Chapter XIV: My Sweet Angel

"Alli, you're home!"

It was like a breath of fresh air. A sweet, tasting, precious fresh air that left the young woman practically speechless when she stepped over the threshold of the apartment, stepping into the familiar warmth and love that this place gave her. It didn't matter what had happened to her the day before, this place was always what she wanted to come back to, and she always desired to come back to the cheerful smile and laughter of the precious child she cared for. When she came back, the little girl was already home, and the other roommate was in the living room, sitting on the couch, the television blaring of comic-related television shows such as "Scrubs." The woman looked up from the television and grinned when her friend entered, and she spoke very calmly and sweetly.

"Welcome home. Did you sleep well?" she asked of her friend, who grinned back, suddenly feeling relaxed and not under pressure when the first words to come out of her roommate's mouth weren't "did you sleep with him?"

"It was…an interesting night." Playfulness, that was all that was needed, and a sarcastic look. It gave everything away that was not true, and the red-haired woman took the bait, looking at her in a suspicious, yet pleasant manner.

"Sophia, we're going to the park today with someone I know. Why don't you get ready, put on a sun-dress, and we'll go at two-thirty," Alli instructed the little child, who beamed happily, and ran into the hallway, disappearing behind her bedroom door. This left her and Sam to be alone and talk about the past night.

"So…what was so interesting about last night?" Sam got up from the couch and followed her into the kitchen where she pulled out a large glass pitcher of cranberry juice. She poured herself a cup of it, and turned to face her friend, wondering how she could play this along just to entertain her friend.

"Well…he took me back to his hotel, and…I kind of…slept with him," she pronounced to her friend, whose mouth couldn't have dropped any farther than what it had. She wasn't lying, but she was just kidding around, wording her sentence exactly to fit the prank she was trying to pull off.

"You did?! You actually slept with him?!" Samantha was so excited, it was practically child-like when this information entered her ears. Alli couldn't help but blush deep red as tried to restrain the thoughts of figuratively "sleeping" with the illusionist from her mind, but this was hard to do for a virgin twenty-one-year-old.

"Yeah," Alli nodded, trying to maintain her composure as serious as possible, while looking somewhat pleased with herself.

"So…how…how was it?"

"It was…it was nice."

"Nice? You spent your first time—your actual first time—with one of the hottest men you had ever seen, a famous man mind you, and all you have to say for it was that it was 'nice?"

"Well, what do you expect me to say about it? I mean…okay, it was a little bit more than nice. It just…it felt so…."

"You didn't actually fuck him, did you?"

Alli blinked as her friend gave her a skeptical look, and then she sighed. She wasn't as good at pulling off these particular stunts and pranks as Christopher was. But then again, Sam, who had been there a thousand times more than the younger girl ever had been, could easily tell what was the truth about sleeping in the arms of someone and then actually having sex with them—though for Sam, it was kind of hard doing one without the other.

"No, I didn't have sex with him. But I did sleep with him. He…he just held me all night, it was so sweet," Alli confessed to her friend, whose skepticism had vanished into a look of sympathy and kindness, a look that brought a warmth inside of her.

"That's great, Alli. I would've expected something like that to have happened after last night," Sam actually sounded sincere when she said that, meaning well. Throughout this entire time, her best friend had always been supportive of her, and now that things seem to be dangling on the very edge, it might actually be a good idea to tread out of the depths of the dark ocean she was barely floating in now and into the waiting arms of this man—the Adam who waited for her on the shore of their new Eden.

"So, you and Sophia are going to meet him at the park later?"

"Yeah," Alli answered simply.

"I think I know what you should do for him," Sam turned towards the counter and turned on the boom-box sitting there, collecting dust after the days it had not been touched. She turned the radio on—ironically enough, "Everytime" by Britney Spears came playing on, one of Sophia's and Alli's favorite songs.

"What?"

"Make him a picnic. Don't give me that look. You're a great cook, you know it. Take a picnic with snacks and food for all three of you, drinks, and even a blanket. Chances are the three of you will be there for a long time, so it'll be a good idea. It's not a romantic gesture, it's sweet, and it would be a good idea to get your mind off of things."

Alli thought about it for a moment, and she realized that her friend was actually right. A picnic was a good idea. So, without even saying anything, Sam went into her bedroom to retrieve a basket, a large enough blanket, while Alli was occupying the kitchen, pulling out multiple things just to prepare the picnic that she was fantasizing about in her head. She knew she was taking a huge leap by doing this, but she didn't care. Nothing seemed to matter to her anymore. Not Julian, not her relationship with him, not what happened the previous night, not the chaos and trouble of her life. None of that seemed to matter. As she sang along to the song playing on the radio, she realized that everything was at last starting to fall into place in this world, her life finally seemed to be going in the right direction, and there was nothing in the world that could bring her down on this day…absolutely nothing.

"And every time I try to fly, I fall. Without my wings, I feel so small. I guess I need you, baby. And every time I see you in my dreams, I see your face, you're haunting me. I guess I need you baby…."

It felt as if stepping out from the inside of the taxi cab had lifted an enormous weight from her shoulders, and the young woman practically stumbled from the change in atmosphere, stepping onto the side walk with the little girl beside her. The air seemed so much fresher, so much more pure and innocent. The towering trees of the park enshrouded the fields of grass in dark shade, the canopy that they stretched across whatever inch of the sky they could reach just thick enough to allow the sunlight to stream across the park in the perfect manner. Children ran across the fields, laughing and playing as they all raced towards the playground on the other side, while couples sat in the shade on blankets or on benches, enjoying each other's company while watching the youthful souls play and run in this innocent world that was fenced in. In her mind, her perfect Eden was like this, in five to ten years, she imagined that her Eden will become this, with her children's laughter filling the world, while her true love sat beside her, embracing her in his loving arms, keeping her forever in his heart….

"Well, I haven't seen two prettier girls in all my life."

Alli turned at once with a blushing red face when she heard a familiar voice, and she saw the man approach her, the man with the dark hair, the man with the equally mystifying dark eyes that always seemed to pull her into them dramatically. She beamed at him, and he grinned back at her, but his attention was quickly drawn away when the lovely little child pounced on him excitedly, embracing him around the waist—as far as she could reach—like an old friend of hers.

"Criss! Criss Angel!" Sophia's laughter was so sweet and loving, even to someone whom she didn't know too well. Christopher grinned from the child's embrace, and then turned to the older cousin, his eyes tracing her in her new clothing—an aqua t-shirt under a dark blue sweater and a pair of navy royal jeans—and then hesitated on the basket she held in her hands, a large maroon blanket folded and draped over her arm. She followed his eyes, and then spoke what was clearly on his mind.

"I brought a picnic along, just in case you hadn't eaten anything since this morning," she told him, and that grin widened on his face. Her heart started pounding viciously in her chest, yet she didn't know why he made her feel like this. He had this kind of power over her that made her feel weak and vulnerable, but in a good sense.

"That was incredibly sweet of you," he told her in response, his voice gentle on her ears.

"Just think of it as repayment for last night," she winked at him, and that grin broadened. Sophia, who clearly wasn't paying attention, started laughing a little louder, tugging at Christopher's hand and dragging him—not literally—into the park. The man looked back helplessly at the woman, who was beaming at the scene before her. She followed the two of them into the depths of the park, closer to the playground.

Sophia had somehow coerced the man into accompanying her into the sandbox where the swings were, and convinced him to push her on the swings. This left the woman to find the perfect spot near the playground to lie out the blanket and making herself comfortable. She sat down on the blanket in front of a large black wood tree, and watched the two of them interact, Criss pushing Sophia high up on the swings, then quickly pull away to perform a magic trick for some group of little kids. Sophia seemed in her own little world playing and interacting with the other kids on the playground, and even with the illusionist—who was somewhat of a child himself. Alli just felt so perfect, suddenly realizing that, as she watched the children play, she really had entered that Eden she had always dreamed about, that peaceful place that no one could harm her, no one could stop her from obtaining tranquility, and that man…the one she had dreamed about to be her Adam…she suddenly knew all along….

"Hey."

She blinked when she realized that the provocateur had pulled away from the children and had at last joined her at the blanket, smiling that same arrogant grin he always portrayed. She beamed at him, feeling the sun cross her face, warming her up—was it even the sun at all?

"Hey," it was all she could respond with. Her heart was pounding loud, her breath was caught in her throat, but somehow, physically, she was able to portray herself as calm and stable as much as possible. He sat down beside her on the blanket, tearing his dark eyes away and staring out towards the playground, watching the children happily. For a moment, he just watched Sophia, and then he turned his eyes onto the young woman beside him, smiling eagerly.

"So, what did you bring me?" he asked playfully, and for a minute, she had completely forgotten she had brought him a picnic.

"Oh, yeah." She opened up the lid to the basket and pulled out a small package wrapped in tinfoil. She handed it to him with an anxious grin on her face. "I wasn't sure if you would like this or not. I have other things to eat, but everyone seems to like this particular thing I make. I just want you to try it."

"What is it?" he gave her a suspicious look, as if believing she had poisoned his foods when he wasn't looking.

"I'm not going to tell you. You need to try it first."

He continued to give her that look, but didn't say anything as he unwrapped the package and revealed it to be a sandwich. Continuing to give the same skeptical look, he took a bite of it, and the look on his face quickly changed. It went from skeptical expression to one of pure surprise and possibly even enjoyment. His eyes were somewhat wide and wondrous, and she wondered what he was thinking about her masterpiece.

"What is this?" he spoke through a mouthful of bread.

"It's a cucumber sandwich. Or more like a cucumber-island-sandwich. Do you like it?" she asked him curiously, and he seemed to sense her desperation for acceptance. He gave her a strange look, and then replied.

"Are you expecting me to like it?"

She gave him that same look back, and then replied in the exact same way.

"Do you want me to expect you to like it?"

"Don't give me that," he suddenly started shoving the sandwich down like some depraved animal that hadn't eaten in days. She only grinned, realizing that he did, in fact, like it.

As soon as he was done, she handed him a can of fruit juice, and it was around this time Sophia came running over for a drink and a snack. For just a short moment, the three of them sat, ate, and talked among each other. Christopher decided to perform a trick for the child, turning her drink—a box of Hi-C orange juice—into a box of flower petals, which instantly surprised her, and grapping a caterpillar from a fallen tree leaf and turning it into a butterfly in his hand. It was an interesting scene to behold, watching this man perform so comfortably with the little girl, as if he had known her all his life, as if she was his own. Alli actually felt at peace seeing this, and when Sophia left to return to the now open swings, this left the two adults alone to talk. Alli watched the child for a moment, feeling her heart pounding in her ears, but not wildly, not fast, just loud. Her entire body felt as one to nature, she felt like she was a part of the grass, a part of the trees, and a part of the scenery around her. She didn't even realize that the man was actually going through the basket to retrieve another sandwich and that instead he had pulled out a folded up piece of yellow paper.

"What's this?"

His playful voice broke through her wandering thoughts, and she blinked to see what he was holding up to her. Suddenly, everything of her Eden vanished when she was staring at something so familiar, she couldn't believe that she was able to recognize it after so many years of not being able to see it. Her heart started pounding in her ears, her body started trembling, and her face turned hot and red at the sight of it.

"Oh, don't worry about that! Here, let me see!" she reached for it, but he pulled it out of her reach, giving a narcissistic smile—so attractive was that smile.

"No, what is it?" he asked of her.

"It's—it's nothing! Give it back!" she pleaded, but he wasn't listening. Instead, he unfolded it, and began reading the words that were written on it. She couldn't believe this was happening! She couldn't believe he had discovered something that had been nonexistent since high school for her!

"I feel so cracked, I'm about to shatter

A thousand pieces fall at your feet

Sharp shards that have cut me deep

Why can't you see?

This is what you've done to me

I can't breathe, I'm deaf, I'm blind

Yet I'm screaming for you to save me

"Help me! Help me!

Why can't you hear me?!

I'm broken, you've done this to me!

I'm tired of the games

I'm tired of these things

Either let me go

Or let me die in your arms tonight

"I thought you were my angel

Sweet wings that lift me high

A soft lullaby that puts me to sleep

An everlasting dream

I don't want to wake

I'm not asleep, I'm not awake

A never-ending nightmare

Yet why can't you wake me?

"Help me! Help me!

Why can't you hear me?!

I'm bleeding, I'm crying

These games have killed me

And it's because of you

I'm falling

So either catch me

Or I'll die in your arms tonight

"What happened, my angel?

Why have you forgotten me?

I thought you loved me

I thought you needed me

But in the end it was I who needed you

And you were never there…."

Criss folded up the paper, the look on his face solid and cold, his dark eyes hidden behind the shadows of his hair that was cast across his face. She couldn't believe he had found that, an old song lyric that she had written in high school when she had the frequent thoughts of suicide running through her mind when she was experiencing her first abusive relationship. She hadn't even thought about that relationship in a long time, but it seemed to set the pattern for her, forcing every relationship from thereon to be nothing but filled with abuse and neglect. She felt so ashamed of herself for having forgotten about something like that, and for allowing it to become known to someone whom she had wanted to keep out of that personal corner of her life. Yet there was nothing she could do now, as he had read the song, and he was sure to know everything after that.

"Criss?" she reached over and touched his arm. He shivered under her touch, and then sighed when he realized that she was still there. He looked up, his eyes visible now, but in them was an emotion she thought she had never seen anywhere else except when she was looking in a mirror.

"When did you write this?" he asked her softly. She suddenly realized that tears were burning her eyes, and she shook her head, trying to keep herself calm.

"Back in high school. It was one of the first songs I had ever written," she confessed to him.

"Why did you write it?"

"What?" she looked up into those eyes, but every time she did, she found herself regretting ever being there with him, ever allowing herself to become so close to him. He didn't deserve to be drawn into this chaos that was her life.

"Why did you write it? There's obviously a reason. All the emotion you have in these lyrics, there's so much sadness and despair. What was going on?" he asked of her again. She didn't feel like answering, but she had to. For him…for this man, she knew she had to.

"It was…because I was in my first relationship, and the guy turned out to be such a jerk. He wasn't too different from Julian, the man that…well, last night," she told him enough, though not everything, that was able to inform him of everything else. He gave her a soft look, a look of sweet kindness and gentleness.

"You mean you've been in abusive relationships before?" She nodded to his answer, and the tears were streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry…."

It all happened too fast, too quickly for the young woman to even realize what was happening. One moment she was sitting up, tears rolling down her pale, bruised cheeks, and the next, she was on her back on the blanket, the basket pushed away from her, her storm gray eyes staring up into the gentle, deep dark eyes that belonged to the illusionist. Her vision was blurred, her body trembling, but she didn't try to push him away. He was on top of her, his hands positioned on both sides of her head, her hands resting on his biceps. For a moment she didn't know what was happening, but then she realized just exactly had happened.

"Christopher…."

"Shh! It's okay," he spoke to her softly, his face not even an inch from hers, his breath caressing her skin lightly. "It's okay. It's okay."

"But…why…?"

"Alli, you keep saying you're 'sorry' when you don't need to," he told her softly again. He leaned his head down a little, his eyes closed, and he brushed his forehead against hers. "You need an angel, but right now, you already have one."

Something was bothering her in her mind, words of protest and argument, words of offense, but they seemed to fade away quickly the moment she closed her eyes, and she felt it…the one thing she had dreamt about for so long in her dreams. She felt his lips—sweet, soft, cool, loving—caress against hers, it was a brief kiss, not even a kiss at all, but it was enough to tell her everything without saying anything. Her tears rolled down her cheeks, and he came up to kiss them goodbye. He then fell down on top of her, wrapping her in his arms, embracing her in the strength of his wings—the wings that would fly her so high into the sky, so high she could touch the stars of the heavens—and she responded, moving her hands to his back, and returning the embrace. The tears continued to fall, but not in pain, not in sorrow, but in happiness, in peace, in love…wishing to be frozen in this tranquil time forever….

At last…I have found my angel….

-Liz-sama Comic-

Liz: Okay, it took me forever to get this chapter finished, and although I really, really, REALLY don't want to admit it, I have to say...Britney Spears' song, "Everytime" inspired this chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it.

Crys: She really does like Britney Spears! She just doesn't want to admit it!

Liz: I do not!

Crys: Yeah u do! I have pictures of you:::holds up pictures of Liz (at the age of nine) wearing a Britney Spears' t-shirt::::

Liz: GIVE ME THOSE::::chases Crys:::::

Alli (O.O): We hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please remember to review. Oh, and...

♥♥♥HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!!!♥♥♥

Crys: p.s. tomorrow, the 15th, is Liz's 17th Birthday...