The mirror had never been much of a friend to her, so the person reflected in it now was no surprise to the dark haired girl. Leenalee ran a hand through her medium length hair and gave a heavy sigh. She spent another twenty minutes getting her face ready for the day. It was always a tedious routine but it had to be done. She was a waitress at The 14th's, one of the most popular resturaunts in town, and sloppiness was not tolerated. Once finished, Leenalee went to the room across from hers to wake her sleeping roommate.

"Time to get up Miranda," she called as she shook her leg. "You don't want to be late again, do you?"

Miranda fought herself into an upright position. Leenalee giggled at her messy mop of brown curls. The other woman scratched her head and threw her legs over the side of her bed. She looked at her half dressed roommate and fell into an instant panic. "Oh my goodness! What time is it? Are we late?! I'm so sorry~!" Miranda jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom.

"We still have an hour to get there, calm down," Leenalee called as she went through her small treasure box of jewelry.

Miranda emerged from the bathroom five minutes later, forcing a toothbrush over her teeth. She dreaded making Leenalee late knowing the consequences of tardiness. Last time it was a loss of that day's pay, of course they still got tips but they had to work weekends to pay the rent that month. It was a miracle they even got the jobs in the first place but being late two days within the first month was not acceptable. Miranda put on her heels and latched them up before rushing back into the bathroom to rinse her mouth. Leenalee finished putting her hair up into a tight ponytail then looked down at her watch.

"I'm ready when you are," she called.

"I-I'm almost ready!" Miranda called back as she pulled her hair up into it's formal bun and half rushing through her make-up.

Once she was ready they ran out of the apartment and started down the stairs. The click of heels on the concrete drew out the attention of their neighbor, Cross Marian, a foul mouthed, redheaded man who looked after a small white haired boy. He caught them just as they were going down the stairs.

"Hey! You're watching Allen tonight aren't you?" he called down to them.

"Y-Yes," Leenalee called back as they touched ground. "You can bring him over when we get back tonight!"

The women took off down the street as fast as their heel clad feet would allow without falling flat on their faces. As they drew closer to their destination Leenalee slowed down to a brisk walk. There was something wrong. Why were the windows so dark? Miranda gasped when they came to stand right in front of abandoned building. The windows were boarded up, the door was locked and there was no sign of anyone having been there in at least two days. The tears started to well up in Miranda's large brown eyes.

They had worked almost everyday last week, when did they even have time to do all of this?! Then again... The boss had given them Friday and the weekend off. Leenalee groaned aloud, putting a hand to her forehead. So this was how things worked out here, huh? She sighed and sat down on the curb. Miranda plopped down next to her. The tears that streamed down her face ran her make-up.

"I can't believe they would just leave like this," Leenalee breathed into her hands.

"What are we going to do now," Miranda sobbed. "We had to ask favors to get these jobs! No one's going to hire us~"

Leenalee put an arm around the older woman's shoulder to comfort her. "Don't worry Miranda, I'm sure we can figure something out. There's always my brother. We can ask Komui if there are any openings at the shop."

"But we already tried that," she cried, clinging to the younger woman.

True, the last ten times they went to the electronics repair shop the owner had said that they had a good team already and wouldn't need any new hands unless someone quit or lost one of their own. Miranda had happened to catch sight of one of the repairmen with one hand at that very moment. There was really no point in going back to the shop. Leenalee helped Miranda to her feet and they trudged back to their apartment in defeat. Looks like they were back to working with what little they had saved up and whatever Komui could spare to give them. They crawled up the stairs back to their apartment. Leenalee could only get the door unlocked before the afore mentioned neighbor noticed they had returned.

"You're back early," he speculated, his lips wrapped around a lightly smoking cigarette.

"We don't really want to talk about it," Miranda sighed, tears still running her make-up.

"Since you're here now you can take the brat off my hands- ALLEN."

The small boy came running to the door, his snow white hair sitting messily atop his head. His large grey eyes spotted the saddened women and he went to them. Miranda patted his head as he clung to her leg. No matter how down they were feeling, seeing that bright eyed little boy never failed to lift their spirits. Miranda picked him up and he proceeded to wipe the tears from her face with his small hands.

"I'll be out all day," Cross sighed, sending up a trail of smoke. "Don't come looking for me tomorrow, I'll come get him."

"We'll see you tomorrow then," Leenalee said as she pushed the door open.

Miranda followed her inside and put little Allen down on the sofa. He curled up on one of the pillows and watched them take off their shoes. Leenalee stood and stretched, dropping her attention to the boy. He looked up as she walked over to sit next to him on the couch.

"Are you hungry?" she asked in her sweetest voice.

Allen nodded. Lenalee smiled as she went into the kitchen to find something to prepare. Miranda took down her hair and leaned back in the chair with a sigh. This caught Allen's attention and heightened his concern. He slid down from the couch and joined Miranda in the chair. She helped him onto her lap and patted his head.

"Hello Allen," she said with a weak smile. "How are you today?"

"I'm fine," he replied in that adorably small voice, "but why are you sad?"

"Oh, little one, let's not talk about that. I want to hear about your day."

Little Allen sighed and lowered his round eyes. He must have had a bad day too, Miranda thought sadly. Poor dear. Leenalee came back into the living room with a peanutbutter and jelly sandwhich accompanied by a cold glass of orange juice. It was still early so she opted for breakfast. Miranda let Allen down and he sat on the floor to eat his sandwhich.

"Thank you," he said with a big smile.

"You're welcome sweetie," Leenalee giggled. "After you finish we can go to the park. Would you like that?"

"Mhm!" he replied over a mouthful of sandwhich.

The women watched him eat as if he were starved. Leenalee made him another once he was finished since he seemed so hungry. They took turns changing clothes with one staying in the room with Allen. Miranda noticed the dirt smudged on his cheek and took him to the bathroom for a hot bath. When Leenalee came back from changing she was greeted with a very clean little boy in shorts and a red tee shirt. She was wearing a blue tanktop and matching skirt with pink sandals.

"We all ready to go?" she asked, her former gloom dissipated.

"Yes," Allen replied excitedly. "To the park!"

Leenalee opened the door and he took both women's hands, pulling them outside. She paused to lock the door before following him down the stairs. There was a lovely little park only a block away with an extravagant jungle gym, six seat swingset, a pirate ship themed structure, two large tire swings that could easily fit six children on each and a rainbow colored roundabout. Allen sped away to the pirate ship and immediately started to climb the rope ladder. Miranda and Leenalee sat down on a green painted bench. It was only ten thirty but it felt like they had gone through a full day of work. Disappointment was a terrible thing.

"Have you been thinking about what we're going to do?" Miranda asked with a sigh.

Leenalee stared solemnly at the ground. "I've actually been trying not to. When Allen's around I don't want to look sad for him."

Miranda smiled at her roommate. "I understand. He gets worried when we're in a bad mood. Allen's such a dear, really."

The two women watched the boy as he played over the wooden bridge by himself. The other children seemed to have moved down to the swings and tires. Now that they thought about it, that seemed to happen every time they came to park; he always ended up playing alone. It must be his eye, Leenalee thought sadly. She looked up as someone joined them on the bench.

The man crossed his long legs and watched his daughter walk up to the jungle gym. She was dressed in a black and white lolita styled dress and knee length striped socks. In her hand she held a plushie birthday candle. "They're so cute at this age," the man said with a sigh. He spoke so suddenly it startled Miranda.

"Y-Yes," she agreed nervously.

"They're also quite a handful," he went on, "though I'm not complaining about my little Road. She's an angel, of course."

"I'm sure she is," Miranda replied.

The little girl had climbed ontop of the jungle gym and sat with her legs dangling inside the dome. Allen stopped to look at her through the bars on the wooden bridge. She hummed and swung her legs lazily, raising her plushie above her head in assumed boredom. None of the other kids seemed to notice her any more than they had him. Allen stood, holding on tightly to the railing. "H-Hey," he called. Road looked around curiously before she finally caught the gaze of the white haired boy. She lowered her candle plushie into her lap and stared at him.

"My name's Allen. What's yours?"

"Road Camelot," she answered in a surprisingly girly voice. "What do you want?"

Allen blinked. "I just saw that you were all alone."

Road hugged her plushie. "You're alone to, aren't you?"

"Yes, but I'm use to being alone," Allen reasoned. "You look bored. Do you want to play with me?"

Road tilted her head in thought, pressing her plushie tight against her small chest. She considered the boy for a moment. His clean white hair and soft, innocent face looked soft to the touch. He was cute. Daddy Sheryl usually freaked out when she played with boys, but he was cute so she would do exactly as she pleased. "Okay," she said finally. "Come over here so we can play."

Allen smiled brightly and ran across the bridge to the rope ladder. "Wait," she called out, "there's a pole you can slide down over here. It's closer." He went back across the bridge and stood at the sliding pole. He held on to the rail and leaned forward. It wasn't very far so he grabbed on. "What are you waiting for? Hurry up so we can play," Road said with a pout. Allen swung out and slid down, falling backward into the dirt. He got clumsily to his feet then ran to the jungle gym.

Road smiled down at him. "Come sit with me."

"Why don't you come down?" he asked, shaking the dirt from his hair.

"Fair enough," she said with a shrug.

She jumped down, landing on her feet, then turned to face the startled Allen. The adults watched them closely. The man sitting next them had introduced himself as Sheryl Camelot. He talked almost excessively about his daughter, not that the women had a problem with that. He seemed to love his little girl and they found that quite adorable for a man of his stature. Judging by his dress- black slacks, white dress shirt, and vest- he had just gotten off from work which may or may not have been of the big corporation type. The fact he was sitting in a park watching his daughter play made him all the more respectable.

"I must admit that there are times when I wish I had some extra help around the house," he said with a notedly bored tone. "I have maids, but they are merely work hands and I couldn't stand them thinking of my Road as another chore."

Miranda nodded knowingly. Leenalee leaned forward to look at him. "We watch our neighbor's little boy everyday," she said. "That's him with Road. His name is Allen. Cross is always busy so we help him out."

"That's kind of you," he replied. "He seems happy enough with you."

"We love little Allen," Miranda said with a smile. "He is a very sweet boy."

"You must be very good with kids."

"Yes," Leenalee said.

A dark grey cloud moved to cover the sun and plunged the park into late evening light. Sheryl nodded approvingly. "Very well then, I shall offer you the job." Leenalee blinked in confusion. Miranda held her hands to her chest. "Both of you seem to be very kind women and good with children," he went on to say as he stood, taking notice of the darkening sky. "I will come by your house tomorrow to make sure everything will be fine for my darling Road."

Leenalee shook her head. "We live in an apartment," she said quickly. "And you don't even know anything about us besides what we've told you."

"True," he said, "Which is why I will be conducting an interview tomorrow. Please be ready by noon. I will be bringing Road with me to see how she gets along with you."

Miranda stared with wide, unbelieving eyes as the rain started. Leenalee pulled her from the bench and they ran to get Allen as Road walked back to Sheryl. Allen stared after the girl swinging her father's arm playfully as she skipped through the growing puddles. Miranda and Leenalee held one of his hands and started back toward the apartment. They were already soaked so there was no real reason to run unless they wanted to risk falling. Allen was quiet the entire way home, raising some concern from the women.

Once back at the apartment they took to getting Allen dry first. Leenalee dressed him in a white shirt and little brown overalls. She washed after Miranda then went to make lunch. Allen looked up at Miranda who fished through the coat closet for a game to play. She stumbled out with two ziplock bags of cards. "We have Uno and Go Fish," she announced, taking out the uno cards on the coffee table and shuffling them. Allen slid onto the floor to sit across from her with his back against the couch.

"Miss Mira?" She looked up from the cards. Allen leaned on the table with his chin resting on his hands. "Am I...cute?"

Miranda bit her lip to keep from giggling madly as he looked up at her with his inquiring grey eyes. "Yes," she exhaled. "You are a very adorable young man. Now, what's the matter?"

He sighed. "The girl at the park, Road, she said I was cute." Miranda took out the Go Fish cards and started to shuffle them with an "oh my". Allen sat up to rest his elbows on the table. "She said she liked my hair too."

"Uh, oh, I think she might have a little crush on you," Miranda said a little teasingly. "She didn't kiss you did she?"

Allen turned bright red. He shook his head quickly. "N-No! That's gross Miss Mira!" She giggled as Leenalee came back into the room and sat down at the end of the table. "What's going on here?"

"A girl told Allen she liked him," Miranda said. Leenalee raised her eye brows and looked at Allen which only deepened the color in his cheeks. "It was Road."

Leenalee shook her head. "Her father gives me a wierd feeling," Leenalee said as Miranda dealt the Uno cards. "He seemed nice enough, but he was so trusting of us so quickly. I'm a little worried."

"He's coming here tomorrow Allen, with Road," Miranda said. "We may be looking after her too."

Allen dropped his forehead to the table and groaned. Miranda couldn't help giggling at his reaction. He was so adorable when he acted like this. She would make sure to discuss it with Sheryl tomorrow since he did seem bothered. They played a game of Uno while waiting for the frozen pizza to cook. They had at least a month's worth of food. The servings would have to change if they were taking care of Road as well, but they tried not to think about that. Allen was here because his guardian was completely irresponsible and if Road's father was so busy that he needed help desperatly enough to ask two strangers, well, better them than some creepy old lady with a bunch of cats.

They ate around the coffee table and watched Allen's choice of movie, The Rescuers. After the movie they fell asleep together on a pallet Leenalee had laid out. The rain drummed lazily on the roof outside, mixing with the gloom of grey sky. Allen curled up close to Leenalee as he slept. Today they lost their jobs and were once again part of those unemployed, yet she didn't feel any worse about the situation. Honestly, with Allen laying so close to her, the world could have ended but she wouldn't have cared as long as he remained there with her and Miranda. He was their little white haired angel.