A/N: Sorry for the lack of update. School has really been kicking my butt, and so has this story. I was kind of lost as to where to go. The direction that i wanted to go in was kind of a complicated thing because i still wanted the gang to experience college life without all these serious issues surrounding them. Now if you read The Tangled Web We Weave, then you know about Manny and Leo. kyle's cousin and uncle. If you vaguely remember them, but don't really know thier role, then i suggest you go back to the story and read the chapter that lists the family members. But Manny and the rest of Kyle's cousins are going to play a big role in the story. Enjoy and review!!

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The Bond That Wouldn't Break

He chuckled, traving the letters with his finger, "After all the trouble they went through to break in, do you think they could've been a bit more subtle about it?"

The words, 'It's only a matter of time before you're six feet under' isn't really the most hardest message to understand. Neither was the fact that whoever this was, really hated him and his family.

It was a new hours built in Boston, and already there were different memories scattered here and there. Everyone had already adapted to it and all it's spacious glory. The females of the family had their antique objects and furniture all over the house, each familty getting one wing of the house, then the center where veryone hung out anyways. It was a weird arrangment, but at least they knew where each other were in a time and situation like this.

Mannny didn't know why exactly they moved their affairs to Boston of all places, but it was somewhere nice where they could open up new territory on the Boston Harbor, and maybecatch some other business opportunities. This was his and his cousins' time now, and they were going to run it how they wanted, regardless of location.

"This isn't a joking matter, Manny. Do you realize now that we're going to have to be a lot more careful? This is the second message in the past two weeks," Tony said, his face reading worriness.

Manny shook his head, "Don't worry, cousin. We shouldn't get way in over our heads for nothing. WHoever's doing this isn't very experienced. First off, they left the paint can in the trash," he said, picking the handle up with a cloth.

Miguel smirked, "We also know that whoever did this is a dumbass. We'll trace this paint can easy, and if we can't find out who the finger prints link to, then we can figure out where they bought the paint at, and go from there."

Manny nodded, "Yep. We better get some guards over to North Carolina to keep an eye on Kyle at Duke."

Raymond looked at him, "You think Kyle's in danger as well? I thought after last spring that would mean he wouldn't be involved in anything anymore."

"That's what it was supposed to mean, but that was towards Rosali. WHoever's doing this obviously isn't that smart, and we don't know them, which is definitely going to be the hard part."

"I think we should assemble a meeting or something, it can't be just us they're after. It's not like we're the most powerful family in the world," Tony said.

Miguel smirked, "Yeah, but we're close." Raymond rolled his eyes while staring at the joint artistic message scrawled across the whole wall. It was hard to imagine that someone could break into the Giovanni mansion with all it's splendor, and the occasional guard wandering with a gun at it's side, order to shoot with anyone you're not familiar with.

"Well, look on the bright side," Tony said. "At least no one was home whenever this happened. Not even the maids. I'm not very good at Spanish, but I think they said something about going to the market for 'la cena.'

"That's all very good, Tony, but where the hell were the guards when all of this was going on? They're supposed to be guarding the premises, no one should've gotten in or out."

Manny nodded, "He's right about that. I think we're going to have to pull a meeting with all of them, maybe kick out a few, or maybe just kick their ass. But this shouldn't happen again."

"I got to get going on this paint can," Tony said, putting it in a plastic bag, "we could probably figure out where it came from by the end of the day."

"We still need someone to get on all the guards," Manny said quietly.

Miguel smirked at Raymond, "Raymond, I think you should be the one, man. We all knwo you scare the shit out of them."

Raymond stood up rolling his eyes, "I'll get to that right now. Then I'll get in touch with somebody to paint over this, Lord knows what Mama will do if she sees this written on the wall," he said.

"Oh, and while you're yelling at the guys, send the ones that weren't on duty to North Carolina," Manny called over his shoulder, still studying the message. It was cut and dry, and it was something easy to understand, but it did give him a bit if wariness and confusion.

Miguel put his hands in his pockets, "So you really think Kyle's in danger?"

Manny shrugged, "Who knows. I'd like to think it was just a coincidence, that he can't be linked to this, but I can't help but think it has everything to do with him."

He sighed, "Well, in that case, we're going to need as many guys as we can in North Carolina."

Manny slowly shook his head, "No, I think I'm going to go also."

Miguel looked at him, "Are you serious? Manny, I don't think that's such a good idea. We need to be here, working, all of us. You can't be down in North Carolina when Kyle's probably not even a target."

"I know, I know. But I just want to make sure he's alright, and that there's no doubt that he's not going to be affected."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"Hell no. The less he knows, the better."

"That's what you said the last time. Feeling a tad bit of deja vu coming on don't you?" Miguel asked before leaving the office, the red paint running through Manny's head like a bad dream.

-

Brooke groaned, "Are you sure we have to go to class today?" It was the first day of classes, and she was a serious wreck. Of course no stranger could tell just by looking at her with her True religion Jeans and a crisp white Hollister polo shit, her hair scrunched and her make up to perfection. She exaimed Kyle's outfit, which consisted of a black Abercrombie polo shit and khaki shorts. They looked like they were still in high school.

Kyle laughed, "Brooke it's the first day of our freshman year of college, you don't want to skip through your first day. It's not logical, and I know hwo you're just itching to sit through our business management class."

"Haha, you're very funny Boyfriend," she said, watching as Kyle got his backpack ready, her bag already at her feet.

"I know. But look at it this way, the sooner we get through these classes, the sooner we get to see each other," he said, leaning down and capturing her lips.

She glared at him, "Man, I hate it when you do that. It's not fair."

Kyle smirked, "Brooke, I'm just sexy like that. You knew that a long time ago. Now come on, we can probably grab some breakfast." He held his hand out.

"Breakfast?!? Ican't possibly eat now when my stomach is doing flip flops on it's own accord! Babe, I'm so freaking nervous, and all you can think about is eating?" She exclaimed as they walked down to the hall.

"Actually, yes I can," he replied. "There's no reason to be nervous. All you have to do is pay attention and actually learn something. This isn't like high school, so we're all going to have to make adjustments."

"I hate this college life. I wish it was like high school," she moaned.

"Oh whatever," he laughed. "You're just excited about it that's all. Plus we have like three classes together, so it won't be that bad. How many classes do you have with Peyton?"

They got in line for breakfast: sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits with fruit and orange juice. Brooke scrunched her nose, "Kyle, do you have any idea how many calories are in that?"

He shrugged, "Personally, I don't care, but all I know is that it looks good. I don't know why you're concentrating on what's in it anyway, you're not fat."

She rolled her eyes, "Yes, but I will be if I surrender myself to this madness that is college food."

"Hey guys, what's up?" Haley asked as her and nathan made their way over to their circular table.

Kyle pointed at Brooke, "Please make her stop talking about how horrible this food is."

"I was just saying," Brooke trailed, taking a bite out of her biscuit anyways, causing Kyle to roll his eyes and Haley to laugh.

"Yeah? Well it's free so I'm eating it," Kyle said, taking an even bigger bite.

"Hey that does look good. I'm going to go get us some," Nathan said quickly as he got up and made his way over to the line.

"So, how long have you guys been here?"

"Just got here actually. Brooke was whining earlier about how nervous she was, and I was hungry, so we came here."

Brooke smacked his shoulder, "Whatever. Haley, you're nervous too, right?"

"Well actually, I'm pretty excited about it. I mean, it's the first day of our college experience, I don't really think we should be all nervous about it."

"Thanks for the help Hales," Brooke said as Nathan came back to the table.

"So Kyle, you ready for practice first period," Nathan asked, digging into his food.

He shrugged, "Yeah, I guess. But do you really think Coach K is going to be riding us that hard? I mean, we still have a whole day of classes after that."

"I don't know. But our first game is in less than two weeks," Nathan replied.

"Ooh, that's right! Haley, when's the whol try out thing for the cheerleading? Brooke asked anxiously.

Haley rolled her eyes, still wondering how she got pulled in to trying out for collegiate cheerleading, "It's tomorrow afternoon at like 3:30. So don't worry, you still have time."

Brooke sighed in relief, "That's good. God, I can't wait until I get out there and show them..."

Nathan snorted, "Brooke, you do realize that you're not automatically going to become captain right?"

She frowned, "Why the hell not?"

Kyle smirked, "Well, because you're a freshman now, and freshman aren't allowed to become the captain right when they get there. It just doesn't work that way."

Brooke's eyes widened, "So you mean that I'm starting alll the way from the beginning?" It hadn't occurred to her before. Knowing that she was going to be bosses around be someone didn't take to her too well, and frankly it made her wish she was a bit nicer to the lower classmen at THH.

Haley nodded, "Yep, pretty much."

Brooke groaned for the third time that morning, "This is going to suck."

-

He didn't even tell anyone he was leaving. It wasn't like they could possibly understand. Nobody could understand why he was going all the way to North Carolina, to Duke University, to look after someone that probably wasn't in any danger. But they didn't know, they didn't know the half of it, and in no way was Manny plannin on telling them anything.

Going at 95mph, he tried to think of a plausible explanation to explain to Kyle why he was there. Business, just a visit perhaps? He wouldn't buy it, he would want to know what was going on, and just maybe Manny would have to tell him.

He probably wouldn't have been so concerned if Kyle had no called him before. When he first heard of those dreams, he didn't think that much of it. It was only last night, reading that message on the wall, that he started to get worried about it. If Kyle was having these dreams, maybe it concerned him too. It wasn't a guarantee, but he'd rather looked into it.

Manny had no idea where he was going to stay, or even how long he would be gone. He had a duffel bag full of clothes and his truck for the next some odd days or even weeks. He knew his father was going to kill him when he knew that he was out of town without tellling anyone, but Manny shrugged at the thought. They would all get over it, if in fact Kyle was in danger.

He stared at his cell phone, wondering if he should call Kyle and let him know that he was coming down there. At first it seemed like the stupidest idea ever, mainly because he would have to explain to him why. But when he really thought about it, maybe he should in advance; alot can happen in a mere couple of hours, or more like a whole day of driving.

Whatever this was, was bigger than himself, possibly anything else that he had seen in his lifetime. He had to protect the people he cared about, even Kyle and his friends in North Carolina. What exactly he was going to do, he had no idea. But he was oging to be at Duke in a matter of hours, and for now that was all he could do.

The ringing of his cell phone broke out through the quiet silence of the car. He glanced down at it and saw a picture of his cousin, Miguel, flashing on the screen. Miguel was the youngest out of all of them, adnd Manny felt more bonded to him more than anyone. Miguel didn't like to take things too seirously all the time, and he was always the laid back one, who's plans turned out to be the best. Manny thought that out of anyone, Miguel would understand.

"Yeah, man?" Manny said into the phone, like nothing was going on.

"Don't play that shit with me Manny. Where the hell are you?" Miguel demanded, his low voice striking a string of worry in Manny's mind.

He sighed, "I'm on my way to North Carolina."

Miguel laughed sarcastically, "That's real great, Manny, just leave without anybody knowing. Oh, and while I'm talking to you, just do you know someone was seen following Theresa around town."

His heart stopped. Someone was tailing his stser, which was under no circumstances, good. "What? What happened? Is she alright?"

"Calm down, she's fine, although we're never letting her out of the house by herself ever again. She noticed a strange man following her, and when she freaked out she came straight home. The dude's gone, but we're still on the lookout for any other person that would tail the family."

"That's good, just make sure that everyone that leaves the house has a guard with them," Manny said, nodding to himself.

"Welre already on that. But it still doesn't take away whatever you're doing. Manny, why did you even leave? I thought you said that you were going to send guards down to North Carolina."

"I was, that was the plan. I wasn't planning on telling you, but I guess I might as well. Look, Kyle's been having these dreams this summer about something bad happened, like mob related. And now with this whole threatening message thing, it all connects, man. I'm not sure if that's really what it is though, but I'd rather be down here and watch him and his friends."

"But Kyle's not involved in it anymore, Manny. Plus, even if Kyle's dreams to protain to the message, what makes you think that they're going to come after Kyle? For all we know, nobody knows about him."

"Miguel who are you trying to kid? Of course they know about Kyle, and maybe that's the point, they don't think we think that Kyle's going to be in any danger. So I'm just going to go down there for a couple of days and make sure everything's in check. Then I'll head back up there and figure out who this person is."

"Okay, now if that was all you were planning on doing, why jus tall of a sudden leave without telling anyone?"

"I don't really know. This seemedl ike something that no one would believe, I guess. I didn't really want to be telling everybody what I was doing. You can never get away without explaining in our family."

"Well, I believe you, why not let someone else know, like Uncle Leo or Tony?"

Manny rolled his eyes, "Yeah, Miguel, like Tony's going to believe anything I say. But in all truth, I'm glad that you know what I'm talking about, it's just that I don't want to attract too much attention that I'm done. Other people will start wondering too."

"So what do you expect me to do? Just act like I have no idea that you're driving south to Duke to protect Kyle?" Miguel asked.

Manny smirked, "Actually, that's exactly what I expect you to do. You're a good liar, they'll surely believe you."

"You know, you really owe me when your ass gets back up here," Miguel said. "I'm way too good to be using my talents on you."

"Whatever. This will all work out in the end, and if it turns out that I"m wrong, that Kyle really isn't in trouble, then we'll drop it and move on with the situation--"

"But something tells you that you're right, that there's something to worry about in this case?" Miguel asked, completely voicing what Manny had been thinking.

He sighed, "In a way, yes. I don't know if it's because of his dreams, but I can't shake this feeling that there's more to this than just someone that wants to mess with us. I think they want to take down all of us."

"Then I guess all I can say is good luck with that. I won't tell anybody where you are if you promise to call and let me know what's going on down there," Miguel said warniingly.

"I cant live with that, and I promise," Manny said, passing the sign that read 'Welcome to Tree Hill.'

"and just so you know, your phone is never going to stop rining, man," Miguel said. "God, everyone is going to think that you're dead, lying a ditch somewhere."

Manny winced, "Yeah, that's occurred to me once of twice, but if it gets that bad, you need to call me so I can calm them down or something. But I'm still not saying a word at where I'm at."

"Alright fine. I'm at the hardware store right now trying to figure out who exactly bought that paint can. All I can figure out is that whoever bought it purchased it at 10:43 p.m. about four days ago."

"There's nothing else?" Manny asked, his stomach dropping. If they couldn't figure out the source of the paint can, then all hope of finding out who did this was lost.

"Not right now, but what the hell do I know, I just got here. I'll keep browsing around, maybe hit up some of the other family's restaurants or something, see if they know anything about it," Miguel said.

"You can do that, but you better watch your ass, Miguel. We can't have you asking the wrong people and then ending up in the hospital."

"Ahh whatever. Alright man, I'll talk to you later, keep my updated."

"I will," Manny said before hanging up and setting his phone back in the cup holder.

So maybe this was going to be harder than he thought. What with Miguel now knowing where he was, and the whole family at their wits about his current location, it would be impossible to be able to keep a steady eye of Kyle. His famiyl would think he was dead, which meant that they would potentially be asking Kyle if he knew anything, which of course meant that he would have to go 100 mph to Duke, so that maybe he could run interference.

His foot pressing on the gas even harder, Manny ran a hand over his face. At this point, he didn't know what he was getting himself into.

-

There was no other way to start off the first day of college than to have it pouring like there was no tomorrow. Originally, the day had looked to be beautiful, with a cool breeze. But that was out of the question as Kyle stared out the window in his Business Management class, aching to be in his dorm room, not having to listen to Professor Matthews go on and on about charts and presentations.

Things had been going pretty well up until this class. Turned out coach K didn't ride his platers hard when it came to regular class days, it was the weekends where he would work out to a pulp. His other classes turned out to be alright, seeing as he had his friends in basically all of them. The only person that he sort of knew in this class was this guy named Shawn, who played guard on the basketball team.

If he wasn't having such a grand time, he could only imagine how Brooke was doing in her class, Computer Programming. Now Kyle wasn't exactly syre if she was liking it or not, but from the ten firty text messages she had sent him since the beginning of class, he could only imagine she was taking a liking to it at all. Kyle dind't want to be a bad inflience, so he had only replied to her textes a couple of times, hoping that meybe she would get the hint and actually concentrate, even though he found that highly unlikely.

Staring at the clock, he had only ten more minutes until the bell rang, and he was done with his first day. After he was planning on dedicating the rest of his evening to hanging out with his girlfriend. The lie and secrets he was keeping can't have been good for him to hide from Brooke, she didn't deserve that. But he just couldn't.

He had heard from nathan that Rachel had planted the seed in Brooke's head that he wanted to sleep with her, which was the reason he was being so mean. that was far from the truth. In all honesty, him and Brooke weren't even stable enough to have sex, hell, he couldn't even discuss his feeling with her. Kyle and Brooke had just started becoming a couple after so long of just thinking of each other as friends.

But when it all came down to it, he loved her undoubtedly more than he thought possible. Maybe he didn't show it, but he did. There was alot he would have to work on concerning their means of communication. He had seen first hand that trying to make things work was hard, that it was going to take alot of time. Kyle was willing to use as much time as he would, without wanring anyway.

There was a possibility that maybe he was just doing this for absolution, to excuse his lies that he was telling anf keeping away. But he felt like he had a chance to make things right without anybody knowing he was doing wrong. Maybe it wa sbetter that it stayed that way.

He sighed in relief as the bell rang, capping his pen and slinging his backpack over his shoulder, wanting to get out of there as fast as he could. If he remembered correctly, Brooke's class was just a few doors down from his, and he was pretty sure she was taking her sweet time adjusting her outfit and fixing her hait correctly before walking out of class.

"Wow, for someone that wasn't feeling this class, you left pretty late," he said, leaniing against the wall as she came out.

She sighed dramatically, "Oh you know me, i just love learning about making spradsheets and presentations. Like I'm really going to be usign that when I become famous."

He laughed, "Who knows, you just might have to. So, tell me, how bad was it?"

"So boring with a capital B. Like all the dude was talking about is what we'll be learning, and then he went into talking about how to actually use a computer, which is completely retarded since he's teaching college freshman, of course they know how to turn their computer on. Then there was this little speech that he made, talking about himself, and for some off reason I have no idea what he was talking about," she rambled on.

"So I'm guessing you don't even remember his name, right?" he asked shortly as they left the hall and entered the breeze way, the rain threatning to splash them if they didn't move farther away.

"Honestly? Nom and I don't really think it matters anyway. Oh gosh, why did it have to rain on this day??" she groaned, her notebook serving as her shield.

"I don't know, but at least the day if over and stuff, you know?" he asked, shaking the rain out of his hair.

"Hmm, maybe, but personally, I think it's a sign," she replied, readjusting her shirt, acting like she had said nothing peculiar, even thogh Kyle never expected Brooke to say anything normal.

"A sign?" he raised his eyebrows. "A sign for what?"

"That is was a huge mistake for us to even attend classes today," she answered simply. "I mean, come on, has this day turned out ot be all you had hoped for from Duke? Hell no. So the excessive rian and the ruined Jimmy Choos sttest for the fact that today was just not a good day to get out of bed."

He shook his head, "Maybe you're right. But we did get out of bed, and we did go to class. SO there's really nothing we can do to change that now. This was just the first day Brooke, it's not going to be like this for your whole college life."

She nodded, "I know, ti's just kind of weird being in college no. I feel like I'm still stuck in high school mode or something."

Kyle nodded undetstandably, but Brooke knew what he meant. He meant to just give it a couple of weeks, and then she would most likely be adjusting and actually liking college. she knew in a matter of time he would be right, which was probably why he hadn't even bothered to say it. They continued to walk towards their dorm rooms, basking in a confortable weird silence, the tappong of the rain the only sound.

The last actualy conversation they had together, Kyle was lying to her face, saying that nothing was bothering him, that he was just nervous about college. he couldn't even remember the last time he told her he loved her, nor could he remmeber the last time they had an honest conversation. Was he folling himself? It had been hard pining after Brooke, then giving up, and then just when he was about to give up, he fought for her again. He dind't want to fo through all those notions again, nor did he want her to feel that he dind't appreciate her.

"You know that I'm sorry, right?" he asked finally, breaking the silence and tension that had been in the air for nearly five minutes.

She looked at him in confusion, "Sorry for what?"

He shrugged, looking into the courtyard, "I don't know, everything I guess. I know I haven't exactly been the best person to be around, and that's my fault. I've been trying to deal with my own problems, my own fears and stuff that I kidn of let out on you guys, when I probably shouldn't have been dealing with them on my own in the first place."

Brooke nodded, "I know it's hard to let people in, hell, it took me basically my whole life. But that was because I didn't have anybody there for me, except you and Peyton. But you have so many people that want to help you, and listen to you, because God knows you have listened to them."

"I know that now, but it doesn't mean that I didn't know it back then either. I just didn't want to have to explain myself for the things that I feel or do, it's just always been that way. But I promised you that I would let you in, and I'm going to from now on."

"Good, because I want to be able to help you."

"Good, because I might be needing it. You also know that I love you, right?"

She looked up at the sky jokingly, "Hmm I don't know. I guess I do, but it's not like I've heard it very recently."

He grinned at her, "Okay, well Brooke Penelope Davis, I love you with all my heart, so I'm telling you right now, and I'll tell you many more times, because I know there will be days when I don't know it, but I do."

"That's good to know, becaues I need to hear that to know that it's true," she said quietly.

He stopped her, "It's true, and I'll tell you every single day if I have to, I want you to know hwo happy you've made me, and how much you taught me without even knowing it."

She blinked while smiling, "I really hate it when you do that. I swear one of these days you're going to make me cry."

He laughed, swinging an arm around her, "Oh yeah? Well please don't, I don't think it would give me a great feeling to know you cried because of something sentimental I said."

She turned and faced him, "That's because you don't need to, you saved me, you loved me, that's all I ever wanted from anybody, and I got it from you. So you really don't owe me anything."

He groaned, "Will you please stop saying that? I never did anything for you, except maybe cause you pain and hurt you. you don't owe ne anything. I owe you everything."

Brooke looked at him, "Alright, you owe me? You want to do something for me?"

He nodded, "Anything."

She smiled, "Other than what you have already done, all you can do from this point is love me. Love me, and that will make it even. Deal?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Deal. Even though I don't think it would be a problem. Don't worry, I'll have no problem coming through, because honestly i think I could keep that promise forever."

Brooke inhaled in happiness, "Good. So now that we got that covered, I don't have homework. What do we do?"

Kyle smirked, "I'm pretty sure I could think of a few things."

-

Alright, so maybe it wasn't such a good idea to tap into the Duke database on his laptop from inside his car, the rain pouring like a freaking rainfall, and maybe it wasn't such a good idea to find out Kyle's dorm room number and sneak in, and maybe it wasn't a good idea for him to be pacing the well sized room, not even bothering to let Kyle know that he was within twenty feet of him, and not even knowing it.

How was he going to explain this one? 'Hey Kyle, I was around the area and thought I'd stop by??' Not exactly the approach Manny was looking for. So far he had gotten quite a few missed calls and voicemails from his family. he knwe he was going to have to talk to them eventually. Miguel was right, he couldn't have gotten away with this and not have anyone looking for him.

He surveyed the room, quite impressed for a college dorm room. A set of windows were stationed next to the couch, about ten feet away. manny stared at it, in his head trying to calculate the distance. Maybe he could secretly have some guys install a set of bullet proof windows or something.

Manny began pacing even faster, wanting to kick himself in the head to even be thinking about that. he tried to convince himself that Kyle wasn't in danger, and maybe he wasn't. So why was he here? He had no idea. But Manny had learned from first hand experience that if you have a bad feeling about something, you sure as hell better look into it, instead of brushing it off your shoulder. Because if you didn't, someone could end up dead.

He checked his watch, which read 5:55. From what he skidded over when he was in the Duke database, classes ended at 5:30, so where the hell was Kyle? It wasn't like it took a whole half house to get across campus, but who knows, he could've been with Brooke.

Manny wondered if this whole dream thing had an effect on their relationship. Manny hadn't formally met Brooke, but from what he had heard, Kyle was so crazy about her. If he knew one thing, if it turned out to be something serious, it would sure as hell do something to their relationship.

Then he heard his phone ringing, for probably the fiftieth time that day. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the caller ID: Miguel. He sighed to himself. Answer, or no answer? it could've been something important, maybe a lead on the paint can, or maybe it wasn't Miguel. It could've been Tony who had just jacked Miguel's phone when he wasn't paying attention. He was willing to take the chance.

"Hello?" he said calmly into the phone, his heart doing flip flops.

"Damn't Manny, your owe me so much when your ass gets back here," Miguel hissed.

Manny sighed in relief, "I thought it was probably someone else. Yeah, I know Miguel, I owe you big time, you don't have to remind me. So, what's all going on up there?"

"Don't even get me started. Well besides the fact that I can't find one damn person that purchased that freaking paintcan, everybody's going crazy at home, trying to figure out where you are. At first they thought you were abducted or something, but they got that idea out of their head quickly. Natalie suggested you were dead, but I paid her ten bucks to stop saying that. Your mom has been going psycho bitch of everybody. And on top of that, Uncle Leo is like, an inch away from murdering somebody. It was bad enough Tony got onto the Delacruz family, so now we're so close to conflict with some other family too."

"Wait, wait, wait. So you mean to tell me that Tony's now starting trouble with Delacruz? Why in the hell would he do that? They're the ones that let us know about the shipment in the first place. Not to mention they're out allies."

"That's exactly what I said, but they have no fucking idea where you are, Manny. Honestly, I think that you should maybe call and let everyone know you're okay," Miguel said.

"Man, I was hoping I could've went more than a day without them going crazy," he said uneasily. once again, he was stuck with the decision of how he was going to explain this.

"Looks like you're going to have trouble with that. Do me a favor and call them later on tonight, or tomorrow morning. I don't know how much longer they're going to wait for you before they start looking."

Manny nodded, "Alright, I know what you're saying. I'm at Kyle's dorm room right now, waiting for him to get in. After I talk to him and stuff I'll see about calling my dad and letting him know I'm fine."

"Okay, man. Let me know how that does," Miguel laughed.

"Whatever man. Bye," he hung up and sighed. Just as he was putting his phone back in his pocket, he heard two sets of footsteps get closed and closer, and from the way it sounded, whoever that was needed to get a room. He heard raspy giggles and click clacking of heels, and Manny had an awkward feeling arising.

He stared straight at the door, waiting for Kyle to come through with Brooke. He smirked, finding it immensely embarassing for the couple that they were basically having sex standing up, straight entertaining for him. That was certainly a way to take the tention off of why he was here.

The door swung open to reveal Kyle and Brooke giggling hysterically, only having eyes for each other. Both of their shirts were already off, with Brooke's pants already unbuttoned. They sure didn't waste any time. In a way Manny felt proud, Giovanni men were known for their suave attitude towards women, and it amazed some people as to exactly how short a time it took them to completely woo a lady into bed before the night was over.

Manny looked at both of them innocently, a smirk and look of amusement all over his face.

Kyle looked up briefly to turn on the light, to see it already turned on. He snapped his head in Manny's direction, a look of shock and confusion. Brooke stood there, looking so lost, like it was something she would never be able to understand.

"Hey Kyle," Manny said simply, taking in the sight of his cousin and girlfriend.

Kyle gulped, "Umm, hey Manny. Well, isn't this a surprise? What are you doing here anyway?"

Manny shrugged, "Oh well you know, I was around the area and thought I'd stop by and catch up. It's been awhile."

Kyle saw right through it. It was something, and he wasn't exactly sure what it was yet, but he intended to find out before the day was over. Brooke continued to stand next to him, oblivious as to what was going on.

"Oh sorry. Brooke this is my cousin Manny. Manny, Brooke," Kyle said, gesturing towards the two of them, rubbing the back of his neck.

Manny smiled and shook her head, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard so many nice things about you."

Brooke raised an eyebrow, "Really? What kinds of things?"

Kyle laughed, "Is that really necessary?"

Brooke shrugged her shoulders, "Not really, but I'm going to find out anyway. I'll leave you two alone to catch up. Manny, nice meeting you. Kyle, I'll see you later." She nodded her head and smiled before leaving. The door didn't even shut before Manny was laughing.

"Well, that was awkward."

Kyle groaned, "Yeah well I didn't know your ass was going to be here in the first place. How'd you find out where my dorm was anyway?"

"You should know by now that I can hack into any database imaginable," Manny said coolly, his hands in his pockets.

"Alright, if that's what you're going with these days," Kyle said, getting two Cokes from the refrigerator.

"So, when's Lucas supposed to get back?" Manny asked, wanting to have as much time as possible with Kyle before being interrupted by someone who didn't need to know.

"Well he usually spends the afternoons over at Nathan and Haley's apartment. I think it's a little bit weird still seeing me and Brooke together and all," he explained, throwing a Coke over to Manny.

"I would feel weird too if I had to walk in on that after a grueling day of classes," he smirked.

"Dude will you shut up about it? Now, what is it that you're really here for, and don't even give me that crap about how you were around the area," Kyle said seriously.

Manny sighed, "Alright, but before I start explaining, I want you to know that I'm not one hundred percent sure about my suspicions, so just like, don't freak out right when I tell you."

Kyle nodded, "Okay, you got it, now explain."

Manny sat down, "Okay, well you remember last month when you told me about those dreams that you're having?"

"Yeah, I remember. you said that there were no problems going on."

He sighed, "Yeah I know, and there wasn't at the time. But something happened. It's not that bad, but someone broke into the house earlier today. They left a threat message in one of the offices. Miguel called me earlier and let me know that someone was failing Theresa around town, which makes it that much fishier."

"Okay, so what does this have to do with you being down here, though?"

"When I walked into that office and saw that message written on the mall, the first thing that popped into my mind was your phone call," Manny said, crossing his arms. "I'm not going to lie to you Kyle. But if this is what I think it is, then whoever left the threat message at the house somehow transgressed to the dreams you've been having."

Kyle stared at the nutrition facts at the back of his Coke can, suddenly losing his thirst for the highly carbonated beverage. This wasn't supposed to happen."

"But, it can't really be that serious, right? I mean, do people even know about me?"

"Kyle, everything is serious, which is exactly why didn't you want you in it in the first place. So far no word has gotten out about you, but it doesn't mean that nobody knows."

"Alright, so it's just you here?" he asked.

"Yeah, see that's kind of the problem," Manny grimaced. "The family doesn't really know I'm here, except for Miguel. In the beginning I was planning on having some guards here watch you for the time being. But the more I thought about it, it seemed better for me to be here since only me and you know about your dreams."

"So you just got up and drove all the way over here, not letting anyone except Miguel know where you were? I bet everyone's dying in Boston."

Manny shrugged, "Yeah, things started getting a little bit serious back home, so I'm going to have to call them tonight and let them know that I'm right."

"This is way too much to hear right now," Kyle groaned, rubbing his temples.

Manny frowned, "Listen, I'm sorry to spring this on you, but I'm just going to be here for a couple of weeks, see if anything happens. After that I'll be out of your hair, and it's like nothing ever happened."

The next five minutes wore on heavily. They both stared out into space, wondering if it really was just a precaution, rather be safe than sorry. Or it was something way bigger than themselves, that any day now, their lives could be taken from them. kyle was way too young to be thinking like this, and Manny was too serious to be thinking anything less.

Kyle shook his head, "It's never really over, is it?" All Manny could do was look at him.