Orphan

by WV-Rebirth

After growing up in one foster home after another, Will finds herself facing possible charges of assault or one last chance at a home in Heatherfield with mandatory counseling for her supposed anger issues.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Title: Orphan

Date Posted: October 24, 2011

Written By: WV-Rebirth

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own the W.i.t.c.h. or any other character that may make a cameo. Only character I own is my own character Danni.

Summary: After growing up in one foster home after another, Will finds herself facing possible charges of assault or one last chance at a home in Heatherfield with mandatory counseling for her supposed anger issues after hitting the snobby, lying daughter of her last home's caretaker.

Warnings: This story will mention child abuse and rape and may show scenes of violence.

I was trying to get a few chapters of this finished to release at once since it is part of my Boyfriends Christmas present, hence the lack of a prereader lol. This is one of the stories he has been asking me to write so I hope both he and you all enjoy it. I was also hoping to have another chapter of Guardian's homecoming done as well, but time was against me sadly.

LINE CHANGE

It had been so long since she had been home as she didn't want to leave Los Angeles where her husband wanted to stay. Of course he paid for her father to fly out several times throughout the year for family visits. They all loved each other and supported her through the tough times that she went through while hiding it from her children. Not that her only son Matthew or youngest daughter Jenny wouldn't understand, but they didn't need to know her greatest pain, her greatest shame.

Now that her husband was dead and buried for three months she decided sadly that maybe it was best to return home. There was nothing she could do to make up for what she did all those years ago despite trying so hard over the years. Her husband had hired the best private investigators and not one of them could even come up with a hint of what happened. It was time she gave up and with her beloved gone, there was nothing keeping her in California any longer. It was why she was driving their black Cadillac with her two children and a few changes of clothes to her childhood home while the rest of their stuff was brought on moving truck.

Her children was a little undecided if they wanted to move as they liked their schools...for the most part. It was summer and between years and Matt had broken up with his girlfriend of six months after she had the nerve to get angry because Matt wouldn't take her to a party. A party that was being held at the same exact time of Matt's father's funeral. If Matt was pissed off enough himself with the self absorbed little bitch, then she herself would of strangled the little tramp when she threw a fit about it. Dumping the girl was the best thing for Matt, but it hurt him more than he cared to admit.

As for Jenny, she liked school well enough, but she didn't feel as if she belonged. She was a self expressive girl in a world where the girls were fighting for the coolest guys and the latest fashions. It pissed Jenny off when people told her what she should be wearing or how she should act. In her opinion if the guys at school wanted to show off a dress-up doll with no individuality then they could go buy a blowup doll.

So here they were now, pulling into the driveway of their new home with her father who was coming out to greet them.

"Suzie, I'm glad you made it." Herbert cried happily as she climbed out of the car letting her two children sleep a few extra minutes while she greeted her father. Too bad her mother wasn't still around as the woman would have loved her grandchildren coming home to live.

"Hi Daddy!" She said happily as she was engulfed in her fathers older yet strong arms. She missed this feeling of being warm, safe and loved in her father's arms. "Thank you so much for letting us move in."

"Nonsense honey, when I pass I want to leave the house and pet store to you." Herbert said as he pulled away while looking at the car where Matt was climbing out followed by his little sister.

"Hey gramps." Matt greeted as his little sister flung herself in the older man's arms hugging him tightly.

"Missed you to honey." Herbert said kissing the top of the dark haired girl's head.

"I can't wait to see the pet store, grandpa." Jenny said excitedly pulling away from her grandfather.

"There will be plenty of time for that later." Herbert said as they saw the moving truck pulling up by the road. "First lets get you three settled in."

LINE CHANGE

One year later...

The old building was a shock to the redhead as she adjusted the strap of her duffel bag over her shoulder. It was the first time in a place like this as usually group homes were small houses where the kids had to share rooms two, and less often three to a room. This...this was different. This was an old three story hotel that looked in pretty decent condition with a sign reading Rainbow House. It was kind of funny, calling a hotel a house. Hopefully it would be a lot better than some of her previous homes.

She idly thought about turning away and running as she thought of some of her past foster homes. Places where she was belittled, beaten and at times treated like a slave. She never had one decent home in as long as she could remember during her sixteen year old life. Somehow she hoped for once it would be different, but she wasn't going to hold her breath. She could just turn around and walk away right now, but that could end her up in a lot more trouble than she wanted.

She had to choose between coming here as part of her plea deal and take the counseling the home offered or spend the next few years in jail for assaulting a girl. A girl that constantly pushed around, spit on and even smacked the few girls that lived at her mother's house for foster kids. A girl that accused Will of sleeping with her boyfriend even if the redhead wouldn't go near the stuck up bastard. A girl that accused Will of stealing when the rich snob pocketed the money to buy clothes with. The girl who smacked Will leading to the redhead punching the other girl's lights out.

Taking a deep breath to prepare herself for her introductory dressing down or beating, depending on her new caretaker's mood, Will started up the drive to the front of the hotel. She silently prayed that her new caretaker wasn't a man, or at least a pervert that liked playing with his charges. She didn't think she could deal with that at the moment as she was seriously on the verge of just giving up. It may be a new town, but she knew what to expect. People looking down on her as if she was nothing just like her parents must have to throw her to the wolves as they had.

"Yo, red!" A blonde haired girl called out jogging up from the street to meet Will before reaching the doors. "Are you the new chick Faith and G have been talking about?"

"New chick...?" Will asked eyes the girl next to her who stood there rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, thumbs locked in her pockets of the tight dark colored jeans she wore and a white tank-top that accentuated her generous bust making Will envy her a little bit despite herself.

"Yeah, G told me that a new chick was showing up today to stay with us. A Wilhelmina Vandom." The blonde said grinning, "It'll be great having another girl close to my age to talk to. The others are great, don't get me wrong, but it will be bitchin to have another chick to hangout with."

"Please...just Will." Will said feeling a little overwhelmed by this blonde haired bombshell looking at her with open friendliness. Why on earth would a girl like her want to hang out with Will? In all of her homes this type of girl was the exception to the rule as they seemed to be able to make others bow to them and treat them with respect as they often were high ranking among the populars for a reason that she could never figure out. Of course those girls were usually more bust than brains.

"Sure, let's head in and check in with Faith and the G man." The blonde said, "And call me Danni."

"Sure, I guess." Will sighed following the blonde who kept casting sideway glances at the redhead making Will a little nervous. At first the redhead thought the girl was checking her out, and despite the pain in her past Will was only into guys. Catching the blue orbs though caught the redhead off guard, this girl seemed to be worried about Will for some reason.

"What have I asked you, Danni?" A older man wearing a suit and glasses asked, running his fingers through his short cut dark hair. He had an English accent and he seemed to be uncomfortable as he tried to look anywhere except at Danni. Or more precisely, the girl's chest that showed more cleavage that the redhead thought she should.

"To not wear this out." Danni sighed in exasperation. "Come on, G. I know what you think, people is going to look at me and think I'm a slut. Guess what, they already do and I've told you thousands of times that they do. Look at me G, I look like a fucking pinup girl and I'm an orphan. They see the blonde hair and the big tits and you know what they see?"

"You aren't a bimbo, young lady." The man said pinching the bridge of his nose. "You are an intelligent young lady, despite the way you act."

"No, I'm a bitch who will kick anyone's ass that messes with me and my family. The more they underestimate me the better. Besides, it's hot as hell out and I'll be damned if I wear a turtle neck." Danni said huffing while crossing her arms under her breasts.

"Young lady, there will be no kicking anyone's ass. If someone bothers you, you tell either Faith or myself." The man said a little sternly though there was a glint of pride in his eyes as he met Danni's blue eyes.

"Sure G, whatever you say. I'm going to check up on the little ones. Check you later red." Danni said with a roll of her eyes and a wave towards Will before rushing off into the hotel.

"Well young lady, I assume you are our new guest." The man asked, "My name is Giles Ravensworth, but you can just call me Giles."

"Prisoner is more like it." Will grumbled staring at the man in distrust as she tensed up a bit after the blonde left her alone with this stranger.

"You are no prisoner here young lady, everyone here is treated with love and respect. All we ask is that you follow the rules that we have set up." Giles said as he took off his glasses while pulling a clothe from his pocket to wipe them. "Let's get your paperwork checked out and introduce you to everyone."

"So you run this place?" Will asked while giving the man a hard glare. She really didn't want to stay here if he was the one in charge. True, if he was shy being around the blonde, she doubted he's try anything with her. Still, in her experience men in charge were not to be trusted.

"No, I assist in the day to day running though. I'm more or less the book keeper and guardian. Faith is the one who owns and manages it. Let's go to her office and get everything straightened out then we can get you settled in."

Not knowing what to expect, Will was a little surprised to see a woman sitting behind a desk wearing a pleasant and friendly smile when the redhead followed Giles in.

"You must be Wilhelmina, please have a seat." The woman said as she closed a folder and slipped it into the desk before pulling out a new one and opening it. "It looks like you prefer Will according to your records?"

"Yes Ma'am." Will said politely as she was still gauging this woman. Did she demand total obedience and politeness and punished anyone who even thought about it otherwise? Or was she the type that just didn't care and only smacked you around because she was bored?

"Please, call me Faith." Faith said brushing some red hair out of her eyes. It was a similar shade to Will's own which was something none of her other guardians had. They were usually dark haired. Faith rolled back and shocked Will when she saw the wheelchair the woman was in. She opened a small cabinet and pulled out a key before closing it up and returning to the desk. "I assume you have the paperwork the judge sent?"

"Yeah." Will sighed as she pulled her bag a little closer and unzipped it to fetch some crumpled up pieces of paper and handed them to the other woman as Giles stood slightly behind Will.

"Will, I want to make one thing perfectly clear up front. While I don't expect you to be perfect, I do expect you to behave yourself. In other words I don't want you picking any fights outside of defending yourself." Faith said giving Will a stern look.

"It wasn't my fault." Will complained before catching herself.

"I'm sure it wasn't, I know that little tramp and I know her mother. I know they have no right fostering a puppy much less a person, but unfortunately there isn't much I can do." Faith said giving the shocked redhead a small reassuring smile. "However, because of them you have been in court and as of now you are more or less on probation because of that bitch's contacts. If you get in trouble I don't know how much I can do to get you out so I'm asking you to try your best to avoid that."

"Y-you believe me?" Will asked after several moments of trying to get over her initial shock.

"Of course, honey. You will be giving a fresh start here with your own room. All I ask is that you follow all the rules I have set up. Rule number one, respect al of the guardians here as they are here to help you as much as they can. We are a family here and I do ask that you try to become a part of it. Second, please don't start any trouble with the other children. Third, curfew is eight on school nights and ten on non school nights for your age group. And finally, everyone is assigned chores to do every week. We aren't loaded, Will and everyone pitches in when possible to help out. Even our doctors volunteer their time here when not working."

So far that sounded pretty normal, a lot of places she's been to over the years had similar rules. Of course when someone broke one it was usually a smack if they were lucky. It was a full beating if they weren't. Will had to wonder how heavy handed this woman and her henchmen were. "Sure, whatever."

"Okay, that being said, here is your room key." Faith said handing the key she got earlier over to Will. "On the nightstand is a box with a cell phone in it. It is only to be used for emergencies and calling in here. Texting has been blocked other than to the adults phones here in case there is an emergency. Please do not abuse it by talking on it for hours with your friends. We don't have the funds to pay a thousand dollar phone bill for someone who wants to abuse it."

"Wow." Will said softly, even more shocked at this. "Th-thank you."

"It's okay, sweetie. Now, is that all of your stuff?" Faith asked motioning towards Will's duffel.

"Yeah, I never had a lot." Will sighed.

"Okay, we need to get you some clothes as school will be starting it two weeks." Faith said as she pulled a purse up off the floor from under her desk and pulled out a credit card. The woman couldn't help smiling at the pun as she said, "I'm showing my faith in you with this. Take Danni with you as she knows the places that know us and won't give you any problems using this. I'm not loaded so I'm asking that you please not max it out."

"Th-thank you." Will said, her hand shaking a little as she reached for the card. Was this some kind of test? Was she going to get hit if she took the card or was it for real? Was the woman going to call the police as soon as she left the office to report it stolen? She finally took the card and held it gently looking at the silver, shiny hologram of Visa on the front.

"Your welcome dear, wait until tomorrow though if you will as it is getting late in the day and you won't have to rush. Please don't lose it and keep Danni out of the bike shop or you will be there all day." Faith said. "Oh, and pick up a bathing suit for the pool. Don't let Danni talk you into one you aren't comfortable with as she tends to like showing off."

"Come on, I'll introduce you to the staff and show you to your room. Once you are settled in come on back down to the dining hall and you can meet the other children."

Will slowly followed Giles, keeping a close eye on him even if he did seem like a pretty decent guy. A part of Will in the back of her mind kept warning her that there were no decent guys out there and this would turn out to be just like the rest. Still, there was nothing that she could do and for the foreseeable future she was stuck here. Walking through the hallway towards what she guessed was the back of the building they passed a couple younger kids, two girls and a boy, who gave the redhead odd looks. Ignoring them for now in favor of keeping up with Giles, the two arrived in a kitchen where a heavy set man was chopping vegetables on an island counter while a pretty older brunette woman leaned against the counter talking to him.

"Anna, Michael, I'd like you two to meet our newest guest Wilhelmina Vandom." Giles said pushing the redhead's shoulder a bit signaling for her to step forward which she did reluctantly.

"Please call me Will." Will said softly.

"Hello Will." Anna said standing straight and taking the couple steps to meet Will, taking the redhead's hand and smiling. "My name's Anna Lair, I'll be your therapist while you're here. The big lug behind me may look scary, but he's actually pretty nice."

"He, I resent that!" Michael said weakly, pouting a bit while Anna just giggled. "Anyways, this is my brother-in-law Michael."

"Nice to meet you petite. You must be quite the heartbreaker, oui?" Michael said grinning to Will, but not in the lecherous way she was used to. She could tell that while he was being serious, he was only teasing which caused her to actually blush a bit.

"Cut that out, you aren't French and your French sucks." Anna said as she rolled her eyes at the larger man's antics.

"You wound me, cherie." Michael said dramatically grasping his apron above his heart. "I am Cajun."

"You were born and raised here. I know for a fact you have never been outside of this city, mister, so stop trying to act all cool." Anna said, but the soft teasing smile took the sting from her words.

"Yes Ma'am!" Michael said as he snapped to attention and saluted the woman making Will actually let out a small laugh before catching herself.

"As fun as all this is, where are the others?" Giles asked, though when Will looked up at him she could tell that he was trying hard not to laugh. "I swear you two are worse than the children sometimes."

"Whatever." Anna said as she stuck her tongue out at Giles.

"Dawn and Brian are out for the evening." Michael said wagging his eyebrows suggestively making Anna go over to him and smack him in the arm.

"Get back to work you perv." Anna growled playfully, "And Will, I'm afraid I have to go or my husband is going to get worried. I'll see you tomorrow and we'll work out a schedule for our sessions together."

"Yeah, sure." Will sighed as Anna made her goodbyes and hurried off. There was something about the woman that put Will at ease and if she was honest with herself she was hoping Anna would have stuck around for awhile. Despite the brave front she showed to most people, she wasn't really that brave. In fact, she was growing more and more nervous waiting for the hammer to drop despite a small part of herself hoping that everything was going to be nice here.

"Well then young lady, it seems the rest of the introductions will have to wait. This way please and I'll show you to your room." Giles said as he led Will back out from the kitchen and through the hall until they reached a stair well. "We normally have everyone use the stairs unless there are problems then we allow someone to use the elevator such as Faith since as I'm sure you noticed she would have a hard time climbing the steps."

"Sure, whatever." Will sighed as she could almost literally feel her mood darken making Giles frown a bit in worry.

"Is everything okay, Will?" Giles asked as he stopped to turn and look fully at Will.

"Honestly...I don't know." Will sighed shrugging. "I've been to worse places and I've been o better places, but they all had something in common."

"And that would be?" Giles asked even though Will could tell he had an idea of what she was talking about.

"Something to talk about later, can we please just get to my room so I can get settled in?" Will asked as she adjusted the straps on her duffel bag while Giles took his glasses off and cleaned them.

"If you insist, young lady, but if you ever need to talk don't be afraid to come to me." Giles said replacing his glasses. "I won't betray your confidence in me and perhaps I can even help you."

"Maybe...maybe sometime, G, just not now." Will sighed, though she couldn't help smiling a little as Giles sputtered a few moments before sighing.

"Great, another one who got sucked into using Danielle's nicknames." Giles sighed, though there was a look of good humor in his eyes as he smiled a little bit.

Will didn't comment about that though as Giles led her to a stairwell which kind of surprised her. It wasn't dimly lit and there was no strong smells of urine permeating the air like many cheap hotels had. It was actually nice looking with a soft white paint job and a gentle yet strong glow coming from the light fixtures both on the walls and overhead.

"That is a lot of lights." Will said as she followed the Englishman up the steps slowly while admiring how nice, if sterile, the stairwell looked. Whoever did it must have taken great care on keeping up the maintenance there.

"We want to make sure that the stairwell is well lit so there are no accidents. It's actually mostly solar powered with electric kicking in when there isn't enough power coming in from the panels on the roof." Giles explained the reached the landing for the second floor and held the door open for her. "It's quiet remarkably efficient really and saves a lot on the bills."

"I can imagine." Will said as she stepped through into a long hallway lined with doors on both sides and large rooms that looked like they no longer had doors on either end of the hall.

"Okay, down on that end is the girl's rec room including a television, a few bookshelves filled with various books you may use, and of course a selection of movies you may enjoy. On the other end is a small computer lab, but we ask that any of you that has homework gets first dibs on them since there are only three before you play games." Giles said as he waved his hand in the directions indicating the way to each of said rooms before he pointed to the door closest to the stairwell. "This is Dawn's room, a quite remarkable young lady with a big heart. She is the supervisor for the girl's floor and I'm sure you will meet her before you turn in for the night."

"It seems like a nice place." Will sighed. It was turning out to seem that way, though she had honestly seen places that were nicer. The problem with those was it was all for show when people came over, the stuff was only truly there for the families or people running the homes. The question was, how much of this was for show and how much was real?

"We do our best, Will. Now as for they key to your room, it is your decision to lock up your room or not. None of the girls here really do anymore, but some of them did when they first got here and you can as well if you want. If it makes you feel safer or more comfortable, feel free to. The only two people who have copies of the room keys are Dawn for the girl's floor and Faith for the entire building." Giles said as they walked a few doors down from where they were before stopping. "This is your room while you are here, feel free to decorate it anyway you want. Only thing we ask is that you keep your room clean, including the bathroom since each one has their own."

"Sure, no problem." Will said taking her key and unlocking the door to push it open to find a nice sized room. There was a dresser with a mirror, a small desk, a nightstand with a lamp and bed. Nothing spectacular, but it was a lot to her as most places tended to shove several people into one room or when they didn't they would remind you who owned the place and made sure to let every new foster case know exactly what happens if even a piece of dust was found on it.

"The evening meal will be served in about an hour, Will. Feel free to get settled in then you can come downstairs and meet the others and get something to eat." Giles said, stopping before he left. "Did you have any other questions?"

"Nope, thanks though G." Will said flashing a smile as the man chuckled as he made his leave. Will flopped down on her back on the bed, surprised how cushiony and comfy the mattress felt. Even the comforter was nice and soft. If things were really on the level, Will had a feeling she could get to like living there. Looking around the room she also noticed a small box on the nightstand which must have held the promised phone and a sliding door that was slightly open showing a small closet. Not that she needed it with what she currently had, but maybe some of the clothes she bought tomorrow would be a good idea.