Thank you Fluffypuffypandas for your uplifting encouragement. Honestly, I didn't think anybody would enjoy a fix-it story but considering how badly the OG writers (in my opinion) did our fave characters, I guess I wasn't the only one trying to fix anything.

Now onto some domestic but important stuff for Maverick.

Chapter 4-

I was hot. Burning, inferno, charcoal on fire hot. I could barely open my eyes, but I somehow knew that the sun wasn't up yet. That I had only slept for 2 hours and needed more but I was burning up.

This had happened before and since I kept forgetting to get medicine and my mother spent whatever money she had to get her alcohol I was out of luck. I somehow managed to get my body off the floor and get it up the stairs to the nearest bathroom with a tub.

I struggled to strip out of my clothes and fill up the top with cold water. Before it was even full, I was already in and sighing in relief.

Fever by magic was not great but easily curable. I just needed to get my body temperature down and all my other symptoms would go away. The headache, body soreness and fatigue. I would probably need more sleep to be fully recharged, but school was in like an hour and sum and I still had things to do. Enzo will be here soon.

After thirty minutes in the cold tub, I was feeling better and decided to start my day. I was dressed and heating up a bottle when Lenzo finally decided to show up. I ran the bottle upstairs to Windy before coming back and stepping outside to talk to Lenzo.

He was looking better than the pasty and brow beaten man I rescued just a few hours ago. His skin was brighter, and he seemed to stand taller.

"Bunnies and deer's must be good for the body." I joked lightly. The bad joke made him smile a little which was an accomplishment.

"Not nearly as tasty as humans but I do feel better. Thank you so much for rescuing me." He said seriously with so much gratitude it hurt.

"Nobody deserves to be experimented on. It's unethical. It's a sore reminder on my part so not totally unselfish." I admitted.

"Either way I am grateful. I am in your debt."

I waved my hand dismissively. "Let's just call it a favor in the future. Deal?" I held out my hand.

He looked hesitant to take it but when he did it was a strong hold. "Deal."

"Now I would get out of town for a long while. Maybe come back on May 23rd, 2009." I tried to say off-handley.

He narrowed his eyes but there were no bad feelings. "Strange little witch. Somehow you have a pension for knowing things you shouldn't. Like my full name." I simply smirked which he returned better.

Wish my smirk was that sharp.

"Until then Maverick O'Connell." He sped off.

"Until then, Lenzo." I said sadly. I honestly was going to miss him but there wasn't much he could do while Grayson was still alive, and I was still in the body of a child. 9 years was what we would have to wait.

I still had other things to do, although more mundane, were no less important. Through 9 years, life will happen, people will become stronger, they'll get hurt but they are still living. There was a tomb to worry about, but I honestly cared nothing about it for the time being. People wouldn't be coming for Elena for a while and Tyler was untriggered for now. I had somewhat of a plan to divert things, but it wasn't solid. I would just have to wait and see for now.

When I went back in the house my mother was just getting up. She paused mid movement, froze and her cheeks puffed. I knew what was coming.

"No, not on the-" She threw up right beside the couch. "Floor." She was dry heaving, trying to get the last of the alcohol out of her system. I looked at the bottle of what she was drinking when she got in. Tequila, she was always sick off tequila. I grabbed the bottle when I saw her trying to get it.

"Give it back Mavvy." She whined. A 25-year-old woman whining was 1. More annoying and 2. Embarrassing.

"No. Get up and clean that up." I used to say this to her all the time, but I was older and had more command in my voice.

"I'll get it up later now, give me my bottle."

"If you're thirsty drink some water and if you're awake get up and clean that up."

"I said I would do it later little girl, now give me my bottle and go get ready for school." She told me sternly. How she tried for it, shitfaced drunk i'll remind you, angered me.

"I been was ready Jorrie. I was ready before you. I was up and making bottles for Windy. I was up handling things that I shouldn't while you slept."

She rolled her eyes. "I could have made Windy a bottle. It's not that hard."

"If it's not, then you should do it. Matter of fact, a lot of things aren't hard, but you don't do them. You don't clean, you don't wash dishes, do laundry or give Windy a bath. I do. I don't even know how you have money to buy alcohol when you don't have a job."

Now she was getting angry, but I didn't care. I was getting angry too. I had a fire raging in me from years of neglect.

"I've never put my hands on you but I'm considering it. I don't know who you think you are talking to me like that, but you better get your mind right. Now I'm not gonna tell you again. Give me my bottle and go get ready."

"This bottle?" I waved it. I don't know what I was thinking but I was so angry. All she cared about was the little bit of alcohol left in this glass bottle. I was done. I hated it.

With all the force my 8-year-old body could muster I threw it as hard as I could and watched it smash into pieces on the floor. The look of total defeat in my mother's eyes was quickly covered by anger. She stomped over on wobbly feet and jacked me up, shaking me and grabbing my arms too hard.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! DO YOU PAY FOR LIQUOR?!" She yelled. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO BE YOUR MOTHER AND NOT NEED A DRINK?!"

"DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT'S BEEN TO BE YOUR DAUGHTER?!" I struggled in her grip. "LET GO!" I screamed putting magic behind it. She let go so abruptly I hit the floor hard and got some glass stuck in my hand.

Hot tears welled up in my eyes. I palmed the glass and pulled my magic around the shards. I didn't say anything because while she still had access to ignore me, she wouldn't listen.

Never again will you feel the effect of any Alcohol or drugs. You will never be able to escape from your children by substance abuse. If you can ever repair that bottle, I just broke then you'll get your escape back but if you miss even a single shard you will just have to deal with your problems.

I didn't want to be near her right now. I couldn't. My arms hurt where she grabbed me, and I needed to clean my wound and put the glass in it somewhere safe. I knew I wasn't going to make it to school.

I may be in the body of an 8-year-old, but I had nobody to really talk to. They couldn't possibly understand. Maybe Matt and Vicky if i get to meet her but I'm not all that sure if Kelly was an alcoholic like now. Bonnie could probably relate to the alcohol, but Sheila loved her and was only her grandmother. No, my mother was a neglectful alcoholic who wanted to escape. To go to whatever land in her head where her twin was alive and she was either married to my father, who I didn't know, or Windy's.

God, it's so hard. It's so hard to have to be this young and do this. It's so hard to go to that school every day and act like I didn't have problems that their kid minds probably didn't get. Someday I was going to just fall apart but it wouldn't be today.

I was going to clean my bloody hand, get Windy bathed and take a day with her and for myself. Jorrie can worry about her own throw up and I can't wait until the moment she goes through liquor bottles and can't get drunk. When she can't escape and has to face the reality, she is a mother first and foremost. That I'm only 8 and can't raise her own kid. I wanted to be a kid again. I wanted to love now that I had the chance to. I made that deal with that pirate not just for Windy and Jorrie but for myself too because as messed up as this world was it always had something that I didn't back home.

There was always that optimism that the heroes would win. That the characters would prevail. That everything would be alright.

What was it that they all had that made us believe time and time again?

Hope.

They had hope.

Another chapter, who am I?

But on a more serious note. I have dealt with alcoholic people and substance abusers. I see what they were trying to escape from on a daily basis because I had to live with them. "It's not the drugs that make a drug addict. It's the need to escape reality." Whoever said that was wise but it's true for any kind of abuse you use to escape. The reality is you can only run for so long and so far, before you either decide to get help or die.

In the show there is substance abuse from teens and adults alike because they are trying to escape. You can most certainly name a character who at one point in time did something to escape (including turning off their emotions.) Life hits some of us harder than most but it doesn't make it worth not living.

I can't say much from my point because I am so far from drugs and alcohol and those are different escapes from mine, but I can say find something to fight for. For Jorrie she has one, actually two, and you have some too. I'm not trying to turn this into a ted talk or a mini rant that's giving euphoria, I'm trying to be real.

If you've been fighting substance abuse for so long, it's ok to be tired afterward. Not all wars are won in a day and no fight is truly over until you say it is.

Just try. I tell myself that every day and I do. Yes, I do my own version of giving up. I sleep until late, I barely eat, I read as my escape to the point it's unhealthy and I stop eating. I lock myself in my room, I become rude because I'm afraid if I was kind again people would just turn mean again. But I keep trying. I keep remembering there are people waiting for me. A story from my own life needing to be told. I had something to say and who would ever hear it if I didn't tell it. And trying, well, that's enough.

That will always be enough- BigSmallWonder