Don't Let me go – chapter one
They were awoken to a noise in the distance, unaware of what it was Julian threw an arm onto Brooke in an attempt to turn the imaginary alarm clock off, she jumped startled at the wake she had received, she opened her eyes fast, as wide as they could open, sitting up she swept her curly brown hair to one side of her head and whacked Julian who darted upwards to meet her gaze, they looked wearingly at what they had identified as the culprit of the wake up, it was the phone, but a sever caution was in place, the last couple of days had gone past in a haze, having two five year old boys in an adventurous phase had shown its true colours, Brooke had not only juggled work and the normal demands of her hectic schedule but she had managed to squeeze in two trips to the hospital and one emergency trip to the dentist between her three boys. Jude had broken his arm climbing incredibly dramatic heights at the jungle gym at school, Davis had picked up some exotic plant on a family hike and developed a rash, and Julian received a toy car to the mouth resulting in a cracked tooth when he allowed the boys to attempt to jump a hot wheels car over their fathers head. Not only had that just happened but both her own mother Victoria and Julian's mother Sylvia had just come up for a visit, and while they hadn't stayed with them, their relationship and their need to put input into the way she was raising her two boys had reached the point of exhaustion by the third day of disapproval, so today everyone important in their lives was on standby, they had dedicated this day to sleep in day, Haley was covering Brooke's morning shift, Julian had no morning meetings scheduled, the boys were instructed to not leave their bedroom or make excessive noise until one of their parents told them it was okay, so this early morning phone call was wigging them out a little. Brooke leaned over Julian and picked up the phone that sat on the opposite bedside table "Go get the boys up" she said as he nodded knowingly and she pressed the call button. "Baker residence" she loved saying that, she knew that if someone was calling their house they knew who she was or knew who they were expecting but stating their name made her smile, it represented this stage of her life "Yes this is her" she said listening intently to the person on the other end of the receiver, she blocked the opposite ear as in the distance she could hear her rowdy boys getting up and starting their long and busy day filled with talking and giggles. "Wow, I understand that you have to act as quickly as possible but is it possible for me to give you a call back? I just think my husband and I need to discuss this before I can commit to anything?" she said, her full attention directed towards the phone call and not the racket going on in the kitchen "Thankyou" she said before hanging up the phone and taking a moment to compose herself "JULIAN" she yelled with this sense of urgency.
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"I think we really need to consider this Julian" she said as they sat on the balcony of their two story home, watching as their sons ate lunch on their small plastic table, Davis clearly admiring his brothers cast, from the moment it had been put on Jude's arm Davis had been so incredibly jealous, he wanted to have a cool blue cast like his brother, who had clearly been lording it over his twin brother ever since.
"Brooke our life is pretty hectic at the moment, we have two boys and jobs and commitments, I understand that you want to do this, I get that this is something close to your heart and in any other circumstance I would jump at the chance, but we really have to considered if the benefits of doing this are worth the sacrifices that we are going to have to make to make this all happen" he hated having to be the rational one, they pretty much shared the rational duty half and half, switching and swapping it between the pair of them, it was Brooke's role when Julian wanted to name one of the babies Shaggy or when he insisted that his next hair style should be a Mohawk but it was Julian's when Brooke wanted to fight the bitchy mums at the school.
"But Julian, we were both raised with one or both parents who neglected us, wouldn't you want to help someone in a similar situation to us back then, needing support, a home and love, think about Angie and Sam, if I hadn't accepted them into my home who knows what would have happened to them, I didn't just give them something, they gave me things in return, Don't you want to raise our boys in a society where when someone is in trouble we welcome them with open arms?"
"Of course I do Brooke, I'm not trying to be the bad guy, I'm just trying to give you the cold hard facts, some perspective, you know you can't save them all, and you also know that we might not be able to save this one. But do you know Brooke Baker that one of the qualities I admire most about you is the fact that when you believe in something you don't stop until you know you have done something that will help, so you just need to give me some time to process this all, you need to think about this seriously, how about when the boys go to bed tonight we will revisit it and call them back if we agree on it?"
"Yeah" she said with a smile on her face, she knew there was a reason that she loved this man so much, he knew how to support her, he knew how to cope and strategies with her, and he knew how she worked.
"MUMMMMMMMMMMY" Jude said running across the balcony with his cast in the air and his brother close behind
"Yes my darling Jude" she said leaning down, picking her up and putting him on her knee
"Can you draw a cool picture on my cover?" he asked referring to his cast, not really understanding or grasping the idea that it was called a cast
"You know baby, mummy might not be the best person to ask" she said as his eyes dropped "But I know for a fact that if you ask her really nicely Aunty Peyton would draw you a pretty cool picture on your cast" she said with a smile as his eyes beamed.
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"Go ask her" she said as they walked into the café, she pushed Jude in the direction of the table where Peyton sat with Lucas and two of her kids, she waved to her best friend as Jude approached the table before turning to where Haley stood pouring coffee with her teenage son towering behind her, she smiled and walked over, she really needed some Haley clarity and perspective on the whole thing "What are you doing lanky?" she asked as she stood next to Jamie, noticing that he was following Haley around
"Mum won't let me go to Chuck's party" he said as his aunt continued to look up at him in confusion "I'm going to follow her until she gives in" he said as they continued to walk, Haley abruptly stopped without them realising and they ran into the back of her.
"Jamie, Chuck is having this party without adult supervision; his mum is out of town not to mention that there will be alcohol"
"Mum I already said I wasn't going to drink"
"Jamie it's not you that I don't trust it is the rest of those goofs that Chuck hangs around with, it would be a completely different story if Chuck's mum was home and it was just the two of you"
"What if I told you that it was just me and Chuck?" he asked testing her limits, she didn't turn to face him she continued to walk around the café filling up coffee mugs and giving pleasant smiles as the two walked behind her.
"I would say, James Lucas Scott don't lie to your mother, your pushing it as it is and if you lie to me I will not only ground your ass until your fiftieth birthday, I will no longer trust you and that will lead to a whole other bunch of trouble, and if you even try asking your father after this there will be severe consequences" Brooke loved tough parenting Haley, it was a rare sighting, she was usually very level headed and often all about fun but she took trust and truth very seriously and she wanted her kids to not only understand that but also uphold those same values. "Now Brooke" she said with a happy breath in "What can I do for you?" she asked
"I really need some Haley advice" she said with a smile
"Okay" she said with a smile "Jamie please go do something that isn't dragging your feet and waiting for me to change my mind"
"Fine" he said recognising the signs and the pleading in both his mother and his aunties eyes "But I will be silently protesting over at Aunt Peyton and Uncle Lucas' table" he said walking off as Brooke quickly looked over to check on her boy who was happily sitting with Peyton ferociously drawing away.
"What's going on girly?" Haley said sitting on a stool as Brooke sat down on the one next to her.
"I got a phone call this morning from the adoption agency that called me about Angie about fostering" Haley was already intrigued "They were wondering if we could take in a little girl, they didn't tell me much about her story but they were wondering if we could take her on for temporary care, she needs housing immediately, it would only be for a couple of weeks but Julian and I don't know if we should do it or not, it's a big risk" she said exasperated by the dramatics of it all as Haley put a supportive hand on Brooke's thigh.
"What does Julian say?"
"He says that we already have a lot of commitments and that we need to consider them before we can even begin to consider taking on another one, and I completely get that, my boys take up so much time and energy but this little girl needs care she needs love and I think we can offer her that, I hate the idea that we will say no and she will get sent to some horrible foster parents that will treat her horrible and I will have to live with that on my conscience for the rest of time"
"Look Brooke, you were so incredibly with Angie and Sam, I was so proud of what you did for both of them, I'm so proud of you for all you have done to make this world of yours so much better and to benefit all those in that world around you, I also know how determined you are and that if you put your mind to anything you will not only do it but you will do it to an extreme great. I think you already know what you are going to do though"
"Maybe I was just asking you because I knew you would boost my confidence like a little energiser bunny and confirm what I already knew deep down" she said with a smile
"Yeah probably" Haley said with a laugh
"I have to call Julian" she said as she stood up and walked around the back.
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"Okay boys mummy and daddy need to talk to you" Brooke said as they sat across from the twin boys at the dinner table, they had sat them down to explain what was going to go on for the next couple of weeks
"Are you and daddy not going to live together anymore?" a curious Davis piped up as Brooke's face turned to shock
"No" Julian answered quickly "What would make you think that?" he said looking from his wife's petrified eyes to the curious ones of his twin boys
"Henry Spencer was telling us at school how his mummy and daddy said they needed to talk to him and they told him that they were going to live in different houses cause their daddy was on a time out" Davis said with such gusto
"No baby mummy and daddy aren't going to live in separate houses, we need to talk to you about something else" she said as Julian gripped her hand "Now you know that mummy and daddy love you both very much" she said hating herself for picking another sentence so commonly used when couples broke the news of impending separation on their children "and while some mummy's and daddy's love their kids very much but they can't take care of them like other mummy's and daddy's can, so they send them to other mummy's and daddy's to help them out"
"Like Sammy" Jude asked trying not to get confused by what his mum was telling him
"Yes babe exactly like Sammy, her mummy couldn't take care of her so I did, now there is another little girl like Sammy who is going to stay with us for a couple of nights so that her mummy can have a break like Sammy's"
"Do we get to keep her?" Davis asked looking with arched eyes brows at his parents
"No buddy we don't" Julian fielded this one "You know how sometimes Lydia comes over for sleepovers?" he asked as both the boys nodded "Well this little girl is going to come and sleepover at our house for the next few weeks"
"Do you understand what we mean?" Brooke asked
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The boys didn't completely understand the whole concept or how long this 'sleep over' as they were calling it was going to last but a day after they had received the phone call the social worker was arriving to introduce and drop the little girl off, Brooke was running around in a mad panic, making sure that everything was clean and presentable including her boys, she couldn't help feeling nervous even though she knew that they were doing an amazing thing that they really should commend themselves for taking on, she was really curious to meet this little girl, get to know her, get to know her story and provide her with some Brooke Davis Baker magical love, so naturally when the doorbell rang she wanted to pounce and throw it open, instead she took a deep breath in and waited for her husband to meet her at her side, together they walked to the front door as the boys peered curiously behind the steps.
"Hello" Brooke said with her angelic grin and goddess like smile, with her sweeping curls falling nicely upon her back "I'm Brooke Baker" she said holding out her hand "This is my husband Julian Baker" he said holding out his own hand to do the same as Brooke indicated for her boys to come forward, for such outgoing boys they were quite stranger conscious and stood clutching onto their parents legs.
"These are our sons Jude and Davis" he said indicating with a smile to the boys rapped around their legs
"Hello I am Anna" the middle aged woman said pushing a strand of black hair behind her ear "And this little darling is Ruthie" she said and for the first time Brooke's attention was drawn to the pile of blonde curls that stood with Anna's hand firmly grasped in her own, Brooke could tell that little Ruthie was holding on as tight as she could by the pasty white sections of pressure on her hand, the little girl was doing a similar thing to her own boys, being very aware of the strange circumstances that surrounded her, Brooke knelt down, trying not to sit on top of Davis who quickly moved to his father's other leg, she smiled at the little girl who was adamant that she would continue the staring contest with her own shoes "Hello Ruthie" she said pushing back the blonde curl that covered the little girls face to reveal a bruised eye, she was taken back for a moment, unable to comprehend how a parent could possibly lay an angered hand at their own child "I'm Brooke" she said as quickly as she could in an attempt to not make a great deal about the bruise on the little girls face, she put a supportive hand on the little girls shoulder and squeezed it slightly before standing up and smiling at the social worker again "Come in"
To be continued