April 1993
Jennifer looked at the young girl coming into Trevor House, she was the youngest to ever come to Trevor House, the orphanage, in years. She looked to be only six years old. Poor little thing.
"Hi Hannah" Jennifer greeted the social worker leading the girl.
"Good Morning Jennifer." Hannah said back. "This is Juliette" pointing to the girl. "She'll be your roommate" Jennifer nodded and looked to the girl.
"Hello Juliette" Jennifer smiled, Juliette just stared back at her. "my name is Jennifer" still she said nothing.
A few weeks later
Jennifer sat in a nearby coffee shop waiting for Marcus to show up. As a US Marshal he was rarely in Chicago anymore. This was an occasion when she had called him to come. She looked up as the door opened.
"Hey Precious" Marcus said sitting down.
"Marcus there is a new girl at Trevor House. She is only six" Jennifer said
"Right to the point. What about this girl Jen?" Marcus said
"She needs a family Marcus. One that will love her and take care of her no matter what. We can be that family."
"We agreed no more after you Jen" Marcus said trying not to sound insensitive
"She can be a niece or something. She needs us Marcus" Jen insisted.
"Okay Jen. Let's talk to the others."
A month later
"Come on Juliette." Rachel O'Malley said to her as she was lead out of Trevor house. "The rest of the family was waiting at Kate's home.
The family had agreed to adopt Juliette and make her an O'Malley. Little Juliette was not talkative. She sat in the back of Rachel's car listening as Rachel talked. Rachel was a Red Cross worker, as a trauma psychologist.
Juliette watched out the window as Rachel drove. The Chicago skyline was beautiful. A short time later Rachel stopped in front of a small house. Juliette slid out of the car and waited as Rachel grabbed her bag. Her first look at the house was blocked by the people inside. Six of them. Marcus, Kate, Lisa Jennifer, Stephan and Jack. Her new family. The O'Malley's. a banner was across the doorway that read 'Welcome to the family'. They were all smiling at her. She looked up at Rachel, who also smiled at her, encouraging her forward.
"Hello Juliette" Lisa. Juliette looked at her. She had heard the stories about all of them. Lisa's was most like hers. Abandoned at birth, no adoption, just foster homes, till she ended up at Trevor House. Juliette liked her. She motioned her down.
"Do you have any cookies?" Juliette asked quietly, making Lisa laugh and nodded taking her hand and leading her to the family, and cookies.
June 2003
Juliette walked into the kitchen of the house, laughing as she talked to her Aunt Rachel. She heard the door shut and turned to wave and Aunt Jennifer.
"Aunt Rach I have to go Aunt Jen is home." she said. "Love you"
"Hey Juliette how was your day?" Jennifer asked hiding the emotions that ran through her.
"Good. I finished all my classwork. How was the hospital?" Juliette said pulling out the Lasagna she had made for supper.
"Good. Listen I need you to go to Aunt Kate's a little sooner than planned." Jennifer said, Gadging Juliette's reaction.
"Is everything ok?" she asked hiding her own emotions.
"Yes, just somethings at work. Is it all right to go early? It's only a few days" Jennifer insisted.
"Yea just let me check with Aunt Kate" Juliette said. "I'll call after supper. I made Lasagna and garlic bread" Juliette sat down and waited for Jenifer to join her.
The next day Juliette boarded her plane from Dallas Texas to Chicago Illinois. As she sat on the plane she pondered why she was being sent early. Juliette thought about her life. She was adopted by the O'Malley's at age six. They claimed her as their niece. She spent time at each of their houses. Passing between them. She did her schooling while she was in Chicago, when she stayed with Stephen, Jack, Lisa or Kate, and spent her summers in Dallas with Jennifer, or with Rachel or Marcus, travelling between D.C. and Chicago. Juliette, was very smart, having graduated high school at fifteen, and now having just finished her first year of college, studying History as well as training to be in the FBI, as a Fraud specialist, something that worried her family. They had hoped she would pick a job with little risk.
As the plane landed, she unbuckled her seatbelt and put away her book. She picked her bag up and grabbed her carry on and made her way off the plane, to find who had picked her up. She heard Uncle Jack before she saw him.
"Mouse, over here" he shouted and she grinned, making her way over to him. He grabbed her into one of his hugs and smiled.
"Hi Uncle Jack" she laughed. He grabbed her bag and lead her out of O'Hare.
"Kate got a page, sent me to come get you." Jack explained. He was a Fireman. Kate was a Hostage Negotiator.
"I wondered when I heard you." Juliette said sliding into his car.
"So what are you hungry for?" Jack asked.
"Chicago style pizza." She automatically answered. Jack laughed and headed to Carla's.
Later that night, after Jack dropped her off, Juliette sat on the couch waiting for Kate to return from the page. She came in around midnight.
"Hey Mouse, you didn't have to wait up for me" Kate said, putting her things on the table.
"I missed my Aunt Kate, of course I'm going to wait up." She said back. Kate laughed and sat next to her.
"So how is my favorite niece?" Kate said.
"I'm your only niece Aunt Kate" Juliette said smirking. Kate laughed.
The next morning Juliette went to see her Aunt Lisa at work, while Kate when to her offices. She and Lisa were gossiping when their pagers beeped. It was Kate.