Catherine sat outside Sara's apartment building inside her car. She was unsure what she could say to her.

Inside the apartment Sara sat sipping a beer with tears running down her face as she remembered the things she went through as a child. In the space of a day she had found her brother had turned out just like their father and also she was an Aunt. She looked through the bundle of papers Anne, the social services lady, had given her to look through.

Sara remembered the conversation she had with Anne.

'Miss Sidle?' Sara was about to walk out the police station when a woman approached her. 'My name is Anne Black, I am the social worker of the Smith children.'

Sara nodded slowly.

'I have been informed that you are the children's Aunt.'

'Yes.' Sara replied nervously.

'I would like to give you these papers to look over. I understand if you can't take custody of them but you are the only family they have. Please take some time to think about it.'

'Well, I will give it some thought.' Sara responded taking the bundle of papers and walking quickly away.

Now she was sitting here thinking about what to do. To take on three children she didn't even know was a huge decision to make. She would need to move to a bigger place, research schools, probably move shift, find a daycare for Jessica, buy toys and furniture and everything else children need. Did she really want the responsibility? She was just so overwhelmed.

She was brought out of her thoughts by a knock at her door. She looked up and walked over, looking through to see who it was. Catherine. Sara quickly wiped away the tears and opened the door letting Catherine inside. She walked in without speaking a word. Neither did Sara.

Catherine watched as Sara strolled by her and sat down on an armchair not far from the door. She turned around and closed the door that was left open and joined Sara by sitting on her couch beside the chair.

Sara had her eyes focused on a plant in the corner of the room, completely ignoring Catherine sitting beside her. Slowly she began to tell her everything.

'Bradley used to protect me, when I was a child, from our father. When he wasn't passed out drunk or out at a bar, he was beating up our mom. If we tried to stop him he would turn on us. One of my first memories is me lying in my bed one night and my dad walking through my bedroom door. Bradley did his best to stop it, he really did, but he always ended up bruised and bleeding. When I was 8, he left home and I hadn't seen him since then, until today. In a way, I blame him for leaving. It got a lot worse at home after that but if it were me I would have left too. When I was thirteen, my mother had enough and stabbed him to death. I went into foster care. It was a lot worse there; I'm talking about the foster parents. The dads and older boys used you for one thing and the mothers really couldn't care less about you. The other kids stole your stuff. I ran away after a year of getting moved around homes and finding out they were all the same. I started working on the streets to get money.' Sara paused for a minute. Still not making eye contact. She gave a light chuckle. 'I will anyways remember what this one guy said to me once. "So what did your daddy do to you?" At first I didn't understand what he meant. I remember he looked at me knowing I didn't understand. "In my experience, most girls in your line of work have had major daddy issues. So what's your story? Did he hit you, fuck you or leave you?" I never answered him. But it made me think. It just gave me an excuse to blame him more than I already did.' The tears started flowing from her eyes again.

Catherine sat staring at her throughout the whole speech not knowing what to say. 'I'm so sorry Sara.' Her voice was soft and sympathetic. At the last part of what Sara said, Catherine also started to think. When she was a stripper someone said the same thing to her. But compared to Sara, she was lucky. Her father never hurt her; he was just never there.

'I thought he was dead. After a few years working on the streets I got into night school. I worked so hard at that, and after a few years I went to Harvard. But I had started looking for him. I got an investigator to try and find him and he couldn't. The guy said he was probably dead, so I gave up. Maybe if I kept looking for him.. maybe he wouldn't have turned out like that.'

'It's not your fault Sara. Some people are just like that.'

'I once asked Grissom if he thought there was a murder gene. He said 'I don't think genes are a predictor of violent behaviour.' Do you think he will change his answer now?'

Catherine didn't say anything. The silence between them continued and Catherine was frantically trying to think of something to say. Something on the table in front of them caught her eye and she picked it up.

'You are taking custody of the kids?' She asked shocked.

Sara shrugged. 'I'm thinking about it. I'll need to change a lot of my life around but I don't want them sent to foster care.'

Catherine paused. 'I'll help you Sara, with whatever you decide.'

Sara smiled. She knew what she was going to do.

So that was chapter 5. Thanks for all the reviews you have sent me. Chapter 6 may be up soon, but I haven't started writing it yet and I don't know how hard it will be. I was planning to end it after Chapter 4 (if I put in a suitable ending of course) but all the positive responses I have gotten from this story makes me want to make it into a short series. But we will see how it turns out. So thanks again to the loyal readers and the reviews. I NEED YOUR REVIEWS!