Author's Note: I'm happy to see that so many of you stuck around. Now, as I mentioned before, I only have five chapters of this typed. That means that, as much as I'd like to continue with daily updates, you'll only have this one and one more. Enjoy it while it lasts, folks; I make no promises regarding updates following tomorrow's posting.

Also, this is your trigger warning. If you are sensitive in regards to child neglect/abuse, do not read further.


A little while later, as Chloe lowers her legs to climb down the ladder of the treehouse to the ground, she looks up and asks Beca, "Where do you think your dad went?"

"I dunno," Beca says. "But I hope he brings me some presents for when he gets home."

"That's always my favorite part when my dad goes out of town," Aubrey says, climbing down after Chloe.

It takes a few minutes for Beca to get down, too, because Chloe thinks her legs are a little too small for the steps, but afterward, they meet Chloe's mom in the kitchen. But Chloe's dad is there, too, and he says, "Hi, girls. Beca, I'm Mr. Beale," he introduces with a small smile. "And I thought I should thank you for taking care of our Chloe today."

"That's okay," Beca shuffles her feet around awkwardly. "I didn't mind."

"Such a sweetheart," Chloe's mom smiles a little, but Chloe still doesn't think it looks right on her face.

"Alright, everyone hop in the car," Mr. Beale says with a heavy sigh, trading a look with Chloe's mom that Chloe doesn't understand. But she thinks it's bad, because she's only seen her dad look this way once before, at one of Caleb's basketball games, and he yelled a lot at the guy in the black and white stripes until they weren't allowed to watch the game anymore.

When they stop at Beca's house, Beca rushes inside with Chloe's mom right behind her, but after a little bit, they come back out. Chloe's mom shakes her head when Chloe's dad looks at her, but Chloe's just happy to spend a little more time with Beca in the car, so she isn't worried.

"Alright, sweetheart, can you tell us where to go to find her?" Mrs. Beale asks softly, twisting around from the passenger seat to face Beca, buckled up in the very back seats of the SUV so that all three girls could sit together.

"Yeah," Beca nods. "Drive that way," she points. "Then turn after you see three stop signs."

"I'm taking directions from a five year old," Mr. Beale puffs out. "This is the worst kind of backseat driving. My pride hurts."

Chloe doesn't get what he means, but her mom laughs a little and swats him on the arm. When they get to the stop sign Beca told them about, Chloe's mom asks, "Which way do we turn, Beca?"

"That way," Beca says, hitching her thumb outward.

"That's left!" Chloe announces when her mother says she can't see where Beca's pointing.

Beca looks confused.

"Look, see," Aubrey says, taking Beca's hands in her own and unfurling them, pushing the younger girl's fingers together and separating her thumb. "That's an 'L,'" she says, gesturing to Beca's left hand. "And 'left' starts with an 'L,' so that's how you can remember."

"Oh," Beca says, then, slowly, she nods. "Yeah, left," she agrees, grinning at Aubrey.

Chloe grins at them both, because that's how Aubrey taught her to remember, too, and it still works, even though she's older, now.

Beca keeps telling Chloe's parents where to go, and every now and then she'll look to Aubrey to make sure she got her lefts and rights straight. Aubrey fixes it when Beca gets it wrong, and she rolls her eyes, some, too, but Chloe thinks that's normal for Aubrey; she rolls her eyes at Chloe a lot, also.

Chloe isn't sure where they end up, but she's never been here before. There are pretty pink and blue lights with words on them, and it takes Chloe a second to read it, but the signs say 'OPEN' on them in bright letters. She thinks that's a little silly, because Beca's alarm on her watch hasn't even gone off, and that means it's not even six o'clock, yet, so why wouldn't they be open?

"This is where your mom is?" Chloe's dad asks, but she thinks he sounds angry.

She fuses her brows together and looks at Beca, who shrinks down a little in her seat. "It's okay. I can go get her and walk home. Thanks for driving me," Beca says quietly.

"No, dear," Mrs. Beale rejects swiftly. "We still want to talk to her, okay? And make sure you get home safely."

"Are you sure?" Beca asks, and Chloe thinks she sounds even smaller than she is, somehow. "Mr. Beale sounds mad," she mutters nervously.

"Not at you, honey," Chloe's mom says quickly.

Chloe's pretty sure that her mom just shoved her elbow into her dad's tummy, too, before her dad says, "I'm not angry with you, Beca. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoken that way. Can you tell us what your mom looks like, so that we can find her?"

Beca shakes her head, pops her seatbelt open, and jumps out of the car, clambering over Chloe to get to the door. Before she closes it, she says, "It's faster if I do it myself. I'll go get her and bring her outside."

"Wait, Beca!" Chloe's mom cries out, before she chases her outside, leaving the car door parted in her hurry to reach Chloe's new friend.

"Why can't Beca go get her mom by herself?" Aubrey frowns. "It's not that far. Look, we can see the door from here."

"That's- It's not a safe place for kids to be," Chloe's dad says, though it takes him a second, and he still looks really mad.

Chloe looks at Aubrey and takes her hand, because Chloe doesn't like it when her parents get mad at all, but it's really weird this time, because she doesn't understand why they're both so upset. She hopes they're telling the truth, and that they aren't mad at Beca; Chloe really likes her, and she thinks Beca's a really good friend, so she wants to be able to play with her tomorrow, too.

"It's okay," Aubrey says mutedly, so Chloe's dad can't hear, while she squeezes Chloe's hand a little tighter. "I think they're mad at Beca's mom, but I don't understand why. They haven't even met her yet."

Chloe glances out the window, and she sees her own mom kneeling down and putting her hands on Beca's shoulders. They're talking too quietly for Chloe to hear, even with the open car door, but eventually Beca nods her head and walks away, moving toward a really big man dressed in all black.

"Hello, Beca," the large man greets, and he sounds more tired than Aubrey did, earlier – like it's way past his bedtime, and he hates everything but his pillow.

Chloe gets like that, sometimes. But usually only when she's sick. It's okay, though, because he doesn't sound angry, and he smiles down at Beca, so Chloe knows that he's not mad at her, either.

"Hi, Tommy," Beca says back, waving. "Is my mom here?"

The big man looks over at Chloe's mom, who frowns, but nods at him to tell him it's okay to answer her.

"She's here. C'mon, I'll help you bring her out, kid," Tommy says.

"Is she really sleepy today?" Beca asks, and Chloe thinks she sounds really worried, so that makes her sad. "I only need help when she's really sleepy," Beca tells him.

"Yeah," the man says gloomily. "Yeah, she's real sleepy today, Becaroo. You go on in; she's right inside, same place as always. I'll be there in a second."

Beca smiles at him and says 'thank you' before she waves at Chloe's mom and says, "I'll be right back."

Chloe's mom stays outside while Beca goes in, but Chloe can see her mom watching Beca really closely, like she does to Chloe when she gets to go shoe shopping and doesn't want her mom to hover too much while she decides on her favorites.

"I'm sorry about this, and I don't mean to intrude, but my little girl brought Beca home to play with her today, and Beca said some things that had me a little- concerned about her home life," Chloe's mom explains to the big man.

Chloe doesn't understand what most of that means, but her mom is really worried about Beca for some reason, and that upsets Chloe.

"I don't blame you," the man sighs. "I didn't used to worry much about it, because little Beca used to come in with her dad to get her every night, but the past week or two Beca's come by herself. It's usually not until a little later on, you know, but Beca always comes for her. It's not my place to argue with parenting – I'm a bouncer, not a father," he laughs a little, "but that little girl's special. She's smart, and she's strong, but I don't know where she gets it from. If her mom's blathering is anything to go by, her daddy took off not too long ago without so much as a goodbye to the kid, the damn coward, and I've seen how that lady treats Beca; it's borderline abusive, the way she talks to her, and she's grabbed her pretty rough around the arms more than once, too. And she ain't in no shape to be doing much parenting, anyway. She's an addict, ma'am. I don't like to judge, and I'd be fired for saying so about a bar patron who shells out as much as her mother does every night, but that little girl deserves better."

Chloe's mom sighs heavily, but nods. "I was afraid of that. Listen, I have my daughter and another one of her friends in the car with us," she hesitates for a second. "Is it- I mean, is Beca's mother fit enough to be around children right now, so that we can take her with us?"

Tommy snorts, and shrugs, "She's sprawled halfway across the bar by now, but I ain't gonna lie to you; she's a mean drunk. She'll probably fall asleep in the car, but I can't promise you she won't edge in a few words, first. Sometimes I pay the cab to take them home, if she's hit the sauce a little too heavily to walk back with Beca like she has tonight. I worry about that girl," he says softly. "I don't spend much time around kids, but I don't think most five year olds know their way around town so well. Even still, I don't like her walking in the dark alone. And her mother ain't gonna be much help if somethin' goes wrong, y'know."

"Alright," Chloe's mom says sadly. "Could you help us get her in the car, if it's not too much trouble?"

"Sure thing," Tommy says, glancing behind him. Chloe can't see what he's looking at, exactly, but she's pretty sure it's Beca, because she comes back out through the door a couple seconds later with a lady who looks a little like her, and Chloe thinks that must be Beca's mom.

But Beca's mom isn't standing straight, and she's holding onto Beca shoulder, so Beca wavers a little as she grabs her mom's hand in her own and wraps it around her neck, leaning into her to keep her more upright.

But Chloe thinks Beca's way too tiny to hold her mom by herself.