AN: don't own the original characters but I do own mine

1

*FLASH BACK*

The night was cold and rainy. The thunder scared me to the point where I debated on going to my parents room....even if they had been fighting earlier. They did that a lot lately and I didn't understand why. Daddy tried to hide that they fought and Mommy did too but she usually gave up if she got mad. I hugged my stuffed dog, Jojo , tighter.

Tonight had been bad. Daddy watched Lion King with me and then put me to bed. When he left I was almost asleep when I heard Mommy yell something about wanting out. Then Daddy yelled back he wanted out too, that he couldn't stand to live like a caged animal anymore. I didn't understand what they meant, Daddy wasn't in a cage and Mommy wasn't locked up anywhere. After what seemed like forever the yelling stopped and the rain poured harder and the thunder got really big, like it would knock the house down.

I was scared and alone. I got up and shuffled out into the hallway and toddled down the hall to Daddy and Mommy's room. The door was wide open and there was an old, scruffy looking bag thrown on the bed along with a lot of Daddy's clothes. I frowned and pulled a shirt off the bed. It was big and looked nice like the kind grown-up boys wore to nice things, maybe a wedding. It was pretty color a light green like Mommy's and my eyes. I dragged it with me to the living room where I found Daddy grabbing papers from the desk he put the mail on.

"Daddy? Daddy, I'm 'fraid."I said feeling tears in my eyes. His head snapped up and saw me standing there clutching his shirt and the dog he bought my for my 4th birthday last week. He looked angry at first but then his face looked really sad like he had lost his favorite toy. He walked over to me and hugged me tight.

"Why are you afraid baby girl?"

"The thun'er is so big.....and Mommy was yelling, now your room is messy." His face went blank then he rocked me side to side.

"Awe, Abrielle. I thought you were asleep." I shook my head against his chest. "You're not afraid of a little thunder are you? Not my fearless little Abrie." Just as he finished the thunder hit hard and shook the windows. I squeaked and hid my face in the crook of his neck, I remember he smelled like a mix of fresh air and aftershave. He seemed to glare at the sky outside. "Abrie, little girl, look at me." I lifted my face to look at him.

"Yes, Daddy." I said understanding his serious face. He had something very important to tell me. He sighed and hugged me close then took a deep breath.

"Honey, you said you heard Mommy yelling?"

"She does that 'lot now. Doesn't she?" I asked.

"We both yell a lot now, baby girl. So.....Mommy and Daddy decided that Daddy needs to leave for a little while." He said watching my reaction to his words. It felt like my stomach had done a back flip like I learned in gymnastics. "I have to go bye-bye tonight and for a while."

"No, no, no." I shook my head while saying the words very seriously to make sure he knew I didn't like this idea. "Where will you go night-night? Who will watch Lion King with me? Or make me better if my tummy hurts?" Tears were on my face now. He looked sad too when he wiped them away.

"I'm going to stay with Uncle Brian. You remember him? You just met him at your birthday." I let out a cry and put my head down on his chest.

"He lives far, far away." I sobbed.

"You can call me anytime you want. I can still come see you"

"Not the same." Was all I managed.

"Abrielle. Look at me please." I picked up my head and wiped at my face. "Listen now. No matter what happens, I love you. You're my only baby girl. If Mommy says any different she is wrong. Ok?" I nodded. Just then the bathroom door burst open and Mommy walked out. Her green eyes were puffy and red like she had been crying. Her blonde hair was messy and tied up in a short ponytail. She still looked like a Barbie though. She glared at Daddy and told him a car was on the way to get him. He nodded and carried me with him to their- Mommy's room - and sat me on the big bed.

"She doesn't need to see you pack, John. She needs to be in bed its almost 2 in the morning." Mommy's voice was hard like ice. I clung to his arm not wanting to leave him. He saw my face and looked back at Mommy.

"Leave her be, Monica. Let me have so time with my daughter before...." He stopped and turned back to packing. She looked angry but left and stomped to my room. I cried into Jojo and hugged Daddy's shirt close. He calmed me down by singing a song I didn't know. I sat and watched him put clothes in his bag carefully and slowly. When he was done he picked me back up and shouldered the old bag, walking toward the living room.

"Give her to me." Mommy snapped. I whimpered and hugged his neck tighter.

"Shhh shhhh, Abrie. Remember what I told you about being brave? Well right now we have to be brave." He carried me to the door and passed me to my mother. He opened the front door and a yellow car was on the street, and he started to walk toward the car. It hit me then that he was really going away, far away. I gasped and kicked at my mother until she dropped me. I ran out the door, into the down pour screaming.

"No! Daddy! Don't go! Please, please I'll be good and I'll do anything you say. Just don't go away!" I ran into his legs and fell in the mud on the soaked ground. His face was all crinkly like he would cry too, but instead he sighed and picked me up.

"This isn't your fault hun. Now go with your mother." He walked back to Mommy who was now standing at the front door. "I love you. I'll see you soon." Then he handed me to Mommy.

"Be good to her Monica. I'll be back soon, and believe our agreement can be undone if I think anything is wrong here."

"Who are you kidding John? We both know you won't come back. I don't want you to come back, even to visit." Mommy snapped. My eyes got big and I bit into my own lip until it bled as he walked away from us, Mommy and me. When he opened the car door I screamed bloody murder, he stopped but got in the car waved and drove away.......

12 years Later....

"We're sorry to tell you this Ms. Bender, but after the accident your mother was pronounced DOA. You were on the opposite side of the car so you didn't receive the brunt of the crash. You do however have a broken ankle and several large gashes on your left shoulder." The doctors words rang in my head still. The car crash had been two weeks ago and I was alive, but my mother.......wasn't. The other car had swerved and hit us head on, but the impact was more harsh on the driver's side. I had been awake the entire time after impact. The doctor's words were no surprise to me. I had seen my mom a bloody mess with glass in her perfect face, and her straight, delicate nose smashed by the steering wheel before the air bag deployed. It had entranced me that even in this gored setting, covered in blood, glass and debris she was beautiful in a sick, twisted way. In a way I knew she was dead long before the ambulance showed up. I talked to her though, in a raspy half choked voice from where I was pinned. I had my legs stretched up on the dash board when we were hit. Our own car hood had folded like construction paper over them. I told her it was ok, that someone would call for help. I asked her to tell me what to do. I told her I didn't blame her dad was gone, like she had thought for so many years.

I wondered if she had heard them or if she was dead then too. Half of me wanted her to have died as we were hit so she didn't suffer. The other half begged that she had heard everything I said. Almost like a finial confession of everything I had to say. I had sat at her funeral stiff and unable to look away from her face in the casket. Death became her unlike all the other dead people I had seen buried. She looked serene as if she had fallen asleep on some fairytale I had read when I was younger.

I had looked for my father at the funeral but the CPS worker told me she had called my first of kin, his parents Gramma and Gammpa Bender, and they told her that when the funeral was done to send me to them. It angered me that no one would notify my father. I wrote a letter from my hospital bed to my mother to put in her casket before they buried her. It said that Daddy would have come if he could, but she knew how his parents could be sometimes. It explained that I wasn't going to be able to stay in Tennessee, that I was going to live with dad in Illinois.

The entire car ride there I had wondered what he would look like. I hadn't seen him since that night 12 years ago. His brown hair was black from the rain. His brown eyes sad and broken hearted. I forced the image from my mind. He had said he would be back, but Mom wouldn't let him see me. She sent him all my report cards, school pictures, the really good music I wrote and even one of my shows my friend had recorded on a CD. I never got to read the replies. She said I didn't need him in my life, but I had always mentally argued she was the one would didn't need him.

It is true he could have fought my mother to see me but she had reminded him of the mental stress custody battles have on young children. He had immediately backed off. He still demanded updates every two weeks from her. He sent me birthday presents, Christmas presents, even stuff on Easter and the 4th of July. To me he was always there in the back of my mind like a constant buzz.

When the cab entered Illinois I became afraid of what he would think of me. I opened my small bag I had kept with me for the car ride. Alex, my good friend who wanted to be my boyfriend had packed it for me when I was leaving. It had several CDs he had burned for me, one of his hoodies, Jojo, and my tiny make up kit. I pulled out the kit and grabbed a mirror from inside of it. I looked at my reflection critically.

My very long dark blonde hair was piled high on top of my head. My mom's brilliant pale green eyes shone, lined with a thin line of black and framed by what my mom called the longest eye lashes she'd ever seen. I wore no eye shadow because my friends told me that the color and shine took away from my eye color. My lips had a strange natural pout that I thought made me look younger than I really was. I really looked more like my mom than my dad, but she was always annoyed because apparently I acted just like him. Then I studied my outfit.

I had tugged on the light green dress shirt I had held on to for years. It was long on my tiny 5' 2'' frame but I unbuttoned the bottom and tied the ends together so it showed my belly button ring. I also wore a pair of old ripped up jeans with a pair of DC shoes, well only one since my foot was in a cast. Not bad of July in Illinois. Then a thought struck me. What if he doesn't recognize me? I fidgeted in the back seat for another three hours until the car stopped in front of a small dumpy looking house. I read the mail box 3429 The Benders, this was my grandparents house.

R&R peoples! My first fanfiction so show mercy please.