Chapter 14

"I don't get it…" James started, trailing off. Logan stared at him with a confused look.

"What don't you get? X equals 45. It's as easy as that." Logan said. James shook his head quickly. How could Logan not get it?

"No I mean about Carlos. I don't get why he wouldn't tell us. I mean, if he did, then that man or woman would be gone forever. They're not gonna hurt him again." James explained. Logan nodded thoughtfully, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation to James's question.

"Well, what if the bad guy told Carlos that he'd come for him if he told?" Logan said. James shrugged, still not understanding.

"But they don't know where Carlos- oh." James said in realization. The criminal was herein the Palm Woods. He knew where they lived. Apartment 2J. It would be easy to break in through the door with a gun or something or climb through their window with a knife. Not only would Carlos be in danger of dying, theywould, too.

"But Carlos knows that we'll protect him no matter what. So why is still so scared?" James asked quietly. He would sacrifice his life for Carlos, even though the Carlos now wasn't the one from before.

Carlos used to be so loud and so crazy. Now, he was quiet and kept to himself most of the time. He was timid and scared of so many things now. He wore his helmet, but never did any of the stunts he used to do.

Suddenly, James and Logan turned to see Kendall walk through the bedroom door, where the two were currently "doing their homework." Logan nodded at Kendall, and Kendall just sat down.

"I heard what you guys were talking about." He said calmly, as if he didn't even care. But Kendall did care. He just had to stay calm for his friend, or they'd freak, too. On the inside, Kendall Knight was scared and angry and worried. They had to find this criminal fast, or things would get really bad. He'd done some thinking on the subject, and he'd come up with a reasonable explanation for Carlos's stubbornness to tell them about the criminal.

"Okay, so do you know the answer?" Logan asked. He honestly had no clue why Carlos wouldn't tell them. All the things James said made perfect sense. For once, James had said something that Logan couldn't argue with using his logic.

"Well, I've been thinking. Carlos knows we'll protect him from anything, and that if he tells about the criminal, we'd all be in some trouble." Kendall started. James and Logan shared a confused glance with each other. Kendall continued.

"Carlos isn't worried about himself. Well, maybe that's part of it, but he's scared for us, guys. He's scared that we'll get hurt or get killed. He doesn't want that, so he'll keep on living in pain and fear because he's trying to protectus."

Logan stopped what he was doing and stared at the floor. Carlos was so selfless. Here he was, currently recovering from getting raped, and he was still worrying about their safety. Carlos may be innocent, but sometimes, he was the most amazing person Logan had ever known in his life. And Logan knew a lot of people, and most of them were smart. He knew James and Kendall were thinking about something similar, for they both had tears in their eyes to match Logan's.

"There's no one like him." Kendall whispered. James and Logan nodded, and they sat there together, not saying anything. Because everything they could have said to each other was right there in their eyes.

They didn't keep track of the time or anything as they sat there, staring into nothing. They were violently jerked out of their thought when they heard the door opening. Carlos's face peeked into the room, his eyes curious and a little scared.

"Hey, Carlos." James smiled and motioned for Carlos to come sit next to him. Carlos did hesitantly, as if James would hurt him or something.

"We were just thinking." Logan explained. They probably looked a big scary, their eyes zoned out and their faces blank. Carlos nodded and put his head on James's shoulder.

"What's up, buddy?" Kendall asked gently.

Carlos sighed. "I'm scared." He whimpered quietly, burying his face into the crook of James's neck. James looked a bit shocked that Carlos did that all of a sudden, but quickly recovered and wrapped his arm around Carlos.

"Dude, it's okay. Everything's alright." Logan said, trying to sound comforting. Carlos just nodded and made a strange noise that sounded like a whimper and a grunt. Carlos slowly took his face out of James's neck and stared at all of them.

Carlos was starting to trust his friends again. They had been there for him this whole time, and he'd really appreciated it. Every day a new memory popped into his head. All of them were about how his friends were always there for him and each other. Carlos knew that these people were good guys, and he didn't have to worry when he was around them.

Kendall. James. Logan. Those three names gave him comfort. He wanted things to be like it was in those memories he had every day. They were all happy, and he was that crazy little guy just running around crashing into things. Carlos didn't remember doing a lot of that… but he decided that he thought it seemed pretty cool. He'd figured that the first step to getting things back to normal was to just open up to them more. Talk to them more.

"He didn't mean to." Carlos said, looking up from the string he was playing with on Logan's bed. The guys all stared at him in shock. They hadn't heard Carlos say that much since… 3 months ago. Or maybe even more.

"Who?" Logan asked.

Carlos bit his lower lip. "The guy. He didn't mean to."

"Carlos, how would you know? He's a bad guy; bad guys are never good." Kendall said, saying it in a way that proved that he wasn't angry at Carlos or anything like that.

"He told me." Carlos said simply, taking off his helmet and fiddling with it in his hands. Well, hand. His other arm was still in a cast.

"What?" James shrieked. "Sorry," he mumbled after seeing that he scared Carlos.

"Before he did it." Carlos explained bluntly. The other three shared scared glances at each other. What had this evil person said to Carlos?

"Carlos, why can't you tell us? We need to know." James suddenly said, his face filled with pain and worry and concern. He was desperate to know who did this thing to Carlos. He needed his revenge. He needed to punish this freak.

"He did it for revenge, too, James." Carlos said softly. James softened when he heard Carlos say his name out loud.

"Really?" Carlos nodded, and James pulled his youngest friend into a half hug kind of thing.

"I'll tell you if you want." Carlos suggested quietly. James perked up and grinned.

"Please, Carlos, I have to know." Carlos swallowed and sighed.

"Okay…" Carlos said. All of the guys cheered and buried Carlos in their hugs. Carlos was a bit taken aback and intimidated, but soon found that he loved hugging, too.

"Start whenever you're ready, buddy." Kendal prompted him. He was impatient to know, but he knew that Carlos had to take his time. This wasn't something anyone would want to tell on a daily basis.

"He had a helper." Carlos said.

"He did? Do you know who?" Logan asked. They were getting closer and closer to finding the culprit. Everything counted on this story Carlos would tell them soon.

"No."

Kendall nodded and told Carlos to continue.

Carlos glanced at each of his friends. They loved him, and he was starting to love them back, too. So he mustered up all his courage and started to tell the story that had changed his life so much.

A/N- So… whaddya think happened? Well, no one can really guess it yet… cuz, you know… NO ONE KNOWS WHO THE CULPRIT IS YET! ;) And the helper dude/dudett is still anonymous, too!

Sorry about the length of this chapter… I'm so hyped for Thanksgiving Break! YAY!

Review? It means more than… more than a lot of things in my life…

Peace, Love, and Giraffes,

Anonymous Skrtle