How We Got Here; A Sisters Grimm Fanfiction

Crossposted from fanfiction.net

***

On the last day of fourth grade, Sabrina Grimm's life changed forever.

She'd run home from school that day, excited to show her grades to her parents, only to find them gone. It hadn't been that big a deal at first. It was a little weird that they hadn't been home, since they'd promised to take her out for dinner if she had a good report card, but she decided that her mom had probably gone off to meet with one of her activist groups, and that her dad was probably buying the groceries or something. So she ate the last of the pretzels and waited for them to get home, munching contentedly on her snack.

It was when she got that phone call that she started getting worried. There was no way they'd forgotten to pick Daphne up. Daphne was their baby, and because she was so sweet, she was aspoiled baby. They never made her wait to get picked up, and they definitely wouldn't ever forget her. Sabrina bit her lip nervously, but she handled the call expertly, telling the teacher that her parents were out, and she would come pick Daphne up right away.

Daphne was, unusually, not happy when Sabrina picked her up. "I want Mommy!" she whined.

"Well, Mom's not here, so you'll have to settle for me," Sabrina muttered.

They walked silently along the sidewalks, emptier than usual now- it was very late for Daphne to be picked up, and the clouds were thick and dark overhead, looming with a storm to come.

"I'm hungry," Daphne pouted.

"Then I'll cook something," Sabrina said, not pointing out that Daphne was always hungry. "What do you want?"

"Ice cream?" Daphne asked, running through the revolving door.

"After dinner," Sabrina said, following her more slowly. "Pick something healthy."

"But all the stuff I want needs to be cooked, and Daddy doesn't let you use the stove," Daphne pointed out, skipping her way across the lobby, her bad mood gone.

"Dad doesn't let anyone do anything," Sabrina said, punching their floor into the elevator. "Mom lets me. So what do you want?"

"What do we have?" Daphne asked, after thinking for a minute.

The elevator dinged three floors between her answers, and they got out and walked to their apartment.

Sabrina rolled her eyes, opening the front door. "I'll tell you when I know." She did so. "Not much. There's canned beans, half a gallon of milk, that box of crackers Mom won't throw out, more beans, a stick of butter, leftover spinach casserole, a cookie, a soggy head of lettuce that needs to be thrown out, snap peas, chicken nuggets, a little bit of ice cream, more beans, and two potatoes with a few eyes. What do you want?"

"Let's cook something new!" Daphne grinned.

They did. The peas, potatoes and crackers were sauteed in most of the butter with a little milk thrown in; what little lettuce was usable was salvaged with a few of the peas and some forgotten carrots; and they served it up on the fine china with chocolate milk in wine glasses.

"I like having dinner without Mom and Dad!" Daphne grinned. "We don't have to have manners all the time."

Sabrina, who had already started planning what they could do with the rest of the food in the house, took a minute to respond. "I don't. It's lonely."

Daphne shrugged. "I guess. Shouldn't they be back by now?"

Sabrina nodded. "And I can't even call them, because Mom left her phone here, and Dad's isn't working."

"Let's watch a movie," Daphne suggested. "We won't have to think about it."

They watched Beauty and the Beast, the only Disney movie Dad had let into the house, which had been a present for Daphne's fifth birthday. Daphne loved it, and Sabrina could stand it. They spent a happy two hours on that, and afterwards, Daphne began listing her plans for her upcoming birthday party, which the movie had reminded her of. Sabrina listened with half an ear.

"I want there to be pink unicorns everywhere, and I want a tiara!" Daphne was saying.

Sabrina blinked, realizing what her sister was saying. "You told me all this already," she said. "Your party's only five days from now."

Daphne grinned. "And my birthday's the day before that! The same day kindergarten ends!"

"I know," Sabrina said tersely. Seriously, it was all the kid had been talking about for a month. She wasn't going to forget her sister's birthday that fast.

"What's wrong?" Daphne asked.

Sabrina shook her head. "Nothing. Time for bed."

"But it's only seven thirty!" Daphne whined, apparently not noticing the abrupt subject shift.

"You bedtime's supposed to be eight," Sabrina said. "Dad's just a softie. Come on, it'll take you half an hour to get ready for bed anyway."

Daphne pouted, but got ready for bed, pulling on her Barbie pajamas, brushing her teeth, and begging Sabrina to read her five storybooks. Sabrina complied, finally getting her to bed around eight thirty. Afterwards, she walked to her room, grabbed her own book, sat down on her bed, thought for a minute, and got up and went to her parent's room. She curled up under the covers with her book, tried to read for a little while, then got up and turned on her mom's CD player. She read for a while, then looked up at a soft scratch on the floor. Daphne was standing in the doorway. She crawled into bed with Sabrina, and wrapped her arms around her.

Sabrina put her book down, turned off the light, and hugged Daphne back.

They stayed curled up like that for the rest of the night. Sabrina wasn't sure whether or not Daphne slept, but when she fell asleep, it was around three in the morning, and her last thought was that she was glad she didn't have school tomorrow.

The rain that had been threatening all day came, and poured down over the girl's roof, splattering against the windows.