A/N: I've been upset this week over the passing of strong, intelligent and beautiful young woman who inspired me deeply. I didn't know her personally, but she has managed to touch my heart with her courage and her views of life and death. Her death, while not entirely surprising, upset me to my core and it took me several days to gather myself up and post this chapter. I apologize for the delay, and I hope you all understand. I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Claire Wineland, who was a force of nature, and whom I will always remember.

Also, I'd like to thank blossom-of-snow for beta reading this chapter. You rock, girl!

Sharon leaned against the wall of the elevator. She woke up with a sore throat, and after the exhausting day she had, she wanted nothing more than to curl up on the couch with a big cup of green tea and a steaming bowl of the vegetable soup. When the elevator doors opened in the 11th floor, she felt relief. Her safe space was just a few steps away. The click of her key in the lock was the best sound she'd heard all day. She pushed the door open and walked in. Out of habit, she draped her jacket and purse on the coat hanger. As she stepped further into the living room, she noticed Rainie sitting in the armchair. Her textbooks were spread all over the coffee table, but instead of doing her homework, Rainie was staring at her wrist. A silver chain was hanging from it, and Sharon could tell it was an expensive jewel, one that she hasn't seen Rainie wearing before.

"Hi," Sharon walked over to the girl.

Rainie replied with a soft hum.

"What's that?" she took a seat on the couch in front of her foster daughter.

"Kris gave it to me today," Rainie said. "Her mother made it for me, to apologize for the way she judged me." She stretched her arm so Sharon could see the delicate beadwork and the small plaque that had the word 'Home' engraved on it.

"It's beautiful," Sharon replied. She was happy to see that Mrs. Slater came to her senses. Even if Rainie was attracted to Kris, she shouldn't have been judged for it. "I'm glad to see that her parents let her spend time with you again."

"Yeah," Rainie sighed.

"You seem upset. Do you want to tell me what's going on?" Sharon asked.

Rainie raised her gaze from the bracelet. "Chris called me earlier," Rainie replied. "He wants me to tell Kris that we are dating."

"Didn't you say that you were going to break up with him?" Sharon wondered.

"I wasn't sure about it," Rainie said. "And I made him promise we won't tell Kris anything until we are sure of this relationship." She let out a long sigh. "And when her parents said we couldn't hang out together, I figured it was probably for the best because she won't know about Chris and I and he won't know that she and I kissed."

"Do you still want to break up with Chris?" Sharon asked. If she was going to help provide Rainie a clearer view of the situation, she needed to have some clarity of it herself.

"I don't know," Rainie replied. "But I don't want Kris to know about us."

"Why is that?" Sharon wondered.

"Because if she finds out, she'll hate me," Rainie declared.

"Kris seems like a very sweet girl and a good friend. I'm sure she'll feel happy for you," Sharon said. If Rainie wanted to keep exploring the option of a relationship with Chris, Sharon wasn't going to stop her, even though it appeared that Kris's reaction to it mattered to her more than the relationship itself.

"She won't," Rainie looked at the bracelet again. "He's the guy that she's in love with."

The realization was like a splash of ice water. Suddenly all the pieces fell into place, and Sharon finally grasped the complexity of Rainie's situation. Oh, wow. Wow. Now she understood why Rainie was reluctant to let go of the romantic relationship she didn't even seem to want, and why she wanted to keep it a secret too. If Rainie broke up with Chris, the chances are that he would not remain her friend, and there was also a chance that Kris would find out about it and stop being her friend as well. If Chris found out about the kiss Rainie and Kris shared, he would probably consider it cheating and break up with Rainie, which would lead to the same result. Rainie was trying to figure out a way to avoid losing her two first friends she made at St. Joseph's, and possibly the only friends she's had in a long time whom she cared deeply about.

"Sweetheart, I know this is a scary situation for you, but they both need to hear the truth from you," Sharon said. "You can't lead Chris on if you're not interested in dating him, and you shouldn't hide your relationship with him from Kris if you are intending to keep seeing him."

Rainie buried her face in her palms.

"Alright," she let out a deep sigh when she lifted her head again. "How do I break up with Chris?"

Sharon discussed the possible options Rainie had for breaking up with Chris and was happy to see that Rainie appeared to have more confidence in her decision than she had before their conversation. She always believed the truth was the best policy and therefore, she and Rainie talked about ways in which the friendship with Chris could be preserved despite the breakup. Sharon also mentioned that Rainie had to accept that Chris might not have ever had any intention of being just friends with her and that he might not want to go back to being just friends. At the end of the conversation, she felt like she had provided Rainie with the necessary tools to hopefully preserve both of her friendships.

When Chris showed up at the PAB the following day, Sharon held her breath. She gave Rainie a reassuring smile through her office window as her foster daughter led the boy to the super cubicle. When Chris left half an hour later, Sharon could tell by the heavy way he walked and the tension in his face that things didn't go so well. Still, she was proud of Rainie for finding the strength to end a relationship she wasn't comfortable with.

Almost an hour later, Rainie went into Sharon's office and sank into the green armchair like a rag doll. Sharon noticed the girl's red-rimmed eyes and the rosiness at the tip of Rainie's nose.

"I'm sorry it didn't go well," she said to the girl, who seemed to be shrinking into herself on the armchair.

"He called me a cock-teaser," Rainie's voice was broken.

"That's disrespectful and vulgar," Sharon replied. "Regardless of what your relationship was like, deciding whether or not to break up with him because it didn't feel right to you doesn't give him the right to call you derogatory names."

"He's kinda right, though," Rainie replied. "I led him to think that eventually, we will be serious enough to sleep together."

"Maybe he inferred that you'd want to have sex with him down the line, but that doesn't mean anything, Rainie. Words like that are just meant to put you down and to feel like you owe a man something that you don't," Sharon said. "You never owe anyone sex, and even if you promised someone to have sex with them, it is your right to change your mind. And they don't get to call you names for it."

"He was so angry at me, Sharon," Rainie's words were laced with whimpers. "He said everyone at school hated me after the way I behaved last year, and he was the only one who gave me a chance, and I should have been grateful for it."

"No, that's not true. Honey, if he chose to be nice to you just so he can receive your gratitude, then his motives were never pure, to begin with," Sharon said.

"But it's my fault," Rainie insisted, her eyes misting over.

Sharon pushed her chair back and got up from behind her desk. She crossed the room and kneeled next to the green armchair. Taking both of Rainie's hands in hers, she looked into the girl's eyes.

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent," she spoke softly. "You know who said that?"

"You?" Rainie replied unsurely.

"Eleanor Roosevelt. I believe you wrote a paper about her for school not long ago, didn't you?" Rainie hummed in response. "I want you to keep her words in mind. People can say many horrible things to each other, but it is our choice whether or not to believe what they say."

"Who said that?"

"I did," Sharon replied with a soft smile. "Maybe you should write that on your wall tonight when we go home."

Her foster daughter gave her a tearful nod and sniffled.

Sharon walked back to her desk and handed her a box of Kleenex.

When they returned home much later that evening, Rainie went to her room while Sharon sat at her desk and paid some bills that came in earlier that week. She sipped her tea slowly as she filled in her excel table with the amounts and dates of payment. Recording her expenses and comparing them with her earnings was a system that she adopted after Jack had emptied their shared bank account and left her and the kids with nothing. She had to calculate her finances constantly to make sure that she was never spending more than she could afford, and eventually came up with a system to document it. Even though her financial state has improved since then, she still used the same system. It came in handy now that she had Rainie. The reimbursement from DCFS hardly covered her expenses for Rainie, but Sharon didn't mind paying for the girl's expenses herself. She wanted Rainie to have a good and comfortable life with her and didn't want her foster daughter to feel like a financial burden on her. Of course, Rainie has been placed in foster homes before Sharon and was therefore aware of the reimbursement payments. She had promised Sharon several times to pay her back for everything she's ever bought her once she had a job, but Sharon never intended to accept any money from the girl. All she wanted from Rainie was to be kind and safe.

"Sharon," Rainie called out from the other room. "Can you come here for a second?"

"Sure, just a moment," Sharon replied and put her tea down. She walked over to Rainie's room, tightening her cashmere cardigan around her. When Sharon leaned against the doorframe, Rainie was standing next to her graffiti wall and holding a sharpie.

"I want you to do it," Rainie said and handed her the sharpie.

Sharon looked at the girl with confusion, unsure what Rainie expected her to do.

"I want you to write what you said to me today." Sharon didn't move for a long moment. She's never written on a wall before. She always viewed the idea as vandalistic and only allowed Rainie to do it because she thought it would be a good outlet for her emotions. The wall was never meant for Sharon to write her thoughts or ideas. She never felt any need to let her beliefs take visible form on any medium of art. But her foster daughter needed a visual embodiment of what strength was. Rainie could have easily written the sentence on the wall without any help, but Sharon realized that it wasn't the words that the girl needed; it was the strength and confidence that came from Sharon. And she was reaching out by trying to involve Sharon in her art. It was an emotional need that Sharon was more than happy to fulfill.

"Where do you want it?" she asked.

Rainie pointed at an empty spot on the wall.

With a shaky hand, Sharon stepped close to the wall. The strong chemical smell hit her nose as she pressed the sharpie against the wall. The slight resistance of the wall under her hand and the thin screech of the sharpie against it overwhelmed her senses, and for a moment she felt as if she was in a trance.

"People can say many horrible things to each other, but it is our choice whether or not to believe what they say," Rainie read the words out loud. "Thank you, Sharon."

"You're welcome," Sharon replied and wrapped her arm around Rainie's shoulders. She felt happiness spreading in her chest as the sense of pride overcame her. She wasn't proud of herself for having Rainie choose her quote for her wall; she was proud of Rainie for her willingness to open her mind even at difficult moments and her dedication to listening to what Sharon taught her. She was proud of her for knowing how to find her strength, and for paving her way for a better future.

-TBC-

As always, I'd love to know your thoughts about this chapter, so feel free to leave a review or send me a PM.