I own nothing except for Kitty, she's mine!

* * *

"Has anyone seen my hat?"

"Have you checked the hat stand?" yelled Howard from the kitchen.

"We have a hat stand?" Kitty yelled back at him, surprised.

"Yeah, since when do we have a hat stand?" asked Vince. "I've never seen it."

"Well, we do, it's by the door. You put your coats and cloaks on it."

"Oh yeah, that thing."

As it turned out, Kitty's hat was on the hat stand, exactly where she'd left it after coming in from getting a few groceries.

"Could someone please come with me to get my stuff? I really don't want to face my parents by myself."

"They can't be that bad," Howard had joined the conversation.

"They wouldn't let me read Cheekbone, I wasn't allowed walk home by myself until I was seventeen!"

"Point taken."

"I'll go with you," said Vince, looking up from NME. "It's not like I've got anything better to do."

A few minutes later, Vince and Kitty were walking towards Kitty's parents' house in the chilly winter air, wrapped up warm in coats, scarves, hats and gloves.

The house wasn't hugely attractive. It was dull grey concrete with grotty windows that didn't let much light in. The roof slates were coming loose and beginning to fall of-there were already about half a dozen smashed on the ground. The tiny piece of garden was a patch of overgrown yellowed grass with weeds everywhere. The side of the house facing the house was covered in graffiti and ghastly stains. There was a nasty atmosphere surrounding the house. The house looked condemned.

Someone inside the house must have noticed them, because a minute later a large woman with a permanent sneer on her face came out. Vince guessed the woman must have been Kitty's mother although he also guessed that she had got her looks from her father since this woman looked nothing like Kitty, she looked like an angry dumpling.

"Look who's come crawling back!" the woman spoke with more then a little contempt. "Thought you said, and I quote; 'I hate this place, I'm never coming back! Ever!'"

"I'm just here to get my stuff. Now please let me through." Kitty didn't once look at her mother, she hated her so much.

"You can get your stuff then get out, I don't ever want to see your face again!" Mrs. Brooks noticed Vince watching the dispute in silence, he didn't want to get involved in this spat between mother and daughter.

"What you lookin' at then? Think this is entertaining? You'll realise what she's like soon enough. She's a no-good rotten junkie!"

Vince remained silent. He hadn't known Kitty very long, but he knew that she was no junkie.

Kitty ran in and came out carrying a box filled with her possessions, she was crying.

* * *

That evening, Kitty offered to make dinner. It was Naboo who asked her if she was okay.

"I'm fine," but her trembling voice said otherwise.

"Here," he passed her something soft, "You dropped that by the front desk." It was a teddy. She could remember when she had got it, when she was smaller.

It was a warm summer's day and the Brooks family were on holiday in Bray in Ireland. Mrs. Brooks was smiling, not a single sign of the sneer on her face. She had been beautiful. Mr. Brooks was happy too. He hadn't started to his drinking yet. This was before the drugs, before the dodgy friends.

Mrs. Brooks was taking her daughter to the beach when they passed a small shop full of little trinkets and the like. Kitty had spotted something she liked in the window.

"Mummy, mummy look!" Kitty was pointing towards a bear with red fur and was wearing a pretty purple dress with white stitching.

"What love?"

"Look at the teddy!"

"That's a lovely teddy dear, but you already have a teddy. What would Jemima think of being replaced like that?"

"She wouldn't be replaced, she'd have someone to play with when I'm at school."

"Alright then, but they'd better get along."

The bear wasn't anywhere near as pretty as she had been all those years ago when Kitty had spotted her in the window of that shop. Her fur was faded so that she was more pink than red now, and her dress had some stains on it. She was missing quite a bit of stuffing from where Kitty had hid things from her parents inside her. One of her ears was gone.

Al of a sudden, Kitty burst into tears. Vince, Howard, Naboo and Bollo came in to see what all the fuss was, but only Vince was able to work up the courage to come over to her and try to comfort her.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm wrong. I had a family that loved me, I was doing well in school, I had everything I needed and I blew it!"

"It can't be that bad. I know you've only been here a week, but we're here for you."

"If I tell you, you have to swear not to tell anyone."

"Okay, we swear."

"I used to be a drug addict, that's why my parents hate me. They never forgave me."

"Well, you're okay now, right?"

"Yeah, I've been clean for two years, but my parents still don't trust me."

"Well, you're off them now and that's what matters," piped up Howard, "And if you ever end up back on them, we promise we'll help you."

"Thanks guys, you're good friends." Kitty smiled properly for the first time since before she started on drugs.