Ok. Just so you guys know – those of you who haven't seen my other stories – I'm HORRIBLY AWFUL at updating. But I am going to try my hardest at updating faster. And most of my other stories haven't been updated in over a year, which means my writing style now has changed a bit. This is just one of those ideas I had, and I decided to write it and see where it goes.

To those who are reading this, please review and let me know if this has promise or not.

Summary: When you're a twenty-four year-old "part time" foster mom to a five-year-old boy with brain damage, life isn't always easy. Especially when said child steals your heart and makes you want to adopt him. And especially when he begins telling you stories of his amazing (imaginary) friends he has who can turn into cars. Sigh, what can ya do?

DISCLAIMER: I do not own ANYTHING except my OC's Beth, Rebekah, and Joel (that is until I make up any other OCs) and of course this plotline.

Pilot

To say that today was beginning to bring on a headache was an understatement. Actually, the headache was about to become a full-on migraine. And that still could be considered an understatement. Bethany groaned, massaging her temple. "Why in the world did I want to be a social worker? My emotions can't take much more of this!"

Five folders lay in front of the young woman. It was two o' clock and she still had five cases left. She began to read the first one, attempting to appear professional, ignoring the many curses she wanted to place on the situation this child was put through. If there's one thing she's learned not to do, it's form a bias. Especially before meeting all the people involved. Otherwise it'll end up like –

"Miss Anders, we have a phone call for you," A young woman said, forcing a smile as she took in the routine state of long, disheveled hair, head in hands, and stress practically rolling out of the small cubicle. There was a muffled response, "I'm sorry…ma'am?"

Beth looked up, dark brown eyes meeting concerned blue, "My apologies. Who is calling for me?"

The woman seemed startled, quickly looking down at the sticky note she carried in her hands, "I'm…not sure. Though they said it was something about a, uh, Joel?"

That's all it took. It was officially a migraine now. "Oh, no…school isn't out yet," She said this more to herself than to the fidgeting woman in the doorway, "Do you know if anyone has spoken to his mother? Well, his permanent legal guardian?" Judging by the woman's unsure gaze she decided it's safe to assume that was a no, "Ah, so what line is the call on?"

"Line two," She said simply, before debating whether or not to back up.

"Thank you…ah…" She looked at the woman questioningly.

"Rebekah."

"Ok, Rebekah," Beth smiled at the girl…"yeah, she must be new here" she thought silently to herself, "Thank you. And I'm Bethany. Though, just call me Beth." Rebekah smiled gratefully, "Well I guess I'll see ya around."

Rebekah nodded, then scurried down the hall – hall meaning row of cubicles. Beth sighed and glanced at the blinking light on her telephone. "I really don't want to know what happened this time." Last time she had to answer a phone call about Joel she was shocked to find that he dislocated a teacher's shoulder. It wasn't on purpose, of course. Joel has damage due to his mother drinking alcohol while she was pregnant with him.

(A/N: this is a real thing, called FASD. Alcohol is super dangerous to a fetus and will cross through the placenta, causing growth deficiency, behavioral problems, memory problems, basically anything dealing with the brain. It's a spectrum…like autism. So no case is the same. Through therapy this can be helped, but never fully changed/fixed. Brain damage is permanent.)

Needless to say, Joel had been making progress, but every once in a while there was an incident. Unfortunately, not everyone was as understanding of this condition.

Sighing, she picked up the receiver, and pushed a button saying, "This is Bethany Anders speaking."

"Hello Ms. Anders, I hate to take up your time, but could you please come to the school? Joel was in another fight, but this time with another student," Principal Williams said. Bethany liked Principal Williams; he did everything in his power to keep Joel in his school, despite delays. Yet, of course, he had to follow protocol and do what was best for the school and all the students.

"Of course, sir," Bethany nodded her head, "Have you contacted his mother?" Scratching her head, she was wondering if it would be better for Joel's mother to know what had happened after everything was resolved.

"No, don't do that Bethany. No bias. Even though I love this kid, and would love to adopt him…" Joel's real mother was declared incapable of caring for him due to developing a mental handicap, thus putting him in foster care. She had some parental rights to him, but not all. Bethany had gained the other parental rights…was that a battle. She knew she couldn't adopt him, however, for she was sure she wouldn't make the best home for him either. Taking care of Joel was only temporary.

"Yes ma'am, we did. Miss Pearson requested we contact you. She also said she would contact you shortly," came the straight to the point reply.

"Thank you," She attempted not to sigh, "I'll be on my way then."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Hanging up she grumbled to herself. "Oh, Joel…what happened this time?" Grabbing her purse and her large bag full of supplies, she went to talk to her boss. Thankfully, she had an amazing boss who understood completely.

Racing down to the parking deck, she fiddled with the cross hanging around her neck, saying a quiet prayer, "Lord, give me strength."

"This…means no park…?" Joel fidgeted nervously, stealing a glance in my direction. Pulling out of the parking lot, Bethany sighed.

To say the conference was the icing on the cake to a terrible day was quite an understatement. Mrs. Ryding, Joel's teacher, was attempting to calm down the father of the child Joel got in a fight with. Basically, it didn't work. Though Joel took most of the damage, he had a very high threshold for pain. Luckily, the man was calmed down enough to be talked out of a lawsuit, but Joel would be suspended for an entire week. If that wasn't bad enough, Bethany and Joel were on the way to the hospital.

"We can't today, honey. You know you did a very bad thing, Joel," Bethany said to the pouting boy.

"I know…" He looked down with tears in his eyes, holding his possibly sprained wrist, mumbling something that Beth could only make out as, "…hurt…"

"Does your wrist hurt, Joel?" She knew he was trying to figure out what was wrong with it, "Joel," She gained the boy's attention, "Does your wrist hurt?" The little boy nodded, "Well we're going to the doctor," Joel's face broke into sheer horror, "It'll be okay, we're gonna go to the nice doctor."

He nodded carefully, watching the scenery go by. Beth felt sorry for the kid; she knew he didn't want to hurt people, but sometimes kids made fun of him. Then, of course, chaos followed. Joel never did well reacting to things that made him uncomfortable, but Beth and Joel's mother were helping him with it. Watching his progress was the only thing that gave Beth hope.

"WHOA! LOOK!" He cried kicking his legs and – to Bethany's horror – using his hand with the sprained wrist to point out the window. Beth quickly sat Joel's arm down with her free hand, and automatically his other arm flew up to point out the window again. A yellow Camaro with racing stripes, a large green truck of some sort (Beth wasn't sure what it was), and a motorcycle with a teenage boy on it flew down the highway together in a uniformed pattern. Odd, yes, but also fascinating to Joel; he loved cars.

"Cool, huh?" Beth smiled at him. No reply; he was too enthralled. Also, typical behavior, but Bethany didn't have the heart to break him out of his trance, and only smiled thankfully at the vehicles.

The rest of the drive was uneventful, and all too soon Beth found herself pulling into a spot at the hospital. She quickly gathered her purse, opened the door, and braced herself as Joel jumped into her arms. Normally he would run off, but in hospitals it was a completely different story.

Sitting in the waiting room, Beth did her best to entertain the currently shaking Joel. Not even toys and games could calm the terrified boy. It wasn't long until a young woman with black hair dressed in scrubs called out Joel's name.

"Hello, Joel," She smiled as Joel did all he could to disappear under Beth's dark hair. Beth gave an apologetic look. The woman just winked and said, "My name is Nurse Darby. How about we make this the fastest doctor's visit ever?"

Now that got Joel's attention.

WOO! First chapter up!

PLEASE review and let me know if I should continue this story or not… I'll be attempting to incorporate the Autobots more in the next chapter.

So tell me, do you think I should continue the story?