All My Heart

midnight

Dan tugged at his short hair, gnawing on his bottom lip. Aria was supposed to have called him by now. She'd never had a date that lasted till after midnight with James before. His brows were furrowed and his pacing never ceased, despite the fact that he currently had a guest over in his flat. Granted, his guest was one of his best mates who crashed at his place almost all the time, but he was still a guest.

"Would you calm down?" Josh laughed slightly from his slumped position on the leather couch.

"She hasn't called me yet." Dan spoke, voice shaky. He let out a breath, walking towards the couch, plopping down on the leather cushions to bury his head in his hands. "What if something happened to her?"

"Dan," Josh sighed. "Aria's a big girl. Plus, she's with her boyfriend." He emphasised.

Dan lifted his head up to look at Josh. "You've never met him."

"He can't be that bad. Come on, mate. Let her have some time with her boyfriend. She's fine, I promise." Josh reassured, rubbing the other male's back comfortingly.

"She's fine." Dan breathed out, echoing Josh's words.

***

8th September 2003

"We'll catch you later for some football, Dan!" One of the boys' that he'd made friends with called over to Dan as he started to walk the familiar road that would lead him back home.

Dan waved at them mindlessly, for his mind was too caught up in thoughts of how his best friend's first day of school had went.

Had it gone as well as his? Had she made a lot of new friends? Had she found a new best friend to replace him with?

His fourteen year old heart clenched at the thought. He didn't want to stop being friends with Aria. She'd been his best friend for so long that he couldn't picture any part of his future without her.

The sound of shoes scraping against the pavement and soft sniffles made him blink, before he turned around; trying to locate the source of the sound. There was a girl on the opposite side of the road, brunette head of hair ducked down with her arms wrapped around her middle. A grin lighted up onto his face as he dashed across the empty road, bumping her shoulder lightly with his.

"Hey you." He grinned, only to have it slide off his face the second she looked up.

"Dan." She gulped, looking back at her Converse and hastily wiping at her eyes with the too-long sleeves of her jumper. "Hi."

"Ari, what's wrong?" The older boy immediately asked, worry colouring his tone and flooding his already handsome, boyish features.

"Nothing." She smiled. "How was your first day?"

"Aria."

Aria let out a small sigh, shaking her head. "The girls in class said that I wasn't pretty enough to be a part of their clique."

"Aria." Dan sighed this time. "Forget them. You're one of the prettiest girls I know."

Aria managed a small, lopsided smile. One that Dan loved because it made the eleven year old look so much younger than her actual age. "Thanks, Dan. You're my best friend."

"You're my best friend, too." Dan grinned, ruffling the much shorter girl's hair. "Anything else happened?"

"No, no, not much." She shook her head, glancing at her shoes - and it was only then that Dan realised a faded red coloured stain on the front of her t-shirt.

Dan frowned, pulling at her arm to halt her footsteps. "What happened?" He asked, ducking his head down to look at her.

Aria sighed quietly, shaking her head. "Don't worry about it."

"Aria, please."

Tear-clouded eyes met with worried, crystal blue ones. "They threw their spaghetti on me. I didn't do anything to them and they threw stuff at me." Her lips quivered and a lone tear trickled down her cheek, running to her chin.

Dan took a breath, seemingly trying to calm himself down. What had Aria ever done to them? She'd be way better than any of them ever would be, and maybe they already knew that. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her into him and resting his chin atop her head - he was very much taller than her.

"I'll protect you next time. Wait, you know what? There won't even be a next time. I'll protect you. I'll protect you like the roof protects us from the rain. I promise."

***

Dan's hands shook as he parked his car outside of Aria's living complex. He'd been over so many times before, and there were times that he'd been angry - but never this angry. Aria had sounded so... Broken. The girl that he'd known for most of his life, the one who was always strong and happy and all around optimistic, had sounded like she had nothing else to live for.

And that scared him.

It scared him beyond words could ever express.

He knew she wouldn't do anything stupid -- at least, not while she knew that he was on his way over. But Aria, although he'd known her for years, had a rather complex mind. She could be so happy and full of life during the day and then when night comes and she's left alone, he'd often find her just staring at the stars, a pensive look on her face. Sometimes she'd even let a couple stray tears drop from her eyes as she just sat and stared at the stars.

It was only when he prompted her that she'd talk about how she missed her mother, about how she wished her father wasn't always so busy with work or his new family. It was like he'd completely forgotten about his beautiful daughter.

How could he forget about her?

She was beyond beautiful, she was intelligent, she was independent. Besides being in University for a Law degree, she was also a professional model - her face was one that practically every photographer fawned over. It was rather odd for her when she'd been told that the first time, but Dan knew that it was true. She'd matured into a beautiful young lady.

Dan used his spare key to push open the front door to her flat open. He called out her name but received nothing in response. He searched her bedroom, and then her bathroom - finding her slumped, barely clothed body on the ground.

"Ari..." He trailed off, voice cracking. His blue eyes darted up and down her body, noting how the clothes had been torn, how her body was bruised in ways he'd never seen before. "Did he?" Dan asked, his voice low, dangerous.

She said nothing in response, eyes focused on nothing as she hugged her knees to her chest.

"Aria." He called, voice still stern. She glanced up at him, her own set of blue eyes a shade lighter than they normally were. "Did he...?" Dan couldn't bare to finish his sentence.

Aria shook her head slowly, her eyes darting back to where she was previously staring at nothing. "He tried." She spoke just a breath's higher than a whisper, a prolonged moment later.

Dan's fists clenched tightly, almost to the extent of turning his knuckles white. He wanted to find the bastard and do exactly what he did to Aria. He'd abused her. He'd abused her. His best friend. His most important person in the world. His whole fucking world. He wanted to cause the same amount of pain to him, that he'd caused to her. He wanted to hit him in the balls so hard that it would hurt to take a fucking piss for even thinking about raping his girl. Dan would've just run out to find the bloody asshole, if it wasn't for Aria's soft voice breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Dan...?" She called out softly, so softly. Like she was afraid to speak any louder.

To go after James, or to stay and comfort his best friend?

With one look to the girl on the floor, the decision was made. He collapsed to the ground, gathering her in his arms as carefully as he could, wrapping his long and muscled arms around her petite body; shaking as he placed fervent, gentle kisses to her neck. She buried her face in his chest, clutching at his t-shirt as silent sobs raked through her body.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He mumbled over and over again; his hand running through her messy brown head of hair.

"What are you sorry for?" She asked, her lips moving against the material of his top.

"For breaking my promise."