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Elliot and I have been dating for a month and a half now. She spends every night at the house with me except one night a week. She thinks Art and I need some time to ' Just be boys' she calls it. Those nights she goes out with her friends or they come to the loft and sleep over because they get drunk. It makes me feel better that she doesn't sleep there alone. She still doesn't know about Mitch. He hasn't done anything bad after he broke into the shop but I still worry about her. You never know what a man will do when he's crazy.

Sometimes, in the mornings, I find that he has left me 'presents'. They are always pictures of Elliot. Some of casual ones I'm sure he took when they were better off. Others, and these ones really piss me off, are pictures he took when she was sleeping and busted up. It's like he's proud of the bruises he gave her. He leaves pictures of her arms with his fingerprints on them, pictures of bruises on her cheeks or neck, her black eye. Pictures of her ribs with brusies or bandages on them. I know what he's doing. He's baiting me and it's taking everything in me to not raise to it. Lucky for him, Elliot has never seen the pictures. I have always managed to snatched them off my car or the door before she knows they are there.

Her friends have told me a lot about him. They hate him and are so glad she is away from him. They seem to love me though. They haven't come to my house but we have had dinner with them, on the times when Vicky could stay late with Art. I have been at the loft a few times when her girls night have started. They are a funny bunch of girls. They all tell me how good they think I am for Elliot, how much she has changed since being with me and I'm glad. Because I really like her. I think she's an amazing girl.

And I guess, according to her friends, she really likes me. They say she talks about me all the time. She snaps pictures of me when I'm not paying attention and sends them to her friends, saying how hot she thinks I am or how she likes the way my shirt or jeans fit. They made me swear not to tell her that I know that though. They said she'd kill them for telling me. Makes me grin. What guy doesn't like hearing their girlfriend thinks they're hot? But I'm not going to tell her I know. I don't want to embarrass her.

" Guess what, Baby?" Jonathan muttered into her neck while Elliot counted out the money from their drawer after closing time one night.

" What?" She asked.

" I talked to Vicky and she is going to spend the night with Art tonight." He said. She looked at him quickly.

" Are you serious?" She asked. Jonathan smiled.

" Yeah. You and me, all alone, upstairs, all night." He said.

" Wow. What are we going do?" She teased.

" I'm pretty sure we can figure some things out." He said as he squeezed her and pulled away. " I'm going to run home and grab some things then I'll be back."

" Why don't you take Maddie with you? You and Art have never slept apart from each other so having Maddie there might sooth him." She said, making notes about the money.

" That's a good idea, Baby. You bout done here?" He asked.

" Yep." She stacked the papers together, threw the money in the bank bag and faced him. " Here you go."

" You want me to bring something for dinner so you don't have to cook?" Jonathan asked, taking the bag. Elliot loved cooking and made the three of them dinner every night.

" Sure."

We never have alone time. It bothers me but never seems to bother Elliot. She dotes on Art. She buys him things, sneaks him candy when they think I don't know, takes him to the comic book store, she just loves him. I have to say, it makes me feel good. I have never had a girlfriend show so much love towards my brother. They all get tired of him. Shit, I know I do. I love him but sometimes I want my own life. Sometimes, I want an entire day and night alone with her.

So last night, I dropped Madison off and packed a bag. I grabbed us some soup and sandwiches then sped back to the loft. I really hate leaving her there alone. After we ate, we decided to lay in her bed and watch a movie but that didn't last long. We were having sex a half hour into the movie. I can't help it. We only use her bed for sex. During the day, we sneak away from the bakery when Ron, my other employee, works, to run up to the loft to have sex. At my house, in my bed, we will watch a movie or talk but her bed, in the loft, it's strictly for sex. So can anyone blame me for getting hard the second we climb in it?

Jonathan and Elliot were laying on their backs, cuddled up in her bed, staring at the ceiling in the darkness. Jonathan's left arm was around her shoulders. She was laying half on the bed, half on his left side with her back against his chest. Her left hand was locked up in his. Her right hand was laying, palm side up. Her small fingers were tugging lightly on his chest hair, combing through it slowly. The knuckles of his right hand were brushing up and down her arm.

" What happen to Art? Was he born that way?" She asked. Jonathan sighed and closed his eyes.

" No." He muttered. He did not want to have this conversation.

" Was he in an accident?" Elliot asked. Jonathan opened his eyes and started to rub his fingers against hers while he continued to stroke her arm with his other hand. He frowned hard. Elliot, as if sensing what he was thinking, said, " How about I tell you something about me then you tell me about Art?"

" What do you want to tell me?" Jonathan asked. He turned his head and kissed the side of hers.

" I know you are wondering about Mitch. I mean, how could you not? So here's what happen. I met him out at a bar with my friends. He asked me out and I said no but he kept sending me drinks so I finally agreed to give him my number." Elliot said.

" Art was in an accident and it was my fault." Jonathan said quietly. Elliot knew this game. She says something about her, he says something about Art. Whatever happen to him upset and bothered Jonathan and she wanted to make it easy for him to talk.

" We were dating six months when he asked me to move in. I sold all my stuff, stupid I know. I worked at a retail store at the time. I started having my checks deposited into his account. He kept telling me the bank was going to send the paper work he needed to add me to his account and I trusted him." Elliot said.

" He was seven at the time, I was nine." Jonathan said.

" The first time he hit me, he promised me it would never happen again. But the fights just got worst and worst. He got me fired because he was coming into my work, screaming and yelling all the time. At home, we started throwing things at each other and physically fighting. He hit me, I defended myself. He threaten my friends so I couldn't go to them. I was stuck. I was embarrassed that I let this happen to me. I was embarrassed that I had become that girl." Elliot said.

" I was mad because Art had broken one of my favorite toys. It was an action figure that I had told him over and over to not touch. I started shaking him, as hard as I could. I forced him to walk backwards while I yelled at him. I didn't even pay attention to how close we were to the basement. He took a step back and there was nothing. He just tumbled down the stairs. When he hit the bottom, he just laid there." Jonathan almost whispered. Elliot closed her eyes at the guilt that was laced in her boyfriend's voice.

" I think Mitch would have killed me had I stayed with him but I didn't know how to leave. I didn't know where to go." She whispered.

" My mom came running into the kitchen. I told her Art slipped. It wasn't hard to believe. He had always been clumsy. He was in a coma for two weeks. He had brain damage. His brain just stopped developing after that. I promised him I would take care of him from the moment on and I have. Our parents were killed in a car accident when I was twenty and he was eighteen. I was living on my own so I moved back into my parent's house. I took over my dad's bakery and have been there ever since." Jonathan said. Elliot turned her head to look at Jonathan but he was still staring at the ceiling.

" It was an accident." She whispered. He brought his right hand up and slipped it under his head.

" I screwed him out of a normal life. I screwed myself out of it. It's completely my fault that he's retarded. It's because of me he'll never have a girlfriend. He'll never be able to live on his own. He'll never drive, never be able to work, nothing. He's stuck. I take care of him because I fucked him over." Jonathan said.

" You take care of him because you love him." Elliot said. She rolled over so she was on her side, facing him. Her fingertips began to trace the tattoo over his heart.

" You know, I have had exs that just didn't get why I couldn't leave him alone for long periods of time. They didn't understand why I couldn't spend the night at their place and hated that we never had privacy at my house. I had some that told me to put him in a home but I just can't do it. He'd hate it. And sometimes I get mad at him. Sometimes I think, if he was normal, things would be different for me. Maybe I'd be married now. Maybe I'd have a different job, live out of state." He sighed and shook his head. " It's my fault and I don't have the right to be mad at him but it's hard to remember that when every girl I have been with has left me because of him." Jonathan said.

" Well I, for one, am very glad you aren't married and live out of state." Her words brought a smile to Jonathan's face but he still didn't look at her. " And those women are stupid. Of course you can't put him in a home. You can't take him away from everything he knows and loves. And you can take comfort in knowing this girl won't leave you because of him." That made him look at her. He rolled over so they were facing each other. He let his left elbow come to rest against the bed while he propped his head up on his hand. He put his other hand against her lower back and pulled her into him. Then he moved it up her and tangled his fingers into her hair.

" Yeah?" He asked.

" Yeah." She said. " So how about you stop blaming yourself for what a nine year old did and start seeing yourself as I do?"

" And how's that? How do you see me?" Jonathan asked.

" As a man who is dictated enough to his brother that he does everything he can to care for him. A man who is strong, loving, and caring. A man who has stood up and accepted his responsibilities when he could have easily turned and ran. Putting Art in a home would be the easy thing to do but you choose to take the harder road and you are better for it." Elliot said. Jonathan smiled as he stared into her eyes.

" Why don't we make each other a deal? I will try and see myself like that and you stop thinking you are weak and pathetic. You will see you as I do. Strong, beautiful, and amazing." He said. Elliot smiled and buried half her face in the pillow. He grinned and leaned down to kiss her cheek. " We got a deal?"

" I guess." She said.

It felt good to tell Elliot what happen between Art and me. I never to anyone. Shit I barely admitted it to myself. I have carried the guilt from that night around since it happen. After we talked, I felt so light. I hadn't realized how much that night weighted me down. I always thought if I told someone, they would hate me, they would think I was horrible but Elliot didn't look at me any different than she did before.

We stayed up late that night, just talking and sharing stories about our past. She talked about her childhood and so did I. She told me about the different jobs she had held, I told her about growing up in the bakery. We just talked like we never had before. It was great. I have never done that before with anyone. Afterwards, she cuddled up into me and we went to sleep. If she keeps being this amazing, I'm going to fall in love with her.