"What happened to Benny, what happened to his heart?

"Daddy?"

"Mhm,'

"Would you tell me a story?"

Benny looked back at his daughter, surprised. "Yeah," he said. "Sure, okay." Usually Allison was in charge of bedtime stories. He made his way over to her, carefully stepping over the toys strewn around the room; and awkwardly perched on the bed.

"So, what kind of story do you want?" Benny asked.

Katie snuggled closer to him. "I don't know," she replied cheerfully. "A drum addict one."

"A…a what?

"Drum addict," Katie persisted. "You know. Lots of drum-a."

"Dramatic? A dramatic story, hon?"

"Fina. A dramatic one then."

"Okay," Benny said. "Okay."

He racked his head for a story, anything. Cinderlla. Would that count? He glanced at his eager daughter. Probably not.

"Alright," Benny said suddenly. "Once upon a time, there were five friends. And they lived in the kingdom of…of Bohemia."

"Bohemia?" Katie repeated. Benny nodded gravely.

"Bohemia," he confirmed. "There was Roger, Mark, Collins, Maureen, and….and Gordon. They lived in a tower high above the kingdom, and they didn't have much money. But they had each other, and it was enough."

"One day though, everything started going wrong. The musician, Roger, met a beautiful maiden who he fell in love with. The only problem was, the maiden was under a spell."

"What the hell are you doing?"

Roger and April broke apart, shoved the needles behind their backs.

"A little alone time, maybe?" Roger asked, widening his eyes and motioning towards the door. Benny marched in, reached behind Roger and pulled out the needle.

"So you can do this crap?" Benny asked. April stared at him, her eyes large and stoned. Roger wasn't there yet. Never had been there.

"It's one time, " Roger snapped. "I appreicate your concern, but it's one. fuckin'. time."

"What kind of spell?" Katie asked.

Benny reached out and wrapped his arms around her. He was quiet for a long moment. "She saw poison and thought it was candy."

"Roger and the maiden began to spend a lot of time together, and the spell started to wear off on him too until he was also eating the poison. And one day…"

"One day what?"

"April and Roger got very sick from the poison--and April died. Roger was devestated, and realized he needed to break the spell if he wanted to live," Benny explained.

"Hey, Mark," Benny said. Mark stepped aside and let him in.

"Where've you disapeared of to?"

"You know, Allison," Benny replied. "How's Roger?"

Mark glared. "Horrible.

"His friends tried to help him break out of the spell, but they were very busy. Mark and Maureen had been dating but now they were starting to splinter. Collins got a job working for the King, far away, and Gordon began to fall in love with the Queen."

Katie frowned, and Benny made a mental note to leave out terms like dating. "So no on could help Roger."

"Well, eventually, they did," Benny said. "Maureen eventually fell in love with…this man, John, and left Mark alone. So Mark helped Roger break the spell, although Roger was still terribly lonely."

"What about Gordon?" Katie demanded, her eyes aflame. "Where was he?"

"Gordon wasn't just in love with this girl, you see," Benny explained gently. "He was in love with the fact that she was Queen. He wanted to spend all of his time at the palace because it was nice and he was treated like a king there."

"Horrible? What do you mean?"

"If you had been here the last few months you'd know."

"What about Collins? And Maureen?"

"A job at MIT, moved out for her own good. See...you don't even know!" Mark turned away.

"Is he finally off the stuff?"

"Today he is!" Mark snapped. "Tomorrow, I don't know."

Benny shuffled his feet. "Can I see him?" Mark pointed at the bedroom. Benny peered in. He was sprawled across the bed, asleep, pale, shaking...

"Oh."

"Yes. And finally he moved out and married her. But things started to look up," he hurriedly added. "Roger was still heartbroken, and still unable to write another song, but things were looking up. A new maiden, Mimi, moved to the kingdom and she thought Roger was wonderful. But Roger didn't want to fall in love with her. He even turned her away."

"Why?"

"Well, you see, it turned out Mimi was a lot like the first maiden. She had the same spell cast over her, and she was bound to get sick. But finally, Roger admitted that he loved her too, and they got together."

"Everything was good for a while. Collins met a beautiful angel and they fell in love. But we're not at the happy ending just yet."

Katie yawned. "Can we finish tomorrow, Daddy?"

"It's almost over," Benny said quickly. He had to finish this now. Something was building up inside him. "After all, don't you want to hear the big mistake Gordon made?"

"What did he do?" Katie asked.

"Even though he was married to the Queen, he thought Mimi was very pretty. And he was jealous that his friend got to be with her. So he said things—terrible things—meant to tear them apart."

"No!" Katie cried.

"I know," Benny murmured. "I know. He betrayed Roger. He betrayed them all. He had even promised them that since he was King, he could help them. But he didn't. He even went as far once to try and take away their tower from them."

"I guess Gordon's the villain then," Katie said. "Like the witch who cast the spells."

Benny looked at them, all each in the eye. Happy New Years. They hated him. He wanted to help, and it was too late.

And there was Roger. Off smack, off April...and with her. An anger was building up inside him, harsh and unreal.

"Mimi since your ways are so seductive..."

Benny felt something hollow in his stomach. He nodded. "Roger decided he couldn't deal with any of it: so he stopped seeing Mimi, and she went to Gordon for comfort. Even Maureen and John--Joanne, I mean--had split up. To make matters worse, Collin's angel had to return to heaven."

"Why?"

Benny considered the question heavily. He saw Collins more than he saw Angel, he saw Collins, mourning and stoic, and the one last gift Benny could give him, the only gift: money for the funeral. How had it come down to this? "She was too beautiful for this earth," he said finally. "She couldn't have stayed longer, and Collins understand that."

"Let's go get drunk."

"I can't, I have a meeting."

"Punk!"

"But Roger didn't. He decided to leave Bohemia and go to..Santafe. Meanwhile, Mimi worsened. She couldn't fight the spell without Roger. Be...Gordon...tried everything to save her. But she ran off. And when Roger finally realized that she was the song he was trying to find, when he went home, she was gone."

Katie held her hands to her mouth. "She can't be gone," Katie said. "That's not how love works. Did Gordon find her?"

Another plummetting feeling in his stomach. "No, his story ends here. He never found forgiveness..never found acceptance...his story is left open. But the other's continue."

Katie blinked. He was over her head again.

"Benny!" Roger gasped. "Have you seen her?"

Benny shook his head. "She was in rehab for a while...and then she was gone. Just gone."

Roger went limp. "I guess...at least she tried."

"She tried for you," Benny assured him, praying that he would take this gift. "Roger, it was all for you."

Roger nodded, but then he left and nothing seemed fixed.

"One day, Maureen and Joanne ran to the tower. They found Mimi, dying, on the streets! The others brought her up the winding staircase. The say that they layed her on the table, and she cried for Roger. He came, with his guitar. And he played the most beautiful song in the world. But still, she began to slip away..."

"Roger cried for her, they say, and suddenly, when all seemed lost...she was back. She told her friends that the angel went to her, and told her to turn around and listen to the song. So she did. And it was like magic: Joanne and Maureen were back together. Mimi and Roger were reunited. Marks and Collins were happy. They all lived happily ever--"

"And what about Gordon?

"What?"

"What about Gordon?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Didn't his friends see that he cared?" Katie asked. "That he tried?"

"He stopped trying, eventually," Benny said quietly. "His past mistakes were too great. He went back to the palace."hm

"That's silly," Katie insisted. "I don't think anyone would mind what happened in the past if he made up for it."

"There is no future, there is no past..."

Katie smiled. "It was a great story, Daddy. I just wish they all had happy endings."

"No day but today...I die without you...no day but today..."

"Goodnight, hun," Benny said quickly, kissing his daughter on the forehead and leaving the room. Then the house. Then the street. Then the nieghborhood.

He was flying through the night, racing, letting loose all the anger and guilt and longing that had crowded his mind and covered his heart. He made his way to the loft. Knocked hard. The door open.

"Mark! Roger!"

A spanish couple stood there, confused.

"Sorry," he mumbled, and he left.

Maybe Katie wasn't so wise. She was so young. Of course it was too late. They hadn't put their lives on hold, they weren't waiting for him in the loft. It was too late. Benny messed up.

He walked into the night, slowly, quietly. Broodingly. The guilt and sorrow, the passion and hate spilled back into him and clogged his eyes and ears until he was senseless.

"Senor! Senor!"

Benny whirled. It was the spanish man.

"Mark and Roger?" he repeated.

Benny nodded, confused. The man placed a tape into his hand, then smiled and left. Benny studied it: Moving day. Mark Cohen & Roger Davis.

Later, Benny would watch it. He'd see Roger and Mark moving out, the others helping them, laughter building up and a few tears too. He'd still feel that longing, still feel that pain.

Until the men, that is, when Mark stood in front of the camera, said Benny's name, and read off their new phone number.

Then, Benny would smile. And for the first time in ages, he would sleep.

THanks for reading, everyone. I hope you review. I wanted to try and capture Benny's guilt in a slightly different way. I hope it worked.