Naia's POV

When Gabby came back, I looked down at the table.

"Sorry." I mumbled as Gabby took a seat next to me.

"What for?" She asked, setting her phone down.

I shrugged, "For whatever I did."

"You didn't do anything wrong. That was your mother I spoke to. She sounds like a lovely lady." Gabby said.

I snorted, "Yeah, lovely enough to abandon me on some abusive couple's doorsteps when I was a baby."

"Are you mad at her?" Foster asked me. Was I mad at her? Part of me was thrilled that I could see her again, part of me was furious about the fact that she just kind of left me, part of me was confused with what I should do.

"I'm not sure." I answered truthfully. "I guess I have mixed feelings about her and my dad."

Gabby cleared her throat, "Anyways, as I was saying, she said that she wanted to tell you personally why she did what she did. Whenever you're ready, she's ready to tell you."

"I thought I was ready," I said, "But then when I heard her voice I realized that I really wasn't."

Everybody around me nodded to show they understood.

"That's okay, whenever you're ready you can talk to her." Gabby said. "Now you better finish that hot chocolate before it turns into cold chocolate."

I was in a pitch black room that didn't have any windows or doors. Not that I could see anyways. There was no furniture anywhere that I could see so I sat down cross legged on the floor which was cold and felt like concrete.

"I always hated you. Before you were even born, I hated you." A voice said. "You will never be my daughter. You will never be mine."

The room swirled away to reveal the bathroom I was locked up in. James was standing in the door way, a belt in his hand. As he advanced towards me, I felt myself go cold. I was pushed against the wall harshly before being whipped by the belt. Every blow was followed by a sting.

"Until you die."

I woke up with a start, panting and sweating as if I had just ran marathon. Once my breathing was back to normal, I laid back down on the couch and pulled the blanket up to my chin. I'll admit, I was scared to close my eyes. Scared to face what might be next. As much as I hated to disturb Gabby, I got up and pulled the blanket behind me as I tip toed towards the bunks. Having done this before, I easily knew which bed was Gabby's but double checked before I shook her awake.

"Gabby." I whispered, shaking her shoulder. "Gabby."

Gabby opened one eye and when she saw me, immediately scooched over so I could climb in beside her. She threw the covers over me and I snuggled beside her.

"Another nightmare?" She asked in a hushed voice and I nodded.

"Yeah, sorry about waking you up." I apologized in the same hushed voice.

Gabby shook her head, "Don't worry about it. Now get some sleep."

So with that, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

Firetruck 81, Squad 3, Ambo 61, Ambo 23, apartment fire at 337 Clark Street

I shot awake as the bells went off. Beside me, Gabby groaned as she jumped out of bed and hurried off. I sat up in Gabby's bed, watching everybody rush to the garage.

"Go back to sleep Munchkin!" Matt called out as he was leaving.

I tried to do as Matt said and laid back down under the covers but I couldn't sleep. The darkness around me seemed to be eating me up so I pulled the covers over my head. As if that would do anything.

I was now wide awake. No chance of falling back asleep before they came back now. Feeling a little bit thirsty. I crawled out of bed and made my way to the kitchen where I filled up a glass with water. I drank all of it in one go and then went back to the bunk room and then wiggled back under the covers of Gabby's bed.

Why did my parents leave me at the steps of a random strangers? Why didn't they ever try to contact me? If they kept Nolan, why didn't they keep me? Questions raced around in my head and I tried my very best to ignore them, but that was hard.

Finally, I heard the firetrucks come back and I jumped out of bed to go and greet them.

"Hey Munchkin! I thought I told you to go back to sleep!" Matt said as I gave him a hug.

I shrugged, "I couldn't fall back asleep."

Gabby came over to me and led me back to the bunk room. "It's only three in the morning, you need your sleep." She said as I climbed back under the covers. I nodded and closed my eyes but I didn't fall asleep until I felt the comforting dip of the other side of the bed, signalling that Gabby had come and laid down beside me.