Disclaimer: I don't own anybody or anything except the people in this prologue. Even the title is not mine, it belongs to Ziggy Marley.
I really hope you enjoy this story, it has been in my head for a LONG time and had to be rewritten and remolded because Spencer had to die on me and the OPP had to go and show up dramatic sigh I have tried to make it (will try to make it) as close to the current storyline as possible but many branches of this will go AU. Just warning you ahead of time.
That said, read on. Enjoy. And review if ya do:-)
"But Rina, I'm tiii-erd!" The muffled small voice whined.
"I know honey, I know." Katerina murmured into the hair of the three year old in her arms.
"When can we stoooo-op?!" A sniffle was added to the whine and the little girl burrowed her face further into Katerina's shoulder. She was hot, and sticky, hungry and obviously irritable. She wanted for them to rest and she wanted them to rest NOW.
"Soon," The teenager tried to reassure the toddler by removing sticky pieces of dark hair from side of her face. The heat was unbearable but she didn't dare and try to move Delilah, the little girl, from her arms; despite of her killer grip around Katerina's neck. The little girl had lost so many things in her short years: her birth parents in a car accident, nearly her sense of sight and the use of her legs in that same accident, and now the only home she had known in the past year and a half. It was no wonder the child cleaved onto anyone who was kind to her, and Katerina had been like a big sister to her since the moment she had moved into their foster home. Rina knew how Delilah could get just from when Rina stepped out of the room, in the child's current mood trying to put her down would be very bad indeed. "Soon, baby girl. Real soon. We'll stop by someplace and get something to eat, then see if we can find someplace to stay. And then we'll sleep aaaalll night long."
"All night?" Asked the tiny trembling voice and it was all Katerina could do not to squeeze onto her little sister tighter.
"Yep, all night. I'll even let you take the bed all to yourself. Me and Joe'll take the floor." Because any bed she could afford would never be able to fit the three of them.
This seemed to settle Delilah a bit, however, it riled Joseph, their nine-year old 'brother' up pretty well. The redheaded boy turned and narrowed angry eyes at both his sisters. He was just as tired and hungry as Delilah and much more irritated with his little sister because he had had to walk the entire time, and he had to deal with her whining. "Damn it, why do I have to take the floor too?! It isn't like she's even set her foot dow-"
"Joseph Daniel! You best behave yourself." Katerina growled softly, when she felt lips tremble against her neck. The last thing they needed was a huffy Joey and a crying Del. Damn it was the last thing SHE needed. But she wouldn't think like that. They needed her to be fair, strong, and unselfish. They needed their big sister. Even if she was as clueless as they were. "What did I tell you about cussin? Watch your danged mouth!"
Dark blue-green eyes widened but his scowl was still firmly in place.
"As if 'danged''s any better."
"Boy don-"
"Don't sass you. Yeah, yeah, yeah." He huffed, marching away and ahead of them.
Katerina clenched her jaw to keep her tongue in place. Joe wasn't disobedient unless he was in a foul mood. In fact her little brother was freakishly in love with rules and good manners. She didn't know where he got it since he had been in the system since he was born, then again that just may be the reason why. She had yet to quite figure it out and she never asked, probably never would. She loved Joe just the way he was, except when he was giving her an attitude. During those times they got into loud and horrible arguments-of course they always made up-but the arguments were still bad. That was why it grated her so much not to say anything at the moment, little brat thinking he could get the best of her. Nevertheless, she was going to let it go. He was just as tired and hungry as she and Delilah and she knew the fact that he couldn't do anything about it was making him even more irritable. Ever since they'd ended up under the same foster family a year and a half ago he had made it his responsibility to "watch over his girls" (mainly her and Delilah but also their foster mother when he could). It didn't matter that she was older than him by a good seven years; he always was taking care of her. Always.
And not knowing where they were going to sleep or what they were going to eat bothered him ten times more than it bothered her. Not knowing wasn't taking very good care of his girls, if at all. It probably made him feel like a failure. It was one thing Joseph hated, feeling like a failure, their foster father had made him feel like it more than enough times.
"Joey's mad at me, in't he?"
Katerina almost cursed when she heard the tears in the voice that sounded even smaller than before. "Naw baby girl. You know Joe, always having to nitpick everythin' or else he isn't happy."
Delilah nodded against Katerina's shoulder. "He can nitpick me if he wanted."
Letting out a small surprised snort of laughter curiosity coloring her tone the teenager asked,"I thought you had enough of that?"
It was all Katerina could do not to laugh louder. She could practically feel Delilah rolling her big grey eyes against her neck. "As if that weren't ever'nuf for Joe."
Katerina giggled. "As if anything is ever enough for Joe."
"I heard that!"
"We know!" Both his sisters hollered back at him.
Katerina knew by the slight pause in his steps and the quick shake of his head that Joe was fighting off a smile. See, never mad at each other for too long.
Which was good, Katerina thought as her smile faded slightly, because it had helped them survive. Survive the system, in Delilah's case survive leg therapy, and of course survive their foster father ... or daddy as he liked to be called, Randall 'effin Flack.
Respected sheriff of a small southern mid-west town. Tall, good-looking, disarming smile, and likes them under twelve. Boy. Girl. Doesn't matter. As long as they were weaker than him. Mentally. Physically. Emotionally. Think they reminded him of his beloved wife. Not the under twelve part, just the weaker part. Katerina knew it was mean what she was thinking and Joe would probably fall into another sulk if he knew that she was. For some strange reason he adored that woman; Katerina thought she was spineless. Thought she was worse than husband because she knew what he was and she did and said nothing, to Katerina her foster mother was just as sick as her dearest Randy. And she knew that the other woman knew that she felt that way that was one of the other reasons that they had had to leave.
Another, the most important, was that Randall was turning his eyes to Delilah. Had been for the past six months but had never done anything because Delilah slept between them, between herself and Joey. When she was awake, she was always with either herself or Joe. Never out of their sights. Ever. Not even for school, since they were home schooled. You have to be careful of the bruises you give if your kids go to real school, but for home schooling you just keep it under the clothing. Many times not even then.
Six months. For six months they'd managed to keep Randall away. But the ratass was a real big man. And there was only so many broken bones Joe could take without the doctors being suspicious (Leticia, her foster mother, seemed to actually care about Joe ... somehow and that was the one thing she defied her husband in. Taking Joe to the hospital. Why? Katerina didn't want to think about it, the reasons were never pretty). Also she was going to be eighteen sooner than she'd like, all Randall had to do was bide his time and then kick her out. What could she do then? No one in town would believe her. Nope, she was little, sad, mentally ill Katerina biting the hand that nurtured her. Yeah, funny how people believed what they wanted.
Oooo! Just thinking about it made her angry. Just had her beyond livid. And grateful that they had made it out of that house, out of that town for good. Though, she was also scared. She knew that there were people out there worse than Randall and she had put her siblings, inadvertently of course, into their path. Who they were she didn't know but they could be anywhere. That really scared her but not as much as Randall did.
Out of the pan and into the fire. Or could it be from the fire and into the pan?
She didn't know. She really didn't, she was just so ... she was just-
"Llanveiw." Joe's excited voice shook her out of her confusing, fearful thoughts. "We made it sissy, we made it! We're here in Llanveiw."
"Fin-damn-ally." Delilah's little voice muttered.
Katerina blinked and then she shot Joe a look only to receive a sheepish one in return. Holding each others gazes for a long moment they ended up dissolving into giggles. Slightly hysterical giggles of relief, fear, tiredness, and yes, even happiness.
They had actually made it. With no problems and still a hundred fifty dollars to spare.
Fin-damn-ally.