Chapter 3

Not long after Sarah was left alone, she walked the hall of the second floor and looked at the different rooms and the many pictures that hung on the wall. It seemed, at least in the pictures, that this family was truly happy. It really made her heart ache to see such genuine happiness as she wished that at some point in her life she could find that herself.

She heard the front door open and she inched to the top of the stairs, peeking through the rails to see who had arrived. She saw Sheila hugging a tall, blonde woman and from seeing the pictures, she correctly assumed that this was Abby. Her new sister.

Taking another deep breath, she slowly made her way down the stairs and followed the voices to the kitchen. When she entered they stopped talking and she gave a small wave, pulling her grey sleeves over her hands. She tucked a piece of her brown hair behind her ear, and bit her lip.

"Sarah, this is Abby." Sheila introduced the girls.

Abby smiled. "Hi Sarah. Did you have a nice trip here?"

Sarah nodded. "Uh…yeah. It was nice. Chicago is a lot different than I imagined it would be."

She smiled. "I bet." There was an awkward silence that fell over them and Abby sighed. "So I would love to get to know you, Sarah. I was thinking, if you wanted, we could do like a movie night? We can either go to my apartment or stay here. It is up to you, wherever you feel comfortable. I figured it would give us a chance to get to know each other better and I can prepare you to meet the boys tomorrow."

Sarah nodded. "That sounds really nice, actually." she paused. "And we can go to your place, I guess." Quickly she looked at Sheila. "If that's okay with you? I know I just got here…"

Sheila smiled. "Whatever you feel comfortable doing, is fine with me as long as it is safe and legal. Which this is."

Sarah smiled and turned to Abby. "Um…what do I need to bring?"

Abby smiled at her. "Well I managed to get out of work tomorrow, so if you feel comfortable sleeping over you can, or I can bring you back here." she paused. "Sorry I don't really know how comfortable you are yet, I haven't done this before."

Sarah sighed. "Neither have I. And I guess I could sleep over. I really don't have any clothes though…"

"You can borrow something of mine." Abby smiled and after having a small meal between the three of them and when it started getting later, Abby and Sarah left.

As they drove over to her apartment, Abby looked at Sarah. "I know this is probably all really weird to you."

Sarah sighed. "You really have no idea." she laughed. "I appreciate everything that your parents have done for me, I mean…taking me into their home! I have been in that orphanage since I was nine. No one has even wanted me for foster care. This is something I honestly never thought would happen."

Abby's heart went out to the girl, and she was surprised that she would open up that quickly. "What else happened?"

Suddenly Sarah clammed up. "Nothing! I don't want to talk about it!" She shouted.

Abby didn't speak, but watched the young girl's face calm down. "I am sorry, Abby. I didn't mean to snap at you. It is hard for me to talk about. I will…I promise. I just…can't right now. Not yet."

"It okay. I shouldn't have asked." Abby said quietly, understanding. "But I am here if you need to talk. It doesn't matter what time it is or where I am. I will always listen if you have something to talk about."

They turned onto one street and Abby slowed the car. "This is where the boys were planning on getting dinner tonight. I figured I would just give you a glimpse of them…" She scanned the street. "There they are."

They drive past and Sarah got to see her new brothers in the flesh. Even in their uniforms they didn't look so scary, but she wasn't really meeting them yet. She saw them look towards the car, one of them must have noticed it, and her eyes grew wide. She immediately slid down in her seat and Abby drove away towards her apartment.

"I'm sorry."

Abby laughed. "Stop saying that. You have nothing to be sorry for. This is all new to you. So don't apologize, but please let me know if you get uncomfortable or scared by something."

Sarah nodded and chuckled as they walked up to the apartment. She smiled when she saw the place that her sister lived. Even as the word entered her mind, Sarah felt kind of weird. She hadn't known this woman for very long, yet she knew that legally they were sisters.

After getting some snacks and some movies, Abby gave her a big t-shirt and a pair of shorts to wear. She hesitated, but took them and changed out of her jeans and jacket. She stared at herself in the mirror of the bathroom and sighed. She knew that Abby would have questions, but hopefully she could trust her not to press too much in one night.

Abby looked up when she heard Sarah come out of the bathroom and had to hold in a gasp when she saw the girl this time. She now understood why the girl hesitated when she saw the shorts.

On her thighs, were huge burns and multiple scars. Abby had never seen anything so bad but she held it in.

"I know. But please…not tonight." Sarah said quietly as she walked closer.

Abby gave her a small smile. "Okay. Let's sit on the balcony for a bit. It is a beautiful night and it gives you a great view of the city."

Sarah smiled again and both she and Abby felt a little better. Abby handed her a mug of hot cocoa and Sarah took a sip and laughed. "Oh my God. I missed having hot chocolate!"

"So…tell me a little about yourself. You know…whatever you want to tell me." Abby sipped her drink.

Sarah sighed. "Uh…well I am about to be 17. My birthday is on January 22nd. I have lived in North Carolina my entire life…until now. My favorite color is blue. I love music. Mostly Country but I like Pop, too. I am allergic to cinnamon and I still cannot ride a bike or drive a car."

Abby laughed. "Well…with this family, that won't be the case for very long."

Sarah laughed, too. "I think the hardest thing about coming here was leaving my best friend, Cassie, behind."

Abby looked sad. "That is horrible. Where did you guys meet?"

At that, Sarah laughed. "See that's a funny story. We were actually in third grade and I was playing my recorder, we had to learn it that year, but it wouldn't work! So I marched over to the new girl and took hers. She started crying, and I hate crying. So I gave it back and when I apologized she hugged me. We kind of just bonded from there."

"You stole her recorder? Wow. Remind me to hide my music sources." Abby teased her and Sarah laughed.

Sighing, Sarah bit her lip. "Thanks, Abby."

Abby turned to look at her. "For what?"

Sarah looked up at her. "For this. This is really nice. I was really nervous when I got here today but…you and Sheila have both made me feel a lot better about it. I can't promise anything for the way I will act once everyone is together tomorrow, but I am seriously going to try and stay positive."

Abby nodded. "I know. It'll be fine."

Sarah sighed. "You know I didn't have any siblings. I never even got to experience what a real family looked like. This is so new to me. I don't…know how to be a sister. I am afraid that I won't be good at it and…I won't fit in. God I sound so stupid right now."

Abby set her mug down and moved over to sit next to the girl. She waited and slowly Sarah leaned her head on to Abby shoulder, pulling her knees to her chest. Abby gently stroked her hair.

"I know that right now, this is all scary and new. Change scares everyone, whether they admit it or not. Just remember that my family already loves you. We are big, loud, and crazy…but we care a lot more than most. Yeah, we have our differences, but we never stop loving each other. And now you are a part of that. I don't know what you went through, or what happened to you in North Carolina, but you're safe here. And most importantly, you are loved." Abby murmured quietly. "There isn't really a right way to be a sister. You just have to keep being whoever you are, and we adjust from there."

Suddenly, she felt Sarah's shoulders start to shake as she cried. Abby just held her, knowing that she just needed comfort. This was a start. Sarah knew that she could open up to them. She just hoped the next few days proved to be just as good.

Thanks for all of the people who send me reviews! I hope you are still liking this story, and I promise I am going to try and keep up a steady update rate. Also, I am not really sure how the process works with someone who is adopted and how everything goes down when they get to their new homes or whatever, so please bear with me.