A/N: Amber, Brady and Julia Crockett are Cry-Of-A-Warp-Engine's characters.
Miami Beach Senior High...
Weeks had passed since the chaos that left Esteban Calderone dead… and the changes were noticeable.
Miguel looked up at his 14 year old sister Alison, who picked at her spaghetti while both ate lunch in the school cafeteria… and now he had decided to ask why she was barely talking and trying to pretend she was okay.
"Ali? You're not okay, are you?" Miguel asks.
"I don't think any of us will ever be okay." Ali says quietly, Miguel carefully wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Ali flinched, Miguel knowing that it had been instinctive to being touched without warning after being attacked.
Lunch ended and Ali wasn't looking forward to her last two classes… but instead of finding Jake Ballard, she found a boy about her age and nearly twice Jake's size… and he looked eerily similar to Billy Crockett.
"Hi… you new here?" Ali asks.
"Yeah, something along those lines." The boy says, his voice reminding Ali of someone, it just rang bells somewhere in her memory.
"Well… welcome to Miami. I'm Ali… Ali Castillo." Ali says, extending her right hand cautiously as she thought he might pull it off by accident.
"Hey, it's alright, I'm a gentle giant. Brady Crockett." The boy says.
"Nice to meet you." Ali says as they briefly shook hands, Brady noticing a faded scar on Ali's arm.
"What happened there?" Brady asks as they sit down.
"Got pulled off the monkey bars when I was 7… a former friend wanted to play basketball but I wanted to keep playing on the bars, he pulled my right leg too hard, I slipped… and smashed up my arm in two places." Ali says, Brady cringing in sympathy.
The two talked for a bit… and then Brady noticed Ali tense up slightly when Jake walked in, Jake looking down. But Jake's friend Todd had other ideas and grabbed the football from his backpack, throwing it at Ali's head… and Brady catching it in time and standing up, facing the other boys.
"Hello to you too. Is there gonna be a problem here?" Brady says, throwing the ball just above his head and catching it a few times.
"Stay outta this!" Todd snapped.
"If you insist." Brady says, slowly walking over to Todd and holding the ball out to him, Todd going to grab it… but at the last second, Brady bounced the ball hard off of Todd's face, grabbing him by his shirt and swinging him around, pinning him down on the nearby desk. "As I said, is there gonna be a problem here, pal?!" He growls.
"N… No… can you let me go please?" Todd says shakily.
"Good." Brady says, putting Todd back on his feet. "Now… leave that girl alone or we'll have another… encounter." He says, letting go of Todd's shirt.
Todd and Jake bolted out of the classroom and stopped when they were in the east hallway.
"What… is the deal with that guy?" Todd asks.
"Guess he didn't like you trying to harm Ali." Jake says.
Back in the classroom, Brady sat down next to Ali, who was trying not to laugh.
"Go on, I know you want to." Brady says with a smile.
Ali let her laughter out, Brady laughing too.
"Damn, I don't think I ever seen them run off so fast!" Ali says.
"I've fought way tougher assholes. If he's got any sense, he'll keep his distance. If not… I'm pretty sure there's no CCTV behind the bike shed." Brady says.
Miami Dade Police Department…
"Damn Ramirez… I have half a mind to put him on suspension." Martin mutters, sifting through the paperwork that had been written up wrong… and unaware that his old friend Sonny was in the doorway.
"Sounds like some things never change." Sonny says, Martin freezing for a moment after hearing the voice before looking up.
"I'll be damned… it's great to see you again, Sonny." Martin says before standing up, him and Sonny hugging… and after letting go, Sonny saw a recent picture of Ali on Martin's desk and smiled.
"She's really growing up… how are Gina and the kids nowadays?" Sonny says.
"It's… been rough, Sonny. That picture was taken at Ali's 14th birthday and about two months after, she was attacked. Her friend Ryan Rivera intervened before it got too far but the attacker didn't stop after that night." Martin says, Sonny looking at him.
"That's just… damn it, that's way too similar…" Sonny says.
"Sonny? Way too similar to what?" Martin asks. Sonny walked over to the computer and brought up a page, Martin surprised when he entered in access codes to the Alaskan police database, typing in Amber Crockett before clicking on the name as it came up, scrolling down to a part of the file added about 9 months ago. "Your daughter… was it the same guy?" He asks.
"It was three guys and they only caught one, turned out to be nothing more than the guy who owned their car and the revolver which…" Sonny says, finishing by pointing to a part of the file, which Martin read… Amber hadn't just been attacked, she'd been shot twice in her chest, one bullet shattering ribs and the other tearing open an artery. "She lost a hell of a lot of blood… they had to bring her back three times with defibrillators, first when they got there and twice in the ambulance." He says.
"That is similar… Ali had been shot in the leg but it didn't stop her from shooting Calderone in the back of the head as he turned to kill Miguel." Martin says, Gina walking into the office… and her and Sonny hugging.
"I missed you." Gina whispers as tears filled up her eyes.
"I missed you too, darlin." Sonny says.