A pair of dark brown eyes slowly open, but remain hazed over. They stare at the dark blue ceiling, blinking to clear their vision so that they may see a round orb placed in the center. Then they look to the side. A very small, pale hand was holding their owner's own, tightly. The eyes blink again, squinting at the small figure before them.

It is a girl.

The boy was laying in someone else's bed, in someone else's room, with someone he's never met before at his bedside. When suddenly, the memories of a girl coming to his aid came back to him. They were a blur from him being so injured.

'Did she... Save me?' He wondered to himself, turning and gazing at her slightly curly locks in the darkness of Robin's room. His head turned back to some noises behind the room's door.

Voices.

A hand slowly turned the doorknob and flicked the light on. The boy squints from the sudden light in the room. It turns down to a low, warm light, probably from a switch that allows you to adjust the brightness.

"She's fallen asleep in here again." Robin steps to the side so that he won't block his mother's view of the two. She walks in slowly then notices the boy's eyes are open.

"Oh my goodness...!" Dauna walks slightly faster to the boy's other side and kneels down. "You're finally awake! I'm so glad... How are you feeling?" She purposely keeps her voice low so that she won't wake up Amilia.

"Who... Who are you...?" The raven haired boy's voice cracks from its lack of use.

"Don't worry about that right now." Robin approaches him, pulling out a chair from his desk to his sister's side and leaning over in it. "How are you feeling? Are you in pain anywhere?"

The boy turned to Robin and blinked tiredly. "Only a bit..." He turns again to Amilia's red, slightly curly locks, then touches his free hand to the bandage on his forehead. "Did she do this...?"

"I did." Robin stats, folding his hands together and resting his elbows on his knees. "But I bet you she would have done it if she had the strength too."

"W-what...?" The boy squints in confusion.

"We'll explain later. Can you sit up?" Daune reaches her hands out to him as a signal for any necessary help.

"Yeah." The boy slowly sits himself up, grunting only a little from the pain throughout his body. Robin eyes him, using his abilities as an introvert to see the true pain he's experiencing, but doesn't say anything.

"When you feel like you can get out of bed, I'll show you to the shower and lend you some clothes. Chances are, you won't be getting back the clothes you were wearing when you first got here. They're completely brown now from dry blood." Robin's eyebrow twitches thinking about it.

"I can go now-" He feels Amilia's hand squeeze his own. A small sentence escapes her lips, and only he catches the words that leave her mouth.

"Please... Make him better..." It sounded like a silent prayer. The boy smirks as he slowly takes her hand off of his. He replaces it with a small pillow, like people often do in cartoons or movies. Amilia holds onto it and the boy swings his legs over the bedside, slowly standing up. Dauna stands in front of him just in case he falls over.

Robin bends down and hands the raven haired boy a grey v-neck sweater and a pair of black sweat pants. "The shower is down the hall to the right of my room. Towels are in the closet in the bathroom. Go get yourself cleaned up."

The latino boy shakes his head, "I'm fine. I will just leave..."

Dauna steps to block Robin's doorway. "Stay a while; I insist. Go clean up and afterwards, come down and we'll all have a nice dinner. You need some food so you get enough nutrition to heal." She smiles at the boy, hoping she was convincing.

Glancing between Dauna and Robin, the boy considers their proposal. He glances back at Amilia and sighs. "Alright... I guess I'll stay." His eyes drop to stare at the ground, not wanting to get guilted into anything else.

"Great! Now, go get cleaned up!" Dauna steps aside to allow the boy to pass. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Keith." His statement is quick and dismissive as he quickly exits the room.

Robin and Dauna look at each other, somewhat puzzled at his abrupt reply. Dauna puts a hand to her mouth in pity for the boy.

"Let's go downstairs. You need to finish dinner right?" Robin began to stride out of his room.

Dauna pauses for a split second, then squeaks in surprise. "Oh no! I forgot to take the muffins out of the oven!" She runs down the stairs and in the kitchen, Robin slowly following behind her. "Goodness, talking to that boy made me completely forget about it!" She turns the knob off on the oven and pulls the muffins out slowly.

Keith turns on the shower, pulling off his new clothing. He stands under the warm water, allowing it to run over him and cleanse his skin. It stings at first, causing him to cringe, but he soon relaxes as he adjusts. He lifts the washcloth from the towel bar in the shower and grabs the bar of soap from the shelf. Slowly, he lathers his skin with the ivory soap. The feeling was a rarity for him, since he was out in the alleys often. The soap burns in his wounds as he picks up the bottle of shampoo. He massages the substance into his scalp. The sensation was also foreign to him. He literally saw the dirt as it was rinsed from his hair; the water becoming almost black. Keith washes off the remainder of the soap and shampoo and steps out of the shower, drying off with towels from the closet. He changes into the clothes he was provided before heading downstairs.

Meanwhile, down in the kitchen, Robin and Dauna are sitting on the stools next to the mini counter in their kitchen, talking about the recent events that happened; both surrounded in pity and confusion.

"- I still can't get the image out of my head... Of when Amilia brought him here. All the blood..." Dauna leans her head on her hand.

"Just be lucky that you weren't the one who had to clean him up." Robin leans forward and puts his hands together. "It looked as if... Someone was trying to kill him..."

"What do you think could have happened..?" Dauna puts a hand on her cheek, trying to hold back tears.

"... I don't know. I think it's better we don't find out... If he wants to talk about it, which I strongly doubt, he will. But, he seems too rock-hearted for something like that. I'm wondering if his real name is even Keith at all."

Keith clears his throat as he enters the kitchen, just overhearing what Robin had said. He sits down quietly at their kitchen table.

The mother quickly looks over at Robin then gets up. "Here, Keith, let me get you something to eat. Would you like a cupcake?" She rushes over and prepares one for him.

"I'm not a fan of confectionaries, but I'll try one." He gives a half smile to Dauna, then looks to Robin for a split second before getting comfortable in his seat.

Robin jumps a little at the quick look Keith gave him, but doesn't change his emotionless expression. He just leans on his arm, taking a cupcake for himself, thinking deeply to himself once again.

"Here you go." Dauna sets down the cupcake and a bowl of chicken soup. "Sorry I didn't make anything better... That's all I could find right now." She sits down in the seat across from Keith.

"Thank you, ma'am." Keith picks up the spoon and begins eating. Dauna blinks in surprise from his previous comment. 'he's very... Polite.' She thinks to herself.

"So Keith, where are you from-" Dauna tries to make small talk, but gets cut off.

"Ma'am, before you know about me, I'd like to ask some questions for myself." Keith looks directly at Dauna. His gaze isn't threatening, but for some reason, it's very calm and polite.

Dauna blinks and nods. "What would you like to know?"

Keith thinks to himself for a moment. "... Who is that girl? The one upstairs."

"That's Amilia. But we call her Ami. She's my daughter."

"Your daughter..." Keith pauses for a moment. "What happened when I was out...?"

Daun stops and looks at Robin, then puts her hands together and smiles to herself. "two days ago, I was outside taking out the garbage in the rain. Amilia walked through the front gate with you on her back. She was drenched and covered in blood, in her school uniform. I was wondering what she was doing here since she lived at the school's campus. The walking distance from here to there is about thirty minutes to an hour."

Keith's eyes widened and a slight gasp escapes his lips. He tightened his grip on his hands looked down; confused at why she went to such lengths to save him. He recalls telling her to leave him and to not call the police, but he barely remembers anything after that.

"Wondering why she would go through carrying a guy a bigger than her all the way here? Amilia's always been that way." Robin turns around, his back facing the two. "When she was little, she brought home stray animals all the time. When she was 11, she jumped in the way of a kid being hit at school, and when she was 13, she went to Africa to help build homes and feed the children." He turns to a collage of their family on the wall behind them. "Look there. There are pictures of her and her homeless friends, running marathons for cancer, helping around the hospital, and with soldiers she would send gifts to while they were in a war. They came to see her when they came back home."

Keith looked up at the collage. He was astonished at how unbelievably charitable she was. But it didn't answer his question. 'Was it really worth going through all of that to help me?'

"What I want to know is why she didn't call an ambulance first..." Dauna put a hand to her cheek. It was a habit of hers when she was worried or confused about something.

Keith's eyes popped open as the memories flooded back into his head of that day. He remembers Amilia trying to call an ambulance, but he stopped her. He also remembers her treating his wounds, and how the pouring rain stung him. He looks away in slight guilt. "I told her not too." He mumbles.

"What?" Dauna gasps. "Why not, you were severely injured! Robin is just a medical student. What if he wasn't able to treat you?"

"I didn't think she would listen to me..." Keith looks away.

"She'll do anything if it makes the person happy." Robin stands up and starts to walk out, but stops. "She'll go to such drastic measures as long as the person is okay and happy." Robin turns, giving Keith a scary glare. "She came home with an extreme fever because of you so you better be grateful to her. And to be honest, I don't trust you one bit. She's a little girl with a big heart. If you so much as touch her I swear to God you'll regret it."

"Robin-!" Dauna stands up and tries to stop her son from what he was saying.

"I'm going up to my room. Thanks for the food." Robin cuts her off. He knew her too well to know how she was going to lecture him. But, now he was 18, and could make his own decisions. 'I will protect my sister'. He walks up to his room and closes his door, locking himself in there.

Dauna sighs and sits back down. "I'm so sorry about that... Robin has always been really protective over Amilia since they were children. I must say though, I haven't seen that side of him in a very long time... Usually he's just quiet and very stoic."

"No it's fine you don't need to apologize. I can understand why he doesn't trust me."

"But that doesn't give him the right to..-"

"Really, it's fine. I actually have a sister of my own, so I understand the feeling."

"Oh... I see. How old is she?"

"...She'll be 23 in a month." He began to fall into a melancholic emotion as if they were on a touchy subject.

"Oh... And she's your younger sister or..?"

"She's my older sister. But even so, I still love her like a little sister. And I'd do anything for her." He smiles to himself.

After a few seconds, Dauna stands up. "Are you done? Could I get you something to drink?" She grabs his bowl.

"Water is fine." He smiles.

"Now that I think of it... Ami was still asleep in Robin's room." She shakes her head and pours the water into a crystal cup. "Goodness, that child can be so hard to deal with sometimes. Here you go." She sets it down.

Keith lifts the glass and takes a savorous sip. "My name is Keith, by the way."

Dauna blinks in slight shock, "I had no doubt. You're so nice and polite. So... If you don't mind me asking now... Where are you from?"

"I'm originally from Florida. My mom is from Puerto Rico and my father is from Spain, though."

"I see. I was guessing you were Spanish; your appearance proves so, and you have a small hint of a latino accent." She smiled at him. "So why did your parents move to Florida?"

"My mom moved to the states when she was a little girl along with her family. My dad was transferred over here from his job."

"So you were born in Florida... What brings you here to California?"

"I live with my sister..."

"Oh. So, how old are you then?"

"I'm 17 years old..."

"My. You're only a year older than Amilia is!" Dauna giggles in happiness.

Keith's eyes round in shock but he keeps his mouth closed. "E-excuse me..?"

"Yes! My little baby is only 16, but she's still very cute don't you think?"

"If you say cute meaning 'small' then I'd I'dhave to agree..." He chuckles along with her. "May I use your bathroom?" He stands from his seat at the table.

"Yes go ahead! You shouldn't have to ask such things. I need to get cleaning anyway." She gets up as well, moving to the sink. "After you do that, we have a computer, a TV, and some games. Feel free to do whatever."

"Right, thanks." Keith turns around and starts to walk, when all of a sudden he realizes something is in his way...

… Something, short. He looks down to see what it is. It is a tired Amilia with a blanket around her shoulder, rubbing her eyes. When Keith had woken up, he realized she was small, but not this small. He himself wasn't on the tall side; she came up to his mid chest. All he could do was stand there and stare at the pale, redheaded figure in front of him.

Amilia's eyes slowly raise to meet Keith's. She freaks as she realizes it's him, "You should be resting!" The cover drops down her arms revealing more of her shoulders. "You look relatively strong considering you were about to die..." she whispers, pulling the blanket tighter around her again.

Keith blinks. This tiny girl in front of him went from demanding to innocent in a split second. Not to mention, she was worried about him. A girl like her caring for a guy like him was unheard of it. Or so it seemed...

"Were you going somewhere? I must be in your way, so sorry." Amilia steps aside to allow Keith to pass.

"I, um- thanks," he stutters as everything he wants to tell her swirls in his head, sticking in his throat. He was thanking her for more than he could even fathom, in that moment. He slowly heads down the hall to the bathroom, flustered. "What the crap, man," he says softly to himself as he runs his fingers through his hair. He was a 'hardcore alley boy', but he could not keep a calm head with some girl he doesn't really know. "She's just too innocent, and small, and nice..." he sighs as he opens the bathroom door, "just too... cute."

Amilia sits in the chair that Keith had just left. Her mom sets a bowl of chicken soup down in front of her. "Eat up sweetheart," Dauna smiles down at her daughter. Turning around she grabs a cupcake and sets it in front of her as well. "You picked up a real gentleman this time," her mom grins at her.

Amilia looks up at her mom in shock, "What- what are you talking about?!"

"Keith. He's very polite. You know... he's only a year older than you..."

"Mom!"

"Goodness, Amilia. I'm just joking." Dauna laughs at the rosy color on her daughter's cheeks. "But, seriously..." She continues the conversation herself. "He doesn't sound like he has a lot... He was very hesitant when I was asking questions about him and his family."

"Hesitant?" Amilia looks up, her mouth stuffed with cupcake.

"Yes, as if he was hurt from his past. The fact that he lives with his older sister is definitely questionable..." Dauna goes over and starts making coffee. "How did you find him again? You never told me exactly."

Amilia swallows and looks down, trying not to squish her cupcake from remembering what happened two days ago. "I was at a bakery with my friends after school ended. I had saw him at the gates of our school before we left. I saw him walk by with a few guys, and I had a bad feeling so I followed him. They beat him up in an alley way and I tried to call for help but he wouldn't let me. So I treated his wounds the best I could and carried him here since it was the only other place I could think of..."

"Oh my... That must have been traumatizing for him and you. Just seeing those things is terrible but I wonder how he's feeling right now..." Dauna's hand was to her cheek once again.

"Yeah but..." Amilia smiles and looks up. "He's better now and I'm happy. I don't really know him or anything about his life, but-" She pauses for a second. "I'd really like to be his friend and help him through whatever it is he's going through." She smiles and starts eating her chicken soup.

Keith stood outside of the entranceway to the kitchen. He was up against the wall and speechless after hearing every word. In actuality, he was confused. Someone wanted to be his friend, and that someone was a good, clean girl; not some biker chick he could pick up outside a club.

Dauna smirks at her daughter, "maybe it'll be something more..."

Amilia coughs on her cupcake, causing crumbs to fly all over the table. She panics over the lack of oxygen she is taking in. She points at her throat in distress as her cheeks begin to change to a blueish color.

"Amilia!" Dauna panics herself, not knowing what to do.

Keith rushes into the room wrapping his arms around Amilia's waist. He squeezes her, performing the heimlich. The squishy cupcake that was lodged in Amilia's throat ends up on the floor. She goes limp before passing out. Keith lays next to her, resting his ear on her chest, checking for breathing. He lifts his head slowly, "Thank God." A smile spreads on his lips, "she's breathing," he tells Dauna.

"My my..." Dauna sighed with relief. "Thank God is right isn't it?" She chuckles. "And you, you came rushing right in. You actually heard everything we said, didn't you?" She smiles, clapping her two hands together lightly. "Oh, I forgot about the coffee! Would you like some?"

Keith shook his head. "Don't really like it. Plus, I don't want to have to trouble you any longer. I'll be leaving soon."

"What? No! Stay as long as long as you like. At least contact your sister." She pours the coffee into a mug in a small demanding voice.

Keith bites his lip. Staying here would be an upgrade from his life on the street. These people are so nice to him unlike his 'brothers' who turned out to be the low life scum they appeared to be. "I'll be a burden," he tells her, "I'll stay the night, but tomorrow, I'll leave."

"You just saved my daughter's life! There is no way you would be a burden on us after that! And I bet Robin would feel safer around you after that."

"He'll still not want me around. Besides, your daughter did far more for me than I just did for her. You have an amazing little girl, ma'am." He looks over at Amilia who has started to regain consciousness. Helping her into a chair, he smiles at Dauna. "I will forever be indebted to her."

"Oh.. Alright. But is there anything we can do for you? So that I can pay you back?" Dauna tries to guilt him into letting her do something for him.

"Well... I new change of clothes might be nice." He scratches the back of his head.

"Alright! We'll go shopping tomorrow and you can pick out whatever you want!" She smiles and puts her hands together.

"Are you sure? Is it really okay? I mean it might be a waste of money..."

"Don't you worry about it. We have plenty of money. So much that we don't know what to do with it. It's mostly all from my husband."

"Really? What does he do?" Keith pushes Amilia's chair in.

"Oh..." Dauna looks down at her feet. "He was a doctor... But, these kids lost him when they were quite young. He saved up a lot of money for us just in case of emergencies. He was never big on spending anyway."

"Oh... I'm really sorry to hear that." Keith looks down at his feet too.

"Yes, but... Because of him, we have a lot of money to help us out while I find a job." She turns and looks at the clock. "Goodness! It's already eight thirty! I need to get ready for bed so that I can go look for jobs early in the morning." Taking her mug, Dauna scurries off to her bedroom, leaving Keith alone with Amilia.

He sits in the chair next to her and stares in her eyes. "How are you feeling?"

Amilia replies with a weak smile, "I'm okay, I think. My mind is a bit hazy though, what exactly happened?"

Keith grins at her with relief, "You choked on a cupcake, and, well, I saved you." His eyes look to his feet, wanting to avoid hers. 'Why can't I look her in the eye?' He wonders to himself.

Amilia blinks in surprise, "You did? Well, thank you." She quickly takes an interest in her own feet. "I really appreciate it- Huh?" Her legs begin to wobble many stars cover her vision.

"Hey!" Keith grabs her arms to stabilize her. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah it's fine. I get random dizzy spells all of the time." She waves it off. Trying to cover up the pain in her head, she stands back up and walks passed him. "Well! I better get ready for bed!" As soon as she says that, she literally trips on air, falling over. Keith rushes to her side again, holding her up.

"You really aren't okay." He stares at her, upset with concern.

Amilia comes too and laughs weakly. "Y-yeah... I'll be fine soon-"

"I don't believe that for a second. You carried me when I was in trouble. Let me carry you." He lifts her up bridal style, carrying her to Robin's front door. He kicks the door lightly to get Robin's attention.

The door opens slowly, and Robin catches a glimpse of Keith before seeing Amilia in his arms, "What did you do-"

Keith cuts him off, "I saved her from choking to death and now she's having dizzy spells. Personally, I would like to know what's going on and not be accused simply because you don't trust me."

Robin stares at Keith for a moment, "I'm sorry." He takes Amilia from Keith's arms and lays her on his bed. "If you come in, I'm more than willing to tell you."

Keith slowly walks into the room, sitting on the bed next to Amilia. Robin sits down in his desk chair and turns to Keith, looking at his little sister who can't hear him or see him in her current state.

"I'll tell you from the beginning. Since she won't." He begins. "But you can't let her know I told you."

"I won't tell her." Keith says in all seriousness