Gabriel had his gun cocked, and ready. If the old man had been the bastard who did it, then he was going to pay. As they pulled up to the house, the driver soon exited the car. However Gabriel got out before the driver could even open the door for him. He knew the old man was home, he had been tailing him ever since he had claimed Cali.

"Open up old man!" He demanded as he banged on the door. Soon the lights came on, and the old man opened the door. There was a look of confusion upon his face.

"What are you doing here?" The old man asked as he had a look of panic. "What's going on? Did something happen to Cali?"

"Shut up, old man!" Exclaimed Gabriel. He then placed his forearm to the old man's neck, as he pushed him up against the wall. With anger in his soul, he pressed the barrel of his gun against the old man's temple.

"Was it you?" Gabriel cried out in anger. "Was it you who disfigured, and defiled her."

"Go ahead, and kill me!" The old man growled in anger. "Once you kill me, she will no longer be beholden to you!"

As his anger continued, Gabriel continued to breath heavily. He looked into the man's eyes, as he just stared back at him. Nothing seemed too phase him.

"Why don't you fear me?" Gabriel asked. "Everyone fears me, everyone but you, why?"

"Because I wish to die." The old man replied. "I wish to die for the same reason, that I had wished to die a couple of nights ago. I would do anything to protect Cali."

All of a sudden it dawned on him that there was no way in hell, that the old man could have done it to her. He was willing to die for her, just as Cali had been willing to die for him. If he had been the one to hurt her, then neither one of them would have been so loyal to each other.

"Shit!" Gabriel proclaimed as he lowered his gun from the old man's temple. "Then who did it?"

"Let it go, Mr Esposito." The old man replied. 'The man that did it has been in jail for the past seven years. He isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Plus Cali was minor when it happened. The perpetrator's cell mates probably did not take too kindly to that. Prisoner who assault children, are usually targeted by fellow prisoners."

"A minor, she was a minor at the time?" Cried Gabriel as he paced around the room shaking his head. "No! That's not good enough! He has to pay, he has to pay for what he did tom my fiancé!"

"Fiancé?' The old man cried. "What do you mean she's your fiancé?"

"I didn't choose Cali as a mistress." Gabriel replied. "I chose her as my wife, and the mother of my children."

"You don't even know Cali!" The old man proclaimed.

"I know I love her!" Gabriel exclaimed.

"Really?" Replied the old man. "And just how did you find out about her scars?"

"That is none of your concern!" Exclaimed Gabriel. "Are you going to tell me, or do I have to ask her."

The old man sighed. "No please don't do that. It may be too dramatic for her to even think about. The man who hurt her was her last foster father. His name is Carl Jenkins."

"What the hell happened?" Gabriel growled through his gritted teeth.

"Most of Cali's foster parents had been neglectful, or abusive over the years." The old man explained. "A foster child can bring in a decent size tax free income. Unfortunately for Cali, she got lost in the shuffle. The homes where they wanted money, and not the love of a daughter, were unfortunately where she kept ending up. But the last home was the worse."

"How so?" Gabriel asked.

"It was that home, where her foster father was inappropriately touching her." The old man explained. "He had never actually penetrated any part of her body. But he had placed his hands, where he shouldn't have."

"Oh my god!" Exclaimed Gabriel.

"I had been working as your father's accountant for awhile." The old man told him. "My brother had moved to America a long time ago. But I had lost contact, and he had soon died. I didn't even know he had som, until I found out that my nephew had been murdered. At the same time, I found out about Cali. She had no other family, but me. But I couldn't raise a child in the world to which I belonged, even though I was just an accountant. So I thought she would be better off with out me, but I was wrong. One day, I just thought about her. I had to know what happened to her. So I began embezzling money from your father accounts, while covering up my tracks. It was then, that I hired a private investigator."

"Only an insane man would steal form my father like that!" Gabriel proclaimed.

"True." Said the old man. "But it was a little bit here, and there I was able to fix his books, so it wouldn't be so obvious. Plus I had planned on returning the money. But when I got the investigator's report. I was horrified. I found out how horribly she was being mistreated. I had to fix it, I had to make it right. So I transferred $10 million, into a dummy account, and headed for New York."

"You stole the money to save Cali, didn't you?" Gabriel all of a sudden realized. "That's why the debt was in dollars, instead of lira. You somehow got the money wired to New York. But why did that bastard disfigure her?"

"I had bribed a judge to grant me custody, there wasn't even a hearing." The old man replied. "I went straight to her foster family's apartment, with the court order. But when I got there, I heard a young girl screaming. I broke down the door, and saw the monster pinning her down on the couch. Her pants were down, as he was standing over her with a lit cigar. I saw a dictionary, so I grabbed it, and hit the bastard over the head. I knocked him out cold. I could have easily killed him. But I looked in to frightened teary eyes, as though they were begging me no to do it. So put down the book, and instead called the police."

"What kind of sick motherfucker does that to a fourteen year old girl?" Gabriel cried out in anger.

"One who's jealous." The old man explained. "She was heading home form school, and some boys were making cat calls at her. It upset her, she ran home crying, and told her foster father. But he wasn't angry at the boys. He called her a prick tease, and told her that he would make sure that no man would want to touch her. And that's why he did it."

"Oh my god!" Cried Gabriel, as he rested his face in the palm of his hands.

"As we waited for the police to arrive, she looked up to me with her big teary blue eyes." The old man continued. "'Are you an angel?' She asked. I told her, 'No sweetheart, I'm your great uncle Sal. And from here on out, your life is going to be better.'"

"I want the motherfucker dead!" Gabriel cried.

"Trust me, Mr. Esposito, you need to let it go." Replied the old man. "If you go after him, it'll only make everything much worse.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Cali sat in his bedroom, as she couldn't stop crying. Not only had he been so aggressive, and frightening to her. But he had seen the scars. He had seen what made her so hideous. At one point she had tried to leave the bedroom, but the door had been locked form the outside. Plus he had been gone for a while. Did he go to her uncle's? Did he kill him her uncle for selling him damaged goods?

She looked out the window, hoping that perhaps her savior would come. But that was ridiculous, gargoyles weren't real. And the one who came to protect her in Paris was just a dream, just a figment of her imagination. How could she have been so stupid this evening?

While becoming intoxicated, she let the fairy tale romance of the evening sweep her up in it's whirlwind of deceit. Between his handsome face, his castle, his gifts, and his attention, she had easily mistaken him for Prince Charming. Plus drinking, while she wasn't even used to it, made it worse. But now she was scared. Scared for her uncle's life, as well as her own.

Between her nervous feeling, as well as the all the alcohol that was in her stomach. She started to feel sick, and ran into the bathroom. She had made it just in time, as everything inside of her started to come up. With that, she threw up the most expensive meal she had ever eaten. Weakened and afraid, she cried as she just laid next there next to the toilet. It was degrading to just lay there, but her stomach still hurt.

Please come! She thought as she continued to cry. Please come and save me! All of a sudden, she felt someone lightly brush their fingers against her cheek. She looked up, but to her disappointment, Gabriel was looking back at her. He seemed to have a look of regret in his eye, Ashe she could see the tears in his eyes.

"If you've come to kill me, than just get it over with!" She cried. He shot her a look, as he seemed taken aback but what she had just said.

"Song—I mean Calliope." He started to say. "I would never hurt you, let alone kill you."

"Where did you go?" She asked.

"To see your uncle." He told her. "I wanted to know what happened. But you were so upset with me, and rightfully so. I just couldn't bring myself to ask you."

"What did he say?" She asked.

Gabriel just sighed. "He said that for your sake, I needed to let it go. And that your assailant had been brought to justice."

"You went because you thought he did it, didn't you? She cried. "Well he didn't, but he saved me from the man who did! And it turns out, that it is all my fault, that he borrowed all that money from your father. I had wondered where it came from all this time. I had no idea it was blood money."

"I know that now." Gabriel replied. Please say you can forgive me."

"I'm not capable of making such a decision like that right now." She told him.

"Well at least come to bed." He sighed. "You can't be all that comfortable laying half naked on a tile floor."

"I can't move." She told him. "I feel sick."

"Here, let me help you." He said to her, as he bent down. It looked as though he was going to try and pick her up.

"No!" She cried. "I've already thrown up once tonight. I swear, if I move from this spot, I will do it again. Please I really can't move, just let me stay here.

"Okay." He sighed again. "I understand." She closed her eyes as she heard him walk away. She then heard some rustling of the linens. He must have crawled into bed. However, she heard his footsteps, as he seemed to make his way back over to her.

As he stood over her, she heard him dropped a couple of pillows on the floor, along with the duvet. Feeling puzzled, she looked up at him. To her surprise, he got down on the floor, and lay next to her.

"What are you doing?" She asked, as she felt confused.

"Well." He replied as he placed a pillow underneath each of them. "If we're going to sleep on the floor, then we might as well be as comfortable as possible." With that, he covered them both with the duvet, and placed his arm around her. He was holding her, like he had the last couple of nights. But this time his embrace was more caring, than possessive.

She turned around to look at him, as they stared into each other's eyes. "Why are you doing this?" She asked. He just looked at her, and smile, as he brushed some har away from her face.

"Because I love you." He whispered as he replied, with tears once again welling up in his eyes. "Because it's my fault that you are in this position. I should have stopped when you told me to, but I didn't. And I ended up hurting the one person I love more than anything."

"I'm sorry, I lead you on." She replied she soon began to cry. "If it hadn't been for those hideous scars—" She tried to finish, but she just couldn't stop crying. Even though she feared him a few minutes ago, he now made her feel safe. Cali buried her head against his rock hard chest, as she continued to cry.

"Shh.." He whispered, as he began to gently rub her back. "There is nothing hideous about you, in my eyes you will always be beautiful. Now why don't we get some sleep. We're taking your uncle out for dinner later tonight, and we need our rest.

"Really!" She cried, as this time it was happy tears that came to her eye. He looked at her, smiled, and just nodded his head.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"You're welcome Calliope." He told her. "Now lets get some sleep."

"My nickname is Songbird." She told him as she returned his smile. As he continued to smile at her, he place a kiss upon her forehead. Even though they were laying on a hard tile floor, she couldn't remember feeling more contented.

As she began to drift off to sleep, she heard him whisper in her ear. "Goodnight Songbird, I will always protect you."