Standing outside the all to large school, a bouncing Temperance twisted one of the long black curls between her fingers. She had the same exotic looks her mother had been cursed with, wide doe like eyes, thick black eye lashes, and full lips and she was only seven. The sweet little girl was bouncing on the heels of her feet, her eyes were following the crowd of the children not much older than herself. Finally her eyes landed on her brother, who was taller than the other boys his age, joking with a sweet looking blond haired boy. As they got closer she saw that his eyes were a bright shining blue with gray mixed in, smiling as Alexander got closer she jumped on to him, "Ally! I came to see!" she cried out happily, until the boy grimaced and pushed her away sending her to the ground with a hard, echoing, thump. Her long dress pulled up to reveal bruises in the shape of large hands all over them, her light jade green eyes filled with tears as she looked up at her big brothers.

"What are you doing here! You're going to get us in trouble!" Alexander screamed at her and marched away, leaving her lying on the cement. The tears that had filled her eyes now poured over, spilling down her face. Looking up at the little blond boy as he looked down at her, sighing he grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. Looking down at her he noticed that her knee had been skinned during the fall, pulling her off to the side he had her sit on a small bench as he knelt before her. Opening up his back pack he pulled out a band aid, and placed it firmly over the cut.

Without thinking he kissed the cut, he thought she was three or four because of her tiny size. "Im Toby Kennish, Your Alex's little sister Temperance right?" he asked, his voice was squeaky like any young boys. He looked up at the sky, the sun was still high in the sky but it was lowering even as they spoke. Looking back at her with a sadness that didn't belong in a young boys eyes he pushed the dress up higher to trace the bruises. "Are you an Alex being abused? My parents have a lot of money im sure they can help you guys." He said with such pain and sincerity in his voice that Temperance almost told him but then she remembered what her father had down to the others who had tried to help her. Shaking her head she looked down, but she could tell that Toby knew the truth. "Lets get you home before you get in trouble. So how old are you?" he asked suddenly as he stood, holding up her hands one with all five the other with only two. "Oh… I treated you like you were three or four!" he cried out in embarrassment. Pulling the young girl up he walked her all the way to her small apartment complex, "Umm… We get out early tomorrow does your dad know?" He asked and smiled when she shook her head, "Alex didn't tell him so he could come home and play video games didn't he?" he joked as if trying to forget about the pain he now knew at least one of the Stellam kids was being abused. "Meet me at the park tomorrow then."

Temperance smiled as if she agreed with him, "Bye bye Toby." She whispered, "See you tomorrow." With those words she ran back to her home.

The next day Toby waited, and waited but she never came as he was about to leave he saw a small figure stumbling toward him. Running toward her he grabbed her, pulling her close her walked her back to his house. They called the cops and soon the report was filled, all without his parents knowing. While the investigation went on she refused to leave his house, as her bruises faded she became happier and more carefree. By this time Toby's parents knew about the dainty little girl and loved her like her like their own but after three months the investigation led CPS and the police to believe that it would be in her and her brothers best interest for them to be separated, due to the fact that Alexander wasn't being abused and believed his sister deserved the treatment she got, and for them to be sent out of state so it would be harder for their father or his friends to find them.

Six years went by and the Kennish's forgot about the sweet little girl and the pain and love they felt for her. Not because they wanted to but because their own lives got busy, One day though, while they were all at home eating breakfast and watching the news a nationwide broadcast came on about how a thirteen year old girl had been kidnapped and it was believed to have been by her biological father who was known for being an abusive drunk. It was mentioned in passing that they hopped Temperance was ok but no one gave it a second thought all the while Temperance was being beaten by her father and older brother in a cabin only a couple hours drive from their old home town and raped by the duo's friends.

One night, after a worse than normal beating she was able to escape because her father forgot to tie her up again; she ran and ran until Temperance found a family of four who rushed her to the ER. After days of testing they released her to CPS, who allowed her to go to the park to have some time alone. Toby was walking by when he saw a tiny girl, her hair was matted and her smooth milky skin was marred with cuts and bruises but something about her tugged him to her. "Temperance?" he asked hesitantly, he didn't want the wounded girl to be his one dear friend but part of him knew what he asked for was too good to be true. The girls head jerked up, jade green eyes met foggy blue and she burst into tears. Weeks of abuse and trauma had caused mental pain sever enough for her to refuse to speak but their months of friendship from years before held an understanding between the two that he didn't need her to talk for him to know what had happened.

Taking her to his home, Toby filled a tub with hot super bubbly water when he was going to leave she grabbed his shirt and looked down. Knowing what she wanted he turned around but stayed with her, even after she was submerged in the water he didn't turn around until she cleared her throat. After she had washed her hair and coated it in half a bottle of conditioner he brushed it out for her, "So, me and my friend Wilke want to make a band. We need at least a drummer but I think I sing good enough so it might work out in our favor." He rambled to her, relaxing Temperance in a way that the police officers and even her case agent couldn't. After the bath, and changing into clothes that dwarfed her tiny body the pair just sat and stared at the ceiling in his room. There was an unspoken promise in the air that this time he would keep in contact with her. That when she left this time he wouldn't forget her.

When Toby woke up the next morning he found a note on the pillow next to him, it told him that she was leaving. That she wasn't going to come back for awhile, that he shouldn't try and find her, and that she would contact him when she was ready. It also told him that why she was leaving, that it was because she needed to find herself in the wreckage that her dad and brother had made withen her before she could ever truly be ok enough to stay.

Three years later, the raven haired beauty who Toby once called his friend, the jade eyed princess who he saved so many years before, the creamy skinned nymph he had lost his heart too was a distant dream that he wasnt sure was real or a delusion. While his dream of a band came true and his life was turned upside down Temperance had learned to talk again but preferred ASL, while he dated a girl he wasn't sure he liked and struggled with his gambling addiction, she graduated from High School early and started a band of her own, While he fought to be seen in the chaos of his family, she gained her emancipation.

Now, Temperance was returning home to see if the boy she had fallen in love with could ever love her.