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“Love Can Save”

**~“Girl don’t stop, the sun from shining down on me.
Cause I can’t face another day without your smile.
And if you take away the loving arms that soothe ‘round me
Then I might break down and cry just like a child.” –Backstreet Boys: “Like A Child.”

**~Lost Little Girl ~**

Her eyes snap open as she sits up in bed, the dark room shrouding her in its blackness. She hears a distant breathing coming from nearby as she pulls away on her covers, edging to the side of her bed. Gulping, she passes her hand across her cheek, hoping that what had occurred to her face was just a dream, but she winces at the burning wound on her cheek. She slowly rises up from her bed, carefully tip-toeing out of the bedroom. She reaches the threshold of her bedroom, standing besides the open door, staring back at the crib clothed in white and soft pink.

“She’s in peace now, isn’t she?” A raspy voice echoes in her ear. Yasmine jumps at the sound, crashing on the side of the threshold in fright.

“Awww, what’s wrong? You look so scared. Can you give me a reason to not jump your body right now, you’re so beautiful, God, I can’t remember the last we met. It has been a while.” Kelvin whispers, his dark silhouette blending with the night’s surroundings.

“NO! You can’t be here! You’re going to jail now that I have a witness to this! See! Look, over there!” Yasmine indicts, pointing to a slouching A.J. slumped over in a seat besides her bedside.

Kelvin smirks, shoving Yasmine over to the bed. “Well then we’ll have to be real quiet then ‘right.”

Yasmine cries out, “No! This is done! I’m not going through with it! Go to hell Kelvin.”

Kelvin intakes air before breaking into a laugh. Silently, he slams Yasmine on the bed as she struggles and fights to get him off her. She rolls on her back as she sees him crawls onto her, his rough grasp pinning her down as he begins to rip at her pajama pants. “Shut up! Do you here me? Shut up! You’re gonna give me what I want and your little buddy won’t find out.”

Yasmine cries out, a tear sliding down her right cheek as her body cries out in agony from the hot violent touches the man is doing to her. She turns her head towards the slouch figure of A.J. sleeping quietly, his head hanging gently to the side as his legs were crossed, stretched out from where he was sitting at. She tried to scream and yell, anything to create some form of noise, but a hand was placed over her mouth and her throat was too dry to create a loud enough yell. ‘This can’t be happening, not here.” Not in front of her sleeping friend, the thoughts seeped in as she feels her arms pressed firmly to the side. This was all too vile, sick beyond what she can comprehend as she kept her gaze on her friend, wishing, hoping that he could open his eyes and stop it.

And he did. He stopped it.

Yasmine gasps, snapping her eyes open and sits up, seeing A.J’s bewildered face gazing down at her as he sits on the bedside gently touching her hand.

“You scared me. You were screaming.” A.J. whispers gently, crawling over to her as he wraps his arms around her, pulling her to him.

Yasmine sobs out, “It, it was just a dream?” She chokes out, falling into his embrace.

“Huh? Yeah, a dream. Why? What happened?” A.J. whispering into her ear, stroking her hair as she buries her head into his embrace. His soft voice calmed her racing heart as she tries to catch her breath. She gazes around the room, looking for any figures hiding, hoping Kelvin wasn’t there ready to attack when A.J. turned his back.

“I thought, I thought, he was here again. Here to get me again. I was pushed to the bed, Alex…” She pauses, raising her head up, her eyes looking up to see his face clothed in concern over her. “It felt so real. I thought he was going to attack me in front of you, but I couldn’t scream and you were asleep. I wanted you to wake up, to get the man away from hurting me…” She trails off, fingering the collar of A.J.’s dark t-shirt.

A.J. sighs and rocks her gently in his arms, “I did stop it. I woke you up. You kept yelling out that someone was here and I shot up from my sleep. But Yas, he’s not here. You’re ok. You’re safe. And I don’t care what happens with our relationship as long as you’re safe. That’s all that matters to me right now.”

Yasmine sniffs and pulls away from his embrace with a small smile. “Thanks. Oh God Alex, it, it felt so real. Every touch, every fiber of his sick voice. I felt his hot breathe on me, his crawling hands on my body. I, I didn’t know what to think.” She whispers, her eyes roaming over A.J.’s arms, the bed, the crib and back at his face.

A.J. gulps, gently stroking her hair with his fingers, “You had a nightmare. It felt real ‘cause your body thought it was real, you experienced it before and you were preparing for the worst. But it wasn’t real. I won’t let you feel that way again. Yasmine I already called the police, they’re coming over.”

Yasmine sits up in bed, shaking her head rapidly. “No…noooo.” She stutters out, backing away from him. “They didn’t help me before. Didn’t I tell you, it’s a waste of time.”

A.J. narrows his bed, his hand drops to his side as he gazes at his disheveled friend. “Do you know something? Are you hiding something?”

“Wh, what?” She gulps out, fear clinging at her.

“Yasmine, do you know who’s doing this to you?” He blurts out, his eyes on her.

Yasmine straightens up, soothing down her matching pajama blue tank top: “If I knew, why would I still be thinking he’s coming for me? Huh? Can you answer that? Cause if that was the case, I would have no reason to be afraid anymore.” She haughtily hisses, raising her head proudly, hoping to change the topic quickly before A.J becomes too suspicious.

But it was too late, his curiosity was already alerted and he wanted answers now.

A.J. crosses his arms on his chest, locking his gaze on her, waiting to see her respond.

Yasmine simply licks her upper lip slowly, turning to gaze out the window, wanting to get distracted.

She feels her bed moan and creek as A.J. crawls over to her, throwing his legs over the edge of the bed as he sits besides her. “Who is it? You have to tell me. I know him don’t I?”

Yasmine bites her lower lip, hoping to hold her tears back as she sniffs quietly. Running a hand down her arm, she forces her gaze to remain at the window instead of at the intense gaze of her friend.

“You can’t keep hiding this. You’re hurting yourself and you’re hurting me. I don’t know how long I can take seeing you cry your eyes out over what that man did to you. You can stop it you know. You have the power Yasmine. Not him, and don’t ever believe that he does, because he can never get to the real you.” A.J. quietly states, running his hands over her shaking hands. He clasps his hands onto her and massages them, rubbing his fingers over her knuckles, hoping that her discomfort would pass.

Yasmine inhales deeply, letting what A.J. just said digest within herself. ‘Dear God, he’s right. Why have I been so scared? Why did I let Kelvin have all the power? I have control of it and I gave him power. But Alex is right, I can end this now.’ Her thoughts swirl through her mind as she tried to conjure up something to respond back. She places one of her legs beneath her, taking a hold of A.J.’s hands. Facing him, she smiles and nods her head as she realizes words wouldn’t be appropriate enough to respond back. Letting her actions take over, she falls into his embrace, letting her warm tears crash down on his shoulders. She places her chin on his shoulder as she allows a warm smile to appear after all the chaos.

She hears A.J. sighs deeply as he wraps his arms around her, holding her for as long as she wanted. She places her head on his shoulder and whispers into his ear, “Thank you.”

A.J. smiles and confused, gently pulls away from her, “Why? I didn’t do anything.”

“Yeah you did. You saved me from going crazy. A.J. after all this time, I would have thought that you would have left me. I’m just an old friend of yours. Not a relative or any of your close friends. Yet you’re standing by me. I’m forever grateful for that.” Yasmine whispers, running a hand down her wet cheeks.

A.J. smiles, nodding his head, “You mean more to me than you can imagine. You don’t realize the effect you have on people ‘till they tell you. Yas, you’re more than a friend to me. You’re like a sister, a mother, someone I can confide in. All those years when we grew up meant something to me. Yas…” He cups her chin, gazing deeply into her light green eyes, “You mean the world to me. Every time I was with you, I don’t remember ever feeling down about myself, you always manage to place a smile on my face even when you were suffering.”

Yasmine smiles and barely audible, whispers to him. “It was because of you, I managed to live life again. My life was downhill before you came to visit me. I wanted to impress you, to let you know that I too had dreams and are fulfilling them. But Alex, I’m not near them, at least not yet. You have reached your dreams already, I’m still working on mines. But I want you to always to look and remember me for the happiness, not all this…this insanity that has been overwhelming me recently.”

A.J. places his hands on her shoulders, shaking his head, “You sound like you’re saying a good bye speech or something. You know that’s not true. You got something I try to have and that is love. And you shared that with me. I learned to love right because of you. Yasmine, God, if I didn’t have you in my life, the word love would have meant nothing to me. The way I see it, love would have been curse or worse yet a word with no real meaning. But you gave it meaning because of your love for others and for me.” A.J. states, a small smile breaking onto his lips.

Yasmine grins and for what seemed like eternity, laughs. Her laughter surprises A.J. and he watches stun at her shaking shoulders and her brown strands swaying around her shoulders softly. And A.J. too begins to laugh: laughing away the pain, the grief and anything that had cause them to shield themselves away from this painful world. A.J. could feel his heart open up, the laughing soothing his soul as he wraps his arms around his friend as they lie back on the bed, both still in hysterics, enjoying each other’s happiness, the laughter vibrating in the still atmosphere around them.
~*~

“Oh were? Come on, it be nice to have a lady around the studio.” Nick smirks, fiddling with a pen in his hand, staring through the studio glass pane into the recording studio where Brian and A.J. were lying down some tracks for their upcoming album. He could here Anya on the other end of the phone line sigh.

“It would be nice I guess, but I don’t know, how long are you guys gonna be there?” Anya asks, staring out of her apartment window.

“The rest of the day. I doubt we’re going anywhere. Besides Yasmine and Faith are here and you can chill with them.”

Anya smirks, “Ahhh Yassy’s with you guys! Oh ok then. I’ll meet you guys there then. Man I haven’t seen Yas since, man, since hell I can’t remember, but its been that long!”

“Well then, now is the time to catch up huh? Look, I’ll leave it a surprise for Yas, so she won’t know you coming.”

Anya smiles, pulling on the strap of her purse as she heads out the apartment. “Alright then. I’ll see you guys in a few then. Bye.”

“Bye.” Nick grins, ending the call on his cell. He glances over to see Howie smirking and shaking his head.

“Oh what? What’s with the shaking of the head man?”

Howie sits up in his seat and smiles, “Nick you still have a thing for her huh? You know she ain’t interested like that. I don’t know why you still think things are gonna happen.”

“Hey! I have dreams, like any other man. Can’t you let this man dream?” Nick playfully states, batting his eyes. “Besides that, I least I’m into a girl.”

Howie flips his finger at Nick and adjust in his seat, “Yeah well I’ve been a serious relationship with a beautiful woman in case you didn’t know for a while, so I know more about woman than girls.” He grins watching Nick rolls his eyes, turning away from him.

“Whatever dude. I like my women to have that girly attitude cause when you get them in bed…” Nick stops mid-way to see Yasmine glaring at him as she enters the studio with Faith in her arms.

Howie laughs, “Go ahead, why don’t you finish what you were saying?”

“In second thought, I’ll leave my thoughts as my thoughts.” Nick smirks, facing the window to see Brian giving Nick the thumbs up sign as a signal to let him know he’s ready to sing his part. Leaning over a couple of buttons on the counter, Nick pushes play for the music to begin and settles back in his seat, feeling eyes on him. “Alright Yasmine what is it?” He mumbles, sensing her eyes on him. He keeps his eyes on the window, not turning to see Yasmine settle down next to him in the next seat.

“Well Nick, that was interesting. I’m curious, do your lines work on most women or are they hard of hearing in general?”

Nick gasps playfully, smirking at her. “Well look at you. You seem to have gotten your rude humor back. I was beginning to miss that about you.”

“Yeah well figured you needed a good toning down, that head of yours was getting just a little too big for ya.”

“The ladies never seem to complain about it.” Nick smirks, feeling Yasmine pluck him on the side of his head.

“You’re a dirty boy, see this is why I don’t let you hang out with Faith. The things my baby would learn from you would be frightening. And I don’t want to take my chances.” Yasmine giggles as Nick flips his middle finger at her.

“See, there we go again with the hand signals. You could do something useful with those hands of yours instead of using it for that.” Yasmine teases, swinging her legs, twirling around slowly in the seat accommodated with wheels on its base.

“Well Nick does use them for something else but if you knew you might not want to shake his hands again.” Howie joins in the joke as Nick sucks his teeth, rolling his eyes.

Yasmine breaks into a laugh, shaking her head, “You guys are weird, no wonder A.J. hangs around me, you guys are close to losing it yourself.”

“Hey I resent that. Insanity is for losers. I however have A.D.H.D.” Nick smirks, enjoying the curious look coming from Yasmine.

“And that is?”

Howie answers to Yasmine’s confusion, “Oh you know the usual Attention Deficit hyperactive disorder.”

“Man, that’s a long name for plain out insanity.” Yasmine smirks, her sneaker feet tapping the tile floor.

“Sure is, but it makes Nick happy. So that’s the name.” Howie laughs as Yasmine giggles.

Howie smiles, “Wait.” The other two watch him as he pulls out a small camcorder, recording them. “I figured Faith might be curious in how music is made for future reference.”

Yasmine grins, staring into the camcorder and crossing her eyes silly. “Hey Faith, its me mommy! Smile, love ya sweetie!”

Nick laughs and gives the peace signal at the camcorder’s direction as Howie laughs and continues to record them, their laughter echoing down the music studio as Brian and A.J. gaze through the window to see the others roaring out in laughter.

“They’re your friends man.” Brian smirks.

“Hell they’re yours too Rok!” A.J. chuckles as he gathers up some papers, testing the microphone and headset.
~*~

He flips through a pile of papers frustrated, drumming his fingers on the desktop. He hears the secretary approach him, a warm sicken smile plastered on her pale face as she hold out the cordless phone to him. “Mr. Candell, the commissioner is on line one. I thought you might want to answer it.” She states, her light golden locks cling to her scalp tightly in a delicate up do. She hands the phone over to him, walking away.

He takes the phone, answering it, “Ello?”

“Ahh yes. Kelvin Candell correct?”

“Yes, this is him speaking. How can I help out today Mr. Brandenburg?”

“Oh I was just curious, if all is going well with the company’s plans on stocking the incoming products.”

“Yes, all is working out well. We should receive the new PC’s for the company’s office by the end of this week. Why?”

“Oh I had to make sure all of the products are a counted for. Mr. Nielson needs to keep count of how the company is using the money wisely that’s all.”

“Oh ok. Hey listen, I heard you have a good friend who works with artillery and such. I was thinking of paying him a visit. Do you have a way of contacting him either through phone or in person?”

“Oh yes, yes I do. That’s Alson. Can I ask why though?” The commissioner curiously asks.

Kelvin forces out a laughs, fixing his black tie as he sits up in the chair. “Oh just for security reasons sir. My friend doesn’t have the time to have a legal license for the weapon.”

“Ahhh ok. Well nothing wrong with being safe Candell. What is your friend’s name?”

Kelvin gulps, scanning over a few sheets of paper with various names of companies and such. “Oh uh well his name sir is ummm…uhhhh Darrel.”

The commissioner on the other end of the phone line laughs, “For a moment there I thought you hesitated with your friend’s name there.”

Kelvin smirks, “Oh its just with all this work, sometimes I forget the simplest of things.”

Mr. Brandenburg snorts, grunting out a laugh. “Oh yes well that’s the true spirit of overworking son. So shall I have Alson contact you at your home number?”

Kelvin leans back in his office seat, gazing up at the harsh white lights above his cubicle. “I’d rather not. Let him call me here in the office. I won’t leave work today till little over 7:30 so he has time to get through to me.”

“Ahh, rather you’re doing alittle over time I see.”

“Well yes, a man needs money for his future plans after all. I’m sure you can understand that sir.”

The commissioner smirks, “Indeed I do. Well I’ll make sure to pass the message through to him. You should receive his call between three to five alright?”

“Yes, thank you sir.”

“You’re welcome Candell. I’ll let you be, I know work must be piling up.”

Kelvin smirks, gazing at his cluttered desk, “Yeah it is, you know how this company is. There’s always work to do.”

Mr. Brandenburg chuckles and ends the call as Kelvin smirks, holding the cradle of the phone in his grip. Drumming the black cradle on the desk top, Kelvin smiles. Things were going well according to his plans and tonight the final step in obtaining the necessary weapon, will go underway. Tomorrow, Kevin smiles, he will make his last visit to Yasmine and his daughter before things go underway. And he couldn’t wait to get to started.
~*~

A.J. tucks the covers over her as she rolls to side and sleepily mumbles out a goodnight.

He smirks and sits on the edge of the bed, watching Yasmine get comfortable on her bed.

Groggily, she whispers out, her tired eyes gazing at him as she yawns out something.

“What was that that?” A.J. smiles warmly, sliding over to where she was.

Yasmine turns on her back and manages to open her eyes wide enough so as if she was almost seeing through him. “I said goodnight and pray that Faith doesn’t wake me up in the middle of the night.”

A.J. smiles, “Sure no prob. Night to you too.”

Yasmine’s somber expression remains transfixed on her face as she gazes him softly. “Good night and hey you can sleep on the sofa bed, I feel bad you sleeping in a chair.”

A.J. chuckles and stands up, kissing her forehead as he heads out of her room, “Thanks, I’ll make sure I’ll use it.”

Yasmine giggles softly and closes her eyes, “Goodnight and goodbye.” She mumbles out, going off to sleep.

A.J. stands in the threshold and watches her curiously. “Night, see ya in the morning.” He whispers out, closing the door behind him.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**