A lump wedged itself in Elle's throat as she listened to her social worker ramble on at the doorway, the girl fixed her tartan skirt in the mirror before tying a black ribbon round her neck turning it into a bow.

"A couple who are marrying next week and knew your parents want to meet with you to discuss adoption" The social worked finished , the girls eyes widened turning around to face the older woman ,

"What?" She asked tying her hair into a ponytail with a tartan ribbon fastened round it ,

"They were friends with your parents , from overseas and when they were here , they don't want you to live in a home so they are looking to adopt you but they want to discuss it with you first dear , you need to give them a chance , they may not be your parents but they may be your chance to a normal life at least until you're 18" The social worker explained walking into the room further ,

"Kate , I don't know if I'm ready yet" Elle replied with firm words

"Just meet them"

"What is their names?" She asked sitting on her bed to pull on her frilly black socks and cute black tennis shoes

"Lily and Bart Bass , well she's soon to be Bass next week" Kate chuckled with a little handle clap as if she were some sort of fan of them, Elle looked at her social worker and linked the names , Blair had told her about the marriage of Serena and Chucks parents . Being friends with those two was effort enough without being related to them ,

"No"

"Elletta , you can't live here forever , Lily Bass is a lovely woman and she will look after you , just meet with them , give them a chance , you will never know"

"Elle!" The girl remarked, she hated her full name, "I know their children Kate , I'm friends with them but I can't even begin to imagine being Chuck Bass' little sister" she groaned picking up her school bag,

"Elle, you will see this couple even if I have to drag you there , not many children here get foster parents let alone adoptive parents from the same background as them. You should count yourself very lucky" The Social worker ordered leaving the room promptly after that, the girl rolled her eyes and pulled her bag onto her shoulder, she thought about whether she should tell Serena that her Mother was coming to see about adoption but decided just to keep it to herself for now , nobody needed to know just yet. She walked through the children's home toward the door to leave she was the only one in the home that went to Constance as she was still being funded by her parents money that was left to her, therefore she wasn't much liked by anyone else, they all thought she was snobby and spoilt. She fixed her bag on her shoulder as she walked past the group of girls the same age of her waiting to leave to go to public school.

The walk to Constance was never great, the home Elle was in was in Brooklyn so she had to walk to the bus stop to then catch the school bus over the bridge into the city, she didn't mind Brooklyn really but she was used to the Upper East Side and although she'd adapted to the change since her parents died a year before it was a shock to the system early after the accident. She walked through the gates into Constance and looked around, she spotted her friends and then spotted two of Blair's little pose walking into the building which meant Blair would be in there, but Elle decided she would speak to Blair later; she needed to start actually making an effort with her friends in Sophmore year anyway they were her age.

"Elle! Where's Blair?" A Girl with Brown straight hair asked, she had thick eye makeup and was the type that wanted to have lots of male attention, she looked around Elle who frowned,

"Not here Lara" she snapped looking at the other two girls who looked at their feet,

"Oh, it's just you're always with Blair first thing in the morning" Lara shrugged folding her arms

"Well I'm not this morning, is that OK by you?" Elle replied sarcastically looking at the girl with a raised eyebrow wondering whether the group were using her for her friendship with Blair , she shrugged it off , "are you girls coming to lesson then or what?" She questioned walking toward the school building.

Elle dragged her feet through the main hall in the care home ,

"Oi private school prick" she heard someone shout , she rolled her eyes and continued to walk knowing it was just one of the girls that were a similar age to her that would be sat in the front room like every day , she didn't care for those girls at the end of the day they were mean to her because they were jealous and Elle just found it rather pathetic ,

"I was talking to you Elle" the girl called again , Elle just stopped in her tracks not bothering to turn around ,

"I heard Kate say you're stupid adoptive parents are here , you rich kids get the luck and you're all pricks" The girl snapped , Elle turned around and smiled sarcastically at the girl before walking into the office where she knew Kate would be with Lily and Bart Bass , she took a long breath and pushed through the door seeing the heads of the couple. The girl smiled at her social worker , who looked up and smiled back

"afternoon Elletta" the woman said signalling Elle to a chair to the side of her desk , right in the middle of her and the couple . Elle nervously put her bag at the side of the room and sat down in the seat forgetting to even correct Kate on the use of her name ,

"Hi Elletta , I'm so happy you decided to see us , Kate told us that you were a bit resistant to it but I'm glad that you changed your mind , we don't want to replace your parents but we know that they wouldn't want you in here like this , they'd rather you have a proper life with a family" Lily explained smiling sweetly , Elle had always thought that Lily soon to be bass was a nice woman with good intentions even if Serena had other ideas ,

"Sorry, I don't want to be rude but could you call me Elle, or Ellie I don't like my full name , Kate just thinks she's being authoritative by using my full name" The girl smiled , she placed one of her legs on the other and sat with a straight back as taught by her parents ,

"Well, Elle it is then" Lily chuckled it was clear that she was nervous and everyone in the room could sense it. Bart placed his hand of that of his fiancée and looked at the teenager ,

"We only wanted to come here to discuss this adoption with you, we won't try and be your parents Elle however we knew your parents well enough to know that they wouldn't have wanted this for you and we simply want to give you the choice to come and be part of a family who run in a similar way to that of your own family" he explained keeping his posture in his chair , this man was slightly intimidating to Elle he kind of like her father but a little more cold ,

"I don't think I'll ever be ready to leave my life with my parents in the past but I can't see any disadvantages to living with you both, I'm happy to be adopted" Elle stated looking at the couple , Lily smiled widely and nodded her head a little before looking at Kate who looked a little startled at the teenagers decision it was only this morning she didn't even want to be attending the meeting .

"Well we'll get all the forms signed and sent off , you should be able get moved within the next two weeks , possibly after your honeymoon?" Kate asked as she began to shuffle through all her paperwork that she had piled up on her desk , "The only decision that really needs to be discussed now is whether Elle keeps her last name or takes your last name Mr Bass, it is customary with adoptions to change the last name but because Elle is Sixteen I thought I'd allow her to take part in the discussions"

The three adults looked at Elle who looked at her lap, thinking through what it meant to be Elle Bass , it meant leaving her life in England and with her parents behind her , it meant becoming part of a completely different family but that could be a good thing , she'd have siblings that she'd always wished for and she would never have to see the public school bitches again.

"I want to leave the decision to Lily and Bart" The girl decided fidgeting on the chair a little ,

"Well , I would love you to be properly in our family with the name but I'll accept if you'd rather stay with your parents name" Lily smiled as Elle stood from her chair and pulled her bag back on her shoulder nodding a little ,

"That's decided then" Elle replied shooting a smile back at her new mother or carer whatever she was supposed to call Lily , "I'll leave you to sign everything and whatever else needs doing"

The couple stood from their chairs , Bart shook the girls hand whilst Lily hesitantly took Elle into an embrace. Elle leant into the hug and let out a sigh of relief , it had been a while since she'd been in the arms of someone like Lily and suddenly she felt safe and at home.

"I was thinking that maybe tomorrow after school you could come over for dinner , maybe get to know us as a family , I'm sure Charles or Serena will escort you" Lily suggested pulling out of the hug

"Yeah I like the sound of that" Lily's new daughter replied smiling brightly before leaving the room.