A/N:

I want to dedicate this story to some great friends.

First of all to my Freak, who made me write again some years ago.

She was the reason I started writing fanfiction in the first place and she has always believed and supported me ever since.

As a reader, but more important than that as a true friend.

And she became a person, who I respect and trust.

To Camilla, my little vampy, simply 'cause she is awesome and such a loyal person.

To OtaliaNutt 'cause she supported me since the very first hour and always been a great friend.

And to Lucy Nico for being such a nice and warm person.

The first fanfiction I ever wrote was for the soap opera "Guiding light".

For the Otalia storyline to be exact.

It has been so special to me 'cause the story of Olivia Spencer and Natalia Rivera had been so touching, so magical.

It had been so pure and filled with love.

Crystal Chappell and Jessica Leccia have done such an outstanding job with their performances, with bringing their characters and that love to live.

The show might have been cancelled a while ago, but that doesn't mean it has lost its importance.

I've gotten to know a bunch of amazing people in the Otalia/Crystal Chappell/Jessica Leccia – Community and I don't want to miss a single one of them.

Because this people support each other, are there for each other at any time.

Thanks for sticking with me, for believing and supporting me, for giving me a chance to develop as a writer and as a person.

It means the world to me.

And I love you all from the bottom of my heart!

This is my way of saying 'Thank you'.

And "Never forget" is my try to bring the "magic" back…

I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Much love,

Raven

Disclaimer: Olivia Spencer and Natalia Rivera and other characters from the town of Springfield belong to TeleNext Media, CBS and God knows to whom else. I'm borrowing them for a little, but I'll give them back one day. Maybe.

NEVER FORGET

By Raven

Prolog

Natalia Rivera closed the case file and sighed heavily.

She loved her job as a social worker although it was frustrating and exhausting at times.

Especially on days like this.

In a few minutes she would pick up an eight-year-old girl, who's father had died in a car crash last night.

And since there were no living relatives, who would be able to look after the girl, Natalia was supposed to bring her to the local orphanage.

It made Natalia sad that there wasn't more she could do for that poor girl, but she hadn't been able to find a foster family that quick.

She looked at the framed picture of her son Rafael, which was standing on her work desk and she became even more sentimental.

Her parents had thrown her out when she had told them that she was pregnant by the age of sixteen.

It hadn't be planned and her boyfriend Gus had run for the hills the second she had told him that she was having a baby, which had left her all by herself.

Natalia had received unexpected help from Father George, a decent priest, who had supported her all the way.

And although she never had a lot of money and she had three jobs at times to pay the bills Natalia had managed to raise her child on her own.

Now Rafe was almost a grown up, but for Natalia he would always be her baby, her son, whom she loved more than anything in this world.

To imagine that some children had to spend years in an orphanage made her feel help- and useless.

That clearly were some of the shady sides of her job.

She had been able to help a lot of families over the last years, but at times there was nothing she could do.

Like on this case.

If there weren't any relatives, she couldn't pull them out of her hat.

She wasn't a magician, but Natalia wished she'd be one at times.

At times like now.

But she was a social worker and she had a job to do.

At least this little girl would have a home at all if you could call an orphanage a home, which Natalia honestly doubted.

Unfortunately there was no other opportunity, at least not for this little girl.

Natalia knew that she had no other choice, but that didn't mean that she liked the only solution available.

She sighed once more, took a deep breath and grabbed her coat although it was just a five minute walk to the hospital 'cause it was raining since the morning.

It had been her boyfriend, police officer Frank Cooper, who had called her for help and she was glad that he would drive her and the little girl to the orphanage.

Wouldn't make things any easier, but at least she wasn't alone.

And so Natalia left her office to pick up a little girl, who had no home anymore.

A little girl named Emma.

Emma Spaulding.