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"Alex, do you think Ana's still mad at me? And that's why she hasn't visited me? Or do you think she's just avoiding Uncle Howie?" Melicia asked seriously as she and AJ walked slowly down the hospital hallway. It was her second day and she was to be discharged in a few hours. The doctors had suggested she take a walk to increase her flexibility. Melicia had consented as soon as AJ volunteered to tag along. Her bruises and bumps were slowly diminishing, but her ribs and shoulder remained painful.

"Ana's not mad at you, Sweetie. I'm sure she just doesn't want to confront Howie right now. Unless it's something else that's keeping her instead," he gave her a knowing look. "Is this enough of a reason to tell your uncle what you're scared something is going on with Ana and her dad?"

"I'd rather settle on the whole Ana's avoiding Uncle Howie bet," Melicia answered wearily, pressing herself deeper into AJ's side.

"I know you do, but we can't ignore this, Baby. What if he finally snapped?" AJ whispered, kissing the sire of her head.

"You could have told them two nights ago, you know?" she countered.

"You could have, too."

"I thought you would."

AJ bit his lip as they walked down the hall. "Right now I'm wishing one of us had instead of saying nothing."

"I just think she doesn't want to face Uncle Howie."

"Well, let's pray that's the reason and not--"

"Don't even say that."

"Sorry, Mella."

"She's fine," Melicia repeated. "She just has to be."

"I'm sure she is," he stopped them for a moment and leaned down to kiss her softly.

"I'm so glad Uncle Howie is cool with us," Melicia cooed when they parted. She wrapped her good arm around his neck, pulling him down for another kiss. She loved the taste of his lips.

"You and me both. I knew he would realize it sooner or later," AJ smiled, licking his lips and tasting her on them. "You're sweet like your nickname, Syrup."

"Well you taste nothing like a pancake," Melicia pouted.

"I don't think anyone can taste like a pancake, Baby," he chuckled, running a hand through her hair.

AJ moaned into her mouth as her nails ran up and down his back. "You gotta stop doing that to me. Makes me want to do things we can't until your ribs are all healed."

"We can find other things," she assured quietly.

"We can't do that here, Mella--"

"I'm talking about when I'm discharged," she laughed.

AJ's face turned beet red as Melicia continued to laugh. "You little brat."

"You know you love me."

"More than you'll ever know, Mella."

"I think I already know."

"What helped you know that?" he whispered, caressing her cheek with his thumb.

"When you were willing to give up your friendship with Uncle Howie to be with me."

"I would do anything to make sure I would be with you, Melicia. That's something I promise you. Okay?"

"I know," she answered with a smile, leaning up to kiss him again. AJ laughed, running his thumbs carefully down her cheeks as they heard a loud commotion breaking from further down the hallway. Melicia turned to see Pierce, Dominic, Riley, Amos, and Kieran thundering down the hallway. They were talking amongst themselves in a hushed panic. Melicia's eyes grew wide as they approached. "Awe! You guys didn't have to visit me!"

"Actually, we're not," Riley stated flatly.

"Excuse me? What happened, then?" Melicia asked, wondering why they were so cold to her. Ana thought she had explained to them about what happened and knew she had apologized.

"Just tell us one thing. Did you have a fucking vodoo doll on Ana or something?" Pierce asked with pain.

"A vodoo doll? Why would I do that to Ana? We talked about everything after she found me and I apologized. I would never do anything to hurt her--"

"Bullshit! That's pure bullshit! You fucking cursed her!" Dominic blurted, unable to hold his emotion. He glared at Melicia as if she were the Devil. His muscles tensed with pain and intolerance. "Do you know where Pierce found her? Do you have any fucking idea what you did to her?!"

"I didn't do anything! How could I if I'm the fucking hospital?! I don't know what the Hell is going on!" Melicia defended herself.

"Ana was beaten to a pulp," Pierce whispered, his voice void of all emotion. "She didn't call me the first night, so I figured that she was just spending time with her dad... But she didn't call me again today... I went over and she was... God, there was blood everywhere, her pulse was weak, she was barely breathing... I hope you're happy, because she's just been wheeled to ICU. We don't even know if she's going to live till sunset. Her father had a meeting in Europe and couldn't even come to see her."

"What? No... no, this isn't happening. Pierce, I didn't mean what I said and I told her that!"

"You're a heartless bitch," Dominic stated bluntly, pulling Pierce away. "Don't you even fucking come down to the room. We don't want you anywhere near her. Mr. Lord left Pierce in charge."

Tears that were welling up in Melicia's eyes spilled down her cheeks at Dominic's words. They were right, it was all her fault that this had happened. She only whispered 'I'm sorry' and ran down the hallway in the opposite direction, leaving AJ alone with the boys.

"Couldn't you guys give her a break?! She's recovering from an attack!" AJ growled.

"No, we can't. You didn't hear what she said to Ana, who's currently on her fucking death bed. We apologize for being so blunt, but it's the truth. We hope Melicia's really happy. Maybe she'll even do a happy dance on Ana's grave when we're through saying goodbye," Riley hissed angrily.

AJ lunged at Riley and grabbed the collar of his shirt. "I know what Melicia told Ana and I know how truly sorry she is. Obviously YOU don't know what she told Ana the night of the attack, so don't you DARE call her a heartless bitch. The girl lost her mother and now she may lose her best friend and you all have the guts to stand here and curse her out?! I won't have that and I know Ana wouldn't either!"

"Mr. McLean, get off him," Pierce ordered abruptly, not wanting to deal with the chaos. His face had drained of the tan he usually held. His eyes were sullen with fear. "We don't have time to be pissing around."

AJ let go of Riley and just looked at all of the boys. "If anyone should be cursed out, it should be all of you by Ana. If you don't want to forgive Melicia, fine. But don't think you know everything that's been going on when you don't." he turned around and went the way Melicia had run.

"Fucking asshole," Riley grumbled, following the boys down the hall to ICU.

*~*~*

"Uncle Howie! Go kill him! Go kill him! Please, Uncle Howie! Go kill him!" Melicia sobbed openly as she ran back toward her room. She didn't care about bumping or jostling her ribs or shoulder. She just wanted her uncle to tell her that it was a lie. That Ana was waiting in the room. She wanted her uncle to make it better. She felt another sob catch as she burst in on Howie trying to doze. Her pained expression startled him greatly as she flung her aching body into his arms. "You have to kill him, Uncle Howie!"

"What? Kill who? Melicia, what's going on?" Howie asked, his mind jumbled with her ranting.

"He hurt her really bad this time! Really really really bad! You have to hurt him! Go to Europe and kick the shit out of him," she sobbed.

"Whoa! Mella, honey, calm down. Who really hurt who?" Howie tried to calm down his niece. She wasn't making any sense.

"He hurt Ana!"

Howie's face drained as he heard her words. "Who hurt Ana, Baby?"

"You've got to go kill him!"

"I can't do anything unless you tell me who did it!" he grabbed Melicia's shoulders and made her look into his eyes.

Melicia sobbed harder when her eyes connected with her uncle's worried eyes. She should have told in the beginning. She should have never kept it bottled so tightly inside her heart. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she struggled to take a deep breath. "Ana's hurt really bad, Uncle Howie. You've got to make it okay."

Howie reached out with shaking hands and wiped away her tears. He could feel his own slipping down his cheeks. "There's nothing I can do if she's hurt. But if you tell me who did it, I could call the police and--"

"She's in ICU, Uncle Howie! Pierce says she's dying! Go to her room and make her wake up and smile, okay?" Melicia pleaded like a small child, her dreams of Ana dying now becoming a bitter reality. "He went to Europe so they couldn't get him... He didn't even care. He left Pierce in charge of Ana's treatment... He just didn't... She's going to die...."

Howie's heart started to hammer in his chest as he realized who 'he' was. "Mella... Mella, Baby, do you mean Ana's FATHER hurt her like that?"

"He hurt her so bad," Melicia bawled openly.

"Oh God..." something clicked in his mind as he looked at his niece. "He's done this before, hasn't he? That's how her arm got broken and explains the bruises. Mella... please... please tell me you didn't know this all along."

"I didn't... I mean, I f-f-figured... I tried so hard to get her to open up, but she wouldn't... So it's not like I c-could just tell anyone.... But she didn't tell me till she found me in the alley..." Melicia stammered in grief.

"Oh, Mella. Why didn't you tell me anyways? I could have gotten her to tell me sooner--"

"I didn't want her to hate me," Melicia sniffled.

"But now look at what has happened. This is like before, isn't it, Sweetie?"

"Y-Y-Yes."

"But there is one good thing out of all of this, if you can think of it like that. There was no hope for Kerri when she was found. But with Ana, there still is."

"There's no hope! She's lying in that room dying!"

"She's still alive, Mella!"

"Go make her wake up, Uncle Howie. Tell her you love her and that everything's going to be okay. Go wake her up and make her better," Melicia pleaded pitifully as AJ stepped quietly into the room.

"I can't make her wake up, Mella. This isn't a fairy tale... a kiss and saying I love her won't work. I'm sorry..." Howie whispered as more tears streamed down his cheeks.

"She's going to die and it's all my fault! Dom and the guys were right, I am a heartless bitch!" Melicia sobbed into his chest.

"Not all of us thought that..." another voice called softly into the room. AJ and Howie looked back to see Kieran standing timidly at the doorway, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. His eyes were red from crying, obviously just coming from seeing Ana.

Melicia looked up, shocked to see him. "K-Kieran? You don't think that about me?"

"They don't really think that, Melicia. They're just upset about Ana... We all figured she'd bounce back from that back injury and be good as new like before... Pierce never expected to go into her house to find... Well... Find what he found. He was in shock and then he called Dom to help him get Ana to the hospital... We're all just really close to her. When she's hurt, we hurt. They were...damn... They were just forcing their anger about Mr. Lor--ah--the attacker on you."

"Wait a minute. You were going to say Mr. Lord. You know that he did this to her, didn't you?" Melicia whispered, standing up from Howie's lap and walking over to Kieran.

"It was hard not to notice, but you can't blame a man that size for...for all her bumps and bruises and breaks. She just covered at first, saying she fell or tripped... We believed her and all, because it was our happy-go-lucky Ana... But they started getting worse... I fit the pieces together when she broke her left femur... But they were the perfect family. Perfect daughter, perfect mother, perfect dad."

"Nothing can be perfect. That's when you know something is wrong... and we didn't say anything..."

"The other guys know it, too, but they don't want to face it... You just don't understand that you can't go up against Mr. Lord. So, we did the second best thing, we let her run to us whenever she needed. She came to me with her first set of back injuries, she went to Pierce about her broken arm, Amos for her second back injuries... Dominic was there for the first broken femur... She never told us what happened, but we took care of her regardless. That's why we were always over there so much, to protect her."

"Mr. Lord shouldn't have that kind of power. Someone needs to stop him."

"You obviously knew, too, why didn't you say anything?" Kieran countered.

"Because I was afraid that Ana would hate me if I said anything and ended up being wrong."

"Yeah," Kieran trailed, groaning softly. "I really got to get back to the group... To say the least, Ana is completely fucked up... She coded a couple times or at least that's what the doctor said. Ana understood the doctor jargon better than us... Pierce is about to lose it... I'm sorry for bothering you. I just figured I had to come in and explain for the rest of the group."

"What's wrong with her?" Howie countered quietly.

"Um... the doctor was spouting a ton of stuff at us. All I can really tell you is that her right femur broke, her cast was cracked in half and the bone shattered, um...there were handprints on her throat so he ch--choked her. Then more lashes on her back..." Kieran stated, tears forming yet again in his blurry eyes.

"Damnit," AJ murmured with regret.

"I've got to get back... We're planning on doing shifts and stuff to make sure one of us is with her at all times. Pierce might be there all the time and might not. But if you guys stop by when I'm around, I'll let you see her at least. I'll try to talk to the other guys..." Kieran offered.

"Thank you, Kieran," Melicia replied softly, reaching out to give him a hug. "I'm really sorry this happened..."

"Yeah, me, too." AJ and Howie gave their condolences as Kieran left the room, head hanging down.

"Uncle Howie, you can't make it better, can you?" Melicia murmured in defeat, sitting down on her hospital bed. She wiped away her tears, thinking about Ana lying in a hospital bed, tubes attached every which way.

"No, Mella, I can't. It's in God's hands now..." Howie trailed off, resting his head in his hands as tears streamed down his cheeks.

"Are you mad at me?" Melicia whispered.

"No... blame could be set on one person, but it wouldn't be right. All of us could have done something, but we didn't."

"But you love--"

"I love her, yes. But I can't be mad at you for not saying anything, because I had my own suspicions."

"You did?"

"Yeah. I did."

"Are...are you going to visit her?"

"When Kieran is down there, of course."

"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Uncle Howie."

"I'm sorry too, Mella."

"Can't you kill her Dad?"

"If I knew where he was, I would go there right now and kill him. I promise you that."

"What are we going to do?" Melicia whispered painfully as AJ sat down behind her. He carefully wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing the back of her neck. She watched her uncle's eyes spark with lonliness as he watched the pair.

"All we can do right now is pray for Ana to survive."

"What if she doesn't?"

"We can't think like that, Syrup," AJ whispered, resting his chin on her right shoulder.

"She's gonna be pissed when she wakes up and finds out that she won't be able to surf till her leg heals..."

"That girl will find some way to get into the water, cast or no cast."

Melicia had to laugh at the idea of Ana struggling to mount her board with a huge leg cast incircling her leg from her toes to her hip. She glanced to her uncle, seeing tears still falling from his eyes. "When she wakes up, will you make her live with us, Uncle Howie?"

"I'm going to try my best, Mella. Once her dad comes back from Europe, I'm calling child services on him."

"Will they do anything even if Ana doesn't admit to it?"

"They'll have to once they see how many times she's been in the hospital and after talking to all of us."

"She told me she loved you, Uncle Howie..."

Howie looked up at Melicia in surprise. "Did she?"

"Yes, why are you so surprised?"

"Because the way she looked at me yesterday when you were in surgery... I thought maybe she didn't..."

"She loves you more than you realize."

"Ana's going to pull through this... she has to."

"She has to?" AJ repeated in surprise.

"You heard me."

"Why does she have to?" AJ countered.

"Because she does. That's all I'm saying and don't push me right now, J."

"I'm just asking, jezz!"

"Boys, stop arguing!" Melicia interrupted.

"Why can't I be curious at his demand?" AJ complained.

"Because you know he won't tell you until he's ready, Pancake. Now just leave him be, okay?" Melicia replied, tilting her head back to kiss him under the chin.

"But it has to be a juicy secret!"

Melicia groaned. "If you don't stop whining, you don't get the cookie!"

"D, please?!" AJ whined loudly.

"That's it! Nothing for you!" Melicia huffed, pulling herself out of AJ's arms.

"Babe!" AJ protested.

"Leave my uncle alone, Alex. Please?"

"Fine," he sulked.

"Oh, come here. You big baby," Melicia laughed at the look on AJ's face.

Howie watched them embrace yet again and another pain hit his heart. He stood up, unable to battle the sob growing in his throat any longer. He didn't know which was worst emotion - the fear, the regret, or the anger. He took a deep breath, noticing the puzzled looks on his niece and best friend's faces. "I...uh... Why don't you get Melicia's things gathered? I'd like to go down and at least talk to the boys."

"Are you sure you don't need me to come with you?"

"Melicia, you're the niece and I'm the uncle," Howie chided playfully, trying to hide his tears.

"I know, but--"

"Just get your stuff gathered. You don't want to be stuck in this hospital any longer than you need to."

Melicia sighed, biting her lip. "Alright. Good luck with the guys."

"They're younger than me. I can take them."

"Don't beat them up, Uncle Howie," she groaned. "Ana will kick your ass if you do."

"I could take her, too," he joked as he wiped away the tears that had fallen. Melicia stood up and walked over to her uncle, giving him a tight hug with her good arm.

"She's going to be okay, Melicia. She has to be okay. She's going to look at me, tell me to save her, and I'll sweep her into my arms, and she'll be okay," Howie murmured, hugging his niece gently, knowing he had said those words to comfort himself more than Melicia.