"Can I come in?" Dot asked with an uncomfortable smile.

"Ya- yes! Of course." Bobby stuttered as he moved to the side.

Athena watched as a girl she had never seen walked into her home. Bobby grabbed the suitcase and walked down the stairs, leading the girl to her.

"Athena this is my niece, Dorothy. Dot this is my wife Athena."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm sorry that I'm barging into your home, especially this late."

"Right. Let's take a seat. Tells us why you're here." Bobby said as he motioned to the couch. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Some water would be amazing."

Bobby walked into the kitchen. He was there for a moment before Athena joined him.

"You have a niece?"

Bobby sighed. He did not want to get into the story this late, but he didn't seem to have a choice.

"She's my sister's daughter."

"You have a sister." Athena stated more than questioned, with an eyebrow raised as she crossed her arms.

"I haven't heard from her since Dot was about 10. So 15 years now? She moved to Vegas with her husband, fell into a bad crowd, and just drifted off."

"Is she still alive?"

"I haven't heard otherwise. But I don't know why else Dot would be here."

"Well," Athena wrapped her arms around his waist, giving him a kiss, "Let's go find out."

Walking back into the living room, the couple found Dot sitting on the couch, seeming to try to take up as little room as possible. Bobby gave Dot the glass of water, taking a seat in front of her. Dot chugged the water, took a breath, and put the glass on the table.

"Thank you."

"Okay Dot, what's going on? Why are you here?"

"Short story? My parents stole all my money, and ran away. I thought the bills and such were getting paid, but apparently not, so the government took the house. So I have literally no money and am homeless."

"How did they steal all your money?" Athena asked.

"Also you're 25, why haven't you left them by now?" Bobby added on.

"26 actually. And I did leave. I rented my own place. Then they showed up one day begging me to help them cause the house was going to be taken away. So I went to the bank to set up a separate account to feed directly to the various bills. Well the guy I worked with turned out to be a friend of theirs, so the account just went directly to them. But the bills did actually need to be paid, and instead of just keeping their names on everything, they added mine."

Dot paused in her story. Bobby and Athena both nodded showing they were paying attention. Dot took a breath to continue.

"I couldn't get a hold of them for the past few days. I went around to their place... yesterday, I guess, and found a bunch of final notices for... well for everything. They came home and were actually really weird. Like ya, they were high obviously, but they seemed to be acting like something was actually wrong. We had a fight about what was going on, which ended with them leaving. I was there alone for an hour or so, and then there was a knock on the door. It was the IRS or something, I don't know. Everything just happened really quickly. Basically, they were seizing all assets to pay off the debts. Including my apartment since my name was now on everything. I said I had money put away that I could put towards starting to pay it off. I went to check my account, and it was all gone. All of it. I checked my wallet, and my cards were gone. They took them when they left and drained my accounts. I ran home, because I had some money hidden that I could use, but found my door kicked in. I went to the hiding spot, and all the money was gone. The people that were seizing everything gave me an hour to pack some clothes and stuff, and leave. I didn't realize they actually did that in real life. So when I say I'm broke and homeless, I'm literally broke and homeless."

Bobby and Athena sat across from her. Mouths gaped. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. It sounded like a movie. Athena recovered first.

"Did you file a report? Cancel your credit cards?"

"I did, but I was told that unless they are actually found, there's not much they could do. And yes, I cancelled all the cards."

"And you don't have to stay where it happened?"

"No. I have a phone; they can get a hold of me anywhere. I did all I could do. So I left."

Bobby seemed to finally process everything and voice his own concerns.

"What did you mean, 'they were high obviously'?"

"Oh, uh, they have always dabbled in some drugs and such, but since I moved out, they got into some... intense shit. I don't know what exactly, but they changed. They were never great people per say, but they were still my parents. But the last few years, they became strangers."

"Why did you keep trying to help them if they were that far gone? You're young, that's not your responsibility."

"Because they are still my parents? I was the only one around them that tried. Didn't do much good obviously."

Bobby nodded along and voiced his next question.

"Why here?"

"Because where else was I gonna go? You were close. You're doing well. Thought you may be able to help me. I've wanted to get a hold of you, but my mom would have had a conniption, for whatever reason. So I didn't, but I kind of kept up with you. Would look you up. Captain in the LA fire department. Got married to a cop. You're doing so well. I really didn't have anyone in Vegas, so I thought I'd try my family."

"And how did you get here exactly if you have no money?" Athena asked.

"I may or may not have hitch hiked." Dot stated uncomfortably. She saw the looks her Uncle and Athena were giving her and jumped in before they could respond. "Don't worry! I didn't have anyone drive up here! I got dropped off at the edge of the neighbourhood."

"That is not my biggest concern. Mine is that you hitch hiked from Vegas to here. Alone. A 26 year old girl. At night." Athena stated plainly.

"Uh. Ya. I... uh- I have a pocket knife. Stayed awake, never accepted anything to eat or drink if I didn't watch them get it for me. I always made sure that no one was behind me. I found a decent enough lady to ride most of the way with. It wasn't the best plan, but it was kind of the only one I had."

Bobby and Athena shared a look, gave each other a slight nod, and looked back at Dot. Bobby pushed on his chair to get up, reaching a hand to his wife helping her up.

"Well it's late, and you're not going anywhere. We have a spare room you can sleep in tonight, and we will talk more in the morning." Bobby said, grabbing the suitcase and leading the 2 women to the room.

Opening the door, Bobby walked in and put the suitcase down. Dot entered behind him, and put her backpack on the bed. Looking around, it was quite plain. A double bed, dresser, vanity and a night stand. The walls were a soft cream, and the furniture a deep brown. Dot took a deep breath, and turned to the couple standing in the doorway.

"Thank you both so, so much. You have no idea how much this means to me."

"Breakfast is going to be at 8, we'll talk more then." Bobby said, stepping out of the room. "Have a good sleep," he said while closing the door.

Getting back to their room, Bobby and Athena collapsed on the bed. Glancing at the clock Athena saw it was past 1am, much later than they wanted to be finally going to sleep.

"What do we do?" Bobby whispered into the darkness.

"We help her."