Disclaimer: I do NOT own House of Anubis. All rights go to…Nickelodeon, I guess. Only this storyline is mine.

"Boys, I am taking Nina to that little boutique down the street. We'll be back in twenty minutes tops," Amber told us, grabbing Nina's arm and taking her closer to the exit of the bookstore.

"Okay, we'll meet you at the ice cream parlor," Mick said.

"Sounds great!" Amber pulled Nina out the door before she could lift her hand all the wave goodbye.

Mick, Jerome, Alfie, Amber, Nina and I (Patricia needed help with Biology, so Mara stayed at the house to tutor her) had all decided to spend the evening in town. We were going to eat ice cream shortly, then going to see a movie.

"So, are you happy that you and Amber are friends again?" Alfie asked Mick as we all checked out our books.

"Of course I am. But I think the really story now is between Fabian and Nina. So how is everything going?" Mick asked, prodding at my side with his elbow.

"How many times must I tell you that Nina and I are just friends?" I answered, irritated. Partly because they asked me this all the time, and partly because I wanted them to be right.

"As long as it takes you two to get together!"

"Don't hold your breath." I looked at the librarian. "Thanks," I told her, and we all walked out. We started walking toward the ice cream parlor, and I heard Amber's soprano voice let out an ear-piercing shriek.

NINA!

Not even thinking, all of us boys sprinted off toward the scream as fast as we could. I peered down an alleyway to see three guys having Nina and Amber pressed up against a brick building in the back.

"Don't shout like that. You're only going to be like little fish. We'll catch you, do what we want, then throw you right back," one of them said in a harsh yet sickly-sweet voice.

Nina, her eyes filled with so much fear that I thought she might break, almost visibly brightened when she saw us start creeping toward them quietly. But she knew she couldn't let them know that we were here, so she glared at the ring leader.

"What makes you think we'll be so easy to catch?" she asked him bravely, keeping the shaking out of her voice. Only I, who was so in tune to her voice, knew that she was hiding the underlying terror.

Two of them laughed as if this was a joke. "Trust me. You can't be that hard."

By this time, Mick, Alfie, Jerome and I had made a line behind them.

"Step. Away. From. Them." My voice was sharp as razors as my instinct to protect my love kicked in.

The perverts all turned to us, realizing they were screwed when they saw they were outnumbered by us. So then they looked at each other, and the leader grabbed Nina, his hand sliding under her shirt.

"NINA!" Amber shrieked. Tears fell from both girls eyes, and Nina was writhing in the man's grasp, trying desperately to free herself from the hand that was inching its way up her stomach.

"Let her go!" Mick and I growled at the same time. My fists shook as I prepared to throw a punch at the one holding Nina.

Then, all at once, Mick and I punched the two sidekicks in the stomach as Alfie whisked Amber away from them, and Jerome punched the leader in the jaw, making Nina fall forward. The boys all ran off as fast as they could, and Nina fell into Jerome's arms.

But she jumped out just as quickly, sobbing and cringing away from him as if she was scared of him.

Considering the fact that she knew she had nearly just been raped by three evil men, she probably would be scared of boys. That saddened me as I realized Nina would now be terrified of me as well.

But instead of trying to hide from me like I figure she would, she ran from Jerome's arms straight into mine. Shocked, I quickly wrapped my arms around her to hug her as she cried into my collarbone. "Shh, Nina, you're safe," I kept promising her, burying my head in her hair.

After a good forty-five minutes of us standing with the girls in the alleyway, I had finally calmed myself down enough to be able to be concerned about Nina. "Nina, listen to me. Did he end up touching you at all?" I asked her. I had really been trying not to stare at where his hand had been going, which I guess was sort of a bad idea now that I look back on it.

She couldn't answer. She only nodded her head and sniffled as she kept trying to stop bawling.

My hands tightened on her back as I fought the fury that made me want to let go of Nina and hunt down the pervs and kill them with my own bare hands. But I knew she needed me now, so I hugged her closer and whispered to her. "Don't worry, Nina. I won't ever let you get hurt."

"Guys, we should get them back to the house. They could get sick right now, or even faint, and we don't need that on top of everything else," Alfie pointed out.

"He's right," Mick agreed. Amber, who was now fighting to keep her eyes open from exhaustion and stress, was tucked under his arm and they led the way out.

"Let's go, Nina," I told her. I tried to get her to release me so that I could lead her to a cab, but she wouldn't budge. Alfie decided to help out and out his hand on Nina's wrist, trying to pry it from my neck.

Nina shrieked and cringed away from him, closer into me.

I decided that she wouldn't make it and bent slightly to put my hand under her knees to carry her. She was extremely light, so walking with her out of the alley was no problem. Jerome, trying to lighten the mood, said, "Wow, Fabes, I didn't know you could carry her."

I just glared.

We got two cabs. Me, Nina and Jerome in one, Mick, Amber, and Alfie in the other. Nina fell asleep on the way back to school, so I held her quietly in my arms as we rode.

"Did you see her reactions, Fabian? Whenever Alfie and I tried to touch her, she could only scream. But she ran straight to you. I think you might be the only male she trusts now. She seemed to know you wouldn't hurt her, but all of us were more like rapists to her."

"She's got to be in the middle of post-traumatic stress right now, so it is possible I guess."

"If you are the only man on the planet that can even touch her now, Fabian, she has to trust you with her life more than anyone else, herself included. You are going to have a big responsibility to help her heal if it's true."

"If it's for Nina, then there is nothing I won't do to make her happy again."

So, there we go! This is chapter one, and I am definitely going to need some reader input on this story to keep it going, because I really have np idea what to do with it after the next chapter or two. So please give me some ideas and I try to use them!

-Shannon