Elliott stared at the ceiling, trying not to think too much about the situation at hand, which was proving to be rather difficult considering the lack of distractions. It was late evening at CPS and the building was practically empty except for his social worker, who stood at the other end of the hallway, talking quietly to somebody on his phone. He always hated going to new homes. Each one had a different (and usually completely irrational) food plan, a new set of insults, another form of punishment. It had almost gotten to the point where he preferred to fend for himself than be stuck in a house with people that didn't even see him as human, but as a paycheck. People who lived by the philosophy that as long as they keep the kid alive, and they got paid, they're doing just fine. His social worker had promised him that this was going to be a nice home, that these people were nice, but going to new foster homes always made him anxious. It was rare that he was ever placed in a good foster home. Nobody wanted to take in a trans kid, especially not one who had a history of running away and juvie, and the people that did were usually just in it for the money. His social worker always said that he'd find a good place. That he just had to wait. But the longer that Elliott waited, the more doubt he had. He was almost sixteen, and after two years in the foster system and over 9 homes as well as juvie, he felt hopeless.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the clicking of highheels at the end of the hall opposite his social worker. He looked down from the ceiling to the source of the noise, a tall, official-looking, chocolate skinned woman, whose dark brown curls bounced as she walked. Hurried footsteps came from his social worker, who was quickly saying goodbye to the person on the other end of the phone, before sticking his hand out to the woman, introducing himself.

"Hi Lena, I'm Marcus, I'm a colleague of Bills."

Lena returned the handshake, paired with a warm smile. As Elliott got closer to her, he began to notice more of her features. She looked older, but not too old, maybe in her late thirties or early forties. She looked friendly, like an elementary school teacher, or somebody that you wished was your mom. But there were also little signs of stress, like small wrinkles around her eyes when she smiled. That didn't surprise him though, foster kids were often stressful.

"I'm so sorry to be bombarding you with this on such short notice," he continued "but Elliott is a really good kid, just with bad luck. And it's just so hard to find good homes that will take in transgender kids."

Lena glanced down at him, her eyes kind, yet there was a look of uneasiness across her face, which Marcus noticed too.

"If you'd like, I could show you his file before you make a decision"

Lena hesitated for a moment, looking between Elliott and Marcus before finally nodding "Uh, yeah, that'd be great, thanks."

Elliott looked down at the floor, what little hope he had draining as the adults made their way to Marcus's things, which sat a few benches away. Lena seemed like a good person, but as soon as the good people read his file, they decided they didn't want to deal with him anymore. The good people were the ones who had families and people they cared about, and wouldn't dare bring somebody 'dangerous' into their home. He tried to listen in to what was being said, but he could only catch occasional words. 'Juvie', 'robbery', 'runaway', all in a negative connotation, no doubt. No mention of the fact that he'd only fought the rich white kid with the best lawyer because they'd thrown the first punch, or that he'd only stolen because without doing so he would starve, or that he'd only run away from homes because they'd treat him like actual trash. But that's how the system works. The problem kid is always in the wrong.

Marcus and Lena made their way back towards Elliott, and upon noticing, he did his best to catch the last remarks of their conversation.

"-We'll do our best to make this as short term as possible, just until we can find him another home," Marcus finished. As they both turned to Elliott, Lena looked down at him compassionately. This reminded her so much of the first time she'd met Callie. This poor kid who so badly needed somebody to care for them, and a safe home to live in. Luckily, this time she had talked to Stef before giving another kid a safe home. She took a deep breath before turning back to Marcus.

"Okay."

"That's amazing, that you so much," Marcus smiled, clasping his hands together "Why don't I walk the two of you out?"

As they made their way to Lena's car, Elliott was still somewhat in awe that he was going with her. He was sure that after she heard what was in his file, she wouldn't want to take him in anymore. But here he was, being told to put his things in the backseat of her car, and then sitting right next to her.

The drive began with Lena trying to make some sort of conversation, hoping to get to know this kid at least a little bit better that night.

"So, you've been in the foster system for about two years now, is that right?"

"Yeah."

"And you're how old?"

"Uh, I'm almost sixteen."

"Oh yeah? Nice. I've got twins, Jesus and Mariana, they turned sixteen a few months back." she paused for a moment, waiting for some kind of response, before continuing. "I've also got a seventeen year old and an eighteen year old, thats Callie and Brandon, and Jude, he's fourteen."

'Big family' Elliott thought, wondering if they even had room for another kid. He saw Lena looking over at him, like she was expecting some sort of answer. Elliott wasn't much of a talker, but he didn't want to be rude.

"Cool."

Lena continued to try to make conversation throughout the drive, but after a while, she figured that she wasn't going to get much more out of her passenger, so she turned the radio on, despite there only being a few minutes left before they arrived at the Adams Foster residence.

They finally came to a stop in a driveway, and Elliott looked out the window. As he had expected, it was big, two stories. He took his bags out of the car, and they walked up the front steps onto the porch, which was surrounded by all different kinds of plants, and had both a porch swing and a loveseat. The light from the house shone through the windows, lighting up the now darkening yard, which made it look like those windows you see in Christmas movies. The kinds that are shown through a blizzard, and you see families bustling around inside, and it looks like the most inviting place you've ever seen. And as they stepped inside the house, that's exactly what it felt like. Inviting.

Hiya folks. As the holidays are approaching and I finally have some time of from school, I decided I'd try to write some more. I've had this idea jumping around in my head for a while, and I've just finally decided to actually do something with it. Thank you so much for reading, please like, follow and review. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible. Peace.