A/N: so this is yet another completely random idea by broawaybabeWA and me. This is the first story on our joint account. Basically we've taken Martina McBride's Independence Day music video and combined it with Concrete Angel. April is adopted by the family we've created to be Will's family, when he's 4 and she's 7. We own nothing…. As usual.

April's POV

I didn't notice but I'd started crying when I was thinking about how much everything hurts. Debbie looks at me, "what's wrong sweetie?"

What happens if I tell her? will she make it stop or just hurt me more? She hasn't done anything yet so I think I can tell her.

"hurts…" I say, but it sounds more like a cry.

"what hurts honey?" she asks, it's in a nice voice. She's not yelling, and even Greg has that same look that I get from Mrs. Gill at school…

Debbie's POV

She has to be sore from the beatings she's taken. I noticed some pretty ugly bruises yesterday. I'm sure some of them are fairly new.

"everything…" she cries.

I gently rub her back, "shhh, it'll be okay. how about you come lay down on the couch and relax…"

She just nods and keeps crying. I help her up and Greg mouths that he'll clean up breakfast. I get her situated on the couch and turn on the Disney Channel. She just stares at me with tears still falling. I sit on the end of the couch next to her and she sits up next to me. I can tell she's begging for some positive attention. No one's ever comforted her or said something nice to her.

I gently wrap my arm around her and start to rub her shoulder. She squeezes the stuffed puppy and yawns. "shh, just close your eyes.. it's okay"

She just whimpers and squeezes the puppy tighter. I continue to rub her shoulder. This is such a big change for her, she's really overwhelmed right now.

"just take some deep breaths and try to relax.. I'm not gonna hurt you" I say, trying to calm her. she's still so worked up from yesterday it's really hard for her.

She continues to cry and hold the puppy. It's probably been a really long time since she's even been able to cry. I just want her to have the chance to let her feelings out, if she wants to scream I won't stop her, she's been held captive for so long, she's built up so much anger and who knows what else.

I don't even think she's paying attention to the TV show because her entire body is wracked with sobs. I just want to hold her close and rock her until she calms down like I've always done for Will, but I know it would freak her out even more.

She's now curled up in a ball, with her face buried in her knees and I can see how raspy her breaths are just by looking at her tiny back. I can actually see her little ribs through the nightgown she's wearing. I start gently rubbing her back, I can feel the tender spots where they've beaten her and my heart keeps breaking for her.

I think she slept in a warm bed for the first time in her life last night, and the meals that she's had here are probably the best she's had in a very long time. I want to calm her so bad right now, but I know she needs to let everything out. Greg comes in and looks at her with a very concerned look on his face, and I just give him a sad smile.

"she needs to cry.." I quietly say.

He just nods, "I talked to your mom, she said Will was fine. And he could stay for a day or two if we needed her to watch him"

"alright." I say, glancing at the tiny girl sitting next to me.

It's been nearly twenty minutes since she's started crying, and it's shown no signs of slowing down, only gotten worse. "April sweetheart" I say, running my fingers through her tangled hair.

She just whimpers and continues crying. I'm getting worried about her breathing at this point and I really want her to try to calm down. "can you try to take some big breaths for me?"

At first she struggles and then I gently squeeze her shoulder, "I want you to sit up sweetie, it'll help you breathe"

She slowly sits up and her eyes are red and tear stained. I smile at her as she continues to struggle to take a deep breath. "breathe with me sweetie, big breath in through your nose, now blow it out nice and slow through your mouth"

She chokes on her tears the first few times but finally she's able to take some good deep breaths. She's just down to sniffles and a few quiet tears roll down her cheeks. She looks at me with some of the saddest eyes I've ever seen. She's so broken right now, it's gonna take a lot to get her to where she needs to be. She leans into me and wipes her eyes with the sleeve of her nightgown. I gently wrap my arm around her and I can feel that she's still trying to take big deep breaths.

"shhh, everything's gonna be okay. just close your eyes" I say to her.

April's POV

Why can't I just get a hug? What do I have to do, I've cried so much now I just don't think I can cry anymore. All I've wanted was for someone to hold me and not do anything mean. I don't think I can ask for a hug because every time I did I never got one, instead I got yelled at and hit.

Maybe I needed to cry, I guess. That's what Debbie said. But now I feel so tired and it still hurts. I yawn and squeeze my puppy tight. It's mine and nobody can take it from me, like they did if I ever came home with anything from school. I think I was supposed to go today, if I remember right the last day I went to school it was Wednesday. I'm not too sure. I know it's winter cuz it's so cold. But that's really about it.

I'm not used to this big box thing being on, it kinda scares me. I think this might be one of those cartoon shows the other kids talk about, but I dunno. He got mad when I tried to watch it one time. He yelled something about me interrupting his game, whatever that means.

I really want to sleep again. It's been so long since I could really sleep since I had to be quiet and still in that closet. I know I roll around in my sleep a lot and I never was supposed to make any noise. But when I do sleep I see the big fire, and them hitting me and yelling and the dirty house.

I never cleaned up my food! It's still there, I made a mess. I have to clean my messes. Or else I get hit, and yelled at. And shoved in the basement for a really long time until they decide to get me out and hit me some more.

I jump up and run into the kitchen, but everything is already put up. The cereal isn't out, my bowl isn't on the table. WHY! I frantically start looking around the kitchen for things to clean with. I see Debbie come into the kitchen and I try to hide from her behind the counter but she slowly comes around from it. I'm curled up in a ball on the floor, I know I'm shaking and crying again.

Debbie comes closer and I know not to run, if I run worse things happen. So I just stay as still as I can. I hear her feet stop moving and she starts to talk, "April, it's okay"

"DON'T!" I scream. I already messed up. She's not gonna want me, I forgot to clean my mess, and they said nobody wanted messy kids.

"what don't you want me to do April?" she asks.

I don't get it. She hasn't started hitting me yet and hasn't told me to clean. I'm not sure if I can even tell her I need to clean or that it hurts too much for her to hit me again. So I just cry, it seems to keep her from doing mean stuff. "just go away…" I cry.

Debbie's POV

I'm not sure what triggered April to do what she just did. We know nothing about the extent of her abuse or what life was like for her in that house because everything was burned. She did tell me to go away, and I'm going to respect that right now, since it's something she wants.

I hate to leave her alone like this but for her to actually get better, I need to let her do what she wants.

I find Greg sitting at his desk and walk into his office. "is April okay?" he asks.

"I don't think so. She just ran into the kitchen and is curled up in a corner crying. She yelled at me 'don't' and told me to just go away…" I tell him. I need to find some way that I can start to communicate with her.

He sighs, "she's been through hell. We can only guess what happened by the marks on her skin, it's going to be forever before she even thinks about telling us"

"I'm not gonna push her. She was digging through the cabinet with all the cleaning stuff in it. So that makes me wonder if they ever made her clean the house by herself" I tell him.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they did." He says.

"I really want to call the school soon and see if they know anything. And I wanna talk to them about getting her the help she needs to get better" I tell him. I know the school is gonna have to do a lot of intervention now that she's out of that horrible home.

"that would probably be the best idea. She's probably so behind and is going to need therapy. I want try to see if I could coax her out of the kitchen and get her to relax again but I'm afraid she'd be scared of me" he says.

I think she's even a little scared of me right now. everything has changed so drastically for her in a matter of hours, she hasn't had time to process it. She doesn't know what a normal, healthy home is like and it's gonna take a really long time for her to get used to having us take care of her.

It seems as if every five minutes something new comes into my mind that we need to do for her, or get her. If I were to make a list it would probably be at least three pages long. Right now we just have to give her time to adjust to her new environment. It'll be a long healing process for her, but it'll be worth it, since it started that first night she spent at Child Services. I just hope she'll start to open up soon, but I know it isn't gonna happen in the next few days.

A/N: Sorry the update has taken so long. Let's just say school is making me super duper busy. But I kinda have a general direction this story will go and am planning what they will do to help April get better. Let's just say it won't be easy for her, but she will get a lot better. PLEASE review! I want to know if you're even reading this. Follow me on Twitter! gleeroxmysocks