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For the early time of the day, Angel was in an exeptional good mood. She felt like at this point of her life she had nothing to complain about. It really seems like everyhing she's doing went perfect. She get more requests for shootings like ever before and when she'd continue like this she finally makes her a name in the model business. She felt even more proud of it because she did it without using her famous family name. She simply called herself Angel without the family name.
She was walking along the beach, holding her Starbucks Coffee in her hand and smiled about the memories that came to her mind when she bought it a few minutes before. The employee tried to flirt with her all the time and it ended up that he gave her his phone number.
Angel hardly took notice of what was happening around her. Usually she was not interested what other people are doing.
This case was something completely different. The young woman caused her to stop immediately. She was lying on the ground which was supposed to be very cold. Her shirt looked disrupted and her skirt was ridden up. Her dark hairs fell over her face and though she had a dark natural teint she looked extremly pale at the moment.
Angel made her way to her and knelt down on the ground. She laid her hand on her should carefully which caused her to shiver. What shocked Angel the most was the desperate view in her eyes, full of fear.
"Hey, there is no reason to fear. I wouldn't do anything to you. Yor are cold, right? Take a sip of my coffee." she offered and friendly smiled at her.
Joanna looked at the beautiful young woman next to her and at the cup of coffee she offered to her. She could not remember how long she was lying on the ground. She lost all of her trust in people so she wasn't sure to take the coffee. The idea of getting some hot coffee to drink was stronger than her fear so she finally took the cup.
First it really felt good to drink someting hot but after a few small sips, she turned away to throw up.
Angel gave her a frigtened look. Usually that would have been the point on which she'd stand up and turned away from her but without knowing why she just couldn't do that and leave her alone now.

Without hestitation she took off her jacket and handed it over to Joanna. She didn't even care about the fact that it was worth more than 1000 Dollar.

„Hey, I'm Angel.“ she friendly introduced herself.

Joanna looked at her surprised. She seemed to be the first person that was nice to her.

„I'm Joanna.“ she answered in almost perfect english. She used to study the language when she had to stay home, hoping that this was going to help her to find a better life.

The jacket was really warm but Joanna was still shivering. „Where do you come from?“ Angel asked.

„I don't have a home.“ she whispered.

Angel swallowed and began to ask herself what she was doing here. Since when did she – Angel Carter – care about other people and try to help them? The only one she was really interested in, was herself. That is what people used to tell her, even her own siblings.

„I could invite you for breakfast, if you like?“ Angel offered.

Joanna was surpised again but she was sure that Angel wouldn't be dangerous. She nodded.

When she tried to get up she realized that her abdomen still hurt and her legs were almost too weak to stand.

Angel took her hand into hers and walked next to her. A few minutes later the two women arrived at the same Starbucks that Angel visited earlier already.

Angel ordered a sandwich for Joanna and two cups of coffee.

„Here, you should try and eat this.“

It felt so good to eat something after such a long time though her stomach still hurt.

Angel just watched Joanna. There were so many questions running through her head but she could not find an answer. Why was she here? All alone, without having a home, without money? And what happened to her?

„Where are you from?“She tried to ask er again.

„I'm from Mexico.“ Joanna answered. Finally she felt warm now after she drank the hot coffee.

„And what are you doing here? I mean, why did you leave Mexixo?“ Angel continued.

Joanna kept silent about this one. She didn't want to talk about it with someone that she didn't know. She was illegal in the country and they could send her back to Mexico.

Angel let out a small sigh, realising that Joanna didn't want to talk about it. „How old are you?“

„20, turning 21 in three weeks.“

„So you are at my age.“

Angel realised that she could not be more different. She had a feeling though that it connects them that they are at the same age. She still couldn't believe that there is someone in such a bad condition... someone that could have been herself instead.

„What happened to you? I mean... what did they do to you?“ Angel tried harder to find something out.

Joanna moved away from her and the table they were sitting at. She put her arms around her body and shook her head. „No, no, no.“ she whispered and continued to shake her head.

All of a sudden she jumped up and Angel was quick enough to notice that she wanted to run away. She held her arm. „Wait! You have nowhere to go to. It is okay that you don't want to talk. Please don't run away. If you want you can stay with me.“

Joanna's eyes widened and a voice inside of her told her to say no but on the other hand Angel was the first person that helped her. Probably she would not survice another night on the street.


30 minutes later Angel and Joanna arrived at Angel's appartement in the city. Angel told Joanna to sit down in the living-room while she walked into her bedroom. She just needed a few minutes alone to think about the whole situation. She had to admit that she had absolutely no idea what she could do next. Especially because Joanna didn't want to talk to her.

She began to think about people who would help her. She knew that she could not ask her friends in the modelling business. Actually she would not even call them real friends that she can count on when she'd need them.

In the end she figured out that she only knew two people that she trusted enough to ask them for help in a situation like that...



Angel hesitated a bit but decided to call Aaron. She was sure that Nick would have been the one to give better advice but he also would have been the one to ask more questions. He would have been confused by the fact that Angel called him to ask for his help because that was something that she had never done before. She always wanted to have it clear that she could make it alone and especially without Nick's help. Aaron would not ask questions and would be right there if she asked him.

"Hey sis. You are up early, so what happened?" Aaron answered his phone, laughing.

"I could ask you the same. No, seriously, Aaron, I need your help."

"Whow, that is something new to me. Help for what?" he asked curiously. "If it is for your modelling, forget about it, Angel. I won't ask anyone." Aaron added.

Angel sighed. Her family never took her modelling for serious. "It is my job, okay? Thanks, I don't need your help with it, it is going very well at the moment. Could you just meet me at my appartmen? It ist very important and it is something much more personal."

"Since when does my sister ask me for help when it is something personal? If it is that imporant... I'm on my way already."

Angel breathe a sigh of relief. For a short moment she thought that it was a bad idea to ask Aaron for help.

She stood up from the bed and went back to the living-room. Joanna was still sitting there like she had not made a single move in the meantime. Her eyes had this empy view again and it seemed like she did not notice anything around her.

Angel hoped that it would not take long till Aaron arrived and that he had an idea what to do next. She just sat down next to Joanna without saying a word, just to gave her the feeling that she was not alone.

30 Minutes later the doorbell rang and Angel almost ran to the door to open it. She gave her twin a short hug. "Follow me. My problem... is sitting in the living-room."

She pulled Aaron with her until they reached the door to the living-room where Aaron stopped and gave her sister a critcal lool. "Who ist that? And what is she doing here?"

"This is Joanna. I met her at the beach this morning. I think she spent the whole night there. She is from Mexico. I'm not sure what happened to her because she didn't want to talk about it. She has nowhere to go. No money, no place to stay. I really want to help her but I don't know why." Angel explained to her twin brother.

"Okay, so who are you? Where is my sister?"

"Aaron, I'm serious. I really want to help her!"

"The only person you're taking care of is yourself. Your biggest problem is if your hair looks good and if you wear a white or a black shirt..."

"That... is not true." Angel mumbled though she knew that it was the truth. "Are you going to help me now?" was all that she asked. She really did not want to start a fight with her brother but she knew that they were really close to ending up in a fight.

"If I had an idea how. I mean, you have no idea who she really is and why she is here. Probably she is illegal in the contry. Which means that it would be criminal to help her."

Both of them, Angel and Aaron, looked up when Joanna stood up from the couch. "Maybe... I should go. I don't want to get you into trouble." she said and wanted to leave the fighting Carter siblings alone.

This was the first time that Aaron noticed how pale Joanna looked. How tired she seemed to be and how much pain and fear there was in her eyes. How disrupted her shirt was and how much pain it caused her to walk. That was the moment he began to understand his sister. There was something about this girl that made him realise that he just couldn't leave her alone with her destiny.

"Wait, don't walk alone!" He held Joanna's arms to stop her.

Angel felt that it was the right desicion to ask Aaron.

Joanna's eyes widened when she felt Aaron's hand on her arm. Her eyes met his and suddenly she had the feeling that she recognised him but had no idea why. She moved away from him till her back hit the wall behind her and she had nowhere to move. Her whole body was trembling now and she let her body slip to the ground.

Aaron and Angel looked at each other helpless. "What have you done?" Angel shouted at him.

"Me? I didn't do anything!"

"You scared her. Idiot!" Angel pulled Aaron away to kneel down next to Joanna, pulling her close into her arms.