Title: A stranger's opinion

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on "Walker Texas Ranger", I'm just borrowing them for the story.

Okay, I'm ready, I am.´ she thought, desperately trying to calm herself. Becky held her hand and it felt good knowing she was aware of how nervous she was. No, wait, I can't.´

"So what did you want to talk bout, Sydney?" she asked curiously, wanting to know what was up that made her friend so quiet and act so strangely.

"Uhm...your mother and father. Where they are right now and why and what's going to happen to you." She said in a shaky voice. She was worried her daughter would hate her for keeping the truth from her this long. She wished she had come clean sooner now.

"Where are they? Not that I care that much any way..."

"Sydney!!"

The child and the Ranger turned, both mad at the interruption. Sylvia was running towards them, crossing the lawn with a hand waving in the air. She was holding the phone in it. She stopped and Sydney rose "Becky I'll be right back."

The child sighed and nodded. Sydney hurried over to her sister and they walked out of earshot from the girl sitting, waiting patiently.

"Sydney, I'm so sorry to interrupt now but I finished the conversation with Gage and he said you'd better get over to the mansion now. Someone called him and told him she wanted to meet you there. An old lady. It sounded important."

"An old lady?" Then she understood. "Oh, of course. It's Edna."

"Edna? Edna who?" asked Sylvia surprised Gage would deliberately ask Sydney to come to him now and interrupt the moment she'd chosen to tell Becky because an old lady wanted to see her.

"Edna Todd. The old lady who's been put into the witness protection program, the one who saw Johnny and Veronica hit Becky and put up the cameras." She explained.

"Oh right. So did you tell her?"

"No, didn't get a chance to tell her" she said with a bit of irritation in her voice. "I still wonder how she's going to react when she finds out her parents are in jail and I'm her mom." She said it as a joke but at that moment had no idea what it was about to cause. Suddenly she got a feeling she was being watched, and not by Sylvia who was standing right in front of her with an empty expression on her face. She was staring right passed her at something behind her. Suddenly Sydney knew what it was that had caught her sister's attention. She started to turn around but was afraid she would be right, she hoped, prayed she was wrong. But she wasn't, there stood Becky with tears in her beautiful brown eyes. Her new doll fell out of her arms and she turned and ran away.

"No!! Sydney yelled when she saw where the girl was headed, the street, and there were cars there. She ran after her as fast as she could. This was not the way she had planned it.

She saw Becky cross the street and two cars had to stop in the last second to avoid hitting her.

Sydney's heart was pounding in her chest and she felt like she was going to throw up any second. She kept running and was catching up now, crossed the street in the same place as her daughter, but didn't hear the drivers' angry complaints being shouted at her. All she saw was the small figure running down the street, never looking back to see if she or anyone else was following. She entered a boutique on the corner.

Sydney ran down the street and followed her inside.

"Can I help you, miss?" asked a woman in her twenties who was standing behind the cash register.

"No, I'm just looking for a little girl who came in here a few seconds ago."

"Yes, a small child just entered and ran over there." She pointed to the changing rooms. "I thought her mother might be in there so..."

"No, I'm her mother." She said as she headed for the changing rooms. She slid the doors open to check if Becky was there. There were four changing rooms, she checked three of them and then stepped up outside the fourth and last one. She knocked on the door. No answer.

"Becky? I know you're in there? Are you trying something on or... or are you just avoiding me?" she heard muffled sobs from inside. "I'm so sorry you had to hear it like that, I was just about to tell you. This was not the way it was supposed to be."

"Well, it happened." The girl said in an angry tone. "I don't understand anything, Sydney." She cried.

"Honey, if you just let me come in I'll explain it to you, okay?" She waited for an answer but when she didn't get one she slid the door open and spotted the child sitting on a wooden chair, hugging her knees and tears running down her cheeks. The red eyed little girl looked up when she heard Sydney come in, then she lowered her head again and started rocking back and fourth in her seat, perhaps trying to comfort herself a little.

Sydney wanted so much to just hug the girl and comfort her herself but she wasn't sure if Becky would let her. Though she didn't see any hate in her eyes, only disappointment and grief, maybe a little fear too.

"Hi." She said and sat down on the floor next to the chair Becky was sitting on.

"Hi." She spoke through her tears. "I wish this was one of them." She said. Sydney looked at her, surprised.

"One of what?" she asked, confused.

"One of the nightmares about...about him." She cried. "About my dad...he ...he hit me." She said it for the first time. Sydney knew she had known they knew about the abuse, but she had never talked about it like this. "And mommy too...some times. I don't know why." She met Sydney's gaze. "Or was it really my mommy?" she asked and blinked away a few fresh tears.

"No, that was not your real mommy, Becky. I am." She took the child's hand and then carefully touched her face. "Look, we have the same kind of hands."

Becky had noticed that and that their eyes were almost identical too. She nodded and buried her face in Sydney's soft hair and cried even more. "I don't understand, I don't understand..."

"Hush...you will, you will. I promise." She allowed the child to cry as much as she needed. And did so herself too while she talked to her daughter about everything that had been going on the last couple of years in her life. She told her about Johnny, Veronica, the doctor and where her so called parents were now.

"So, they kidnapped you?" the child asked, with eyes big as saucers.

Sydney nodded. "Yeah, they did and that's why I was in the hospital for two days. I was sort of recovering from that. But everything is fine now." she assured the girl. "And they are never going to hurt either one of us again, okay?"

"Then Sylvia is my aunt? And your mom and dad are my grandmother and grandfather?" she asked and sounded as if she couldn't believe it. "You are my mom...my real mother." She stated.

"Yeah, I know it might come as a chock to you and I'm sorry I'm not more of a dream mom..."

"Chock?! That's so wrong. You are the best mom I could ever ask for. You're a Texas Ranger, kind and beautiful and..."

"Wait! You mean you don't mind that I'm your real mother" she exclaimed. Becky shook her head. Sydney wrapped her arms around the girl and hugged her once again. It was such a relief to hear her say those words.

"Of course not! I've always felt as if I didn't belong with my parents and I've never felt like I really love them. But I'm not sure they should be in prison, should they?" she asked.

Sydney wasn't sure what to tell her. Of course they should be in prison, not only because of what they'd done to her daughter but for what they had done to her and her family and all the drugs they had been involved with. She wanted her daughter to know the entire truth now, and that meant she would have to tell her about everything they had done. And she did.

The Lawrence' mansion:

Trivette forced Anderson into the car and slammed the door. That was the last of them, now they were all ready to be taken to Ranger Headquarters.

Gage was coming toward him with his cell-phone, looking confused.

"Who were you calling?"

"Syd."

"And what did she say?"

"Nothing, I never talked to her. I talked to Sylvia. Syd was just about to tell Becky about her being her real mother and everything and I interrupted that." He said and felt guilty about it.

"Why did you do that then?" asked Trivette.

"An old lady called me, an old lady who's voice I recognized. She asked me to tell Syd to meet her here. It sounded very important." He scratched his forehead. "God, where have I heard that voice before?" he asked himself.

"I don't know, maybe it was... I have no idea who it could have been."

"Sylvia went to get Sydney and then I heard her scream and Sylvia got back on the phone and told me Syd and Becky would meet me at her place at 8 to night. Then she just hung up"

To be continued