Disclaimer- I do not own the characters of Jesse Travis, Mark Sloan, Amanda Bentley, Steve Sloan, Jack Stewart, Ellen Sharp, or any other character that may appear on the CBS television series, Diagnosis Murder. Nurse Teresa Chingas is a character created by Lee Goldberg for his Diagnosis Murder books, which I highly recommend. Virginia Sloan/Margaret Edwards, Kim McStiler, the Grants, the DuPonts, and any other new characters were made up entirely by me. I imagined out this story over two years ago, but didn't have a chance to write it down until I moved from beautiful, sunny North Carolina to cold, dreary, fifteen-feet-of-snow-from-October-to-May Wisconsin. Since I live over twenty miles away from the nearest town, (it takes over an hour and a half to get to Wal-Mart), I don't get out much. So thanks to the Great North Woods, which gave me plenty of time to write my story.

Summary- Jack Stewart hits a young orphan with his car, and she is brought to Community General. New additions are made to the Sloan family in more than one area.

New Additions

Chapter 1- Margaret Edwards

"Margaret! Get in your room and go to bed!" scolded Ms. McStiler, the orphanage supervisor. The fifteen-year-old girl ignored her and continued staring at the night traffic below her. She often sat in the window seat to think, because at Malibu Home for Orphans, Margaret, Orphan #2476671, had no friends. Sometimes as she gazed out the window at the happy families on the sidewalks, she felt completely alone. She hadn't always felt this way. Her life began happily.

Fifteen years Ago...

Laura and Christopher Grant lived in Wilmington, North Carolina. When their baby arrived, they named her Virginia Elizabeth Grant, after her two grandmothers. Virginia's father was an artist, and he was often busy at his studio with a new painting. Laura worked part-time as a nurse. Her mother, Elizabeth Crandall, lived with them, and took care of the baby during the daytime.

Virginia had inherited her mother's brown hair and spicy green eyes, and her father's artistic ability. She was absolutely fascinated by the family's three cats, especially the newest, a kitten named Fred.

When Virginia was three, tragedy struck. Her mother was taking her for a quick dinner at McDonalds. Laura didn't see the car speeding towards her until it was too late. There was a wall to her right, so she swerved into a lane of oncoming traffic and her station wagon ran into a small car. The driver of that car was her husband, Christopher, who was on his way home from the studio. The young people were both killed, along with the drunk driver. The only survivor of the accident was a scared little girl.

The Grants' will stated that Virginia was to be placed in the care of her grandmother. Social services disagreed, because Elizabeth Crandall was wheelchair bound. She had been most of her life, and got around just fine, but she was still declared an unfit guardian, and custody of Virginia was awarded to the state.

Virginia did not understand what was happening, but she knew that she didn't want to leave her grandmother. Where was the nice man in the black suit taking her in his big black car? Her last memory of that day was looking out the window of the long vehicle and seeing her grandmother, in tears, holding her beloved cat, Fred.

After being in an orphanage for three months, Virginia was adopted. She thought that the people would take care of her, maybe even restore her to her parents, but they returned her to the orphanage a few days later. The couple gave no reason.

The poor girl was in and out of homes for the next few years, until she was eight. A couple from California, called the DuPonts, came to adopt a little girl. Anxious to be rid of Virginia, the caretakers urged the DuPonts to adopt her when they praised her artwork. They did, and took her to Los Angeles to meet her new brother, Charlie.

With the adoption, Virginia's name became Margaret June DuPont. She hated that name from the start. The DuPonts were rich. They lived in a large mansion, and had a lot of hired help. Margaret was forced to wear a variation of the same outfit every day: a blouse tucked into a plaid skirt, tights, black Mary Janes, and a stiff jacket. Her beautiful brown hair was plaited into two neat braids. Margaret had to use perfect grammar if she wanted to be acknowledged, and she took up piano, horseback riding, and dancing.

The worst thing about this new place was Charlie. Ever since he was a baby, Charlie had gotten whatever he wanted. Virginia once saw a cook tell him that he couldn't have a cookie. She never saw that man again, for the next day there was a new chef in the DuPont's kitchen. Charlie was famous for his temper tantrums. They were huge and explosive, bigger than his birthday fireworks show.

One of the few things Margaret had that belonged to her real parents was an old copy of her father's favorite book, "The Hobbit." One afternoon while Margaret was at a piano lesson, Charlie decided that he wanted this book. His parents promised him that he would get his own copy, but he started holding his breath. As he began to turn blue, Mrs. DuPont sent a maid to Margaret's room to retrieve the book.

When Margaret returned, Charlie dangled her book in front of her, and teased her mercilessly. She began to chase him down the hallway, but Charlie slipped on a rug, and tumbled down the stairs. The DuPonts were very upset, The DuPonts were very upset, and cried out, running over to their son, but Margaret ran down to her book, grabbed it, and went to her room, clutching it to her chest.

When they returned from the emergency room, Charlie had his entire left leg in a cast. The DuPonts, listening only to Charlie's side of the story, decided to punish Margaret, by taking her book until Charlie got his cast off. Margaret, being smarter than most of the people around her, had hid the book earlier in the afternoon. When Mr. DuPont demanded the book, she yelled that she would never give him her daddy's book, and that she cared nothing for Charlie or his leg. The next morning, Mr. DuPont put her book, shoes, and coat into a paper grocery bag, and took Margaret to the nearest orphanage.

There the pattern continued. Afraid of being hurt again, Margaret did whatever it took to get back to the orphanage. She only wanted to stay there until she was old enough to get a job and an apartment.

Present Time

"2476671, to bed. Now!" Margaret was startled out of her memories by Ms. McStiler. She followed the tiny, dark, hallway to "The Closet," as she called her bedroom. It was a tiny, windowless room, big enough only for a small cot. Margaret sometimes used a small flashlight to illuminate the walls, which were covered with pencil sketches, done by the girl. She kept her walls free of dirt by using the sleeve of her jacket as a rag.

This night, however, Margaret used her light to gather her belongings. She put her book into one of her jacket's large pockets, and slid her feet into her boots. One was slightly large, the other pinched, and both were falling apart, but she wore them anyways. She went out of her room and crept down the hallway to the big window. There she climbed out and down the fire escape. Standing in front of the building, she looked around.

"Left or right?" she whispered to herself. She went right, and followed several streets until she was too tired to walk anymore. Then she found a cardboard box full of newspaper and crawled in.