A/N: Dear all, this little fic was inspired by the cute picture you can see. It's a little sad story about Abby, but in the end, it will be better :).

The beta-read was done by my friend Dr. Teddy.

Have fun!

Abby sat in the garden, freeing some flowers from grass and enjoying the silence. She absent-mindedly touched her cheek, rubbing across the red mark she'd received barely an hour ago, for disobeying. All she wanted was to protect her little brother from being punished. He was barely 3. He didn't understand the rules yet. It was all too new for him. The people, the house, the area. It was already the second home since they've been taken from their alcoholic mother. Child service had come by back then, after she went to school with her second blue eye. The one she got from her step dad for not finishing her plate. The woman who took them explained that it was not good for them to grow up in such an abusive home, and that she would bring them to nice people who would take proper care of them.

The people she and her brother came to were indeed nice, in the beginning. But her baby brother didn't understand what was going on and kept on screaming whenever they held him. Abby had tried her best, everything she could, to make him stop crying, to let him feel safe. But the couple got fed up with his screams and struggles and called the service to get them out again. They only wanted a baby anyway. So it was actually good they didn't keep them, Abby had justified their doing.

This was six months ago. And now they were here. Their new foster father, however, did know how to silence Jack. He slapped him across the face whenever he started screaming. And whenever Abby was protecting him, he was slapping her for disobeying the rules.

He called it upbringing.

Abby, however, called it downing.

Despite being only eight years old, she already knew that this wouldn't be their forever home. Several more would come and she felt that they would come soon. All she could do was hope, that the next one wouldn't be worse. At least her and her brother would stay together. That's what the woman had promised her.

She didn't have anything from her original home except a picture and her teddy bear she got at birth. Her first foster mum threw it away though, because it was too dirty, and she wasn't allowed to keep the new bear she got from her when she had to leave. But the woman had framed her picture at least. "So it won't crease any more," she'd told her.

'Not crease any more,' Abby thought and tears filled her eyes as she remembered the day she arrived here. She was in her new bedroom that she would share with her new sister from now on. Her little suitcase laid on her bed, fully opened as she packed the clothes into her side of the closet.

Nellie came inside. "So, you're the new ward," she'd said. "I call you all 'ward'. This way I don't have to remember all those stupid names."

Then she had started to list all the things that were hers and Abby wasn't allow to even touch, and where she wasn't allow to sit or walk. It would have been easier to just tell her that she could use her bed and the way to the closet, and from the closed to the door.

How lonely Abby felt at that moment.

Then the girl grabbed her photo out of her suitcase.

"Don't touch it!" Abby had screamed.

Nellie startled and had let it drop; the glass broke and lied on the ground.

Abby darted forward, wanting to grab her photo, but the girl was quicker. She was older, and taller and held it high above her head.

"Give it back. Give it back. It's mine!" Abby had cried, trying to reach it, but to no avail.

"This is for screaming at me," Nellie then said and calmly ripped it into pieces.

Abby cried her eyes out and tried to put them back together. But it was useless. That was the only picture she had had from her mum.

"I wanna go home," she cried bitterly.

Home.

Her real home.

Still, despite the abuse, the alcohol and the neglect. That was the only place where she could see her mum. And she loved her mum.

And they had taken her away from her, had taken everything away from her she'd loved. Abby didn't understand what she had done wrong to deserve such a punishment.

At least her brother was with her.

Abby smelled the scent of all the flowers and their colour shone brightly in the sun. One flower, however, appealed the most to her: it was a dark pink coloured rose and it smelled the best. She sniffed on it again and again. The sweet scent remembered her of her mum. Back then, when she hadn't had that addiction, she used to put on some perfume, and it smelled exactly like this rose.

Warm feelings of long gone but beautiful memories washed over her and Abby decided to keep that rose right next to her bed, and then when she felt lonely again, she would sniff on it and remember her mum.

She picked it up, carefully, trying not to break the stem too much.

"What are you doing there?" Nelly shouted suddenly from behind, startling the little girl.

Abby winced at the voice. She stood up, quickly, hiding the rose behind her back.

"What have you there?" The older girl demanded an answer.

"Where?" Abby asked, trying to sound as if she had no idea what her foster sister was talking about.

"Behind your back, stupid!" The girl bawled out and packed the blondes arm, squeezing it painfully.

"I have nothing." Abby denied, wincing in pain.

"You liar! You're hiding something. Liar! Is it stolen? Did you steal? Are you a stealing liar?" Nelly shouted her accusations.

"I didn't steal anything," Abby shouted back, trying to get away from her.

But the girl was too strong, she pulled her arm to the front and wrenched the flower out of her hands.

"That rose is beautiful," the girl said admiringly and instantly sniffed on it.

Abby held her hand out, shyly asking: "Can I have it back please?"

"'Course not! That's my mum's garden, so everything inside is mine. And you stole it. You stole from me and when I tell daddy he will whip your behind so you can't sit for the next two months," Nelly threatened, holding her nose high in the air, she knew she had the upper hand, she always had.

She stuck her nose inside the flower, taking a deep breath. "Aww, that smells so nice," she stated with her eyes closed. Suddenly she winced away. "What? Something was tickling me," she told full of surprise.

A little frightened, but too curious to back away, she looked inside the rose, closely. A small lizards head popped up, darting it's tong out and trying to lick the girls nose again.

"Shriek!" Nellie threw the flower as far away as possible from her, screaming her lungs out as she ran back inside.

Abby chuckled to herself and went for the flower. Carefully she picked it up, examining the little lizard with her eyes to make sure it had no injuries. The little animal looked warmly at her, and Abby was certain that it even smiled at her. "I think I'm gonna keep you, too. You could be my first friend, someone no one would take away from me," she spoke to the little creature and gently stroked across its head and back. The lizard bent its head from side to side, as if it had understood and agreed to the unusual friendship.

She looked for a perfect hiding spot to keep her new friend safe. Not too long and she found one. Shielded from a little stone wall, she placed the rose behind. "Here you are, my friend. Now you can sleep in peace. I will come to you tomorrow and then we can play," Abby told the lizard.

It darted its tongue out again, as if to say goodbye for today. Then it crawled back inside the rose and shortly after was sound asleep again.

Abby smiled across the face, here eyes sparkled, and for the first time in the last two years she felt peace inside her heart again.

A/N: The end!

I hope you liked it, please let me know.

Have a nice day!

:o)