AUTHORS NOTE/DISCLAIMER : I do not... repeate : DO NOT own RENT or any of the characters you recognize from the play/movie. The only character thing that really belongs to me is Zoe. She is a figment of my imagination and it would be much appreciated if you didn't steal her. Have fun with Chapter Two... thanks for the reviews!

Zoe awoke to a very hard crack upside the head. The door she had fallen asleep on had opened, knocking into her quite hardly. The person who had opened the door stepped out and looked down at her with shocked eyes. It's not, after all, every day that you open your front door to find a girl sleeping on the stoop. The sun was shining brightly and Zoe had to shield her eyes to give them time to adjust. She was already in a fair amount of pain from the night before, and the headache from the door didn't help any. She looked up at the man who had just exited the seemingly abandoned warehouse, and he stared back.

"Are you ok?" he asked, sincerely. "I didn't mean to hit you, I just didn't realize there would be someone sleeping on my door." He looked her over, taking note of the bruises and cuts, and the rips in her dirty clothing. She didn't look like she'd had it easy in New York, and he wondered why such a young girl would be alone in Alphabet City in the first place.

"I'm fine." she answered, and pulled herself up to stand. This, however, seemed to have been a bad idea when she started swaying. The man grabbed her arm to keep her from toppling over.

"No, you're not" he told her softly, "C'mon... I've got a loft up here. We'll get you cleaned up and you can tell me why you were sleeping on my door." He started to lead her towards the door, but logic got the better of her, and she tried to pull away.

"I... I can't" she said, shakily. The man smiled at her, realizing that a young girl was being led into a warehouse by a man she didn't know. How strange it must be for her. He looked her straight in the eye.

"My name's Collins... Tom Collins. And you are...?"

"Zoe" she replied, not offering a last name. She didn't trust this man, and had no reason to yet. Why trust a man you just met in the middle of a run down section of New York?

"Nice to meet you" the man called Collins said, and he opened the door once more, this time not hitting the girl in the face. "I'm not going to force you in, you know, but the loft is better than the streets. You can clean up there... and we can get you fed after that" He added noticing how frail she was looking. At the mention of food, Zoe realized how long she'd gone without it, and her stomach gave a violently audible gurgle. Collins chuckled at hearing that.

"If it makes you feel better, my girl is up there right now so we wouldn't be alone. Hell, everyone's probably there by now!" Zoe looked at the man suspiciously, but gave in to the urges of hungar and exhaustion.

"Okay, I'll go with you." Collins smiled at her and she took a step. She wobbled quite a bit, and he grabbed her arm a little harder to keep her steady. He helped her walk up the stairs to his loft on the second floor and opened the door. There was another man there... dressed as a woman? Zoe'd never seen a cross dresser before, but oddly enough, didn't give a second thought to it. She was too exhausted to think anymore. Collins smiled as the woman turned to him with a questioning look.

"Angel, this is Zoe... I found her on the doorstep. I think the stork dropped her off." Collins laughed as he let go of Zoe's arm. "Zoe, meet Angel." Angel walked over and hugged Zoe, and Zoe stiffened up at the touch. She wasn't used to hugs, especially from strangers. Angel backed off at Zoe's reaction, but held her shoulders at arm's distance.

"What happened to you, chica?" she asked with an honest curriosity and compassion. Zoe lowered her eyes to the ground, and shrugged.

"Nothing."

Angel smiled softly and touched her bruised cheek, and Zoe winced. "That's not 'nothing' girl. But, you don't have to tell us if you don't want." She wrapped an arm around Zoe and pulled her into the loft, leading her to the bathroom. "Take a shower, and we'll get you some clothes. Mine will be too big on you, but you can wear a belt for now. Then we'll get you fed. We're going to the Life Cafe later, but you look like you could use some food before that. When's the last time you ate, sugar?"

Zoe smiled at Angel's talkative-yet-compassionate personality, and began to relax slightly for the first time since she left Omaha. "Umm... three days ago" she said, looking at the ground again from embarassment, and rand her hand through her long, wavy, dark blond hair. Angel looked at her wide-eyed and nodded.

"Well you'll eat as soon as you get clean." she smiled and walked out of the bathroom, returning after a moment with a towel for Zoe and some clothes. "These should do for now." She smiled and walked out into the main room, closing the door behind her.

Zoe turned around and looked in the mirror on the bathroom wall. I look like hell. she thought, gazing over her reflection. From the swollen cheek and the cut on the other to the blood that had matted in her dark blond hair and her ripped dirty clothes, she looked like she had been through the worst life had to offer. And she had, though she would never admit it to anyone. She turned around and slipped out of her clothes. She never looked at herself naked in the mirror. She didn't want to see herself. She then turned on the water, running her hands underneath it to find a good temperature. Nice and hot. she thought, before pulling the plug that switched the tub from "bath" to "shower" and stepping under the steaming water. The water running over her relaxed her immensly. After about a half hour, and a good hard scrubbing, Zoe turned off the water and stepped out, wrapping herself in the large fluffy towel Angel had provided. She dried off and held up the clothes that had been brought for her use: a pair of jeans and a pink wife beater. Zoe slipped into the jeans, pulling the belt off of her own and using it to hold up the pants that were about five sizes too big on her, and pulled the shirt over her head. She had to make due with her dirty underwear since that creep had taken her clothes, but supposed she would find more soon. Running her fingers through her hair, she walked out into the main room to see Angel and Collins talking quietly on a couch. Zoe stood in the doorway and cleared her throat, not wanting them to get mad at her for eavesdropping.

Angel and Collins both turned at her noise, and Angel got up and pranced over to her.

"It's been decided, chica!" Angel said to a very confused looking Zoe, "You're going to stay here untill you have a better place of your own... that is... if you want to." Angel smiled

Zoe looked at them. They were offering her a place to stay untill she found him. They've been so good to her already that she didn't see how she could possibly intrude more. It would only be for a few days. she reasoned with herself, and it's not like you have anywhere else to go Zoe Jane Davis. She looked at Angel and nodded. "Thank you"

Angel smiled and bounced up and down, hugging Zoe tightly. "That's great girl! You'll have so much fun here! And you'll get to meet everyone!" Collins stood up at this time and walked over to the girls.
"There is one condition, however" he said. Zoe looked at him suspiciously, but he chuckled. "It's not anything you could be thinking right now. We just want to know why you were sleeping alone on a doorstep in Alphabet City. This isn't the best place to be doing that, you know."

Zoe sighed. This could take a while. She nodded and Collins motioned to the couch, where she made herself comfortable and prepared to tell them what had happened. Angel ran into the kitchen and came back with a box of oreo's. "Man's greatest creation!" she laughed, happily before sitting down beside Zoe as Collins sat directly across from her on a foot rest. Zoe pulled her legs under her and ran her fingers through her hair. Angel looked at her curriously at the motion, noting that it looked familiar when she did that, but said nothing. Zoe took a cookie, prolonging the inevitable, and nibbled on it before beginning her story. She told them of how she had left her home in Omaha, Nebraska, because her mother had died. She just didn't have anywhere else to go. She'd always wanted to see New York, and knew somebody that lived in this infamous "Alphabet City" so she had come here to try to find him. She wasn't even sure if he remembered her, but she knew that she had to try because there was no where else to go. She told them about using all of her money on the train ticket and then sleeping on benches in this part of New York for a few nights. She told of the guy that stole her clothes, but she managed to get her notebook, and she held it up for them to see.

"I didn't plan on falling asleep on your stoop," she said "I was just resting for a while and ended up crashing."

Angel and Collins looked at each other, they knew she had left out some things, but this was good enough for them. They couldn't believe what the girl had gone through to get here, and even worse what had happened when she DID get here. Angel put an arm around Zoe comfortingly and understandingly. Then she had a thought.

"Who are you looking for in Alphabet City, anyways?" Angel asked. Zoe looked at her, then figured she may as well tell them. They were being so generous that they may as well know.

"My brother... Roger Davis"