so... here we go! :)

Destination: Unknown

by: stripedpolkadots

chapter one: Gabriella's Story

"Bibi… Bibi… my stomach…'

Gabriella Pacecho set down the shirt she had been patching. José was nine years old, and to Gabriella, it seemed all she did was mend his clothes. At the moment though, Pele, her youngest brother required her attention.

Pele, who had just learned to talk, had been complaining of stomach pains for almost two weeks now. Rosa Pachecho had placed her young son in the care of her eldest daughter while she went off to work, in hopes of maybe taking Pele to one of the big hospitals in Rio.

Gabriella leaned down to comfort Pele, and was immediately alarmed to see that he wasn't vomiting, he was coughing up blood.

Gabriella cleared the wooden table of fabric, and, taking Pele in her two strong arms, lifted him onto it. Making soothing noises to the frightened child, her mind raced. She turned toward the door.

"José! José! José come quick!"

A small head poked through a window, and a human head soon followed. "Yes Bibi I am feeding the chickens, only a few more-"

Gabriella cut him off and called another name. "Lisol! Lisol! Lis-" She heard her sister's wooden cane dragging on the floor long before she saw her. Finally though, the twelve-year-old girl appeared, a bowl of leaves in her hand. "Ah, Bibi, Ana Maria said these helped her son when he was vomitin-"

Gabriella felt like crying. "Enough! José, take Lisol up to the doutor branco. You go on and find Mama!"

Both her brother and sister looked at her, and, as if for the first time, seemed to see the panic on her face and the blood on both her and Pele.

José took a step for the door, face white. "Bibi…?" he questioned, sounding once again like a child of Pele's age, the pre-adolescent jaunt gone from his voice.

Gabriella wiped at the tears on her face furiously, and Lisol, seeing this, did a very un-Lisol-like thing: she took charge.

Almost completely forgoing use of her cane, she dragged her lame foot to the door, blocking José's entrance. She used her bigger frame to push him out of the doorway.

"Come on José… are you not supposed to be the man while Papa is out? Bibi can not do everything you know… no no, leave Pele, Bibi will take care of him… you must lead me to the ah? I cannot go in the forest with my foot… what if a jaguar was to get me? And who else will get Mama? Who else is the fastest runner… yes you, now come, lead me through the forest to the homem branco house…"

When there voices had finally died out, Gabriella pinched herself one more time before looking at her sickly brother. She wiped his face again, and flinched when he felt how hot her baby brother's skin was. Hot and sweaty.

Looking around, Gabriella placed a quick kiss on Pele's cheek before reaching under her and her Lisol's bed for the water tub. She placed it on her back and raced for the well she and Davi had dug only two years ago. Gabriella blinked back the inevitable tears that always came when she thought of Davi. She had another brother to help now.

When the tub was filled with water, Gabriella dragged it to the center of the yard. Normally it took her and her mother both using all their strength to haul it a few feet, but somehow adrenaline gave Gabriella to do it alone.

She ran back into the kitchen to find Pele gurgling… on his blood. She gave a cry of terror and sprinted to the little boy. As she turned him over, she had to look away from the blood he coughed all over the floor of the room. When the coughing was down to a dribble, she tenderly took off his shirt, and the small cotton shorts he was wearing. She then lifted him up and carried him outside to the tub.

She slid him into the water gently, taking care to keep his head tilted and out of the water. The child's cries died down, and finally stopped. Gabriella panicked until she saw that he was sleeping. When Pele jerked at the sound of a tree branch falling, Gabriella began to sing. Her mother had always told her that it was only Gabriella's singing that would quiet a fussy Davi, and she had seen it for herself with Lisol and José. When Pele would cry, she would sing the song her mother had taught her, a children's song that became so much more, if all the right emotions of love and care were present.

destination:unknown

It was almost two hours later when Gabriella finally heard Lisol's cane. A few minutes later, she came out of the forest and into view with Dr. Gary Palmer following nervously behind her. Dr. Palmer was the replacement for Dr. Joesph Moreno, who had gone home to be with his wife, who had recently found that she had terminal cancer. Dr. Palmer was nowhere near as good for one- he didn't speak any Porteguese- at all, and two- he was intensely afraid of the jungle, and tried his damnedest to stay away from it- which was bad, due to the fact that most of his potential patients made their home in the jungle, or as the Pacecho's did, on the border. It was for this reason that Gabriella had only seen the man twice: once, at Dr. Moreno's farewell ceremony, and two years ago, when he had come to inform Rosa of Davi's… death.

She let Lisol take hold of Pele's head and hurried forward to the doctor. "Doctor…how…b-be…my…brofer?", she asked, in her best English.

Dr. Palmer furrowed his brow. "Brofer?" He grinned. "You must mean brother… well, I haven't exactly seen him yet… heh heh… but lemme just take a quick lookie-lookie and we'll see what I can see, ah?"

Gabriella didn't have a clue what the man was talking about, but she nodded anyway. She had learned that sometimes the had strange speech patterns, words that weren't taught at school. The best way to react was just smile and nod. So she did so.

Dr. Palmer smiled back and headed for the tub. When he saw the blood splattered dirt around the metal tub, his smile faded. He looked back, and noticed the blood on Gabriella's shirt. Pulling his glasses out of his pocket, he knelt down to be level with the tub.

"My God…" he breathed. Gabriella bit her lip. That never met anything good…

He turned around and looked at her. Gabriella watched his face, waiting for a sign of anything good. She couldn't find one.

He took off his glasses and rubbed them clean. "Where's your mother?"

Gabriella shrugged, looking towards the trees. "I… I sent José Mama to. He… soon he be back."

Dr. Palmer nodded and gestured toward the house. Taking a last glance at Pele, she led Dr. Palmer into the house.

Looking around, he finally took a seat on her mother's chair. He put his fingers together and leaned in. Gabriella feared the worst.

destination:unknown

"Oh! Oh my baby! Meu bebe pobre! Ah, ah, Mama's here!"

Gabriella got up and ran outside. She was surprised to see it was already dark out; the doctor must have taken longer examining Pele then she thought.

She felt a presence behind her and turned to see Dr. Palmer shifting nervously on his feet. Rose Pacecho looked up at Palmer, Pele's head in her hands.

"Well doctor? What is wrong with my son? Please, tell me!" Rosa was an assistant general manager at a manufacturing company, and, as such, her English had improved greatly.

Palmer ran a hand through his thinning blond hair. He didn't meet Rosa's eye, and Gabriella felt her heart clench. She looked to her left and saw Lisol tightly clutching Jose to her. She was surprised to see Jose's face- he was crying. After Davi had died, he hadn't cried for anything. She took the few steps necessary and wrapped both of them in her arms. Jose turned his face to her chest and began to bawl. Even Lisol- strong, light-hearted, happy Lisol began to sniffle.

"Doctor? Please..."

Palmer took a deep breath and let it out as one word. "Yoursonhasmalariaitsinaveryadvancedstagewithoutthenessacarysurgeryhelldiewithintheyear."

Rosa blanched. "Malaria? My son... my bebe malaria?"

Something confused Gabriella. "A year? Malaria last... so long?"

Palmer shrugged. "It appears he's actually had the disease for a very long time now, maybe two or three years. I believe he may have just gotten an ordinary sickness that has simply been magnified by pre-existing malaria."

Gabriella didn't have time for Palmer to use his fancy words. "Excuse me?"

Palmer stared at her, surprised. Gabriella was usually such a polite girl. He scratched his head. "Um...er... Peelee has had malaria for a long time... it's just now starting to show... he probably has a common cold, but the malaria is making it appear much, much worse."

Rosa's legs crumpled and she fell to the floor. "How much?"

"Pardon?"

"How much will it cost for the surgery?"

Palmer coughed. "Well... we can probably keep him for six months on pills but..."

Rosa leaped up and grabbed Palmer' s arm. "How much?!"

Palmer sighed. "Around... . He hasn't had good health care, and it looks like he's picked up a nasty virus. He can't possibly stay here if he hopes to pull through completely."

Rosa moaned. "Where am I supposed to take him? I cannot leave my job here! The money..."

Gabriella released her siblings and stepped forward. "Mama, I will make the money, and we can send Pele to stay with cousin Luiz in Rio!"

Rosa turned to her daughter. "No Bibi, you are too young-"

Gabriella cut her off. "Young? Mama, I am almost 23 years old! I have finished schooling, and university, and the general store won't need me until winter season! I will be back long before that. Marisa Cordeira has been working full-time since she was seventeen! She goes to Italy and sends home the money- she works in a big house. And now, you see, Miriam Cordeira does not even go to work anymore. She just lets her daughter take care of everything! Let me do that mama!"

Rosa shook her head. "No, no Bibi! You are needed at home! Who will make the food, mend the clothes, take care of the house while I am at work?"

Gabriella threw up her hands. "Mama. Lisol can do all that and you know it! Jose knows his chores, and he does them without being told! And even then, school starts again in less than a month. With Jose and Lisol at the school, and Pele in Rio, no one will even be in the house when you're at work!"

Rosa started to cry. "No Bibi, please... I cannot lose two of my children... please..."

Gabriella shook her head. "I am sorry Mama... but it is better this way." She turned to Palmer, who had awkwardly been listening to the conversation, not understanding a word of it. "Dr. Palmer, please... papers for Pele... send them to Rio. He go to Rio."

The doctor's eyes widened, but he nodded. Gabriella turned to her brother. "Jose, lead Dr. Palmer back to his house."

Jose nodded and raced forward, the doctor close behind. Gabriella began walking towards the house, calling over her shoulder, "Lisol, stay with Pele, Mama, please come with me, we have to make plans. I will have left before the week is up."

Sobbing, Rosa followed her daughter into the house.

destination:unknown

okay... so thats that. i really didnt think the introductions would be that long! i mean, i originally planned to get all four of them in 2 chapters! i think it might end up being like 5 or 6 in the end tho. but side note, if you're a doctor, just ignore the super-human malaria virus. it was the closest disease for what i wanted, so i just tweaked it a lil bit. no harm right?

arp. homem branco is white man. doutor branco is white doctor. and i asked the brazilian exchange student if they really do us 'bibi' as a nickname for Gabriella, and he said yes. yupyup. legitmate.

on a pm someone sent me, its rated T mostly for subject matter. and a lil language. and violence. i dont really plan on doing any smut/lemons. just because you guys would laugh. trust me, you'd laugh. anyways, there'll be a few (mmk a bit more than a few) risque scenes, but nothing to in-depth.

and i know i said i usually have really short AN's, but im just trying to clarify. but i'll shut up now.

luvs-stripedpolkadots

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