It was Monday morning when Stef and Mike were entering Anchor Beach school for careers day for the older kids in the school. They smiled as some young children stopped their parents from guiding them into the school to stare at the uniformed officers.

"I feel like I'm at a fricken circus" Mike whined; he hated these days more than anyone.

"Language, there are little ears all around" Stef warned as they rounded the corner and dodged more little bodies that smiled up at them. Stef returned their smiles as one little smile stood out more than the others, she was a little Latina girl probably around five or six and she smiled with her whole soul.

"Hello officer" The little girl said as she dragged an adult arm towards the two police officers.

"Mariana, please stop pulling me like that" the adult attached to the arm complained softly in such a beautiful voice.

"Sorry Mama" Mariana said smiling up at what Stef now knew was her mother, her eyes followed Mariana's and met chocolate eyes and her heart did that thing again, it thumped hard and fast in her chest at the same time as stopping completely. Stef couldn't explain what was going on, but she knew those eyes. The mother offered a timid smile as she guided the little girl away from the officers.

"You ok Stef?" Mike asked as he turned back to find his partner staring at the back of the mother and child that had just passed them.

"Thats her" Stef said quietly, so quiet that her partner almost missed her words.

"Who?" Mike asked confused. "Wait the woman with the beautiful eyes from the mall?"

"Yeah. Thats her... I would recognize those eyes anywhere" Stef smiled dreamily.

"I hate to pis... pee on your parade, but that woman you just saw... she has a daughter and therefore its likely she is a- straight, b- married and c-unobtainable. You would be better off setting your sights elsewhere" Mike listed off with a sad smile.

"She could be a single bisexual mom?" Stef said hopefully.

"You are lucky, but are you really that lucky?" Mike scoffed. "Come on, let's get in there before the delinquents arrive before us" Mike joked.

"Don't call them that" Stef laughed as she finally lost sight of the mysterious woman as she rounded the corner. The blonde sighed dejectedly and slung her arm around Mikes shoulder. "Come on then, let's get this over with"

-oOo-

"Mama, can I be a police officer when I'm as big as you?" Mariana asked innocently.

"You can be anything you want to be when you're a grown up, but first you have to be a kid and that means going to school and playing with your friends and learning and eating all your vegetables to make you big and strong" Lena smiled down at her daughter who was glancing back towards the police officers. "Hey sweetie, look where you're walking or you will fall over and we don't want that do we?"

"No mama" Mariana said turning forwards just in time to see the corner they were about to round. "I think it would be really cool to be a police officer, I could use the sirens, and chase baddies, and arrest mean bullies" Mariana frowned which half melted Lena's heart at how cute that little frown looked on her face, and half worried her because why would her little girl worry about bullies.

"Sweetheart, is someone bullying you?" Lena asked as she pulled her daughter to a stop and knelt to be at the same eye level as her.

"Not me mama, you" Mariana said so innocently that Lena thought she had misheard her.

"No one is bullying me sweetheart, what on earth makes you say that?" Lena asked as she stroked the small Latina's face to show her that she wasn't upset or angry with her.

"Mommy does, she's always mean to you, and calls you names, and makes you cry. I've seen her. Mommy isn't a very nice person but don't tell her I said that" Mariana begged with tears in her eyes.

"Mariana, it's time to come inside and take your seat" Mrs. Perkins, Mariana's teacher called out.

"Mama, don't tell mommy, ok?" Mariana begged after glancing at her teacher.

"I promise baby, we will talk about this later, ok?" Lena said as she stood and guided her daughter to the classroom and forced a smile onto her face so that the teacher wouldn't worry.

Once Mariana was safely in the classroom, Lena returned to her car and sighed as she rested her forehead against the steering wheel. It was bad enough that she was married to a monster, now her sweet innocent little girl was aware of what was going on.

She needed to do something about this, she couldn't let this continue. She glanced at the little clock in the center console and counted how many hours she had until her wife would get home from work. She had nine hours if her wife returned at her normal time and didn't decide to spring a surprise early finish on her again. She could be long gone by then.

She drove home careful not to break the speed limit, to not run any red lights and to always pull up to a stop sign. The last thing she needed today was to be pulled over and given a ticket. No, that wouldn't do today.

She reversed the car into the driveway and as close to the front door as possible before walking as fast as possible into the house and running up the stairs. First she ran into the walk in wardrobe in her and Christina's room and grabbed a duffel bag from the shelf above the railing. She tossed it on the bed and began throwing essential clothing in there, a few pairs of jeans, some blouses and shirts as well as some underwear.

Next she rushed into Mariana's room and threw the duffle bag on the single bed, she threw some clothing into the bag before grabbing some books and Mariana's favourite mermaid stuffed toy that she received on her birthday just days ago.

Once everything was ready, she threw the duffle bag in the trunk of her car. Her next port of call was to the shoe box that contained several hundred dollars that she had been saving for the last few years, it wasn't much but it would get them away. She counted it out and was happy to note that there was a little over two thousand dollars.

Finally, she grabbed several reuseable grocery bags and filled them with drinks, tinned cans, packets of pasta or rice and some ready noodles that she found at the back of the cupboard as well as some snacks.

She glanced at her watch and saw that it had been forty-five minutes since she left school. She dialled the school on her mobile and alerted the receptionist to the fact that she would be picking Mariana up soon because there had been a death in the family, she had gone on to explain that her father had died and that she needed to take Mariana out of town for a few days while she arranged the funeral. This would buy her some time to work things out.

She entered the pin number on the safe, grabbed all three passports and checked them, tossing Christina's passport back in the safe, she locked it. She didn't think she would need it, but if it threw Christina off the scent of how to find them for a few days while she worked things out, that could only be a good thing. She exited the house without looking back, there was nothing here for her anymore, there hadn't been for a very long time. All she needed was herself and Mariana.

Driving back to the school she entered the reception to find her daughter sat waiting for her with a confused expression. She signed the paperwork to release her daughter from school early, grabbed her little hand in her own and practically forced herself not to run through the door.

"Whoa" a strange voice said, startling Lena as she glanced up to meet eyes with the police officer she had seen earlier that day and the other day in the mall. "Is everything ok Ma'am?" The policer officer asked with such kindness in her eyes that Lena almost cracked, but she had to be strong for her little girl.

"Yes officer, there's a family emergency. I really must be going. Sorry for almost running you over" Lena forced a small smile onto her face as she guided Mariana away from the police officer and the school.