1/7/96…

23 year old Gordon ran over to where he heard the crash echo from… one small child was dead, her mother the same way.

But the third door on the four door 1995 Chevy Impala was gone… and left behind was a small purple coat.

"Hello?! Where are you, can you hear me?!" Gordon called out over the loud freezing wind as he started wandering into the direction of where it looked like she had been thrown from… a small head with long brown hair became visible and Gordon ran over, crouching down to her.

Checking her right wrist for a pulse, Gordon found that she was alive and took his own jacket off before carefully picking her up and wrapping the small girl in it to keep her warm and pressing a cloth to her wounded left ear.

"You're gonna be okay, little one… you're gonna be okay." Gordon said quietly after retrieving his phone and dialing 911.

"Sachael…" The small child called out in a disoriented manner… and Gordon realised just who the other child was to the injured and shivering child in his arms.

He relayed to the dispatcher that there was an accident and that medical help was needed, not wanting to say that Sachael and her mother were dead to keep from terrifying the small girl he held.

It was at the nearest hospital that Gordon stayed near 5 year old Amanda… watching as she slept from the medicine and feeling like she needed someone until her family got here, he lightly rubbed her tiny right shoulder.

Amanda's eyes slowly opened, Gordon looking at her.

"Are Sachael and her mom okay? I need to see them, can you please find them for me?" Amanda responded.

"I… I don't know where they are, little one. I only found you." Gordon replied.

"The weather got… too bad, didn't it? The snow?" Amanda questioned.

"It did… what do you remember last?" Gordon replied.

"The car hit something… and then it started spinning and then an awful sound…" Amanda responded, Gordon brushing her tears away as he remembered that the front part of the Impala was basically destroyed. "You're not gonna tell me what really happened to them…" She whispered.

"Not until you're safe and taken care of by the doctor… I'll tell you when they declare you stable, you worry about your own health until then." Gordon answered.

Amanda nodded, Gordon seeing that deep down, she knew… but she wouldn't say it.

"You saved me… thank you." Amanda responded.

Gordon nodded, Amanda's tiny right hand wrapping around his much larger left one or trying to.

'Hold onto your innocence for as long as you can.' Gordon thought as Amanda drifted back into sleep.

He didn't feel like he was the same person anymore…

Present time, 1/7/16

Amanda opened her eyes, looking at the clock on the bedside table… it was still early, only a few minutes after 5 in the morning.

But she had no idea that Finn was awake until she felt his left hand on her face.

"Sorry that I woke you." Amanda whispered.

"It's okay… I've been trying to wake you but… your mind was elsewhere." Finn responded, arms wrapping around Amanda.

"I'm not gonna get away with telling you that it was just a nightmare… you remember me telling you about the car crash and the man who saved my life that day. Never figured out his name, I just… I just knew that he didn't leave me there to die." Amanda replied as Finn rubbed his right hand up and down her back.

"And I'm glad he didn't… and I doubt that it'll be the last time you see him, it's a small world." Finn responded.

"It is…" Amanda replied before they heard a knock on the adjoining door and knew they had inadvertently woken Dianne and Enzo.

"I say we just bust the door down." Enzo responded.

"The last time you did that, Finn beat you to a pulp, remember?" Dianne questioned before knocking on the door… when it opened, they saw Finn and then saw Amanda before walking in.

"Rough night?" Enzo asked, Amanda nodding.

"We didn't wake anyone else, did we?" Amanda questioned before they heard Bayley and Sami in the hallway.

"Something feels wrong, I know it." Bayley responded, Sami knocking on the door.

Amanda stood up and walked over, opening the door… and both seeing the tears trailing down her face before she brushed them away.

"Hey… if you're not ready to explain what happened, you can tell us when you're ready." Sami replied as they hugged for a few seconds, Amanda and Bayley hugging as well.

Downstairs after everyone had settled into sleep again, the lobby doors opened… Gordon and Alyx weren't exactly sure what brought them here in the first place but Alyx noticed Gordon look back outside and saw him cringe when he saw the crashed car down the street.

"It's never nice to see something like that…" Alyx responded, Gordon grabbing a notepad and pen they had found and writing on it before showing it to Alyx.

'I found a crashed car about 20 years ago… Alyx, the one I found killed a mother and child and nearly killed another child.'

"You saved her?" Alyx asked, Gordon nodding.

'She wanted to see them… but I didn't want her traumatized so I told her that I only found her. She was only 5 years old at the time.' Gordon wrote down, Alyx covering her mouth in horror.

"Was it… was it her mom and sister?" Alyx responded after lowering her right hand.

'It wasn't but they were close… I couldn't bring myself to try to find the girl again after that. Or ever talk again.' Gordon wrote down, Alyx resting her left hand on his right one.

"I'm sure that one day, you'll find her again." Alyx responded, Gordon nodding before a woman with long dark hair stumbled into the lobby and crashed into a table before she fell.

Alyx stood up and walked over, helping the lady up. "Are you okay there?" She asked, the lady giggling drunkenly.

"Just trying to forget how everything's been… I was seeing this great guy. Tall, dark hair, blue eyes… damn hot accent. Only the thing is, we started to drift apart… he tried to be nice and say that it wasn't going anywhere but I had a feeling that at times, it wasn't me he saw when he talked to me… it was his on screen partner and supposed friend!" The lady responded, dark blue dress disheveled. "How in the hell could he do that? I really liked him." She said sadly, tears forming in her brown eyes.

"Things like that happen… but at least he was honest about it, miss." Alyx replied.

"Yeah, that counts for something…" The lady responded before she continued onto her room.

Alyx walked back to Gordon, both thinking the same thing.

'Sometimes in life, things just don't work out… especially when you're attached to someone else.'