Enjoy.

Act 0

I don't think I could really hate them.

How could I?

It wasn't her fault he left her for a younger woman. And it wasn't his fault that he no longer felt anything for the family he had built for himself. They didn't need me- never needed me. I was simply the one thing that kept them together for so long. If not for the responsibility, would they have really lived a lie for 10 years?

A lie of success, love, and togetherness? Of course not. They were just afraid of judgement. Of being scrutinized. Even when every person had a terrible flaw, they had to look for one in everyone else. My parents didn't want their flaws to be seen. They didn't want to be so dangerously imperfect.

No, I don't blame them at all...

I just wish they hadn't left me behind.

She was lost in the sound of music when he came to her door.

"Sweetheart," A deep voice called to her, causing Tracy to drowsily remove herself from the daze she was in. There he stood at her bedroom door, a knapsack in one hand and his phone in the other. He looked young, too young to be related to Marie. But he was her uncle, no matter what anyone said or thought.

"You ready?"

Tracy looked up from her place on the floor. The magazine she had been pretending to read for the past hour as the moving men shuffled through her mothers house fell limp into her lap. Removing her earphones, Tracy slowly leaned up from her beanbag and swept her eyes over the otherwise vacant room. It was dusty, dark, and it no longer looked like the room she had lived in for the past ten years.

She hated what she saw.

Tracy wasn't ready. She would probably never be ready to move on. Leonardo knew that. But one look into his tired gray eyes and Tracy already knew that words weren't going to change anything. She was leaving this place behind, and there was no time to mull over lost chances anymore.

"Yeah..." Tracy muttered under her breath as she hauled herself to her feet, bangs falling into her eyes.

"I'm ready."

"Let's go then." Her uncle said with a small smile, gesturing for her to bring her stuff as he vanished from the doorway and headed to the truck waiting outside of the house.

Tracy bit her cheek as she lifted a thick leg over the beanbag and stood up, magazine abandoned on the floor. She took one last look at her home, the home she had shared with her mother for years before the woman left her behind for good, and took a deep breath before saying goodbye for the last time.

She didn't hear the house sign in return as she slammed the door behind her.

"I know you don't know me well..." Leon murmured to his niece as they drove down the highway, country music wafting from the truck.

Tracy didn't look away from the window as her hair blew with the wind, eyes on the tree that sped past her view. The sun was setting, and the light matched the color of her eyes as she stared into the distance.

"You don't know me well either." She replied after a beat, not bothering to turn around when her uncle sent a glance her way.

It was true that the man hadn't been there to watch Tracy grow into a woman. The last time he had seen her, she had been a thin little thing with big doe eyes and a crooked grin. Now she was tall, almost taller than him even- and her hair was no longer a glossy black, her eyes no longer shined with youth, and she was no longer the tiny thing that used to jump into his lap when he visited.

Now she was quiet, forlorn, and when she looked him in the eyes there was no mirth there. In a way, she looked just as her mother did the last time he had seen her, over 10 years ago. Granted, Tracy had never been as beautiful or flawless as Marie was.

His sister had been beyond words. When she walked by, eyes would follow her without fail. Even as she aged, her beauty was immortal. Her eyes always sparkled, her skin was always glowing, and despite her small stature she towered over everyone with her unbreakable spirit. No, Tracy was not like her mother, Instead, Tracy was the spitting image of her father, except for the hair, and when Leon used to looked at her when she was a kid, he saw intelligence and a thoughtful spirit.

Completely different from Marie's carefree laughter, gay smiles, and airy way of thinking.

Now though, all he saw was bitterness in Tracy's eyes.

"Well..." Leon's voice was slightly hesitant as he absently reached up to scratch his stubble. "If we're going to be living together from now on, I figure we should get to know each other."

"You should have tried to do that 10 years ago." Tracy retorted almost immediately, her lips widening into a grimace.

Leonardo could only tighten his hand on the steering wheel at that, the meaning behind his nieces words very clear. She didn't blame him for Marie dying, but she did blame him for not being there for her when her husband ruined their lives.

Despite the agony seeping into him at the brunettes cold words, Leonardo couldn't help but agree.

He should have been there for them. And from now on, even though he couldn't save Marie, he would do his best to make it up to Tracy and give her the love her parents had never bothered to share with her. She needed a family now, and he would be the person to give it to her. He was a man who thrived on solitude, but he would change that for her. He owed it to Marie and he hoped he could do a good job of raising Tracy.

At least...if she would have him.

"I'm sorry Tracy." Leonardo murmured, his voice barely audible as they approached a fork in the road.

By the sigh his niece let out at that moment though, it was clear that she heard him.

I have read many stories where the MC is heavier than average, but then gets a makeover and becomes the beautiful girl everyone either loves or loves to hate. Since I have personally gone through a time where depression caused me to gain some unwanted baggage and then only managed to be rid of it once I gained needed support, I wondered what it would be like to read a story where love blossoms because of the spirit, not just because of the physical attraction.

So I decided to write it. I'm not the best writer though, I will admit this. But I will do my best to make this worth my -and your- while. Tracy is overweight yes, but that will not be the only focus of the story.

Enjoy. You may not hear from me in A/N's much after this but support would be welcomed immensely. ^^