The air was hot and heavy, even with the car windows rolled all the way down and the wind providing some much breeze couldn't escape the hot humidity or the fact that it was so stuffy in the car, especially after being stuck in the same seat for the past nine hours. Charlotte Beck or rather Lottie as she preferred to be called couldn't ever remember it ever being so hot before in her short little years. But they were in Texas now and the hot weather was to be expected in The Lone Star State according to Lottie's mother whatever that meant. All Lottie knew was that yet again they were moving again, this was the 11th state in 8 years and Lottie couldn't remember how many times that she had been new kid, in a new town and trying to make friends before things fell apart and they were on the move again. Sometimes it was because mom had used all the rent money to get drunk and they needed to skip out on the rent and town before the landlord called the cops. Then times it was because the town didn't have quite the right fit, it was too cold or too small, one time it didn't have the right juju, Lottie was pretty certain that it was Phoenix. She couldn't really be sure as they moved around so many times that Lottie had lost track. All Lottie knew was that there were moving yet again, this time to Dallas and her mom seemed really excited about moving to Texas, like she was every time that moved to a new place, claiming that it was an adventure and it was going to be fun for them all, until things went wrong – it was only a matter of time. Things always went wrong.

"Just you wait kids, everything is going to be different this time. I have a real good feeling about Gerry…" Sharon Beck stated with a broad grin as she glanced back to her two children sitting in the back seat of her beat up old car before returning her gaze back to the road. Gerry was Lottie's mom new boyfriend and the reason that they were moving to Dalls. "He's a good man, real nice and sturdy. It's about time that Jesus dropped kicked a nice man into our lives who will be able to take care of us. Give the three of us the life we deserve. I promise you kids, this time it's going to work out. The two of you are going to love Dallas…"

Eight year old Lottie didn't say anything and neither did her twin brother Rusty who sat beside her in the car. The two of them had heard all of this before, the excitement in their mother's voice as she went on about some new man in her life who would take care of them all and provide them with a better life like she was some giddy love struck teenager. At eight years old the Beck twins knew not to put much thought into their mother's promises about a man coming along to save them as nothing ever changed in their lives. They had heard this speech countless times before and they knew the only thing that ever changed was the men coming in and out of their mother's life and how long she would remain sober for. It didn't mean that they didn't want to believe her as Lottie did, she really wanted to believe that someday everything would be all better. That they would leave in a nice house and she would have her own bedroom and no longer have to share a bed with Rusty or their mother depending on where they were. Maybe one day things would be better…

Lottie Beck tightly gripped the straps of her backpack as she quietly shuffled through the hallways of the LAPD, trailing behind her brother Rusty who was currently on crutches at the moment, hobbling behind the police officer who had brought them in. This wasn't exactly how Lottie thought the day would go when she woke up this morning and the last place she wanted to be was at another police station. If Lottie had things her way then she and Rusty would be on a bus to Nebraska or some other far off place where no one would come looking for them, most of all the cops. Her and Rusty had been busted by the cop, a couple of hours after they had run away from their current foster home for the third time in the last week. Lottie had lost track of the number of foster homes that she and her brother had been placed in, all that she really knew was that being in foster care sucked. The foster home that they had just run away from hadn't been that bad, Lottie could remember being in worst ones but this particular one had been a bit tiresome and the foster parents had this weird set of rules that hadn't gone down too well with Rusty and so the two of them had to decided to take off. Both of them knew that the two of them could take care of each other better than some person appointed by the state who was just in it for the money. Lottie knew that her and Rusty didn't need anyone as they had been looking after each other for as long as she could remember. They had grown up taking care of each other and their addict mother whenever she fell off the wagon or when she abandoned them at the zoo and never came back, running off with her moronic boyfriend. The two of them had survived on the street for months and they could do it again with DCFS interfering and they would do a much better job than any adult could. The Beck twins had promised each other that they would always stick together no matter what, through the good or bad although Lottie knew imagined that would involve her brother becoming a key witness in this huge murder trial.

Rusty witnessing a serial killer burying one of his victims bodies was something that Lottie hadn't seen coming but she had quickly adapted to the whole situation as her and Rusty had been dealt a lot of crappy hands in their life. From the beatings they used to get from their mom's numerous boyfriends, one of which resulted in Lottie going deaf in her right ear or taking care of their addict mother after she had gone on a huge bender, coming back drunk or high, sometimes even both. Lottie and Rusty had taken care of their mother since they were small kids until she abandoned them at the zoo. Sharon Beck dropped her two children off at the zoo, claiming that she and her boyfriend would come and collect them in a couple of hours, but they never did. That was pretty much the crappiest hand that Lottie had ever received, she found it worse than going deaf in her one ear and since that day Lottie couldn't have the zoo mentioned in front of her without becoming sick. Right now Lottie wasn't sure what a worse place to be right now would be; the zoo or the police station but there wasn't anything she could so. After the cops had picked her and Rusty up they had been taken to the Major Crimes Division of the LAPD as the case that Rusty was a material witness to was one of their cases and it apparently in Rusty's file to bring him there if anything happened and since Rusty refused to go anywhere without Lottie, the police officer had brought her along too. Whilst Rusty was directed to take a seat by the officer who had brought them in, Lottie remained standing where she was, instead taking in every detail of the room as she possible could such as how many people there were in here, the amount of windows and debating in her head the quickest way they could get out of here. Although Lottie knew that it was going to be hard as they were in a building filled with cops who weren't just going to let two street kids just waltz out the building. Especially if one of them was a witness for a very important case of theirs. Lottie was so lost in her imagination, trying to think of way that her and Rusty could get out of this hell hole and away from the cops that she didn't notice her brother trying to get her attention. That was until Rusty had hit her in the leg with one of his crutches and with an annoyed look on his face, pointing for Lottie to turn her hearing aid back on. Lottie had a tendency to turn off her hearing aid when she was in a situation that made her nervous and it made her feel easier to turn the hearing aid off and be unable to hear pretty much anything.

"Hey Lott?" Rusty quietly began making sure not to draw attention to either of them from any of the top. Being invisible was sort of like a specialty to the Beck twins. Before this whole witness thing with Rusty, the two of them were invisible, living on the streets and doing whatever it took to survive. Lottie and Rusty had been anonymous, no one knew who they were, not the cops and DCFS. Now they did. Made it harder for Lottie and Rusty to slip back under the radar. But they would try and figure things out.

"Yeah, Rusty?"

"About what happened earlier–"

"It wasn't your fault. None of this is Rusty." Lottie began knowing full well that this was going, her brother was going to blame himself for getting them rounded up by the cops. He was going to blame the fact that they were forced into foster care after he had called the police to report that he saw a man burying what looked to be a body in Griffith park and the police had tracked him down. They wouldn't have been caught if it wasn't for the fact that Rusty couldn't run at the moment. Even though Rusty was on crutches, Lottie was a certified klutz and she had a tendency to take people down with her when she tripped over. Her tripping over her own damn feet when the cops managed to track them down, somewhat slowed down their chance off escape. It was embarrassing really, Lottie was sixteen and had practically zero hand eye co-ordination and that was without throwing in the whole deaf in one ear thing. Lottie heard her brother groan before leaning his head down against the table. She knew that Rusty wanted no part of this but had agreed to do what the police wanted if the police located their mother and brought her back Lottie wasn't thrilled about either of these things, especially the part involving their mother. But she said nothing as out of the two of them, Rusty was the talker. Instead Lottie just idly shuffled her feet along and occasionally glanced at the young police officer who was clearly on babysitting duty and not thrilled about it either.

"Rusty." A soft and feminine voice began and looking in the direction of where it come from Lottie saw an a woman, a bit older than her mother with soft auburn hair, black rimmed glasses dressed in a fitted black skirt suit. Given that she knew Rusty, Lottie assumed that this was one of his new cop friends he had made when he had helped the cops find the killer that he had stumbled across, who had also tried to kill him. "What are you doing here?"

"His file says attention: Major crimes and this is the third time he's run away from home this week." The cop explained.

"It's not our home." Rusty firmly stated and Lottie slowly nodded her in agreement, they didn't have a home like normal people. There was no house that was home to them. Growing up they were constantly moving around, getting kicked out of places because their mom kept skipping out on the rent. For the Beck twins, home was with each other.

"The foster parents that DCFS put him with won't take him back, but they will however take the girl–"

"No! Not happening! How many times do I have to tell you people that me and my sister stay together before you finally listen!?" Rusty demanded in a loud manner and seeing that her brother was getting himself worked up for no reason, Lottie reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. She didn't need to say anything as Lottie knew that Rusty knew deep down that she would never leave him. That she wouldn't let anyone separate them. They would always stick together no matter what. Lottie understood why just the mention of them being separated freaked Rusty out as their mom bailing on them messed them up real good, even Rusty who was still adamant that their mother would come back to them someday. Lottie was no shrink but she believed the term used was something along the lines of abandonment issue. Their mom leaving forced both Lottie and Rusty to do things they never imagined themselves doing in order to survive. Especially Rusty. He did the one thing that Lottie just couldn't do in order to provide for them both. If it was anyone's fault that the two of them ended up the way they were then it was Lottie. If she had just pulled herself together that night, not thought too much of what she was doing, what she was selling then she would have made them money. Rusty never wanted her to do that kind of stuff as he was the eldest, only by fifteen minutes however he argued that it was his job to take her of his sister but Lottie wanted to help. However things didn't end up like that as she freaked out and got smacked around instead. So after that it was only Rusty who did that kind of stuff whilst Lottie got them money in more creative avenues. Because of the sacrifices Rusty made to take care of her, Lottie would never leave him.

"You must be Charlotte, I'm Captain Raydor." The woman with auburn hair began with a small and friendly smile as she held out her hand for Lottie to shake after taking a good look at Lottie's hair which was currently a pastel pink colour. Lottie just wearily looked at the offer hand as she wasn't exactly sure what to do with it. Well Lottie knew why people shook hands but it was just something that she didn't feel comfortable with. To be honest Lottie didn't feel comfortable with most people and after a moment Captain Raydor seemed to realize this as she withdrew her hand.

"It's Lottie. Just Lottie, no one calls me Charlotte…" Lottie quietly said in an awkward manner as she looked around, avoiding any eye contact in the slightest. Lottie didn't like being here in the slightest, in fact she wanted to find the nearest corner in which she could hide in, turn off her hearing aid and submerge herself in a book until all over this was over, or her and Rusty got sent back to foster care. Whichever came first.

"I see… So may I ask what the issue is with the poster parents?" Captain Raydor asked and Lottie found herself looking at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. The foster parents weren't that bad, Lottie knew that they could be a lot worse and do things like hit them or handcuff them to radiators and generally be abuse or be drugs dealers. Which was a whole other situation that Lottie didn't want to get into at the moment.

"They were terrible." Rusty announced.

"What's the problem?"

"Living with complete strangers that is the problem. They were, like, telling me and Lottie what to do all day long, even, like, what we could eat and they would turn off the television at 9:00 every night." Rusty began listing off all the reasons why the foster parents were the devil incarnate in their eyes. This whole foster care thing was way too stressful, things were so much easier for Lottie and Rusty when they were living on the streets. Life was simpler. Now it was complicated and Lottie didn't like complicated, it made her head hurt. It made her feel anxious.

"So, you were tortured?" Captain Raydor quipped in a dry manner and Lottie couldn't help scoff in amusement as she didn't expect the woman to come out with something like that and it was kind of funny. But given the glare that Rusty was sending her way, he clearly didn't appreciate Lottie laughing and she had to remind herself that there were in a serious situation. Yet making jokes about being tortured by not so evil foster parents.

"Depends on the definition." Lottie commented in an offhanded manner.

"Another thing they were treating my sister like crap! My sister may be deaf in one ear but she is not stupid! They were being obnoxious and talking loudly to Lottie as if she can't do anything and talking about her as if she couldn't hear!" Rusty hissed and Lottie squeezed her brother's shoulder again, as if to tell him that there was no need to get worked up for her part. Lottie knew that no everyone was as understanding about her condition like Rusty was, people saw the hearing aid and assumed she was completely deaf in both ears. That wasn't the case, but people didn't really understand. Lottie was use to people not understanding and people making assumptions whereas Rusty would get defensive if people were ignorant to Lottie's condition.

"I will take care of them, thank you officer." Captain Raydor said in a polite manner dismissing the officer, leaving Lottie wondering by what the captain meant by the whole she'll take care of them. She was certain in the least that her and Rusty wouldn't like it in the slightest especially if meant them being sent to another set of foster parents who probably had little interest in putting up with them and their antics.

"Look, I know Brenda was fired or whatever, but I need to speak with her right now." Rusty began with a long sigh and Lottie along with Rusty followed Captain Raydor in an office, which Lottie presumed to be hers. After he had hobbled in, Lottie helped Rusty sit himself down in a chair. Once he was settle Lottie remained standing, she couldn't sit down as that would mean putting her guard down and she couldn't do that. Lottie had to be prepared for whatever was coming so she could react to it and she couldn't do that if she was sitting down. Lottie would continue let Rusty do the talking for the two of them as he had their best interests at heart and Lottie would keep an eye out for people who resembled social workers or foster parents.

"Lottie, would you like to sit?" Captain Raydor questioned and Lottie just shook her head.

"She doesn't sit. She can't pace up and down if she's sitting." Rusty offhandedly commented as Captain Raydor sat behind the desk before returning to the subject matter at hand. "Look… We had a deal. I helped you guys catch a serial killer so that you would find my mom not just dump me and my sister into the system. I mean, you want to know why people don't like the police? It's because you're all a bunch of liars. That's why."

"Okay. Rusty we haven't been able to find your mom yet, and you along with Lottie are too young to live unsupervised."

"We lived unsupervised for months and nobody cared what we we're doing or where we we're staying, we can handle it. We're not kids, Rusty and I can take care of ourselves, have been for our entire lives." Lottie replied in a wearing tone as she glanced through the blinds in the office and looked out into the murder room, fidgeting with the straps with her backpack as she kept an eye out as to who was coming in and out of the major crimes division.

"Lottie, your brother is a material witness in a murder trial, which means that he had to go to court when Philip Stroh stands trial, and he will have to testify under oath about what happened to him." Captain Raydor stated, referring to the two times that Phillip Stroh had attacked Rusty in an attempt to kill him so there would be no witness to his crimes. The mere mention of him caused Lottie to swallow a lump in her throat as she played with the ends of her long hair as she thought about that night. She was supposed to have been there. Well in the area as she acted as Rusty's spotter when he went out on jobs. Lottie wasn't actually there when Rusty went off with those guys, but she hung around in the general area to make sure nothing bad happened. But the night at Griffith Park when Rusty was first attacked by Phillip Stroh she hadn't been there, Lottie hadn't been feeling well so she stayed at the building that they had been squatting in at the time. Now, because of that night someone guy wanted her brother dead. Lottie wasn't sure how much more of this she could take.