Steph's POV
"Hey" I greet my daughter, as I enter our apartment.
"Hey Mom" Julie looks up briefly from her homework.
"Have you eaten?" I question on my way to the kitchen.
"Pop Tarts, fruit loops and the last tasty cake" She answers without looking up from the book in front of her. She has become a good Student, only receiving A's and B's. Surely better than I ever was.
"We will count that as a starter. I brought meatball subs for the main course" I inform her and as soon as the words leave my mouth, I hear her jump out of her seat. "Here you go" I laugh and hold the bag out for her to take to the living room.
"You are the best" She smiles, sniffing the bag. A girl after my own heart.
I take a big bottle of coke out of the fridge and sit next to her on the couch. We dig into our subs in complete silence, whilst Mob Wives is running in the background. I look at Julie and smile. She has come such a long way.
Three years ago, I worked as a BEA and had just split from my cop boyfriend Detective Joe Morrelli or also known as Italian Stallion. I was on the hunt for Rita Spitecker on Stark Street, as I found a young teenager sitting on the side of the road, looking very skinny and scared. That teenager was Julie.
Flashback
I grab the bag from McDonald's and get out of the car. "Hi" I say carefully, as I kneel in front of the girl. "Would you like something to eat?" I add, whilst placing the bag in front of her feet.
The girl looks up and pushes her black hair out of her face, revealing bloodshot and puffy eyes. She must have been crying. "Thank you" she replies cautiously, wipes her dirty face and grabs the bag.
"You are welcome" I nod. "What is your name?"
"Julie" She answers, after stuffing her mouth full of fries.
"Julie, this isn't the safest street in Trenton…Do you have someone I could call to pick you up or do you have somewhere to stay?" I ask, already knowing that the answer would be 'No'.
She only shakes her head as she unwraps the burger.
"Do you want to stay at my place tonight?" I question. I know that Joe would call me insane, telling me that she could be a criminal, but I just feel sorry for her. She looks like she hasn't had a shower or real food in weeks.
"No…It's fine. I will go to a Hotel" Julie declines.
"Well…" I pull a business card out my bag and write my address on the back, before handing it to her with a 10 dollar note. Unfortunately it is the only cash I have on me. "If you can't find somewhere to stay, you can come to my place."
"Thank you" she nods and stuffs the card in her jacket pocket.
"Hold on" I shout and quickly throw on a shirt and shorts. I had to take another shower after I tried to bring in a skip of mine peacefully and the ungrateful prick thru horse manure at me. It puzzles me why he had so much manure in his front yard. I did ask, but he didn't tell.
As I open the door, I am mildly surprised to find Julie on the other side. "Hi…does…ummm does the offer still stand?"
"Sure" I step aside and let her in.
"Thank you…it will only be for one night I promise." She assures me.
"Alright then…have you eaten?" I question. She only shakes her head and hands me the $10 I gave to her earlier. I only recognise the note, because it has a name written on it. "No…you keep it." I close the door and walk past her towards the bathroom. "You can have a shower, while I get you some food. I hope heated up pizza is ok?….Bathroom is that way" I add, pointing at the door which leads to my bed room. "Towels are under the sink. But be careful, the boiler is a bit temperamental."
"Thank you" she says again, before disappearing in the bathroom.
Five minutes later she is back out, wearing a pair of my shorts and a t-shirt, which I laid out for her.
"Ok…any preference in what we watch?" I ask, as I sit down on my couch. She only shakes her head and sits carefully on the edge of the couch, as if she is afraid to break something. "Ok…Ghostbusters it is."
One week later
"Julie?" I question, making her look up from the magazine she is reading on the couch. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"
She told me yesterday a little about herself. She ran away from her latest foster family who were using her, and a couple of other children, to maintain, harvest and package their large weed plantation. Julie had hitchhiked all the way from St Mary's, a small town in Pennsylvania, to Trenton. Today, I ran a background check on the foster family and was shocked that kids were sent to them for foster care in the first place.
"Sure" She says, as she sits up. Her skin, which is milky coffee colour, looks a lot healthier, after week of proper food, and a little bit of glow has come back into her face.
"I think we need to notify the police about your foster parents" I say and she immediately puts her guard up.
"You can't…" She says in almost a whisper. "They will sent me back into a group home!"
"Listen… these people need to be stopped. I promise, that I will do everything in my power to get you placed with a good family." I assure her. I know a few people that may be able to help Julie to find a good home.
"Can't I just stay with you? I am almost 13…no one is going to take me in." Julie says and it breaks my heart. She has grown on me in the last few days.
"I will see what I can do, but I cannot guarantee that you can stay with me. They won't deem me fit to foster a teenager. I have a dangerous job." I explain to her.
"You will do better than those other people" Julie replies stubbornly. Apparently I have grown on her too.
"Ha" I snort and add "I am barely keeping Rex alive…but let's not talk about that yet. First we need to make sure that no kids will be sent to them ever again. Okay?"
"Fine" she huffs out.
"Okay then. I will call someone I know" I tell her and pick up my phone to call Joe.
"Cupcake" He answers after the first ring.
"Are you on duty?" I question, foregoing any greeting.
"Why? Did you change your mind about marrying me?" He asks, half joking. Since we split up three months ago, we have been amicable towards each other. We have even been to a Ranger's game or two. And if you believe the latest gossip in the Burg, he even has moved on.
"No…But I need your help" I tell him.
"I finish in an hour." He says and hangs up.
End of Flashback
Joe came over that night, listened to Julie's Story and days later her foster parents were locked up. Surprisingly the State of New Jersey granted me to foster Julie, after I got my fostering Licence and training.
What was even more surprising, that my mother supported me all the way. After all me and her hadn't agreed on anything, since deciding what colour my room should be painted in as I was a kid.
And because I was sick of chasing after people who didn't want to be found, I finally realized my dream and opened a lingerie shop with my friend Lula. That was two years ago and we are still in business.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Julie eyes me with suspicion. "Grandma isn't planning on setting me up with that Douche Rodger again, is she?" That is another thing that happened at some point in the last three years. She started calling me mom and my mother grandma.
"God no…I have told her what a Douche he is….His parents aren't invited to the annual Plum BBQ anymore" I laugh.
"Good" Julie smirks.
Suddenly my lock tumbles and Joe walks into the apartment with a file in his hands. "Hey Girls"
"What are you doing here Uncle Joe?" Julie questions and Joe groans. He hates when she calls him that. Joe says it makes him feel old.
"Julie" He ruffles her hair, shrugs of his leather jacket and grabs the bean bag to sit down in front of the couch. From day one Julie and Joe got along like a house on fire, which makes me happy.
He is like a father to her, attends school functions, her baseball games and is in general just there for her. Even Joe's girlfriend Ellen, a primary school teacher, and his parents get along well with Julie. And with all of us, Julie got the family she never had.
But that doesn't mean we live in a happy bubble. She is a teenager after all and in the last three years we have had our share of disagreements. But we always pull through.
"So…you want to see it?" Joe questions, taps the file onto his legs and looks at Julie. I have been thinking for some time about adopting Julie and about a month ago I finally mustered the courage to ask her. That she was excited is an understatement.
Unfortunately Julie's parents never signed away their rights, so we have to find them and convince them to do so. So I got a lawyer, my ex-Husband Dick, involved. He may have wronged me by sleeping around, but he is still one of the best lawyers in the state and if I want to get custody of her, I need the best.
I convinced Dick that he owed me, after what he put me through, and he is doing it Pro Bono, much to his dismay. Dick got all the information about Julie from the State and I had Joe run a background check. I could have gone to Connie at the bonds office, but Vinnie often bugs her desk and I didn't want him overhearing anything.
"Yes" she nods and takes the file of Joe.
"So you already know that your mother gave you up for adoption, but that fell through, because the couple were expecting a child of their own…." Joe starts explaining, more for my benefit than for hers, as she has the file.
"I found out that your mother, Rachel Martinez, studied Human Resources at a community college after she left high school. She worked during that time in her father's convenience store and has no criminal record. Rachel graduated top of her class and is now working as a PA for the Mayor of Miami.
She is married with a son, who is five, and they live in Miami. Her husband, Ron, is a District attorney. No siblings. Her father has passed away, but her mother is still among the living. She too, lives in Miami...Your father" Joe clears his throat and waits for Julie to turn over the page. "…has a bit of a longer history and was a lot harder to find information on. I had to call in a few special favours…"
"His name is Ricardo Carlos Manoso, nicknamed Ranger. He is second generation Cuban-American. After a brief stint in Juvie as he was 14, he went to live with his Aunt and Uncle in Miami. He studied at Rutgers for two years, before joining the army at 18.
He went onto the Ranger's before retiring a couple of years ago. He now owns a security firm called Rangemen…Unfortunately I was not able to find a home address for him, but his business address is in there. He just opened a Branch in Haywood. He has three sisters who live in Newark, same as his parents. If you flip over I found several pictures of your mother on social media and your father's picture from the Army." Joe explains.
"So we could go and see him?" Julie questions.
"We could, but maybe it is better to let Dick do the reaching out" Joe remarks, almost growling Dickie's name. It is no secret that my Ex Husband and my Ex Boyfriend don't like each other.
I look at Julie, who's face shows slight disappointment. "You know what?" I say and Julie looks up at me. "We will go there tomorrow after school. See if we can get a face to face with him."
"Steph, you think that is a good idea?" Joe looks at me with a worried look.
"Yes" I answer with a little more confidence than I actually have.
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