Disclaimer: Anything from ER is not mine. If it was, I'd be in Hollywood, not writing fanfiction.

Author's Notes: This chapter is a revised version of one already posted. There are some major changes. So if you know someone who has read the story before please tell them to re-read.

Also, I do all of my own editing, and despite the fact I go over each piece of writing at least three times there still may be some mistakes. If you see them, please point them out kindly.

The bold is the main character Jackie talking in the future, telling the story of how her family came to be the way it is. It is her clarifying things. Imagine someone asking a question , and she's answering it in the bold, or sometimes on TV shows when the character stops and talks to the audience or there is a voiceover. The bold is like that.

Chapter 1- Abandoned

Before I tell you anything, let me start out by saying my family situation is well… a little different. Not that I'm complaining; I love my family, every single one of them. This is the story of how we became a family, and that, however, is a little bit crazy. But, then again it's my family. So I'll tell you my story, and if you can deal with the craziness and stick it out, you might get what most people call a happy ending. We just call it family.

It all started what seems like a million years ago. But that's an exaggeration. It all started when I was fourteen, the summer before my freshman year of high school. That was the summer everything changed.

"Hey, it's your turn," my cousin, Kenny yelled chucking the bright orange basketball at my head as though it was a grenade. We were having a combined 8th grade graduation party and were playing HORSE at the basket that stood hidden by the side of my house, so we didn't have to keep seeing guests. I was pretty sure neither set of parents had yet realized we were missing. This party was more for them than for us anyway; it was just an excuse for them to have friends over and for my uncle to see the extent of "country living." My family didn't live in the middle of nowhere; we just lived off of what was known as the beaten path, which meant we had lots of space to host a party. Kenny and I didn't care; we were both silent shy soon-to-be freshman. In the fall, we would be heading to different high schools because Kenny was moving. Kenny and I would both rather have been spending time with our best friend who was leaving rather than see hoards of people. I sighed, rolling my eyes at him and ran to get the ball that had whizzed past my head like a bullet.

Grabbing it, I turned and made a shot from where it had landed at the imaginary three-point line. It went through the hoop with a slight swish. "You have an O," I said smirking at my cousin, knowing full well he couldn't make the shot, and turned back to what had distracted me in the first place.

I had turned away from the game for just a second because I heard a car coming up the road and since we live off the beaten path that means gravel. You could hear tires almost a mile away because there were only three houses on that road. Our neighbors, if you could even call them that, there was so much space between houses, were at our house, so I knew it was someone for our party. I had glanced away to see if it was anyone I wanted or needed to greet.

The car was a small four door black jeep with Illinois license plates I recognized instantly. The minute the jeep pulled into our wide spiral driveway my suspicions were confirmed. It belonged to my uncle, John Carter. I barely waited for the jeep to pull up to a complete stop on the grass before taking off in a full sprint across the yard. Kenny had taken to practicing his free-throws in my absence, knowing the game was over. Carter was my godfather and given that he lived in Chicago, which was six hours away, when he showed up, for me…time stopped. Reaching him, I jumped into his arms. Carter was ready, picking me up and spinning me around after he had gotten out of the car.

"Hey, Gorgeous," he said smiling his award-winning smile after putting me back down and ducking into the car.

"Hey, Uncle John," I said giving the same giant grin in return.

"I hear it's someone's graduation or something." A sly grin began to tug at the corners of his mouth as he pulled his head back out of the car clutching a small box in his hand.

He handed the box to me, "What is it?"

"Open it and find out."

I opened it. Inside was a golden chain like a charm bracelet, only it was a necklace. Hanging from the chain were small charms: a cross, a book, and a small lab coat with the name Carter etched into it. "I love it, thank you," I gave him a small peck on the cheek.

"Only the best for my favorite niece," he answered fastening it around my neck.

"You're my favorite uncle, Uncle John."

Okay, now's a good time to explain. My name is Jackie Kohl; well, my full name is Jacklynn Alexis Kohl. That summer, I was graduating from 8th grade in a small town in Central Wisconsin. Where isn't important, what happened is.

It all started with my uncle, John. John Carter is an uncle on my mom's side of the family. She has nine brothers and sisters not counting John. He was a foster child with my mom's family for a while when his parents were too busy dealing with his brother, Bobby's, cancer to take care of him. One of the maids had family in the area where my mother's family lived, so she brought him home with her there, so he could have a somewhat normal childhood. He's technically not my uncle, but all my cousins and I treated him like one, and he treated us like real nieces and nephews.

So back to the party.

Uncle John was so busy socializing with the rest of the family he didn't have any time to spend with me for the rest of the day. However, he stayed the night at our house because he didn't feel like driving all the way back to Chicago at midnight. John spent the night in our guest room which was right across from my room as well as next to the bathroom. My parents' and sister's rooms were on the opposite side of the house.

As I walked down the hall to my room, I passed the guest room. "Good night," I said smiling cheerfully at my good day. My uncle completely ignored me, or so I thought. I went into my room, shutting the door quietly so as not to disturb Uncle John, and burying my face in my pillow, cried me to sleep. I was under the impression my favorite uncle hated me. The next day the party went on some more, with more and more people crowding our house and yard, I didn't see Uncle John again until late that night.

As I passed the guest room, I thought I'd try again; even though, I was positive Uncle John hated me I just wanted to be sure. Knocking softly and poking my head through the door, I smiled and said, "Good night, Uncle John."

I was surprised to hear a response, "Good night, Jackie." There was a pause. As I began to open the door to my room thinking he was finished, he said, "Hey, come in here for a sec." So I went in, tiptoeing easily my socks barely touching the floor. I was careful to be quiet because my mom had bat-like hearing and would get very mad if she thought I was bugging Carter and keeping him from getting the sleep that he wanted or needed. It wouldn't matter if I wasn't bothering him at all, for instance this time around he had asked me into the room. That didn't matter to my mother; if I was talking to any adult, she assumed that an adult wouldn't want my company, so I was being a nuisance or a distraction.

As I took a seat at the foot of his bed he continued," Listen, I'm sorry about last night. I was really into the book I'm reading, and I was distracted thinking about my friends, especially my girlfriend, Abby Lockhart, back in Chicago." I heard a note of homesickness in his voice. He seemed to miss his job and his life in Chicago so much, almost as if the people he worked with were his family. I longed to have a bond like that with anyone. I thought of how I'd love to meet the people my uncle so fondly talked about during his visits, bringing pictures and stories galore.

Smiling, he shooed me off his bed, "Okay, now go to bed before your mom comes. I'll see you in the morning." I nodded heading back to my room. Everything was right with the world.

The next morning, he had to go home back to Chicago. My mother wished him safe travels and thanked him for staying with us. When she had gone and it was just the two of us, he kissed my forehead. "Good bye, Gorgeous. Be good until I come back."

"I will. Good bye, Uncle John. I love you."

"I love you too."

~~ Two weeks later ~~

My parents told me my sister had a conference to go to, and while she was at the conference my parents were going to look at a new house as well. As parents they had to be at the conference, so they figured that the trip should be somewhat productive.

"We'll be back in a week. Don't call anyone and don't get into trouble," they said before heading out the door without a second glance.

I nodded and shrugged. I was used to staying alone and used to my parents taking my sister places I wasn't allowed to go. Because my sister was the favorite, I often had to stay home when she was allowed to go out and have fun. It was accepted fact I was going to make friends at school, but I was very rarely permitted to spend nights at their houses, so people wouldn't get suspicious.

However, this time I sensed something was different as the car was packed up with bigger items from our house like the living room couch in U-haul. I was fourteen-years-old, not stupid. A U-haul meant something big was going down.

However, my parents just came up with another excuse. They told me I couldn't come with because there wouldn't be enough room for the four of us and all the stuff in the vehicle. "You wouldn't fit, and it would be uncomfortable for so long a drive."

But they were taking a U-haul just in case they found the perfect house, no use making more trips back and forth than they had to. I assumed they would be back in just over a week because their time-frames were never quite accurate, so I settled in for time by myself. Time where: I could do what I wanted and not worry about getting yelled at or talked down to.

After almost three weeks had passed, and my family still hadn't returned, I was beginning to run out of the food they had left. I didn't want to call my friends because they didn't know my entire situation; they just knew I was not allowed to hang out at their houses very often.

So instead, I dialed Carter hoping I wouldn't get his voicemail and having no idea what to do if I did. "Uncle John," I said worried, my voice trembling over the phone line after I heard my uncle's confused hello. I was so anxious and distracted I didn't even think to say who was calling. "I think I've been abandoned."