So, as you can see Rick won the poll. A total of twelve people voted, eight for Rick and four for Lizanne. Thank you to everybody who voted.

And, after a couple of reviews I just wanted to make a few things clear.

This story is about how they ended up in care. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm going to write it the way I think suits. If you're not happy with it- write one story the way you want things yourself!

Second, I do not count votes left in reviews. Which doesn't really matter now anyway since there won't be no more polls about this one.

And third and most important. I do not share opinions with the characters. Some of them of course, but for one thing- unlike Elektra's dad I have got absolutely NOTHING against LGBT, or any other kind of either gender or sexuality. Heck- every day I wear a rainbow patterned bracelet every day. It's not for nothing! My sister's a lesbian for Christ's sake! I love love! But characters are character and I am me! And I had to write it like that to suit the storylines.

Sorry if that sounded rude.

Ricardo 'Rick' Barber

Twelve year old Ricardo Barber- more known as Rick was standing in the kitchen fixing with some ingredients. In the tiny little flat in which he lived along with his mum Elizabeth and his dad Gerry somewhere at the British Island in some part of earth.

Rick had come home from school just five minutes ago, and was now, just like every day fixing sandwiches with sausage and cheese for him and Gerry, along with a beer for Gerry, and a Fanta exotic for himself- just like it always was!

At last just as Gerry Barber turned up the volume from his vinyl player Rick put it all on a tray and walked out into the living room- which had his own bed in a corner behind the sofa, since the only bedroom in the flat was occupied by Gerry and Elizabeth's huge double sized bed that would after all probably be big enough for all of the three Barber's and a zebra to lie in all three of them.

Bruce Springsteen's voice sounded loud, almost a bit too loud Rick thought but he decided not to say anything and just sat down in the sofa and automatically started chewing on his sandwich. Cheese and sausage were his favorites, and Gerry was as usual singing falsely along to the boss's singing voice. While Rick just sat quiet, hoping that it would be long before his mum came home.

Rick really liked and enjoyed the moments after he came home from school with listening to the boss and other real music along with his dad. And that was despite Gerry constantly singing along. But what he didn't like was when his mum came home and what both Gerry and Elizabeth did for a living would start for today. The scamming, the tricking people to give them their money. And how much Rick hated his parents doing that caused shivers to go through his spine when he heard his mum's footsteps in the stairway.

He wished it didn't. But he knew today would be just another day where he saw and heard his parents tricking people. And everything would be just like it always was, just like it always had been.

"Ricky. Ricardo."

Rick moaned, he hated it when people called him Ricky. Almost as much as he did when people called him by his full name. But he knew his mum, and for one thing he had told her a million times before that he hated it. And for another he knew telling her that would only have her saying it again so he smiled at her and greeted.

"Hi mum."

Elizabeth smiled back at him and gave his cheek a slight kiss before she turned to Gerry and pulled up a paper out of her bag. Rick glared to the paper and knowing what it was he just wanted to rip it into pieces. But he knew he couldn't so he just stood up and started moving towards the living room while his dad started calling the first phone number reading on that sheet of paper.

"Hey… I'm Morgan Mitchell…"

Rick sighed and lifted up his guitar, leaned his back against the wall and took a few chords. Careful not to do it any louder than as quietly he could make it. If he did it too loud his parents wouldn't be able to talk to the people he called up, one after one. And neither would his mum with her phone. Rick would have wanted to keep them from doing that to people, but he couldn't. And his parents were calling each number on the paper for today."

"Hi, I'm Polly Kleiner."

"Hello sir. I'm Aaron Nicholson."

"Hello ma'am. I'm Nicola Everett."

I'll send it to you once I've got the money." While Rick watched his dad talking to yet another 'customer' and just about to finish off the last one of today's calls- he could see Gerry touch his nose. But it was not like he needed that to know his dad was lying. "Great. See you!" Gerry Barber was laughing when he hung up. "People are so stupid! Don't they know that safety rules are that you should always get the things before you pay… well… it's good they don't. Otherwise we wouldn't get any money." He continued laughing and Elizabeth went along with it while Rick stayed on his bed, nervously and with shaky hands playing a few chords on his guitar. "Come on then Rick, we're going out."

Rick knew what they were going to do when they went out just as well as he knew when his dad pretended to be selling something and asking people to pay for it before they got the thing. And even if Gerry would see he'd gotten the money he would have it without sending anything of what they had paid for. Plus, he always did it under different fake names so they couldn't find out. And well… what the work while going out meant…

"You two do what you always do." Gerry whispered to Elizabeth and Rick at a small café in town "While everything happens. Just sit here and eat your meal and everybody will think we're just regular customers… So. Time for work"

Rick watched his dad get onto his feet, look around the café and set his footsteps away towards a young girl that couldn't have been many years older than Rick himself. Rick already knew what was happening, knew it was wrong but as usual sat quiet with his Fanta exotic and cheese and sausage sandwich as his dad walking up to the girl. But just as his dad was only centimeters away from the girl Rick couldn't help himself.

"NO DAD. STOP IT."

Too late

Well, almost.

Gerry had walked up to the young girl, and acted like he accidentally pushed her walking by to in the move reach down her pocket and pull out her wallet. To get out the cash, and later walk up to her again and seem innocent when he told her that she must have dropped it.

"NO. DADDY."

This time it was the girl's turn to shout. When Rick's shout had alerted the girl, and made Gerry lose concentration. The girl was alert enough to grab the wallet when Gerry tried to take it and was now in kind of a battle where they held in either side of the white leather item pulling it. While only one of them had the right to.

But Gerry didn't seem to understand that, because as the guests and staff off the café were watching. Gerry tried to make the girl let go of the cash- filled thing and grabbed her wrist in just the wrong (or right) second.

"YOU LET GO OF HER. NOW."

A tall, muscular guy had come up of what seemed of nowhere and pulled Gerry away from the girl and then hit his first blow right in the jaw sending him flying backwards before he landed on his back, but didn't get the chance to stand up before the man had a knee on his chest and took one blow into Gerry's face.

"If… I… ever… see you… touching Alicia … ever again."

After that moment at the café, everything went so fast for young Rick. At one moment he had been living in a tiny little flat with his parents. Who were both scammers. But he had used to listen to music with his dad and his mum would read him that poem so they were pretty great anyway. At least with himself. And he hadn't wanted that to change…

Because if things would have changed. They might take a change for worse.

But Rick was soon to find out because suddenly was moving even faster. At the police station, calling around. His parents being sent to prison, Rick knew that wherever he would go it wouldn't be home so he just went with it and then there was a social worker and a car who told him he was going to some burning wood. And then suddenly Rick was in the car to burning wood, looking out the window and wondering what had just happened.

Rick knew that what his parents had been doing to other people was wrong. He knew the money they'd been taking wasn't theirs to take. And he knew people should be punished for that kind of things.

But everything with his parents hadn't been bad. Now that he thought about it he had loved sitting with his dad with sausage and cheese sandwiches, drinking beer or Fanta exotic. He had loved his mum reading him that nonsense poem, only by the way she read it. He had loved the way he knew that no matter what his parents still loved him and wanted his best- now he wasn't so sure anymore.

Would they have let it all change if they really wanted the best for Rick?

Would parents who loved him have done things they knew would get them sent away from each other? Would parents who loved him have made Rick do things that could make him sent to prison one day if he continued doing it?

Would good parents have done things they must have known would turn out like this?

Would good parents have done that that so simply just once went so terribly wrong? Would they?

"And here we are." William the social worker stopped in front of a house that to Rick just seemed big, grey and dark. "This is Burneywood." William stepped out of the car and grabbed Rick's guitar and a bag. While Rick waited behind him to grab the bigger bag and another smaller one. "Don't worry. It's not as big and scary as it…"

William didn't get the time to finish before a big- grown man came stomping out of the house. And mumbling a 'thank you William. You know where the office is.' He pulled Rick with him into the house and up the stairs, pushing Rick over the threshold into a room with one real bed and a camp one, where a mixed- color boy with an afro sat with a book about different pranks. And barely even looked up when Rick came in.

"Hey." First when Rick had sat down the boy looked up and got onto his feet. "I'm Tyler." The boy held out his hand and Rick took it. Only to a second later pull it back and grabbed it with his other hand when Tyler had been holding one of those pens that if he pressed a button it would give the one who took his hand an electric chock.

"Ow. What did you do that for?"

"Tyler Lewis." Tyler laughed and slumped back into his bed. Then reached for some balloons that laid behind it and stood up again. "Who are you?"

"Rick Barber."

Tyler Lewis didn't reply to that. With those balloons hidden in his clenched hand he walked out of the room while Rick decided not to tell anybody about those balloons. It wouldn't be his battle to take anyway. And instead he stood up and turned to his bags. But well there he couldn't concentrate enough to do it.

Actually, Rick couldn't concentrate enough to figure maybe he should do something else neither. So for quite a while he just stood there, letting his thoughts run in whatever directions they wanted to until he turned towards the door and as quietly as he could started moving out to the hallway to investigate this place.

Rick did that quietly, he didn't want that guy of a care worker to notice. He hadn't seemed very nice.

Just as Rick laid his hand towards the door handle he heard Tyler's voice sound out for a 'Lizanne.' Then a girly scream and splashing water. Before it suddenly went quiet- all too quiet.

But only for a second. Since then the care worker's voice was heard, and he heard Tyler going 'ow' while the adult was shouting. Even though Rick couldn't concentrate enough to hear what he was saying in the door that he had opened and now saw a wet, brown- haired figure crouched on the floor next to the piece of garbage from a water balloon.

Rick could have pretended he didn't know anything about this. Or just done like that blonde girl

"That's just Kitty. We just leave her be. I'm Lizanne. Tyler threw the water balloon at me but it hit Kitty instead." Lizanne threw with her blonde hair and wiped with her sleeve towards her slack. "Ugh, I got so wet."

Lizanne disappeared but at first Rick didn't move, he felt a weird urge that he'd never felt before that he really needed to protect this Kitty- girl from whatever was hurting her so badly she was now crouched on the floor. Rick had heard much in life- one of them being that girls were weak and needed protection. And who could that protector be if not himself.

"Hey, I'm Rick." Rick sat down next to Kitty on the floor where she still sat crouched and trembling. "It's okay. I won't hurt you. I don't think those boys were either. But they were just playing a prank and… pranks sometimes backfires." Kitty seemed to relax just a tiny little bit. But her brown eyes looking up at the twelve year old boy next to her were still big and scared-looking. "I've got a towel. You can borrow it if you want. It's really soft." Kitty's expression was still scared and when Rick moved his hand closer to her she flinched and pulled herself away from him. "It's okay, I won't touch you."

Rick moved away until Kitty was further away than his hand if he had the arm all stretched out. "Look," He said. "I won't come any closer to you than this. Then I can't touch you. Okay? Because I won't." Kitty nodded and Rick stood up and took a few steps away from the still shivering girl in the corner. And then Kitty slowly crawled onto her feet and silently followed Ricardo to his room, only getting closer to him once to take the towel he reached her before quickly stepping away again.

Rick sat down on the top of the sheets on his new bed. He was looking away from Kitty not to make her more uncomfortable than what she already was, but he could see her moving in the corner off his eye, then flinching when he stood up. But relaxing slightly when he opened his bag to start unpacking when he realized that he would have to stay here for a while.

It was true that nothing would ever be the same anymore.

But maybe it could turn out pretty good anyway.

Random fact

I try not to update this story too much. As I don't want to finish it before the dumping ground finishes, as then I would be stuck with not being able to update for like a year.