Author's Note: I own diddly squat. The only thing that's mine is Aracely… and anyone else you don't recognise. I got this idea the other day when I was thinking about how you can't judge a book by its cover. Enjoy.

Nothing Lasts Forever

Chapter Six

"Jeffy…" Lee said softly, later on in the day. Both she and Jeff were on the bed and she was curled up by his side as they watched a movie, their art strewn on the bed in front of them from their earlier attempts.

"Yeah Lee?" He asked, looking down at her and wondering what was wrong.

"Remember… you asked about my parents last time?" She murmured, turning into him a little more and tuning out the movie.

"Yes." He said softly, though he let her guide the conversation, tell him whatever she felt she wanted to at that time.

"And I said that… they died a long time and I've been in foster care since…"

"Mmhm," He responded, just waiting patiently for her to get out what she needed to.

"I… I wanna tell you about it." She murmured, "I trust you and… I want someone other than Shawn to know about it all."

"Sure honey… I'll listen." He said softly, gently pushing some of her hair behind her ear. "Whatever you want to tell me, I'm here for you." He knew, unlike Cena, that she had her head screwed on straight, but that didn't mean she wouldn't want to talk about her past.

She reached out for the frayed edge of Jeff's shirt, taking it between her fingers and lightly fiddling with it, "Well… they died when I was eight. Nearly ten years ago now. It was a car accident… They were on their way to pick me up from school." She sighed softly, "I still remember the principal coming out of the school and taking me back inside to give me the news. It was awful."

"I can imagine." Jeff said softly, "I lost my mother when I was young… but I can only imagine what it must have been like to lose both your parents."

Lee managed a small smile for him before continuing, "It didn't take long for me to be placed with a foster family. It took a while, but I started to get over the loss. I'll never forget them, you know, it just… got easier. I liked it there in the beginning. I had an older foster brother there. I thought he was pretty cool but I didn't much like his friends… I was about 13 when it happened. They were 16. It was my foster brother's birthday, and there was the party going on downstairs, lots of music and noise. I'd hung out for a while but then I wanted to paint so I left the party. One of his friends followed me upstairs…"

She let the words hang in the air and she could tell by the sudden anger in Jeff's eyes that he knew the conclusion to that part of the story. "Your foster brother's friend… raped you?" He asked softly, and with a sigh, she nodded.

"Yeah. He did. Still makes me jumpy sometimes." She murmured, "Though not with you…" She managed an affectionate smile for Jeff, and he hugged her close.

"That's not the end though, is it?" He asked, and she shook her head, hardly surprised he could tell she had not finished telling her tale.

"No… After that I made some stupid choices. I just wanted to forget, you know? But I just made things worse. I made friends with the wrong people… started drinking, smoking… dabbled in drugs… I even self harmed." She said softly, "I thought at the time that it would make it all go away. I guess for a little while it did, but everything would always come rushing back the next day, and every time I had to face it again it hurt worse. Plus my foster parents were upset with what I was doing. Not that I can blame them, I had a younger foster brother too and I wasn't exactly setting a good example for him. It took a while for me to come round. They tried to help. Unfortunately by the time I finally did realise I had to change… they'd given up and I got moved to a new home."

For a few moments she paused, letting this sink in. Jeff said nothing, just watched her quietly, concern but no judgement on his face. Then she continued, "It was hard, you know, trying to get out of the bad place I'd spiralled into while adjusting to new settings… but maybe it was what I needed. It got me away from the people I'd started hanging out with and soon enough I was clean… harm free, sober. I thought I had things good… but then… well I realised the family weren't looking for a 'permanent' child. They started talking about how I'd be leaving when I was 18. Like the moment you turn 18 you magically know how to take care of yourself… especially after being in my situation…"

Lee shook her head and sighed, "That's where Shawn and Rebecca came in. I don't really know how they heard about me, though they seem to know everything… or most of it anyway… and they offered to take me in one day. I liked them right away… Rebecca is really nice… So is Shawn… and he kind of gets me, I guess. I met their kids too… sweet kids… they seemed happy and they accepted me… So… here I am."

As much as she felt like she could share everything with Jeff, she didn't confide in him her fears that when she turned 18, Shawn would want to make her leave too. She'd never had real stability in her life and the fear was that why would the man keep her around when she was an adult? It was the only real thing stopping her from calling the man 'Dad'. The fear that in a few months time, he wouldn't be around anymore. She desperately didn't want that to happen either, since the more time she spent around him, and with Jeff… the more she wanted to stay.

Author's Note: Because for some reason I'm on a great roll tonight, HAVE ANOTHER CHAPTER. Take what you can get guys xD. So what do you think?
She really has done the stuff Cena thinks she's into… only she's already over it. Now… now she just is who she is and she's happy, aside from her fear that she won't get to stick around.