First chapter of my first ever fan fiction! I hope you all like it, and I'd appreciate reviews with some comments and things. Without further adieu…

Chapter One:

The road was empty, for most people were inside, sheltering from the sleeting rain and fierce wind. The only carriage on the road seemed insignificant compared to the fierceness of the weather raging outside. Inside the carriage Leonie Hemingford stared out of the window at the weather and shivered. She had not wanted to visit her Uncle Albert and Aunt Eloisa, but her mother and father deemed it necessary. She found her Aunt boring and lifeless and her Uncle crude and vulgar. At only ten years old, he already made her uncomfortable. And now she was on the long journey back to their manner home, feeling the cold in her very bones, despite being wrapped up as warm as could be. She felt sympathy for the coach driver, who was not inside, wrapped up warm, but outside driving the horses.

As they approached the curve which would lead onto the main road approaching their home, Leonie heard a yell, and barely had time to register the started neighing of the horses before she felt herself flying through the air.

Joseph nodded at the doctor, who regarded him gravely. He turned to look at his sister, seeming much younger than her ten years as she lay in the hospital bed. Her skin was almost as pale as the white starched sheets she lay upon.

'So there will be no serious damage?' he asked the elderly doctor, whose stern manner had softened upon learning that the eighteen year old Joseph and ten year old Leonie were now orphans.

'No. She has a bad concussion, and she will be tired for several days. The nurses report she has bad bruising all along her right side. The gashes on her head and collar bone are not infected, and will heal well…we've had her sedated since the accident, which was two days ago now. We wanted to keep her sedated until you arrived. I'll leave you alone with her for the moment now, but your visit must not exceed ten minutes, and after you're done, please come along to my office. There are two detectives there, waiting to discuss details with you,' Dr Leenwhey said, and left the private room.

Joseph paused for a second, and then walked to his sister's bedside and sat down in the chair next to her. He stroked her forehead and thanked God and all his Heavenly Angels that his sister had survived the terrible accident. With a deep breath and a muttered endearment, he left the room and walked along to the airy doctor's office.

The two police officers regarded him with serious, but sympathetic expressions. After they had exchanged the necessary social niceties, they sat down in the chairs in front of the desk, and Joseph asked for details on the accident.

'I appreciate you sending a member of the constabulary to fetch me from my friend's home, but he was lax on details. I'm anxious to know what happened,' he asked.

'Of course. We believe the coach driver put his foot down sharply on the wooden platform below the driver's seat, and his foot when through the wood, made brittle by the awful weather conditions. The wood damaged his leg and due to his pain he lost control of the horses, and this is when the coach crashed into the woods. Leonie was facing the door and the momentum flung her through the door, and that saved her life, although I do understand that she is injured. I wish her the speediest of recoveries. The coach driver and your parents were killed in the impact…they would not have suffered,' Constable Gregory inclined his head, in mourning for the deaths.

Joseph gulped back a breath of air, trying his hardest to keep his composure. He was grateful his parents had perished quickly. He did not much want to think about them dying alone in the cold. He also again thanked God for sparing his sister.

One week later, the funerals of William and Viola Hemingford were over, and Williams's lawyer was slowly sorting through the probate of his estate. All his assets had been liquidised and divided into accounts for both Leonie and Joseph. The family home was in the process of being sold, and the profits of that would be divided into three chunks. One for Leonie's account, one for Josephs and one portion for Albert and Eloisa Polwarth, who would look after Leonie until she was married.

9 days after the tragic accident, Joseph was helping Leonie out of a carriage, in front of the home of their Aunt and Uncle, who Leonie would now become the ward of. Joseph was heading off on an around the world trip, to find himself, and grow as a man.

Their parting was sorrowful, with Leonie, mature as she was for her age, still upset and confused by the death of her parents, and sore from the carriage crash injuries she herself had endured, crying and clinging to Joseph. Joseph, in turn, was torn to leave his sister here, but he has been assured it was the best thing for her – Dr Leenwhey had said that mollycoddling would not help his sister. She was old enough to deal with her grief as an adult.

He hugged her tightly and whispered to her.

'Leonie, my dearest sister. I love you forever, and I'll come back and see you soon. Be strong, my darling,'

As Joseph's carriage drove away, he waved at the forlorn figure of his younger sister, and muttered a pray to God on high, that Leonie should be kept safe.