Hi everyone,

It's been quite sometime since I've written for this fandom but I've come up with a new story and new storyline that I would like to share with you. I was planning on continuing the other series I had been writing but decided to scrap it and start over... I've only just gotten back into WCTH after a long absence (pre-occupied with real life) and had this story come to me. It's probably not really that interesting but I hope someone will enjoy it.

The story starts in season 1 and will follow along with the episodes, with my own additions and such.

*disclaimer* I own nothing. Except my OC, all rights and such go to Hallmark. Etc. Etc.

Enjoy.

Chapter 1

'Joanna, it's morning-' Abigail lent down next to the girl's ear, her hand resting softly on the girl's shoulder. 'It's time to wake up.'

Joanna flinched, opening her eyes with a soft groan as she nodded. 'I'm awake.'

'Good girl. Breakfast is almost ready. Get dressed then come down to eat, we need to be ready to meet the stage. The new schoolteacher should be arriving today.'

'I won't be long.' She yawned as Abigail left and blinked in the dim light. She didn't feel like getting out of bed, she hated waking up everyday. Waking up to the feeling of emptiness and pain. It had almost been three months since the mine disaster, three months since she'd become an orphan for a second time. She laid in bed for a little longer then forced herself out from under the covers and went to her closet. Slipping into her day clothes she folded her nightgown and placed it on the dressing table then made her bed.

'Did you sleep well?'

She shook her head, walking down the last couple of stairs then took a seat at the table. 'I haven't slept in weeks.' She sighed wearily then looked up at the older woman. 'How are you doing?'

Abigail placed the girls breakfast on a plate and handed it to her. 'I'm alright honey, you just worry about yourself.'

'What's going to happen with me?' She asked after a moment, pushing her eggs around on the plate. 'Am I going to be sent to an orphanage?'

'Of course not sweetheart-' The woman touched her cheek gently as she sat down beside her. 'We can work something out, I'm sure. Things will be okay honey.' Joanna nodded, looking down at her plate. 'Your not hungry, are you?'

The girl shook her head. 'I'm sorry, I just can't eat.'

'You know you have to.'

'I just can't.' She pushed her plate away after a moment. 'I'm going to go check on Aztec.'

'Alright honey.'

Abigail sighed, looking at the uneaten food on the plate after the girl had left. She knew Joanna hadn't eaten a square meal for days, the girl just refused to eat. She barely would speak either, she'd consistently withdrawn into herself further and further till it was like she couldn't reach her. She grabbed a fork, finishing off the breakfast so it wouldn't go to waste then got up and took the plate to the sink. She could see the girl with her horse in the yard, her heart breaking as she watched the girl crying into the stallions mane. Lord please help me help her.

Joanna clung to her stallion, crying her tears softly into his mane. Why? Why did the mine have to explode? Why did her father and brother have to be killed? Why?

Aztec snorted softly, nudging her gently and she gave him a pat after she'd wiped her tears away. 'I'm alright.' She ran her hand down his neck. 'I'm okay boy.'

Grabbing his bridle off the hook inside the little she'd she bridled him then led him out of the yard and mounted, heading for the forest. The feel of the horse underneath her brought her little comfort as she urged him down the track at a canter. Aztec wasn't her horse, he'd been her father's until well, the explosion. He was the only thing she had left, the only thing left of a life that was a distant memory.

She slowed him to a stop in the grassy meadow near the pond, dismounting to let him graze. It hasn't always been like this, she had had a happy home. A family.

She sat down in the long grass, the stallion grazing near her. She'd technically been an orphan from birth, her birth mother had disowned her and she didn't know who her father was. The man she had thought of as a father and his wife had adopted her when she was eight, she could remember well the orphanages she'd been through until she'd been adopted. Her brother hadn't really been her brother either, he was an adopted child too but a few years older than her. The fact that they weren't blood didn't matter though. They had been family and it had been all she'd had.

Aztec snorted softly, grazing closer to her and she patted his neck. Things had been good until a few years back, when her mother had died. She'd died of consumption, she'd fought it for a long time and it finally won. They'd been living on a huge ranch at the time, a ranch that her father had ended up losing six months ago and they'd moved to Coal Valley so he and her brother could work in the mine. It felt like a lifetime ago. Aztec was the last thing she had left, of her father and that life. He was the only horse that hasn't been sold. Even her pony, SugarFlakes had been sold when the bank foreclosed. She missed that pony, she really did.

After a little while she mounted Aztec again and started back to the rowhouses. She couldn't help but worry about what was going to happen to her. Mrs. Stanton had been kind enough to take her in but for how long could she impose on her hospitality? How long before she tired of looking after a child that wasn't her own before she sent her packing to an orphanage?

She stopped the stallion near the gate and dismounted, leading him into the yard. The little shed out behind the rowhouse had been converted into a stable for him, there was no way she could cover the fees to keep him at the livery. Mrs. Stanton had been kind enough to let her keep him, she also paid for his feed out of the check she got from the mining company. How long would she though? She unbridled the horse then gave him a little hay and started back into the house. What curveball was life going to throw at her next?

'How was your ride?' Abigail asked softly as the girl walked through the back door, looking up from the dishes she was wiping.

'Okay.' She walked over, glancing around. 'What can I help with?'

'I think it's pretty well all finished.' Placing the cloth down she glanced over at the clock. 'We've got time before we go to meet the stage so why don't we go sit down?' The girl shrugged, following her into the living room. 'Joanna, how are you going?'

'I'm fine?'

She looked into the girls eyes, lifting her chin as they sat together on the couch. 'How are you really doing?'

Joanna's lip quivered for a moment, tears welling in her eyes and she looked away from her. No, she wouldn't break. Crying was for sissies. No one saw her cry, no one except Aztec.

'Honey-' Abigail placed her arm around the girl. 'Joanna, sweetheart, you know you can't keep it inside. I'm worried about you.' The girl nodded with a sniffle. 'What's wrong darling?'

'I-I'm scared.' She finally admitted after a moment, unable to hold back the tears any longer. 'I don't want to go back to an orphanage, I don't want to go through that all again. I can't, I can't go through it-'

'Oh honey.' The woman took her in her arms, kissing her head gently as the girl cried. She didn't understand what she was saying, she barely knew the child but her heart went out to her. 'It's going to be okay, it's going to be all right.' The girl nodded, resting in her arms as she choked back sobs. 'Tell me what's wrong darling. What is it?'

Joanna sniffled, her heart broken as the memories came back just like it had been yesterday. The orphanage, the waiting. The lining up as people came to choose a child. Being rejected over and over again. Being moved from orphanage to orphanage. Being unwanted, unloved. 'My-my mother, my birth mother gave me up to an orphanage at birth. She didn't want me.'

'Oh Joanna-' She placed her cheek against the girls head as the child started to sob quietly again. 'Oh honey.'

'They moved me from orphanage to orphanage till I was eight-' The girl exclaimed as she fought to keep herself from crying. 'Till Miranda and Edward finally adopted me. I had a home, I had a family. Then Miranda caught consumption. I nursed her and tried to look after her but she died when I was ten-' She looked up at her, tears running down her cheeks. 'I gave my best and it wasn't enough.'

'Oh sweetheart, it's not your fault.'

'We lost the ranch we lived on six months ago-' She continued once she'd caught her breath. 'We left her behind to come here so Dad and Johnny could work and then the mine-'

Abigail held the girl closer to her as she started to cry again, tears coming to her own eyes as she rubbed her cheek against the girls head. There was no wonder the girl had been so quiet, so withdrawn. She was utterly terrified. Terrified of going back to a life before she'd been adopted. Before the mine explosion she'd barely known the girl or her brother or father. She hadn't known the child had been adopted or was essentially an orphan before the accident. Everything made sense now.

She kissed the girls head gently again, the girl slowly calming down again to rest utterly exhausted in her hold. She didn't know how she was going to be able to look after the child, she barely had enough money to pay for herself but as she held the child in her arms she knew she wasn't going to let her go. There was no way she was going to let her go. The child had been through enough, she knew she couldn't live with herself if she were to send her to an orphanage with that knowledge. No, the girl was staying with her no matter how hard it was going to be.

Joanna pulled away after sometime, wiping her eyes as she forced back one last sob. 'Sorry about that, I don't like people seeing me cry. It was drilled into me at the orphanage that you didn't cry or you'd be in trouble.'

'You don't need to apologize sweetheart-' She tucked a lock of the girl's hair back behind her ear. 'There's nothing to be sorry for. I can't imagine what you've been through but you don't have to be ashamed to cry in front of me darling. I'm not going to be mad with you honey. Okay?' The girl nodded, her eyes averted towards the ground. 'You can come talk to me anytime sweetheart, I'll be here. I want you to come to me, I want to help you.'

'Alright.' She replied after a moment, her voice a mere sad whisper. 'I better get cleaned up.'

'Okay honey.' The girl stood up and made her way upstairs, the woman letting out a heavy sigh as she got up. The poor child was so broken, so traumatized. Was she even able to cope with that? Would she be able to help her?

She found herself in front of the painting Noah had done, gently touching the frame with her finger tips, a habit she'd gotten into when she started to think of him. 'What am I doing?' She asked herself softly, an expression of pain and grief written on her face. She had hardly mourned her husband and son and she was thinking of taking in an orphan? Was it the right thing to do?

Turning away from the painting she went to the back window, staring out at the mountains beyond. Lord, show me the way. Show me what to do. Give me a sign that looking after this child is the right thing to do. Give me the courage, wisdom and strength only you can provide. Fill Joanna with your peace, fill us both with your presence. Give us comfort in this time, help us have the strength to make it through.