The Boondock Saints: Belle Macmanus

Part One

10 years ago.

No ones POV
Connor and Murphy were on their way to church, they were walking through an alley, when they heard someone crying, they looked around and they found a little girl, she had a dead mouse in her hand, her hair was like rats tails, she was dirty and her clothes were not made for this kind of Irish weather, "Sweetheart are you okay?!" Murphy asked, "T-t-the dog, I-it killed my mouse" She said crying, "Come on, love, don't touch that, you could get a disease" Connor said, "I don't care he was my friend!" She cried, murphy looked at Connor with worry in his eyes, "where's your parents?" Murphy asked putting his hand on her shoulder, "They left me a few weeks ago, they said I was too much work and they didn't want me" she said crying, Connor pulled his brother over to the side, "we cant just leave her here" Connor said, "I know, but we can't put her into the system either, remember how Daniel got treated in foster care? I ain't gonna willingly put a little girl into that" Murphy replied, "poor soul, she's bawling her eyes out, what do we do?" Connor asked, "should we...keep her? We could get her away from Ireland, give her a new life, we'll raise her." Murphy said, "I'm thinking the same thing" Connor said, he then walked over and crouched down next to her, "Hiya angel, what's your name?" He asked her, "I-I don't have one" she said, still crying, "ye don't have a name? Well how old are you then?" Connor asked, "1874 days" she replied, Connor then looked up at his brother shocked at how she could count like that, "what age is that?" Murphy asked, also shocked "5" she said, "Do you wanna come with us? We'll take care of ya" murphy asked, "I was always told not to go anywhere with strangers" She said through her tears, "well, I'mConnor, and this is my brother, Murphy, now we're not strangers are we?" Connor said, "I-I guess n-not" She said, "now, leave the mouse there and we'll go back home and get you cleaned up" Murphy said, "no, I can't just leave him on the ground, he needs a casket" she said, they didn't want to, but she was so teary eyed that they just couldn't say, they knew in the years to come she would be able to use those same puppy dog eyes against them.

Murphy found an old shoe box and opened it, "here, put him in here" Murphy said, "he needs a pillow" She said, Connor took his gloves off and placed them one over the other then put them in the box, she then placed the little brown mouse in the shoe box, she kissed her finger and placed it on the Mouse' head and Murphy closed the box, "over here, this is where I found him a few weeks ago" she said pointing to the old dumpster, "Place him under here so he'll be okay if it rains" she said, still crying a little bit, murphy then placed it exactly where she asked, "Let's go now love" Connor said holding his hand out, "Bye bye charlie" she said softly as she waved at the shoe box, "My legs are too tired" she said, Connor was going to say she'll have to just fight through it but then he looked down at her, she was giving him puppy dog eyes..
He reached down and picked her up and she rested her head on his shoulder.

When they arrived home she had already fallen asleep.
"Who's this little lass?" Their mother, Annabelle, asked, "we found her in the ally behind the old pub, she was abandoned, and she was crying over a dead mouse" Murphy said, "oh she's freezing, poor child, murphy get her a blanket from yer room" she said, murphy did as he was told, he came back into the living room and Connor was on the couch, with the girl in his arms, he was swaying her side to side as she slept, murphy immediately knew she had him wrapped around her finger, and that she would soon have murphy wrapped around her finger too.

After a few hours she woke up, "Excuse me, miss" she said politely, "yes, love?" Annabelle smiled, "Thank you taking me in" she said, "you're quite welcome darling" Annabelle smiled, "Connor, murphy, come through here and help me get the poor lass cleaned up" Annabelle shouted through the house.

They came through, Annabelle handed Connor a hair brush and told Murphy to make the girl some food.
"Ow" she kept saying as Connor tried to brush the knots out of her hair, whilst she was eating a sandwich.

She then had a bath and the boys borrowed some clothes from the neighbour who had a daughter about the same age so her clothes would fit.

"Yer gonna share a room with the boys, there's an extra bed in there, you can sleep on that" Annabelle said, "thank you miss" she smiled, "you can call me ma, if you want to" Annabelle smiled at her.

The next morning they all woke up and sat in the living room, the girl sat on murphys lap.

"So what's your name anyway?" Annabelle asked, "she doesn't have one, ma" Murphy said, "she doesn't have a name?" Annabelle questioned, "they told me I wasn't worth it, that I didn't need one" she said, Murphy just looked at his brother and mum, "Murph cover her ears a second" Annabelle said, murphy then placed his hand over the girls ears, "when I was giving her a bath last night, she had bruises on her, like hand prints, I'm glad you boys brought her in, she's safe now" Annabelle said, "us too" They both said, Murphy then moved his hands away from her ears.

"What do you want your name to be?" Connor asked her, "I don't know" she replied, "what about Annabelle? After you, ma, we could call her belle for short" Murphy said, they then all agreed that would be her name, Annabelle.

"Ma, we were thinking about taking belle over to Boston when Connor and I turn 18, to give her a new start in life, how would you feel about that?" Murphy asked. "Well I certainly would miss yous but I think it for the best for her" Annabelle said ruffling Belle's hair.

So, a few weeks after the boys 18th birthday, they headed to Boston.