Tea was having fun hanging out with her friends, Yugi, Joey, and Tristan, at a homecoming after party. The music was booming in her ears as she danced freely on the floor with other dancers. Many of the students at Domino High, including her friends, were taking full advantage of the free Alcohol provided by other teens who smuggled it in. She personally never liked to drink. She just never cared for the idea of possibly making a fool out of herself, nor did she trust that someone wouldn't spike her drink. Joey yelled to her, "Tea, I am going to bring the car around, we are all going to meet up at the game shop."

Tea nodded and walked outside to wait for all her friends. She was surprised to find that each one of her guy friends had found a girl that evening. Joey had found a beautiful brunette with a French accent. Yugi found a pretty red head with freckles. Tristan was hanging off of the arm of a girl with black hair and blue eyes. Joey pulled up with his SUV and said, "H…hey everybody! H…hop in!"

Tea looked Joey up and down, he was way too drunk to drive. While everyone was piling into the backseat, tea knocked on the driver's side window. Joey rolled it down and she could smell the alcohol on his breath. "Joey, you're drunk. Why don't you let me drive?" she asked politely.

Joey looked at her in horror, "This is my c…car! N…no one is going to drive this baby b…but me."

By this time, everyone but her was in the car. "Joey, please," she begged, "You know you shouldn't be driving in this condition. The game shop is a quick 15 minutes away, let me drive you guys there."

"I Said NO!" Joey hollered as he stepped on the gas. She jumped back, he almost rolled over her feet as he sped out the parking lot.

"Asshole," She yelled out in irritation! Tea let out a breath and started to mumble, "Stupid angry drunks." She could not believe he stranded her like that. She had two options, she could call Kaiba up and ask for a ride or she could walk home. Not wanting to piss off the pope, she decided on the latter.

…

On her way home, she passed a small coffee shop. The aroma of fresh baguettes was enough to draw her into the store. She sat in a booth and ordered a small coffee and a baguette.

…

Meanwhile, Mokuba and Seto were sitting in their office. Mokuba was watching cartoons when the tv cut to, "Breaking News," A reporter appeared on the screen wearing a yellow rain suit and said, "On highway 55, a car just lost control and crashed into a tree. The driver of the car has been identified as the famous duelist Joseph Wheeler. He was riding with the King of Duels Yugi Mouto and 5 other friends who have yet to have been identified. Everyone in the car was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver was suspected to be under the influence."

Mokuba was hysterical, "Seto! What if Tea was in that car? She did say that she was hanging out with them tonight!"

Kaiba had already suspected this. He immediately picked up his things and called his driver, Roland, to take Mokuba back to the mansion.

Mokuba was about to protest when his brother told him, "I need you home so you can call me if she arrives home." Mokuba bit his lip and nodded.

…

While Tea ate her coffee and baguette she thought back on this recent year and how she ended up at the Kaiba's Mansion.

FLASHBACK

She had just finished her junior year of high school and had planned on using the money she saved to travel to the states and study dance after she graduated. However, her parents wanted her to take over the family business. In order to force her to follow her family's wishes, her father took her jar where she hid her dance money and donated it to the church while she was out with her friends. When she got home, not only was she devastated but she was mad. She packed her old book bag with clothes and walked to Yugi's.

When she arrived at Yugi's she threw herself on the bed crying, scaring the wits out of Yugi in the process and told him what happened. He allowed her to stay there the night until they could figure out what to do next.

The next morning, they found an advertisement in the newspaper for a live in nanny. A phone number was listed, but no name or address was listed. She talked to a nice secretary on the phone and once the secretary deemed her a decent candidate, she gave her an address to drop off her resume. The drop off location was Kaiba Corporation. As it turns out Mokuba needed someone to take care of him while Kaiba was away for business meetings or out of the country. When Tea's name came across his desk, she was instantly hired. He knew she was responsible (she had saved the boy's life on multiple occasions) and Mokuba absolutely adored her.

Once Tea finished her food she noticed it started to rain. She pulled up her hoodie and raced back to the Kaiba Mansion.

….

Kaiba found the accident exactly where the news reporter said it would be. He didn't bother walking right past the police officers and yellow tape to peer at the people inside the car. He saw Joey and Yugi sitting in the front seat. Tristan and his date were sitting behind them. The two other girls were in the very back. One of the girls was bent over which hid her face, she had brown hair.

...

"Kaiba, Mokuba, I am home." Tea yelled as she dropped her keys on the counter and kicked off her shoes.

Mokuba ran to the door and threw himself on her crying.

Mildly surprised she asked, "Mokuba what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

He snuggled into her and said, "I was worried about you."

"Worried about me?" she asked as she chuckled.

"Yeah, and Seto is out looking for you." He said into her shirt. It came out slightly muffled but she understood.

"Why are yall looking for me?" She asked, "I told you I was hanging out with the guys."

To this, he clammed up and mumbled "I need to call Seto."

Tea knew he was avoiding the question and figured they simply forgot she was going out, so she went upstairs to change out of her wet clothes.

….

Kaiba froze for a millisecond and gently lifted the brunette body up enough until he realized it wasn't her. He let out a relieved breath and turned around. To say he was shaken would have been the understatement of the year. He looked back at the mangled corpses and silently thanked god it wasn't her.

Immediately as he did his phone started to ring.

"Kaiba speaking" he answered arrogantly.

"Big brother, Tea is home." Mokuba announced. His voice then went to a whisper, "I haven't told her yet. She got caught in the rain and is changing clothes right now. Can you tell her when you get home?"

Kaiba entered his car and replied, "Sure Mokuba."

…

Once Tea had finished getting dressed, she came downstairs and started to make dinner. She wasn't feeling very well after that long walk in the rain; so, she decided to chop up vegetables to make soup. Mokuba helped some, but he was particularly quiet for some reason.

When Kaiba came home, he was soaked to the bone. The downpour outside had worsened. He took off his trench coat and handed it to the waiting maid. He heard Tea's voice coming from the kitchen and followed it. Not caring about the trail of water he left as he made his way there, he saw her cooking over a hot pot on the stove and leaned against the door way. Just seeing her their alive and well was overwhelming. When her eyes made contact with him, he thought of the mangled bodies he saw today and what might have been. He immediately pulled her into his arms and held her for several minutes.

Tea was thoroughly confused over the two Kaiba's behavior but allowed the awkward hug. After she realized Kaiba was drenched and inadvertently soaking her pajamas she whispered, "Kaiba, as lovely as this moment is … You're going to catch a cold if you stay in those clothes."

Kaiba's mind immediately came storming back from the comment and he quickly let go as if he had been holding poison. "Sorry," He muttered as he climbed the stairs towards his room. Kaiba slammed the door slightly harder than he had intended and kicked his desk, 'Stupid,' he thought, 'How could you let your guard down like that? What the hell possessed you to hug her?' He ripped off his shirt and started to dry off.

Tea frowned, she hadn't intended on upsetting the poor boy. She turned the soup off and waited for the eldest Kaiba to come down for dinner. When his face finally did appear, his eyes were bloodshot. If she didn't know any better, she would have guessed he was crying. Suddenly her vision became blurry for a moment and she grabbed onto the door of the stove for support. She shook her head to clear her vision and saw Kaiba Standing in front of her. He looked her over carefully and could tell something was wrong. "I made some soup," she whispered, slightly afraid to bother him again.

Ignoring her comment, the stress of tonight's situation had come over him again and he yelled, "Why didn't you call us and let us know you were walking home? You could have called for a ride you know!"

Her eyes narrowed and she retorted, "Well excuse me, but I didn't feel like being yelled at for asking for a ride. Especially, after Joey abandoned me at that party. Nothing would please you more than rubbing that in my face."

"Well it is a good thing he did leave you. Otherwise, you would be dead with right along Scooby and the rest of the gang." He hollered.

Tea blinked in surprised, "…dead…Kaiba, what on earth are you talking about?" She asked.

He realized his mistake and his voice softened, to almost a whisper, "Your friends were in a car accident on the ride back to Yugi's house. There were no survivors."

She dropped a glass she was holding on the ground. The glass shattered across the kitchen. Her breathing became heavy and labored. Her legs become wobbly so she clung on to Kaiba's waist for support. Her parents pretty much abandoned her and her friends were all dead. She was all alone.

Kaiba took this moment of silence to look at her. Her face was flushed and red. He put a hand to her forehead, she was burning up and shaking violently. He lifted her up and carried her upstairs to the guest room she had been staying in. "I will bring you up some soup in a few minutes," he whispered. She nodded and tried to absorb the events of today. Before he made it back to the room, she drifted off to sleep.

Tea woke up with a splitting headache. She had just had the worst nightmare ever. She went downstairs for breakfast and found that Kaiba had left some biscuits on the table for Mokuba and her. He was sitting at the table reading the newspaper. The photograph on the front page of the newspaper caught her eye. It was a picture of a horrific accident. She immediately ripped the paper out of Kaiba's hand. He was about to say something to her when he saw what she was looking at. Her eyes filled with tears and she whispered, "So, it wasn't just a dream."

Kaiba looked sadly upon her. The once tough as nails Tea Gardener had seemed to crack. He saw the devastation in her eyes.

The guilt she felt at the moment was indescribable. Naturally, the "what if…" questions started to form. She reached into her pocket and saw 15 messages on her phone coming from friends and parents wanting to know if she was okay. Her phone was on silent so she didn't hear any of it. As much as she just wanted to be left alone, she replied to each and every text. The only person left to contact was Yugi's Grandpa. She knew he couldn't text if his life depended on it, but just giving him a phone call didn't seem right.

She handed the newspaper back to Kaiba, with an apology and asked, "Kaiba, would you mind dropping me off at the game shop after school. I want to see how Yugi's grandpa is coping."

Kaiba put down his coffee and pulled placed his hand to her forehead. She no longer had fever, but he still felt obligated to ask, "Are you sure you want to go to school today?" She nodded, insisting it would be easier to deal with if she could keep her mind busy. He took his keys out his briefcase and quietly made his way to the car. Tea was silent the entire ride which was beyond unusual for her. The grief she felt seemed to radiate through to him. Kaiba's knuckles tightened on the steering wheel; he had to do something.

When they arrived at Domino High, the majority of school was empty since they arrived early. Wanting to avoid everyone, she went to class with Kaiba. Immediately, she placed her head down on the desk not wanting to deal with anybody.

While waiting for class to start, she had fallen asleep. Kaiba however was wide awake and could hear all the gossip going around about the accident.

LOCAL GOSSIP

"Did you hear about what happened to Yugi, Joey, and Tristan?"

"Yeah, it sure is a shame. I am surprised Tea wasn't with them."

"She was always hanging around them. In fact I do remember seeing her at the party with them that night. I wonder why she didn't go with them."

"I bet she wishes she was dead now. After all, if she wouldn't have let Joey drive drunk like that, none of this would have happened."

Kaiba slammed his laptop and glared at the two girls, they immediately stopped gossiping and turned to face the board. He couldn't believe they were blaming her for the accident. She wasn't even in the car but she is being blamed for the crash. Although Tea didn't tell him all the details of the party that night, he knew she would do anything within her power to ensure the safety of her friends. He was truly grateful that Tea had inadvertently fallen asleep waiting for the class to begin.

In her fragile condition, he didn't believe she could deal with the gossip and questions people had about that night. So, instead of waking her up when the class started, he simply let her sleep through it. She was ahead in almost all of her classes anyway.

When lunch time rolled around, she walked to the table where she and the guys normally sat at lunch time. She was grief-stricken to see nothing but empty seats. She sat down and like she had done in class, she pushed the tray of food to the side and rested her head on the table.

The entire cafeteria stared at her. Kaiba was tired of the way people were looking at her as if she were the latest episode of The Walking Dead. (I don't own the Walking Dead) He walked over to her table and placed a hand on her shoulder. He picked up her tray and signaled for her to follow him. She complied and followed him outside to a spot underneath the bleachers. He sat the tray in front of her and said, "I figured you would appreciate a little privacy. Now eat!"

She glared at him for the command, but she wasn't in the mood to argue so she started to eat the apple in her tray.

He then flipped his laptop open and began to type.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" she asked.

He simply ignored her question and continued typing.

She picked up half of the sandwich in her tray and said, "Please eat."

He rolled his eyes and picked up the sandwich to please her, but remained silent.

He heard her mumble, "I wonder what you ate before I came to live with yall."

He smiled, the truth is before she lived there he mainly lived off of coffee and cereal bars. He remembered the look on her face when she first saw their pantry full of them. She immediately pulled us out the house to buy groceries. Kaiba was irritated at the time, but after the first dinner she made them that night, he knew she was here to stay. It was probably the first homemade meal he had since his mother died.

The bell rang signaling lunch was over. Tea tossed her half eaten lunch tray in the trash and walked back to class.

After school, Kaiba drove Tea to the game shop to visit Solomon as he agreed to earlier.

As expected, they found the man was devastated. As they entered the shop, Solomon's eyes were bloodshot and the garbage cans were filled to the brim with tissues. "Tea, how good it is to see you." He greeted.

Tea immediately walked up to the old man and said, "I am glad to see you too grandpa. Have you sorted out the details on the funerals?"

Grandpa shook his head and replied, "Not all the details, but I talked to the parents of Joey and Tristan; we agreed to have a joint funeral to keep down the cost. Besides, being together is probably what they would have wanted." Tea nodded in agreement. Solomon noticed Kaiba was still standing there and figured he wanted to talk privately. So, he suggested, "Tea, would you mind brewing me a pot of coffee?"

Tea looked at him suspiciously, but agreed and exited the room.

Solomon looked up at the young CEO and asked, "Can I help you Mr. Kaiba?"

Kaiba simply said, "Get whatever you need for their funerals. I will pay for it. You can even get a plot of land to have the three buried together. Just keep quiet about it. I don't want anyone to know I am paying for it."

Solomon looked up in shock and replied, "Certainly Mr. Kaiba, but if you don't mind me asking, why are you doing this?"

Kaiba unconsciously looked up at the door where Tea left out of and stated, "I have my reasons."

Solomon caught his glance and realized what was happening. He simply pat Kaiba on his shoulder and simply said, "Take care of her. She is all I have left."

Kaiba didn't outwardly show it, but he was shocked. How did he know? He grunted in agreement and left the game shop.

Tea walked back in with two cups of coffee and placed one on the counter next to Grandpa. Grandpa took a sip and said, "There is still no one in the world who can brew up a pot of coffee quite like you."

She giggled and said, "Well, living with Kaiba teaches you a thing or two about coffee. The boy practically breathes the stuff."

Solomon smiled and asked, "Is he treating you well?"

Tea looked surprised by the question, but replied, "Of course, grandpa. I mean he doesn't go a day without saying some sarcastic remark or another, but that is just Kaiba. Other than that, he treats me extremely well."

Solomon smiled and replied, "Good, I don't want to have to beat up a CEO." He started pretending to fight when he said, "Oh my back!"

Tea helped him to a chair and said, "I wouldn't suggest it. Especially if ghost Kaiba is beating you up."

"Perhaps your right child," He answered, "He then grabbed a funeral catalogue and asked, "You wouldn't want to help me with the funeral arrangements would you. The community donated a lot of money for the funeral. I want it to be as beautiful as you are my dear. The boys would like that too."

She bit her lip to hold back tears but replied, "Of course Grand pa."

…

The day of the funeral, the rain fell from the heavens, reflecting Tea's emotions flawlessly. Hundreds of people circled the plot of land designated to bury the three boys in. Many of them were fans of Yugi and others were friends of the three. Tea stood next to Kaiba and Mokuba. Kaiba noted, as beautiful as she was in the knee length dress and veiled hat, black just wasn't a color he liked to see her in. Solomon also stood with the group and gazed over the 3 ebony colored caskets. The caskets were closed due to the gruesomeness of the accident. Hundreds of Flowers and plants surrounded the area. A Preacher stood in front of the caskets and spoke, "Friends, Family, and all those who are present. We gather here to say our goodbyes to three young men who have journeyed on to the next life. Although, their lives here were short, their bond of friendship will last an eternity."

To that last sentence Kaiba rolled his eyes and thought, 'Great the preacher has taken lessons from Tea.'

The preacher continued, "You may now say your final goodbyes to the deceased."

Tea walked up to each casket. There was a photo sitting upon each one of the man who now lay inside. Tea placed a single rose on top of each caskets starting with Joey. When she arrived at the final casket, Yugi's, she had to place both arms on the casket to prevent her legs from giving out on her. Yugi has been her best friend since kindergarten and now he was gone.

Kaiba walked behind her and gently grabbed her elbow, he could feel her shaking like a leaf under his grasp. She turned to him and it looked like she was going to say something, but the sound of tires screeching loudly interrupted her. The crowd turned to look at who had interrupted the funeral.

When the car came to a complete stop, Serenity Wheeler, Joey's Sister, stepped out the car. She slammed the door to the car and examined the scene. Her eyes gazed past the three caskets and landed on Tea. She walked up to Tea and to everyone's surprise, smacked Tea across her face. Tea on shaky legs to begin with, had no choice but to fall hard on the cold wet grass.

Kaiba instantly stood in front of her and Serenity started screaming, "YOU STUPID BITCH! HOW DARE YOU ACT LIKE YOU FELT ANYTHING FOR THESE BOYS? YOU ARE THE REASON THEY ARE ALL DEAD RIGHT NOW! IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU!"

Tea didn't move to say anything. Kaiba wasn't sure why she chose to remain silent; but, he was not about to let Serenity get away with attacking her like that. "I am not sure what happened that night. However, I can tell you that Tea did not put the alcohol in his hand, nor did she force him to drink it, and she certainly didn't tell him to drive while intoxicated. Mut…Joseph, did that on his own. He made his own decision and unfortunately it came with consequences that effected not only him, but everyone in that car."

Serenity scoffed and asked, "Since when were you two on a first name basis?"

Kaiba was caught off guard but quickly regained his composure he was about to throw back a nasty retort when Tea grabbed his shoulder. "Don't," she whispered, "she's right."

She turned to Solomon and said, "Grandpa I am not feeling well. I just don't think I can take anymore today."

Grandpa hugged her and replied, "Take care of yourself my dear, and be sure to stop by my shop every now and then."

Tea nodded and started to walk towards the limo. Mokuba ran up behind her and held her hand. Kaiba slowly followed behind them, but not before he shot Serenity a nasty glare.