AN this story is something that I've been thinking of for a while. It is a songfic and there is character death. Enjoy.

DISCLAIMER not mine, song or WH but I own the parents.

She walks to school with the lunch she packed

Nobody knows what she's holding back

Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday

She hides the bruises with the linen and lace oh

Claudia was little. She was only six years old. Her mum was dead. Those three months had been the worst in her life. Everyday she gets up and makes her lunch. She has one dress not soiled by blood and rips from where he'd thrown her. She'll wash it again that night and she'll wear it again tomorrow. But she'd have to be quick about it. If she didn't want daddy beating her too badly tonight...but that had become inevitable with Joshua gone. He left for collage. He had a future in this world...something Claudia was told nightly that she would never have.

The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask

It's hard to see the pain behind the mask

Baring the burden of a secret storm

Sometimes she wishes she was never born

"Earth to Claudia! Helooooo! Anybody in there?" came Pete's obnoxious calls. The file they were looking at was one about a man, a man that Claudia knew all too well. Artie's eyes fixed her with a perching gaze. "Anything you wish to share with the class, Miss Donovan?"

"No sir."

Myka studied her for a moment. She opened her mouth to ask her something but closed it after a second thought. She would ask her over a cup of cocoa with marshmallows and home made whipped cream. They turned back to the case. "Pete, Myka you two are taking Claudia on the field. If she's to be a felid agent she needs practice." In any other circumstance Claudia would've been overjoyed. But not then.

Through the wind and the rain

She stands hard as a stone

In a world that she can't rise above

But her dreams give her wings

And she flies to a place where she's loved

Concrete angel

The case was going beautifully. Myka, Pete and Claudia found their bad guy and the artifact. They were about to pack it up when a gun shot fired. Then they realized that they had, indeed, snagged bagged and soon would tag an artifact but not the one causing the case. They had caught one bad guy but the wrong one. An unsuspecting cop was taken down by the shot and the others pulled their own guns and followed the sound of heavy foot falls...the obvious sound of somebody running. Pete and Myka charged after them, Tesla and gun at the ready. Both told her to stay put. She unwillingly obliged. She thought of her family, the Warehouse, and of her life before the Mental Hospital. Life was easier saying that she was a run-away foster kid. Nobody really questioned that. But saying that you were a run-away kid from your own father? That brought up many unpleasant questions and battle wounds. She thought of what got her through those times. Her brother. Her mother. Her music. Music was the only thing truly could calm her down. It kept her mother alive in her heart. Claudia was so wrapped up in her own thoughts of the one good part of her childhood that she hardly noticed the demon of a man who mad her life living hell walk up behind her. "I knew that I'd find you one day, you little bitch." He held a cloth to her mouth and nose. She noted, before passing out, that his voice hadn't changed and that he still held her too tight.

Somebody cries in the middle of the night

The neighbors hear but they turn out the light

A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate

When morning comes it'll be too late

Claudia woke to gruff hands pulling her out of her dark slumber. She cried out. She didn't expect this to be happening; she didn't want to die so soon. Her father's hand came down upon her cheek. "You look so much like your mother. And how do you show her respect? By dying your hair? By leaving me? You are nothing like her! She only left in death and so will you!" His breath stank of beer and scotch. Claudia moaned quietly. There was no chance of escape. She was in the secret basement. There were no windows and only one door that was latched and bolted with three padlocks. Even if she screamed the neighbors would never hear her in time. He kept beating her to the ground. When she fell he kicked her in the ribs. She heard a small crack and fire burned in her chest. She didn't once beg for mercy. She knew better. And she wanted to be with her mother. He kept kicking her. Finally he picked her up by the shoulders. He smashed her back and head against the concrete walls. Claudia felt something warm and sticky slid through her hair and drip onto her "Stars" concert shirt. He banged her again and again. She drifted off into darkness. She didn't even feel the pain leave her body or feel her acute senses falter and stop.

Through the wind and the rain

She stands hard as a stone

In a world that she can't rise above

But her dreams give her wings

And she flies to a place where she's loved

Concrete angel

"The man who killed the cop was a distraction." Myka hated it when her partner was right. And he was. They followed his instincts and it led them to a storm cellar out in the middle of a field. Inside they found a man laughing hysterically, muttering to himself over and over, "I saved them. She is gone. They are free!" Pete pointed his gun at the crazed man. "Pssst! Myka," he whispered, "somebody is a wee bit loco in the coco..." he did some unusual gestures to the man in the corner. "Just cuff him Pete...I think that we have bigger fish right now." She nodded her head in the direction of the mass in the corner. The deputy came down and took the insane murderer out after cuffing him and getting two cops to help restrain him. Myka and Pete walked quickly over to the corner. They silently hoped that what all odds were pointing at was not the case here. Then a small slosh. They look down. Blood. Pete knew that Myka couldn't handle another death on the job and he couldn't even fathom what he would do without his 'sister' anymore. "Just don't get ahead of yourself, Pete. Check the body first." Myka said it as if she read his mind. She was simply thinking the same thing. In one second, the one second that it took to discover who to body belonged to, both agents wished that they were in the girls place. Staring back at them was the lifeless, bruised, and bloody face of their beloved Claudia, the tech girl and, now never to be, the future Warehouse Caretaker.

A statue stands in a shaded place

An angel girl with an upturned face

A name is written on the polished rock

A broken heart that the world forgot

The small family of Claudia Donovan stood around her grave. They all agreed that she had been much too young. Mrs. Fredric stood in the middle of the circle. She gently placed something before Claudia's grave. As she placed the small angel statue she read the tomb stone. "Claudia Donovan. Beloved sister and friend. There was nothing you could do. You will be missed. RIP" They way she read it the Warehouse staff grew hopeful that the small angel statue placed before the polished rock would revive their friend. Claudia's spirit watched them. Her family. She would wait for them, she decided. She would at least wait for Artie, she laughed out. The agents heard a sound on the wind, it was Claudia's laugh. That gave our little dead genius an idea. "I love all of you so much. Please never forget me." All of them looked around. Leena told them that she felt Claudia's presence there. "We will all miss you more than words can say," came Artie's gentle voice. Claudia saw a light. As she walked towards it she saw her mother smile at her. "Hey baby girl. Come on, we've got family waiting for us." Claudia smiled back but shook her head. "I need to stay and wait for them, Mom. I'll miss them too much if I don't." The older woman nodded her head. "I understand baby. I'll just wait with you." And that's what they did.

Through the wind and the rain

She stands hard as a stone

In a world that she can't rise above

But her dreams give her wings

And she flies to a place where she's loved

Concrete angel

AN2: Don't say that I didn't warn you.