"I don't know... he was talking to someone named Greg, and he mentioned you, the notes, a girl named Sidney and her death, an Uncle Harry...", he pressed the playback button on the tape recorder and held it up so they could both hear.

It was a little fuzzy but if you listened hard enough and turned it up loud enough, you could understand the words. Justin's heart began to pound with rage as Brian's evil words penetrated his brain. He clenched his fists and punched the steering wheel. "How could he DO this to her!?"

"Who was Sidney?"

"Sidney was...wait a second. Play that back again."

Trace rewound the tape and pressed the play button. Brian's muffled words echoed through Justin's ears. "What if Uncle Harry died too?" Justin's head raced as everything clicked. "No way....", he started the car and sped home. The car was barely turned off before Justin jumped out, threw off his jacket, ran up to his room and rummaged through some keepsake papers to find what he was looking for. Trace was looking over his shoulder. "What's that?"

Justin scanned the newspaper and stabbed his finger at a person's name. "Harry Jaycans. That's "uncle Harry", man. Sidney was Olivia's best friend. She died last May in this car accident. If this Harry Jaycans guy is Brian's uncle, which is what he referred him as to GREG, they must be cousins.... which would explain how Brian knew about the April incident! Dude, how could I have been so blind to this!? It all makes perfect sense!"

Trace raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "I'm lost."

Justin put a hand on his shoulder. "Man, you are the coolest. Thank you sooo much for your help! I just need one more favor and everything will be figured out and I can go beat the crap out of Brian for toying with the girl of my -- nevermind."

"What's the favor?"

"We are going to pay Mr. Jaycans a little visit.", he smiled.

Justin and Trace slowly made their way through the man's messy house, stepping over many objects while following him to his den. They had done some research on the Internet and within fifteen minutes they had information on the car accident and an address. Harry Jaycans was a beer bellied, gruff-looking man, only about thirty four years in age. He had a prickly goatee and greasy jet black hair, with tired looking brown eyes. He was wearing a dirty white undershirt and sweatpants. The two teenagers looked at each other thinking the same thing: This guy is disgusting.

"So what're you kids doin' here?", his slurred speech reverberated through the room as he scratched his stomach. His voice revealed his obvious problem with alchohol, which made the guys extremely uncomfortable.

Justin spoke up after a minute. "We're doing a report on survivors of... car accidents and we heard that you were involved with the big one on I-47 last May. We were wondering if you could tell us about what was going through your head at the time.", he lied, trying his best to sound convincing.

Harry popped open a can of beer and took a big swig before answering. "Yeah... sure."

Justin signaled Trace to start the tape recorder and he waited until Harry seemed a little out of it before asking the questions he wanted the answers to. "Were you coming home from work when you collided with Sidney Miller?"

Harry burped and the strong aroma of alchohol filled the room. It was obvious that he had already been pretty loaded when the guys knocked on his door, but if he wasn't drunk then, he was fully lit now, which made it easier to get the straight answers out of him. "Nah, I was paid to go out and hit whats-her-face head on...", he hiccupped.

Justin tried to hide his smirk. This was going exactly where he wanted it to. "By who?"

"My two nephews... Brian. And Greg." He rubbed his temples and took another drink. "Something about they needed some chick dead because of some other chick who Greg wanted revenge on.... I don't know.", he hiccopped again.

Justin fought to control his temper. How could they do something like that? "So what you're saying is that your two nephews, Brian and Greg, plotted out this poor girl's death all because Greg wanted to get back at the girl's friend?"

Another burp echoed in the room. "Yeah, somethin' like that. You kids want a drink?"

Justin stepped back. "Nah, you know what? We're gonna get going.... thanks for your time Mr. Jaycans."

He scratched his stomach and cleared his throat. "Harry.", his hoarse, yet powerful voice corrected them.

Justin forced a fake smile. "Right. Bye." He grabbed Trace and pushed him out the door, where they both ran to their car.

Trace looked blown away. "Whoa. That guy was creepy!"

Justin stared at the road ahead of him with a scowl on his face. He remained quiet the whole trip home, anger boiling inside of him like an overheated pot of water. All he saw was red, and Trace could've sworn that he saw smoke come from his ears. He looked about ready to kill someone and when that look came out of Justin, he meant war.

As soon as he got home and was by himself, all his pent up fury came raging out of him like no one had ever seen. He was kicking his furniture, leaving dents, throwing things across the room and yelling obscenities at nothing in particular. He didn't understand how a person HIS AGE could be so EVIL. What Greg and Brian had been scheming wasn't just cruel...it was beyond evil. Anger radiated out of his eyes; he had never been so mad. How a person could set out to DESTROY an innocent girl's life and not have any remorse for it whatsoever outraged him... especially when the girl was someone he cared for, someone he felt he needed to protect at all times.

The more he thought about it, the more he knew it would pain him to tell Olivia what he had learned. She had trusted Brian, and trust wasn't something she gave out easily. She had let him into her life only to have him rip it to shreads in his pleasure. The broken-heartedness was going to tear her apart inside and he knew she would be on the verge of an emotional breakdown. Seeing her upset had always upset him too, and all he would be able to do was comfort her. He wanted to do more...he wanted to be able to make all her pain go away... that was what he wanted.

Justin took a deep breath and flopped back in his chair. He looked around the room at all the damage he had caused....it wasn't too bad, a few broken objects and some dented furniture, along with the dark scratches on the walls, but other than that it just looked like a normal room. He took a long time debating whether to tell Olivia now or to wait until another time, but he realized that if he did, Brian could get to her before he did. He got up, washed the anger out of his face and picked up the phone. It rang and rang until he got her voicemail. Oh, damn. He hung up without leaving a message.

(the next night, December 23rd)

The monotone ringing in Justin's ear was becoming a huge nuisance and he was about to hang up when a voice silenced the sound. "Hello?"

He smiled at her voice. "Hi Liv, it's Justin. I've been trying to reach you all day."

"Oh. Sorry, I was out Christmas shopping. I'm such the procrastinator. I hope it wasn't important."

"Well, you see... it kinda is. Are you doing anything tonight?"

"Not that I know of. I have off from work until the 27th. Why?"

"I'd rather talk to you about this in person. Can you come to my house in two hours or so? My parents are going out so I'll be here alone."

"Okay, um I guess. Is this about your Brian theory?"

He swallowed. She wasn't going to take this easy. "Yes."

He heard her sigh softly through the phone lines. "Fine, Justin. I'll be there at nine... see you then. Bye."

"Bye." , he sighed and hung up his phone. "Okay... now I just have to use the right words to tell her about all this and everything will be fine." He closed his eyes and whispered to himself, "I hope."

After getting a shower and shaving, he threw on a pair of jeans and a red Kani sweater, rolling the sleeves up to his elbows. He fixed his hair and slipped on some socks before heading downstairs. When he got to the bottom of the steps, his mother and step-father were rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off. Lynn ran up to him and in one breath she said, "Hi honey, you look nice. We're running late, the number of where we are is on the kitchen counter, be back around eleven thirty. Ok?" She put on her jacket while Paul picked up his car keys from the table.

Justin nodded. "Olivia's coming over, just to let you know."

"Okay, there's leftovers in the fridge if you guys get hungry. Bye sweetheart.", she kissed his cheek and followed Paul out the door. Justin waved them out and walked towards the kitchen in search of newspapers and matches to start a fire in the huge fireplace in the den. After that was going steady, with the flames licking around the wood fiercely, he smiled and went to go find some food. He opened the fridge and peered in... the first thing to catch his attention was sitting in the very front, wrapped in Saran Wrap, untouched. "Oh my God...Grandma's peach cobbler...", his eyes widened, his mouth beginning to water. "This is probably being saved for Christmas...Oh, but it looks sooo good...", he bit his lip and took it out. "Maybe they won't notice if I just took a little bit..." He smiled and licked his lips as he peeled the plastic wrap back. He dug a fork out from the cabinent and was just about to pick some cobbler up when the doorbell rang.

His eyes bulged and he looked at his watch. It was eight fifty five. "WHOA!", he yelled to no one and quickly put the dessert back in the refridgerator, running out of the kitchen and sliding on his socks to the front door. He peered through the peephole and smiled when he saw Liv standing on the front step biting the inside of her cheek out of nervousness. He opened the door grinning. "Well hello there beautiful. What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

She smiled and looked him over. The word 'attractive' can't even describe how good he looks, she thought to herself. "Shut up. So, you needed to talk to me?"

"Yup. But there's no need to rush that is there? Are you hungry or anything? Do you want a drink?", he asked while he hung her jacket in the closet and waved her into the kitchen.

"Oh, no thanks. I'm okay."

He shrugged. "Okay, but there's some of my grandma's homemade peach cobbler in the fridge... are you sure you don't want some?" He went to get a fork for himself when she nodded and found his mother's note on the counter with the number they could be reached at and a little order at the bottom that read: 'Justin, don't you even DARE eat that peach cobbler or you'll get NONE for Christmas dinner.'

"Aww! MOM!", he yelled in frustration and reluctantly put his fork back. "That woman thinks of EVERYTHING." He followed Olivia back into the den and plopped down on the couch in front of the fireplace.

She stared at the flames for a long time before speaking up. "So you haven't jumped all over me for being wrong about Brian yet, so I'm assuming you didn't get the proof you wanted. Am I right?"

Oh, if you only knew how wrong you are, Liv. He sighed and reached a hand around to scratch his back. "Uh...well, no. I got my proof. I got more proof than I wanted to hear, but I got it.", he said, telling himself that he couldn't put something like this off. He shifted on the couch to face her and looked her over before continuing. Her recently washed hair cascaded over her shoulders, shining against the light of the flames, her ocean blue eyes twinkled with sparkles and her lips shimmered from her clear lip gloss. She was wearing a long navy blue skirt that reached her ankles and a white tank top covered by a gray unzippered sweater. She looked amazing. It was going to be hard enough telling her that her trusted "friend" had a part in plotting her BEST friend's death, and that he was now after Olivia HERSELF... Just what I need, she comes here looking like a goddess, totally distracting me from what I need to tell her. Ugh... women, he thought to himself, shaking his head.

"Well are you going to tell me what your proof is?", she questioned.

"Olivia, you're not going to take this easy. It's cruel, it's evil and you're going to be heartbroken. And please don't deny anything, not that you can from this evidence, but it will just make things harder for me because it hurts me to see you in pain.", he looked at her sympathetically and stood up. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere." He jogged upstairs to get his tape recorder and looked at himself in the mirror one last time to make sure he looked okay. "Don't blow it, man.", he told himself and ran back downstairs. She was still staring at the fire with her legs tucked under her body on the end of the couch. Her eyes attached to him as he came down the steps and sat back down on the couch.

"What's that?"

"This...", he held up the tape recorder. "...THIS is your proof. This is the evidence that we are dealing with two mastermind psychopaths who want revenge and who have no remorse for anything."

Olivia swallowed and looked at the ground. "What --- what are you talking about?"

He sighed. "Olivia, its not just Brian that's behind this. Greg is in on it too..."

Her head snapped up and she interrupted him. "Greg? As in Greg Lowell? Justin Timberlake you tell me how that is possible. He is in jail."

"Liv, you're gonna have to listen to everything I'm about to tell you without interrupting me. Then, I will play you the proof. I figured out everything - every possible detail - and I know I am right. You're gonna have to trust me on this one. So, please just listen to me for a few minutes. I guarantee you're going to be very upset because most of this has to do wth Sidney Miller."

Her eyes grew in fear. "S-Sidney?"

Justin nodded. "Please listen...", he cleared his throat and hoped for the best. "Brian has been the one leaving you the threats, but Greg is the big mastermind behind this whole thing. I don't know his motive, but he has been telling Brian what to do; he told him about the April incident, he told him all about you, he told him where to find you. You want to know how they know each other, right?"

She nodded slowly.

"They're cousins. Do you remember the man that crashed into Sidney? Harry Jaycans was his name. He is their uncle and was paid by them to... well, to kill her. My best friend and I visited him the other day to gather some information and he is a very disturbed man with severe alchohol problems. Killing Sidney was another thing to weaken you up so that you'd be helpless when it came time to hit you with these threats. I imagine that Brian discouraged you with hanging out with me because I would get in the way of his plans. He tried to make it look like I was doing it, so that you would put ALL of your trust in HIM and throw me to the dirt, but he forgot one important thing: I didn't know what happened to you before you told me about the letters you had been getting. So that crosses me off the list immediately. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"

Her voice came out extremely shaky. "Th-they plotted Sidney's d-death? H-how could they do this to me?"

His eyes filled with pain at the sight of Liv's trembling chin. He nodded slowly. "Sidney was your weakness, Olivia. She was your lifeline and in order for their plan to work, she had to be out of the picture."

He held up the tape recorder and pressed the playback. "Here...listen." She took it from him and held it close to her ear, one tear after another falling from her eyes as Brian's cold words echoed in her head.

"...I think I've already made it look like he's the bad guy....Liv is putty in my hands..."

Justin watched in pain at her reaction. His heart broke seeing her like this. He wanted so badly to take that tape, break it, and pretend like none of this had happened. He watched as the tears rolled down her beautiful face, faster and faster each time, her body began to shake and her eyes turned a dark gray again. He leaned over and pulled her trembling figure into his arms, whispering against her hair, "I'm sorry."

She tightened her arms around him and started to bawl. She buried her face deep into his chest and let all her tears come out. Justin rocked her back and forth, trying his hardest to comfort her. "Shh... everything will be okay. I'm here for you.", he stroked her hair and closed his eyes wishing he could erase her pain.

Ten minutes later, her sobbing got softer but she still held onto him for dear life. Just like Sidney had been before, Justin was now her life-line. He pulled away a touch and cupped her face with his hands. She looked miserable, yet incredible at the same time. It must have been the fire he started because the flames had grown to be so bright and powerful, a mirage of them appeared in her eyes, and the luster from them made her never-ending flow of tears glisten. He brushed away a falling tear and watched as another one slipped past his finger and dripped down her cheek, landing and dissolving on her plush lips. His thumb rubbed the tear-stains on her cheek away as his head ever so slowly dipped down and he gently touched his lips to hers, tasting the salt from her tears in his mouth. He pulled back and looked at her, rubbing his finger over her lips. He didn't know what made him do that... it had to have been his need to comfort her and that was the only way he could think of doing it, besides only being able to hold her. It wasn't a big kiss, it wasn't of raving desparation...it was a comfort kiss. Something she needed at the time...something HE needed at the time.

Olivia's eyes remained closed, her arms still around Justin's shoulders. The only difference from the last time he had looked at her was that this time there was a slight smile on her lips. For a second, she forgot everything and her brain only focused on one thing: how good his lips felt on her. Chills raced down her spine, her head spun and her heart pounded. She wanted more. Slowly, she opened her eyes and nearly had a heart attack from the way he was staring at her. Concern literally radiated out of his eyes. He opened his mouth and began to speak in an extremely soft voice, "Everything will be--"

He was interrupted when her finger touched his mouth. A single tear fell from her eyes again and she whispered, "Can you do that again?"

Justin couldn't stop the grin that appeared on his face and he leaned down to kiss her again. His lips softly grazed hers, and to his surprise, she pulled him closer and tightened her grasp on his sweater. She parted her lips just enough so that he could slip his tongue in, and moved her mouth simultaneously with his, quickening her pace every second. She was letting her despondency get the best of her; it took over her body and soul and by the looks of it, she wanted to crawl up in a ball inside of him because she knew he'd protect her. All she wanted was someone who would be there, someone who she could trust, someone who would love her... and at that moment, she realized she had that person in the man that was holding her tonight.

Justin, on the other hand, had to apply every speck of willpower he possessed so that he would not push this girl down under him and totally take advantage of her in her time of misery. It was hard. He was a seventeen year old teenage boy who was with a girl he knew he liked a LOT, and it didn't exactly make matters better that she was getting more desparate by the minute. She was pressed up against his chest so hard, he could actually FEEL her heart pounding inside of her. The thing that amazed him the most was the way her lips fit with his so perfectly... he couldn't believe that he had waited this long to find that out for himself. It was like a fairytale and he almost forgot everything that had happened before this moment, but his conscience told him that he couldn't let himself forget the real reason she was here in the first place.

It took a lot of strength, but he softly pulled away from her electrifying kiss and opened his eyes to look at her. Her eyes were still closed, her lips red and swollen, and her breathing rapid. Tears still glistened the corners of her eyes in despair, which made his heart break all over again. He reached up and touched her cheek, watching as her head snuggled against his palm, a small, comfortable smile appearing on her lips. He hesitated to swallow the lump in his throat and spoke quietly: "...Wow. Um, where did that come from?"

She started to babble in an apologizing manner. "I'm sorry, Justin. I'm sorry for not trusting you, I'm sorry for not believing you, and I'm sorry for ... for suspecting you. You're my b-best friend. Did you know that?"

He took her hand in his and hushed her rambling. "It's no big deal, sweetheart. I'm just sorry you had to be put through torture like this."

A few more tears made their way down her cheeks and she mumbled, "I-I don't want to go home, Justin. I don't want to be alone anymore..."

He looked at his watch. It was ten minutes until eleven. "You can stay here if you want. I have some blankets upstairs so you can sleep on the couch and I'll just crash on that chair over there.", he said and pointed to a huge chair across the room. "Do you want to call your parents?"

"And tell them what?"

"...that you're staying the night here."

She rubbed the tears off her cheek and looked at him disbelievingly. "Yeah, like they'd agree to that. I need a reason."

He scratched his chin and smiled when he thought of an idea. "I'll be right back." He strode towards the phone and dialed her house's number. He came back five minutes later looking very pleased. "It's taken care of."

"What did you say?", she asked curiously.

"I said that you had fallen asleep and that I didn't want to take the chance of waking you up if I drove you home, so I just told them I would make sure that you got home safe and sound tomorrow morning. Your dad also made sure that I wouldn't...um, I believe his exact words were: 'touch her in any way, shape, or form.'", he smirked. "Although, I can't guarantee that one after you kissed me like you did."

She blushed and chuckled in embarrassment.

He smiled and leaned over to give her a hug. He held her for a long time, not wanting to let go. By the time he did, her breathing was heavy in sleep. Her head rested on his shoulder, her left hand on his chest, a newfound glow surrounding her body. Justin smiled and made himself comfortable. She was an angel and he couldn't take his eyes off her. He watched her in awe as she slept against him, the little things catching his eye: the way her chest moved up and down as she breathed, the way little wisps of her bangs curled over her eyes, the way her hand was almost purposely placed over his heart. Everything about her amazed him, and he gently pushed the wisps out of her eyes before growing sleepy himself.

His parents arrived home ten minutes later to find that beautiful sight in front of their eyes. Justin had fallen asleep, his arm around Liv's shoulders comfortably, his head resting lightly on hers, the fire just burning out in the fireplace. It warmed their hearts and Lynn went to get a blanket to keep them warm through the night. She smiled and whispered to herself out loud: "It's about time their hearts revealed their true feelings for each other."