Song: I'll stand by you- Marlisa Punzalan

Almost a week later we are all sitting around eating breakfast and she looks up at me with a faltered smile. "I want to go to school...I miss my friends." She sets down her fork to look at me.

I look over at Mekhi and then back at her. "Honey...it's really complicated right now. I can have a teacher come here would you like that?"

"I want to go to school. Why can't I go to school?" She whines with a little attitude in her voice.

 "Well for starters we don't live close to your old school and you would have to go to the one here." I watch her flat smile turn more downward. "You know I was homeschooled when I was little and I had fun. I mean you could study outside or in your room...anywhere is better than a room with no windows don't you think?"

"I want my friends...I miss Abby...and Rachel. I bet they miss me 'cause I miss them. I bet they are sad now."

It's funny all those years ago when I came here...not once do I remember thinking about my old friends. I lost track of all of them. Hell I wonder if they ever thought about the girl that came up missing. I wish that I could give her this part of her life but there will be too many questions and they will take her back...hell I would end up in jail right along with Mekhi because we took her in...they will see it as kidnapping not to mention the murder of her whole family. The authorities will think we had something to do with all of it. "I know you miss them...and I truly am sorry but that will never happen."

She stands up and yells, "I hate you...I hate this place...I want to go home." And then she takes off running to her bedroom. I hear the door slam behind her and so it begins. If that had been me years ago, Zane would have backhanded me and then wore me out. I learned very quickly to watch my attitude and my mouth around him. However I am not him and don't have the heart to punish her.

Mekhi sits down his cup coffee and the guys all look at me. Atticus knows what I am thinking..I see it in his expression. I bet he thinks that I need to wear her ass out but I won't. I close my eyes and take a breath. I open them and try to smile back at them. "She will be fine." I reassure them.

 "And what if she's not fine? Scar she's lost everything that she ever knew...she is scared and wants something to hold on to."

 "I get that Mekhi...I was there once remember. I know how she feels and what she is going through...it will take time but you will see she will be fine." I wipe my face off with my napkin and thrown it on my plate before getting up from the table. "I will go check on her."

When I get up to the door, I knock lightly before going in. She is laying face down on the bed hugging her pillow and still crying. I walk over to her and ease my way on the bed beside her. I pat her back and then let my hand trial up and down to comfort her. "I'm sorry. Look I know how you feel. I know you will never believe me but I was right here once just like you are. I...I lost my mother too. Bad monsters came into my house and took her away from me."

I feel her calming down some. "I know how you feel...you feel lost...confused...unloved...lonely...scared. I was there once too. I was seven when I was brought here. The guy that owned this place, Zane, he found me and saved me...like I did you. I was so scared. I have never told anyone about my first few nights here. I remember waiting till late at night and I would lay in my bed and cry myself to sleep. My parents were all I ever had and the monster took them away in a flash. I was their little princess...I remember dancing around in my ballerina shoes and my pink tutu...I loved being on stage and putting on a show. And friends...oh my...I haven't thought of them in a long time. I can only imagine how you must be feeling. Violet please...I can give you the world but I can't give you back your life you had...I can't give you your friends. It's complicated. People will be looking for you and I just want to keep you safe."

Her little body moves around and she rolls over on her side. Tears stain down her cheeks and I feel her pain. "Zane was the guy that brought me here. This was his house. He did the best he could in raising me." I don't tell her how I was trained and beaten on a daily basis. I don't want to scare her. "He made sure that I had all the schooling I needed...he trained me to protect myself so no bad monster would ever hurt me again. I can give you that. I can teach you so much more than you will ever learn in school."

"What about friends...I want my friends?" She sniffles.

"You can make new friends. I will find a way. I know it's not the same and I know you will miss them but this is the best that I can do for now."

She sits up and faces towards me. "I'm sorry for saying I hate you."

I move her hair out of her face and tug the strand behind her ear. Then take my hand and wipe her tears from her cheek. "It's ok love...I said the same thing once. I will say though the next time you slam that door it will be the last time...I will take it off it's hinges and I will punish you. I don't want to ever have to be cruel to you...but it's the only way for you to learn the rules and learn respect." I kiss her forehead and then lean back to look into her watery eyes. "Look I really do know how you feel and I promise I will do everything I can to make you happy but we have to do this together."

She leans into me with open arms and wraps them around me. I embrace her and hold on to her tight. "I love you mommy."

The last word out of her mouth shocked my heart, deep down I felt the little ting explode and every little nerve in me sparked giving me bumps all along my skin. I never ever in my life thought I would ever hear that word from anyone and coming from her caught me off my guard. I feel myself give way and my own tears form and silently fall. I don't have the nerve to correct her so all I say back is, "I love you too."

Later in the day we go shopping for ballerina shoes and a pink tutu. I find a dance studio and take her. I should find an instructor that will come to the house. It's not like we don't have the room for a dance studio and even then Mekhi stated that he would get right on it and hire someone to come out to put one in. Mekhi and I talked and maybe this way she can make a few friends.

Before going in I pull her to the side. "Violet...I need to tell you something first."She looks up at me but doesn't say anything. "For us to do this and for you to be able to live with me and Mekhi we need to change your last name Green to our last name Adler. It's just so people won't ask questions and so the monsters will not find you...it's for your safety...do you understand? So when we introduce you to the teacher I don't want you to be shocked that your name is now Violet Adler."

"No Green." She looks at me with a confused face...taking it all in.

"No honey...it's best this way. I know we should have asked you first but this is the only way we can do this class if you have our last name." I really suck at doing this; I have no clue what the hell I am doing and the way to go about it the right way. I am sure that I am royally fucking all this up but this is the best I got for now on how to explain this to her.

"Ok...so I am like you now...it's ok I can be Violet Adler and you are my new mommy." She looks over at Mekhi. "And he is my new daddy."

I watch Mekhi's reaction to her words and I swear I see his eyes glisten with a few tears before he blinks them away. "So we are good now...we better get in there before you are late to your first class."

"You are staying with me right...I don't want to go in there all by myself?" She squeezes my hand tightly.

We both look down at her and smile. "Of course we are staying...this is our first time doing this too." I take her hand and we all three go into the studio.

The instructor walks over, she is tall and super thin. I don't think I have ever been that small almost like a toothpick. You can see her bone protruding underneath her tight leotard and tights...she walks over gracefully with a huge smile on her face showing off her pretty straight white teeth. "Good afternoon...you must be the Adler's I got your message that you wanted to start class tonight. She looks down and Violet. "What a pretty little girl you are, you must be Violet."

"Yes...Violet Gr...Adler." She stops in the middle of her name and looks up at me.

"Well...Miss Violet let's get you on the dance floor." She holds her hand out for her and takes her over to the mirror with a bar in front of it.

Mekhi and I find a seat next to the far wall and we watch her. "She called me dad...where the hell did that come from." He says with a surprised look still on his face, not daring to take his eyes off of her on the dance floor.

"She called me mommy earlier in the bedroom...took my breath away. Hearing it the second time makes it feel so real. Mekhi...I don't want her to ever forget about her parents she needs to keep them in her heart."

"And she won't...do you ever think of your mom and the dad that you had before everything happened?"

"I use to think of them a lot. Hell if I didn't have a picture of my mom I wouldn't remember what she looked like. It's been so many years ago. I for sure can't remember her voice. What I would give to hear it one more time. And friends...I can't remember anything before he took me. It's like everything was erased from my mind. However I do remember...dancing...dancing was my favorite thing before everything was taken away."

"Is that why you want her to have this?" He points to the dance floor and then looks over at me with a kind hearted smile. He reaches out for my hand and I let him hold it.

I look up and see her smiling back at us."Yeah...I guess so."I really do want her to be happy and if this makes her even just a little bit happy then I will give it to her. I know that I can never replace her mom and honestly a part of me doesn't but I do want to be there for her when she needs me.