A/n: No copyright infringement intended.

Brown eyes looked back at a reflection in the mirror. He was a series of things in his young life. Though his accomplishments could not be things documented and shared in a textbook, he had done a lot. More than anyone he grew up with could say they did. He had more money than he knew what to do with. He had everything but –

He didn't have her.

His doorbell rang and he splashed cold water on his face. He wouldn't say it to anyone he knew nor could they see him like that – tears stains on his chocolate cheeks. Franklin in his sweatpants and a t-shirt ran upstairs to answer the front door. It was Lamar.

And Trevor.

"Yo, what the fuck are you doing here?" He snapped. He was still angry about the texts Trevor sent him earlier in the day.

"Hey, hey. That's no way to talk to your running buddy." Trevor held his hands up over in defense. "Lamar told me you were down and asked that I come and help cheer you up."

"You what -?!"

"It ain't like that. Crazy dude saw me in the liquor store nearby. Harassed me until I told him what I was up to and followed me over here. I swear." Lamar held up bags from his trip to the store. "I bought wine since you all "fly" now and don't drink 40's no more."

Franklin sighed. He already lost the battle when he opened the door. "Whatever fool. Y'all come on in." Franklin held the door open gesturing for them to enter.

Trevor and Lamar followed Franklin into his home and quickly took their shoes off when smelling lemon wood cleaner in the air. It seemed he had a cleaning service stop by. They were criminals, but polite enough – at least to their friend.

"So, what's wrong F?" Trevor said and walked over to Franklin's luxury sofa. "Why the long face?"

"Why are you here?" Franklin said from in the kitchen. He pulled out stem less wine glasses from the cupboards and grabbed the wine opener off the counter. "Shouldn't you be with your lady friend? You know, if she does in fact exist." Franklin snapped.

"Hey – I thought you believed me." Trevor threw his arms over the back of the sofa and placed his feet on the coffee table. Lamar who was ready to set the wine down quickly took it back up, seeing Trevor's less than visually pleasing feet. He twisted his lips in disgust.

"How can I when you haven't told us her name." Franklin sat beside Trevor ready to put the glasses on the table, but took hint from Lamar's face that it wasn't the best thing to do. He nodded and had Lamar follow him back to the kitchen so they could safely pour out the wine, feet free.

"I don't know her name. Don't need to. Our connection is spiritual." Trevor said with a smirk.

"Dude, the only connection you sound like you got is your dick to her pussy." Lamar commented. Trevor nodded proudly from the sofa.

"That too." From where Franklin and Lamar stood he seemed to be gloating. "Now what is your problem?" Trevor asked again. "Come on. Let Uncle T help you out."

"Did you tell this clown anything?" Franklin glared at Lamar. The tall male stepped back feeling the burn from his friend's piercing stare.

"Nah. All I said was you sounded down."

The doorbell rang again and the two young men looked at each other in confusion. "You invited other people?"

"That would be the reinforcement." Trevor got off the sofa and headed to the door. Franklin walked over to stop him but was too late. Michael ran in looking around frantically.

"Mike?" Franklin asked.

"Franklin!" Michael turned around and glared at Trevor who was pointing to the floor.

"There's a no shoe policy in this house Mikey. Franklin just got his floors cleaned."

"You said Franklin was in trouble, you bastard." Michael walked up to Trevor, rolling up his sleeves ready to tango. Certainly not in the romantic way to win Trevor's affections.

"He is. Ask Lamar over there." Michael turned around and saw Lamar who shrugged. Lamar shook his head in a way that made it clear Trevor was the trouble maker for the night and him, a victim, like the rest of them.

"No need. Just – what's going on?"

"Franklin, your daddies are here to help. Let us heal your wounds." Trevor opened his arms for embrace.

"Hold up. Man, was this shit planned? The three of you clowns at my house. Uninvited. The fuck is going on!?" Franklin had enough. He was fuming with his nostrils flared. He glared at each and every one of the men who stood around him.

"The way it look to me, it's kinda like an interracial homosexual intervention. Especially with crazy dude here."

"Now, that's mean." Trevor placed a firm hand on Michael's shoulder. "Don't insult the gays and their sexual preference by counting pork chop here as one of them."

"You mother fu-"

"Yo, you old bitches need to stop bitchin!" Lamar yelled to the two of them.

"Can you dumbasses get the fuck out of my house?! Please! I just want to be left alone!" Franklin shouted and stomped back to his kitchen catching the attention of his buddies.

"Alright, we'll go, but at least tell us what's wrong." Michael said. He removed Trevor's hand from his shoulder and approached Franklin who sat at the counter with his head down. Michael pulled up a seat next to Franklin and touched the younger man's shoulder. "Hey – no matter what it is. You can tell us. We're here to help."

"It's Tanisha." He muttered.

Trevor and Lamar made their way to the counter. They stood to the side. Trevor by Michael's side. Lamar by Franklin's.

"Who's Tanisha?" Trevor asked.

"Frank's ex-girl. We knew her from way back." Lamar told him.

"Right." Trevor nodded.

"What happened with Tanisha, Franklin?" Michael asked. His tone softened. Though Franklin had become his equal, he still viewed him like a young man in need of a father. He tried not to reveal his hidden feelings about it, when seeing Franklin looking more broken than he had ever seen him before, it ripped his heart in two.

"I wanted to try and win her back." Franklin said. His voice trembled as he hid his face with his arms while laying his head to counter. He could hear the cracking of his words for his felt knots in his throat while fighting on coming tears.

"That should be no problem, kid. You're great." Trevor chimed. He couldn't understand the issue from what was going on.

"Nah, she's married dude." Lamar told him. Trevor's eyes widened and he looked away.

"Oh…" In that regard he could empathize. More than he liked to admit. He immediately thought of Patricia and began to feel incredibly sorry Franklin.

"Well – if you can, tell us what happened." Michael didn't want to force anything that would upset Franklin more. Though he did want to hear what took place, he didn't want to if it brought his pseudo-son pain.

"Alright. Alright. I'll tell you." Franklin brought his head up and took deep breaths. His eyes were glossy and his nose, slightly wet with snot. Lamar handed him a sheet of paper towel. Franklin blew his nose loudly. He looked around, saw the group of men who showed to always be there for him in every occasion and was touched.

Trevor walked over to the bottle of wine and handed the whole thing to Franklin. "Down it and then tell us what happened. It'll make it better to listen to." He handed Michael and Lamar the glasses of wine already poured out. He opened another bottle and took it to the head. The three men observed carefully as he chugged the whole bottle without pause. They then followed suit – downing their own serving without stop.

It was apparent no one warned them wine hangovers were worse than regular hangovers. All that sugar from fermentation…

"Now tell us." Trevor wiped the remnants of the wine from his mouth with the back of his hand. Franklin looked up and met Trevor's eyes.

"I stopped by her house to give her a wedding gift. I bought her a blender. I don't know why I did that."

With thin rays of sunlight from the hour of twilight Franklin stood outside a Vespucci condo that was recently renovated. He breathed carefully and counted to 100 in his head. He had done so for 5 minutes already. Time seemed to slow down with every second he walked closer to her door. Was it the right apartment? Tonya was always doped up on crack, could she have given him the wrong address? Did he even know what he was doing there?

He had no answers to any of the questions. He told himself he wouldn't ring the bell until he did. In place of making any movements he tried to control his breathing and counting to 100.

She opened the door and stared at him. He couldn't even open his mouth.

"Franklin…" She said. Her dark hair was fashioned neatly in a proper bun. She wore red lipstick and had a black dress with matching shoes and clutch. She was dressed to impress.

"He – Hey." He could barely make out.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I uh…" He left the blender in the car. It sat in the passenger seat wrapped in expensive gift paper with a large bow on top. He didn't remember despite it sitting right next to him the entire drive. He couldn't even remember what day it was. "I…" He trailed off again.

"Look, I gotta go. I'm meeting my husban – "

"Can we talk? Please? We don't even talk anymore." He implored. His could feel his knees give in and his body became heavy.

"I have some time. Come on in." She walked back inside the apartment and he followed. He tried counting to 100 but found himself skipping numbers and starting over again.

The apartment was simple. The layout was open and the furniture modern and sleek. There wasn't much to see expect large black and white professional photos hanging on the wall from the wedding. He found himself staring at the image of her in her wedding gown. It was a shot from the back. Her face was turned to the side and her chin rested on her shoulder. The shots were taken on the beach. She had gotten married on the beach. It was her dream to do that.

"Nice place." He said. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He didn't want her to notice they were shaking.

"What do you want Franklin?" She stood before him with arms crossed. She was still like a statue. He was afraid of her without explanation.

"I didn't congratulate you."

"There's no need." She told him.

"I want to. We've known each other for a long time and I know this is what you wanted. I'm happy you got something you wanted."

"Then why are you here?"

"I don't know. Because –"

"Franklin you're wasting your time and mine."

"Yo, would you just let me finish? I'm here to congratulate you but it seems like it was the wrong idea considering how rude you're acting right now."

"Well then you shouldn't have come!" She shouted.

Franklin found himself angry. He was trying to get closure. Make peace. He didn't want strife. He loved her too long to hate her for wanting good things for herself. Even if the good things didn't include him. He loved her too long to wish her bad things. He wanted to be upset enough to feel that way but he couldn't. He loved her too much still, and couldn't.

"I'm out. I'll just keep out of your way." He turned to exit and then felt arms wrap around his stomach. Again he couldn't breathe. This time he forgot how to count to 100.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled." Tanisha pressed her face into his back. He felt tears through his thin shirt. Franklin found himself fighting his own tears.

"I still love you. I won't do anything – I won't try and mess your life up. I just wanted to tell you I still love you and that I won't stop loving you. No matter where you are or who you're with." There. He said it. Though he expected a feeling of liberation from the shackles that was his broken heart he couldn't seem to break free from the pain of letting her go.

He pulled her arms from around him and faced her. Using his thumb, his removed tears that ran down her cheeks. She held his hand to her face as she cried more. Yes she denied him time and time again. Yes she had resisted. Yes she was married to someone else and yes she loved him.

But she loved Franklin too.

Though she never said it to herself or anyone, she loved him too. And she was mad at herself for hurting him so many times. She was mad at herself for everything.

Franklin brought his face to hers and they stared into each other's eyes. His brown eyes hazed with nostalgia from their days of young. Their lips quivered, only centimeters apart. She leaned in slightly and it happened one more time.

They kissed.

Their lips touched each other lightly and a slight feeling of euphoric tones had taken over Franklin. He wasn't a home wrecker. He wasn't a theft of this kind. Though he loved and longed for Tanisha he knew he already lost her. With this kiss he bid her farewell one last time. He wouldn't seek her out again. He wouldn't try to.

When they parted he stared at her. Her makeup, ruined. He removed one more tear from her cheek, kissing it away. Franklin smiled weakly and whispered to her. "I will always love you." He let go the woman and disappeared from the apartment.

Tanisha stood there with her tears, sobbed loudly and then sank to the floor. She covered her mouth with her hands and to no one's knowledge but hers she had on any of her fingers no wedding ring.