'What?!' Lin exclaimed, 'Are you sure?'

Vanessa had gone scarily pale now, and nodded. 'She left a note.'

'What note?' Lin asked, getting really worried.

'Not a suicide note, don't worry,' Vanessa said at her husband's reaction. 'Here. Read it.'

Lin took the note, and read it:

Dear Lin and Vanessa,

I am leaving, because I don't want to cause any trouble. I am too different from you, I would never be able to bond with you guys. Don't worry about me, I'll find another place to live. Thank you for the food and clothes.

Love, Denise

Lin looked at Vanessa, his eyes full of fear and distress. Vanessa on the the other hand, seemed to have calmed down, and had some strange sense of self confidence over her. 'Lin,' she said in a tone that could not be disobeyed, 'Call the social worker, I'll call the police.'

Lin nodded, he took his phone and dialed Rude Jones the Social Workaholic.

"Hello this is Ruth Jones."

"Hi Ruth you're talking to Lin-Manuel Miranda," Lin said, "Denise ran away and I'm really scared she might try to kill herself!"

"You mean Denisabella?" Ruth asked. Lin got mad at her. You know that she prefers to be called Denise! he thought, Why don't you act like it? "That's the girl I'm talking about," Lin answered.

"She didn't run away again did she?" Ruth asked.

"Well that's what I'm saying," Lin said getting irritated.

"About the suicide thing: don't worry, she has not killed herself before."

"... Okay?" Lin answered. That was not quite the answer to he was looking for.

"Don't worry, the police will catch her within 24 hours. They always do."

Lin was getting more and more upset about Ruth's tone: "You talk about her like she's some wanted criminal!"

"Well, isn't she?" Ruth answered.

"What are you talking ab-?"

"

Mister Miranda, do you want to find your foster daughter or not?" Ruth cut him off.

"Well of course I do..." Lin answered.

"Then trust me."

Rude Jones the Social Workaholic ended the call

Lin stared at his phone, puzzled. That was the most unsatisfying phone call he'd even had. He looked at Vanessa: 'What can we do now?'

Vanessa sighed: 'Wait.'

Ms Smith was walking to home from work when she saw something, or rather, someone. A girl was sitting at the side of the road, her head resting against the brick wall. Ms Smith looked around, people passed in a hurry, not caring about the girl by the side of the road. She walked towards the girl: 'Hey.'

The girl looked up: 'Hey.'

'Why are you here?' Ms Smith asked, sitting down next to the girl.

'Where else would I be?' the girl answered.

'At home,' Ms Smith said.

The girl sarcastically pulled up an eyebrow: 'This ís home,' she said, vaguely gesturing with her hand, 'The street, the houses, the sky. New York City is my home.' She paused for a bit, and then added sarcastically: 'The greatest city in the world!'

'And your parents?' Ms Smith asked worriedly.

'Dead.' the girl said.

'Then why aren't you adopted or in foster care?' Ms Smith continued, 'Sómeone has to take care of you!'

'Why don't you take care of me?' the girl asked.

'Oh I'm sorry sweetheart,' Ms Smith said, 'but I can't! I have two children, a job and a husband to take care of!'

'That's what everyone says,' the girl said, staring in the distance, 'They think they're o so good, donating five dollar a week to the Graham Windham organisation. But the truth is, money isn't everything. What do they really do to protect the foster kids all over the city? Nothing.' She looked at Ms Smith, 'I used to be in a foster home, but I ran away.'

'Why?' Ms Smith asked, 'Did they abuse you?'

The girl shook her head: 'No. I'd just rather live on the streets than locked in an apartment with a crazed musical addict, a nerd, and a baby!'

'Well...' Ms Smith trembled, realising she did not know the girl's name.

'Denise,' the girl said.

'Well Denise,' Ms Smith said, 'It was nice having talked to you. I should head home now, my husband probably has dinner ready.'

'Bye,' Denise answered. Ms Smith walked away, but she didn't walk home. Instead, she called child protection service.

Denise was still sitting in the same place. She knew that woman would call the child protection service or the police, and they could be here any minute. Of course, she could run away, but she didn't feel like standing up. What was the point anyway? If they didn't catch her today, they'd catch her tomorrow, or the day after that. She couldn't run forever. A car stopped in front of her, and Ruth jumped out. She violently grabbed Denise by the wrist. 'What the hell did you plan on doing young lady?!'

Denise struggled to get out, but Ruth's grip was firm. Ruth threw her in the backseat of the car.

Ruth climbed into the driver's seat, and turned around. Denise was trying to open the door.

'It has child's lock.' Ruth said.

Denise finally seemed to calm down: 'Let me go,' she said firmly. Her voice was full of confidence, unlike her feelings.

'No,' Ruth said angrily, 'First, you're going to explain why you ran away.'

'I want other foster parents,' Denise said, ignoring Ruth's question.

'You're nót getting new foster parents!' Ruth said, 'You've played this trick too many times, little lady! You can't just get whatever you want by running away, or faking your own suicide! It is enough! Also, Mr and Mrs Miranda seem like great people.'

Denise sighed, and settled down. She realised that the Mirandas were probably going to give her up anyway, especially after all this. She just had to wait.

Lin ran into the group home, Vanessa closely following him: 'Where is she?!' he asked Ruth.

'Mr Miranda,' Ruth said, 'Will you please calm down? Then I can bring you to Denisabella.'

Lin nodded, and Ruth said: 'Okay, then follow me.'

Ruth brought them to a room. They passed the bedrooms, a small girl came out one of them, and curiously followed them. Ruth unlocked the door of the last room and let them in. Denise was lying curled up on the bed, her arms covering her head. Just seeing her that way made Lin boil with rage. He sent Ruth an angry glare, and ran towards Denise. He hugged her very closely. 'Will you never ever scare me like that again?!' he whispered.

'Were you scared then?' Denise asked.

'Scared?' Lin said, 'I was fucking terrified!'

'Of what?' Denise asked.

'Of losing you,' Lin said, snuggling his head into Denise's hair.

'So you still want me?' Denise asked, insecure.

'Of course we want you!' Lin said, tears in his eyes, 'Why wouldn't we want you?'

Denise shrugged: 'Because I'm so much trouble? Because I'm not who you expected to get? Because I'm not like you? Because I'm not enough?'

Lin was crying even more now Denise said all this: 'But sweetie, you're not too much trouble! You are enough! Better yet, you are amazing! We love you!' He hugged Denise again.

'Uhm Lin,' Vanessa, who had been watching from the side so far, said, 'I also want to say hi.'

'Yeah,' Lin said, 'Of course. Sorry.' He let Denise go, and made room for Vanessa. Only now, he realised that Vanessa was crying too.

Vanessa sat down beside Denise. She put a hand on Denise's shoulder. 'Will you stay with us?'

Denise nodded shortly. Then she broke into a sobbing mess. Vanessa hugged her.

When Denise calmed down, they walked out, not realising a pair of small eyes was following them. When they passed Ruth, Lin pulled a protecting arm around Denise.

'I need to do something,' Vanessa said, 'you go to the car.'

Lin took Denise away, who curiously looked around to see what Vanessa was going to do. Instead, she saw the little girl standing hidden in a corner. She immediately turned back, and walked away with Lin.

'Ruth Jones,' Vanessa said, het arms crossed.

Ruth looked up: 'Yes Mrs?'

'Was it really necessary to lock her up?'

Ruth stood up. 'I couldn't risk her running away.'

'And so you had to lock her up like some criminal?' Vanessa asked, her voice ice cold.

'She ran away before,' Ruth said, 'and-'

'And that's not a crime,' Vanessa interrupted her, 'You had no righteous reason to do what you did! You will hear from me.'

Vanessa climbed into the car. 'Denise?' she asked.

'Yeah?' Denise answered.

'What are the caretakers at that group home like?'

'Oh,' Denise said, 'most of them are really nice. Especially Nina is a real sweet pea!'

'And Ruth?'

'We always call her Mrs. Rude, so yeah... She's strict and unfair. No one likes her.'

Vanessa turned around: 'She locked you in that room. Does she do that more often?'

Denise looked down. 'Yes she does. If you've done something really bad she'd put you in there. Usually for a few hours, but I've once seen her put Dan in there for two days. Josh says that he had been locked up for a whole week, but I wouldn't believe him. Everything he says is a lie. We call that place the Chokey.'

'Chokey?' Lin asked, 'Like in Matilda?'

'Yeah,' Denise said, 'Mandy came up with it. She is cute. She's only eight years old, but she is the best in hiding, getting in places she's not allowed to come, and stealing cookies from the kitchen. She is absolutely a nerd, in love with all her books.'

'But we were talking about Ruth, not Mandy,' Vanessa interrupted her.

'Yeah,' Denise said, 'Well, to answer your real question: I wouldn't consider her abusive. She has hit some of the boys when she was really angry and confused, but not hard and she always apologised afterwards. I think this is just not the right job for her. She is too inpatient and short-tempered. She doesn't care about the children.'

Vanessa wanted to say something, but Lin cut her off: 'Let's go home. I need to hug Sebastian.'

Vanessa nodded and started the car. None of them saw the little girl watching them drive away.