Melanie Jayne Chisholm, who was fourteen, was babysitting a
little
girl named
Rachel Marie Stansell, who was two. Melanie knew Rachel because their
mothers
had been best friends when they were young and still were best friends.
Melanie had been babysitting Rachel ever since she was old enough to be
left
with a babysitter. Melanie knew her and this girl would be close the
moment
she laid eyes on her, which was three days after Rachel was born, and
she was
right. Since Melanie had no sisters, she always called Rachel her
sister.
	Right now, Melanie was sitting on the edge of Rachel's bed
singing her
to
sleep. Every time Melanie babysat Rachel late at night, she would sing
the
same song:

	"She's got a smile that it seems to me,
	  Reminds me of childhood memories,
	  Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky-y-y"
	
	As Melanie continued singing, she smiled as Rachel squirmed
around
under the
covers, closed her eyes and yawned.

	"She's got the eyes of the bluest skies, 
	  As if they thought of rain,
	  I hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain,
	  Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place,
	  Where as a child I'd hi-ide,
	  And pray for thunder,
	  And rain to quietly pass me by-y,
    	  Oh, oh, oh, oh sweet child o' mine,"

	It wasn't one of Melanie's favorite songs, and she didn't see
where it
could
put anyone to sleep, but Rachel seemed to like it. Besides, it reminded
Melanie of Rachel. As Melanie finished singing, she looked at Rachel.
She was
sound asleep on her right side with her hands under her face, looking
like she
was praying.
	"My angel," Melanie whispered as she brushed some of Rachel's
blonde
hair off
her face, "My little angel."
	She stood up, pulled the pink sheet up to Rachel's shoulders,
and went
downstairs to wait for Rachel's parents to come home from work.
	
		Two years later...
	Melanie was grief stricken when her mother told her the news.
Rachel's
mother
was killed in a car wreck... Her dad went berserk, got drunk, killed a
man...Rachel taken to an orphanage...All the news clustered in her mind.
	"No..." was all she could say, "No,.. Mum...please tell me your
kidding,"
Joan could barely hear her she was so quiet. Melanie walked over to her
mum
and cried onto her shoulder.
	Two months later Melanie was still in shock. She had hunted all
the
local
children's orphanages looking for Rachel.  Joan had promised that if
Melanie
could find her, she would adopt her when she saw how shooken up Melanie
was
when she realized Rachel was really gone. Melanie had no luck finding
her. All
she could think was "I'll never see her again... I didn't get to say
goodbye..." over and over.

	Present day...
	Melanie was lying in her hotel room's bed crying silently
clutching two
framed pictures. One of the pictures was  of two girls. One of the
girls was
just a baby and one was a teenager. The girls were Melanie and Rachel.
Melanie
was thirteen in the picture and Rachel was one.  She remembered when the
picture was taken. Phyllis, Rachel's mother, had taken Rachel to a
place where
you could get professional photos done, just to have a good picture of
her as
a little baby and she invited Melanie to go along with them. They set
Rachel
up on the little table and right when the camera man was about to take
the
picture, Rachel realized she was alone and she burst into tears.
Melanie ran
to her and picked her up until she finished crying and sat her back
down. Then
Rachel started crying again. Phyllis laughed at this and told Melanie
to just
have her picture taken with Rachel, and that worked. The other picture
was
when only of Rachel. It was taken when she  was three. Phyllis had
taken her
to the same place to get some more photos done and again, she invited
Melanie.
Rachel didn't cry this time, but she was frowning almost to tears and
she
wouldn't look up. she had her head down staring at the floor. Phyllis
told
Melanie to stand beside the cameraman (who happened to be the same one
that
took the other picture two years ago) and just talk to Rachel. Rachel
wouldn't
look up at her and she didn't realize who was talking to her. So
Melanie just
kept talking and then Rachel looked up and saw who it was, then she
managed a
half-smile. The camera man took the picture then, and then Rachel began
laughing hysterically and the cameraman took another picture. Phyllis
gave
Melanie the one of Rachel with the half-smile because Melanie had
commented
that she liked that one better. She told Phyllis that if she ever
needed a
photo to remind her of Rachel that would be the one because she saw
Rachel
with that look more often then laughing hysterically. Melanie was
jerked out
of her thoughts by the ring of the telephone.
	"Hello?" Melanie listened intently for the next few seconds,
then a
smile
crept across her face. "RACHEL!!!" she screamed.
	Now, all four girls were in the airport. Melanie couldn't sit
down she
was so
excited. She walked back and forth in front of them while telling them
about
Rachel.	
	"And I got a call yesterday an...and it was her! She's twelve
now.
She's been
living in Alabama with this couple that's adopted about fifty million
kids...
Anyway, someone she knows used to live in Widnes and they gave her a
ten-year-
old phone book and while Rachel was lookin' through it, she saw
Dennis's name
in it and she called the number!`She got Mum and they talked for, gosh,
HOURS.
Then Mum gave her the hotel number yesterday and she called me. And now
she's
coming here and we're taking her home with us! Gawd! I can't believe
it!"
Melanie, Victoria and Emma just stared as Melanie rambled on and on.
	Two hours later, Melanie calmed down a bit when she realized
Rachel
wouldn't
be arriving any time soon, even though she still had butterflies in her
stomach. She was sitting next to Emma who was looking through a photo
album
that Melanie's mum had brought them about thirty minutes ago to keep
them
busy. She had brought two photo albums, and Melanie G and Victoria were
looking through the other one. Both of them were nothing but pictures of
Melanie and Rachel, and boy were they full.
	"She was a lovely little girl, Melanie," Emma commented.
	"Hmm?" Melanie was busy thinking about what she and Rachel would
do
when she
finally got there. "Oh, wasn't she though?"
	They began laughing at the pictures of her and Rachel acting
like
nutters.
	Melanie was mid sentence when she heard it. She was bent over in
her
chair
pointing to a picture. She said "I remember when that was...." then she
gasped, sat up and listened. She had heard the sweetest voice you've
ever
heard singing:

	"She's got the eyes of the bluest skies, 
	  As if they thought of rain,
	  I hate to look into those eyes and see and ounce of pain,
	  Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place,
	  Where as a child I'd hi-ide,
	  And pray for thunder,
	  And rain to quietly pass me by-y,
    	  Oh, oh, oh, oh sweet child o' mine,"
	
	Melanie stood up and slowly turned around. She spotted the
person who
was
singing it. She looked nothing like Rachel except for in the eyes and
her
smile. The girl was staring right at Melanie and smiling.
	Melanie stared right back for a few moments then asked,
"Rachel?"
	The girl stopped singing and broke out into a huge grin and
nodded
slowly.
They started walking towards each other slowly as if they were scared
of each
other, then they started running. When they reached each other, they
wrapped
their arms tightly around each other and Melanie swung Rachel around.
They
both burst into tears of joy because they finally met again and tears of
sadness thinking of how long they'd been apart. The other three just
looked at
the two girls in awe. They'd never seen Melanie so happy as when she saw
Rachel.
	"Gawd, I thought I'd never see you again," Melanie cried into
Rachel's
neck.
Rachel said nothing, just tightened her arms around Melanie. "You know
you
still smell like you did when you were a baby?" Melanie asked Rachel as
they
parted. Rachel didn't reply. She just laughed a little. She rested her
hands
on Rachel's shoulders after she had wiped away Rachel's tears. "I didn't
recognize you with this hair," she said as she stoked the back of
Rachel's
head. It was now strawberry blond, but you could see brown roots.
	Rachel laughed, "Ya, it turned brown when I was... I think six..
then
this
summer I put that stuff called Sun-In in it and it turned red. I think
it's
lighter now, though."
	"Your eyes are hazel now, too. They used to be baby blue.. I
hate I
missed
out on so much.." Melanie sighed, almost in tears again.. "Oh! Come
meet the
girls!"
	"Kay," Rachel giggled.
	"Same giggle as well," Melanie laughed in her head. "Melanie,
Emma,
Victoria,
this is Rachel."
	"Hey," said Rachel very shyly.
	"C'mon," said Emma, who loved children, as she leaned over and
took
Rachel's
left hand as Melanie took the other, "Let's get ourselves home."
	Now they were all in the back of the limo, listening to Rachel
tell
them
what's been going on. "I've been living with these people, Chris and Amy
Johnson in Alabama. They've adopted 7 kids, not including me. There's
Jennifer, Lauren, Ashley, Heather, Taylor, Randy and David. Five girls
and two
boys. Oh! I've lost my accent as if you couldn't tell, Melanie. Didn't
have
THAT for very long did I?"
	"Rachel," Emma interrupted, "if you don't mind me asking, I was
wondering,
why were you taken from your parents anyway? We asked Melanie so we
wouldn't
have to bother you, but she couldn't tell us without bawling on my
shoulder."
Emma looked over at Melanie who was sitting beside Rachel. Melanie was
busy
studying the girls face features. She was obviously amazed by how much
she'd
changed.
	Rachel didn't have a single tear in her eye when she answered,
"I've
been
asked that a million times, so it doesn't really bother me telling it
anymore.
Well, my mom was in a car wreck when I was four. The next night my dad
left me
with a different babysitter 'cos he couldn't get a hold of Melanie. 
Anyways,
he went to some bar, got drunk and killed somebody just for looking at
him
wrong. So, since he got the death sentence, they put me in an
orphanage. Just
so happened, the very next day, Amy and Chris were in the home looking
for a
child from another country to adopt. Since I was the youngest one
there, they
chose me. So that's why Melanie couldn't find me when she hunted for
me, "
	"Wait a minute," interrupted Emma, "How did you know she
looked?"
	"She told me on the phone yesterday. Anyways, she couldn't find
me
because I
was already gone." 
	"Oh God...." said Victoria. "I'm so sorry," she patted Rachel's
knee.
	"Nuttin' big anymore," said Rachel. "You get used to not having
someone
around after awhile.."
	"Your a brave kid, you know that?" asked Mel G who had been
unusually
quiet,
"I could have never gone through all that.."
	Rachel half-smiled like she did in that picture Melanie had and
looked
over
at her to find Melanie staring at her. "What?" asked Rachel flashing a
full
smile at her.
	Melanie shook her head. "Nuttin.. I just can't believe how much
you've
grown
up an..." a single tear fell down her cheek. "And I missed it all."
	Rachel wrapped her arms around Melanie and let her cry onto her
shoulder and
then Rachel began to cry after a few minutes. "Ya know.." Rachel began,
"Ya
know I thought about you every day?"
	Melanie smiled and let go of Rachel. She brushed a strand of
Rachel's
hair
back behind her ear and smiled at her. "Me too, hon... me too.."
	The others just stared at the two girls in awe again and Emma
was the
only
was that really understood how Melanie felt. Melanie had told her A LOT
while
they were looking through the albums.
	Rachel reached into her small purse and pulled something out and
showed it to
Melanie who showed it to the others. It was the picture of Rachel and
Melanie
that Melanie had a copy of.
	"That's all I had. All these years, that's all I had to remember
you
by. That
one picture."
	"Hey, Melanie," asked Mel G. "Isn't that the picture you take
everywhere with
you?"
	Melanie just smiled and nodded. Rachel looked at Melanie. "You
have
that
picture too?!" 
	"Yeah...." Melanie sighed. "Your mum gave me one too since she
got
twenty
pictures. I've got this one too," and she leaned over and grabbed the
bag that
was sitting beside Mel G. She dug around in it for a few minutes and
pulled
out the black and white picture of Rachel with that cute little half
smile.
Rachel stared at it. Then she looked up at the others. "You know I've
never
seen this picture before in my life? I have no baby pictures what so
ever
other than that one right there. She pointed to the picture that
Victoria was
holding.
	 Emma smiled and looked at Melanie. "Well, uh, sweets? You've
got A
LOT to
look at!" and she pulled out the two photo albums that were settled
beside
her.
Rachel laughed and took them. They all looked through them the rest of
the way
home.
	That night, Melanie and Rachel were asleep in Melanie's room.
Rachel
had been
offered the guest room but Rachel said she would get lonely since she
had
shared a room with Ashley since she had been adopted by Amy and Chris.
So
Melanie now had to get another bed put in her room, soon. She didn't
mind
though. Melanie woke up around 3:00 am. She rolled over to look at
Rachel. She
had her hands under her face like she was praying just like she used to.
Melanie smiled, wrapped her arm around Rachel and fell asleep.	
	It was now 6:00 am, Rachel was still asleep and Melanie was on
the
phone with
Emma.
	"Whadda think, Em? Should I do it? Should I adopt her?"
	"Well, it's not my call, but if I were you I'd ask her if she
would
like it
if I did and then I'd call Amy and...ummm.. what was his name?"
	"Chris"
	"Yeah, that's it.  I'd call Amy and Chris and ask them if it was
OK
with
them. I mean, God, Mel, she's practically your daughter, now. You used
to
think you two were practically sisters but now that you're twenty four
and
she's twelve, you feel more like you have to take care of her, like a
mother."
	"How did you know I felt like that?"
	"I could just tell. I could see it in your eyes."
	"Hm," said Melanie "Oh! Rachel's coming down the stars, I better
go
fix her
breakfast. Bye Emma."
	"See, you're already acting like a mum!" Emma laughed at her,
"Bye
Melanie."
	Melanie hung up and Rachel sat down beside her. Melanie couldn't
help
laughing at how she looked. She was still in an oversized shirt and
boxers
with her hair going every way you could imagine and Rachel was still
half-
asleep so she didn't noticed Melanie laughing. Put one arm around her
after
she finished laughing.
	"Hungry hon?" Melanie asked her.
	"A little bit," replied Rachel rubbing her eyes.
	"Ya know you still look like your praying when you sleep just
like you
used
to?" asked Melanie as they walked into the kitchen.
	"Yep yep yep," Rachel said as she jumped up on the counter.
"Ashley,
you
know, the girl I shared the room with? Anyway, Ashley used to freak out
'cos I
do it every night. You remember me doing it?"
	"Yes, hon," Melanie sighed and stopped looking through the
refrigerator to
look at Rachel. "You were my little sister."
	"We were really close weren't we? I don't remember a lot. I only
remember
time like when I would miss Mom and Dad when you were babysitting me
and you'd
hold me 'till I'd cry myself to sleep. And times when you'd play with
my doll
house with me and stuff."
	Melanie resumed looking through the fridge and found some stuff
that
Rachel
would like. While Melanie was fixing their breakfast she told Rachel
about how
she was thinking about adopting her if Rachel wanted her to and if Amy
and
Chris said it was okay. When Rachel heard this, she screamed with
happiness
and ran over to hug Melanie tightly.
	"Gonna make up for the last eight years, Melanie?" asked Rachel
in a
sweet
voice that reminded Melanie of the way she used to sound like.
	Melanie's eyes filled with tears when Rachel asked her this. She
hadn't
realized she had missed out on so much and much more, she hadn't
realized it
had been that long. "And then some," she replied tightening her arms
around
Rachel.
	That night, once again, Melanie woke up at 3:00 am. She looked
at
Rachel just
like she had done the night before. Rachel looked exactly like she had
the
night before with her hands under her face.
	"My angel," Melanie called her just like she used to as she
brushed
the hair
off Rachel's face. 
	A month later, Rachel was back home in Alabama. Chris and Amy
said OK
about
Melanie adopting Rachel after two weeks of hard thinking. They told
Melanie on
the phone that they decided she could adopt Rachel since the two girls
were so
very close at one point and they saw how much Melanie missed Rachel.
When Amy
and Melanie were talking on the phone, Melanie started telling her
about how
much she missed Rachel all those years and she started bawling into the
phone.
So Rachel was only to be in Alabama a week to pack the rest of her
stuff and
come back.
	In the four weeks that Melanie and Rachel were together, Melanie
had
gotten
used to having Rachel around again. She was feeling lonely while she
shopped
in the grocery store.  She smiled when she heard someone singing:
	
	"She's got the eyes of the bluest skies, 
	  As if they thought of rain,
	  I hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain,
	  Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place,
	  Where as a child I'd hi-ide,
	  And pray for thunder,
	  And rain to quietly pass me by-y,"
		
	She turned around half expecting Rachel to be there, only to
find a
grown
woman in her late twenties or early thirties singing the song. Melanie
thought
of the girl that she would have back with her in only a few days. She
though
about how every time she thought of Rachel, she thought of how Rachel
slept on
her side with her hands under her face.
	"My angel," whispered Melanie thinking she was the only one that
could
hear
herself.
	"I'm sorry, what?" asked the lady that had been singing the song
quietly.
	"Well, I guess you weren't talking quiet enough were you
Melanie?" she
asked
herself in her head.  Melanie shook her head and smiled at the woman.
"Nothing. It's just the song you were singing reminded me of someone."
	"I'm sorry," stated the woman as she tossed something into her
buggy.
"I
thought you said you needed something." The woman looked up at Melanie
for the
first time. "You know who you look like?"
	"Myself?" Melanie thought to herself, but she said out loud,
"Who?"
	"That Sporty Spice... Hmm.." The woman shrugged and walked away.
	Melanie rolled her eyes and then returned her thoughts to
Rachel. She
thought
about her for the rest of the day and that night, she went to the tattoo
parlor and drug Emma with her for company. When Rachel came back to
live with
her new mother, she was going to find out that she was now a part of
Melanie
for the rest of Melanie's life no matter what.