Hello everyone! If you are a constant reader of mine, I hope you enjoy this new story and if you are a new reader, stumbling across my story, stay and enjoy.
A/N: All SVU characters are not of my making. I only claim the rights to the Coenen family and any non-canon perps.
Prologue
"Alright, Beks...time to get up," Deborah Coenen murmured, nudging her fourteen year old sister gently from her place sandwiched between the teen and her younger sister. "You, too, Pan."
Both girls groaned and rolled over to face their oldest sister, wrapping their arms around her. "Girls! JJ, help me," Deborah laughed, squirming against her daughters. Her brother, a tall, lean, thirteen year old, rolled off the end of the bed where he had been sleeping.
"Up, or I'll get you both," JJ said, jabbing Beks' back.
"Fine, fine," Beks grumbled, rolling out of the bed. Pan sighed as she got out of the bed as well, her short hair sticking out at odd angles. "C'mon, Pan...you and JJ need to go get ready."
Pan and JJ walked out of the bedroom, leaving Beks Deborah in the bedroom alone. Deborah was walking toward her closet, stretching slowly. "Today's moving day, right? Are you sure we have to move?" Beks asked, biting her lip.
"You've never been reluctant to move before, what's up?" Deborah asked, turning back to Beks as she put her hair up in a loose ponytail.
"It's the fifth time in three years...I just...I dunno," Beks looked down, gathering her thoughts. "Can you try not to get moved again? At least for longer than three months?"
"After this move, we won't move again until all of you are in college. I promise, Beks," Deborah murmured, hugging her sister. "At least we aren't moving in the middle of the school year this time."
Beks laughed, smiling. "Yeah, I guess," she murmured. "When's the truck gonna be here?"
"Half past ten."
"Got it. I'll make sure we're all ready."
"Thanks, sis," Deborah smiled, watching Beks walk out of her bedroom. She sighed, changing into old, faded jeans and an old, black Def Leppard t-shirt and packing away her pjs. She then walked down to the kitchen and started cooking some eggs for her younger siblings, listening to them bickering in the rooms above her and carrying box after box down to the already packed living room, stacking the boxes on the furniture the family had carefully packed the week prior.
"Debbie! JJ hid my iPad!" Pan exclaimed, running down the stairs.
"JJ didn't hide it; I did. You need to finishing bringing down the boxes before you can have it back," Deborah replied, divvying up the eggs onto four plates as Pan groaned and went back up the stairs with heavy footsteps. "You kids hurry up! Breakfast is ready."
The three children came thumping down the stairs one after the other and set down the last of the boxes and went back into the kitchen, sitting around the island as Deborah handed them their plates. The small family started to eat in silence, none of them willing to acknowledge the monotony of once again moving homes, moving cities. There was suddenly honking heard from outside and the whole family started as one, looking up toward the door as though it had made the noise.
"That will be the moving truck," Deborah murmured, taking a last bite of her eggs before throwing the paper plate away. "C'mon everyone, battle stations."
The kids collectively groaned, getting up and throwing away their plates and going to the living room to wait for their mother to tell them what to move first. Deborah walked outside, brushing her hands on her jeans as she jogged down the steps. "You here for the Coenens?"
The two burly men nodded, following Deborah back into the house. With six people helping, they were able to load the Coenen's belongings into the back of the moving truck. The men followed Deborah and her three younger siblings into New York City and to the Manhattan borough where the fifth and sixth floor condo was waiting for them. Unloading the truck was uneventful and the men left as soon as it was finished, leaving the family to begin the always arduous task of unpacking box after box and rearranging rooms to fit the small family.
It should be known, at this point, that Deborah is a police officer and has worked in Special Victims' Units all across the country, dragging her three younger siblings along with her. It should also be known that Deborah is twenty-six years old, meaning she was eighteen when she ran away with her three younger siblings. Linking onto that, one should also be aware that Deborah's departure from her family is a result of the religious convictions of the people who raised her. It was because of these people that Deborah decided to become a police officer and work with victims sexual abuse and child abuse cases.
A question that may have now raised in your head given the rather large, likely expensive accommodations of the Coenen family is how does she afford it? The answer is rather dull in comparison to her past, but for now it shall stay secret and perhaps you will find the answer in later chapters of this woman's life. For now, be at ease in the knowledge that she, at least, did not acquire her money illegally.
I hope you enjoyed the introduction to the Coenen family. I promise things will become more interesting in the following chapters, I just wanted to be sure and give the main characters their due.
