A/N: Hey, guys! Yes, yes, I know this isn't Shadows of the Past, but I couldn't help but post this. I couple of days ago I recieved a PM from an author called Natosha Rose, pitching me the idea for this story. I loved it, but said it would be a while before I got the chance to write it... and yet still somehow had all ten chapters planned that night, and the entire first chapter written three days later.

I don't know how often I'll update, because with this and SotP and my part for Life Between the Pages and school starting on Monday I'm not sure how I'll find time to write, but... yeah. It'll only be ten chapters, but still. You're in for a wild ride.

So, without further ado, Why Now?

~~~ Prologue ~~~

When your name's Maya Penelope Hart, life tends to constantly throw you a sucker punch to the gut. Don't get me wrong; I love my crazy, wonderful family and everything, but... well, let's just say that a lot of the time, I wasn't so proud of who I am. I do still feel like that sometimes, but considerably less since the eight grade. (I just started ninth grade, by the way.) That was the year when, with a little meddling from myself and my best friend, my mother started dating, and eventually married, the amazing Mr. Shawn Patrick Hunter, Riley's father's best friend.

I guess things started getting much easier from there. Shawn's a really great guy who doesn't walk out on his loved ones- my father ran off only shortly after I was born- and we were already very close before he even met my mother, let alone married her. Now he was officially my stepfather.

Lots has changed since then. For one, we traded our small, less than fancy apartment in the rougher parts of NYC for a nice three-bedroom in a brownstone apartment building in Greenwhich Village- get this- right above the Matthews' place! So now my best friend is always just a short climb down the fire escape away!

But honestly, I think the biggest, and by far, greatest change came in early September, just a few weeks after my friends and I started- dun dun duuun- high school. That's when I, Maya Hart, an only child for my entire life, suddenly became a big sister. No, my mom didn't have a baby. That would've been a happy occasion, when in fact it took something really and truly terrible to happen to make me a big sister.

The school year started out like any other school year of my life, yet by the end of it, everything was different. I was different. But I suppose I'd better start from the beggining...

~~~ Chapter I ~~~

Less than halfway up the fire escape, I could already feel beads of sweat rolling down my forehead. My backback seemed to weigh a ton, and as soon as I heaved myself into my room through the open window, I flung it onto my unmade bed. Breathing a soft sigh, I shut the window behind me, and suddenly the car horns and grinding garbage trucks and all the other noises of the bustling city below me were silenced, replaced by the gentle hum of the air conditioner. It was sweltering outside, but my stubborn self had decided to take the fire escape from Riley's room instead of the elevator.

I picked my way through the jumple of art supplies I call my room, flopping down onto my bed and breathing out a content sigh. I loved my new room. Though it was larger than the one in my old place, it was definitely more cluttered- broken pencils and crumpled papers and unused art supplies from last Christmas laying scattered about, my walls layered with half finished sketches and paintings. Riley always says it's messy (quite frankly, so does my mom) but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I sat up and eyed my brand-new easel with a smile, sure that I knew how my weekend was going to be spent- the canvas and paints had already been set up by yours truly that morning. But before I could fully begin to enjoy the freedom of my Friday night (my homework was already done... I know, I know, who am I and what have I done with Maya?) I heard an indigant squeak from my dresser.

Ginger the ferret stood on his hind legs with his front paws holding the bars of the cage like a prisoner, staring at me with his beady little eyes, and though I don't speak ferret his message was clear; feed me! I laughed, shaking my head and striding over to his cage, which mom made me get for him after he peed on her bed. I don't think he likes it very much, but hey, what can I do?

"Hi, Ginger," I opened the cage, smiling brightly and stroking the top of his head. He hissed, lunging towards my hand with his teeth bared, so I just moved it away and glanced at his food bowl, which, sure enough, was empty. I refilled it, investigating his water bottle as well. "Hm," I mumbled, noticing that it was bone dry. "You must've been thirsty, huh buddy?"

Since the only answer I got was another indignant squeak- what did I expect, him to just start talking? What is this, Ferret With a Blog?- I removed the bottle and closed the cage behind me, running to the bathroom to refill it. As I was coming out, I heard the faintest of voices downstairs. Mom must have been home from work. Shawn had been down in Florida for a couple of days on an assignment for Hit The Road, so it was just the two of us for the time being, since wouldn't be back until Monday.

As I re-attatched the bottle in it's usual place, however, I heard a distinctly... male voice, which could only mean one thing. I practically flew out of my room and down the stairs. Shawn's home early?!

Sure enough, when I reached the bottom of the stairs, Shawn was standing near the kitchen counter chatting with my mom, sipping on a steaming cup of Starbucks coffee. He must have heard me come down- I wasn't exactly quiet- because before I could get a word out of my mouth he turned around with a smile on his face.

"Hey, kiddo -oof-!" he cried as I tackled him into a tight hug. He ruffled my wavy blonde hair as we broke apart, grinning.

"I thought you weren't going to be back until Monday!" I cried incredously, my eyes narrowing in slight confusion. Not that I was complaining; I was just surprised.

Shawn pulled me back into a hug, dragging Mom in, too. "I'd had enough of the beach and I couldn't possibly wait to see my girls," he said. "Why, do you not want to see me?" he added, sounding serious, but with the joking gleam in his eyes it was plain to see that he was just teasing.

I sighed wistfully, blowing a loose strand of blonde hair out of my eyes. "Guess I'll have to call everyone and tell them the party's cancelled..."

Shawn's eyes widened, alarmed. "What?! Party?!" if you'd heard him or seen the expression on his face at that very moment you might have thought he'd turned into Mr. Matthews. I couldn't help but snicker.

"Maya," Mom said warningly, knowing I was just joking. I held my hands up in surrender, smirking.

"Shawn, relax, I was just kidding, okay?" I told him, who breathed a long, loud sigh of relief, his face turning pale pink.

"Oh... okay..." he was obviously sort of embarrassed, so he changed the subject as fast as he could. "So how is school going?"

"Ugh, let's talk about anything but that," I scoffed, pretending to puke. Both Mom and Shawn laughed. "You know me and school. So how was Florida?"

Shawn shrugged. "It was nice. They had me write about an island-"

"-They have an island?" I interrupted him.

He nodded. "Anna Maria Island. It's not far off the main land; they had a drawbridge to get to it and everything. The beaches were crowded and it was about a hundred degrees when it wasn't raining. And they had a seagull problem. Those rat-birds stole my sandwhich!"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Is it somewhere you'd like to take us sometime?" I asked him, only half-joking. The furthest away from the city- my home- I'd ever been to was to Philadelpia with the Matthews. Sunny, beach-filled Florida sounded cool to me, but so did basically everywhere Shawn had to go for Hit The Road, and sadly he couldn't take us along all the time like he wanted to.

"Maybe, maybe not," Shawn smiled, shrugging. I sent him a playful glare, but then he added "How about I take you two out for dinner and a movie instead?"

"I'll take that," Mom piped up, and I nodded in agreement. "But only if Maya gets her homework done."

"Already got it done, Mom," I her truthfully in a sing-song voice, bouncing on my toes excitedly. "Riley helped me with the math and history, and I got the English done in class."

Shawn stared at me incredously. "Who are you and what have you done with Maya?!"

I smiled sweetly. "Perhaps the world will never know..."

Mom rolled her eyes at the two of us. "Okay, you two," she said exasperatedly, setting her purse down on the kitchen counter and shaking her head. "Let me get changed and then we'll head out." without another word she disappeared into her bedroom.

I breathed a soft sigh of content under my breath, leaning against the wall. This, I thought to myself, is how a real family acts... I never thought this would happen.

"How do you think your mother puts up with the two of us sometimes?" Shawn's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I laughed.

"Perhaps the world will never know," I said mysteriously, shrugging and winking up at him. He sighed, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, a thoughtful smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. I looked up at him. "Whatcha thinkin' about?"

He glanced down at me with a shrug. "Nothing."

"You know I know you well enough to know that you're not thinking about nothing," I placed my hands on my hips accusingly, staring up at him with one eyebrow raised.

Shawn sighed, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. "Yeah?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I replied, a smile creeping onto my face.

"I'm gonna say 'yeah' last, okay?" Shawn asked, clearly suppressing his laughter. I scoffed as believeably as I could manage, holding back laughter as well.

"Very mature."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." By this time we were both disolving into laughter, remembering that conversation from that Christmas at the Matthews so long ago. Okay, so it was only a few years, but it felt like forever ago. It was when I first met Shawn; and I don't think either of us ever thought we would be where we are now.

We stood there and talked for a few more moments before Mom came back out of the room in some fresh clothes, and then we left. Since Shawn was tired of driving and we figured we'd be back before dark, we walked down to the subway station and took the first train to the movie theater.

Throughout the ride I had a long time to think, and so I did. I looked at my mom, and my new stepfather, and thought about the wish I had made on my fourteenth birthday. I thought about how, though it had taken a long time (just less than two years, to be exact), it had actually come true. I had wished for a father, and now I finally had one. Shawn was my answered prayer.

My own father left me when I was a baby, and I don't even remember him. Sometimes I wondered if he remembered me. It certainly didn't seem like it. He sent money when he felt like it, maybe a birthday card every few years or so (usually way after my birthday, but it was the thought that counted, right?) but other than that? He might as well have lived on Mars. And I never asked for much, either. Just for him to show that he knew I exist, But all I ever got was a whole lot of disappointment.

But after Shawn came into my life, it became easier to remind myself that I didn't need him. Kermit Clutterbucket was the one who was missing out, not me. I turned out just fine without him, and besides, now I had a father figure who didn't walk out on his loved ones (ahem) or make promises he didn't keep, or any of the other things fathers shouldn't do but mine did.

That afternoon, I remember thinking that I didn't want things to ever change. That I wanted it to be just me and Mom and Shawn forever. Boy, was I ever wrong.

We got home a couple of hours later, our stomachs full and our eyes drooping and our sides hurting from the time we'd spent laughing. I sat at my easel and painted happily for about an hour or two, and then went to bed, but funny thing is, I don't remember falling asleep, just lying awake in the darkness of my bedroom.

But I must have at some time or another, because when I fluttered open my eyes early Saturday morning, it was still dark outside, and yet I heard voices talking and people moving around.

What time is it? I thought groggily, reaching over to my nightstand and fumbling around until I found the smartphone Mr. Matthews had given me. When my eyes adjusted to the sudden, bright light, my lockscreen read 3:15. Three-fifteen?! Something was definitely up.

Rubbing the sleep out of my tired eyes, I stumbled out of my room and down the hall, following the commotion to my parent's bedroom, pressing my ear to the cold wooden door to see what I could hear. I know it's not nice to eavesdrop, but hey, I am Maya Hart, and I'm not always nice.

"... can't believe it," came the muffled voice of my mother. "... What are we going to do?"

"Katy... have to take them in..." replied Shawn, and if you haven't caught on, I couldn't hear the entire conversation. I had thought for a moment that I had read the time wrong, and maybe it was really 8:15 and my mom was late for work, but that couldn't be it. What was 'them' and where were we taking them?

"... have to tell Maya," was the last thing I heard before I pulled my ear away and knocked on the door as gently as I could, my heart racing.

A few seconds later the door opened and there stood my mother, still in her pajamas and looking to be on the verge of tears. My stomach did a flip. My mom doesn't cry easily- I get that from her- so something was most definitely wrong.

"Mom?" I asked softly, glancing from my mom to Shawn, who was pacing around with his face set into an anxious frown, which didn't make me feel any better. "What's going on?"

Mom led me over to the bed, sitting down and patting the spot next to her as if to tell me to sit down, so I obeyed, and she pulled me closer to her, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

"Maya," she spoke softly, "We just got a call from the hospital. It's your father and your stepmother..." Stepmother?

"What?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, my voice somewhat hoarse. I didn't even know that I had a stepmother, and now the hospital was calling about her, and my father?

Mom drew in a deep breath. "They were in... in a car accident late last night, and died early this morning."

I think my heart stopped beating at that very moment. It probably missed a few beats before it started working properly again, and when it did, my stomach felt like it had turned to ice.

I opened my mouth to say something, but there was nothing to say. My father, whom I loathed, was dead, but it wasn't like anything different would happen now, right? He had basically lived on Mars to me, he had never been there for me, so did my mom expect me to feel all depressed about it? If anything, I was angry.

Mom must have noticed my... disinterest, and so took another deep breath before continuing. "They- they have two daughters, Maya, and now they're orphans."

The ice in my stomach grew colder as I realized where she was going with this. "Don't they have family that can take them in?" I asked softly.

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "None that are willing to, anyways..." she looked me in the eye and I felt like I was going to throw up as she uttered those next few words, accompanied with a weak smile. "How would you feel about becoming a big sister, Maya?"

~~~ To Be Continued... ~~~

A/N: Dun... dun... duuuuuuuuuuuun!

I apologize about any spelling errors. I typed this up at a library and the computers don't have any sort of spellcheck and I'm really seeing how dependant I am on autocorrect :P Sowwy!

So, what'd you think? Please please please pleeeeeaaaase leave a review! I want constructive critism! Pretty please with a cherry on top? *puppy dog eyes*

See ya later!