, “Seriously?”

Vernon nodded, “Yup. I’d rather walk around with an open flesh wound and dried up blood than to run it under water and clean it with soap.”

“That’s funny.”

“Glad you think so. But remember, that’s to be kept between us. If word gets around, they’ll all laugh at me because those who are afraid to run their cuts even under water isn’t considered manly. And I’m manly.”

Nick laughed, “Your secret is safe with me.”

“Cool. So, you ready for that tour now or do you wanna rest up?”

“I’ll take the tour.”

“Alrighty,” Vernon said with a nod as he led Nick over to the entrance of the station. “doesn’t take a genius to figure out this is the entrance of the station and this little area right here is the reception area, where people who need to speak to an officer, or the captain, or need to set up anything else report to. The lovely people behind the desk are our receptionist, though you should never call them that because they don’t like to be called that.”

Nick chuckled as he followed Vernon to the next part of the station. “We have different offices throughout the station. Officers never have their own office because there’s too many of us, but these offices are normally for detectives, lieutenants, sergeants, our chief and our captain.”

“Am I gonna meet these people?”

“Who?”

“The people you just mentioned.”

Vernon shrugged, “If you want to. One person you’ll definitely be meeting is our captain.”

Nick suddenly came to a halt. Why would he be definitely meeting the captain? Was he in trouble? Was this all some sort of act before he was served with his punishment?

Vernon turned and saw Nick just standing there, “You alright kid?”

“Why will I definitely be meeting just the captain?” Nick questioned, a hint of fear in his voice.

Vernon smiled softly, “He wants to meet you, and will you stop worrying? People age faster by worrying too much.”

Nick smirked, “Okay, sorry.”

“And that’s another thing. Stop apologizing for things you don’t need to apologize for.”

“Alright… sorry.”

Vernon gave him a look. “That’s the last time I’m saying it, I swear!” Nick laughed.

Vernon chuckled, “Okay, so back here… we have the typical jail cells. Gotta admit, they don’t look half as bad as the media depicts. There’s a cot, a sink, a toilet... we even give them a sheet and pillow. Better than nothing, right?”

Nick ventured into one of the open cells, looking the small room over. He looked at the sink and the toilet, noticing that it was really clean and that they did upkeep their cells. “In some twisted way, this actually looks comfortable.” Nick laughed, “Well, better than where I was.”

“And where was that?”

Nick shrugged, “We bounced from place to place, so it’d be anything from a stairwell to the hard cold ground.”

“And now, you ain’t gotta live like that anymore.”

Nick nodded as he followed Vernon, “Yeah.” he muttered.

“So, this next place I’m taking you is where the preparation takes place for us police. We have our locker room here.” Vernon said as he led Nick through their locker room. “It’s complete with showers and our uniforms are always pressed and waiting in our lockers.” he led Nick out into the next part of the station. “This is our dispatch center, where we have our various dispatchers contact us policemen and give us information of calls they receive and require us to respond.”

“Well, well… what do we have here?” a female voice asked.

Vernon turned to find Cindy standing behind him, “I, uh… hey.” he stuttered.

Nick glanced between Vernon and the woman, smirking at the way Vernon suddenly fell dumbstruck. Cindy looked down at Nick, “And who might you be?”

Nick held his hand out to her, “Nick.”

Cindy smiled at the way Nick presented himself, “Nice to meet you Nick. By the looks of things, Vernon is in no condition to be making any introductions here, but I’m Cindy.”

Vernon was still quiet, kicking himself for the way he was acting. Cindy glanced over at him and laughed, “Well, since I don’t think you’ll be finding your voice anytime soon, I guess I’ll be on my way. See you fellas around.” and with that, she left.

Nick watched as Cindy walked away. When she was out of sight, he turned back to look at Vernon, who was still trying to compose himself. “Are you okay?”

After what seemed like forever, Vernon finally found his voice. “Uh… yeah, of course I’m okay. Why do you ask?”

Nick shrugged, “You were acting strange. Do you like her?”

Vernon literally choked on his intake of air. “No, I do not! And could you not talk so loud?” he said playfully, wanting Nick to know he wasn’t being serious.

Nick nodded, a smile plastered on his face. “Uh huh.”

Vernon straightened himself out, “You ready…” his stopped in the middle of his sentence, his eyes widening when he heard his voice crack, “You ready to continue on?” he asked in a lower voice.

Hearing Vernon caused Nick to bust out in laughter, doubling and clutching his stomach from laughing so hard, “Oh gosh… I’m sorry, but this is funny!”

Vernon blushed, lightly pushing Nick right along, “Okay… finally I’m gonna show you the last part of our station, which is the area where officers and any other authorities go to get their arms.” he opened the door and held it open for Nick to walk in.

Nick walked slowly into the small room, seeing nothing but a desk and a man sitting behind it. “Where’s the weapons?” he questioned.

The man who was seated behind the desk looked up and smiled at Nick. He didn’t look to be much older than Nick, yet he sat there, cleaning a disassembled gun.

Vernon pointed to a door that was located to the back of the small room. “Right behind that door. It contains all kinds of weapons, and this young man here along with another overshadowing officer is in charge of signing out the weapons to the officers and keeping track of all the arms.”

“I also have the pleasure of cleaning each and every single piece.” the man added as he placed the part of the gun he was cleaning down. “The names’ Alexander James McLean, but you can just call me AJ.”

Nick grasped the outstretched hand and shook it, “Nick Carter.”

“Ahh, so you’re one of the infamous kids huh?” AJ asked as he sat back down.

Nick glanced up to Vernon, “Am I some type of celebrity or something? Why does everyone seem to know so much about me?”

Vernon chuckled, “Word travels fast kid, this is a police station you know.”

AJ smiled, “Don’t worry about it, I was in your shoes once. But I was given an opportunity and was able to redeem myself, and this is where I’m at now.”

“McLean‘s title is a cadet. Although this isn’t the military, he’s a trainee and we have him working here to gain more experience. But don’t let his age fool you, cause this kid knows a hell of a lot when it comes to weapons.” Vernon explained.

Nick looked back at AJ, “How old are you?”

“18.”

Nick’s eyes widened in shock. AJ snickered, “Yeah, I get that a lot.”

Just then, another man dressed in what looked to be a military uniform, walked into the room. “How’s it coming McLean?”

“Last piece sir.” AJ said as he held up the cleaned gun he just assembled.

“This is McLean’s overshadowing officer for the moment, although he isn’t exactly an officer.” Vernon explained. “This is Sergeant Dorough.”

The man turned to address both Vernon and Nick with a warm smile. “You must be Nick.” he said as he held his hand out.

Nick smiled, “Indeed I am.”

“As Vernon already introduced, I’m Sergeant Dorough, but the names’ Howard.”

“Nice to meet you sir.”

“Likewise. I just came from the Captain’s office, and I assume that you are already aware of the fact that he would like to have a word with you.”

Nick gulped, “Yeah. He wants to talk to me now?”

Howie shrugged, “Whenever you’re complete with the tour I suppose.”

“Which I just showed him the last part of the station.” Vernon looked down at Nick, finding him to be suddenly pale. “You ready kid? You ain’t got nothing to worry about, I promise you.”

Nick nodded. He wasn’t sure why he was so nervous, but he was.

Nick trailed behind Vernon, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt the whole time. He tried to ease his nervousness, but try as he might, he just couldn’t calm himself. How would he address him? Although his knees were bandaged up, he was still in his dirty, torn clothes, he wasn’t presentable at all. Before he could process another thought, he found himself standing outside the captain’s office, seeing the name “CAPTAIN RICHARDSON” printed boldly on the glass window of the door.

“Where’s Captain Marcell?” Nick questioned, not being able to believe he could remember the name after all these years.

“He’s our Chief now, looking to retire real soon. How do you know him?”

Nick shrugged. He wasn’t sure if Vernon knew about the tragedy that had befallen him years ago, and he wasn’t exactly comfortable to share it so openly with people now. Nick trailed behind Vernon, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt the whole time. He tried to ease his nervousness, but try as he might, he just couldn’t calm himself. How would he address him? Although his knees were bandaged up, he was still in his dirty, torn clothes, he wasn’t presentable at all. Before he could process another thought, he found himself standing outside the captain’s office, seeing the name “CAPTAIN RICHARDSON” printed boldly on the glass window of the door.

“Where’s Captain Marcell?” Nick questioned, not being able to believe he could remember the name after all these years.

“He’s our Chief now, looking to retire real soon. How do you know him?”

Nick shrugged. He wasn’t sure if Vernon knew about the tragedy that had befallen him years ago, and he wasn’t exactly comfortable to share it so openly with people now. “I remember meeting him once upon a time.”

Vernon stared down at Nick, knowing that something was troubling his mind, but he didn’t want to press further. He tapped on the glass and waited for a confirmation from the other side.

“Come in!”

When he heard that, he grasped the door knob and twisted it, pushing the door open and holding it so that Nick could walk in. “Go on kid.” Vernon whispered as he nodded his head towards the office.

Nick took a deep breath in and slowly stepped inside, his heart pounding so loudly in his chest when he heard the door close behind him. He looked around the office, his brows crinkling in confusion when he saw no one there.

He opened his mouth to say something, to make his presence known, but quickly decided against it. He stalked up to the desk and glanced over the pictures that decorated the desk. He bit his bottom lip upon staring at the pictures, seeing that the captain was a rather large man and looked to be quite intimidating. He was tall and muscular, a chiseled bone structure and very defined posture. What stood out the most to him was the captain’s striking emerald eyes, which was complimented by a set of full, bushy eyebrows, that caused the color of his eyes to stand out almost painfully.

He stared at a picture of the captain holding a young lady, who he assumed to be his wife. She was absolutely stunning; the word beauty couldn’t even begin to describe her. She had a crop of brown hair that cascaded past her shoulder, pearly white teeth that complimented her radiant smile, striking eyes, just like the captain, and she had a perfect petite figure.

He broke his stare away from that picture and glanced over the others, a look of puzzlement etched over his features when he saw a picture of the captain with Brian. They were both dressed in their uniforms, and the captain stood behind Brian with his lips in a slight curve upwards while Brian stood there with his hands clasped in front of him, a big, bright, goofy smile on his face.

Nick chuckled as he now looked over the framed certificates that hung on the wall. “Kevin Scott Richardson.” He read softly to himself, in awe with all the rewards and acknowledgements he had received.

“An office isn’t an office unless you litter it with family pictures and proof of your accomplishments.” A voice suddenly stated.

Nick quickly whirled around, his heart lurching into his throat upon hearing the sudden and unsuspected voice. He quickly calmed himself when he recognized him to be the man from the pictures; Kevin Scott Richardson. “I’m sorry sir.” He whispered sheepishly.

Kevin smiled warmly, “You have nothing to be sorry for son. I’m sorry for keeping you waiting though, got caught up in some business.”

Nick nodded as he watched Kevin walk behind his desk. Now that he was in the man’s presence, he was in awe with how large the man really was in person; he was a mountain, tall, bold and strong. “It’s okay.” He whispered again, not believing that his voice was leaving him right now.

“Have a seat.” Kevin offered as he sat down in his own seat.

Nick pulled out the chair from in front of the desk and sat down slowly, immediately clasping his hands together in front of him so he wouldn’t start fidgeting. He glanced up at Kevin, feeling incredibly small and insignificant under his intense stare, which seemed to read into him with such ease.

“So Nickolas… do you know why you’re here?” Kevin questioned.

Nick cringed upon hearing him say his whole name. as if the man wasn’t intimidating enough. “No sir.”

“Well, it’s nothing you have to be so uptight about, so relax kid.” Kevin chuckled, trying to ease the tension he sensed in Nick. “Are you gonna let your arms have back some of it’s blood supply?”

Nick glanced down, noticing that his right hand had a death grip on his left arm while his left hand had a death grip on his right. He removed his hands from his arms, revealing a pale white handprint outlined with red.

Kevin’s smile never left his face, “Do you want something to drink before we get down to business? I have water and pop.”

Nick swallowed hard, “Yes please, I’ll take a pop.” He noticed for the first time that his throat was extremely dry and scratchy, he felt absolutely parched.

Kevin nodded and rose from his seat, walking over to the small refrigerator that was tucked in the corner of his office. “Is strawberry pop okay?” Kevin asked as he walked back towards him, holding a pink can out.

“Yes sir.” Nick rasped as he took the can of strawberry soda.

Kevin settled himself back down in his chair, watching as Nick popped the can of soda open and began gulping the fizzling liquid like he hadn’t drank anything in days. “Uh… the carbonation isn’t burning your throat?” he laughed.

Nick didn’t stop drinking until he received the last drop of soda the can had to offer. He sheepishly pulled the can away from his mouth and used the back of his hand to wipe his lips. “Sorry, I was really thirsty for some reason.”

Kevin shook his head and smiled, “It’s okay, just didn’t want you to start choking on me. But now that I know you’ll be okay, shall we start off by having you tell me a little about yourself?”

“There isn’t much to tell.” Nick replied with a shrug. “I’ve been living on the streets and that’s about it.”

“Is there a reason as to why you were living on the streets?” Kevin questioned, although he knew the answer. He knew everything he needed to know about Nick, but decided to question him to see if he would explain his side of things. Getting Nick to open up to him was taking a step towards having the kid confide in him.

Nick tried his best to dance around the question, “Ain’t had the luxuries like other kids have.”

“Nick, waking up to greet each brand new day with a breath is a luxury that most of us take for granted. So this ain’t got nothing to do with luxuries.”

“Well, my family could never afford a place to live, nor anything to eat. My family, we live off the streets and we survive by the streets, that’s always how it’s been.” Nick simply replied.

Kevin nodded, knowing that Nick’s “family” consisted of his friends. He decided to keep the fact that he knew the truth to himself because he would wait for Nick to come to him to open up, he would have to take baby steps in getting this kid to confide in him. “Okay… well, what if I offered you to come and stay with my family?”

Nick’s eyes widened, “What?”

“I’m offering you a place to live and food to eat. We’ve taken you off the streets, and now you no longer have to survive by it if you choose to take up my offer.”

“Look, Officer Vernon and I already have an agreement going on. He said he wasn’t going to place me in an orphanage if I cooperated, and I’m keeping up my end of the bargain.”

“No one’s talking about placing you in an orphanage. I’m asking you if you would like to be apart of my family.”

Nick’s brow furrowed in confusion, “But… you know nothing about me.”

“Do you want to go back to school?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to get a job?”

“Yes.”

“Are you a heavy eater?”

“I can be.”

“Well, there you go. I know everything I need to know about you.”

Nick chuckled, “That’s not what I meant…”

“Have you ever killed anyone?”

“What? No?”

“Okay, now I know everything I need to know.”

“Look Captain Richardson, thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I already have a family out there that’s waiting for me to get back to them, and I’m sure they’ll love to hear this crazy story.” Nick said as he rose from his seat, making his way towards the door.

“Your family wants you to be here.”

Nick froze in his steps, slowly turning around to face the captain, who was now standing. “What?”

Kevin stared long and hard at him, hoping he could read his eyes. “Think about it.”

Nick stared at Kevin, before he finally tore himself away and continued to walk out of the office. He wasn’t sure if Kevin was done talking with him, but he just had to get out of there to get his thoughts together.

“How’d it go in there kid?”

Nick looked up to see Harry standing in front of him. He simply shrugged.

Harry chuckled, “That bad huh? Look, don’t let that old dinosaur fool you, he may look all stern and scary, but he’s one of the biggest softies I know.”

“Kinda like Brian.” Nick said softly, more to himself. At that thought, he now wanted to see Brian, knowing that he could possibly ease his racing mind and put a smile on his face.

“Well, Vernon sent me over this way to give you a new change of clothes, I know you must be uh… wanting to get out of them dirty clothes. If you’d like to shower, I could show you over to where the showers are at.”

“Where’s Brian?” Nick blurted out, needing to talk with him.

Harry shrugged, “Haven’t seen him since we were in the IR, but I could get a hold of him for you.”

Nick smiled faintly, “That would be great, thanks.”

“So uh… what do you want me to do with your new pair of clothes?” Harry asked.

Nick looked over at the folded clothes Harry held out towards him. “I guess I’ll shower up while I wait for Brian.” he said as he grabbed the clothes from Harry.

“Do you need me to show you where it’s at?”

Nick shook his head, “Nah, thanks to the tour Vernon gave me, I think I pretty much got everything from here.”

Harry smiled and nodded, “Okay, well… if you need anything else, just let any one of us know. The whole station knows you’re here, so they won’t bother you but don’t hesitate to ask anybody for anything, okay? I’ll go fetch Brian and when you’re done with your shower, you can just head on back to the IR.”

Nick smirked, “Thanks for everything.”

“No problem kiddo.”

Nick nodded to himself as he began to make his way towards the showers. Maybe my family really does want me to be here…

Nick stepped out of the steamy shower; he hasn’t felt this clean and refreshed in a long time. He began to towel his body dry as he glanced his bandaged knees over, seeing that they were saturated from the shower and the once white pieces of cloths were now tinged with a light pink color; he’d have to ask Harry to re-bandage his knees. He grabbed the clean clothes the station had provided for him and unfolded them, holding it up to see that they gave him a uniformed jumpsuit that the station would provide their jail inmates. How fitting.

He shrugged it off, knowing this was the only type of clean clothes they could provide him at the moment. He pulled it over his small, lanky frame, and though he wasn’t feeling the jumpsuit and surely didn’t want to walk out of the shower and around the station in a uniform they give their apprehended criminals, it did feel nice to be dressed in something that was crisp and clean.

He wrapped his now damp towel up into a ball and made his way out of the shower area, peering into the corridor. He looked around before he began to make his way back to the interrogation room. He began to think of where they’d let him stay, if he would have to sleep in one of their jail cells. Regardless, it would be better than sleeping on the cold pavement. His mind wandered back to the goofy officer he had met earlier, and wondered if Harry had gone to get him like he asked…

“Well, don’t you look spiffy?” he heard a voice say from behind him.

Nick turned around to find Brian standing behind him, his lips curved in an upward smirk, “I’m assuming it’s all they had.” he replied sheepishly, not wanting to sound as if he weren’t grateful.

Brian chuckled as he walked up to Nick and slapped a reassuring hand down upon his shoulder, “I’m just messin’ with ya kid. Sergeant Dorough had took McLean to do some late night shopping for you. Besides picking up more groceries I’m sure we’ll need, McLean’s in charge of bringing you back some comfortable clothes to settle into. Though the kid’s got a knack for guns, he also knows a thing or two when it comes to fashion, the dude loves to shop! I had to tell him not to overdo it though and to just bring back some sporty clothes for you to wear for the time being. Hope you don’t mind that I pegged you to be a sporty type.”

Nick shook his head, “Not at all, I love sports! Though I’m a New York native, I love the Bucs!”

Brian grasped at his chest, as if he were having a heart attack. “Are you kidding me?! A New York native liking a Florida team?! What are you gonna tell me next, that you prefer Red Sox over the Yankees? Cause those are some fighting words kiddo!” he joked.

Nick chuckled, “Nah man, my father…” he instantly choked on the last word, he hadn’t brought up anything about his deceased family since he’s been here. “My father loved the Bucs.” he finished somberly.

Brian gave a sympathetic look, wanting to change the subject, “Hey, it’s okay, I fancy me some Falcons baby, from time to time.”

“So um, where will I be staying, if you don’t mind me asking?” Nick asked sheepishly, wanting to change the subject as well.

“You ain’t fitting on going to bed so early, are you? Once Howie gets back, he’s gonna whip us up a mean meal for us to feast on! A good thing of having that Puerto Rican man on the force is that he can cook up some mean Puerto Rican cuisines! You’ll definitely put on some pounds being here!”

Nick smiled as he felt his stomach begin to grumble, he hadn’t had a decent, home cooked meal in so long! Having being treated to a McDonald’s meal was simply the icing on the cake, to feast on Howie’s cooking was the ala mode!! His mind began to wander back to his family, and how he was once able to enjoy home cooked meals. The night they were taken away from him, he had gone to the grocery store to purchase a few ingredients his mother needed.

“But, we all stay at an old fire station Kevin has rented out for us to stay in. I’m sure you’ve heard that the man is a big softy.” Brian continued, breaking Nick out of his thoughts. “I live there, along with AJ and Howie; at times Harry and Vernon will stay there too. Kevin stays there sometimes as well, but he has a small apartment where he and his wife lives.”

“So, what’s the story behind that?” Nick asked as they entered the interrogation room, wanting to get more information on the people he’d be staying with, for who knows how long.

“Well, after I had graduated from high school back in Kentucky, I had gone on to college. Kevin is the big reason why I looked into joining the police force actually, and thanks to him, he made it possible. I always wanted to join the military, but with my heart condition, there’s no way I could have.”

“Heart condition?” Nick questioned, not figuring the healthy looking man that sat before him would have any kind of health condition.

Brian nodded, “Yup, I was born with a heart defect, and the hospital became my second home.” he tried to joke, “But, after taking my ASVAB tests and preparing to join the military and being turned down because of my heart condition, I was torn up about it to say the least. My sights then turned on to Kevin being the captain of the NYPD, and figured it was something I could do, and the closest I could get to being a man in uniform. So, after contacting Kevin, he was able to get me started and I had dropped out of the college I was enrolled in in Kentucky, flew here and was living with Kevin and his wife for a bit while I received training.”

“You and the captain seem pretty close.” Nick stated, sounding intrigued. “I had seen a picture of you and him in his office.”

Brian gave a genuine smile, “Well, he’s my cousin.”

Nick’s eyes widened, “What?!? Are you serious?”

Brian nodded and chuckled, “Yup. His mom and my dad are siblings.” he explained proudly. “Anyway, like I said, I lived with him and his wife for a bit while I completed training. After that, he had rented out the fire station for us to reside in. He took AJ in, and Howie, well… Howie is good friends with Kevin, and had moved out of his family home when he had joined the force here. He has no family of his own here, so he lives at the station with AJ and I.”

“And what’s the story with AJ?” Nick questioned, curious about the only man that remained a mystery to him still.

Brian shrugged, “Well, that’s a story for him to tell you, which I’m sure he wouldn’t mind sharing. The kid, though appearing solemn, is the talkative one of the bunch… he could talk your ears off!”

“So, is that where I’ll be staying?” Nick asked in a small voice, truly sounding like the little kid he is, “With you guys at the fire station?”

Brian smiled brightly and nodded, “Yup. There’s so much room in that place, you’d go crazy! And it’s only a block down from this station. So, once Harry and Vernon get back, they’ll pick us up and bring us over there.”

“Why don’t we just walk?” Nick suggested, figuring it’d be nice to walk a block with his new friend that he could possibly learn to call ’brother’.

Brian sighed, he would be down for just walking the block, but Kevin had told them all that he wanted to shield Nick as much as possible, unsure if the men that killed his family was still out there, looking for Nick to finish what they had started and kill him off; rid the world of the WHOLE Carter family. “As much as I’d love to accept the offer, these old bones are quite tired from walking.” he lied, knowing he couldn’t tell the kid the real reason why they couldn’t walk; they had to protect him at all costs. “You didn’t have fun riding in the cruiser?” he asked jokingly.

Nick laughed and replied back sarcastically, “I had A LOT of fun being pushed into the ground and apprehended by officers in front of people. I’d like to do that again.”

Brian laughed as well and winked. He was beginning to like this kid, a lot. It was a shame that he had lost his whole family and resorted to living and eating off the streets, but now that he was with them, hopefully he’d come to find them as his new family and would accept them just as much.

“Welcome to your new humble abode!” Brian said as he unlocked the door to the fire station and pushed and held it open.

Nick slowly waltzed in, his mouth agape. The place was HUGE! This old fire station was literally transformed into a living condo that could house more than five people. The parlor was huge, the ceiling extending all the way to the top of the station. There were three floors, and each level had a balcony which you could peer over into the parlor area, almost looking as if someone had cut the station in half, leaving you to view the severed three levels. Two long poles ran the length of the levels, leading down to the bottom floor. There was a spiral staircase located towards the back of the parlor, smack dab in the middle.

“Holy shiiii-” Nick slurred off quick, feeling uncomfortable using foul language around Brian. He walked in further, seeing that there was a large kitchen located towards the back left of the parlor, while their dining area was located towards the back right, not far from the staircase. “This place is huge!”

Brian smiled, “Yeah, it took a while for us to renovate it. We did a lot of the remodeling ourselves, so all our creative ideas kind of went into making this place. As you can tell, this place is three stories, and this tall ceiling wasn’t like this before… the ceiling was the height of the first level, and so on. AJ kind of came up with the idea of ‘cutting the place in half’, so to speak, and knock down and clear out half of the upper three levels, leaving us a large ceiling space for the living room. He thought it’d be cool to build a railing for each level, for not only our safety, but to have it appear as a balcony, with us being able to look over it. There’s four rooms on each floor, and of course you can slide down the two poles if you’re too lazy to walk down the flight of stairs, or in our case, in a rush to get to the station or wherever they dispatch us to go.”

Nick continued wandering around with his mouth agape, taking in the large ‘L’ shaped couch and loveseats, along with a few lounge chairs. He stared in awe at the large screen TV that was situated in front of the sitting area. “This is too freaking cool!” he stated in excitement, letting his hand drag across the black leather couch.

“Come check out the kitchen!” Brian stated as he led Nick towards the back left of the place.

Nick followed, his eyes widening upon the sight, “Holy shit balls!” he whispered, no longer caring to hold in his vulgarity.

Brian chuckled at his choice of words, “Yeah, this is where we do all our cooking for us hungry men. We’ve dubbed Howie as all of our personal chef, but we all try to get some cooking in for us from time to time.”

Nick admired the two large refrigerators, oversized stoves and ovens, the industrial sized sinks and the long island that ran down the middle of the kitchen, with nice bronzed pots and pans that hung above.”

Brian led him out to the dining area next, “This is where we all come to eat. Though all of our shifts are crazy, we try to come here to enjoy a meal together… say a nice prayer before we dig in and just talk and relax after a long, stressful day.”

Nick smirked as he let his fingers drag across the long dining table, thinking of how he’ll become apart of this now. “This place is too cool.”

“You want to see something even more cool?” Brian asked as he made his way towards a door that was located not far from the dining area. “Come and check this out.” He opened the door, which led into a well sized room.

Alongside one of the walls were a roll of lockers, while the other side was lined with large mirrors. “Is this your guys locker room or something?” Nick asked.

“This was the area that would house the firemen’s uniform and gear… once they slid down the pole, they’d come into this room and change before they ran through those two doors to their fire trucks.” he pointed out the two doors at both ends of the room. “You can say that we changed this into our own personal locker rooms, because through one door is our gym, and through the other door is our game room.”

Nick’s eyes widened, “You guys have a freaking gym and game room?!?”

Brian laughed, “Yes… us men have to keep our physique looking good, and like to have fun at the same time.” He walked over towards the door on the left and opened it, leading them into their personal gym. He flicked on the light, illuminating the large, indoor gym. “We’ve transformed the two former fire truck ports into our personal gym and game room. So, this is where we go to get a good workout and keep ourselves fit. From what I heard, you gave Vernon a good run earlier today.” he joked.

Nick smiled sheepishly, “Yeah.”

Brian chuckled as he flicked the light off and then lead him over towards the game room, which was through the door located on the right. “Again, the game room was AJ’s idea, he insisted on getting a billiard table to put somewhere in this place, but Kevin refused for him to place it in the living room. So, AJ took it upon himself to invest in a billiard table and transform this second port into a game room. I eventually went along with it and invested in a KISS pinball machine, which both my mother and Kevin weren’t too happy with my purchase, as you can imagine. From there, we accepted old donated video game machines and took it on as projects to fix up and make it playable again. Harry and Vernon also invested quite a bit in this room, they’re such big kids.”

Nick was beaming like a little child on Christmas day as he wandered through the game room. There was AJ’s billiard table as a prominent centerpiece, along with two large couches that were situated on each side of the table, as well as a poker table. Along the walls were the video game machines and pinball machine, along with a smaller size refrigerator and a large flat screen TV, with video game consoles hooked up to it.

“Oh sweet, Super Nintendo!” Nick voiced out excitedly as he ran over towards the console, looking it all over. “This is probably my favorite room of this whole place!”

Brian grinned, “Figured you’d love this place. Once we get you settled in and finish eating, perhaps you and I can play a game for a bit, before we go down for bed.”

Nick looked up at Brian, his eyes wide with excitement, “Really?”

“Why not?” Brian asked with a shrug, shoving his hands into his pocket. “Between you and me, these guys freaking suck when it comes to playing these games, but you look like a worthy opponent!”

Nick smiled and rose from where he was crouched, sticking his hand out towards Brian, “You’ve got yourself a worthy game playing partner!”

Brian cocked an eyebrow, “Do I now?” he smiled and grabbed Nick’s outstretched hand. “May the best man win.”

Nick beamed brightly and bit his lower lip, bounding excitedly out of the game room, “Man, and to think that I was going to fight with staying with you guys!”

Brian followed Nick out, flicking the light off and closing the door behind him, “Well, I’m glad that it didn’t take much to get you on our side.”

Hearing that made Nick stop suddenly in his tracks. He turned to Brian, his facial expression serious. “Why me though?” he asked in a soft voice. “Why did you guys pick me to stay here with you guys? I mean, you don’t know anything about me… besides the fact that I’m nothing but a punk street rat.”

Brian tried to give a genuine smile as he ruffled his hair, “We know enough about you kid… more than you think.”

Nick tried to force a grin in return, trying to shrug it off. Yet, he couldn’t help than to think of all people, why is it that they were so set to help him? They could’ve easily booked him and released him back on the streets, but instead, here he was, standing in a huge, redone and refurnished place, a new shelter to stay, and would soon be feasting on a home cooked meal.

No one was ever this nice to him, ever. He learned things the hard way, and learned that in life nothing is ever handed to you, that you have to go out there and take it… just like those men took his family away from him. He wasn’t sure what to think of this whole situation, and he could fell his hard shell begin to resolve a bit, but he wondered if he should bring back his hard exterior, just in case. The last thing he wanted for these guys to take him in, treat him nice for a bit, and then throw his ass back out on the streets, or into an orphanage. He needed to see if these guys were the truth.

“Hey, you okay?” Brian asked, concerned of how Nick suddenly became quiet and seemed withdrawn.

Nick snapped out of his trance, looked over at Brian and gave a light smirk, “Sorry, I’m fine. Just trying to wrap my mind around all that you guys are doing for me I suppose.”

Brian wrapped his arm around Nick’s shoulder, pulling him in close as he ruffled his hair once more, “Don’t think about it too much kid, you’ll come to see us like family soon enough!”

Family… he was just fine with his “family” on the streets, why did they want him to join theirs so bad? He was again broken out of his thoughts when he heard the front door to the… fire house open, revealing both Howie and AJ, who were carrying in loads of groceries. He didn’t even realize that both he and Brian had walked back out into the living room.

“Where’s Vern and Harry?” Howie asked as he carried the groceries into the kitchen. “There’s more stuff in the car that needs to be grabbed.”

Brian shrugged as he walked over to begin unpacking the groceries and start putting them away, “Not sure. They were still outside when Nick and I had came in, and I had just got done giving Nick here the tour of the place.”

Howie looked over at Nick and smiled, “And how do you like it so far?”

“Like it? I love it!” Nick replied in a less enthusiastic tone he had used earlier with Brian; he was really battling with his thoughts of being here, though loving it. “It’s amazing.”

“Did you show him the game room?” AJ asked as he came up from behind to place the groceries he was carrying on the counter as well.

Brian chuckled and rolled his eyes, “Yes AJ, I showed him the game room and all, told him it was all your idea.”

AJ beamed proudly, “You wouldn’t happen to be a billiard player, would you?”

Nick shook his head as he glanced over at Brian, in hopes he could save him from this question. He couldn’t. “I, uh… I don’t even know how to play that.”

AJ gave a lopsided smirk as he slapped a reassuring hand down on Nick’s shoulder, “Don’t worry dude, I’ll teach you how.”

Howie rolled his eyes, “You’re talking to the best and only pool player here. He’s taught us all, in hopes to give himself better competition.”

“There’s a reason I got that pool table,” AJ tried to explain, “and there’s no way in hell that I brought that to shoot pool by myself, so of course I need some competition!”

“Where the hell are those two?” Howie grumbled once more about Vernon and Harry as he walked out of the kitchen.

“Did Kevin mention what time he’d be off?” Brian asked as he began to stock some items into the large refrigerator.

AJ shook his head, “He just mentioned that he had to finish up some reports before he headed here. Figured we’d best straighten up his room as well… from the sound of it, he doesn’t seem close to finishing up his reports, so… another late night for Richardson.”

Brian nodded as he finished stocking in the last of the cold groceries into the refrigerator. “Oh, and Nick’s clothes?”

“Still in the car.” AJ replied as he jabbed his thumb in the direction of where the car was parked.

“Why don’t you and Nick go grab his clothes from out of the car, and then you can show him where he’ll be staying. After that, you two can go ahead and fix up Kevin’s room while Howie and I get started on dinner.”

“What about the rest of the stuff in the car?” AJ questioned as he began making his way out of the kitchen.

“That’s why Howie went to round up Vern and Harry.”

Nick followed quickly behind AJ, “Thank you, for picking out clothes from me.”

AJ shrugged as he led them out to the car, “Not a problem kid.” he said as he reached in to grab the bags of clothes and handed it over to Nick, “I’m hoping it’s the right size.”

“If anything, I’ll make it fit and work.” Nick said as he continued to grab the bags AJ was handing over to him. “I, uh… I heard you know a thing or two about fashion.” he stated, trying to keep the conversation going.

“A thing or two.” AJ repeated as scooped up the remaining bags and closed the car door, “Not like I’m a guru or something, I just love shopping is all.”

“I guess I’d love shopping too, if I could do that.” Nick bit out sadly.

AJ shrugged, “Eh, you can do anything you set your mind to kid.” he replied, not wanting to give Nick pity. Little did Nick know, but AJ was once in his shoes; the only difference was, AJ was rebellious and independent, he sought pity and wanted help from no one. He even refused Kevin’s offer a few times, but one good thing about Kevin is his persistence and persuasion. Nick, on the other hand, was still a young soul, with a different and tragic story, so perhaps it was normal for him to seek pity to an extent. “You want to go shopping, you do whatever it is you need to to get you there, and you do it.” he continued.

Nick looked up at the mysterious young man as they walked back into the house. He had wanted to ask him questions, get to know him a little bit more, but figured he best ask his questions in a more private setting.

“Boy, let me tell you, you’ll come to love this place.” AJ said as they began their ascent up the flight of spiral stairs. “You’ll be taking the third level with me.”

“Why are you rooming all the way at the top?” Nick asked, truly curious.

AJ shrugged, “Besides the fact that I was the youngest,” he stressed the word “was“, “I kind of liked the feeling of being all alone up here. Brian takes the second level, along with Vern and Harry, if they decide to stay, and both Howie and Kevin’s rooms are on the first level. Also, I was the only one that cared to slide down the pole from the third floor… my bones are still young.” he joked.

Nick laughed as they finally made it to the third floor. As AJ began to make his way towards Nick’s new room, Nick had walked over towards the railing, wanting to look over. Below, he saw Howie walk in, with Vernon and Harry trailing in behind him. “Wow.” he breathed out.

“Amazing, huh?” AJ asked as he walked up beside him. “That was the reaction I envisioned when I thought of this layout. I thought it’d be cool to do something different and abstract, to have us look out over our makeshift balconies from the first, second and third level, peering out over the living room.”

“This place is like a mansion!” Nick said as he turned around and walked away from the railing.

AJ turned away as well and directed Nick to follow him into his new room, “Yeah, it took a while for us to get this place looking how it does… took a lot of blood, sweat, tears and money… but it was all well worth spent.”

AJ opened the door to Nick’s new room and flicked the light on, revealing the new spacious room to him. Nick walked in and looked over the simple furnishing in his room… a bed, dresser, end table, lamp, desk, closet… even a window for him to open to look out of, and to breathe fresh air. This all felt right.

“How did you guys pay for all this stuff?” Nick asked as he flounced down on his new bed.

AJ shrugged as he walked in as well, placing the bags of clothes down on Nick’s bed, “Like I said, it took years for us to get to this point. We all contributed money here and there to make things possible, and if anything, spent money on whatever else we wanted for this place… case in point, I invested getting a pool table for the game room, while Brian bought a pinball table and Howie invested in most of the weights and sets in the gym room. It is truly mi casa es su casa here.”

“And you guys really want me to stay here? You guys don’t mind.”

AJ sat down on the bed next to Nick, “One of these days, you’ll come to learn more about Captain Richardson, and come to see how genuine and soft hearted the man is. Though he strives to help as much people as he can, he carefully selects the people he lets close to him. He got this place for all of us to live in, because we had nowhere else to stay, surely we couldn’t all live with him and his wife! You had his cousin who moved from Kentucky and needed somewhere to stay, you had Howie that moved here as well to help out instead of living in some place on his own, and then you have me.”

“And what about you?” Nick questioned, “What’s your story?”

AJ sighed, “Long story short, I’m an only child. My mom was young when she had me, so she gave me up for adoption. As for my father, well… I don’t know much about him, only that he was years older than my mom. So, that’s two parents absent in my life, leaving me to grow up and go from family to family. I think I was around your age when I got tired of being passed around, so I ran away. Like you, I lived most of my life out on the streets, but I was by myself, just trying to get by. I kept bumping into Howie when he was just an officer, and he tried so hard to keep me out of trouble. I really didn’t understand why he cared anyway, but one day I had crossed the line.”

Nick tucked his legs up underneath him, now sitting Indian style on the bed, growing more intrigued with AJ’s life story, “What did you do?”

“Well, as Howie continued to try and keep me out of trouble, I just asked him not to send me back to the orphanage I ran away from. I should’ve known better that those people would catch wind of my whereabouts, not through Howie of course. They eventually caught me and tried to bring me back in, and of course, being the young, rebellious kid I was, I wasn’t gonna have that. I tried to set the orphanage on fire.”

Nick’s eyes widened, “What?”

AJ chuckled at the distant memory, “Yeah… luckily I didn’t get far with that though. I had only set fire to part of the boys’ bathroom before I was caught and the fire was extinguished. My intentions weren’t to hurt anybody… just burn down the place that handed me to complete strangers like I was nothing but an unwanted dog. That was the line I had crossed, and Howie had to arrest me for arson. It was then that I had met Captain Richardson, and to my surprise he had met up with the people from the orphanage and arranged to adopt me. They took me in, and, well… the rest is history.”

Nick let his eyes cast downwards, trying to digest it all. “I don’t get it…” he said as he shook his head, “Why is the captain so set on helping kids like us? Why is he helping any of us?”

AJ remained silent, truly thinking Nick’s question over. He had asked himself that same question, time and time again, and although he had lived with these people for the last five years of his life, he couldn’t help than to wonder why him? “You know… I still ask myself that question to this day. After realizing exactly what it was that my mom and dad did, which was give up their only child, I believed there was no good in this world, and that everyone was just as fucked up as I was. You can ask Howie, it took a long while for them to gain my trust, but to them it didn’t matter if it would take years… they wanted to give me something I’ve never had. They wanted to give me a family, to give me not just parents, but siblings… they wanted to give me a second chance at living life how I should and prove to me that though we live in a fucked up world, that there are still some good people in it, and it’s up to us to take the bad in the world and make it good. I guess you could say that the captain lives to help others, and takes pride in watching us grow and pass on the good deeds that were done for us.”

Nick continued to stare at AJ; he understood the explanation just fine, he probably just would never understand how he got to be so lucky. “Though I considered the guys I used to live on the streets with my family, the funny thing was… I never wanted another family, and I could never again see myself in one.”

AJ gave a faint smile; he and Nick had a lot in common. “I felt the same way. This is what I say though…” he rose up from where he sat on the bed and grasped Nick’s shoulder, “Don’t think about this too much. I’ve come to learn that there’s a reason for everything, and you deserve to be here. It sure took me a long while to come and call and see these guys as my new family, but they’re the best damn family I’ve ever had, the only family I’ll ever have. My mother and father could walk through these doors right now, wanting to start all over with being my parents, and I would turn them down and stick with these guys… that’s how much I trust them, and I seriously owe them my life. You’ll come to see the same thing Nick, and it will take some time, but… we’re gonna be the only family you now have.”

Nick gave a small nod, taking in all that was being said to him. AJ smiled and tightened his squeeze on his shoulder, in a comforting gesture. “Clean up if you need to and get ready for dinner… I’ll see you downstairs.”

“Thank you.” Nick muttered out as he heard the door close. He stood up from the bed and began to walk around in his new room. AJ was right… he shouldn’t battle with his thoughts of why they chose to help him and give him a place to stay… he should just be thankful.

~*~*~*~

“Mmm, what’s cooking?” Kevin asked as he walked through the front doors, his laptop bag strapped across his chest while he carried in books and papers.

Howie popped out of the kitchen, carrying a pot over towards the dinning table, “Classic ole spaghetti with meatballs and garlic balls. We decided to save my Puerto Rican cuisine for tomorrow night… you can thank AJ for that!”

AJ followed Howie out of the kitchen as well, carrying a bowl of salad in one hand and a basket of garlic balls in the other, “They told me to shop for some clothes for the kid, and I did just that! I can never please people!”

Kevin chuckled and shook his head, walking over towards the couch to place down all of his belongings, “Where are the other two bozos?”

“I know you ain’t talking about us Richardson!” Vernon voiced as both he and Harry walked out from the kitchen as well, carrying bottles of wine and wine glasses.

“Am I the only one wondering why we’re eating balls?” Harry joked, “Meatballs, garlic balls… Howie, is this what you’ll be feeding your future wife? Your balls?”

“Hahaha.” Howie laughed sarcastically. “You can cook your own food tomorrow night smart butt!”

Brian was the last to walk out from the kitchen, carrying a few cans of soda and bottles of water for the underage to drink, “Has Nick came down yet?”

“I’m right here.”

They all turned to the small voice that answered Brian’s question, watching as Nick made his descent down the stairs, looking timid. He was now wearing the new clothes AJ had picked out for him, which was nothing more than a pair of basketball shorts and a plain white t-shirt.

Brian smiled, “Thought you had fallen asleep on us or something!”

Nick returned the smile, “Sorry I took so long, I was trying to get settled in.”

“Glad to have you here with us Nick.” Kevin said, his lips curved up in a firm grin. “Lets gather around and say grace before we dig in. Brian?”

Brian simply nodded as he led the way for them to form a circle around the dining table. Nick, who was confused with this new ritual, followed suit and situated himself between Kevin and Vernon. “Let us join hands and bow our heads in prayers.” Brian stated.

Nick glanced around the circle, trying to observe what they were doing and what he should do. His family never did pray before a meal… they hardly ate dinner together come to think of it. He was broken from his thoughts as he felt Kevin’s hand grasp his left hand, while Vernon grabbed his right. He noticed that they bowed their heads down and closed their eyes, and he soon did the same.

“We thank You Father for gathering us all here tonight, to enjoy this delicious prepared meal. We ask you to bless the hands that prepared this meal… may it nourish our bodies, and may your blessings enrich our minds as we forever thirst and hunger for righteousness.”

Nick cracked one eye open, looking up at everyone in the circle, who still had their heads bowed and their eyes closed. This whole… prayer ritual was definitely new to him, but from the sounds of it, it sounded deep and meaningful. He just hoped that they wouldn’t have to go around and all say something!

“We’d also like to thank You for blessing our lives with the newest member to our family, Nick.” Brian lifted his head a bit and cracked an eye open to look over at Nick, who had his head up, observing what was going around him. When Nick eyes glazed over at Brian upon the mention of his name, he smiled. Brian smiled in return as he continued, “We ask You to place Your loving hands over him and continue to bless him Lord, keep him on your righteous path and may he find Your light and come to rejoice and proclaim Your name forever in love. Please God, continue to forever and always bless this new, complete family of ours… keep us safe, keep us healthy, keep us in good spirits, and may we always strive to do everything and live our lives according to Your word. In this we pray, amen.”

“Amen!” everyone else chorused out, breaking the linked chain of hands.

“Amen!” Nick whispered out a second later, his cheeks becoming flushed from embarrassment of not knowing what to do and this being his first time being apart of a prayer.

“Hey, come sit by me!” Brian whispered excitedly as he grabbed Nick by the arm and began to drag him over towards where he was sitting.

Nick could only laugh at Brian’s antics, seemingly like a big kid in that moment. Both he and Brian quickly sat down in their selected chairs as the others followed suit, sitting down and grabbing their plates, preparing to load the empty round piece of glass with heaping mounds of food. Within seconds, all of their plates were loaded with more than one scoop of spaghetti and meatballs, ceaser salad on another smaller plate, and mountains of claimed garlic balls

Silence had ensued for the longest; the only sound to be heard was the recognizable sounds of slurping noodles, the munching of meatballs, and the crunch of crisp lettuce. Kevin, Harry, Vernon, Howie and Brian all had wine glasses while both AJ and him had their respected cans of soda.

“I’d like to make a toast!” Kevin voiced out, claiming their attentions as they looked over to him, holding his wine glass in the air. “A toast to Nick joining us, and for completing our little family. May we forever continue to walk side by side with one another, and help our fellow brothers along on this journey we call life.”

“To family.” Brian chimed in, raising his glass of wine.

“To family.” AJ followed soon after, raising his can of soda as well.

Nick glanced over from Brian to AJ, who both stared expectedly back at him. His eyes then glazed over everyone else around the table, who seemed to wait for him to say the same thing. Like AJ had told him, it would take some time for him to see or accept it, but this was his only family now. He could see himself coming to accept them sooner rather than later, just like how they easily accepted him in. “To family.” he finally said.

Everyone else at the table rose their glasses as well, and together they said, “To family.”