A/N: Okay, allow me a moment to do my explanation of why I wrote this. There's lots of stories out there about Young Rimmer's past, I know because I've wrote a couple myself…but very few, if any, of Lister's past…which is equally as eventful as Rimmer's. We know that Lister was abandoned, adopted, his dad died when he was 6, and that he was looked after by his Nan for some years. The rest of the details are somewhat foggy, for instance what happened to his mother. His past is also littered with plot inconsistencies so I've used what I could, and the rest I left up to my twisted imagination.
Reviews welcomed, as is constructive criticism.
Sorry if it sucks, I'm just trying to cure my writers block!
The door was kicked open and a harassed looking woman stormed in, dragging a struggling four year old behind her.
Marching down the hallway, she exhaled angrily, pushing her blonde fringe out of her eyes. Several children raced down the stairs, laughing and screaming as excited children do. They dived around the woman before running out into the garden, pushing each other about in the process.
The woman didn't even react to the noise or the chaos. It was all perfectly normal.
She made her way into the large kitchen, still tugging along the young child.
"Right" she said, picking him up and placing him directly on a small stool in the corner "you are going to sit here and think about what you've done."
Four-year-old David merely glared at her and crossed his arms.
"What's he done this time, Sandra?" asked a grey haired woman who peeling potatoes across the room
"Ran away again" sighed Sandra before frowning at David, "Third time this week!" she shook her head in dismay "It was George who spotted him, sat at the bus stop in the middle of town…"
"Where were you going, Davey?" asked the grey haired lady, looking towards him.
"Nowhere" he muttered, lowering his head.
"Well you must have been going somewhere," she laughed.
David didn't like adults laughing at him…in fact, he didn't like adults full stop. They were always telling him what to do, bossing him about, and telling him off.
"Where were you off to?" she persisted,
"None of your business" he sulked, turning away to face the wall.
Sandra threw her hands up in the air, frustration evident on her features "I can't keep this up, there's 18 more kids to look after….but I have to spend half my time chasing after him on his merry excursions across town and god-knows where else!"
David shifted a bit in his seat, but still remained quiet.
"And we've got that family coming…the house is a tip…3 of the kids have the chicken pox, Michael's on holiday and he's the only one who can control the rabble!" she paused and heaved a sigh before walking over to a cupboard and taking out a large whiskey bottle (half empty) and a glass.
She was just about to raise it to her lips when he remembered David was there. "David, go to your room and don't come down till I tell you"
David gripped the edge of the stool and frowned. If she wanted him to go, she'd have to make him.
"David!" said Sandra, putting on her 'do as you are told' voice, "do what I've asked you to do!"
"No!" said David, simply,
Sandra rolled her eyes and hastily counted to ten before leaving her chair, grabbing David by shoulder and steering him from the room.
"When are you going to behave?" she asked angrily
"Dunno…but I'll call you when it happens" replied David, cheekily.
She just about managed to drag David into the dorm room and begin her lecture on 'why he mustn't run away ever again' before she was interrupted,
"Sandra, where's the first aid kit?" a youngish looking girl with black hair leant in through the door "Jason's cut his knee and we can't find the damned thing anywhere"
"It should be in the downstairs cupboard, the one next to the stairs!" she snapped, trying to stop David from running away again
"We've tried there,"
Sandra swore under her breath, deposited David onto a nearby bed, "Watch him for me," she said to the black haired girl, as she swept from the room in search of the missing first aid kit.
The black haired girl sighed and leant against the door frame, watching David warily as he wandered across the room to the toy box in the corner. He rummaged around it a bit, tossing things aside before walking back over to her, holding out a medium sized green box with a white cross on it "is this what you need" he asked, handing it to her.
Her mouth dropped "What? How…how did you get this….why's it in here!"
David shrugged "We were playin' doctors and nurses…you can't play doctors and nurses without a plasters and stuff!"
Reluctantly, she smiled. By rights she should have told him off, but she couldn't resist a child's natural wit and charm. She glanced down the corridor "I need to go and see to Jason, can you promise me that you'll stay here?"
David nodded "I promise"
The girl smiled and ran off to tend to Jason's knee. David grinned and uncrossed his fingers and darted off in search of a better hiding place.
Sandra wasn't best pleased when she returned to find both David and the black haired girl gone. It seemed like nobody did as they were told anymore. She turned and went back to the landing only to find the black haired girl running up the stairs holding the first aid kit. "So…you found it then?"
"Yeah, David got it out of the toy box so I went to Jason." said the girl as she ran a hand through her hair and smiled,
"And where is David?" Sandra asked as she folded her arms, glaring at her.
"What?" The girl said as she looked into the room where she'd left David a few minutes ago, there was a moment of awkward silence before "...that little git!" she turned to Sandra, "He…he promised he'd stay here, he said he would!"
Sandra raised an eyebrow at the girl's naivety "A promise from David is about a reliable as a train timetable!" she gave the girl one last withering glare before marching off in search of the run away, but she froze as she heard the doorbell.
It meant one thing…they were early…and Sandra wasn't in the least bit ready.
