A/N: I'll be stating at the start of each chapter where the characters/stories have come from. We meet Lowell in S9 E15 'The One With The Mugging' and learn him and Phoebe knew each other on the streets. Likewise Phoebe mentions someone called Stabby Joe working Jane Street in the same episode. ~BB x

Phoebe had spent all afternoon watching the girl down the street ride her bike, it had been fun and a nice break from Ursula but it was time to go home. Trundling her way down the road she began to notice the mass of cars lining the sidewalk. Police cars. Their neon flashing lights stung her eyes as she stared at them. She took off running, skidding into her driveway to see a body being hauled out on a stretcher, bag zipped up over their face. Ursula was bent at the waist, sobbing and screaming.

"Ursula! Ursula, what's happening?" Phoebe shook her sister vigorously.

"It's Mom." Ursula choked out. "She's dead."

Those words would echo in her head for years to come, the turning point in her life, the crossroads that decided who she was.

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"Just eat that. I'll be on the phone." Aunt Kelly grunted, shoving a half cooked TV dinner at the two girls.

"We're sharing?" Phoebe picked at the food questionably.

"No. I'm eating." Ursula replied, dragging the plate towards her and shovelling it into her mouth.

"Why do you get the food?" Phoebe mumbled.

Ursula ignored her and carried on eating. The girls had spent all night at the police station, stuffed into the corner on a bench while everyone went about their files. Aunt Kelly (their mom's sister, who they'd never met before) had picked them up at around midnight. Phoebe had taken everything she could from home and stuffed it into her biggest rucksack which was now perched next to her chair.

"I'm gonna go get some water." Phoebe announced, rising from the table and going into the kitchen.

"I didn't know there were 2! I never agreed to house both little teenage brats...I don't care just fix it!" Aunt Kelly was making no effort to keep her voice down as she barked into the phone.

Phoebe froze in the doorway. She doesn't want us here. Well she doesn't want one of us here. So screw her. The girl turned on her heel and darted back into the living room. She snatched up her rucksack and slipped it on her shoulders.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know. Anywhere's better than here." Phoebe answered.

Those were the last words she'd say to her sister for a long time, Phoebe stormed out of the house, leaving the door quaking in its frame.

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That night, the young teen bedded down in the doorway of a department store. She had her old sweater thrown over her legs, the hood of her coat pulled tightly down over her face. It was tough, she was at mercy to the elements that first night. The rain and the wind beating down on her misery.

"Why did you do this, Mom?" Phoebe whispered into the darkness. "Why did you leave us? I don't think I can do it alone."

When morning finally came, she did the only thing she could think of. Phoebe dug around in her bag for an old beanie hat, set it on the ground in front of her and begged. She did it all day, for hours and managed only a few dollars. Out of nowhere, a $10 bill fluttered into her hat.

"What?" Phoebe looked up from the money. "Sir? Are you sure?"

"You new around here, kid?" The man instead replied, just him and his friend who had his eyes trained firmly on the ground.

"Yeah I guess."

"You ain't gonna get any money that way."

"How did you get your money then?" Phoebe wondered, fingering the $10.

The man bent close to her face and she could smell the stench of cigarettes and liquor on his breath. "Mugging." He hissed.

Phoebe leapt back. "But that's like stealing!"

"Nah not really." He shrugged. "These guys don't need it. They're not like you and me. They got futures, we're stuck on the streets. You wanna learn how to mug, we can teach you." The man referred to his friend for the first time.

"I don't know.." Phoebe said uncertainly.

"You got any better options?" The man raised an eyebrow.

Phoebe sighed and got to her feet. "I'm Phoebe."

"I'm Lowell, and this is my buddy, Stabby Joe."

"Stabby Joe?" Phoebe looked sceptically and the other man.

"I won't stab you. Promise." Stabby Joe nodded.

"Okay." Phoebe shrugged.