Hey guys... So, I'm back with the so far LONGEST chapter :P I guess that fits with the fact that the last chapter was the one with MOST reviews :P I really do appreciate them, A LOT!! So dont forget to leave one when you're done reading :)

Anyways, I know I take forever updating these days, but I'm trying to get myself to write... Just can't seem to get myself to do so... So I'm like ALMOST out of chapters... It's bad, I KNOW!

But well.. Maybe I'll be able to write a bit today (although don't count on anything), cause that newly leaked (as in within the last 24 hours)Britney video has made me so FREAKING HAPPY!! Sorry, I know, I'm a geek or something, still a huge Britney fanatic and never gave up on her or whatever you wanna call it, so this has definitely made my day (or year :P)

But well, then again, I might not 'have time'. It's 20:00 (8 pm) and still need to do math hand-in, english and physics for Monday (already did danish), cause tomorrow I'm gonna go out and collect money for Save The Children. Yeah, have to get some Service points SOMEHOW! Have to admit though, the Action and Creativity ones are way more fun to get... (In case you're confused, which you most likely are, blame the IBO (International Baccalaureate Organization) and their rule about NOT being able to graduate if you don't have your 150 CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) points (hours)!)

Sorry for rambling once again :P You should be glad I stopped there though, cause I can continue forever :P hehe

Anyways: ENJOY!!


Chapter 39 - Foster Families

"Hey." Abby turned away from the window to look at Dr. Kovac who had just entered the room. "I can see you haven't touched your lunch." She shrugged her shoulders as the doctor pulled a stool over to the bed so she could sit down. "I don't blame you, and that's why I brought you something better than hospital food." She just starred at the bag placed on her lap, not sure whether to open it or not.

"I'm not really hungry." She wasn't even sure if it was true or not. She was too numb to feel anything right now, including hunger.

"But you need to eat something." Dr. Kovac gave her a weak smile. It was normal for patients like Abby to refuse food, but she also knew that she hadn't eaten anything in a while, so she needed to. "It's from Taco Bell. Do you like that?" Still staring at the paper bag, she nodded slightly.

"Anyways, there's something important I need to talk to you about." Sensing her serious tone, Abby looked up at Dr. Kovac, somehow a bit scared. "You do know that you can't go back home, don't you?" Even though her bed had already been lifted pretty much, this caused Abby to snap up into a sitting position about to protest, but knowing that Dr. Kovac was telling the truth, she sunk back down against the bed, looking down at her lap.

"Yeah." She could feel Dr. Kovac giving her a sympathetic smile and soon after grabbing her hand.

"Eric is already staying with a foster family, and you're gonna need somewhere to stay when you get discharged in a couple of days." Abby bit her lip. She hadn't really thought about this, and she sure didn't like doing so.

"And I won't be staying with Eric?!" It sounded just as much as a statement than a question. Looking up she saw Dr. Kovac gently shaking her head.

"At least not yet. You'll probably be able to go live with them in a few weeks, but until then we need to find you somewhere else." Looking back down she gently nodded, biting her lip. She didn't want to live with people she didn't know, she was used to being 'by herself', having to take care of everything, caring for Eric.

"But I was thinking," She took a deep breath, not really sure how to get it out. "And it probably wouldn't be too good for you to stay with complete strangers right now." Confused, she looked up at the doctor for a few seconds before looking back at her hands. "So I talked with the people at home and ehm..." Dr. Kovac turned to look out of the window, trying to pull herself together. "If you want to, you can come stay with us." Abby's head snapped up and she looked at Dr. Kovac with a combination of shock, surprise and not believing her at all.

"What?" Her voice was trembling, but right then she couldn't care less.

"It's just till you can move over to another family." Abby could feel the tears building in her eyes as she bit her lip.

"Are you serious?" Her voice cracked, but she was more surprised by the fact that she was able to talk. When Dr. Kovac nodded, a single tear slid down Abby's cheek. It wasn't the fact that 'they' had offered her to stay with them that made her so overwhelmed, it was that 'someone' had. Someone actually cared enough about her to not just want to get rid of her, wanting what was best for her and not just to hurt her.

"Would you like that?" Nodding, she tried wiping her cheeks as more tears fell.

"Yes." Even though it would be really weird staying with Luka and probably pretty embarrassing since everyone except Niko had seen her naked, she was pretty happy. At least she knew they were nice people and that they wouldn't hurt her.

Hearing someone enter the room, Abby put her book down.

"Hi." Looking up she gave Luka a weak smile as he sat down on the stool next to her. "How are you?" She shrugged her shoulders, looking down.

"I've been better." Dr. Kovac had asked her if she wanted to see Luka, and to be honest she hadn't really felt ready, but knowing Luka, and judging by what Dr. Kovac had said about him being desperate, she hadn't been able to say no.

"Okay." Luka wasn't really sure what to say or how to act. Even though he'd already seen her beaten up, she looked so different, so much more vulnerable and fragile, laying in a hospital bed in a gown, with an IV attached to her hand and lots of bandages and band-aids covering her multiple wounds and bruises. Even her face looked worse than it had during the weekend, but it was probably because it had been beaten up some more since he'd left her. It was still nothing compared to her body, but it hurt him more than he'd ever thought possible to see her so pretty, no beautiful face messed up like that.

"Taco Bell?" He nodded towards the bag on the table, mostly to break the awkward silence, but also because it kind of surprised him.

"Your mom brought it. I didn't eat all of it, so you can have it if you want."

"It's okay, I already ate." Abby just nodded, still not looking at him. "I would have been here earlier, but my parents would ground me if I skipped any more school or soccer practice." Shrugging her shoulders she bit her lip. She was actually pretty happy that he hadn't showed up till now, and she wouldn't have minded if he hadn't at all. Not that she didn't like having him around, it just still felt too awkward.

"So... school?" She looked up at him kind of scared. She was pretty sure that he knew exactly what she meant.

"Well," He sighed, knowing he'd probably only hurt her more by telling her. "Everyone saw it when you collapsed, saw all the... blood." Abby's eyes turned wide. She hadn't been able to remember exactly what happened, and now she just felt even more scared and embarrassed. "So it's safe to say that you've literally been the only thing people have talked about... gossiped about." Looking down she nodded. She could easily imagine all the things being said about her, and although she was usually really good at ignoring rumors and gossip, this really killed her.

"How bad?" Somehow she didn't want to know, but at the same time she felt like she needed to.

"Bad." She looked back up, giving him a look which told him to continue. "I was swarmed with questions, but I never told anyone anything." Although this made her a bit relieved, she could see he was holding something back, so she urged for him to go on. "They know you were beaten, but that's it. They don't know anything about... the abuse." Biting her lip she looked down again.

"Thanks... For not saying anything." He carefully moved a strand of hair behind her ear so he could see her face, giving her a small smile which she didn't return.

"No need to thank me." Hating the awkward silence, he got out a book from his backpack.

"Anyways, I was wondering." Abby looked up at him confused as he placed the math book on her lap. "Since you're so good at math, do you think you could help me with a couple of problems?" Biting her lip she looked at the book in front of her, the book she finished the year before.

"I guess." She started fiddling with the bandage on her arm as he opened the book. She knew that he probably didn't need help at all, since he was pretty smart himself, but she didn't mind. It was a good distraction from reality.

Eric took a deep breath before following the doctor into Abby's room. At first she looked completely normal, she was sleeping on her side, her back turned towards him. Of course the hospital gown looked a bit... unusual, but it could just as well have been a 'white-ish' shirt.

But walking around the bed he felt his heart stop. Most of her body was covered with the blanket and the gown, but her arms were laying in front of her, and they were bruised. Very bruised. Or well the one arm was, the other was mostly covered by the bandage. Her face scared him more, though. The only time he'd ever seen her with a bruise, was when she had a black eye, and this was way worse.

"Abby?" He grabbed her hand hesitantly, somehow scared of waking her up. When her eyes quickly started fluttering, he pulled back abruptly.

"Eric," Noticing her brother she pulled a bit back, turning around so she was laying on her back as Dr. Kovac helped her raise the bed to a sitting position. "What are you doing here?" It wasn't that she didn't want him there, but she didn't want him to see her like that.

"I wanted to see you." Biting her lip she looked down at the blanket. She was trying to cover up her arms, but Eric stopped her by placing his hand on top of her bandaged arm.

"I'm sorry, Abby." Her head snapped and she looked at him truly surprised. He sounded like he really meant it, but Abby was just confused.

"What for?" She really didn't know why, and she couldn't see any reason for why Eric should be apologizing.

"For never having noticed anything." Sighing, Abby gently shook her head.

"Eric, I didn't want you to notice it. I hid it from you on purpose." He looked down at the floor for a few seconds before looking back up at Abby.

"But why didn't you ever say anything?" She started fiddling with the blanket, trying to come up with a good reply, but couldn't think of anything.

"I... I couldn't." She silently cursed whoever had told Eric. Couldn't they just have come up with some good excuse for why she was in the hospital?

"But I'm your brother, Abby. You can tell me everything." And he meant it. She meant so much to him, and he knew that he could tell her everything, so he had hoped she felt that way as well.

"No, Eric." She was carefully shaking her head, looking at him really apologizing. "Not this." Biting her lip she looked down at her hands.

"But why?" Still biting her lip she looked back up.

"I was trying to protect you." Seeing his confused look she sighed. "If you knew anything, if I had told you, he would have hurt you as well."

"Is that why he... hurt you?" This time it was Abby who looked confused at him. "Because you knew something you shouldn't?" Looking back down she shook her head while biting her lip.

"No."

"Then why?" He really wanted to know. He didn't want anyone hurting his sister, and he couldn't see why anyone would. She looked back up at him, or more specifically, staring right through him. She was biting her lip, and she looked like the fate of the world depended on her answer. When she didn't say anything, Dr. Kovac put her hand on Eric's shoulder.

"Because your step dad was... is a very bad man." Abby was looking away, trying really hard to avoid Dr. Kovac's stare. She was somehow really happy that she had cut in, knowing that if she hadn't, she'd have to have said something herself, and since she sucked at lying to her brother, she'd probably said something like 'she deserved it'. That's probably also why Dr. Kovac broke in, because she knew Abby well enough by now to know that's what she would have said.

"What he's done, Eric, is very wrong, and it's not Abby's fault." Yeah, Dr. Kovac definitely knew how she felt. "And it's not yours either. So don't even think about blaming yourself." Abby knew she wasn't just talking to Eric, but to both of them.

"Anyways, Abby?!" Knowing Dr. Kovac pretty well by now, she could hear that the subject was getting changed, so she carefully looked back up. "See those people over there?" Not even looking in the direction the doctor had pointed, she nodded. Of course she'd seen the people standing in the room, not too far from her bed. "They are Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. The family that Eric is staying with." Biting her lip she looked towards them, silently grateful that they didn't try greeting her by shaking hands or hugging, but just nodded. Normally she would have nodded back or at least smiled, but she really couldn't get herself to do so, not even if she tried.

"I can't wait for you to come stay with us, Abby." She looked back at her brother who actually looked a little happy. "It's great. I got my own room, and they even have this really cute dog." Yeah, he definitely did seem happy when he talked about it.

"So you like it there?" She couldn't help it, but she needed to be sure. He was after all her baby brother and her biggest priority.

"Yeah, a lot. They're really nice." A small smile formed on her lips, the first real smile in many days. Seeing her brother so happy meant a lot to her, it meant that she didn't have to worry as much about him, and when he was happy, she was happy.

"That's good." Her smile quickly disappeared, but at least it had been there.

"Eric." Both kids looked up at the Johnsons as they carefully stepped closer. "We have to go. School starts soon." This caused Abby to look at clock on the wall, and to her surprise it was still really early in the morning. Eric just nodded and turned back to his big sister.

"Abby, can I hug you?" She just looked at him a little confused. "Because I really want to hug you right now." Giving him another small smile, although this time forced, she nodded slightly. How could she possibly say no to him. "Thanks." Before she knew it his arms flew around her neck. She hugged him back, and even though he didn't hug her too tight and was very careful, it still hurt like hell, and she knew it showed in her face and body language. When he finally pulled back she allowed herself to relax again, but she didn't want Eric to see that.

"Did I hurt you?" He looked truly concerned, and Abby cursed herself internally for not being able to cover up her pain very well.

"No, Eric." She shook her head, trying to reassure him. "Not at all." Giving him another forced smile, she messed up his hair as he started walking away from the bed.

"I'll see you soon, Abby." She just nodded as his brother followed his new... foster family out of the room. It still seemed so unreal and she could barely get herself to think about it.

"You really care a lot about your brother, don't you?" Her head snapped back towards Dr. Kovac. She'd totally forgotten all about her being there.

"He's my brother, of course I do. How can you even ask that?" It didn't come out just as powerful as she wanted, but she knew the doctor understood what she meant.

"And it really shows." She looked down, kind of confused. "He's lucky to have a sister like you, Abby. Not many people are as caring about their siblings as you are." Feeling pretty awkward and somehow... embarrassed?, she bit her lip as she looked away. She hated compliments. "And I have to say, you've done a pretty good job raising him. He's a great kid." She carefully looked back up as Dr. Kovac gently stroked her hair.

"Anyways, try to get some more sleep. I'll be back later to do a wound check." Nodding, she turned back to her side as Dr. Kovac put the bed back at it's normal level.