Note: I don't own "An American Tail" or any of its characters, settings or songs or anything else.

Only Miss. Gooseburye, Abby Du Pont (dew-paw-nt) and any additional characters belong to me.

I'm so sorry this chapter took so long. I was in a slump and couldn't figure out how to make this chapter work. But, I finally figured it out and i hope you enjoy it and again I'm very sorry for the long wait. Please ignore any possible incorrect spelling and/or grammar. I read this over and over (I even had my mom read it!) before submitting it, but there could still be flaws that I missed :)

On with chapter two!

A new beginning

By shattered-glass-slipper1

The streams of sunlight leaked from the window into the room as Abby began to stir from her sleep. Her head was pounding from crying so hard and losing too much hydration. Though she was in pain she could still detect a slight scent of breakfast in the air. She couldn't make out what Miss. Gooseburye was making, but the smell was unusually irresistible. At the sudden thought of Miss. Gooseburye a question popped into her head.

"Why didn't Miss. G wake me?" "Didn't she say I had to start out early this morning?" Abby thought to herself.

She slowly opened her eyes only to have them quickly shut and draped over with her arm to block out the sunlight that her eyes were not yet prepared for. After her eyes were fully adjusted, she attempted to open them once more, but this time succeeded. What Abby saw next shocked and scared her speechless, her headache long forgotten, but the pain still lingering. She was not in her room. On normal circumstances this wouldn't have been something to get upset over, but this was most certainly not normal. It was small like Abby's room, but was filled with life sized inanimate objects as furniture. The bed she was currently residing in was a fairly large tarnished makeup compact that had been robbed of all its sweet scented powder with nothing left inside but its old yet soft powder puff and a cracked mirror with plenty of shards missing. To her right side stood a wooden spool that if she was standing would come up to the height of her hip. On top of what seemed to be a nightstand (the spool) was an old chipped bowl that was filled with water and a raggedy cloth by its side.

'Probably for washing my face.' Abby thought as she scanned the rest of the room.

At the end of that thought Abby froze like a timid deer caught in headlights. For across the room was a chipped mirror that was crookedly hung on the wall. The reflection in the mirror was more than to say frightening for her. For who or what she saw in the mirror staring right back at her was a young animated female mouse! She had similar features to Bridget, but in ways completely different. Her cheeks were rosy like Bridget's and had a single brown stripe down the bridge her nose, but she had no freckles and the end her nose was dark brown. Her eyes were a dazzling emerald green that were each framed with a golden rim and decorated with long flirtatious eye lashes. Her hair (though in its current state was rather messy) was a lovely dark brown with golden streaks that if combed through would have fallen to just above her mid-back. On each side of her head was a quaint mouse ear that was now folded back from fright. The fur that coated her skin was a medium tan color and she wore some kind of unfamiliar man's undershirt that hung loosely on her petite form.

With all the courage she could muster, Abby slowly slid to one side of the bed, still not taking her eyes off the figure that was mimicking her movements in the mirror. She cautiously walked from across the room and approached the mirror while she drew her hand-now-turned-paw up to the unfamiliar being while it did the same. As she finally made contact with the cool surface Abby's fear had been confirmed. The mouse in the mirror was her. Abby stared at what she dared to call her reflection, her expression on her face was blank yet her mind was the complete opposite. Her brain was rummaging through her endless thoughts and questions. Trying to think of a reasonable explanation for why this was happening. Was she still dreaming? Did the pain from her former headache cause her to hallucinate all of this? Was this some kind of sick prank? Did she completely lose her mind? Or was this really happening and she's really a mouse!? Abby's brain couldn't take it anymore, from her hopeless task to finding an answer to the throbbing pain in her skull; Abby did the only thing that seemed logical at that moment. She screamed. The second she stopped she heard a pair of rapid footsteps make their way to her door. Then with a sudden burst of the door an old mouse about the same age as Mrs. Mousekewitz, rushed in with a worried expression on her face.

"Vhat iz it!?" "Vhat iz vrong!?" Asked the mouse with a thick German accent. Abby stared questionable at her.

'Whats wrong!?' 'WHATS WRONG!?' 'I go to bed like any other normal person in the world and wake up as an animated mouse in some stranger's home in God knows where and you ask me "Whats wrong!?"' Abby screamed in her head glaring at the plump mouse for only a second.

Her rage died in what felt like an instant as she gazed at the worried woman's expression. Whatever happened to Abby it wasn't her fault and it would be wrong to take it out on her. For all she knew she could have been sent to another orphanage or much worst rather than a nice warm bed with someone who seemed to be worried about her well-being. Then she realized that the middle-aged mouse was still waiting for an answer. So Abby thought of a quick cover for her sudden outburst.

"I …uh….just had a nightmare." She lied, hoping it was a good enough excuse not cause suspicion.

She gave a questionable look before a wave of relief seemed to wash over her features. During this time Abby took it as an opportunity to take in the foreign mouse's appearance. She was about a head shorter than Abby. Her hair that was slowly turning from dark brown to gray was in a large bun that had a single thick braid wrapped around it, like a floral garland crowning her head. The color of her fur was also a dark brown with a single light tan stripe that connected her nose to her forehead and her face was cream colored like Abby's. Her eyes were a small and beady hazel, but the only reason they looked that way was because of the thick lenses of her spectacles she was wearing that made them seem tiny. She wore a simple auburn work dress with a worn out apron that had a few tattered patches. Abby could see that she was obviously German due to her traditional attire and her thick accent. Her face was warm and kind; she somewhat slightly resembled Miss. Gooseburye in a way. Then Abby realized that the mouse had asked her a question that she was too focused on her to quite catch.

"Excuse me?" Abby asked politely, remembering her manners.

Once again the mouse smiled as she exclaimed, "Vat a very polite voung lady!"

Abby mentally rolled her eyes at the old mouse's exaggeration, but was also slightly flattered that she thought of her as a "young lady".

"Vat I said vas, are vou hungry?" "I made sume Butterkäse Brötchen (buttery cheese bread rolls) vith some Kamillentee (Chamomile tea)?"

'So that must have been what smelled so good!' Abby thought as her mouth inwardly watered at the memory of the enticing smell.

"Yes! Very, thank you!" She said with no hesitation.

Happy with her reply, the mouse quickly scurried out of the room. As quickly as she had left, she returned with a freshly clean folded set of clothes in her paws.

"I vashed and folded vour clothez for vou." She said as she held them out, ready for Abby to take. Abby had some uncertainty about taking the unfamiliar clothes, but quickly dismissed it and took the clothes offered to her.

"I'm very zorry zat I could not give vou vne of my nightgownz to zleep in." "Zey were unfortunately all dirty and needed to be vashed." She said with sincerity in her voice.

"I hope my husband's night shirt vas comfortable?" She said more like asking a question hoping to be answered.

Abby gave her a small, but sweet smile. "Yes, thank you very much." She said with gratitude. Satisfied, the mouse was about to leave once more to return to the kitchen when she remembered something.

"Oh, I'm zo zorry Dear, I forgot to azk vou vour name!" She exclaimed, not believing that she forgot something as simple as asking her name.

Abby paused for a moment and let out a sigh as though she was about to get something important off her chest.

"My name is Abigail Du pont, but my friends call me Abby."

"Oh, Abigail Du pont, vat a lovely name vou have!" She marveled using her full name with zest.

"Zo, vou are from France?" "Vou do not have a very theack (thick) accent." She stated with confusion.

Abby thought only for a second, but gave up seeing as though she could not come up with a reasonable excuse.

"I'm an orphan" Abby finally admitted.

The mouse who's face was once a cheerful smile was now a saddened stare.

Ignoring her facile expression, Abby went on.

"I know nothing of my birth parents." "I've spent all of my life in an orphanage." "The only reason I know that my name is "Abigail Du pont" is because of the name tag that was tied to the handle of the basket I was found in, or so I was told."

She still kept silently staring at her as Abby continued.

"My life has not been all lonely; some of the other kids are very nice and I had Miss. Gooseburye!" Abby added with a hint of happiness in her voice, remembering her friends.

The old mouse smiled as Abby told her about the wonderful memories she had with Miss. Gooseburye and some of the other children.

"I was to be adopted to a family today, but they were very cold and unfeeling people.

"Iz zat vhi vou ran avay?" She asked.

"No, that's the part I don't understand!" "I was all packed up to leave in the morning, I went to bed

and then I woke up here!" "I don't remember anything else!" Abby concluded with a strained expression and eyebrows knitted together.

Their conversation was interrupted by a growling sound coming from Abby's stomach; reminding her that she had still not eaten yet.

The old mouse gave a light-hearted laugh as Abby blushed fairly hard.

"I zink vour stomach iz trying to tell vou itz time to eat!" "Zo geet dressed and breakfast vill be veady vhen vour done."

And with that the old woman left for the kitchen, leaving Abby to herself.

Abby looked at the neatly set of folded cloths in her paws and again gazed at herself in the mirror, calmly trying to take in all that has happened.

'I don't know how I got here, I don't know why I'm here, and I don't know who or what did this to me, but all I do know is that I was lucky enough to be in the house of such a nice person and for that I'm thankful.' Abby thought as a smile graced her lips.

"I better get going and get dressed" She said as she placed her cloths on the powder puff mattress.

Abby first washed her face with the wash cloth and combed her hair. And one by one, she put on a piece of clothing. After she was fully dressed she examined herself in the mirror once more, taking in her outer appearance. She wore a tan colored shirt that reveled her bare shoulders as the sleeves began a little bit below the upper arm and ended at the fore arm. An outer plain dark brown corset comfortably cradled her chest and stomach. Her lower half was graced with a brown skirt that ended at the ankles, showing her feet-now-turned-paws. It had a few patches of cloth stitched onto it, but was still good enough to wear.

The enticing aroma of breakfast filled the air once again, beckoning Abby to come down stairs.

Abby slowly walked out of the room and into the hallway. The floors were made of a simple wood, as were the walls and ceiling. Old tapestries, framed pieces of crochet, and black and white photographs of children, elderly and middle age mice dressed in old German attire graced the walls. Abby gazed at the photos as she followed the sent of breakfast down the hall. She stopped when a particular portrait caught her eye. A family of four, a mother and father sitting on two vintage chairs, a baby being held by it's mother, and a young boy mouse-ling about the age of seven or eight standing by his father's side with his hand placed on his shoulder. They all wore their Sunday best and had straight plain expressions on their faces, which was normal that being the style for posing portraits back then.

"Zat iz my family portrait from vhen I vas a boy." Came a voice from behind.

Abby's body instantly froze from the surprise visitor. She whirled around to be greeted by an old gruff-looking mouse with a warm smile on his face, though his eyes held sorrow as they gazed upon the old photograph.

"Zat photo vas taken vhen I vas a lad, three years before my mother and father vere taken by zhe catz zat plagued our village."

"Zhe baby vas my leetile zister."

"Ten vears later zhere vere many troubles in our village und ve vere trying to ezcape to America , but ve vere zeparated und I don't even know eef she iz steel alive." He said as a single tear streamed down from his eye.

Abby's face fell at the old man's heart wrenching story. It reminded her of Fievel and his family and how they must have felt when they thought they had lost each other forever. She turned her eyes from him and back to the portrait.

"Zhis photo iz vne of zhe few zhings I have left from my homeland and iz vne of my most cherished possessions." The mouse finished as he glanced at Abby from the corner of his eye, not liking the look of sadness on such a pretty face.

"My name iz Artur Jörg Mäusen ( Mäusen means mice in German), Vat iz vours?" Mr. Mäusen asked, trying to change the gloomy subject.

"It is nice to meet you Mr. Mäusen." "My name is Abigail Du pont, but my friends call me Abby." She introduced, catching on to the sudden change in conversation.

"Zo, eef I call vou Abbee, dose zat make me vour friend?" Mr. M asked with playfulness in his voice. Abby knew she was going to like this place very much.

"Well I suppose anyone who would let me into their wonderful home, give me a bed to sleep in and food to eat without even knowing me could maybe, possibly be my friend." She winked, playing along with his little game.

"Vell I'm glad to hear zat!" He said with delight as his nose started to twitch, smelling his wife's home cooking.

"Mmmmmm!" "Ve better get going before breakfast becomes cold." Mr. M said as he led Abby through the hallway, down the stairs and to the kitchen.

The kitchen was fairly similar to the Mousekewitz kitchen. It had a quaint table that was set in the middle of the room with four chairs bordering it. It was set for a party of three and had a small arrangement of flowers in the middle. The walls were wooden and decorated with old pictures of a farm and black, antique skillets once used for cooking now retired and hung on the wall. As Abby scanned the rest of the kitchen her eyes found Mrs. Mäusen. Her paws were safely protected in oven mitts from the hot pan of Butterkäse Brötchen she was holding. She gave them both a big smile, greeting them to breakfast.

"Zhere vou two are!" "I vas vorried zat breakfast vould have gotten cold from how long vou two vere taking!" "Vat took vou zo long?" Mrs. M asked as she set the hot pan down on the counter and removed her oven mitts.

"Ooooh, juzt taking a deetour down memory lane." Was her husband's only response to her question.

The old woman shook her head and gave a small smirk to her husband.

"Ihre wie ein alter Narr!( Your such an old fool!)" She replied as she gestured Abby to a seat and started to serve breakfast.

"Ahh, aber Sie heiratete mich erinnern?(Ahh, but you married me remember?)" "Also, was bedeutet, dass über Sie sagen? (So what does that say about you?)" Her husband chuckled back while taking a seat next to Abby as he started to unfold and read his morning paper.

"Er sagt, dass sogar die meisten normalen Menschen, können die meisten fragwürdigen Entscheidungen zu treffen. (It says that even the most normal people, can make the most questionable decisions.)" Mrs. Mäusen smirked.

Mr. Mäusen grabbed his belly as he gave a hardy laugh at his wife's response.

"Sie haben immer die Antworten, meine Liebe. (You always have the answers, my love)." He replied shooting his wife a gaze of warmth and playful affection.

"Liebenswerter Dummkopf. ( Lovable fool)." She whispered under her breath as she took the teapot off the burner and filled the thimble cups with tea.

Abby simply sat back and listened to their foreign conversation in silence as she ate her cheese rolls and drank her tea. She had no idea what they were talking about, but she knew that it was only playful banter between a husband and wife by the way they were smiling and laughing at one another. Suddenly, Mrs. Mäusen took a slight glance at Abby; which Abby would have missed if she was not already looking at her from the corner of her eye, and back to her husband who raised an eye brow at her action.

"Lasst uns auf dem Flur reden. (Let's talk in the hallway)." Mrs. Mäusen said as she made her way to the hallway with Mr. Mäusen close behind, leaving Abby in the kitchen confused.

"I wonder why they left?" She asked herself as she just finished the last of her rolls.

'If they wanted to make their conversation private, they could have just kept talking in German.' She finished as she strained her ears to hear them.

Though she knew that she could never understand what the were saying, she could hear the tone in their voices and try to decipher the rest for herself. The truth was that what Mrs. Mäusen had to discuss with her husband was very serious, distressing and more importantly, about Abby and she did not want to make her feel uncomfortable by possibly hearing her name during the conversation.

As they finally made their way to the hall, Mr. Mäusen worriedly asked, "Was ist es, meine Liebe? (What is it, my love?)" Mrs. Mäusen took a deep breath and started slowly. "Es ist Abby, sie ist einsam und hat nirgendwo zu gehen. (It's Abby, she is an orphan and has nowhere to go.)"

Abby's ears shot up at the sound of her name. She knew it. They were talking about her.

'Probably trying to decide what orphanage to send me to.' She thought bitterly, painful memories of her time in the orphanage flooding back to her. No matter how nice people had seemed they still looked her over, never thinking that she could be that special girl that could fill the lonely void in their hearts. She tried to put the thoughts of her past aside as she resumed to vocally deciphering their conversation.

_In the hallway_

Mr. Mäusen was more to say, caught off guard by his wife's statement. He could have never guessed that Abby was an orphan. Especially by the way she behaved. Artur knew the only orphanages in the city were of course in 'Orphan Alley'. It was a very depressing and dark place. The children there were nasty and bitter from years of loneliness and pain. But, Abby was different. She was a happy, cheerful and polite young girl with a good heart. He knew just as well as his wife what would happen to a girl like her if they sent her there and as long as he had anything to say about it, Abby would never set one paw in the place.

"Sie hat mir von ihrem Leben in ihrem Waisenhaus wurde sie zurzeit in und klingt nichts wie den Waisenhäusern hier! ( She has told me of her life in her orphanage she was currently staying in and sounds nothing like the orphanages here! )" "Ein süßes Mädchen wie sie niemals überleben würde, wenn sie dort bleiben war! (A sweet girl like her would never survive, if she was to stay there!)" Mrs. Mäusen exclaimed to her husband as worried thoughts filled her brown and silver haired head. Mr. Mäusen went to his wife's side with great concern, trying to calm her down. Once she felt that she was collected, she continued.

"Artur, wissen Sie, was die Waisenhäuser wie hier sind. ( Artur, you know what the orphanages are like here.)" "Wir können nicht senden Abby gibt. ( We cannot send Abby there.)" She finished in a calmer tone as now it was her husband's turn to speak.

"Natürlich nicht, Liebling! ( Of course not, darling!)" Artur assured his wife as he continued.

"Wir beide wissen, dass ich niemals erlauben würde Abby an einem solchen Ort zu bleiben, aber was schlagen Sie vor, Wilda? ( We both know, that I would never allow Abby to stay at such a place, but what do you suggest, Wilda?)" Mr. Mäusen asked, inwardly knowing the answer, but still wanting to know that it was fine with his wife.

( Wilda is Mrs. Mäusen's name by the way. Back to the story.)

"Was, wenn sie bei uns zu bleiben war? ( What if she was to stay with us?)" Wilda suggested as her eyes met Artur's. As she did so, she could have sworn she saw a slight twinkle in them.

"Das ist eine wunderbare Idee, Liebe! ( That is a wonderful idea, love!)" He smiled in agreement to his wife's proposal.

Then an idea struck Mr. Mäusen. "In der Tat, wir adoptieren! (In fact, let's adopt her!)" He said without a second thought.

A wide and bright grin had graced Mrs. Mäusen's face at hearing this. She and Artur never were able to have children of their own because Wilda' s womb was unfortunately not able to carry a baby. They considered adopting a child, but the only ones were in 'Orphan Ally' and were all ill behaved and mean. Abby was different and the thought of having her for a daughter warmed there hearts beyond description.

"Oh Artur, was würden die Nachbarn denken, und die Kosten! (Oh Artur, what would the neighbors think, and the expenses!) She exclaimed jokingly, not caring in the slightest about either one.

"Dash die Nachbarn und den Kosten! ( Dash the neighbors and the expense! )" Artur defensed, playing along.

" Wenn es sein muss, werde ich arbeiten vier Arbeitsplätze, uns zu unterstützen! ( If I have to, I'll work four jobs to support us! )"

Wilda was momentarily shocked by her husbands claim. Then her face softened into a thoughtful smile.

"Ein Kind von unseren eigenen, wie wunderbar. ( A child of our very own, how wonderful. )" She said as a tear of joy slid down her face.

Mr. Mäusen smiled at his wife as he embraced her in a hug.

"Wie wunderbar. ( How wonderful )" He whispered into his wife's silver hair.

Still hugging his wife he looked out from the hall back into the kitchen. He gazed at Abby from the corner of his eye.

'Our daughter'

FINALLY FINISHED! Geez this Chapter took me me what . . . . a year to finish!? I'm really sorry for the delay! I hope this chapter is to your liking and I hope its not too cheesy (no pun intended). Also I got that whole 'dash the neighbors' line from 'Peter Pan' 2003 (not mine, don't sue!). I just love that scene and I couldn't help myself! Okay, so maybe the adopting Abby thing happened a little too fast, but I couldn't come up with a better ending for this chapter and I kind of don't want to drag it on. Maybe if I have the time and enough people don't like it I'll change it. For now please enjoy and tell me what you thought of it!