AATC: Territory.

-Well, I'm back. And...yeah? You guys think I abandoned this story, didn't you? The truth is, I've got some serious website designing to do for my skills class. Right about now, I'm learning Javascript. 'Nuff said about that.

-As for abandonment, who said that?! I didn't. Besides, there's another fic of mine that has gone even longer than this one when it comes to updates. You may think I have bitten off more than I can chew, but I haven't. All things come in seasons. The good seasons are coming back, believe me.

-Happy belated one year anniversary to this story...and happy Valentine's Day. :D

Let's get on with it!

26.

Valerie stood behind all the others, looking on as the C & C singers watched the video on her laptop. Judging from their reactions, she could tell that they were finally coming to grips about how dire their situation really was.

They all watched the video of Ravin' Raven singing in his studio, a song called 'Hunt You Down'. The smart ones and even the...not so smart ones like Theodore could grasp that the man was singing about them. While the video played, Alvin was fervently trying to defend one of his favorite singers. "Nah, it can't be him. I mean, the guy's cool. Remember how he even offered to sing with us in New Jersey? Then Dave turned us away from it."

"Think, Alvin!" Simon chastised. "He's the only major singer in all of Miami Florida right now who would want to be after us, and in all those 'Red' states marked in Dave's planner!" He pulled up the picture he had taken of said page of the planner and practically shoved the device in his face. "Look! All these southeastern states, and Philly, New Jersey... It has to be him! I mean, who else could it be, huh? Rick Ross? Flo Rida? Victoria Justice? Get real, Alvin!" Simon said in a cutting accusation.

"Oh, so the guy who wanted to sing with us wants to kill us," Alvin mumbled sarcastically. "Suuurree."

Jeanette shook her head. "Alvin? Do you know sign language?"

"What?" Eleanor asked. "What does that have to do with anything?" In the privacy of her own mind, she was secretly plotting ways of doing harm to the rap-metal singer without evidence leading back to herself.

"I once learned the basics of it," Jeanette stated coolly before she removed her glasses, cleaned them with the corner of her blouse before putting them back on, much like how Simon normally cleaned his. "One of the first words, the harder ones I tried to learn that is, was the word 'Chipmunk'."

"And your point is?" Brittany pressed.

"Twice during the chorus, those funny gestures he seems to be doing? He's saying the words 'Rat', followed by the word-"

"Chipmunk." Theodore finished with awful realization.

Valerie's cell phone started to alert; since it was on silent, it only vibrated which only allowed her to notice the notification. She excused herself from the others and faced away from them to give herself some confidentiality, whereupon she removed her phone from her hip-pocket and read the text message on the screen. After doing so, she read through it twice, before angrily shoving the phone back into her pocket. 'Damn! Goddamn, this concert! Why can't things be simple? Last year should have been a wake-up call, so why the hell am I still here? Miami, Ravin' Raven, and his whole anti-competition crap is going to kill him eventually, and drag us all down with him! But before that happens…' She glanced to the six singers who were angrily and fervently discussing the matter at hand. 'He wants to kill these kids. The sweet, brave boys and the beautiful, determined girls. But what can I do?"

What could she do, indeed? For all of her knowledge, intuition, initiative, she was powerless. With Ravin' Raven's resources, they and she would have to comply. Leave and live, or stay and die.

Perhaps she could make a third option.

But there wasn't. It was already made for her, and for Valerie, it was the only option.

While the kids were still arguing in the background, Valerie turned back to them, especially the girls, idly wondering how they would have turned out had their adoptive still been around to take care of them. While they had turned out okay…okay-ish for the most part, thanks to their counterparts, Valerie still had to think.

Maybe they wouldn't have even come to Miami in the first place. Maybe. But who knew?

That was food for thought for another time. She decided that it was time to at least warn Dave.

=X=X=

David hemmed and hawed as he tried to solve the crossword puzzle. He could hardly get his mind to focus on it, as his mind was preoccupied with trying to make up itself. Should he leave Miami? Or go?

The answer was simple. He should leave.

He supposed he had always had a soft spot for the lesser fortunate, like his own adopted sons and even the chippettes. They really weren't daughters he could call his, even though he had taken care of them like a neighbor would, he supposed. He had even fought for his right to care for them like a guardian would in court, and the fact that they were old enough to take care of themselves. Children yes. Ordinary, no.

But he still loved them. He loved all of them. And yet, he had placed them, knowingly, in harm's way. How he was going to live with himself after this, he really had no idea.

But how he was going to back out of making the quota to donate, he had not even an inkling of doing that either.

It wasn't just about his career anymore. What he was doing could be called noble by some people, and downright idiotic by others. Didn't he value his life? Even more so, didn't he value the lives of his children? Blood meant little to the Sevilles and Millers. They were still his to call his own.

"While I admit there's a substantial benefit in that area, not to mention my integrity and reliability will be at stake. The main reason is because of the final charity. I promised them a healthy sum, and it's an AIDS beneficial charity case. I lost a relative because of AIDS and I'm not ashamed to say that it's probably clouding my better judgment."

These were the words he had told the doctor, and he was being honest. But so was the doctor. The medical practitioner was like his scalpel…sharp and to the point.

"You've done a fine job with the smallest. How much more before you realize that you're losing your family members to something that you could have avoided? It's almost as if you're using them-"

"Shut…up. We're done talking. Give me the damn form so I can get my family out of this hospital."

"That would be for the best. But I pray that I won't see you here before all is said and done. But in the case of the lesser of two evils, better to see me here in the hospital than the mortician in the morgue."

"I'm…using them?" Dave muttured to himself worriedly. "No…No, I'm not. I'm doing this to help the charities."

"Oh really?" A pleasant voice asked suddenly.

"Holy-" Dave was badly startled by the sudden speech and his head reeled as he looked for the voice's owner. "Valerie?! You're so quiet!"

Valerie looked down at the ground and looked up. "Meh. It must be the carpeting. So…I just overheard your little outside thinking."

"You did?" Dave began to sweat a little, wondering what the lithe woman was up to now. "Um…you don't say? How much did you hear?"

"What was there that you don't want me to hear?" She strode up to his side and sat on the sofa next to him. "Keeping secrets, huh?"

"Who doesn't?" Dave said in contempt, making the woman nod in agreement. "I tell you, I have no idea what to do next."

"About what?" Valerie started scrolling through video thumbnails on her phone as if she was merely half-interested. Dave had long learned from the woman that it was a nervous habit, although he had never gotten around to ask her why and what could cause it in the first place. Then again, he had his life to live and she had hers.

"The kids. The last concert is on Saturday, and right now it's Sunday. And with how I'm worrying, I'm going to end up with a full head of gray hairs." The man chuckled at this. "And to think, it wouldn't be Alvin's fault."

"Don't worry, so that's what you're worried about? The hairs? You'd better stop worry about good looks so much and more about getting out of Florida."

"You know that's what I meant-…wait…good looks?" The man asked carefully, testing the waters.

"Well…" She made a 'you-know-what-I-mean' gesture. "You're not unattractive."

"Um, you don't give out compliments easily, do you?" Dave huffed with a small smile on his lips.

"Nope." She finally smelt something familiar in the room, and her nose twitched in recognition. Recognition for all the wrong reasons. "Is that alcohol I smell?"

Dave sighed. "Good nose. I only opened it, but I haven't drunk any." He picked up the hidden bottle from his side of the sofa and handed to her a rather goodish sized bottle with a brownish-yellow liquid inside. Her eyes widened when she saw what kind and brand of alcohol it was.

"'Cognac Park Carte Blanche VS'? Well, you have excellent taste, I'll give you that. Um…mind if I borrow this for a sec?"

He didn't mind, but he watched her go off to the bathroom with the Cognac in hand, wondering all the while what she was up to. Two minutes later, he heard the toilet flush and she returned as if she'd done nothing wrong. He didn't really want to believe she had done what she probably did, that is, until she handed him back the empty glass bottle and there wasn't even a trace of the stuff on her breath. "Did you just flush my Cognac down the toilet?" He asked heatedly.

"Yes," the answer came back nonchalantly. "Here's the bottle back. Just in case you want to recycle the glass, methinks."

He was well and truly about to blow his stack, and Valerie fully expected to see it. However, she was surprised to see the man heavily exhale, trying to bring his rage under control. "Sigh. Well, I guess you know that you now owe fifty dollars for that. But why would you flush away the stuff?"

"You're taking this a bit too well. Why?" The man was silent for a while before he gave his answer.

"Well," he scratched his head idly. "You always seem to make well-informed decisions, although I really wanted that Cognac. Now answer my question." He watched her hesitate so he pressed on. "Please."

She sat back on the sofa beside him. "Well, for one thing, you don't deserve the luxury to drink away any troubles, to ease any stress when it's the kids who're going through tribulations." She saw him hang his head in shame and guilt but she continued regardless. "Secondly, I don't want to see anyone indulge in alcohol. You try to drink away mistakes and that only causes you to make even more of them."

"You sound like you're talking from past experience."

"I am. How much do you know about me?"

"Don't I know enough?"

"Smooth save, suave speaker," she replied in a somber sing-song. "Dave, you have six kids who love you and adore you. Do you really want to stick out their necks and yours in a situation like this? Just go back home. I don't want to see any of you getting hurt, or worse."

"Come to think about it, where's your home anyway?"

Valerie looked away from his gaze. "Me? I practically live all over, but for the moment, I guess it's here." She mumbled sadly. "Don't have a house, but I feel right at home with those kids."

"You know, they look up to you like a mother."

Her eyes snapped back to him. "Is that a marriage proposal I hear?"

"Is it too early, or too late?" He joked. "Relationship-wise or age wise? I know well enough not to ask a lady her age."

"Relationship-wise? We have one? Too early. Age wise? Christ, I'm forty."

"Really? How did you manage that? You look so young, and you're only a year older than me."

"Simple. I don't have a son who dresses in red to yell at half the time." The woman said simply.

"That's cold."

"Plain and ugly truth. And speaking of truths…Dave, the kids. They found out about Ravin' Raven."

The man's eyes widened. "What? How did they-?!"

"I told them."

"Why would you tell them that its-…now they're going to try to take matters into their own hands or something. Simon might try to dig for dirt, evidence with Jeanette in tow. Theodore will only get drawn in with Ellie and Alvin…Alvin and Brittany might do something headstrong-…"

"They're going to do something, probably. It's better than just sitting around in a hotel room waiting for you to make up their minds whether or not you're going to allow us to get our throats slashed."

"I know…but the charities. The charities!"

"What charities? Don't you think they've had enough? The fundraisers have gotten enough money-"

"We haven't met quota, and I can't just back out of our biggest concert. If we don't do this, the charities won't get their money, we won't get paid enough and worst comes to worst, we won't have enough to feed ourselves and amass enough money to tour again anytime soon. We'll go broke and starve."

"So those are your stakes, huh? Has the thought 'quit while you're ahead' ring any bells?" The woman chastised.

"Either way," he ignored the barb. "I don't want to endanger them, but if I don't do this, I'll basically be cutting them off from music indefinitely, won't have enough to send them to school, feed them, clothe them, bills to pay, much less the other people like you who worked on this tour need to be paid…we're not rich. We're probably the humblest artistes to walk the face of the earth."

Valerie was now starting to grasp the stakes. It only went to show how much stress the man was under. She could see it; the man wasn't aging by the year. It was more by the day and the stress was nearly tangible enough to weigh by the ton.

The man looked down and closed his eyes, trying to hold back from shedding tears but he couldn't keep back the sobs. "I was trying to stay out of the East coast for years; my own rule of keeping out of the 'red' states. Small concerts just didn't cut it back in the West, and Ms. Miller's death made it harder. Funerals and send-offs aren't exactly cheap, and nearly all our previous concerts generated just enough money to keep us from mortgaging our house and Ms. Miller's. I couldn't afford any public embarrassment of going broke, especially with six mouths to feed. So…I broke my own rule and came out East. I was hoping that things had died down, and look! Now I'm here to find out that we're going to."

All was quiet for a minute; Valerie trembled in mix emotions. "Dave?" She said shakingly.

"Hm?" He looked up, only to get a solid punch with knuckles that rang against his cheekbone. "Agh!"

The force alone was enough to knock him onto his backside and as he got back up on a knee, he ranted. "Hey! What was that for-"

She knelt down quickly and drew him into a hug. She whispered. "I thought I had you all figured out, and that you were shallow. I'm sorry, Dave."

He didn't say anything for a while, neglecting it just for the sake of enjoying the hug for a bit longer. "So what was the punch for?"

"For being a knucklehead."

"Well, look at me," he joked as he rubbed his sore cheek. "Not even married yet, and I'm already whipped. In more ways than one."

"And don't you forget it," she answered with a grin. "Now c'mon. You'd better explain what you told me to the kids, or they'll be after you with torches and pitchforks, thinking that everything is black and white like how I used to believe. So are you going to need for emotional support, or are you going to talk to them alone?"

"It's my mess."

"…I understand."

=X=X=

Valerie made her way out briskly and had to weave around slow walkers in her way. All of a sudden, Miami didn't feel so safe, since she could be targeted by Ravin' Raven or Lamar. They were practically invincible and at the moment, she felt very vulnerable.

She glanced over her shoulder at the hotel she was coming from in the distance and mused silently. Right about now, Dave was explaining to the C & C singers about their situation and she had a worry shiver run down her spine. She fretted for him presently, because at least two of them were likely to go bedlam on him. Alvin and Brittany's anger was already something to be feared when separate. Together, it would be nuclear.

Shaking her head to free her mind of such thoughts, she began to think of what and how she may feel for the brunette man. She knew he wasn't so shallow as to only like her for her outer qualities; she knew that she was pretty and had an effect on people. But they both weren't spring chickens anymore. Perhaps they were meant for each other?

Maybe.

Was she a professional on love?

She wasn't. But she a lot of experience from seeing it in other people. But knowing that time was fleeting and age was increasing, she supposed it was worth a shot to advance a relationship with him. But she was still sure that she knew more about him than he knowing about her.

There was a reason why they both went to bed late and woke late. Privacy to talk was better assured when the younger ears were asleep.

'Now…where to get some takeout? Thai? Mexican? Chinese? I better make up my mind, before Ravin' Raven ties me in with the others and try something like poison again, just like poor Theo. Probably a good thing to go out on my own and ordering, rather than calling out of the hotel when our stuff is probably wiretapped to listen and watch us.'

With that in mind, she tugged on the cap she had on tighter and lower over her head to shade her eyes. 'I wonder if Ravin' Raven knows every red-head in Miami? 'Cause if he does, I'm at a disadvantage. I thought that by standing out, I'd be hidden. It could be the reverse, 'cause it's the nail that stands out that is the one to get hammered down. But…I'll gladly take one for the kids.' She smiled when she thought this before it fell into a deep frown. 'Geez, I really do sound like a mother. A pity about Ms. Miller, though.'

She walked past the DIY Gardening store and into the Chinese restaurant. 'I've got a bad feeling. We've got to be proactive instead of reactive.'

=X=X=

"I'm back, everybody!" Valerie called out. "Who's hungry?"

"Everyone's pissed," Eleanor said bluntly. "Theo and I had just gotten the louder ones, a.k.a. red and pink to quit cussin' out Dave."

"So, you didn't?" Valerie had expected Eleanor to blow a fuse, knowing that she could get vindictive.

"I didn't. I settled for slugging Dave in the stomach. I wouldn't worry about it, though, I held back." Eleanor rolled her eyes. "Although I didn't want to…"

Valerie couldn't believe here ears. "I think I'm now afraid of you. Keep your hands to yourself. Although I more or less did the same thing to him."

The girl chuckled. "So long as you don't do anything wrong by me, you have nothing to worry about."

"About that…" The redhead passed one of the Chinese takeout boxes to the green girl. "The restaurant used a bit too much teriyaki sauce. Sorry. I know you're kinda particular when it comes to food-"

"I'm too hungry to care!" The girl snatched the box. "Thanks, though!" She took off while Valerie rested the rest of her food luggage on the table while eyeing the others in the room. They were all silent and wore moody expressions. But the thing was, while Simon and Jeanette sat together, Alvin and Brittany were apart. The stage technician picked up the fact that Brittany was cross at Alvin for not believing that Ravin' Raven was the one actually after them, along with being mad at Dave.

The angst was heavy. Really heavy.

She wanted to resolve this but she had no idea on how to start. They already had enough on their plates, dealing with the likes of the territorial and homicidal rapper and his cronies. They shouldn't be fighting, not now, not ever!

Sad to say, there wouldn't be much of a happy ending this time.

In the meanwhile, Theodore took up his takeout box and followed Eleanor to the couch and sat beside her. He quickly graced his meal before he dug in, beginning to eat the noodles with his chopsticks. "Hey Ellie, what do you think we should do? Stay or go?"

"Go home and die slowly from bankruptcy, or stay here and die from biting the bullet. Is there really a better choice out of the two? It's like trying to decide how to commit suicide. They both suck!" She stopped to chew. "And I'm going to get really tired of takeout if this is the best Chinese food available. We're sitting ducks in the hotel, we try to leave, we get killed…the only way out is either in an armored vehicle to the nearest airport or in a box."

"What do you mean, 'in a box'?" Her boyfriend asked.

"I mean a coffin, Theo."

"That's grim. Even right now, you're stress eating. You won't give the food a chance to digest if you eat that quickly." He said worriedly.

"I think I have the right to go completely crazy, Theo. I think you got off easy, compared to what happened to the others. It's like the bottom rung of the ladder, and it increases in danger with each rung you climb to get higher. Chased by cars, thrown off an overhead pedestrian bridge. I don't even know when it's my turn-"

Theodore hushed her by drawing her into a hug. "Shhh…don't call it on yourself. Maybe Dave will just take us home and we won't even have to bother with the weekend concert."

"…"

"…" He stared back, wondering why she had gone silent. But she did eventually answer.

"Luckily for you, your naivety is cute."

Her phone started to play its notification tone to signal that she had a text message and she had to put her now-empty takeout box aside to pull it out of her pocket. She then opened up the message on her phone and read it:

1 want 2 セーブ the 6: I'm sorry.

"What's the text say?" Theodore asked.

"It just says 'I'm sorry'. It must be someone's idea of a sick joke." Eleanor fumed while she took up her fortune cookie and proceeded to break it apart. "But where have I heard that before? I think Brittany and Jeanette were arguing about some hacker who had some sort of crazy name that-…" She trailed off while she read her fortune.

Even Theodore could see that the cookie had far too much print to be a normal cookie, and he saw Eleanor blanch. "Oh my God. Oh my God." Was all she would say.

"What? What is it? What's the fortune?"

"That…is no fortune, Theodore." She hung her head while bracing her elbows on her knees. "Remember how I just said that you were the bottom rung of the ladder?" Tears started coming to her eyes and she tried to form more words, but couldn't. Instead, she settled for just handing the note out of the cookie to Theodore. The more he read, the more and more his heart fell.

It's not important to know what your meal is, so much as knowing what was in it. The best way to kill a rat is with Rat Poison.

Well, that's it. Sorry for the wait again. And…yes, it's a cliffhanger. I REALLY DON'T like cliffhangers, so you can look out for the resolution soon, perhaps by midnight Saturday, or even a 2-3k one tonight, because I think I still have enough material to work with. Maybe, 'cause I wanted a 'lovey' theme to suit valentine's day. Instead, I fleshed out some DavexValerie (yeah, no one really likes OCs, but I'm not going to pair Dave and Ms. Miller for obvious reasons.)

-Pris, hope you liked the chapter. YOU HEAR THAT ALL OF YOU?! TELL HER THANKS FOR THE CHAPTER!

-Jake, if you're reading this, (I KNOW you are,) it'll soon be time to get back to work. You know what I mean.

Well, I guess that's it.

Valete omnes,

MRAY 4TW.