Six year old Sheldon Kanker sat on top of a hill and looked down upon a field of flowers, smiling down at them as butterflies and bees fluttered from flower to flower, gathering as much nectar and pollen as they could.

He loved it here.

It was a special place for him and his family, his dad had found this place as a child and made it his special place, carving a J+A in the tree that Sheldon was leaning against. His dad shared this place with his mom on their first date, making it their 'secret place' where they would go when it was warm and talk or read comics or play handheld videogames and pretty much anything they wanted to do. When April was born, they took her home, then took her here, where she laughed for the first time when a butterfly landed on the tip of her nose. Sheldon was brought her too, only it was pretty cold when he was born, so he and April were bundled together in a nice, warm blanket and brought here. Sheldon had been crying, he didn't like the cold, but as soon as they arrived here, they saw a doe and a baby deer snuggled together in the middle of the field and Sheldon stopped crying to watch them.

Later on, once they could both walk, they would dash through the flowers, laughing as their parents would scoop them up, cover them in kisses then put them back down to start all over again.

Sheldon was rarely ever here alone, normally he came here with his family, but today, he had decided to enjoy the solace of a late summer afternoon alone.

Soon he would go to school, not kindergarten, but grade school.

There would be no more naps. No more snack time (but he still had lunch time, thank goodness). No more free play (it would now be limited to a small period of time after lunch called 'recess').

He'd have homework. (Yuck.) He'd have required reading. (Boring) And there was the ever-present threat that Andy and Allbert would not be in the same class as him.

And he wasn't sure he could handle that.

He had always had his sister and his cousins with him in daycare back at Miss Rachel's farm, then when his sister left for kindergarten, he only had Andy and Allbert until noon, then she would come back for after school daycare and lunch. When he finally got to school (kindergarten) he would see April in the car, then they'd have to go to different parts of the school and he'd only have Andy and Allbert until he got home at three and would wait for April at the bus stop.

He wasn't sure if he would be able to hold himself together if he didn't have those two with him in the same class. Heavens knows if he'd even survive the first day of first grade without them.

He sat in his spot, pondering what he would do if, Heaven forbid, he had to be separated from them, when he heard something…

It sounded like…

Was someone crying?

He hopped to his feet and turned his back to the field of flora below, trying to find the source of the crying…

Until he found it.

There was a little girl with curly black hair, who wore a gray oversize sweater with sleeves that extended past her fingertips and down to her knees and jean shorts. She was sobbing into her excess sleeves and curled up in a ball on the ground.

Now, Sheldon did not know this girl, he'd never so much as seen her before, but he saw that she was sad and alone and that she needed help, so he raced down the hill and quickly managed to locate her.

He stopped roughly three feet away from her and got a better look at her.

She was tiny compared to him, her clothes and her pose made her just seem smaller.

Her knees were scuffed and bleeding a bit, her sweater was torn where her palms probably were. There were twigs stuck in her hair and dirt and grass stains on her clothes.

"Are you okay? Do you need a band-aid?" he asked, concerned. She jumped at the sound of his voice and looked up at him, fear bright in her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks. She began to tremble and moved to crawl backwards, only for Sheldon to hold his hands up, as if showing he was unarmed. "It's okay! I'm not gonna hurt you." He promised.

She heard the sincerity in his voice and looked up at him, still crying. He reached into his pockets and pulled out the band-aids Allbert had given him. "Want me to put these on your owies?" he asked her. Her lip quivered as she nodded and Sheldon quickly closed the distance between them, knelt down beside her and gently placed the band-aids on her knees, then to her surprise, he gave each of them a kiss.

"My Mommy says that if you kiss owies, they stop hurting and get better faster." He explained as he gently took her hands and placed band-aids on a few bleeding scratches and kissed her palms, making her face turn bright pink.

"All better!" he announced, then gave her a big smile.

"t-t-t-thank you…" she said softly. His smile grew bigger, "You're welcome!" he said, then he asked, "What's your name?"

"M-Maggie."

He brightened, "Hi Maggie! I'm Sheldon!" he then waited a moment before asking, "Maggie, are you lost?"

She nodded as she wiped her eyes on her sleeve, only to wince when she realized that it was wet and cold, Sheldon slipped his hand into his jacket sleeve and offered it to her. She hesitated, then took it with a thankful nod and wiped her face.

"I-I-I just moved here…" she sniffled, "My Mommy and Daddy…were helping the men…move our things into the house… I was… playing hide and seek with… my brothers… I-I tried hiding behind a bush and… fell… and…" her eyes began to water again, "I don't know how to get back home!" She cried as tears poured down her face, "I'm scared!" she then pulled Sheldon into a hug and bailed into his shirt.

Sheldon looked down at the crying girl clinging to his chest. He had no idea what to do here, but he knew to help her get back home, she'd need to be calm and tell him where she lived.

Something to calm her down…

Then he spotted a deer passing in the distance.

He smiled and gently pulled her off of him, "If I show you something pretty, will you stop crying?" She looked up at him, unsure of what to really say to that.

Sheldon took her silence as a 'yes' and pulled her up onto his back and gave her a piggy back ride all the way up the hill.

When she saw the field, her eyes widened and an amazed gasp slipped from her lips.

Sheldon gently put her down on the ground so she would be sitting against the tree and sat down next to her, "I know!" he said cheerfully… then he remembered that this place was supposed to be his family's secret place.

He was in so much trouble!

… Unless she could keep this place a secret too.

He quickly looked at her, trying to play it cool so he wouldn't launch her right back into a fit of crying, "This is just between us, okay?" he said, putting a finger against his buck teeth. She quickly nodded and covered her mouth with her hands, sending her sweater sleeves slapping against her cheeks.

Sheldon relaxed and smiled at her, making her cheeks turn red, "Good!" he said, "I live near here and my Mommy and big sister are home, if you want, I can take you there and we can have them help us get you home!" Maggie smiled, grateful, "Thank you, Sheldon." She said warmly.

.

.

.

Later that day, Sheldon, along with his mom and sister, were able to find Maggie's new house and reunite her with her family, who were relieved that she was fine.

Maggie sat in her new bedroom, sitting at a small play table by the window, crayons spewed all over the table top and fresh drawings of flowers, butterflies and bees were stacked beside her.

"Maggie?" her mom called in as she opened the door, "It's time for bed, Sweetheart."

"Okay, Mommy." She said as she put her crayons back into their box and hopped into bed. Her mom walked over to her bed to tuck her in, when the drawing Maggie had been working on caught her eye, she picked it up and held it up to her.

It had her and Sheldon sitting on the hill with the sea of flowers below.

"What's this drawing about, Maggie?"

Maggie looked at her mom and, with a twinkle in her eye, said, "It's a secret, Mommy."