"You would dare condemnation for my sake?"

"For the sake of any friend who deserved it."

Such would be my reply if ever asked such a thing.

 Family. Such a small word with such big emotions and attachments behind it. Family was safety. A place to return to whenever the trials of life got to be to hard. To recuperate with those who loved and understood you. Who would shelter you from the storms life threw at you from time to time and even carry you if need be. Family was Love, for who else could give such unconditional love to you even in your darkest moments when you even despised yourself and pick you back up? To set your feet back upon the right path, your path and help and guide you as you went. Family was so much, and yet, it didn't have to be blood. That was the hardest lesson Becca would have to learn in her long life and one that she struggled with even still today.

Growing up the way she had, she had never had the safety and support of family. Not until she was already grown and her ways seemed set. Trust, came hard for her, and love was a foreign concept altogether. She carried the scars of one who had walked the darkest path and survived, but only because she had been trained to do so. To be strong, to feel...nothing. It was only after her mother died and she was 'set free' that she realized later on that she had choice. That there was even another way to live. How frightening and confusing for one who had, up till now, known only the hardships of pain and sorrow and suffering. Hers, as well as others. Yet still, she tried and in trying, learned, grew, cared, loved. It took time, years actually, for her to find her feet on the path she now walks, but she is better for it.

And yet, still, when she is alone and left to her thoughts, the past trickles back in to whisper and to haunt her at nights when the world is hushed and still. Family. Even though she knows she has it now, it is hard to come to terms with. Just what was family? Friends she had grown to love? Actual blood relations who she knew loved her and yet still secretly feared her for what she was? She knew what she considered to be family and she knew she was blessed with those she considered hers, but at times, the doubt still lingers....is she worthy?