LadyTwist - "Sweet"? What are you trying to do to me? "Sweet"?

Thanks for reading this, all. I am low on reviews but I am enjoying myself. So I'll keep on writing... (EternalStargater - sorry I misspelled your name the first time.)

Previously -

She took a deep breath and looked up. "Daniel, if I can finish this book, and if I take really good care of it, can I check out another book on your card, please?"

The Secret Garden

A week after the library trip, Daniel was late coming home. Held up on a school project, he did not make it to the house until everyone was sitting down for dinner. Almost everyone.

"Where's Ella?" he asked.

Mrs. Greerson answered him; "Ella has decided to stay in her room right now." Her tone was so final that Daniel knew any further questions would only cause an argument. Looking around, he realized that he had missed a rough afternoon at the house. Mr. Greerson was drinking Scotch. Judging from the flush on his face, it wasn't his first. Mrs. Greerson radiated barely smothered fury. Brian had a faint red mark on his face but he was giving Daniel a very smug glare. Daniel met his look but felt his stomach drop. Something was wrong with Ella and Brian looked far too happy. The tuna casserole on Daniel's plate threatened to choke him. He wanted to get up immediately and check on his friend but he was afraid to draw any additional attention to himself or her. Once everyone finished eating, Mrs. Greerson started to clear the table. Brian disappeared into his room and Daniel escaped upstairs. He knocked lightly on Ella's door. When there was no response he opened it anyway.

"Ella?" he called out. Behind him he heard a faint clunk. Turning, he saw the closet door open and a large green eye peep out. "It's okay Ella, it's just me." She opened the door all the way and stepped out. His concern deepened when he saw tear stains on her face and realized the lower right side of her lip was swollen. "What happened?" He leaned close to inspect the damage.

When Ella was excited or upset, her words tumbled over each other. As she submitted to his inspection she spilled the story, "Brian got in trouble because a teacher called home about a report he didn't turn in. His father got angry and smacked him right in front of his mom and me. So he told his mom that he did the report but I stole it but I didn't! And I told his mom that he was a stupid ass liar but she didn't believe me and she called me a liar and said I had a dirty mouth and she sent me to my room. And then Brian came up here and smacked me for calling him a stupid ass liar which he is and you weren't here and I'm not allowed dinner and I'm hungry!" Her voice cracked as she tried not to cry again.

"Oh Ella, I'm sorry. I got held up at school. Jeeze. I am so sorry." Ella wasstill glaring. "Look why don't you go wash your face? I'll wait here and when you're done I'll get you some food."

Still sniffling, Ella stomped into the bathroom. When she came back out, she was calmer. "I'm sorry, Daniel. I'm not mad at you. It's just Brian is such a jackass and I never touched his stupid homework!" Her arms were crossed in front of her and she looked mad enough to spit nails.

"It's all right. I believe you." Daniel knew very well that both of them were too scared of Brian to touch anything of his. "All right, I'm going to sneak down and get you some dinner. And maybe some ice for that lip."

She protested, "But I don't want you to get in trouble too."

"Don't worry, I won't. And I can't just let you starve." Daniel's years in foster care had taught him to be a champion food thief. It was a survival skill when you never knew how much or what kind of food the next family would expect you to live on. He had learned to be very quiet when creeping around a house. Mrs. Greerson was facing the television when he came down the stairs. Brian was still in his bedroom with the door closed. The casserole was in the refrigerator and was still somewhat warm. He filled a plastic dish and smoothed out the remains in the pan. It would be hard to tell that anything was missing. Carefully filling a cup with ice, Daniel grabbed a fork and headed back upstairs.

Ella was back in the closet when he returned. She opened the door and was very excited to see food. "Thank you." She grabbed the bowl and started to eat, minding her sore mouth. "It's a little cold. But it's still good," she hastened to add when Daniel released an exasperated sigh. He went into the bathroom and transferred the ice to a washcloth. After she had emptied the bowl, Ella held the ice to her face.

"So, Ella," Daniel began, "what's in the closet?"

"What do you mean?" She gave him her most innocent look.

"Both times you came out, I heard something clunk. Is there a lock on that door?"

He could see her internal debate. She liked him, but she still wasn't used to trusting anyone. After a moment, she walked over and opened the door. Sure enough, there was a bolt lock crookedly screwed onto the inside.

"How did you get that on?"

"It was there!" Ella sounded defensive. "I wouldn't know how to put it on. You know what I think? I think there used to be another girl here that was scared of Brian. I'll bet you she put it up there. And now I can hide in here and Brian can't get me."

"What about today?"

"I wasn't fast enough." For a moment the two children looked at each other without speaking and then she said, "You wanna see what I did in there?"

"Okay," Daniel got on his knees and crawled to the back of the closet. There was not a lot of room but Ella had set up a tiny little nest in the back, perfectly big enough for one twelve year old. There was a tiny nightlight, a few pillows and an old blanket. She had taped up several magazine photographs of flowers on the wall. It was her own "secret garden," Daniel realized. There was an open book on the floor that he carried out with him. "A Little Princess?" he asked as he showed her the book.

She looked slightly uncomfortable. "All right, don't laugh. I wanted to read more. I'm tried of being stupid. You read all the time and you are definitely not stupid. I thought…maybe…anyway, my school has a library. I told the lady there that I wanted to read a book but when she asked me what I liked to read I didn't know so she asked me what I had read before and the only other book I ever read was The Secret Garden. She said that the same person wrote this one and I could take it. I really like it."

The pace Ella spoke with could make Daniel dizzy sometimes. "I'm not going to laugh. And you are not stupid, Ella. I think it's great you are enjoying reading. So do you like this as much as The Secret Garden?"

She nodded eagerly. "It's good. It's got a monkey." At that, Daniel had to laugh. At first Ella looked annoyed, but then she started to giggle too. "Well, there is. There's a monkey and an Indian Gentleman, but I don't think he's really an Indian. And Sara is an orphan. Why does this lady like to write about orphans so much?"

"I guess she thinks they're interesting. I know I think we are." He decided to move the conversation to a more immediate concern. "Ella, I don't know about that lock. What if you got stuck in there? There is no way to get you out."

"Then I won't get stuck." Ella sat back on her bed. "Daniel, please don't tell on me. I have to have a way to get away from Brian. He scares me sometimes." Gone was the angry little fighter. Again, she was just another knocked around 12-year-old kid.

Daniel saw the tears in her eyes. He walked over to her bed and sat down, "Hey, don't cry. It's going to be alright." He put his arm around her shoulders. "You know, you could tell your caseworker about him."

She shook her head and wiped her nose, "I did. After the first night, I told her that Brian knocked me into a wall and she told me I needed to stop causing fights. My last family got rid of me because I couldn't get along with the daughter. The family before that got rid of me because I swore in church. The family before that got rid of me because they got a new dog and they liked it more. My caseworker doesn't believe me. She says I'm trouble."

He didn't know what to say. He knew what it felt like to have no one look out for him. But Ella was his friend and hewanted todo what he could to keep her safe. "All right. When I am home, I'm going to do everything I can to keep him away from you. But hide in the closet when you have to. But you can't let Brian know about that lock. And be careful, okay?"

She nodded silently. Daniel broughthis book to Ella's room and they settled into their reading for a while.

After some time, Ella spoke again. "Daniel, what happened to your mom and dad?"

"They died when I was younger." He never liked to talk about it. What he'd seen, what he remembered. The blood, the chaos, everyone forgetting in the panic that there was a little boy who had just seen his parents crushed too death. No one had shielded his eyes.

"What were they like?"

It had been so long since anyone had asked him that. But time had not dulled his memories. "My dad was really funny. He told great stories. Everybody liked him. My mom was quieter, but she was really smart. Dad always said she was smarter than he was. They were archeologists so we traveled all over."

"What's an archeologist?"

"It's someone who studied history and the people who lived it."

"Is that what you want to be?"

He smiled up at her from his place on the floor. "Yeah, I think so."

Ella paused for a second, fidgeting with the cover of her book. "Do you miss them?"

The sudden pain in Daniel's chest silenced him for a moment. "Every day."

Ella rolled over onto her back and looked at the ceiling. "I miss my mom."

"How old were you when she died?"

"I was nine," she continued to look at the ceiling. "She was so nice. Really pretty. I didn't know my father so it was just mom and me. I liked it like that."

He heard her voice fill with a darker emotion. "What happened?"

"She met Peter," her tonehinted to Daniel that this was the boyfriend Mrs. Greerson had referred to on Ella's first night. "He moved in and everything went bad. I told her we didn't need him, but she said she loved him. He was just yucky."

Daniel tried to word his question carefully. "Is he, um, is he the reason she's dead?"

"Yeah," she rolled over to her side and traced the pattern of her comforter, over and over. "He started to do this thing were he kept walking in on me in the bathroom. Every time. I even tried blocking the door and that made him really angry. He busted the door lock. I told my mom what he was doing and she got so mad at him, she threw him out. Then I came home from school a few days later and I found her – and him – both dead. The police said he'd shot her and then himself." She looked up and Daniel recognized some of his own loss in her eyes.

"I saw my parents die," Daniel revealed slowly. "They were in a museum and part of a display fell over on them."

Ella considered that. "Daniel, we're friends, right?"

"I think so," he gave her a slight smile.

"And friends take care of each other, right?"

Daniel realized she was echoing his own thoughts from earlier, "Yes, we do."

"Then you take care of me and I'll take care of you. I think our moms and you dad would like that."

Daniel had to blink away some rare and unexpected tears before he could reply. "I think they would."

They went back to their books. Nothing more needed to be said.

TBC.