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Author's note: this chapter was written with the help of my girl, Alex. Thanks so much and sorry about the long wait, y'all!



Right when Howie came back into the living room, Brian and Melicia did as well. He didn't say anything as he sat down on the couch. A pang of guilt hit Melicia as she looked at her uncle. "Um, Uncle Howie?"

Howie allowed his gaze to meet up with his niece's after some hesitation. His anger slowly melted away when he noticed the look of sadness masking Melicia's eyes. Lips parting, he wanted to say something, anything, to comfort his niece, but no words were produced. But before he had a chance to give it such second thoughts, Melicia's arms were wrapped tightly around his neck, clinging to him in despair. Howie felt the tears rush on as Melicia softly cried into his shoulder.

They cried for a few minutes until Melicia let go, occasionally sniffling. "I'm sorry for being such a brat, Uncle Howie. It's just been so hard, losing Daddy and now Mama. I know it's hard for you, too. She was your sister. But I just... I just... I miss her so much," more tears streamed down her face. "And I don't know how I'm going to be able to go on without her."

Reaching up, Howie tried to wipe away the tears that continued to streak Melicia's cheeks, forgetting his own tears. His heart ached in his chest as he sat there helpless. "Mella..." he whispered, wishing with everything that he could change the situation.

Melicia continued, forgetting the guys were there. "Why was she taken away from us? It's not fair, we need her here. She won't see me graduate college, get married, have kids... they will never know how great their grandma or grandpa was, because God took them too early," she sighed heavily, placing a hand over her chest. "I miss her so much my heart hurts. Will the pain ever go away?"

Howie grasped his niece's hand. "If I could bring your mother back to you, you know I would in a heartbeat. But I can't and it's tearing me up inside. I miss your mother so much too." He quickly wrapped his niece in a tight embrace again, talking soothingly into her ear. "Mella, I know it hurts, but it will get better. I promise you that. As long as we stick together, it will get better."

Melicia nodded, tears springing to her eyes again. "Can you make me another promise?"

"Anything, Mella," he replied, kissing her temple.

"Never leave me."

*****

Her room was becoming more bare by the second as she wrapped yet another possession in a protective layer of newspaper, placing it among others in a rapidly filling cardboard box. Melicia fought the urge to sigh and let tears escape as she reached for a crystal snow globe atop her dresser. She had recieved it as a christmas present from her mother the previous year. It was custom made and inside was an attached, tiny photo frame containing a picture that had been taken at her birthday. Melicia shook the object and watched as the tiny flicks of 'snow' glittered swirled in the water, enchanting the picture of her mother and herself inside. A tear succeeding in slipping down her right cheek. "Mama..." she whispered.

Melicia stood there for a moment, looking into the globe until she shook her head and began to wrap newspaper over it. "Stop crying all the time, Mel. You don't want Mama to look down and see her brave girl bawling like a baby, do you?" she muttered to herself as she pulled down her numerous posters.

"Mella?" a voice broke into Melicia's thoughts and she turned around to see AJ standing in the now open doorway. She hadn't heard him knock or even come in. But she looked at him with a questioning stare.

"AJ? I thought you were helping Uncle Howie with my bigger stuff."

"We decided to take a break. But I thought I'd come back here and see how you were doing and to see if you needed any help," AJ answered, stepping over the clutter on the floor and taking a seat on the edge of Melicia's bed. He let his eyes wander around the room before picking up several sheets of stapled notebook paper that were lying aimlessly at his feet. There was a red 'A' stamped at the top. "Great job on your English final, Mella. D always says how great of a writer you are."

"Thanks, Aje," she replied with a smile, sitting down next to him. "I think I started to write before I could talk... at least, that's what my mom always claimed. I don't know. It's like my mind is full of ideas and they come out so easily for me. Just lately I've been trying out poetry... but I think that's a part of writing that I'm not good at."

"Join the club," AJ chuckled, scanning over the words on the front page. "The fellas will be quick to tell you that they think my poetry is crap."

"Hey, I remember that song you wrote before, um, going into rehab..." she paused for a moment and began singing.

I've seen people come and go
Seen people in and out of love
And my mother told me
She said don't let life control me
But I did
So what you think of me
What you think of me now
Of who I am
I'm everything you wanted me to be
But as you can see
I'm not very happy, no...

AJ stared at Melicia for a moment, not understanding.

"That's pure poetry, AJ. None of my stuff is like that. When you sang those words, people knew EXACTLY what you were feeling. That's a powerful gift."

"It..." AJ began, but his voice drifted off as he bit down on his bottom lip. He gave a sly grin. "Well, I still say my poetry sucks."

"Oh, really?" Melicia raised an eyebrow. "Would you still say so if I do... this?" she jumped on AJ and began tickling him.

"WHOA!" AJ screeched, tumbling backward onto the mattress. "MELLA! Stop!"

"Not until you admit your poetry doesn't suck!" she laughed, continuing to tickle his sides mercilessly.

AJ stopped fighting for a second. "No, but I will do THIS!" He tossed her to the side and began to give her the same treatment. He grinned as Melicia giggled madly, slapping at his hands. "Now what were you saying, huh?"

"Th-that your poetry doesn't suck! AH! AJ, STOP!" She screeched, laughing in gasps. Before he could react, she grabbed his hands and pulled hard. His arms gave way and fell on top of her.

Eyebrows raised, AJ stared at Melicia in shock. He quickly jumped up, scratching at his temple. "Whoa, sorry 'bout that."

Melicia's face was blushing as she stammered out an answer."Yeah, I guess that was a little too much fooling-- I mean, playing-- I mean--"

"So, you need any help packing?" AJ quickly changed the subject.

"Yeah, actually. Can you start unloading my books into that big box for me?"

"Ok." AJ reached for the empty box and carried it over to the bookcase.

Melicia scolded herself quietly as she piled all her notebooks filled with writings into another box. Don't even think about hooking up with him, Mel. Uncle Howie would kill and bury the both of you before you could say "Holy monkey fuck".

"Holy monkey fuck?" AJ couldn't help but laugh, having only heard the last three words that Melicia had spoken. Melicia's cheeks turned crimson in color again; she'd said that out loud?

"Uh, yeah. It's something I made up awhile ago... you heard me say that?"

"I won't tell anyone. But I have an even better phrase."

"Oh? What's that?" she asked curiously.

"Anal dwelling butt monkey."

Melicia made a face. "That is a phrase only you would come up with, Alex."

"You have to admit it's funny. And hey, since when do you call me Alex?"

She shrugged, smiling. "Since I've started think it's better than AJ."

"And what makes you think I'm going to let you call me Alex?"

"Because I know you will. If not, I can always tickle you again and make you give in."

"Mella," Howie interrupted, poking his head through the doorway.

"Yeah, Uncle Howie?" Melicia replied, turning away from AJ for a moment.

"The fellas are gonna stay here and continue to pack while I go pick us up some dinner. I was hoping you'd go with me?" Howie asked, eying the mess around his niece's bedroom. It seemed as if she had just tossed everything about.

"Yeah, sure. What are we having?" she replied, reaching over AJ to grab her black leather coat which lay on her messy bed.

"Don't have a clue. I figured we could decide on the way," Howie answered.

"Sounds good, too... Actually, there's this AMAZING Chinese place down on 11th and Bleecker. Can we go there?"

"Yeah. Chinese sounds good."

"Yay!" Howie gave his niece a smile.

"I'll go and bring the car around," He replied, kissing Melicia's temple as he walked out of the room.

Melicia offered a smile to her uncle's retreating form before she turned back to AJ who had returned to grabbing the books for the book case and stacking them in the box. "Thanks for your help, Alex," she spoke, slipping her jacket on. "Got any food requests?"

"No need to thank me except in the form of egg rolls, fried rice and mandarin chicken," AJ replied, rubbing his lean, grumbling stomach. "Packing makes a man hungry for Chinese food!"

"This of course is coming from the guy who is an anal dwelling butt monkey." Melicia grinned and ran out of the room.

*****

"Dude... this has to be the best Chinese food I've ever had!" Nick raved as he ate some chicken lo mein.

"I told you, New York is the place to be if you want the best," Melicia laughed before popping a piece of sweet and sour chicken into her mouth.

"Makes me wish we had this chinese place in Florida," Howie answered, washing down a mouthful with a gulp of soda. "But there are some good places there."

"My mom used to tell me about this one Italian restaurant there where they make the best pizza. Can we go there sometime, Uncle Howie?" Melicia replied.

"Of course, Mella."

"Spoiled," AJ coughed loudly. She turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

"Wanna say that again, Alex?"

"Of course I'll say it again," AJ answered, placing his plate down upon the coffee table and leaning back into the couch, arms crossed over his chest. He knew when Melicia was challenging him, and to humor the girl, AJ wasn't going to back down easily. "I said, now this may be a complex idea for you to comprehend, but I said you are spoiled."

"I am deeply offended by that statement, Alex," she replied, crossing her arms as well. "I am not spoiled."

"You, my dear, are very spoiled and I'm sure your uncle would be happy and willing to back me up on that."

"Just because I get things that I want doesn't mean that I'm spoiled," Melicia looked over at Howie. "Right, Uncle Howie?"

"I'm going to get more soda," Howie replied quickly and hurried in the direction of the kitchen. Melicia scowled after him.

"Ha, he knows exactly the right time to escape," Brian chuckled at the look on Melicia's face.

"This sucks, everyone's against me," she huffed, blowing a piece of chocolate hair out of her eyes. "And I still say I ain't spoiled."

"There's nothing wrong with being spoiled every now and then," Kevin pointed out. He too discarded his plate of food just as AJ had done and reached for the remote control to switch the tv on. The conversation was beginning to turn dull and he didn't Melicia to become upset. But after few unsuccessful presses of the power button and the tv remaining off, he furled his eyebrows. "Guess the batteries are dead."

"Mama has been meaning to get new batteries for...I mean, she was meaning to get...I mean..." Melicia stuttered, eyes glued on the small black controller.

Kevin attempted to smile for Melicia's sake. So much for preventing her from becoming upset. "Hey, it's alright sweetheart. Nick can get off his lazy butt and walk over to the tv to turn it on. And then later, we'll send your Uncle out to pick up some batteries," he suggested softly.

"Yeah, I know," Melicia agreed, quickly rubbing her eyes. She promised herself she would stop crying over her mom. "Thanks, Kev."

"Nick, didn't I ask you to turn the tv on?" Kevin questioned, glancing in Nick's direction. He was still picking at his dinner.

"No," Nick answered, looking up for a quick second.

"Well, I'm asking you now. Can you please go turn it on?"

"You're closer."

"Now, Nick. Please?"

"But I'm still eating," he protested, holding up the plate. "See?"

"Nick, don't make me tell you again."

"Alright, already! I'm going!" Nick answered with a short glare. "Any requests, Mel?"

Melicia shook her head, standing up. "No, I think I am just going to go lay down. My stomach is acting up..."

"Do you want one of us to wake you up later?" Kevin asked.

"No, that's alright..." she walked down to her bedroom and closed the door. Soon the song 'The Perfect Fan' wafted softly down the hall.

AJ excused himself from the living-room and made his way down the hall as Howie reappeared. He slowly approached Melicia's door and knocked, knowing all too well that her stomach wasn't the reason why she had left the room so quickly. "Mella, sweetie? Can I come in?" he called out, willing to give her some space if she said she didn't want to talk.

"Go ahead, Alex," she replied softly, unlocking the door. He walked in to see her laying on the bed, head buried in a pillow.

"Mella, I'm sorry about what I said out there. I don't think you're spoiled. You have a lot of nice things, but that doesn't make you spoiled. It just means you're well taken care of-"

"It's not that, Alex. Don't worry," Melicia interrupted, looking up into his eyes. AJ's suspicions were confirmed; she had been crying. "I just miss her, that's all. It's seems like she's not even gone sometimes. I feel her around this place a lot."

"You always will. I mean, you'll always feel her around. It's ok to cry in front of us, you know? We aren't going to laugh at you or anything shitty like that. I just--"

"I know, it's ok," Melicia sniffled. "Alex?"

"Yeah, sweets?"

"Could you send Uncle Howie back here, please?"

"Of course," he bent down and kissed her forehead. "Hold on, he'll be here in a sec."


Author's note: Finally done! LOL, hope y'all like it!