Yay! Update!

Enjoy!


"C-Carlos?" Rafael stammered as he saw his little brother clinging to Logan. Rafael and Omar approached them and knelt down.

What happened next almost brought tears to Rafael's eyes.

Rafael reached out to touch his little brother's shoulder. Instead of Carlos accepting the friendly gesture, he flinched, shrinking further and further into Logan's arms.

"What happened?" Omar finally asked, very much in shock.

Carlos whimpered before telling his story. "Dani and Damien," he began. "Brought me up here...she was mad at me. She said her relationship with Rafael was ruined because of me..." he stopped, feeling his eyes watering up.

"C-Carlos?" Logan said softly, almost afraid of the answer Carlos might give him. "Why did they bring you up here...of all places?"

"She s-said that there was only one way to make it up," Carlos answered. "Dani said that she needed to forget Rafael and that the only way she could do that was by getting with me." He gasped when a wave of pain struck his midsection. "Wh-when I said no, she got mad and said that there was a reason she brought Damien over. S-s-so he knocked me to the ground and started kicking me. Dani gave me a second ch-chance, but when I begged them to leave, Damien got on top of me and started hitting me. That's when you guys came in...I was really scared. I thought he was gonna do much worse."

Logan ran his shaky fingers through Carlos' hair.

"I think Dani went out through the back door," James announced. "They didn't see her leave."

Kendall cursed under his breath. Dani got away. He let Dani get away

Rafael's mouth hung open. Every time he tried to speak, gasps of shock came out instead. He couldn't believe that Dani, a girl he had loved so much, could do this.

And what was worse was the fact that he was blind the whole time. Rafael could have protected Carlos from this. Logan even warned him about her. But even without Logan's warning, Rafael should have known better.

The party. That's where it started. Carlos passing out at the party. How even in his sleep, Carlos was fighting someone, begging whoever it was to just leave him alone.

Omar's voice cut off Rafael's thoughts.

"What about that guy?" he asked, pointing over to Damien, who looked like he was starting to wake up. James walked up to Damien, kicking him in ribs as he tried to get up. Damien was out cold once again.

Rafael sighed, and finally, he found his voice. "He was at the party."

Everyone looked at Rafael with a confused look.

"You know him?" James asked.

Rafael nodded. "I-I met him at the party when-" he stopped when he felt his eyes water. "Oh my gosh. I was in the garage with him at the party while Carlos was...Oh no. Carlitos. I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry."

Carlos didn't respond. He just closed his eyes, letting the soft thumping of Logan's heartbeat soothe him. As Rafael's words repeated in his head, Carlos couldn't stop the tears from falling from his eyes.

"I-I know you're probably mad at me," Rafael said to his little brother.

Kendall didn't know where the anger came from, but once he felt it, he couldn't ignore it. "Why wouldn't he be mad at you?" he snapped. "You chose to be loyal to a girl you only knew for a year, maybe? Over your own brother, who idolized you, I might add."

"Hey," Omar spoke up. "We don't need this right now. Let's just all calm down, okay?" he said, shocking everyone. Omar was never known to be the level headed one during a confrontation.

Kendall was about to argue some more, but when cops had barged into the house, he stayed quiet. He looked to Omar with a message that clearly said "this isn't over."


Kendall walked up to the group, a butterfly bandage on his forehead. The doctor had cleared him to leave and go home. But he wasn't planning on going home while Carlos was still at the hospital as well.

Logan quickly stood up. "Kendall," he breathed out. "Are you okay, buddy?"

Kendall nodded. "I don't have a concussion," he said, answering a question that had been floating through Logan's mind for the past half hour. "Dani got me good, but the doctor said there's nothing to worry about. Though he also said that I'd have a killer headache for a few days."

Logan and James sighed in relief. Logan slowly sat back down, followed by Kendall.

Next to the boys sat Omar and Rafael.

"He asked me to go with you guys," Omar suddenly spoke up.

"What?" Rafael asked.

Omar sighed. "Carlos," he answered. "Carlos asked me to go to that party with you guys. I said no because I thought I'd get bored." Omar scoffed. "I could have protected him but I didn't because I was afraid of getting bored. You believe that?"

Rafael started rubbing circles into Omar's back. "So what's my excuse, then?" Rafael muttered. "I was at the party." He turned his body slightly to face Omar. "You think he'll forgive me?"

"He forgave me," Omar replied, not having a sure answer to his little brother's question.

Rafael was very aware of the fact that Omar was avoiding having to answer. But he wasn't going to hold it against Omar because it was true. Carlos endured years of abuse from Omar, yet the youngest Garcia never hated Omar for it. Carlos even begged Omar to forgive, because that's who Carlos was. He was forgiving. He had an excuse for everybody; a reason why someone did whatever bad thing they did.

So Rafael couldn't help but wonder: What excuse did Carlos make up for him? Did Carlos even make up an excuse this time? Did Rafael even deserve an excuse?

No, he didn't. Rafael couldn't stop asking himself how he could put Dani over his little brother. The same little brother that he made a promise to. A promise that he'd never let anyone hurt him. That he'd protect Carlos from any bad thing.

So what happened?

Rafael buried his face in his hands, feeling nothing but shame. He noticed that Kendall, along with Logan and James, hadn't said a word to him, not even a glance, since they'd all arrived at the hospital.

And they sat like that for another hour before a man wearing a white lab coat approached them. They all rose, anxious to hear if Carlos was okay.

"How's Carlos?" Omar asked, being the first to speak up.

The doctor had a positive look on his face, so they could all only take it as a good thing. "I'm Doctor Jacobs," he introduced himself.

Omar wanted to roll his eyes and tell the old man that he didn't care about the doctor's name, but decided against it. Being temperamental with the doctor wouldn't help anything.

"Carlos was brought it with several bruises on his torso," Doctor Jacobs began. "Unfortunately, he also came in with three broken ribs, but none of them pierced a lung. He also came in with some bruising on his thighs and arms, but other than that, Carlos will be fine. When he was brought in, we were afraid that he was suffering from internal bleeding because of his bruises. But he's been cleared of that. He will have to stay a couple of days here so that we can watch him."

"So...we can see him now?" Rafael asked.

Doctor Jacobs nodded before leading the five of them to Carlos' room.

"Make sure he doesn't get excited," Doctor Jacobs warned. "If his heart rate increases or if he seems in discomfort, call for hospital staff. He needs to take it easy."

The five of them nodded before letting themselves into Carlos' room. Once their gaze was fixed on Carlos, they couldn't break away from the hurt sight of their friend.

Carlos was asleep, which they were all relieved to see. It meant that he was okay. That nothing was bothering for him for now.

Each of them took a seat surrounding Carlos' bed. That way when he woke up, he wouldn't be afraid, because he was surrounded by people who love him.


Rafael didn't remember falling asleep, but he woke up to the sound of Omar's voice.

"Hey, little bro," Omar said. At first, Rafael thought Omar was talking to him. But once his foggy mind cleared up, he realized that wasn't the case.

"O-Omar?" Carlos said weakly.

"Oh my gosh. Carlitos," Rafael said. "When'd you wake up?"

"Just now," James quickly answered before turning his full attention back to Carlos. "How are you, buddy?"

"My chest hurts," Carlos simply answered.

"I know, Carlos," Kendall said sympathetically. "You have some broken ribs."

"I don't get why they would do this to you," Logan said with a sigh. "We're so sorry it happened to you."

"I made her mad," Carlos responded with sorrow in his voice.

"No you didn't!" Rafael argued, causing his younger brother to jump a little. "I'm sorry...but you didn't mess up. It was me. Carlitos I'm so sorry she put you through that. I can't believe I was blind the whole time."

"I'm sorry I ruined your relationship with her," Carlos apologized.

Rafael shook his head. "The only one that ruined my relationship with Dani was her. You didn't do anything bad. And hermanito..." Rafael paused, realizing that he hadn't called Carlos his "hermanito" in a while. "I'm sorry for everything," he said with a sigh. "I'm so sorry."

Carlos remained silent, letting a tear fall from his eye. He swallowed the lump in his throat. "D-Dani-"

"Will never see you again," Omar spoke up. "And that's something we'll make sure of, okay?"

Carlos faced Omar, a bit of hope present in his eyes, before nodding. "Okay," he breathed out, knowing that he should trust Omar's word. He felt himself relax as someone grabbed his hand, giving it a friendly squeeze, before Carlos' eyes slipped shut.


I hope that you liked this. My brain has been mush for the past week or so _ anyway, this story is almost done, sad to say. I know you'll miss Dani...er uh, the Garcia brothers, I mean. Review?