Concrete Angel

by SparksJSH

Lucy deals with her grief over the death of a little girl.

Disclaimer: The 7th Heaven characters and settings belong to Spelling Productions and Brenda Hampton. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

Author's Note: This story deals with the issue of child abuse and may not be suitable for all audiences.

Concrete Angel By: SparksJSH

Lucy Camden cradled the small limp figure of the little girl in her arms, gently rocking her back and forth. She paid no attention to the blood on her face or the pain in her stomach. She ignored Kevin as he roughly shoved Roger Felding to the ground and cocked his pistol, almost begging the man to make a wrong move. Roxanne was kneeling next to her, a gentle hand on her shoulder, speaking softly to her but Lucy paid her no attention. The only thing that mattered at that moment was the unmoving, battered body of the six-year-old girl she had come there to save. She'd failed. She'd been too late and Trudi Felding had paid the ultimate price for that failure.

Her father had helped so many people in the years Lucy had been old enough to understand that her father's job was not just speaking to a crowd of people on Sunday mornings. He had always made it seem simple; Lucy was supposed to be so much like him but this hadn't been easy. Everywhere she had turned she'd come across greater and greater obstacles. They all said that it took time to do what she wanted and no one listened when she tried to tell them that time was the one luxury that Trudi didn't have. She'd never dreamed just how little time the little girl truly had.

"Luce?" Kevin had taken Roxanne's place. It took awhile for his deep tender voice to penetrate the shock of cobwebs that clouded her mind but finally she looked at him. In all the time she'd known him, she'd never seen him look so scared, so relieved to see her. She wanted to collapse in his arms and let him soothe away the pain the last hour had caused her but that would mean releasing Trudi and she wasn't ready to do that. Taking a handkerchief from his back pocket, he wiped some of the blood from her nose. He looked down at the little girl that had just by her mere existence had so captured his girlfriend's attention. "I'm so sorry, Lucy."

"Kevin, the coroner is here. He needs to examine the body." Roxanne hovered nearby, not wanting to intrude but knowing there was work that needed to be done.

Lucy looked up sharply. "Trudi, her name is Trudi."

Not sure if she would let him, Kevin slowly removed the girl from Lucy's arms and pulled her close. "We know, Luce. Come on, Sweetheart; I want a paramedic to take a look at you."

Reluctantly, the young woman allowed him to lead her away from where the coroner was now kneeling beside Trudi. At the door, Lucy stopped and looked around the kitchen. Just like the child had always been, the kitchen was filthy and neglected. No one should have to live the way it was so obvious Trudi had. She lowered her head as Kevin hugged her. She shook her head. "This wasn't how it was supposed to be, Kevin. I was supposed to save her."

"I know." Kevin kissed the top of her head and steered her out of the house before she could break down completely. "But at least no one can ever hurt her again."

Annie and Eric Camden rushed into the Emergency Room and looked around for Kevin. Roxanne, still in her uniform, came up to them. She led them over to a row of hard plastic chairs and motioned for them to sit.

"Kevin is with Lucy; he asked me to wait for you."

Eric frowned. "What happened? All Kevin said when he called was that Lucy had been injured and he was insisting that she come to the Emergency Room. Is she okay?"

Roxanne nodded. Though she was worried about her partner's girlfriend's emotional well being, she could at least offer the Camdens reassurances about her physical health. "Lucy is going to be fine. She didn't even want to come to the hospital but Kevin wanted to be sure. As for what happened, I don't know the full story but apparently Lucy was attacked by the parent of one the kids from the class she's helping out with."

Though Lucy was studying to be a minister, this semester she was taking a child development course. Once of the requirements of the class was that she spend a few hours each week helping out in an elementary classroom. She'd been assigned to a school in a poorer section of town. Lucy had complained long and hard when she'd first received the assignment but after sitting in on the class a few times, she'd suddenly quit complaining.

Annie shook her head, confused. "A parent showed up in the classroom and attacked her? Why?"

Roxanne chewed on her bottom lip. She wished Kevin were there to explain; she didn't know the full story. However, she respected his need to be with Lucy at the moment. The least she could do was try to explain, as best she could, what happened to Lucy's parents.

"It wasn't at school. Lucy went to their house. All I know is that Kevin got a call from Lucy at the department. He got off the phone and was clearly upset. He told me that he was worried that Lucy was in trouble and that we had to go to her. When we got to this rundown, shack of a house, Lucy's car was outside. As soon as we got out of the car we could hear a man shouting from inside and then we heard Lucy scream. Kevin broke down the door and this man was kicking Lucy. Kevin went berserk and went after the guy. I went to Lucy but she'd already got up. By the time I reached her she had a little girl in her arms. I don't even know if she was aware we were there."

Annie clutched Eric's arm in fear. "How bad did he hurt Lucy?"

Roxanne looked behind her, hoping Kevin would emerge from the exam room where the doctor was checking Lucy over. "She had a bloody nose; I think he must have hit her there. Kevin thinks she might have a broken rib or at the very least a lot of bruising in the abdominal region."

"And the little girl?" Eric put his arm around Annie's shoulder, trying to be the strong shoulder his wife needed at the moment.

Even though Roxanne knew nothing about the little girl Lucy had obviously been trying to save; she couldn't stop the tears from filling her eyes. "There was nothing we could do. She was dead by the time we got there."

Kevin was sitting on the exam bed next to Lucy holding her close. In the ten minutes since the doctor had left the exam room, neither had said a word. Questions were tumbling about Kevin's mind; so many things he needed and wanted to ask her. Instead he simply rejoiced in the fact that she hadn't been hurt worse; grateful they had gotten to her in time. He couldn't shake the terror that had raced through his veins when Lucy had called him to say she was sure something had happened to Trudi Felding and that she was on her way over to the girl's house. When he had burst into the house and seen the man hurting the woman he loved, a cold red haze of anger had overwhelmed him. Only some thin measure of professionalism had prevented him from killing him.

"Lucy!" Annie Camden stepped into the exam room; Eric right on her heels. Lucy didn't move. Eric gave Kevin a questioning look, worried by the lack of a response.

Motioning Annie to take his place on the bed, Kevin kissed the top of her head and stood up. "I'm going to go check on your discharge papers now that your parents are here."

Eric followed him out in the hall. Kevin leaned against the wall. "The doctor said she's going to be fine. Nothing was broken but she's going to be sore for awhile."

"Roxanne told us what she could but that wasn't much. Why was she there?"

Kevin shook his head. "Apparently Trudi didn't come to school today. Lucy was convinced Roger Felding had hurt her again and she went to check on the little girl. Lucy called me because she wanted me to be able to arrest him if he had hurt Trudi again. I was afraid Felding might hurt Lucy if she made him mad, but I don't think either of us expected to find Trudi was dead. I think Lucy is blaming herself."

Eric tried to follow the conversation but the truth was he was lost from the very beginning. "Who is Trudi and why did Lucy think she was being hurt?"

"She hadn't told you?" Kevin looked surprised. "I thought she'd asked you for advice. Trudi Felding was one of the kids in the class Lucy was helping with. Lucy was sure the little girl was being abused but no one was doing anything about it. Unfortunately she was right. Roger Felding beat his little girl to death. I don't know how much of it Lucy witnessed before we got there but I know this is tearing her up inside."

Roxanne reluctantly approached them. "Detective Michaels just called from the station. He's going to meet us at the Camdens' house to question Lucy. Apparently Roger Felding isn't saying much."

Kevin nodded. "I don't know how up to questioning Lucy's going to be but I'll go see if the doctor is ready to release her."

Lucy sat curled up next to Kevin on the couch in the Camden living room. Annie sat next to her, watching her anxiously. Eric was sitting in a chair near the couch and Roxanne and Detective Michaels were on the opposite couch. Having known the family for years, Detective Michaels was glad he was the one sitting here ready to question the sensitive young woman.

"Okay, Lucy, why don't you start at the beginning. How did you know the Feldings?"

Lucy quietly explained about the class she was taking and the requirement that she spend three hours a week in the classroom observing and helping with the kids. "The first day I was there, I noticed this one little girl who always seemed to be by herself. It was like the other kids avoided her. Mrs. Peterson, the teacher, explained to me that none of the kids liked Trudi Felding because she always seemed to be wearing the same clothes every day and she often smelled like she hadn't had a bath in days. She never participated in class and I got the feeling that even the teacher didn't like her. I felt sorry for her, especially after I found out her mother had died several years ago and she lived only with her father. It wasn't easy to get close to her because she did smell bad and she always seemed to withdraw from any conversation but one day we were doing art and she was painting a picture. I stopped to ask her what she was painting and she looked surprised at the interest. I didn't think she was going to answer at first but then this light went on in her eyes that probably had never been there before. She explained that she was drawing what she thought heaven would look like." Lucy's voice caught for a moment and she accepted the glass of water, Annie offered her. After taking a long drink and composing herself, Lucy continued.

"I noticed while she was talking that the sleeves of her dress were about to get in the paint. As I admired her painting, I suggested we push up her sleeves so they wouldn't get dirty. She didn't want to and as soon as I uncovered her arms I realized why. They were covered in bruises in various stages of healing. She immediately pushed her sleeves back down and stammered out some excuse about being clumsy. I didn't believe her and after class was over that day, I asked Mrs. Peterson about the bruises. She said that she'd reported her suspicions to the principal at the beginning of the year but that nothing had been done."

Annie looked horrified. "No one reported it to the Department of Human Services?"

Lucy shook her head. "Mrs. Peterson said all she could do was report it to the principal and when I tried to ask him about it; he said he didn't have time to run to the DHS every time one of the students had a bruise."

"Lucy asked my advice that night over dinner." Kevin interrupted. "I told her that the law protected people who called DHS as long as it was done with the belief that a child was in harm."

Detective Michaels nodded. "Did you call?"

Lucy nodded. "The lady told me that they would check into it but I could tell by her voice that she didn't really care about Trudi. I realized if anyone was going to help Trudi, it would have to be me. I spent as much time with her as I could and she slowly started to open up to me. She would give me a hug every time I came in and when I left. Mrs. Peterson even told me she'd noticed a change in her behavior on the days she knew I was coming. She would never come out and tell me that her father was hurting her but the bruises never seemed to go away."

"What made you go to the Felding house this morning?"

"I got to the school and she wasn't there. She'd never missed a day of school before so I had a bad feeling that something was wrong. I called Kevin to meet me there. I figured if she was hurt Kevin could arrest Roger Felding and then DHS would have to do something. When Mr. Felding opened the door, I pushed past him and started calling for Trudi. I found her lying on the floor of the kitchen. I ran to her and picked her up, not caring that her father was yelling at me. The next thing I knew he punched me in the nose. I fell and both Trudi and I ended up on the floor. Then he started kicking me. That's when Kevin and Roxanne came in."

Lucy's eyes were suspisously dry but the others in the room were sure that a flood to tears where lurking deep inside her, just waiting for their moment of anguish to unleash. Roxanne, however, couldn't hold back the tears. She had new-found respect for the young woman who'd always seemed so self-absorbed. "I don't understand something. I can understand her being too scared to tell anyone about the abuse after the fact but how could she go through that severe of a beating without screaming for help? Why didn't one of the neighbors hear her?"

Detective Michaels sighed. "I questioned several of the neighbors and they did hear crying coming from the Felding house but said it was nothing unusual to hear fighting next door and they did nothing."

Lucy's eyes narrowed and she stood abruptly. "They heard and they did nothing? She was a six-year-old kid. Someone was supposed to be looking out for her, protecting her from this kind of pain. Her father wasn't doing it; her neighbors weren't doing it; her school wasn't doing it; who was there for her?"

"You were, Baby." Kevin stood and tried to put his arm around but she shrugged out of his embrace.

"But it wasn't enough was it? Trudi's still dead." She left the living room as the other adults watched in concern.

Kevin buried his head in his hands. "I know how much she's hurting right now. All she's talked about since she started working at that school was Trudi. She loved that little girl. Roger Felding did more than kill his daughter; he took a part of Lucy's heart. I don't know how to get it back for her."

"I can't believe we didn't know anything about Trudi. Why hadn't Lucy mentioned her?" Annie mused. She looked at Detective Michaels. "What happens now?"

"Roger Felding will be tried for murder. I can't see any jury not convicting him. We might not have saved that little girl but he certainly won't hurt anyone else. I know it doesn't sound like much."

Roxanne touched Kevin's knee. "Why don't you stay here with Lucy? I can ride back to the station with Detective Michaels. Call me if I can do anything for Lucy."

Kevin nodded. "Thanks. I'm going to go find her."

Once Annie and Eric were alone in the living room, Eric shook his head. "I can't imagine the pain she must be in right now. I don't know that I could handle walking into a scene like that. I have a friend at the DHS. I'm going to call him and see how she fell through the cracks."

Annie nodded. "It was easier when they were younger, you know, to shield them from the horrors of the outside world. Growing up they saw things that let them know that the world wasn't always kind but somehow we always seemed to make it better. I wish she were still a little girl that we could shield."

"Where are Sam and David?" Lucy stood in the doorway of the living room, Kevin right behind her. If she had heard what Annie had said, she gave no indication. Annie wiped her eyes with a tissue.

"Mrs. Beaker is watching them next door. Your father and I dropped them off when Kevin called us from the hospital. I guess I should go get them."

"I'll do it." Lucy offered flatly.

"I'll go with you." Kevin touched her shoulder but once more Lucy pulled away.

"No. I don't want to talk about what happened anymore and right now I can't take the way you are hovering over me. I just want to spend some time with my baby brothers."

Annie nodded and the young woman left the house. Kevin watched her leave, his expression miserable. He came back into the living room and sank into the couch next to Annie. She put her arm around his shoulder. To her and Eric's surprise, the young man began to cry. Eric left his seat in the overstuffed chair and sat on the other side of the man who had captured his daughter's heart. After a few minutes, Kevin wiped his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I can't get the image of Lucy holding that little girl's dead body in her arms out of my mind. I know that monster is in jail and can't hurt her anymore but I can't help but wonder what would have happened to Lucy if Roxanne and I hadn't gotten there when we did. If she'd been seriously hurt or worse, I don't know what I would do."

"Lucy, look."

"Yeah, look, Lucy."

The young woman forced a smile from where she lay on Sam's bed. After retrieving the twins from the neighbor's and avoiding the church's biggest gossip's questions, she'd returned home with her brothers. She came in through the back door and straight up the stairs to their room. For the last couple of hours she'd simply watched as the two played with toys. Every so often she saw her parents or Kevin stand in the doorway but they never entered and she didn't speak to them. "That's a good picture."

The boys returned to their artwork. It was amazing how they'd grown over the years. She didn't think she'd given it much thought in a while. It didn't seem like that long ago when they had been squirming crying babies that she'd sang to sleep. Then they had been so dependent on everyone else for their every need and comfort but now they were content to entertain themselves for long periods of time; almost oblivious to the adults around them. They, like their older brothers and sisters, would never know even a moment of the pain that Trudi had experienced. She choked back a tear.

"Hey Lucy, Mom says it's time to wash up for dinner." Ruthie stepped into the twin's room. She was intuitive enough to know that something terrible had happened even though no one had told her anything. She sat beside her sister. She saw the bruising that had formed on Lucy's face around her nose. Her eyes widening, Ruthie suddenly hugged her. "Are you okay?"

Lucy shook her head. "No, not really. Can you take Sam and David downstairs for me and tell Mom I'm not hungry?"

Ruthie nodded. "Want me to have Kevin come up?"

"No. I want to be by myself. I think I'm going to take a nap."

She made her way up the stairs to the room she shared with her younger sister. Lying down on the bed, she couldn't stop the stray tear that slipped past her eyes and made a path down her cheeks. She was scared to release the full onslaught of tears that were just below the surface of her control. She knew that once it started, she wouldn't be able to stop. Her ribs were hurting and her nose was throbbing but neither compared to the ache in her heart.

Her back was to the door but she heard Kevin enter. The bed shifted as he lay down beside her and wrapped his arms tenderly around her. She didn't push him away but she didn't relax in his embrace either.

"If I could turn back time and prevent this morning from happening I would."

"So I wouldn't have been the one to find her or so that she wouldn't have died?"

Kevin sighed. "Luce, I'm getting the feeling that you are mad at me about this. Why?"

"A sweet innocent six year old is dead and the system that you are so enamored with allowed it to happen. You told me when you were mad at me for the way I wanted to blow off jury duty that the system works only when everyone plays his or her part. You were implying I wasn't playing my part. Well, this time I did what I was supposed to do; I stood up for Trudi when no one else would and what happened? The official part of the system didn't do their part and now Trudi is dead. How can I not be mad about that?"

"You're right; the system failed Trudi. But it won't fail her this time. Her father is going to go to jail for a very long time. He'll never hurt anyone ever again. I promise you that, Lucy."

"How does that help Trudi now?"

Kevin didn't know how to answer her so instead he simply held her as she cried silently. He knew, as well as she did, that the dam on her emotions had yet to break but the leak was getting bigger and bigger and it was only a matter of time before it burst completely. He wasn't going to let her be alone when it happened.

An hour passed in silence with Kevin just content to make his presence know by holding her close. He knew the moment she fell asleep because her body finally relaxed and her breathing became even. He couldn't release her though. He hadn't been able to save Trudi but he was so glad that he'd gotten there in time to prevent the same thing from happening to Lucy. Even if she didn't realize it, he knew how close he'd probably come to losing her. So he continued to hold her both to offer her some comfort and in gratitude that he was still able to.

"How is she?" Ruthie stood beside the bed and looked down at her older sister. "Mom and Dad kind of told me what happened but I'm sure they didn't tell me everything."

Kevin didn't doubt that. How would you explain to someone Ruthie's age how a man could savagely beat his child to such an extreme that it killed her? He was a police officer and had seen some pretty hard cases in the short time he'd been a cop and he didn't understand it. "She's going to be fine, Ruthie. She's got all of us to make sure of it."

Ruthie nodded. "Mom saved you a plate. I'll stay with Lucy if you want to go eat."

Kevin shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere. I think your parents would understand if I spent the night up here. I just don't want to be that far away from her in case she needs me."

Ruthie raised her eyebrow; things must be a lot worse than they let on if he really thought her parents would not freak out about him spending the night in Lucy's bedroom. Ruthie sat on her bed and studied them. "Mom and Dad said that one of the kids in Lucy's classroom project had an accident and died. What kind of accident?"

Kevin didn't want to elaborate on what Eric and Annie had told her. If that's all they wanted her to know then he wouldn't go into details. "It was an accident that could have been prevented. The little girl who died was very close to Lucy and your sister's taking her death pretty hard."

Ruthie nodded. She could understand that. The year before she had taken the death of a soldier she'd been emailing hard and she wasn't even as sensitive as Lucy was. She was sure there was still more to the story but she left it at that. "Want me to bring you a tray up?"

Kevin smiled. Ruthie might be a royal snoop but she did seem to know when to leave well enough alone. Lucy was lucky to have such a caring and concerned family and he felt lucky to be apart of it as well. "Thanks, I would like that."

Lucy sat down at the picnic table outside and was not surprised when Trudi sat beside her. Though she was still a reserved child, the six-year old didn't seem to mind talking to Lucy and often sought out her company at lunch and recess. Lucy wished more of the kids would accept Trudi instead of being turned off by her unkempt appearance. Lucy was surprised to notice that now she wasn't even aware of the musty unbathed smell she'd first noticed about the child.

Reaching into her lunch bag, Lucy pulled out two sandwiches. Every since she'd noticed Trudi eating a slightly moldy sandwich one day, she'd begun bringing extra to share with the little girl. She offered one to Trudi who smiled back her thanks. Lucy watched as she bit into her sandwich and found herself smiling as well.

"You have a beautiful smile." Lucy remarked.

Trudi's whole face lit up at the compliment. It broke Lucy's heart to realize that that might have been the first personal compliment she'd received in a long time, if ever. Suddenly Trudi threw her arms around Lucy and hugged her tightly. "Miss Camden, you are the nicest person I ever met. Sometimes I wish." But then she didn't continue.

"Wish what?" Lucy didn't want to push but this was the most open she'd ever seen Trudi.

Taking a deep breath, Trudi rushed out her statement before she could lose her nerve. "I wish you could be my mommy. I would be the luckiest little girl in all the world."

A lump formed in Lucy's throat and for a moment she couldn't speak. Suripetiously wiping a tear from her eye, Lucy returned the little girl's hug. "No, Trudi. I would be the luckiest person in the whole world to have such a wonderful little girl as you."

Lucy sat up in bed. Had it only been the day before Trudi's death that that scene had taken place on the playground? She wished she'd been able to take Trudi home right then so that her father hadn't had another chance to hurt her. Realizing suddenly she was not alone in her bed, she looked down to see that Kevin, still in his uniform, was sound asleep beside her. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she wondered what Kevin would have said if she'd brought Trudi home.

Kevin stirred in his sleep, seemingly restless now that she had moved. Not wanting him to awaken and find her awake, Lucy gingerly slipped out of bed. A ripple of pain reminded her that her ribs were still tender. Still she would have gone through any amount of pain if it would have meant saving Trudi's life. Her right hand covered her mouth hoping to stave off the sobs that threatened her.

She headed downstairs to the kitchen. Maybe a glass of juice would settle her emotions some. As she turned on the landing heading into the kitchen, Lucy could hear her parents talking at the kitchen table. A tunnel of sound her mother had once called the stairwell; now Lucy could see why. She paused for a moment, listening.

"My contact at DHS said they had just received a court order to remove Trudi from Felding's custody while they were investigating. They were going to serve the warrant today. It just wasn't soon enough." Eric lifted his coffee mug to his lips.

Annie shook her head. "This just doesn't sound like it should be real. When I think about what happen to that little girl and what could have happened to Lucy, I just get sick to my stomach. Why didn't Lucy talk to us about what was going on? Maybe we could have helped; or at least been there through this."

"Would you have?" Lucy came down the rest of the stairs into the kitchen. Her parents looked up at her in surprise. She leaned against the wall. "Dad, ever since your surgery you haven't wanted to get involved with anyone's problems. Mom had to even force you to help yourself. And Mom, I don't know if Dad's problems had anything to do with it or after over 20 years of helping us with our problems, you've finally just gotten tired but lately you haven't been forthcoming with advice or help. I figured as an adult it was time for me to start helping myself. I really thought I could save her." Finally the floodgates opened and she began to sob. Clutching her bruised ribs, she sank to the floor.

Immediately Eric and Annie left their seats and went to her side. Annie hugged her tightly and Eric caressed her cheek. Annie was crying almost as hard as her daughter and Eric's eyes were red-rimmed with unshed tears. He felt guilty. He had let his family down once again and this time the price tag might be too high an emotional toil on his little girl grown up. He might not have been there when she first needed him but he'd be there for her now.

"Lucy, we all feel bad about Trudi and her loss is devastating but sometimes no matter how hard we try; we can't save everyone."

"You do." Lucy's tone was almost accusatory.

Eric lowered his head. "Not always. There was a guy who came to me for help when I first came here to Glen Oak. He had had a hard life; his parents had died when he was really young; he'd been shuffled from foster home to foster home; he got mixed up with a wrong crowd in high school and gotten involved with drugs. He wanted help and I thought I was giving it to him. Then he called me one night and told me he'd messed up again. He had robbed a liquor store to get money for drugs. While I was on the phone with him he. he committed suicide. For months afterward I had nightmares about the sound of that gun going off. I felt like a failure because I failed him."

"There's a big difference, Dad. He made the choice to end his life. Trudi didn't have any choice. She was just a child and the adults were supposed to protect her but none of us did anything. We DID fail her. I failed her."

Annie silently pleaded with Eric to say or do something. She held Lucy tighter. "You didn't fail her, Lucy. You mustn't think that. You tried to help; when no one else was doing anything you befriended her and you tried to save her. Don't blame yourself."

Wiping at her eyes, she suddenly broke free of her parent's grasp and rose. "I need some air. I'm going for a walk."

Eric rose as well. "I'll come with you."

Lucy stopped halfway to the door. She didn't turn around. "No. You can't help me with this. I don't know if anyone can. I just know that if I don't get out of here I'm going to completely lose it. I'm not ready for that. I'll be back later. Don't wait up."

Annie waited until she was gone. She looked at Eric, worry evident in her eyes. "She's going to be okay, isn't she?"

Eric ran his hands through his hair. "Eventually. She didn't just see a little girl die today; she learned a very hard lesson."

"What's that?"

"That her parents aren't perfect."

Lucy strolled down the Promenade, oblivious to the late night crowds. She didn't want to be around people but yet she didn't want to be completely alone. This seemed like the best alternative. At long last she stopped at the Pete's Pizza and entered. Pete smiled in welcome. "Hey Lucy, what can I get for you?"

"Just a coke." She murmured before sinking into a chair. Once Pete set her coke on the table and left, Lucy leaned back in her seat and listened to the music playing in the restaurant. Tim McGraw was insisting that he liked it; he loved it; and that he wanted more of it. Lucy slowly began to relax until the song was over and a slower song began. The words she heard sent a chill up her spine. She listened intently as Martina McBride's song Concrete Angel played. The song was about a little girl who was being abused and in the end died because no one did anything to help her.

As the last note of the song faded away and Blake Shelton began singing about Austin, Lucy broke down completely. It didn't matter what people thought. How could anyone have captured Trudi's story so completely without knowing her? She wanted to throw something at the speaker. Beg Martina McBride to change the ending, let the neighbors hear and do something before it was too late. There shouldn't be a funeral. Nobody should forget the pain that Trudi had gone through.

"Baby, it's okay." Somehow Kevin was kneeling beside her, touching her cheek. Lucy slid out of her seat and into his arms. He held her as she cried and surprisingly no one bothered them. At long last, he cupped her face in his hands and lightly kissed her bruised nose. "I know you are hurting; I know you are mad at me, your parents, the system and at yourself. But don't try to go through this alone. Let me be there with you."

"She wished I was her mother. She barely knew me but she knew that I would be better than what she had. Why did she have to die?"

"I don't know. I wish I did. One of the first calls I had in Buffalo was to help with a car accident. It was horrible; a drunk driver slammed head on into a minivan. This three year old was thrown from the vehicle and killed instantly. I remember looking in his sweet little face and being so mad. Why wasn't he in a car seat? Why did the other guy have to be driving while at twice the legal limit?"

Lucy watched him. This was different from her father's story; Kevin truly understood the pain she was feeling. "How did you handle it?"

"I didn't, not really. I asked to be assigned to airport duty. I didn't want to ever see anything like that again and I knew the airport would be safe. And there I met the most beautiful woman in the world and I followed her halfway across the world. Without even knowing it, she helped me get past the pain and the anger and I don't even know how she did it. I ran and hid, Lucy, but you are stronger than I am. Maybe no one could save Trudi but she's not the only little girl out there that's being hurt. The system failed Trudi because there are too many kids being abused and too few workers investigating."

Lucy accepted his handkerchief and wiped her nose. Her nose was too sore to properly blow it. Then she wiped her eyes and let his words sink in. "You think I should change my major over to social work?"

Kevin shook his head. "No, but once you are a preacher you'll be in a position to help kids in Trudi's position. And you will work twice as hard to prevent the same thing from happening to anyone else."

"I love you." Lucy kissed him tenderly.

"I love you too. I have another favor to ask."

"Besides not shutting you out?"

"Don't put yourself in danger like you did today." Kevin stared straight in her eyes. "I don't want to lose you."

"I can't promise that. If I could redo today the only thing I would do differently is get there before he killed her, even if it meant me getting hurt worse."

Kevin sighed. "I knew you would say that. So promise me you won't go into danger without me being there to protect you."

Lucy nodded. "That's why I called you before I left for the Felding House."

"Can I take you home now?"

Lucy nodded. It was going to take her a long time to get over Trudi's death. She would have more fits of anger and despair. She would probably spend more time in the next few weeks crying than not but Kevin would be there for her. Her family would be there as well despite whatever problems they might have at the moment. And no matter what, Trudi would never be forgotten.

The End