Roses at Midnight 23

"A crimminal?" Officer Johnson repeated, arching both of his eyebrows, "how on Earth did you come to that conclusion?"

"Well," the eleven-year-old replied slowly, the edge of her voice tipped with dabs of uncertainity that made her hiestant to tell him all of what she knew, "she's not as much as fault. I did some Internet research..."

And hacking.

"...and found some old newspaper articles that prove that this girl has had a screwed up life. Her parents were abusive...well, her mother and stepfather were. Her real father disappeared after her mother basically murdered her little sister, Ami, and when he met her again, he was butt-raping her. She obviously hates both of them, but she has had to cope with them for years and leave her adopted daughter in their trust because she doesn't have anyone else."

"It sounds like she's had it really rough," his face was full of sympathy and concern, "and how did Kendall find a girl like this?"

"He doesn't know," Katie's voice was quiet, "I'm telling him tonight."

Well, I'll try. It probably won't happen though.

"And what is this young lady's name?"

"Nicole Garcia."

Black star, black star, forever you will be...

She sang softly, her fingers playing the familar keys of the beautiful, old, used piano in the basement of the Palmwoods. She'd snuck in and found it, and now people were gathering around her to listen in secret. Most of them knew she could be painfully shy, so they were quiet while a few kept a lookout for Bitters. As much as they were curious about what was going on with Kendall Knight's girl and her daughter, they were naturally very curious about New Girl.

Shining star, a shining star...

When someone coughed a little too loudly, Claire froze her singing and fingers. Ducking her head shyly from the unexpected crowd, she quietly skirted away, scolding herself inwardly for her fearful nature when put on the spot. She knew it wouldn't help get her famous, but still...she just didn't know what to do about it.

She curled up against her adoptive mother's body, counting as many stars as she could and starting over when she got past twenty, simply because that's how high she could go.

Even as a seven-year-old, Primrose had found there was comforting in familarity. When faced in a new situation, she was scared and unsure, but even more so than anyone would. She seemed to shut off ,like she didn't have a chance and already knew it. After what happened with those three men, she was struggling for something familar, or something constant. To her, the night sky offered the serenity, simply because she knew for almost certain it was always going to be there. No matter what happened during the day, she knew the sky would darken until it was nothing but black with beautifully glittering stars against it. The moon was there, too, and it was pale and white. Just this knowledge in her once innocent, young mind set her soul and heart more at ease, assuring her that it wasn't going to change like everything else.

Please stars, she thought as she reached twenty for the nineteenth time that night, never go away.

After his little sister had repeated her information to him, only a small part of him wondering why she'd never told him.

When he met someone, he obviously wouldn't share all his secrets, mistakes, and all of his past to them right off of the bat. Some things were left personal, but another part of him knew both Katie and he could indenify with torture so as that. While their bodies weren't intruded, they were abused and broken, with hearts and souls going beyond permanent repair.

But he understood.

She didn't know, though.

Just like he didn't know about her.

Off again.

She didn't want to let her man go all over again. Logan truly was a sweetheart, and she did care, but another part of her wanted to be independant. It was a side she'd decided she didn't listen too enough, but now it was costing her in one of the worst ways.

Few things did her worse than seeing him cry like that as he stormed away.

A part of her was hardened, toughed, and sharpened by her loss.

The rest of her, that other dreaded part, was a scared little girl.

Of course she didn't want to be hurt again by another guy who didn't get it. Somehow, she'd assumed he would, but as he sulked over himself instead of did something about it, her assumition slowly began crumpling. She'd cried herself to sleep that night, staring out of the window when her eyes started to run dry, just before dawin broke.

Please, stars, she thought as sunlight broke out slowly, just...stay longer. Please.

The stars were gone.

For some reason, it broke a part of Primrose's heart.