There was the sound of glass shattering, a child's scream, and drops of blood on the floor. Artemis's eyes were wide as she searched for a rag, the three-year-old boy was standing there, trying to hold in his panicked tears. He held his hand close to his chest, getting his shirt bloody from the large gash in his palm.

"It's okay, Phillip." Daniel looked to Artemis. "It was an accident."

"But will Lucas think so?" Sophie asked.

"Shut up, Sophie." Daniel growled and put an arm around the shaking boy, the broken glass at their feet.

"He'll be home soon, we need to clean this up before he gets here." Sophie sighed, ignoring her brother. "And before the teenagers see it." She sneered.

"They'll tell him." Daniel nodded as Artemis came back with a wet cloth. "Just to get on his good graces."

"I hate them." Sophie crossed her arms.

Artemis grimaced as she dabbed the blood away, Phillip's breath hitched as the cold water touched the cut. Daniel continued to rub his back.

"You're doing good, Phillip." Daniel said soothingly. "How is it?" he asked Artemis.

Artemis frowned and looked up at him, she bit the inside of her cheek and made a gesture to show stitches.

"He needs stitches?" Sophie's eyes widened.

Daniel cursed and shook his head. "Okay…okay, I'll handle it." He got up and took his jacket off the back of the couch.

"Where are you going?" Sophie ran up to him as he reached the door.

"We need things to sew it up, I got some money…" he raised a hand as she opened her mouth to ask a question. "It doesn't matter where I got it, don't worry about it, just go find some booze, have it ready by the time I get back."

Artemis frowned, deciding not to concentrate on the shadiness surrounding Daniel's money. She held the cloth to Phillip's hand, gently stroking his head with her free hand, she couldn't give him any verbal words to soothe his pain, but she tried her best.

"Can you sweep this up?" Sophie came back in and looked at the broken glass, then started searching through the cupboards.

Artemis nodded and grabbed the boy's other hand, placing it on the cloth, trying to show him to hold it himself. He nodded, understanding what she wanted.

Artemis went to the old broom and swept up all the glass, maybe Lucas wouldn't notice the missing glass. She shivered at the thought of the man, she wasn't sure if he was any better than his uncle.

Once she was done, she ran back to the boy. He was biting his lip to stop the tears, it must have hurt a lot. He was being brave.

Suddenly, they heard a car coming into the driveway, the car door slammed and they heard heavy footsteps stomp onto the porch, he was not in a good mood. Artemis moved Phillip to the back of the kitchen as Sophie was frozen in her spot by the pantry.

The door slammed just as hard as the car doors and the stomps had not let up, a frustrated groan rang out, alerting them that he was going for the booze in the kitchen.

When he came into view, he stopped, he had loosened his tie and taken off his jacket, the dark bags under his eyes were prominent and a heavy frown rested upon his face.

"What is this?" he looked to Artemis first, then to Sophie, then to Phillip who was facing away and clutching a rag to his hand.

"Well…" Sophie looked to Artemis.

Artemis made eye contact and gave her a sad look and nodded, giving permission, knowing what Sophie was thinking.

"Artemis broke a glass, and Phillip accidently cut his hands on it." She said, feeling horrible.

Artemis looked away as Lucas set his glare on her, he stomped over and gripped her arm, dragging her into the backyard.

"I have had a very bad day, Artemis." He growled as his grip tightened, causing Artemis to wince. "I'm too tired to put up with this." He threw her down towards the storm cellar doors. "You'll be spending tonight in there." He sighed. "Then we'll see if you want to break anymore glasses."

She whimpered as he threw open the doors and all but threw her down the stairs. She crumpled into a heap in the cold ground, her arm hurting where he had held it. He closed the doors and left her in nothing but darkness…no…

She started breathing heavily, clutching at her shirt as she felt like she was suffocating.

"Artie?" a strangely familiar voice shot out in the dark.

She froze, who was that?

"You okay there, mate?" the voice said, but it sounded so distant, maybe she hadn't actually heard it.

She started sobbing again, but jerked up when she felt a hand on her arm, and then everything faded away.

Artemis gasped as she shot up in her bed, causing the other person to jump back.

"A little warning next time?" a lazy voice said.

She looked around and saw the rest of the room empty, but then her gaze landed on a certain brunette boy.

"It's me, Raz." He said when he saw her wide eyes. "You were having some kind of nightmare."

She calmed herself by taking deep breaths, she then looked around the room again, Raz, noticing this, started to speak up again.

"Peter and Arthur's here, so is Mel and Henry." He said. "But they all went out to get some of the donuts that Mel's mum was bringing back. They left me in case you woke up and got scared." He smirked. "'Cause you'd be all alone, you know, you need someone big and strong like me to protect you."

She raised an eyebrow, causing his smirk to widen.

"Maybe not then…" he rolled his eyes.

"Raz, did you say you wanted blueberry?" Arthur suddenly entered, frowning at one of the donuts in his hands. But he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Artemis sitting up.

"Hey, Arthur, look who it is." Raz nodded towards her.

"Artie…" his shocked face was taken over by a grin. "You're awake!" he carelessly tossed one of the donuts to Raz, who barely managed to catch it. "Sorry, we didn't know if you would be able to eat one…" he looked guilty.

She shook her head with a smile, as if telling him all was forgiven.

Peter, Mel, and Henry came in after that, all laughing and talking like good friends. But they all stopped when they saw Artemis.

"You're up!" Mel exclaimed. "How're you feeling?" she walked up and held Artemis's hand. Artemis convinced herself to not flinch, to not shy away from the touch…it was fine, Mel was just being comforting.

"Everyone was really vague as to why you were here." Henry said as he leaned on the railing at the foot of the bed.

"Not a single straight answer from anyone." Peter said as he went and stood next to Arthur.

She touched her side and frowned, then looked to Mel, signing something that no one else understood, but by Mel's expression of horror, it wasn't good.

"What?" Mel screeched. "Who would do that?"

Artemis looked away, a sad expression coming over her face. She signed something else, Mel frowned, but remained quiet.

"What did she say?" Henry asked.

Mel looked to Artemis, as if asking permission, Artemis was reminded of her dream before nodding. "She said she was stabbed." Mel said in a very quiet voice.

Everyone was silent, their expression showed that of disbelief. Artemis sighed.

But something good came of it. She signed to Mel, who frowned in confusion.

"What good could come out of something like that?" she asked.

Artemis smiled. "I found my voice." She said, her voice was so soft, so quiet, no one really believed they had heard it, until Peter spoke up.

"What?" he said dumbly.

"Hah." Raz suddenly grinned. "Of course you'd be the one to do the impossible."

Artemis grinned back.

Mel suddenly jumped up and wrapped her arms around Artemis's neck. Artemis flinched this time, but only in surprise and slight pain from her side.

"I'm so happy for you, Artie…" Mel sniffed.

Artemis patted her back before catching a glimpse of Henry, his face was in a soft smile, looking right at Mel.

"So, you can talk now, huh?" Arthur smiled. "Good, I didn't like that Mel had to translate."

"You coming back to school then, Artie?" Henry asked, putting his hands into his pant pockets

She nodded. "Soon…" she said, her voice started to hurt her throat again, she wished she was used to it already. "N-Not sure when."

They nodded in unison, she found it kind of funny.

"I believe she should get some rest now." A familiar voice came from the door. Mycroft stood there, eyeing the group of children. Their eyes all widened in shock, having forgotten the adults out in the hallways.

Arthur, Peter, and Raz looked down, Mycroft intimidated them. Mel and Henry looked at each other, then back to Artemis.

"Alright, goodbye, Artie." Mel smiled and hugged the small girl around the neck, Henry waved and said his goodbye as well.

"Goodbye, Mr. Holmes." Henry nodded to Mycroft in respect. Mycroft nodded back. Henry and Mel left, and Raz, Arthur, and Peter soon left in silence after waving to Artemis.

"How are you feeling?" Mycroft asked in concern.

She tilted her hand in a so-so gesture.

He looked down. "I'm sorry this happened to you." he said stiffly. "Do you need anything?"

She shook her head. "Thank you." she said.

He let a small smile show. "You are very welcome, Artemis." he said. "The doctors say you should be able to get out of here in about three weeks…"

She frowned at him, that seemed like it would be so long.

"You're lucky." he said. "The knife missed your vital organs." he began a rant on how awful it would have been if the knife had hit anything important, she stopped really paying attention. Instead, she stared at the bags under his eyes, the slight indications that he had lost weight, like his clothes fitting looser and his cheeks somewhat sunken. He looked bad, like really bad, she wondered how her absence had affected him.

She patted the edge of her bed as a sign for him to sit down. He stopped talking and frowned at her in confusion. She patted it again with a nod. He sighed and walked over, sitting uncomfortably on the very edge, hands folded neatly in his lap as he looked down at the ground.

She slowly crawled over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, he looked at her with such a sad expression, she wondered if he blamed himself for this.

"Not your fault…" she shook her head. "It's irrational to think that." she smirked.

"You often give me irrational thoughts…" he said and looked down. "Like the idea that I can protect you from all the dangers of this cruel world, or maybe that I'll always be there to watch you." he rubbed his face. "But I know I won't always be there, and the dangers will always find you, no matter what I do. It's part of growing up, I suppose."

"Do you...still want me?" she asked quietly and let her hand slip.

"Of course I do, Artemis." he said. "You're intelligent and creative, and I wish to give you a life where you may express those qualities without difficulty."

"Do you love me?" she asked. "Unconditionally?" she looked back at him.

He paused for a moment. "I do, Artemis." he nodded and reached out to hold her. "I don't often express things like this, but I want you to know that I do love you." he stroked her head.

"I won't get used to it." she laughed and hugged him closer.

Fluffy little Mycroft and Artemis moment, I really enjoy writing those...

Special thanks to: Dinosaur Imperial Soldier, Reading-Stories-Only, Guest, JularaVon, CasJeanne, ljtbookgeek15 for their amazingly awesome reviews that really help me stay inspired!

Not much to say...so I'll just leave it at that. Please don't forget to review, and stay awesome, all you lovely people!