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"Have you checked out some of these pictures?" Nick laughed, picking up a frame that was sitting in the final box that Melicia had requested from the Lord Residence. He seemed quite intrigued as Melicia walked by him, deligating authority to who should do what in the room. Nick smirked as he showed Brian, who burst into laughter. It was a picture of Ana, Kieran, Pierce, Dominic, Amos, their butts bared to the camera, with their heads turned to flash cheesy smiles. The funniest portion of the picture was that on each butt was written a word to convey the sentence: Osama Can Kiss Our Ass.

"The girl is a crazy one," Kevin agreed, chuckling as he moved Ana's chest to the front of the bed.

"Of course she's the middle with the word kiss..." Nick smirked, hearing another person enter the room. He glanced up to see Howie walking into the room with obvious surprise. Nick let out some kind of squeal, rushing toward Howie. "Dude, check out your girlfriend!"

Howie stumbled back as Nick almost knocked him to the floor. He took the picture and his eyes grew wide as he saw Ana and her friends with the message, laughing. "Definitely suits her."

"There are tons of crazy pictures around here. Dude, this is fun!" Nick answered with a sly grin, showing another picture of Ana pretending to flash Kieran in the water, only to reveal a skimpy bikini top. Kieran's face was priceless - wide-eyed and his jaw dropped open. "You know...it might make better sense for me to date her than you... We're only a few years apart..."

"Callete, Nick!" Melicia ordered, throwing a pillow at his head.

"What?!" Nick whined, stumbling to catch both the picture frame and pillow.

"Don't think about taking Ana, because she loves my uncle, not you!"

"I didn't say I was taking her, I was merely asking Howie to give her to me!" Nick objected, glancing at the other picture frames that had been collected over at the house. The majority consisted of her mother and her guy friends, but another one caught Nick's interest at the bottom. He pulled out a small silver frame with blue stained glass moons. Inside the frame was a picture of Ana attacking Howie on the beach, pinning him to the sand with her impish grin

"When was this taken?" Nick asked with curiosity.

"Mella, when did you take that?" Howie countered.

"Uh... the first weekend she stayed here?" Melicia replied uncertainly, biting her lip.

"She tackled him like a pro... He was teasing her about surfing and how not many chicks could cut it. You would have thought he told her that she was brunette," AJ laughed, jumping in. He gently looped his hands around Melicia's hips, pulling her close.

"That's why she's known as the Firecracker at school," Melicia added, smiling as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I thought she was Firecracker because she was loud and obnoxious...." AJ teased.

"That too, you dork," Melicia rolled her eyes, poking him in his side.

"So, how is she?" Kevin countered, watching AJ simply grab Melicia for kisses.

"Doing okay. She's going into surgery for her arm and leg tomorrow morning."

"What about you two? Like did you handle everything, Uncle Howie? Are things settled? Did she admit she loved you like crazy? Are you...." Melicia wiggled her eyebrows playfully. She hoped that Ana would come to her senses. Her uncle was a fantastic man and Ana deserved to loved right.

"You're turning into AJ and that scares me," Howie groaned, ruffling his niece's locks. "Everything ended up good, and I'll leave it at that."

"Ended up good?"

"Everything ended well by the time I left," he corrected himself.

"She kicked you out?" Nick teased.

"Nickolas," Melicia growled lightly, throwing yet another pillow at him.

"Don't worry about it, Baby," Howie laughed, kissing her forehead. He pulled her carefully toward the center of the room, noticing a shoebox sitting on the bed. He then glanced about the room. "So, what do you have planned for this?"

"I was thinking that we could paint these with the deep purples and blues, like she has in her old room... I found some pictures that her mom had drawn. Fairies on clouds, on flowers, even surfing. They're so beautiful, and I thought that maybe I could either try and freelance the drawings on the walls or let Ana do them herself. Then I had an idea about a collage to put on one of the walls. Duplicates of pictures that she has plus ones I have taken... I don't know, they're all ideas right now except for the paint," Melicia replied, eyes lighting up with excitement.

"Are you going to have this done before Ana gets discharged?" Howie asked with amusement. He absolutely believed that this was the first time a true spark had returned to Melicia's eyes when she wasn't thinking about AJ. He hoped that Ana living with them would make their heart aches few and far between.

"As long as I have help from my five favorite guys," she gave a sweet smile.

"You could get an overhead projector and trace the art works onto the walls," Nick suggested quietly while the boys groaned playfully.

"That's a good idea, Nicky. Would you help me trace those since you're the only guy here who has actual artistic talent?"

"Sure," he stated sheepishly.

Melicia cocked her head in confusion. "Why are you so shy all of a sudden?"

"Because maybe I can get a date with Ana then!" he stated with his infamous lopsided grin.

Nick was suddenly attacked with all the pillows as everyone groaned in annoyance. "AH!"

"For that comment, you're buying the pizza tonight," AJ demanded.

Nick clamored out of the pile of pillows, his hair askew. "Fine! But they're all going to be extra cheese!" with that he ran from the room.

"He'll be a butthead and get one pizza that'll be covered with anchovies at the bottom or something and make me eat it. I'm going with him to make sure," Brian decided, climbing over the pillows to follow his best friend.

"I don't trust them two together when it comes to food we're going to be eating," Kevin replied as he followed Brian.

"And I'm guessing you two would like some time alone?" Howie pondered, looking at the couple sitting on the large bed. Melicia was lovingly leaning her head against AJ's shoulder as he gently rubbed her back. Howie thought it was a sweet sentiment. He couldn't understand why he had acted so violently before. They were a good couple, something to make both of them stay on the right track.

"Well, yeah. But could you go with the guys to make sure there's a pizza with pepperoni? Because I don't want to get stuck eating some nasty topped pizza," Melicia replied.

"I'll go if you tell me what's in that shoebox," Howie answered.

"It's full of things that Ana has to remember her mom. The night of the attack, her dad threw them all out and she saved what she could," Melicia said softly.

"Oh..." Howie trailed with a whisper, staring at the box. He couldn't imagine throwing Sarah's things out. She was a part of his family and Melicia's mom. They needed those things. "Your Mom's things are up in the attic..."

"I saw you put them up there when we came back here from New York. I was hoping to go up there this week and look at it all, but it depends on how I'm healing," Melicia closed her eyes for a moment, trying not to cry. It had been awhile since they talked about her mother and it was still hard.

"I can get them if you want, Baby," AJ volunteered.

"I appreciate that, Alex. But it's something I need to do myself... you know? It was my mom."

"I'm just saying I could bring the box down and sit it in the garage. That way, when you're ready, you just have to walk out there."

Melicia shook her head. "It's okay. I want to do it. I know it's weird, but it's just something I--"

"That's fine," he interupted, leaning over to kiss her. Whatever she was thinking, it was important to her. He would support whatever she decided.

"Well, I'm going to head out with the guys to make sure everything doesn't go crazy," Howie decided, kissing Melicia's forehead. "Call my cell if you want me to get anything else, okay?"

"Ice cream would be good," she decided.

"Ice cream it is," he chuckled. "Any specific kind?"

"Um...a couple kinds to mix would be great."

"Alright. Be back later and please finish whatever you two end up doing so I don't walk in the middle of it," Howie teased before leaving the room.

"He thinks we're like rabbits," AJ said in disgust as they laid down on the large bed, feeling a connection with simple body contact.

"That's Uncle Howie for you," Melicia giggled as she kissed his chest.

"Yeah, too bad he can't talk. I bet he's the same when Ana's in all her glory."

"That's wrong. Now you got images about them floating in my head," she groaned loudly.

"Well, you have images floating in Howie's head about us..."

"But that's--"

"Just rest," AJ murmured, resting his hand against her face.

A yawn escaped Melicia's lips as she snuggled closer to AJ. "Sing to me? Please?"

"I'd like you to sing to me," he countered.

A blush creeped onto her cheeks. "You don't want to have your ears bleed from me singing."

"You have a pretty voice."

She sighed softly, thinking for a moment. "Alright, I have a song. Close your eyes, okay?"

"Hmmm, okay," he chuckled, cuddling against her.

She ran her good hand through his hair, softly singing.

There's a song that's inside of my soul
It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again
I'm awake in the infinite cold
But you sing to me over and over and over again

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
And pray to be only yours
I pray to be only yours
I know now you're my only hope

Sing to me the song of the stars
Of your galaxy dancing and laughing
And laughing again
When it feels like my dreams are so far
Sing to me of the plans that you have for me over again

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands and pray
To be only yours
I pray to be only yours
I know now you're my only hope

I give you my destiny
I'm giving you all of me
I want your symphony
Singing in all that I am
At the top of my lungs I'm giving it back

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands and pray
To be only yours
I pray to be only yours
I pray to be only yours
I know now you're my only hope

"See, told you that you sung beautifully," AJ whispered dreamily.

"You were right, Baby," Melicia kissed his forehead. "Get some sleep. We won't be able to rest once the guys come back."

"Why?" he whined softly, snuggling deeper.

Melicia chuckled as she continued to run her hand through his hair. "Because when you add pizza, ice cream, soda to the antics of Brian and Nick, it means we're going to be having a long night."

"Ick, we're locking them out of your room."

"Like you had to tell me twice."

"Nope, just told you once," he grinned against her skin, finally falling asleep.

"And you call me the smartass?" Melicia murmured, closing her eyes as well.

*~*~*

Ana smiled faintly as Kieran hoisted up her lavender backpack filled to the brink with homework that would keep her at the top of the class while she recovered. Amos, Kieran, Dominic, and Riley had gone to school that day to retrieve homework for her and control the damage of rumors that would obviously be flying around the school. It had been several hours after her surgeries and she had come out with no complications. A dark purple cast was formed against her now bolted and plated right arm and a thick metal immobilizer was strapped against several ace bandages from Ana's right thigh to her foot to keep her leg from moving. There was a constant flow of morphine embedded into her arm, allowing the pain to lower dramatically within the course of hours. Pierce had stayed by her side the entire time, missing school yet again. She felt horrid, but Pierce insisted he would always stay by her side no matter what. "You guys are really sweet," Ana cooed softly as they each pecked a quick kiss on her cheeks. "I've decided that I'm going to be in the band with you guys, as long as we make a point to do one Meatloaf song every practice."

"It's a deal, as long as you wear a bikini," Amos teased.

"Which one?" she countered.

"Skimpiest one you got!"

"That'd be the black string bikini with cherry print," Pierce and Dominic murmured at the same time.

"As long as you don't make me hold the tamborine. I'll shake my ass, but can I at least sing?" Ana asked with an impish smile.

"Wouldn't be a band if you didn't sing," Kieran replied as he ruffled Ana's blonde curls.

"There will be no ass shaking till I at least get the cast off my arm, because then I can be on crutches," Ana reminded, trying to bat away Kieran's hand with her IV'ed hand.

"Deal, but as soon as you get those bad boy crutches, we want to see that cute ass," Dominic laughed.

"Deal! So, skimpy black bikini, Meatloaf song, ass shaking, no tamborine, with a bit of singing..." Ana trailed as the door opened to her room. She really didn't pay attention, because she was focusing on her boys. "I might have to go get a skimpier bikini than the black if you even let me stand up front with Pierce!"

"That's something I don't know if I should be jealous of or not," a voice said from behind Kieran.

"With this girl, Mr. Dorough, be jealous of everything," Dominic teased as the boys moved.

Howie chuckled as he walked over to the bed. In one hand he had a bouquet of yellow roses and in the other was a stuffed dolphin. "How are you feeling, Sweetheart?"

"I felt better before you brought gifts. You didn't have to," Ana replied shyly.

"I wanted to," he smiled as he set down the roses on Ana's end table and haded her the dolphin.

"Thank you," she answered, hearing her boys chuckle at the sudden change of her demeanor.

"So how are you feeling?" he asked, kissing her forehead before sitting down.

"Sore and sleepy. The surgeries went well. They said I'll need a wheelchair for awhile, till the cast gets off my arm, then I can move to crutches. I'll be on crutches for a few months while my femur heals. Other than that, the bruises will fade, the lashes will heal, and I'll be singing Meatloaf in a band in a skimpy bikini while shaking my ass on crutches and burning the tamborine," Ana answered honestly cuddling the dolphin to her side.

"A wheelchair?" Howie asked.

"I have one at home from before, don't worry," Ana answered.

"Oh, okay. I'll have to carry you up to your room, then, because it's upstairs."

"I can sleep on the couch till I get my crutches. I don't want you breaking your back trying to carry me."

"But I want to carry you. There's a law saying that a boyfriend has to carry his girlfriend whenever it's needed or wanted. I can't break that law, Baby."

"The couch isn't a big deal. If anything, I can spend the first few weeks at Pierce's home... His bedroom is downstairs."

"You know how excited Mella is for you to stay with us. You can sleep on our couch, as long as I can stay there with you."

"You're not getting out of that one, Sweetheart," Pierce chuckled, leaning down to kiss her cheek. "I'm going to get these roses into that vase over there, then us boys are heading home to do some homework and sleep. I'll be back later tonight, okay?"

"Okay, Pierce," Ana sighed softly, kissing him back.

"Hey, Mr. Dorough, what are the chances we can go pick out Ana's bikini for our band?" Pierce joked, watching Ana's blue-green eyes light with amusement.

"As good as you outrunning me when I see what you've picked for my Ana," Howie joked back with a wink.

"Guys, you got that? Extra skimpy," Pierce called as the boys all delivered kisses to Ana's cheeks, promising to visit later with Pierce.

"Ah, funny. Wait and see, all of you," Howie called back as the boys left.

"I haven't been through that much."

"More than a lot of kids."

"More surgeries anyway," Ana murmured, suddenly wondering when her father would call. He always seemed to leave after the surgeries had taken place, going to another state. Then after a few days, he would call.

"Just makes you stronger in the end."

"That and completely made of metal," she joked, rolling her eyes. She reached over with her left hand, careful to make sure the tubes wouldn't kink, and ran her fingers through Howie's short curls. "Thanks for coming this afternoon. It was sweet of you. Pierce needed to get some stuff done and I know you probably didn't want to leave Melicia."

"Now that her and AJ are out in the open... I needed to leave the house, they get too kissy kissy when I'm around," Howie made a face as he took her hand and gently kissed it. "I promised you I would come here to visit."

"I know you did, but you probably have better things to do than hang around in a hospital."

"It's not hanging around in a hospital. It's being with the girl I love," He corrected.

"Love, huh?" she asked softly. She could never hear that word enough.

"Love." he leaned in and kissed her gently.

"I think I'm definitely going to like living with you," she laughed softly when they parted, her cheeks blushing a rosy red.

"Good, because that will make me the happiest man alive," he smiled.

"Oh really?"

"Mm-hmm," he leaned in and kissed her again.

"I definitely missed those," Ana stated, leaning carefully back in her bed when they parted yet again. She almost attempted to move her right leg, but hesitated when the aching pain surfaced. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment, pressing the button to release another push of Morphine in her IV. She knew she was definitely in for the long run. The pain would get worse before it disspeared. "How's Melicia doing?"

"Just fine. She wants to do everything at once and gets tired out too fast. So I'm hoping Aje can make her just take it one day at a time."

"She'll learn what her body wants to do and what it doesn't want to do. It's good that she has the energy, because that'll help with rehabilitation. She'll be back to new soon enough. The doctors will start making her use her shoulder soon."

"She goes this week for physical therapy," Howie commented.

"They'll make her start using it at that point then."

"Mella's really excited that you've decided to live with us," he changed the subject a little.

"I'm glad that she is," Ana trailed, somewhat confused. She knew that Melicia needed to heal, yet she hadn't seen Melicia since she had rushed her to the Emergency Room. She began to wonder if Howie was making up Melicia's excitement. "It's only going to be for awhile though. I mean, Dad's going to want me to come home when he gets back."

"And you honestly want to go with him? Knowing that he's just going to hurt you again?" Howie asked with pain, leaning up in his seat. He braced his hands on the side of the bed, staring at her quizzically. Whenever he tried to bring up the subject, Ana always did her best to shy away. She would have to face the music soon enough.

"I don't want him coming after you. I have a hard enough time getting out of the house with the boys, but if he knew I was staying with you... He's just awful, Howie," Ana answered honestly

"Your father may have some power, but so do I. He doesn't have the right to hurt you and he should never get another chance."

"I don't want you to get hurt, too."

"I'd rather have myself get hurt than you, Baby."

"I can take it. I've been taking it. You don't need to get involved. Just let me graduate and get to Duke. He'll leave me alone then. He won't want to come to North Carolina to bother me."

"You shouldn't be taking it, Ana. That's the problem."

"Do we have to talk about this?" Ana sighed, tracing her fingers against the soft fabric of the stuffed dolphin. She knew Howie was trying to do his best, but there was no hope to solve the situation. Her father was the ultimate nightmare and she refused to stand against him. She would just scurry around till graduation and then she would flee to North Carolina forever.

"Why don't you want to talk about it?"

"Because in all honesty, it's my problem, not yours," Ana whispered softly.

"I consider it my problem when my girlfriend is beaten by her father and won't let me help."

"There's nothing you can do, Howie."

"I can if you would let me."

"How?"

"Can I think about it?" Howie asked, running his hands through his soft curls. He really didn't know how he would solve the problem.

"Never thought I'd be so much trouble, huh?"

"You're not any trouble."

"Don't lie to me. I've been trouble since I was born."

"Well, it's the good kind of trouble."

"Not really..." Ana sighed.

"Hey, it doesn't matter to me what kind of trouble may come our way. I love you and would do anything to make sure you're safe." Howie took her hand and kissed it.

"Sometimes you're too good to be true and that scares me."

"I don't want to scare you."

"Not that kind of scare, Howie... Just, oh, forget it," Ana sighed allowing Howie's curls to wind around her fingers. She seemed content just having some kind of physical contact with him.

"Didn't know I was that rare of a find," she murmured when they pulled away for a moment.

"You're my diamond in the rough."

"I'm probably going to stay rough."

"I like it that way."

"You do?"

"Yeah, it's what makes you different than all the other girls."

"I love you, no matter how awful I get."

"I'll always love you."

"You coming back tomorrow?" she asked, knowing he couldn't stay the night.

"As long as you want me to," he replied, running his hands through her curls.

"One of the guys will be here with my new bikini, but you're always welcome. The doctor said I'll probably be out of here by the end of the week."

"New bikini? I will definitely be here," Howie teased with a grin.

"I thought you said you were going to kill them?"

"Changed my mind."

"You're not going to be there during band practice," she warned, rolling her eyes.

"Why not?" he whined, pouting a little. "I wanna see my Baby-Girl sing."

"Because you'll make me nervous and the guys will rag me about it... And I won't be able to burn the tamborine and shake my ass," she whined back.

"But Ana--"

"I think about it," she decided, leaning carefully in to kiss him.

"Alright." he smiled.

"So, are you heading back now?"

"Yeah, but I'll be back tomorrow, okay?"

"Don't worry about it, Babe."

Howie smiled, kissing her again. "If you get bored tonight, give me a call, okay?"

"It's Kieran's turn to stay the night. I won't be bored at all."

"Ah, I see how it is," he teased.

"I don't want to bother you at home."

"You would be saving me from the tortures of the cheesy AJ and Mella."

"Howie---"

"Just call me if you want to, okay? It wouldn't be a bother at all. I would actually love it if you did, because I love hearing your voice."

"I'll call, but if you're busy, don't answer it, okay?"

"I promise," he held up his right hand and gave her the Boy Scout signal.

"I love you," she chuckled.

"I know, Sweetheart, I know."