Suddenly, Abigail felt like she was five years old again. Sitting in her brother's car, staring at her hands as if it might be some help to her. All this time, her parents had been there for her, they had encouraged her through every step of her education so she could work in her dream job at the Archives. It was only through them moving the family to America to give them a better chance that any of them had got this far in life. But now, now they were gone. Just like that, they were orphans.

"Oh god." She muttered, feeling selfish that she hadn't realised it before. She had been too wound up in her own greif that she had completely forgotten one person who was no doubt more confused than anyone else. "Ryan."

Ryan Chase was Abigail and Michael's younger brother. He had only just turned five years old, the youngest of the Chase children. He was the only one of them that lived with their parents now, what had happened to him?

"He's staying with Elsa until us and Marcus get there." Michael told her.

Elsa was their aunt who happened to live two doors down from their parents. She was a nice aunt, but had a terrible habit of putting her foot in it at bad situations. She was always there for them when they were growing up. Abigail nodded. "What's going to happen to him?" She asked. Ryan was so close to her, and she to him, that she had always regretted it when her parents had moved with him to California from their home in Washington last year. She had sworn that while her brothers teased him like any brother would, that she would be his big sister and take care of him no matter what.

"We'll find out when we get to California." Michael told her. He could tell what was going through his sisters mind though. "They can't put him into care, Abs, don't worry, he's got too much family to do that."

She nodded and stared out the window again. They had just arrived at her house. The first thing she did when she got inside was pick up the phone in the kitchen. Michael was her brother, but she needed Ben right now. She needed him with her as well. She rang the university.

"Professor Gates's office." Answered the receptionist she knew to be Nora.

"Hi Nora, its Abigail." She asid sombrely. "I need to speak to Ben."

"Good afternoon, Doctor Chase, I'll patch you through straight away."

"Thank you." She waited until she heard Ben's familiar voice on the other end. The sound of him talking threatened to bring her tears back.

"Abigail?" She choked on a sob as he spoke, which he heard loud and clear. "Abigail, what's wrong?"

"Ben." She said, her voice breaking a little. "Can you come home please?" She didn't know what else to say. Michael had been right when he was saying that he couldn't talk about it over the phone. She felt her brother's reassuring hands on her shoulders.

"Abi, sweetheart what's the matter, what's happened?"

"I need you here, Ben. Michael's here too, but please, come home."

The sound of her pleading voice was enough for Ben, and he told her he would be home as soon as possible. Abigail hung up the phone and turned round and held herself against her brother as she cried.

"How could they do this to us?" She asked. "How could they leave us like this? Leave Ryan?"

Michael sighed and let her cry all she wanted. "It was an accident Abs, they didn't mean for it to happen." The two siblings stood there, crying, hugging each other as though scared that they would disappear too. Their parents had always been there for them, but they wouldn't be there for Ryan like they had been for them. He was only young, would he forget them one day? No. She wouldn't let him. They were brilliant parents. No one would forget what they had sacrificed for them.

She couldn't stop herself from crying, and eventually, the weight of all her grief caused her knees to fall from underneath her, and she sat down on one of the nearby chairs in the kitchen. She hadn't known how long she had been crying until she felt another pair of arms around her, not Michael's. She heard Ben's comforting voice in her ear, and knew that he had come home. She held onto him tightly, not caring how weak or pathetic she looked for doing so. She had every right to look a mess. She had every right to be upset. She pulled her head up from Ben's shoulder and looked him in the eye.

As she looked up at him, he felt so useless. He had never seen her so upset. Her eyes were red and puffy from tears that still fell down her face, and he wanted nothing more that to take her away from whatever pain was causing this to his wife.

"Ben." She said, her voice still sounding like she was about to cry once again. "They're gone, Ben. They're gone." She said, a new batch of tears making their way down her face.

"Who's gone?" He asked her in a whisper, pushing back the hair that was sticking to her wet face and securing it behind her ear.

"There was an accident...no chance." She wept.

"Abi, who's gone?" He asked her gently. "What happened?"

"Mom and Dad."

Oh god, he thought. Understanding what had happened. She started crying again, and he held her tightly, rubbing her back, holding back his own tears. Her parents were wonderful people, not ones who deserved this end. They had welcomed him into their family. but he did not grieve himself. His job now was to help Abigail. Their daughter, his wife. She was distraught, and there was not much he could do to help. Michael had left the room when he had arrived, and when Abigail stopped crying half an hour later, he reappeared.

"Ben." Michael said quietly, not like his usual happy self. No wonder. "We need to go to California straight away. Ryan needs us."

Ben nodded. He knew that by 'we' he meant him as well. If his only use in this situation was to comfort Abigail, then that was enough for him. She needed help, she couldn't get through this on her own.