AN: The four individuals named Colby, Stan, Pia, and Jaz, are real. I only own the story plot. So yea, enjoy.
Chapter One:
It was late in the night when a family of five gathered together in the broken-down hospital. A storm was raging outside and the three children of the family were all dazed, almost as if they had just woken up to be rushed out the door. One child, a girl with slightly curled hair, leaned her head against the shoulder of another, giving in to the fact that she could not force her eyes to stay open any longer. Down the hall, the two adults talk.
"Stan, you gotta listen to me, you have to take them. They're young enough where in a few years, they won't even remember my face." A tall man said. Next to him an older man shook his head slightly, looking down with his hands in his pockets.
"Peter, this is the worst thing that I have ever seen you do as my younger brother. You have an obligation as a father to those girls! When times get tough, you can't just ship them off to another family member! They're not animals Pete, they're your daughters!"
"Don't you think I know that? But listen to me Stan, this is just too dangerous now. It's putting them at risk, just like..." He stopped there and a sadness seemed to shine through the tall mans eyes for but a second. "Just like what happened with Pam."
The older man sighed and looked down the hall where three toddler-aged little girls lay, fallen asleep.
"Look, I'll take them. But you have to know, you can never see them again." The tall man's face fell for a moment, then was replaced by a look of understanding.
"Tell them I love them. And if they ask, say I was killed oversees." He took one last look at the girls. "Take good care of them, Stan." And with that, he left.
The older man sighed and began to walk over to the children. Smiling at the way they had all fallen asleep over each other, he gently picked up the top-most one and laid her quietly into a car-seat sitting on the floor. Putting the remaining two in a stroller, he set off as well.
As he began to place the other two into their car-seats in the back of a cherry-red van, he heard the slightest movement behind him and turned to face a tired three year old girl.
"Where's Daddy?" She asked, standing in the light rain before him in nothing but the oversized shirt of her fathers that she had worn to bed and a pair of Tinkerbell shorts. Her eyes held tired worry in their emerald pools. The man picked her up and placed her in her car-seat.
"Your father just went for a drive, that's all." He lied.
"He's going to be like Mommy, isn't he. He's gonna leave and never come back..." The child looked at him with eyes that made him want to tell her everything, but at the same time, they made him want to cover up even more than he already was for his brother.
"No Colby, he's not." He said, trying not to meet the little girl's eyes. When he did look up through, he found that she had turned away, and all he could see was a small tear, snaking it's way down her cheek.