Disclaimer: I do not own Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman or any of the characters or locales that you recognize. Those belong to CBS inc., I am only using them for fun in this story.

A man with a light grey goatee took out his bayonet and stared at the woman on the ground, her eyes full of fear, her clothes ripped from her body. He took out the sword on the gun and put it on her stomach. Her eyes were full of fear as she looked into his eyes. He gave her a look of triumph as he saw the fear in her eyes.

He started to laugh really hard and lifted the bayonet high. The woman started to scream very loud. Those screams were soon drowned out by that of another woman.

This woman was barely a woman, she looked like she was in her early twenties with dark raven hair that curled at the bottom. Her tired, brown eyes tried to concentrate on the ceiling. This woman was not in the same area, in fact this was at night in a bedroom.

The "woman" sat up and got out of bed. She walked to a desk next to her bed and sat down to light a candle on the desk. Her hand moved to her forehead, where she generously rubbed it.

"It was just a dream, just a dream." The woman said in a thick Spanish accent to herself. Another person soon slowly walked up from behind her looking concerned.

"Annie, what is wrong? You were screaming? I was concerned about you! This is the fifth time in the last week that you have awoken up screaming! Will you tell me about this dream?" asked a skinny, curly blond girl.

Annie looked at the blue eyes of her best friend and smiled. She knew that she could not tell her about this dream. It was too gruesome, even for someone who was a medical student. It was the dream that was her reality, her past. It was not a surreal interpretation that was the scary part. It was also a part of whom she was.

"Caroline, I'm sorry but it's personal. I don't really want to talk about it, it's….just…..A stupid dream."

Caroline stared at her friend still concerned, but understanding of her best friends feelings, even if she wanted to know more about her. Caroline looked back at her friend for one last time and then went to bed.

Adrianna smiled at her and then stared into the light of the candle. A tear started to slowly form from her left eye. If only she knew the truth. If only she knew that she was not dreaming, she was not even asleep, she was trying to sleep, but she was reliving it all, reliving the gruesome death of her parents. She was remembering how she saw her own mother get stabbed repeatedly by a United States soldier a colonel. She angerly wiped the tears from her face and thought about the bastard. She then smiled as she thought about how she got her revenge.

She went to bed, trying to think happy thoughts, but she could not. This was her reality.

Adrianna woke up, still upset, still scared, still angry and still unsure about her life. It didn't seen fair that she was here. Why was she alive? Why did this all happen?

As she thought about these thoughts, she got ready for her first class today. The professor was very strict, especially for her since she had to prove herself, maybe more that most of the women here. She was from Spain, actually Sineu, everyone who spoke Spanish was considered Mexican and so she was put into that stereotype that she was poor, uneducated and only good for working in the fields and having ten children. It was unfair, but part of life. She learned to trust no one in her life. It was a hard lesson that she found out at a young age. People fear you, people do not like change, they do not like that you are different. They treat you like you are a freak because you speak with a strange accent. Even though you just look like you just have a tan, they treat you differently.

There had been so many times that Adrianna thought about suicide. It would be so easy to take her own life. So easy to leave this world. Then she thought about those people that treated her like she was nothing and knew that they would have won. That was what they wanted. They want you destroyed. Adrianna would not do that. She had a sister to take care of. One that was a teenager now. One that was growing up and needed her guidance. She was in a boarding school in Madrid, España. It was the only place that would actually take her. She tried almost every boarding school in the United States that she could think of, but they would not take her. Even when she gave them money, a lot of it. Money that her mother's parents gave her when they died.

Adrianna looked for her textbook and other supplies and left the dormitories. It was 6AM, the class started at eight, the perfect time for her to sit at a bench and think. It was something that was probably good and bad for her. If she thinks, that means, she will be thinking about her life. Her whole nuclear family except for her sister is dead. Her grandparents on her mother's side were dead and also very rich. Her father's parents were poor. It was very strange that she was learning so much about her parents from their parents. It was strange that they were also dead and had no other children.

Adrianna closed her eyes and one tear fell. She wished that her mother was alive. There were times in her life that she needed a mother. She needed the advice and the comfort of a maternal figure. In her whole life, she never got that. She never had many relationships at all.

As she was pondering that thought, the professor of her class today walked by talking to a woman with a Bostonian accent. She looked familiar, but she could not tell when or where she had seen her. The professor stopped and so did the woman. Adrianna wiped her tear from her face and stood up.

"Professor Jacobs. How are you doing this morning?" she asked in her normal thick accent.

Professor Jacobs smiled and so did the woman.

"Adrianna Martiz, I want you to meet an alumni of this school. This is doctor Michaela Quinn of Boston. She has a practice with her father Joseph Quinn."

Adrianna smiled and remembered hearing her name through the halls and buildings of this school. She was one of the few success stories of this school. She was a doctor practicing in Boston with her father. That was something that many women found never happened. They learned all about medicine, but the medical world did not care about that. There was no such thing as a female doctor.

They said their goodbyes and left. Adrianna smiled thinking about the female doctor. She usually was not moved by one human because there was no reason to be. As she started to read ahead in her chapter she was hit on the back of the head. Her asesino training told her to watch her environment for clues to defeat the enemy. She stared at the tree ahead and knew that if she could move fast, she could rip off a branch and use it as a primitive nunchaku, or at least as something to hit someone in the head repeatedly as an intricate combo.

She ran to the tree and turned around, ready to bludgeon the enemy when she realized that this was not the enemy, but her best friend Carly, who sneaked up on her as a joke.

She threw down the branch and stared at her in disbelief. Carly was laughing at her. She then pointed to her and said, "You have the stupidest look on your face now Annie!"

Adrianna felt so stupid at that moment that she took her stuff and started to walk to the building that her class was in, trying to ignore Carly's laughs.

Adrianna and Caroline went to their respective seats in the front row at around 7:00 A.M., an hour before the class as they always did. A lot of the students were afraid to be late. They wanted to prove that they were meant to be doctors and that they were responsible. A lot of the students were usually there by 7:30, so many times the class started at that time and ended a half hour early at 11:30.

"Annie, I really think that you need to calm down. You seem to always be off on something. If you just clam down and breathe, you will do way better. Relax!"

Adrianna stared at Carly, looking angry.

"I do not need you to tell me to relax. I'm fine." Adrianna snapped.

Carly decided that there was nothing that she could do for her best friend so she decided to shut up.

The class soon started and both girls listened intently as the Professor introduced Dr. Michaela Quinn. As Dr. Quinn walked to the center of the classroom, where the corpse was the class was very interested as she taught how to perform a tracheotomy. She cut with such precision that after she was finished, the whole class stood up and applauded her. Adrianna was one of them. This woman was astounding. At the end of the class, the whole class left chattering about this woman.

Adrianna was moved, more than could be understood. She walked to the front of the room and was pushed to the ground by one of the students.

"You wetback! Go back home to Mexico!" said Patti Peterson, a somewhat brute (but rich) woman who was the definition of a bigot. She hater Adrianna because she was different. She treated her like she was scum. There had been times that she had found herself surrounded by a few of her friends, ready to beat her up with their gang. This seemed sad and pathetic since they should be standing together, instead of apart.

Adrianna smiled. The one thing that Patti didn't know was that she was a full trained asesino and a fully learned and trained freedom fighter. She was an assassin, someone who could easily kill her and not think twice about it. Patti stared her down until the Professor came by to figure out what was happening. Both girls were almost surrounded by the students that were still there. Patti glared at Adrianna like she was going to beat her down. Adrianna was looking bored, staring at some instruments at the side of the room. That was her defense mechanism in these moments.

"What is going on here?" asked Professor Jacobs. He kept looking from woman to "Woman," knowing that Patti had a severe loathing for Adrianna. Adrianna then turned her head and stared at professor Jacobs with a complacent smile.

"Professor Jacobs, we were just having a conversation about Dr. Quinn. There is nothing wrong here."

The Professor stared at Patti, not believing what Adrianna said.

"I want you to leave Patricia." The Professor said coldly.

Adrianna gave one last stare at Patti, looking uninterested. By the time the students realized that no one was going to get hurt, they left. Michaela Quinn walked right to Adrianna and smiled at her.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah. That happens a lot. You would think that they would stop, seeing that they are treated similar, being women in medicine."

Michaela smiled, understanding creeping in her face. She sadly shook her head.

"It's hard, really hard. Not many people accept a female doctor. The only reason that I am practicing is because of my father."

Adrianna gave her a sad smile. Why was life so unfair? She looked at the corpse that Quinn had just performed on.

"You are really good. Probably better than most male doctors."

Michaela smiled and felt some type of gratitude to her. "You are younger than most medical students. I have been learning a lot about you. Someone with your experience would be a great physician. Edward Jacobs said that you are one of finest students here in the last few years. I think that you would do great working along with me and my father. What do you think?"

Adrianna was not sure if she had heard her right. She never got any luck. She was never given anything worthwhile by anyone with light skin. She almost had tears in her eyes.

She smiled and shook her head. Her eyes became glossy as she started to speak.

"Thank you. No one has ever done anything nice for me." Adrianna was silent for at least a minute, fighting back the tears. She went closer to Michaela and whispered two words, words that she had not said since she was a little girl.

"Thank you..."