DISCLAIMER: I own nothing and no recognizable characters from Hellboy. I am just a poor college student who also happens to be a rabid fan and this just happens to be a fanfiction that my mind came up with that I feel like sharing with other fans. I make absolutely NO money from this fanfic. It is merely for fun and hopefully the enjoyment of other fans. Please don't sue and fans please enjoy.

Chapter 21: Scars of the Past

"Um, I'm just going to leave this here for you to finish changing," Martha said softly to Gabriel keeping her voice steady even though she felt her heart was about to break. She laid the simple red t-shirt she had found in her closet with a white Coca-Cola legend across it on the bed and started to move carefully to the door, trying not to scare Gabby any more then she already had.

"Your welcome to anything else of course, but I don't think any of it will fit very well." The redhead continued when she had reached the door to the room. "We're all out here if you need anything. Um… so yah, see you for now." Martha ducked out of the room shutting the door behind her.

Gabby blinked. Well that was weird, he thought picking himself off the floor and looking at the clothing on the bed. I wonder what her problem is…

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"Abraham," Martha called rounding the corner and rushing into the kitchen to find the other four people in the house staring at her from where they sat at the table.

"Martha," Abe blinked, surprised. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, well no… I – I don't know, just…"

"Okay Martha, slow down." Abe had gotten up out of his chair and was standing by the distraught redhead with a comforting arm around her shoulder leading her to a chair.

"Kit," the Icthyo sapien said looking up at the catgirl immediately catching her attention. "Can you go check on Gabriel?"

Kit nodded once and was off to see how/what her fellow trainee was doing.

Now Abe was seated on one side of Martha while William was handing her a glass of water from her other side. The old soldier looked worriedly down at the redhead. She almost looked like she was in shock, but what could have scared her so?

Martha hand shook a little as she took up the glass and she only drank a sip of water before she set it down again. She took a deep breath trying to regain some of her composure. When the redhead looked up again she saw Clay standing on the other side of the table trying not to crowd the scene. She nodded to him slightly before turning to Abe.

"Abe," Martha looked seriously up at the Icthyo sapien. "Did you know Gabriel has been abused?"

Sadness seemed to consume the Abe's eyes at Martha's words. He sat back heavily in his chair with a sigh. "We guessed it," the Icthyo sapien finally said after awhile. His voice was filled with more sorrow then Martha had ever thought possible for one person to hold. "There… there were signs, but we never knew for sure." Abe sighed again and fell silent rubbing his eyes as if to try and ward off a pending headache.

Clay picked up then where Abe left off making Martha's and William's attention change to him. "Both Gabby and Kit are relatively new to the BPRD. Neither of them have been with us for even a full month so their pasts are pretty much a mystery." Clay leaned tiredly against the wall behind him. "Gabriel was out in the field once before on a training mission, but it did not go down very well. That's not to say the operation went bad, it was the crowd of crazed media afterwards that made things messy. Gabby got separated from the rest of his team in the crowd and broke down. Before that we had though he was a pretty normal kid, at least by BPRD standards, but after that incident we started to suspect he had been through some sort of trauma in his life. "

Clay paused for a moment before continuing in a quieter voice. "Abe was the one who save Gabby that night."

"No I didn't," Abe muttered in a grim voice. "I wasn't fast enough for that." Abe's shoulders sagged at his words.

"You can't save everyone, Abe." Clay said knowing the other agent was blaming himself for something that he could possibly have changed.

"I know," the Icthyo sapien answered with a sad, bitter smile. "But that doesn't seem to stop me from trying."

TBC…

Hey everyone… Sorry it's been so long. School kinda exploded everywhere. First day and I already had homework and ever since then it has been like this one constant scramble to keep up with all the work. Frankly I've been going a little nuts and whenever I sat down to work on this fanfic in the little free time I had, this story just refused to write out… I just had too much stuff on my mind to write anything that wasn't crap. Lucky for me (and indirectly you) I'm on a long weekend. Time to get some real writing in! I know this chapter is kind of depressing… sorry, but it's what I already had planned for Gabby, but don't worry, being at the BPRD will help him out in the end. I did want to ask, though, I have the scene of Gabriel's first mission written up from a long, long time ago (as I said: it was already planned…) and I was wondering if people would like it put up as an oneshot? Just curious… it was kinda made as just a background for me to refer to way before this fanfic was even started, but with a little tweaking it could easily be made into an oneshot. Thanks for reading and please review.

A quick and very big thanks to everyone who has reviewed. I absolutely love you guys and am so sorry it's been so very depressingly long since my last update… I really miss hearing from all you guys. Hopefully after this weekend I will be at least caught up with all my homework and have my schedule kind of figured out so that I will actually have some time set aside to write. Special thanks to SesshiraRayu, Peya Luna, Sparky28, sorrelshift, Iz the Shadow Pirate for their constant support and interest. It's you all that keep this fic going!

P.S. Okay for once I couldn't find a good song for a title, but I would rather get this chapter up for you instead of spending more time searching for a song… If anyone want's to submit some songs for a possible title for this chapter, I am totally fine with that. In fact I would love it. Thanks again – Keajo.