AN: Thanking for reading and reviewing this story. I know that I have been away from my other two stories but I feel like I need to take a step back to see where I want them to go. These characters are not mine, all rights belong to Peter Paige, Brad Bredeweg.


9 year old Lena Davis hated walking home from school. It was where most of the bullying happened. She walked home with 5 other kids that lived in the same area. There was the ring leader, Wallace a 12 year old that has a drunken mother and no father. He is always flatting his black hair on his forehead to hide were his scars had.

The second in command was Charlie, Wallace's 10 year old sister. She had long black hair as well. She was only to mean to Lena because Wallace does. The other kids didn't stop it but they did join in a couple of times. It was usually when Wallace was talking about her being black. They would tell her that was unwanted, that she was a loser. She tried not to cry but a lot of these words were true. She hasn't been adopted yet and there was no family. She just wanted a family that would love her. She had one but they didn't want her. Every now and then she thinks about the 3 weeks that she spent with the best family ever. It made her happy and sad at the same time. It was why she hardly thought about them.

Her street wasn't poor but it also wasn't wealthy. There were the bottom of the middle class. Barbara and Eddie Nickel were decent foster parents. They didn't hit her but they weren't nice to her. Barbara was a 45 year old white lady. She had long blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and a curvy figure. She would always complain about her job as a store manager. She wasn't the nicest of people to Lena. When every there was a family they would show off the 'orphan black girl that they saved.' Usually the story started off with her father being in prison for killing her mother. Lena hates how she is used for their better good.

The father, Eddie, a 48 year old white business man. He was a small store owner. He worked long hours and was hardly ever home. He pretty much sleeps at the store. He was nice to Lena. He would come to the school whenever there was a parent/teacher conference. Kevin was never happy when he had to be home for the night. Lena never knew what was wrong but she never asked. Barbara and Eddie are never physically intimate. She has noticed that they never held hands or even said good morning to one another. It was like they were living in a two separate worlds.

Unpacking her backpack and hanging it up on the hook inside in the hall closet. She went to the kitchen to find some food. The usual after school routine was to go to the kitchen to get food, than go to her room to do homework. She stays there until Barbara would knock on her door. It was the same every day.

Lena sat in her room for the next hour. When a knock on her door, which was strange since Barbara wasn't supposed to be home for another couple of hours. Getting curious as to why she was here, Lena creeped down the stairs. In walked Barbara and William, Lena's heart started to race. Staying near the top stairs Lena watched blonde hair come into view. She saw the one person that she never though she would see again. She raced down the stairs to go and hug the blonde girl. Feeling the weight of the older girl Lena felt safe.

"Lena?" Stef had the wild brown hair in her face as a kid came running down the stairs.

"Hey." Lena backed out at arm's length. She then pulled Stef back into a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"I came back for the book silly. I took you it was my favourite." Stef winked.

"Lena stop that." Barbara told her. "Go to your room while I have a meeting with these two." Barbara shooed her off. Lena walked half way up the stairs before sitting on the wooden steps. Not being able to hear the whole conversation but snippets. They talked about how Stef is going to be here for a while. She was causing trouble at her old foster home and school. William was just trying to find a home that would take her for months at times.

Barbara said that they were happy to take in another kid as long as she doesn't cause any trouble. She also asked when Lena was going to be finding a permanent home. As much as they enjoy her company this was just a temporary arrangement. While Will came back saying that there wasn't anything yet, but he will come once something pops up.

After the meeting was done Stef and Lena went back into the room. Before Lena could ask about anything Stef was the first to talk. "Shouldn't you be doing homework?" She pulled out a book from the girl's bookshelf.

"Those aren't mine so please be careful." Lena said quietly. "I already completed it. Don't you have homework from your other school?" Lena stuck her tongue out as Stef turned around. Jumping on the bed beside the younger girl.

"Well miss smarty pants, I'll have you know that I'm finished my homework as well." Stef put her back against the headboard. "You have moved up I see. Now you are on to 'Percy Jackson' books." She pulled out the one book that she liked out of the collection of books. Lena saw the book and rested her head on Stef's shoulder.

"Franklin could slide down a river bank. He could count forwards and backwards." Lena looked up Stef.

"I'm not a baby. I can read this book and to be honest I've grown out of picture books." Stef looked down at Lena.

"You hush, I'm reading and I know that you enjoy. Remember when you were little and I would read this too you and you would always ask me to read it again." Lena fell silent and retook her position. "He could zip zippers and button buttons. He could even walk to Bear's house all by himself. But Franklin was not allowed to go into the woods alone…"

The noise downstairs startled the two guys. "You can't bring another kid into this house. I also live here!" Lena and Stef heard Eddie yell. There was a crash sound that kept both of them upstairs. The loud sound of the front door slamming had them walking downstairs stopping on every step. Stef hit the bottom step first. "Stay here. Don't move until I come back." Lena sank on bottom step scared that Barbara or Eddie were going to come back.

"Lena. It's ok they aren't here." Stef took her hand waling her down the step. Lena's stomach roared with hunger. "I guess its supper time. What is kept in the house?" Stef opened the fridge to find water and bad fruit. The cupboards had noodles and sauce. "What do you think about pasta?"

"Do they usually fight?" Stef asked between mouthfuls.

Lena slowly eat her food. "No. Actually Eddie is hardly home enough to have an issue with Barbara. When did you learn to cook?"

Stef looked down at her plate. "The last house I was at, the adults weren't around a lot and I came friends with a classmate. She was really nice and I went over to her house every day after school. Her mom and her cooked a lot. They taught me a couple of things." Lena didn't say but kept eating.

"What can we do now? Do they allow you to watch TV?" Stef asked as she put the plates back into the cupboards.

"Well I'm only allowed to watch an hour and Barbara picks the shows."

"Ok. Are we allowed outside?" Lena chewed on her bottom lip not knowing. This has never happened as Barbara was always home. Once home from work she would stay. She said it was because she didn't trust Lena to not steal anything from the house.

"I don't know. It's a little dark outside shouldn't we stay inside or go upstairs in case something happens." Stef looked out to see the sun setting. It was 8pm and the adults weren't home yet. This scared both of the girls as they didn't know if they were coming back.


The door to the girl's room opened and so did the blinds. Stef groaned as the light her eye. She rolled over trying to hide her face from the light.

"Get up and get downstairs!" A thick voice yelled. "Right now! God dammit if I have to say it again you like it." Lena shoot out of bed. Stumbling around to grab her socks.

Opening her eyes she sees the shadow that is blocking the light. She quickly got up and put her socks on. She rushed downstairs to find Barbara and Lena sitting at the table in silence. Eddie followed in behind her.

Barbara left for work quickly by Eddie. This left Lena and Stef by themselves. "We have 30 minutes until we have to leave for school."

"What time do they come home from work?" Stef asked.

"Um well Barbara comes around supper time and Eddie usually doesn't come home. He likes to stay at the store. There are some days that he does come back." Lena shrugged as she went to the closet to grab her backpack and filled it with the necessary items for school.

Stef on the other hand sat down on the couch and turned the TV on. "Aren't you going to get ready?"

"Nope." Stef turned towards Lena. She stood there with her hand on her hip.

"Stef you need to go. They will call the house if you don't go. Than Barbara and Eddie and will get angry and they could kick you out." Stef still hasn't moved. Lena sat beside her and curled her body into the older girl's body. "Plus I want you to come. You make me feel safe." At that the blonde pulled the brunette closer.

"Do you not feel safe at school?" Lena didn't say anything. She grabbed Stef's hand and stood up. Stef took that as a sign that there was something wrong. "Alright let's go. Plus you need to learn how to do long division." The two walked out the front the door and to school without the group.


When the final bell rang Lena had the best day of school ever. She got back her spelling test back with a big smile sticker on it and a 100% beside it. She was able to find Stef in the play yard. They sat and played by themselves before the recess bell rang telling them to go inside. By the end of the day Lena had a new book from the library.

Lena was skipping over to the swing set where Stef when she saw Wallace and his group walk towards her.

"Where the hell were you this morning orphan? We waited around for like 5 minutes. You almost made us late. Let's go I want to get home." Wallace grabbed her arm pulling her out of the yard. She knew that she couldn't pull back, since Wallace is older and stronger than her.

"STEF!" Lena yelled with tears in her eyes from the pressure that Wallace put on her. She kept thrashing around trying to get out of his grip.

"Fine than!" Wallace huffed as he threw her to the ground. He looked up to see an angry blonde hair girl that was the new kid in his class. He couldn't remember her name but knew she didn't talk to anyone. Just sat beside herself.

"Do. Not. Do. That. Again." The blonde said as she balled her hands in a fist. The girl knew not to hit anyone but bluffing was always in the cards.

"Why would you stand up to this black unloved orphan? What are you a friend?" The group laughed at the last bit. Lena pushed herself on the ground behind Stef.

"Yeah so what if I am? Who are you to say who I can and can't be friends with? I will be friends with whoever I want. And the person I want to be friends with is Lena." Stef turned towards Lena before quickly turning back "Stop being a bully Wallace. I will be here to protect her, so don't think of touching or speaking to her." With that Stef and Lena walked back to the Nickel house in silence.

When they entered the house Lena held onto Stef crying in her arms. A soft thank you could be heard. But other than that there was nothing said about the playground.

That night everything was back to normal like nothing happened. Barbara was home to cook dinner and they watched one hour of news together. Like any other night Eddie didn't come home. Barbara would tell the girls to go to bed so that she could be disappointed in her life without any witnesses. The girls went to bed, after completing Lena's library book.


"Congrats you lasted a month!" Lena laughed as she jumped on the bed. "Come on wake up Stef." There was a noise coming from under the blanket. "Stef get up." Lena jumped on her hands and knees, avoiding hitting her.

"You know it's a Saturday right? Which means no school. Stef pulled the blanket down from her face to show her dissolved hair.

"I know but it doesn't matter. We have to celebrate." Lena jumped off the bed and threw some of Stef's clothes her way. Stef reluctantly grabbing the clothes and got dressed. They walked downstairs to find the house empty. Barbara didn't even leave any food for them.

"We are going out to the little deli for breakfast. Just wait here and I will grab the money." Stef ran back up to her room and into her 'foster bag'. It was blue with a white strap. Going into the bag she looks for the one pair of the baby socks in her. There hidden in the folds is a couple of $20. She got it from the some of the houses that she was in. Sometimes they would give her money for lunches and sometimes she did chores to get the money.

She was saving it for emergency incase anything happened but it was worth it to see her smile. She was like a little sister to her and wanted to her to have the best life. Bouncing down the stairs Stef saw Lena sitting on the front steps. "You ready for breakfast? Because I am starving."

They walked into the little bakery shop. Stef got a muffin while Lena got a bagel. They sat there and talked about the other schools and homes that they have been in. After breakfast they went to the little park to play for a couple hours before going back to the house. Well wore out and full from going back to bakery for lunch.

They got back before either of the Nickels got back. They had the house to their selves until around supper time. It was strange to see both of the Nickels walk into the house at the same time and happy. Lena was scared as this has never happened in the time that she has been here. Stef seemed to be un-phased by what happened. That night Stef and Lena said there goodnights, as Lena wished for another day like today.

It was the strangest dream. She and Lena were on fire. Stef woke up scared and sweaty from her nightmare. It wasn't until she looked over at the bedside her to see that it was empty. She went to touch the open the door but it was hot. Quickly pulling her hand back and seeing that the knob was red. She saw the smoke coming through the bottom of the door.

The only out was through the window. She tried to push up the window but it wasn't working. Looking for anything that would break the glass Stef saw the bed. Couching a little from the smoke that has gotten through the room. She pushed the bed towards the window and with all her might flipped it. The frame was against the glass and all she needed to was to push it into the glass for it to break.

Shards of glass were everywhere. The window wasn't too high from the ground but it wasn't also a safe distance to jump from without breaking anything. Stef looked around the room to find the mattress, pushing that through the window. It got caught on the broken glass ripping as Stef pushed it further out the window.

She grabbed her bag and Lena's bag packing it with the some extra clothes. Stef quickly scanned the room before landing on the book shelf. Running to grab Lena's favourite book and a couple extra that she has seen her read she stuffs them into Lena's bag. Throwing the bags out the window, Stef starts coughing more often trying to push the smoke out of her lungs.

Hearing the sirens Stef knows that she is going to be ok. She has one leg on the window sill trying to not cut herself on the broken glass. Before jumping onto the mattress Stef hears a voice. Turning back into the room she tries yet again to open the door. It was hotter than before, as she felt the heat before putting her hand on it.

The room was slowly clearing of smoke thanks to the window being opened, but it wasn't enough. She thought that she was dreaming it, until it came again. Putting her ear on the floor she the voice yet again. "Help, help! Please someone help me!"

Getting up from the floor, she brings her t-shirt over her nose and mouth. Using the bed sheets Stef quickly wraps them around the door knob. Seeing them slowly start to burn off she throws the door. She is met with fire on the second floor. "Hello! Who is here?" Stef hears the front door being knocked down.

"Help me! Someone please!" The voice said a little louder. Stef walked in the direction that she hears the voice coming from. She stops at the bathroom. "Help me! Please!" Stef knew that voice. It was Lena's voice coming through the door.

"Lena. I'm here. I'm going to get you out." Stef touched the knob, feeling it was warm, she pushed it open. Well she tried, the door stopped. Like something was stopping it from moving. She could hear Lena crying. Using all of her might Stef pushed. It moved enough to allow her in. Stepping over the rubble that has piled against the door. "Lena where are you?" There was so much smoke that Stef started could barely see and breathe. Looking down at the floor Stef sees that part of it is missing and the rubble is from the roof falling down.

Stef saw the outline of the girl's hair. She was stuck in the bathtub. Stef slowly stepped towards the bathroom. The girl was curled up in a ball in the corner of bathtub. Stef held her hand out. "Lena you have to grab it. Come on I promise we will get out of here alive." Lena careful grabbed her hand.

Stef picked her up and Lena wrapped her legs around the blonde's waist and her head ducked into her neck. Taking her time to test every floor piece before putting her full weight on the floor. They have made it halfway across before Stef started to feel weak and short of breathe. "Lena I need you to hold on tight. We have to make a run for it. On the count of three I need to take hold on and take a deep breath." Stef looked through the small hole in the floor to see that the flames have started to rise and spread out. Stef coughed out the smoke that she was breathing to get some clean air in. "Alright one, two, three." Stef a leap and landed with a thump.

Pushing Lena through the door first and then herself. Picking Lena back up again she moved them towards the bedroom. The fire started to move up the stairs as she could see the water coming in through the door. The only way was through the bedroom as the fire was too thick for firefighters to get through. Stef quickly set Lena up to fall on the mattress safely.

"Stef I don't think I can do it. What if I miss? I could die, please don't make me do this!" Lena screamed. She was on the outside of the window holding onto Stef's arm.

"Listen to me you need to go. So that I can go. I'm not leaving until I know that you are safe." Stef slowly pushed her down the shingles. She tried to look away but needed to know that Lena landed safely. She heard Lena's screaming stop when she hit the mattress. "Alright I'm coming down, move out of the way." Wiggling herself out the window she feels the air under her. Feeling the clean air in her lungs made her cough. Stef just laid on the mattress with, eyes closed, and Lena beside her. She felt her body getting lifted off the ground. Words being passed through the air but Stef just wanted to sleep. She felt her being transferred.

"Come on dear we need you to open your eyes." There was a cold plastic on her face that brought her eyes open. She tried to sit up. "Just calm down. We need to rest for a bit. You are a very brave young girl."

While Stef was on the stretcher getting checked over. Lena was on the curb with a police officer beside her. She was asking her questions, like what happened, where was she in the house, how did they get out. "Where is Stef? What about Barbara and Eddie? Is William here?" Was the all Lena said to the officer. The officer knew that she wasn't go to get anything out of the girl until she was reunited with the blonde.

Will arrived on scene trying to found out where the girls are. He found Lena on the curb beside a police officer and Stef was a stretcher. "How is she?" Will asked the paramedic that was working on Stef.

"She inhaled a lot of smoke but the oxygen will clear it up. She will be fine in a couple of hours." The next step was to see if Lena was ok. Before he could open his mouth he felt the little body impact his. He held her back to make sure that there were no broken bones. He saw the officer coming over to him.

"It's ok. I'm their social worker. Did she answer all the questions officer?" The officer answered no. "Where are the home owners?" William asked as he picked up the little girl.

"We don't know it seems that the girls were in the house by themselves. When we got here we didn't know that anyone was in the house, since the neighbours saw the parents leave around 10 this evening. Everyone thought that the girls went with them. So we were just trying to stop the fire from spreading."

They have found themselves in William's car with tears in their eyes and holding each other. The paramedics have allowed Will to take them. Lena had soot on her face and Stef was holding her with all her might. All she wanted was to make sure that Lena got adopted by a nice family because she deserves it. William got into the car after talking to the head of fire, police, and paramedic to take the girls away from this hell.

The newspapers wanted to know how to little girls survived a fire, but the girls didn't talk about it. Will said that the police can make up whatever story that they want, as long as it didn't involve the girls. The police went with a mystery heroic that was arriving home late from work, he saw the fire, and got the girls out before anything got too bad. They would have this experience that would bond them together. Lena would never go to bathroom during the night. It caused problems as she started to wet bed again. Stef would never openly admit that she was scared but she always made sure that the window was opened during the night, just in case.

Too bad that this wasn't there worst experience in the foster system.