Burning (911/Lone Star)

Prologue

(15 years ago in Boston at Lakeside General Hospital)

Outside the entrance of Lakeside General Hospital stood a twenty-one year old Maddie Buckley-Kendall, holding on tighy to a small bundle in her arms. Tears streamed down her face and dropped onto the bundle she held to her chest. A small whimper could be heard but she didn't know if it was coming from her or whom she held. Every nerve in her body told her to walk the other way and forget she had thought about this but her heart was telling her to walk in and give her up.

Her motherly instincts were contradicting each other, half said take her with you and the others told her to leave her there. Maddie had always dreamed of having a family, a husband who loved and provided for her and their children. But in reality she didn't have that, she had an abusive husband who manipulated her into believing he was sorry and he loved her and then once a few drinks were in him forgot all of his promises and turned violent.

Maddie didn't want that for her daughter, to be scared of the man who was meant to love, protect and support you. That was what had led her to the place she had given birth, to hand her baby over, to make sure she was safe. In her eyes she was protecting her daughter, trying her best to give her the life she deserved, to save her from her father. But in anothers eyes it would look like she was just abandoning her child, her blood and dna because she was scared.

And in a way that was correct.

Maddie Buckley was terrified that her four day old daughter would grow up in an abusive household and an unstable family. She didn't want Emily to witness her mother being beaten by her father, or for Emily herself to be harmed in anyway, so she was taking her away from the situation completely. That did mean that she was losing the chance to be a mother, but it was in Emily's best interests so she had to sacrifice her needs for her daughters, like a good mother.

Yes, there were other options, she could leave with Emily and run from Doug. But in Maddie's eyes a life in constant fear and running was no life for a little kid. Nobody except for the Kendall's had known about the pregnancy, Maddie kept it from her parents and younger brother Evan because none of the Buckley's had particulary high impressions of Doug Kendall and they didn't want their judgement.

Maddie hadn't been back home since she had given birth, she was staying at a friends house whilst she made up her mind. Her excuse was she was being kept in hospital for a few days because there had been a few complications with Emily's health and her own. Doug wasn't there when Emily was born and he hadn't even met his daughter yet, in reality or over a call or picture, he wasn't particulary bothered. 

What he was doing instead whilst his wife pushed his daughter out of her, was sit in a bar and drink, day after day and night after night. He would go to work till five in the afternoon and drive straight to the nearest bar and drink, waste all of their savings on alcohol, and strippers. He booked a stripper to come and 'entertain him' whilst his wife was gone. Doug Kendall was not a family man, he was not a kind man, he was an abusive and egotistical asshole.

So whilst Maddie and Emily had been away from him and at a friends, she was planning a way she could explain coming home without the baby. Her friend had a vague idea of what was going on in the Buckley household, not because Maddie told her, but because she was always there to clean her up, when she had 'fallen down the stairs' or 'whacked herself in the eye with the cupboard' or 'walked into the door'. Grace had never questioned her and Maddie was greatful.

And that was why she had given her name to her daughter as her middle name after her best friend. Grace was a strong and independent woman who never let anyone boss her about and knew her worth. Maddie hoped that Emily would have these qualities and that she would be brave and strong to survive the foster system. Maddie's excuse for staying with Grace was simple, 'Doug was on a business trip and had accidentally locked her out.'