~ I've been looking for a savior in these dirty streets
Looking for a savior beneath these dirty sheets
I've been raising up my hands
Drive another nail in
Got enough guilt to start
My own religion ~

Sitting at the pair's usual table in the corner of the dimly lit bar,
Remy poked at his food halfheartedly. He could feel Bella Donna's
watchful gaze on him and knew she wanted him to eat, but even the
mere thought of food was enough to make the room spin; his arm was
throbbing and he hadn't gotten any sleep the night before and wasn't
looking forward to the rest of the day.

He and Bella Donna had already been on the streets for several hours
but had only managed to make half as much money as they would need to
earn before they could go home; that meant that they wouldn't get
home until late evening at the earliest and all Remy wanted was to
curl up in bed and go to sleep.

The bar was near empty and for that Remy was both thankful and
disappointed. While it meant that there would be no one staring at
them, it also meant that they would have to go back outside in the
cold to earn the rest of the money they needed. Even though most of
the usual customers in the bar were sleazy at best, it was still
better than having to work outside in the wind and the cold, at least
inside it was warm and sheltered.

Letting his gaze wander around the room, Remy identified the small
number of patrons, all of whom were regulars to the bar but not past
customers. Strangely, the boy found that he was looking for the
unfamiliar man he had noticed the day before, the one with the jet
black hair and the fierce aura. As a rule, the boy was uncomfortable
around men at best; he didn't trust them for obvious reasons and
preferred the company of women, but there was something in the
stranger that held an interest for him and he was disappointed to see
that the man was nowhere to be seen.

-------

Lying on the bed in his hotel room, staring at the ceiling,
Logan pulled at a loose string on the comforter, trying to decide
what to do. The day before he had managed to get one of the other
patrons in the bar, after some polite inquiries and no small number
of flat-out demands, to tell him about the kids who had come in
earlier in the evening. No one seemed to know their names or who
their parents were, but they'd been able to tell him that the two
came in almost every day, both to eat and to drum up business.

Sitting up with an irritated sigh, Logan grabbed his wallet
from the nightstand. There wasn't any point sitting around debating,
he knew that if he was going to do anything at all about the
situation he'd have to make it to the bar before the kids left for
the day, assuming they had come in at all. He didn't have a plan,
but that had never stopped him in the past; planning ahead just
wasn't his style at all, better to wing it and hope for the best.

-------

Under Bella Donna's concerned gaze, Remy had managed to eat
enough of his lunch to satisfy the girl's motherly instincts and was
free to daydream as the girl moved off to chat up a handful of new
men who had recently entered the bar. With any luck, one or two of
these newcomers would be interested and would put them that much
closer to being able to go home. A couple seemed interested, to
judge by the way they were staring in his direction as Bella Donna
spoke, and Remy hoped they would hurry up and make up their minds so
he could go home.

Poking at the food on his plate, Remy watched with mild
interest as one of the men, an older man in a business suit, nodded
his head in the direction of one of the other men and, following a
hesitant nod from the girl, handed her a small roll of bills.
Jerking her head in the direction of the table the boy was sitting
at, Bella Donna set off back across the bar, a look of agitated guilt
on her face.

"Je suis désolé, Remy, je devais le faire," Bella Donna said
softly, moving to stand by the side of the table. "Il m'a donné
$100."

Nodding solemnly, Remy turned his gaze to the two men
standing by the table; neither one looked especially dangerous and it
would put them that much closer to being able to go home for the
night. Getting to his feet, he allowed the older man to take his
good hand and lead him through to the back of the bar, with the
younger man trailing behind.

-------

Entering the bar, Logan let his eyes adjust to the dim light,
quickly noting the blonde girl's presence at the same table she had
been at the day before, but not seeing the boy. Reasoning that the
girl wouldn't be there alone, Logan ordered a beer and moved to sit
at a table with a decent view of the one the girl was sitting at and
settled down to wait, noting that the girl was staring intently in
his direction with a look he couldn't quite name on her face.

-------

Shaking uncontrollably, Remy pulled away as the older man
tried to stroke his sweat-damp hair back from his forehead. He
didn't want to be touched, they'd gotten what they wanted and now all
he wanted was for them to leave him alone. The younger man had
already left the room, returning to the main room of the bar without
so much as a backward glance in his direction and he wished the older
man would do the same instead of trying to comfort him.

"What's a matter, boy? I ain't gonna hurt ya," the man
whispered in a false syrupy sweet tone. "Why would I want to hurt a
sweet little thing like you for, huh?"

Pulling his knees tighter to his chest, Remy wedged himself
tighter into the corner of the room, reflexively trying to make
himself smaller. He just wanted to be left alone, not to be sweet-
talked by this hypocrite who seemed to think that having a threesome
with a ten-year-old didn't constitute "hurting."

Getting no response, the man grabbed the boy by his injured
arm and hauled him to his feet, earning a choked cry of pain from the
boy. "You think I would hurt a child, is that it? You think I'm
some kind of sick bastard?" the man snarled, squeezing the boy's arm
hard enough that Remy felt as though he was going to pass out.

"Non, Monsieur!" Remy frantically cried, willing to say
anything to get the man to release his hold on his arm and let him go.

"That's right, boy. You better believe it," the man
muttered, releasing Remy's arm with a disgusted sneer before turning
and stalking out of the room.

-------

Seeing that the older man had left the backroom of the bar,
Bella Donna turned her attention away from the man sitting in the
corner of the room. The man's reappearance meant that Remy would be
returning soon as well and right now, he was of more interest to her
than was the man she had been watching.

Moments later, Remy reappeared, pale and shaking, with his
clothes in disarray. Glancing over at the man she had been
observing, she noted that he too was watching the boy's reappearance
with sympathetic interest. Moving quickly to the boy's side, she
wrapped an arm around his shoulders and lead him back to the table
and sitting him down in the chair opposite hers, with his back to the
newcomer in the corner.

-------

If Logan had thought the kid looked about ready to keel over
the day before, the boy looked like he was literally at death's door
as Logan watched him enter the main room of the bar. Not only was
the kid white as a sheet and shaking, but it looked as though someone
had broken his arm for him as well. Snarling quietly, Logan clenched
his fists, furious that someone would do something like that to a
child.

Seeing the boy in such pitiful shape, Logan knew there was no
way he could walk away without trying to help the boy somehow, he
wouldn't be able to live with himself if he knowingly let a child
that young remain in a situation like the one the boy was in. He had
to do something; offer the kid a place to stay, maybe, or at the very
least give the kid some money so that he could get himself someplace
safe.

Shifting his gaze from the boy, Logan noticed that the girl
was once again staring intently at him. He had the uncomfortable
feeling that she was sizing him up, although for what purpose he
didn't know.

-------

Bella Donna couldn't put her finger on it, but there was
something about the dark-haired man in the corner of the room that
kept drawing her attention. The fact that he seemed to be constantly
staring in their direction was part of it, but that wasn't really
it. Bella Donna was used to having men staring in their direction,
but there was something different about this particular man, he
seemed almost…concerned.

Swearing inwardly, Bella Donna watched as the man abandoned
his seat in the corner and headed in their direction. She wasn't
entirely sure that the man wasn't interested in sex and didn't want
to have to put Remy through any more today, but it would be near
impossible to turn this man down if that's what he wanted; they
needed the money too much to be able to do that.

Noting the look of apprehension on Bella Donna's face, Remy
steeled himself for whoever it was that was approaching this time; he
hadn't paid much attention when he'd reentered the bar and hoped it
wasn't someone who wanted to hurt him. Looking up at the sound of
footsteps by his side, Remy was surprised to find himself looking at
the man he had been looking for earlier in the afternoon.

"Âllo, Monsieur," Bella Donna said sweetly to Logan, "You
interested in a good time?"

"Nope, sorry. I don't fuck kids," Logan growled, giving the
boy a once-over. "The name's Logan."

"I'm Bella Donna, this is Remy," Bella Donna answered
hesitantly.

"Nasty bump you got there on your arm, kid," Logan said,
reaching a hand out to touch the boy's wrist.

Jerking away from the man's touch, Remy huddled against the
wall as Bella Donna attempted to explain his reaction to the startled
man. "Je suis désolé, Monsieur. Remy doesn't like to be touched by
men…"

"I'm sorry, kid, I didn't mean to scare you," Logan said
softly, moving his hand a safe distance from the boy and keeping his
posture neutral. It was entirely understandable that the kid would
be skittish about being touched with the kind of life he was leading.

Nodding almost imperceptibly, Remy forced himself to calm
down. In spite of his fear of being touched, he felt himself drawn
to this man, there was just something about him that spoke to the
boy; the man looked fierce, that was definitely true, but in a
protective way that was undeniably appealing to the battered boy.

"Listen, kids. I don't want to go sticking my nose in where
it doesn't belong…" Logan started after several moments of
silence, "It's just that I was wondering what a couple of kids your
age were doing out on the streets like this…"

"What does it look like, Monsieur?" Bella Donna asked with
venom; it was perfectly obvious what they were doing and she didn't
appreciate anyone dragging it out of her.

"Whoa, hold on there, girl. I was just thinking maybe you
could use a little help," Logan said softly, holding his hands up in
defeat and turning to look at the boy.

"What kind of help?" Bella Donna asked quietly, sensing that
this might be her chance to do something to help her friend.

"Money…a place to stay…" Logan said, watching the boy out of
the corner of his eye.

-------

Remy knew where this conversation was going and what Bella
Donna was thinking. She wanted him to go with this man, to leave her
behind. She wanted to save him, but he couldn't leave her, he just
couldn't. Reaching a decision, he scrambled to his feet, knocking
his chair over in his rush, and grabbed the girl's arm.

"Allons, Bel. Je veux retourner à la maison." he pleaded
urgently.

"Mais…" the girl protested; this man was offering Remy
sanctuary, she couldn't just leave.

"Allons, s'il te plait," the boy insisted, real panic in his
eyes.

"Mais, mon père…"

"Ca m'est bien égal!!"

Seeing the pain in the boy's eyes, Bella Donna looked
desperately from the panicking boy to the man who had offered her the
only hope she'd had in years. She didn't know which way to turn,
either way would hurt Remy and that was the last thing she wanted.

"Je suis désolé, Monsieur. My brother and I have to go home
now," Bella Donna reluctantly said, sapphire eyes brimming with tears
and allowing Remy to pull her towards the door.

"Wait! Just wait a minute, okay?" Logan called, rushing to
catch them before they left the bar. "Do me a favor, okay? I'm
going to give you two some money and if you change your mind you come
and find me, okay? I'll be in town for another couple of days. Here…
here's the address of my hotel."

"Merci, Monsieur," Bella Donna whispered softly, taking the
money and stuffing it into the pocket of her jacket. If nothing
else, it meant that they had made enough money to go home with and
for that she was thankful.

-------

Watching the pair leave the bar, Logan shook his head sadly,
then turned and walked back to his table in the corner of the bar.
He had done what he could and now he could only wait and see what
would come of it.

Idly peeling the label from his beer bottle, he stared at the
gathering storm clouds in the sky outside and sighed. Something had
terrified the boy…Remy…that much was obvious; he had never seen
anyone so afraid in his life.

Watching the darkening sky outside, Logan felt an answering echo in
his heart.

TBC

~ TRANSLATIONS ~

1) Je suis désolé, Remy, je devais le faire. Il m'a donné $100.
I'm sorry, Remy, I had to. He gave me $100.

2) Allons, Bel. Je veux retourner à la maison.
Let's go, Bel. I want to go home.

3) Allons, s'il te plait.
Please, let's go.

4) Mais, mon père...
But, my father…

5) Ca m'est bien égal!
I don't care!