James Chase entered the room where he saw Michael and Marcus standing with Abigail, who had a two year old Ryan on her lap. He smiled when he saw them sitting together, his children. Abigail looked up when he came in and stood up, Ryan sliding off her lap. He gave her the once over look and smiled. "You look beautiful Abigail." He told her, giving his only daughter a hug.

"Thanks Dad, I feel a bit silly though." She said straightening out a few creases in the skirt of her white dress.

"Oh no you do not!" James assured her. "You look just like your mother."

Abigail blushed and turned to look in a mirror nearby. "I'd be suprised if Ben didn't run away when I go down there." She said.

"Oh stop it." Her father told her with a broad grin.

"Yeah, the only reason he's run away was if I walked out there in that dress." Michael added.

She laughed at the image of her brother in a dress about to get married to Ben.

"Who better to marry my daughter," James began proudly, "Than a charming, wonderful man who would risk his own life to save hers." Abigail smiled and hugged her father again.

"Abi, wake up, honey."

Ben's voice interrupted her dream, and she momentarily forgot where she was. She looked around her and saw people leaving the plane, telling her that it had landed. On one side of her Ben was reaching up to get their bags, and on her other side, Michael was doing the same thing. They had arrived in California, where they would now go to their aunts house and get Ryan. For some reason, the idea almost killed her of having to see her brother's heartbroken face. She stood up and took her bag from Ben, following her brother off the plane and into the sunshine.

By the time they had reached their Aunt's house, Abigail was a nervous wreck in the car Michael had rented. She sat in the back with Ben, and Michael sat alone in the front. "Well, here we are." Michael said, looking down the road at their parents house. It stood empty, but still looking the same as when he had last seen it.

"Let's go get him." Abigail whispered to herself as she took a deep breath, getting out the car.

When Aunt Elsa opened the door, she looked sympathetically down at the two siblings. She took Abigail into her arms quickly and gave her a quick hug as she passed silently through the door, and caught Michael in the same way as he tried to get through also. Ben got a friendly pat on the shoulder, which was fine for him, seeing as the other two seemed to have had their breath squeezed out of them.

The went first of all into the kitchen. "Ryan's at his childcare group still." Elsa told them, putting the kettle on as the other sat down at the table. Ben sat beside Abigail, putting his hand over hers reassuringly. She gripped it for comfort and he gently ran his thumb along the inside of her hands. "We tried to keep everything normal for him, told him that his parents were visiting friends in Texas..."

"What?" Abigail asked, replaying what Elsa had said in her head.

"He doesn't know!" Michael cried out.

Elsa sighed. "We couldn't find it in our hearts to tell him, so we thought it would be best to wait until you two were here for him. He will need you."

Abigail understood. If places were changed, she wouldn't have wanted to be the one to tell her nephew that his parents were dead. Especially as he was only five years old, and his only experience of death had been a dead rabbit.

Elsa continued talking, the keetle boiled. "Do you want tea?" She asked. Michael and Ben nodded, but Abigail shook her head. "We got together the other night, your uncle Danny, and Mari and Jack, and talked about Ryan." She said almost awkwardly. "We decided that, although this is his home, and if it was any problem, he is fine to stay with us, but we think it may be best for him if he lived with one of you."

Abigail looked at Michael. That would mean moving thousands of miles away, depending on who he was with. Marcus wouldn't have him. He would refuse straight away, he had a business up in Canada that he rarely spoke about, but told them that it was 'dangerous'. Michael was travelling all the time, so that would be no way for him to grow up. Which left her...

She turned to Ben, who returned her gaze. But no words were spoken between them, as the front door opened, followed by footsteps running through the halls. "That'll be your uncle with Ryan now." Elsa said, taking them through to the living room.

Michael and Abigail stopped though. "Abs, I-"

"It's all right, Mike, I'll tell him." She said softly.

Michael looked at her sympathetically. "Abs,"

"No, it's fine. I'll do it." She have him the falsest smile she had used in her life, but it assured him somewhat, and they followed Elsa into the living room.

When they had sat down, the running footsteps stopped in the doorway, and a small boy with sandy hair and blue eyes, exactly like Abigail's, looked at them for a moment before running over to Abigail and throwing himself at her. She caught him in her lap, and he laughed. "Abi!" He cried excitedly. "You've come to see us."

She felt sad when he said 'us', knowing that he meant their parents as well, but she smiled at him. "Yes, sweetie, I have." She saw Michael looking at her but she didn't look back. "Listen, Ryan, there's something I need to talk to you about." She told him, standing up. "Can you come in the garden with me?"

Ryan nodded, and followed Abigail into the garden. He climbed onto the bench and sat down, Abigail knelt on the floor in front of her little brother. She looked into his eyes, and found herself getting upset again. No one should have to do this she thought, he's too young, this shouldn't be happening.

"Am I in trouble?" He asked with a small frown. Abigail gave him a false smile.

"No, Ryan, you're not in trouble."

"Why do you look sad?" He asked her, touching her face with his small hands, covered in green pen from where he had been colouring earlier that day.

"Ryan, I need to tell you something very important." She told him. "Now, there's going to be a lot of sad things happening soon, but it's all going to be fine, because I'm here, and Michael's here, and Marcus will be here soon, and we're going to take care of you, OK?" He nodded to show he understood her.

"Won't Mommy and Daddy be here?" He asked her.

Abigail's heart nearly broke when he said that. "Ryan, do you remember when your rabbit died went to heaven?" She asked him.

"Daddy said it was a place where he would be happy and have all the carrots he wanted." Ryan recited.

"That's right."

"Will Mommy and Daddy be home soon?" He asked. "I miss them."

"No, Ryan. Mommy and Daddy aren't coming home." She told him, tears coming out from her eyes. Ryan looked so confused.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because they've gone to Heaven, sweetie. They had an accident and they went to heaven." She was starting to wish that she had let Michael do this. But he had already had to break the news to her, to tell Ryan as well would be too hard for him. Somehow, telling her brother was harder than hearing it herself.

"They're not coming home?" He asked her. "Never?"

"I'm sorry Ryan, no." She told him.

"Did I make them mad?" He asked her.

"Of course not. You didn't do anything wrong sweetie." She assured him, and she watched his eyes fill with tears like her own.

"Then why have they gone away from me?" He asked her, starting to cry. Abigail put her arms around him, and moved so she was sitting on the bench with him in her lap. He curled up close to her and cried.

"Sometimes, people have to go away." She explained. "We don't want them to, but they have to. I know you miss them, and I miss them too. But we're going to look after you Ryan. Everything's going to be fine, I promise." She hadn't realised that she was crying, but she tried to hold her tears back. She needed to be strong for Ryan, for the little boy who was looking to her for dependancy.

He cried for ages in her arms, until Michael came out into the garden with them. Ryan was always closest to Abigail and Michael because they were most like their parents. So when Michael sat down beside them, Ryan moved into his lap, and Abigail rested her head on his shoulder. Together they sat in grief, while Elsa sat watching in the window with Ben.

"He is a lucky boy." Elsa told him. "It couldn't have happened to a nicer family, but at least they still have each other."

"I feel so helpless." Ben told the aging woman. "I want to help, but there's only so much I can do."

"Ryan has always loved his sister more than his brothers." Elsa remembered. "It was no secret. She would always try to be a good sister to him, ever since the day he was born. Now he is torn."

"Torn?" Ben asked.

"Marcus won't have him. His work is too dangerous. Whatever it is that silly fool does. Michael is always travelling, and young Abigail lives all the way over in Washington. He needs to be with one of them." Elsa said.

Ben nodded. "They need him as much as he needs them." He observed from the way the siblings clung to each other.

"We've arranged the funeral for Friday. Until then, you and Abigail are welcome to stay either here or at their old house." Elsa told him.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me, dear. It's the least I can do."

Abigail sat on the couch with her legs curled beneath her later that night. Her back was leaning againt Ben's chest, and Ryan lay asleep over her lap. She subconsciously played with his hair, the blonde curls that made him so adorable. He had not left her side all day. He hadn't eaten, and hadn't played, nor had he spoken since Abigail broke the awful news to him. She felt so much guilt having told him, and she understood how hard it was for Michael to tell her. Michael sat in the corner with a glass of wine, staring at the television set as though it might add some enlightenment to the situation. Elsa was in the kitchen with her husband Danny, and Abigail whispered up to Ben.

"He looks peaceful when he's asleep, not like one who has just lost his parents." She said, her eyes never leaving her brother's face. "And his home."

"He still has his brothers and sister." He reminded her. "If he needs a home, we'll give him one." Ben told her.

She looked up at him with an unreadable face. "You wouldn't mind?" She asked him.

"Of course not, he's your brother. He needs you with him. We're the only ones who have a home suitable for a kid."

Abigail gave Ben a thankful look, and kissed him. "You have no idea how much easier this makes it." She told him, and he put his arm around her. Now, we've just got to get through Friday.