Disclaimer: This is fanfiction. If i owned LWD, i wouldn't be writing this

Warning: This is not a happy-go-lucky story. It deals with abuse and it's after effects. So be forewarned. Flames will be met with marshmallows. If you have experience with abuse i.e.- researching it or God-forbid living through it and you think that the character's reactions are too OOC you can e-mail me. But remember, if you flame me i will make s'mores. And i wont share.

Summary: A secret threatens to tear apart the MacDonald-Venturi clan forever.

Rosemarie glanced around her tiny apartment, checking to make sure she got everything, that she had turned the oven off, peering into her purse to make sure the envelope was there. She drew in a shuddering breath, turning to the mirror for what felt like the thousandth time to check her appearance. She wasn't sure if she liked the woman staring back at her, the pale face, the haunted eyes. She tore her eyes away from the mirror and looked at the clock, 9:42 the bright green lights told her. 9:42 and time to go. She picked up her purse and slung it over her shoulder and placed a trembling hand on the doorknob. She was suddenly frozen with fear, a million thoughts running through her mind

'What if I can't do this, what if he finds us, what if what if what if.'

'Stop it!' she commanded her mind, forcing the bile the threatened to spill out onto her threadbare carpet back down. She had sacrificed too much to this man, she wasn't going to sacrifice her babies. She straightened her shoulders and turned the doorknob all the while keeping the images of her babies in her mind. Her legs moved on autopilot, passing the peeling paint in the hallway and the water-stained ceiling tiles. She felt a small wave of rage wash over her as she said farewell to the building she had called home, rage that her good for nothing husband had stripped her of everything. He had stolen her money, her career, her dreams, her trust in people. But she wasn't going to let him steal her babies. She had promised Natasha that she would take them away and she wasn't going to break her promise. Not again.

So she let the rage wash over her, clung to it like a drowning woman. At least it made her feel connected to her body while before she had felt like she was watching someone else's life unfold. She snapped out of her thoughts as she felt the hot humid Houston air surround her, the heat already making her body feel sticky. She paused at the mailbox, hearing the muffled 'thump' as her package fell to the bottom. She nodded to one of her neighbours as she turned to her car, feeling yet another nail being driven into the coffin of her old life. The anticipation strengthened, creating a vice around her heart as she drove towards her old home, to where she had lived as a prisoner in a crystal palace. She took the exit that would lead her to her old home but changed course halfway there. She drove downtown, towards the rougher part of town. Slowing down she drove down the road, finally picking a parking spot. She killed the engine and paused, offering a silent prayer to whomever was listening to forgive her of this heinous act and to make sure everything went smoothly.

"Sorry Bernice. I wish I could give you a proper send-off to proper owners. But I have no choice. You understand, don't you?" She waited for a moment, then rolled her eyes. Did she really expect a car to answer back? Maybe she was crazy, like he said.

'NO!' He was wrong. She was a beautiful, warm, loving person who deserved to be loved. Remembering what she had learned at her meetings, the encouraging words about her own worth, she rolled the window down an inch and left the car. She had been assured that the car would be stolen by nightfall. It wasn't if her information had come from anyone. Ricardo had been stealing cars since he could walk. She scanned the street, looking for the cheap car that Ricardo had purchased for her escape. She spotted that man waiting half a block away, near their agreed spot. She opened the door and slid onto the cracked upholstery.

"Your late" he remarked as he sipped from his coffee cup.

"Not by much" she replied

"Much can mean the difference between freedom and prison." He reminded her as he turned on the engine. "It's my ass on the line too you know."

"I know." she quietly replied as she turned to study the Hispanic man. Ricardo Perez had been in and out of Juvie since he was 14, and was a private detective who was willing to help out a desperate woman-for a price. And she had paid every cent he had asked for. While her husband has taken most everything, he hadn't taken her jewellery. She had sold most, the I'm-sorry-I-pushed-you emerald ring, the sorry-for-the-black-eye ruby earrings, the forgive-me-for-breaking-your-arm diamond necklace. There were so many she had been surprised at the amount she got for them, feeling revolted and disgusted with herself for accepting each and every one, accepting his promises to change, to get better. What a fool she had been. She normally wouldn't have trusted a man like Ricardo, with his slick voice and piercing eyes but she had trusted the All-American boy with charming looks and a sweet smile and look where that had gotten her. She had been promised that he could be trusted, though she wondered if she would ever be able to trust another man again.

"Pardon?" she asked as she realized that he was talking to her.

"I asked if you mailed it" he glared at her.

"Yes."

"Was it on?"

"Yes and I charged it last night so the battery will last for a long time."

"And did you get the map?"

"Yes, and the hotel room."

"What did you register it under?"

"My middle and maiden name."

"Will he know this?"

"Yes."

Satisfied with her answers he turned back to the road. The silence was deafening as the blood pounded in her ears and all she could hear was her frantically beating heart. Too soon they pulled onto a rarely travelled road and then parked in the woods. She scanned the area, frantically looking for the other car.

"Whe-where are they?" she asked panicked. Had he found out about her plan, had he taken the girls away, was Ricardo going to betray her and kill her and leave her body in the woods where no one would find her and she would never be able to see her girls again? All these thoughts and more swarmed in her head and her breathing became shallower and her body felt like it was going to jump out of her skin.

"Relax, they'll be here." He tilted his head back and closed his eyes while she scanned the area, waiting for the other car. After what seemed like forever but was probably only a minute she heard the other car pull up. She raced up to the car as fast as she could move and had her hand on the car door before the driver pulled to a complete stop. She drank in the sight of her babies sleeping peacefully in the backseat, Natasha with her brown hair pulled into a ponytail and her head resting on her shoulder and Juliana with her mouth puckered and her body twitching every now and then, active even in her sleep.

"My babies." she breathed as she reached into the car.

"Your late." she heard Ricardo murmur to Fiona.

"He was running late. He didn't leave the house on time so I had to rush to make it."

"Women." Ricardo muttered as he went to the trunk and opened it.

She frowned as she noticed that neither Natasha nor Juliana seemed to be waking up. She turned to Fiona.

"What's wrong with them?"

"I put some cold syrup in their juice." Fiona casually replied as she transferred one of the suitcases to the car she and Ricardo had arrived in.

"What!" she exclaimed, then repeated in a quieter voice as both Ricardo and Fiona shushed her. "what?"

"It'll be easier if their quiet. We don't need to be tending to them when we're trying to get everything ready. Don't worry." Fiona reassured her as she saw the panic stricken look on her face. "I just put enough in to get them drowsy, not enough to keep them asleep. They'll wake up soon enough." A part of her knew that what her friend was saying was true, that it would be easier if the girls were asleep for at least this part, but the mother in her wanted to scream at Fiona for doing this to her girls without her permission.

She felt her insides twist and constrict as she unhooked Natasha's car seat from the car, as she stared down at the fading bruises, the broken arm and twisted leg. How had it come to this, that she was running from all she knew, from her family and her friends, relying on the kindness of strangers whose lives would be ruined if they were caught? Ricardo would lose his job, Fiona would lose her daughter, and she, she would lose her daughters to a monster, never to hear their laughter, to see their smiles, to watch them as they slept. If the world was good, if the world was just she wouldn't have to run and break all ties with her former life. But sometimes the hero dies; sometimes the princess marries the ogre; sometimes happily ever after is a lie. She clicked the restraints on Juliana's car seat and straightened up.

"What are you doing?" she asked Ricardo. He peered over from where he crouched by the bumper of the car. As she moved behind him she noticed that he was unscrewing the licence plate.

"Changing the licence plate." he answered as if she was blind. He sighed, and then answered her unspoken question.

"This way, it'll be harder for them to track you. Here." He tossed a bag to her. She opened it to find about five different plates in it. "Change it every now and then, but only when it's night. Never during the day. When you get to Ontario sell the car to a guy named Cuyo Enprimero. I wrote his address down for you. If you get caught, please destroy it. He won't be too happy if the police come knocking on his door. Anyways." he straightened up "He'll be able to get you what you need. Birth certificates, social security numbers, drivers license. Whatever. If he gives you trouble tell him I sent you. But you shouldn't have a problem."

She sighed, imagining the extra costs. "What do I owe you?"

"Nothing." Her head snapped up, startled. He had been very insistent that he had a set price and if couldn't pay it to go and find someone else.

"Why?" she managed to force past her stunned lips, her brain trying to come up with an answer to this puzzle.

"Because."

"Because why?" He sighed, then turned to look at her.

"Because my old man was like your ex. I can only wish that my mom had done for me what your doing for your kids. Maybe I could have done something with my life. Been a doctor or a lawyer. Something respectable." He paused, lost in his thoughts for a moment, then shrugged and turned to walk away when she called him back.

"You better leave before I change my min-"

"Could you do me one last favour?" he raised one eyebrow while waiting for her request. "Could…could you give this note to my parents? I need to let them know why I'm doing this." He looked like he was going to refuse so she continued in a rush "Don't worry, there's nothing incriminating in here. I just want to say good bye."

He stared at the envelope that she held in her outstretched hand for a moment, then gave what might be considered a hint of a smile and took the letter from her hand. She smiled and mouthed 'thank you' as she slid into the passenger seat. As the car pulled away she watched as he raised his hand in good bye and slowly slipped from view.

She clenched and unclenched her hands as they lay folded on her lap, eyes' darting as if expecting the police or her husband to suddenly pop up and take her girls away. It had been about a nerve-wracking half hour into their escape when she heard soft noises coming from the back seat. She twisted in her chair to watch Natasha stretch and rub her eyes, confusion over her surrounding etched on her face until her eyes fell on her mother.

"Momma?" she questioned, hope radiating from her face "Momma, is that you?"

"Yes sweetie." she smiled as she ran her thumb down Natasha's face "Yes it's me. And I'm taking you away."

"Yea!" she exclaimed, tossing her hands in the air. Her shouting woke up Juliana, who glared at her sister and then burst into tears.

"Oh baby, it's okay. Momma's here don't cry." she said as she frantically looked for something to calm her down. She shock a rattle in front of her face and Juliana stopped howling long enough to narrow her eyes at her mother and inspect the distraction before her cubby little hand snatched the peace offering and began banging it on the car seat.

"Momma?"

"Yes honey?"

"Are we going far away?"

"Very far away"

"And Daddy's never gonna find us, right?"

Her heart contracted at these words, that her daughter's only concern was that her father would never find them. She gave a small smile. "Yes" she reassured her "So far away Daddy's never gonna find us.

"Good" she nodded her head, her brown hair flying around her face. "I love you Momma."

"I love you too sweetheart"

It was about four hours into their drive. Her body was starting to ache from sitting down for so long and her butt had fallen asleep almost an hour ago. They had fed the girls which wasn't an easy task in a moving vehicle, but they didn't risk stopping. Juliana had thankfully fallen asleep again, but Natasha was still awake.

"Momma, I'm booooorrreeeddd." she whined.

"Do you wanna colour?"

"Noooooooo." She sighed. It was amazing that her six year old daughter could draw out the words to make them seem twice as long than they actually were. The excitement of running away had worn off and she was realizing that it was hard to occupy a bored child in a car. She heard Fiona sigh in exasperation. Their nerves were shot and tending to two small children was not helping matters.

"Give her this." Fiona held her wallet in front of her face. "Just make sure she doesn't wreck anything." She passed the wallet to her daughter, who grabbed the new toy and immediately started rifling through it. They had about five blissful minutes of silence when she heard Natasha's questioning voice call her name.

"Momma, what's this?" She turned and realized the Natasha had pulled out the money from the wallet.

"It's money, put it back. We don't want to lose any of it."

Natasha ignored her mother and instead studied the bills.

"It doesn't look like money. Why does it look funny?"

"It's Canadian money, now put it back."

"Whose that?"

"Natasha" she said in a warning voice, "put it back."

"Whose that?"

She sighed, and then rubbed her temples. It was at times like this that she wished that Natasha had a mute button. She always had to ask questions, and never stopped asking until you answered.

"Who honey"

"The lady?" Natasha answered matter-a-factly. "On the money"

She leaned over and looked at the bill in her daughter's hand. "That's the Queen"

"Of what?" she heard Fiona give a soft chuckle and she glared at her.

"England." Natasha looked satisfied so she turned back in her seat to watch the road. But not a minute had passed before she heard the familiar whine.

"Momma, I'm boooooooorreeeeddd." She turned back to her daughter, knowing that she had to distract her or she'd never be quiet.

"Do you want to play a game?" Natasha energetically nodded, her hair flying around her face.

"Alright, you know how we're leaving. Well, to make sure Daddy doesn't find us we have to use a new name." Her daughter's forehead furrowed as she tried to get the point of the game. "So what I want you to do is think of a new name for Juliana, okay?"

Natasha's eyes light up as she asked "Like pretend?"

"Yes, just like pretend." Thinking she'd figured out a way to occupy her oldest she turned around but heard Natasha call her back.

"Yes?" she said through gritted teeth. Next time they stopped for gas she was getting some aspirin. And some cold medicine. The drowsy kind.

"What's the Queen's name?"

"Elizabeth."

Natasha nodded solemnly. "That should be Jules name."

"Alright, what name do you want?" This time Natasha took longer in picking a name. Finally she responded. "Cassandra."

"Cassandra?" Natasha nodded.

She hated doing this, but she knew that their names needed to be changed. "Alright, repeat after me. Hello, my name is Cassandra MacDonald, my sister's name is Elizabeth and my mommy's name is Nora."

"Hello, my name is Cassandra Ma-ma-cDonald, my sister's name is Elizabeth and my mommy's name is Nora." She cringed inside as she heard the Texas accent slip from her daughter's lips. She would have to work on getting rid of it, but now she needed to get Nat-Cassandra to remember the new names.

"Say it again honey." she prompted her daughter.

Always trying to please her mother Cassandra repeated the phrase that would alter thier lives forever. "Hello, my name is Cassandra MacDonald, my sister's name is Elizabeth and my mommy's name is Nora. Hello, my name is Cassandra MacDonald, my sister's name is Elizabeth and my mommy's name is Nora. Hello, my name is…"

AN: I was going to continue from there but the chapter was too long. So i do have chapter 2 written and i will post soon. And i know that Fiona was a bit OOC but this was written before i saw 'The Wedding'. She will still be annoying, just not AS annoying. And I'm going to need character names, so this is where you the reader come in. The name Cuyo Enprimero is not a real name. The first person who translates it into english gets to name a charcter, or i will be forced to translate words into other languages and use them. So review. or not. whatever.