Hey Friends,
Totally realized that I jumped into YET ANOTHER FIC but with absolutely no explanation! For that I sincerely apologize! So here's something that I wanted to do for awhile; something to pay tribute to my Canadian Queer-Positive adolescence!
This lil' web-series meant so much for me, and ever since the movie came out, I wanted to try some family-esque stuff (kinda like 'Hospitals' but not really).
So please, enjoy my mess of a fic.
I do not own an ounce of the Characters from the series; just the ones I made up.
"Terrance and Gloria Scott have been convicted of both illicit migration and human trafficking." The woman on the television said, presumably reading from a teleprompter, "Prosecution for the trial had released records dating back to the late 80's. These records included evidence of various tax evasions and counterfeit identification for over 50 women. The couple, both aged 42, have two daughters but because they are both under the ages of 16, their names will be withheld and kept private…"
"What a mess." Carmilla commented through a mouth full of popcorn. Laura and Carmilla were just casually watching the 7 o'clock news. The news story that was currently being reported on had been the headline for Toronto's news stations for a little over two weeks. A victim of human trafficking had managed to escape her captives and give precise evidence in tracking down the people behind her horrible circumstance. As a shock to everyone, but Carmilla, it ended up being an affluent couple from the famous "Bridle Path" community. The arrests of Terrance and Gloria Scott were made and Toronto news crews responded with full force.
"Those poor girls…" Carmilla just looked over her shoulder at her partner, shaking her head. Laura huffed indignantly as she crossed her arms over her chest. "What? That must totally suck! Having to find out your parents were top tier criminals and all."
"If you tell me that comment had nothing to do with your 'baby fever', I'll stop judging you." Carmilla answered simply. Ever since both women decided to start planning a family, Laura had been over "hyped" about the safety of literally every living child. Laura huffed again.
"What? I can't feel sorry for them? Heck, they could be 27 and I'd still feel horrible for them."
"Yeah, sure cupcake."
"Still…since we are on the topic of baby fever…"
"I said I wouldn't hate the idea." Carmilla states as she wraps her free arm around Laura's shoulders, "Let's just focus on the present."
"Well, presently, I want to have a discussion about that IVF clinic I was talking about." Laura promptly got up, much to Carmilla's disapproval, in search of the many pamphlets she had been collecting over the past two months. With a groan and a sassy eye-roll, Carmilla admitted defeat.
"You're killing me, creampuff."
-Two months later-
"Well I'm going to be the only one present because everyone else has Fridays off." Laura said into the phone, as she poured herself a cup of hot water from the office's kettle. She was making a nice cup of tea when she was interrupted by the Children's Aid Society inquiring about one of their cases – children – coming to her office for volunteer work. Apparently, two weeks prior, a young girl was found vandalizing the building that Laura shared with a variety of other small businesses. Because of the extraordinary circumstances, highlighted by the kid's defence attorney, the proper punishment for their first offence was to enlist them in community service, for the building's patrons.
Laura, being Laura, is in the office from 9:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. on Fridays even when no one has an actual obligation to be at work. The "perpetrator", as everyone has been calling the vandalizing kid, had already assisted the other offices and all that was left was 10 hours at Laura's.
"Yes, no, of course! She can totally do some of her hours now. I'm in until three so she'll have…" Laura looks to the clock on the wall but quickly realizes it is out of battery. She sighed and looked at the watch that LaF gave her for her birthday. Just to her luck, it was not digital. After an uncomfortable silence, due to Laura's horrible mental math, an answer was finally reached. "…about four and a half hours of her scheduled ten." The representative of the Children's Aid Society thanked her and told her that the vandal would be at the office shortly. "Great, thanks. I'll e-mail you when she arrives and again when she's done her hours for the day. Yes, perfect! Have a good day!" After hanging up the phone and preparing her tea, Laura quickly cleaned up her mess and went back to her work.
She sat in the office's board room surrounded by nothing except articles about the UN's latest scandal, her Doctor Who mug, a pad of paper, an incredible array of rainbow coloured pens and multiple DVDs. Laura was currently watching news reports from around the world, on the projector. She was working on an article that was to be submitted to CBC about a Canadian Diplomat assaulting someone at the Canadian Embassy in Cuba. It was as fun as it sounded but Laura couldn't focus on anything aside from the conversation she and Carmilla had last night.
After nearly a year of subtly bringing it up in conversation, leaving pamphlets strewn across Carmilla's belongings to down right pleading with her, Laura had finally got Carmilla to cave. The vampire conceded to beginning the process of looking for prospective sperm donors. They were finally going to start having a family and Laura couldn't wait.
She would catch herself thinking about how much she loved spending time with her dad and doing fun things as a family of two. She couldn't wait to have that feeling but with a child of her very own. Carmilla seemed indifferent to the entire idea but Laura could see right through it. If Carmilla really hated the idea of having kids, she would have tried harder to never talk about it. Fortunately, Laura figured that seven years together must have been the perfect time to suggest starting a family because Carmilla said "yes".
She actually said "You win, buttercup" but that's not the point.
Before Laura could actually begin to pay any attention to the video that she was supposed to be dissecting, she heard four loud knocks on the front door of the office. She paused her video and quickly went over to the front door. When she unlocked the door, she came face to face with a young girl just a few inches shorter than herself. She wore rectangular glasses, was dressed in a green oversized wool cardigan, a loose beige button-down, burgundy corduroy pants, black suede ankle boots and a loose grey beanie atop her shoulder-length blonde hair. Her eyes were a piercing kind of blue and they popped out well in contrast to her pale complexion. To Laura this kid looked nothing like a vandal.
"Hey!" Laura greeted. She stuck out her hand for a handshake and the girl just stared at her. "Um…I'm Laura. I work here, and stuff. Who might you be?"
"Cohen." The girl replied. After an awkward silence, the girl continued to speak. "Look, I know you know why it is that I'm here, so let's skip the small stuff." The smaller blonde walked passed Laura, into the office and waited. "You got some stuff for me to do?" Laura simply nodded and led the girl to their makeshift library.
The office was the entire floor of the building but it was still really cramped because of all the boxes that still needed to be sorted and unpacked. This was the case since Laura and her journalist team had just moved into this venue a few weeks ago. Subsequently, their "library" was just a few rows of empty shelves, surrounded by even more boxes. When she and Cohen reached the library, Laura turned on the light and smiled.
"If you could just start by opening the boxes labelled 'library' or 'archives' and placing the books in order starting from…" Laura quickly surveyed the room before going any further, "…Oh! From over there, by the window! Yes, that should be good." Cohen followed her gaze and nodded.
"Sure." she replied, without further prompting. The girl started doing what Laura instructed. Immediately satisfied that Cohen was not going to cause any trouble, Laura went back to work.
It was nearing 2:00 p.m. and Laura felt as though she deserved a lunch break. She was on her way to the office's "lobby" when Cohen reappeared.
"Hey," she began, "I think I'm done with the shelves." Laura smiled at her.
"Cool. I was just about to order something on Uber Eats. Since you're done, though, want to join me in getting lunch?" Laura asked, casually. Cohen raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
"You really want a 'vandal' to join you for lunch?" Cohen asked. Laura just shrugged her soldiers and laughed.
"When you put it that way, I shouldn't leave you here on your own." Laura stepped over to the door and held it open for Cohen to follow her. "Come on; I'm starving!" Cohen just shook her head but followed this strange yet super nice woman.
Laura and Cohen ended up having lunch at an Indian restaurant, a few minutes away from the office. The two started off having awkward single-response conversation but once the food came, everything got a bit easier and more free-flowing.
"So where do you go to school?" Laura asked, stuffing her face with food. Cohen smiled but then frowned. "I'm sorry – did I overstep?" the smaller blonde shook her head and was quick to correct her.
"Nah, don't worry. I'm sure you got a call from CAS, so you know that things are probably…" Cohen took a slow sip of her soda, "…not the best."
"Well, either way, I don't want to intrude."
"No," Cohen reassured, "It's fine. The Society's shrink encourages stuff like this. My sister, Levy, and I used to go to TMS, a private school North of the GTA. But after…what happened to our parents…we had to get pulled out and now we go to some random Public school." Cohen paused and she wore a confused expression. Laura laughed.
"You should probably remember what school you're going to."
"Meh, it's all the same."
"No arguments on my end," Laura said, taking a sip of her own drink. She was curious about the girls' parents but decided that it wasn't her business. Instead she decided to ask about the reason she was doing her community service hours. "So, tell me more about your 'vandal' reputation."
"It's not exactly 'my' reputation," Cohen explained, "but I feel like no one's going to believe the real story. So, I just said that I did it." Cohen stuffed her face with more food and Laura couldn't help but inquire a little bit further.
"You didn't do it?" Cohen paused and looked at Laura as if to say: 'really?'
"It doesn't matter," the smaller blonde said with a shake of her head, "it's over now."
"But like, you didn't have to do the community service then, if that were the case."
"I wouldn't…" Cohen said, sipping her drink, "but my sister would have." Laura nodded.
"So…tell me what went down." Laura said, leaning towards the girl, "I won't judge."
"Well," Cohen finished her food and sat back against her chair contentedly, "my sister has been some sort of 'rebelling wreck' after what happened. She's going through this random phase of staying out late and going to high school parties." Cohen sighed and looked out the window, not looking at Laura as she told the rest of her story, "One night, she said that we should sneak out to go to this one party and I decided that I should go to keep her in check. Unfortunately, the numbskull is horrible with directions and we gave up. We were on our way back to the housing unit, that CAS has us cooped up in, when we stumbled upon – what we now know is your building – and saw some dudes writing graffiti with spray paint." Cohen laughed, "I guess they were horrible delinquents because they saw us and immediately ran." Her giggling subsided and looked down at her hands in her lap. "And that's when it got complicated."
-two weeks prior-
"Oh, hey! Coco; let's graffiti!" Levy stated, thinking she was the most brilliant person. Cohen just stared at her fraternal twin with disgust.
"Dude, this whole 'badass' vibe doesn't suit you!" Cohen cried, trying to plead with the taller girl to stop being ridiculous. "Please, Lev, let's just go back to the shithole." The 'shithole' is what they had described their new living accommodations, provided by CAS. They were allowed to live in a supervised apartment with a personal support worker, who was basically 800 years old and wouldn't wake up – BUT STILL. Levy just rolled her eyes at her sister and smirked.
"Fine." Levy stated, "You go back and I'll be here," for emphasis Levy picked up a spray can, shook it and proceeded to draw a happy face on the side of the building. Before Levy or Cohen could figure out what to say next, a Toronto Police squad car pulled up and blared its sirens. Levy dropped the paint can and Cohen swivelled around to face the cop as he got out of his car.
"YOU," the policeman shouted, "STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!"
"COHEN, RUN!" Levy instructed as she ran in the other direction. Cohen quickly thought about how much trouble Levy would be in. Their CAS worker had scolded Levy since day one about her attitude and rebellious actions. The worker threatened to separate them if Levy had one more run in with trouble and Cohen couldn't imagine being separated from Levy. Not after what had happened last month. Instead of running and allowing the cop to track down both her and her sister, Cohen stepped forward. The cop slowed down in front of her. She guessed that it was still kind of dark because the officer didn't notice a second person.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" The cop asked. Cohen just shrugged and gestured to the wall.
"Doing a little…redecorating." Cohen answered, crossing her arms. The cop scoffed.
"Well, I'm sorry to end your little project, but you're gonna have to sit in the back of this car while I call your parents." Cohen laughed knowing that there weren't anymore parents that she could call. She chuckled a little causing the utmost confusion in the officer.
"Good luck with that."
-Present-
After hearing Cohen's summary of the night's events, Laura felt sympathy and a large amount of pride for this 14-year-old. She showed much more maturity than anyone Laura had ever met, even up until now. Laura felt like giving her a hug but just leaned in closer.
"Hey," she said and Cohen looked up from her lap, "for what it's worth, I think that was very noble and you are totally awesome for protecting your sister like that." Cohen smiled weakly.
"It still sucks."
-One Month Later-
Carmilla, Mel, LaF and Kirsch were taking a stroll on a lovely evening. Laura and Perry were at some wine and painting event, someplace in the extreme hipster part of the city. They had just finished watching a movie at Yonge and Dundas and were on their way to Fran's, a cozy 24-hour diner. They could totally call an Uber, or something, but it was really lovely out and they wanted to enjoy the prospect of taking a walk without Carmilla suffering from mild burning in the sunlight. It was about 11 o'clock but there was still quite a bit of cars going by.
"That was such an awesome movie!" Kirsch exclaimed, mostly with his arms, "I would totally see it again! OH! Maybe in 3D!" LaF nodded in agreement while Carmilla and Mel just scoffed.
"I really liked the visual effects! It reminded me of all our times with the alchemy club, at Silas!" LaF added and Kirsch just nodded along enthusiastically.
"Are you kidding?" Mel asked, "I'd much rather have let Carmilla run metal chopsticks through a fire and use them to eat my eyes like sushi." LaF, Kirsch and Carmilla all stopped in their tracks to just let the comment sink in. After a moment of silence, the three shook their heads and continued to walk behind Mel.
"No offense, but that doesn't sound very appetizing." Carmilla stated and Mel sighed dramatically.
"Oh, stuff it, Cullen-Stein; humour me once in a while!" before anyone could make any further comments, they suddenly heard a loud shriek that sounded like it was coming from right around the corner. The four friends looked at one another and without any verbal cues, all of them immediately ran towards the sound of distress.
They quickly rounded the corner to see a young blonde girl being cornered by three bulky looking men. There were a variety of groceries strewn around them and Carmilla assumed that this kid was just hitting up the convenience store for something to ease their munchies. One of the bulky men had grabbed the girl's t-shirt by its collar.
"Are you gonna tell us what we want or not, punk?!" the guy yelled in the girl's face. The girl just kept squirming, trying to get the grip on her shirt to loosen.
"LET ME GO, GUSTAV!" she screeched. The one called 'Gustav' wound his free arm back, as If he was getting ready to punch her.
"HEY, UGLY!" Kirsch yelled, getting the attention of the men, "WHY DON'T YOU COME OVER HERE AND GET SOME?!" It sounded intimidating but Mel just shook her head.
"We really need to work on your phrasing, Kirsch." Before anything else could happen, Gustav punched the girl, square in her jaw and dropped her to the floor. Without further prompting, Carmilla barred her fangs and lunged at all three of the men. They screamed but kept running. Kirsch and Mel joined the pursuit while LaF stayed back to comfort the girl. LaF had just knelt down, next to the girl, who was coughing profusely. They pulled out their phone and quickly dialed 911.
"H-hello?" LaF said into the phone, as the dispatch operator answered, "Yes, I'd like to report an assault on O'Keefe Lane! QUICK! They're a minor!"
-About an Hour Later-
The gang was outside of the girl's hospital room. She had suffered some minor injuries and was knocked out by some pain meds. The girl had no real identification on her aside from a student card, which was turned over to the police. The cops asked the four friends to stay with her until they could get a hold of someone who knows where this girl lives and who she was.
"I know we should feel good about this," LaF began, "but still…nothing feels…okay." They looked up at their friends, "I'm getting that bad feeling again." Kirsch looked up from reading a Cosmopolitan magazine.
"Do you want me to find some Pepto-Bismol?" he asked, concerned. LaF just shook their head.
"No, not that feeling. It's – It – It's kind of like when –!"
"When we went back to Styria to ghost hunt?" Mel said, filling in the blanks. LaF just nodded
their head solemnly.
"Yup." They agreed, "That's the feeling." Suddenly, the doctor came back into view. Carmilla stood and walked towards them.
"Any news?" She asked, concerned. The doctor just shook her head.
"Unfortunately, I still can't give much more information because none of you are her family." The doctor said, placing a consoling hand on Carmilla's wrist. "The police have identified her though, and I spoke to their guardian on the phone. They are on the way, if you want to sit tight." Carmilla opened her mouth to say something, but then peered over the doctor's shoulder to see Laura and Perry come through the doors. The doctor repeated themselves and Carmilla apologized.
"Yes, sorry, I-we'll stay until the family arrives." The doctor nodded and went into the girl's room to check on her status. Soon after, Laura wrapped her arms around Carmilla and placed a kiss on her cheek.
"When LaF called us, and said you guys were on route to the hospital, I-I didn't know what to think!" The blonde said, worriedly. Carmilla smiled.
"Don't worry, everyone's fine." She kissed Laura on the forehead, "Even the girl that we…tried to rescue." Carmilla said solemnly and Laura placed a hand on her partner's cheek.
"Hey, you did save her." The blonde reassured, "Even though she has some injuries, she's alive. And safe." Another kiss was placed on Carmilla's face and the vampire couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah." She sighed. The doctor emerged from the room and addressed Mel, LaF, Carmilla and Kirsch.
"She would like to talk to you; all of you." The doctor said with a smile, before leaving the group alone. Without further hesitation, the group headed into the room.
The young girl was sitting up straight in the bed looking perfectly fine, as if she hadn't just been beat down by a group of weird men on a Tuesday evening. It was here, in the light, that the group could actually see her features properly. She had long dirty blonde hair that fell over her left shoulder, piercing blue eyes and a slightly sun-kissed complexion. She had the brightest smile as the group entered the room.
"Hey!" the girl said excitedly. She tried to scoot up to the foot of the bed but immediately winced. LaF and Carmilla rushed to her side.
"Maybe you shouldn't move so much." LaF suggested, "Your head still looks way too bruised. Are you concussed?" the girl shook her head and winced again. LaF chuckled, "Yeah, I'll take that as a 'maybe'."
"Well, better this than…whatever else could have happened." The girl mumbled. She looked around the room and smiled a genuine smile at her heroes. "Thanks for…not letting me get beat to death. You didn't have to." Mel, Carmilla, Kirsch and LaF all chuckled.
"Yeah well," Mel began, "it's been kind of our thing, lately." Before the girl could comment, Perry jumped in.
"Not that we regularly make a habit of fighting complete and utter strangers in the middle of the night, on weekdays!" Everyone just stared at the woman with their eyebrows furrowed.
"Seriously?" LaF asked their best friend, "After literally everything?"
"And yeah, we kind of had to." Carmilla added, changing the subject. "We weren't gonna let some screaming kid fend for themselves."
"Well thanks, Justice League." The girl joked, causing everyone to laugh a little, "I'll be sure to speak highly of you." Before anything else could be said, the doctor came in followed by a taller figure. They were dressed in black, with a permanent scowl on their face. Immediately the room's atmosphere had changed and it was most noticeable on the girl's face.
"Levy…" the tall figure began.
"Gina." The girl addressed. Before 'Gina' could say anything, another person burst through between the doctor and the door frame. It was another blonde girl with shorter, messier, hair and glasses. She immediately rushed to the girl's bedside excitedly.
"LEVY!"
"COHEN!" the two girls hugged and Laura stepped closer to the two of them.
"Cohen?" she asked and the shorter girl turned around.
"Laura?"
"Kirsch!" Everyone turned towards the tall man and he just shrugged. "What? I watched a Shrek marathon the other day. Can't miss an opportunity." Laura shook her head and addressed Cohen again.
"What – what are you doing here?"
"This is my sister; Levy."
"You know them, Cupcake?" Carmilla asked, pretty baffled by the coincidence. Laura shrugged.
"Well," Laura pointed to the girl with shorter hair and glasses, "I know Cohen. She did some volunteering for my office because of spray-painting the side of the building." Both Laura and Cohen looked towards Levy, knowingly, as the girl just slumped against her pillow. "Anyway, she's finished her hours so I hadn't seen her since last week."
"So…" Cohen began, "What are you doing here?"
"These guys, who saved your sister, are my friends." Laura placed a hand on the shorter blonde's shoulder as she gestured around the room. "This is my partner, Carmilla, and our friends; Kirsch, LaFontaine, Perry and Mel." Cohen smiled at everyone.
"I'm…I'm just so happy. Thanks for sticking up for Levy." She hugged Laura and Carmilla making them blush. Gina coughed obnoxiously, getting everyone's attention.
"I hate to break up this festival of love and peace, but I need to speak with miss Levy about –!" Gina was suddenly cut off by Cohen.
"NO, Gina! We don't want to hear it!"
"Regardless of whether or not you want to hear it, I have to talk about your father's old 'friends' trying to attack and kidnap your sister!" Gina said sternly, "You and your sister are in grave danger! The CAS needs to relocate you both." Gina sighed and looked almost as if she was going to regret how forceful her tone was. "Separately."
"NO!" Levy and Cohen screeched, collectively. Cohen ran to her sister, and snuggled up beside her.
"I'm NOT going to let you take her away from me!" Levy cried, wrapping her arms around her smaller counterpart. Gina sighed.
"Would you two stop this?!" Gina said, exasperatedly, "I don't want to have to do this, but your information in CAS is apparently being leaked. Your parents' enemies are honing in on the source and until we figure out how they are doing that, we've got to get you kids into better hiding."
"But I'll never see her again," Cohen sobbed into her sister's shoulder, "I-I-I can't – I won't – I can't lose her too!" the twins began to cry together. The other adults in the room couldn't help but just watch as these two kids had their lives being torn in half.
"The system isn't safe enough for the both of you." Gina said, running her hands down the side of her slacks, "It wouldn't be worth it if you both showed up on the morning news, dead." The twins continued to cry, pretty much ignoring whatever Gina was reasoning. Probably due to the heartbreak unfolding in front of her, mixed with profound feelings of protecting Cohen and Levy, Laura spoke up.
"What if they weren't in the system?" Laura asked, as everyone turned to look at her.
"What do you mean?" Gina asked for clarification.
"Well…if the information that is being leaked is tied to everything that you guys are doing…maybe they can just go under the radar." Gina pondered the thought.
"The only thing left is foster homes, but those are publicly listed under our connections and for security reasons."
"What if…" Laura closed her eyes, looking like she almost regretted her big mouth, "they didn't go to a registered foster home? What if they went under the radar into something like…like witness protection? But not actually witness protection." Carmilla chose now to intervene.
"Laura…" Carmilla started, "what are you suggesting?" Laura's eyes pleaded with Carmilla and the vampire shook her head. "Laura, no." Laura took one look at Cohen and Levy huddled together and completely ignored her vampire lover.
"They can stay with us."
"What?!" Mel, Perry, LaF, Kirsch and Carmilla collectively asked, shocked. Levy and Cohen sat up, still kind of sobbing, but curious as to what Gina would say.
"That's…probably not good for liability purposes." Gina said.
"But they wouldn't have to be in a system." Laura argued, "Just leave them with us; pretend they went out of province instead of actually sending them out of province!" Gina shook her head and so did Carmilla. "Don't separate them."
"I'd have to run it by my supervisor but that honestly doesn't sound like the worst idea." Gina shrugged her shoulders. "It's all we've got at this point." Gina took out her phone and went outside. LaF, Perry, Mel and Kirsch decided to exit the room and let Laura and Carmilla sort out their…plans.
"Come on," Perry said, leading the way, "I saw a vending machine…somewhere!"
"Cool!" Mel and Kirsch said, tugging LaF along with them. Once the door was closed Carmilla lost it.
"Are you out of your mind?!" Carmilla asked her partner, "We can't just randomly adopt kids out of the blue like this?! What happened to 'we'll do everything together, Carm'?!"
"I-I know, I'm sorry!" Laura said, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed. "I…I don't know." She looked over at Levy and Cohen. "I just don't want them to get separated." Carmilla sighed and placed her hands on top of Laura's.
"I know you just want to help, but this isn't our fight."
"Yeah, Laura…" Cohen said, hesitantly, "we appreciate it…but we don't want to –!"
"We don't want to ruin anything else." Levy said, cutting off her sister. Levy looked up at Carmilla, completely by accident and the vampire felt something along the lines of sympathy. She vaguely remembered when she thought that Mattie was gone forever and knew that Levy and Cohen would feel something like that. Carmilla sighed heavily. Vampires aren't supposed to feel sympathy but they aren't supposed to fall madly in love with humans either. Carmilla pulled Laura up, to stand. Laura was a little confused.
"Let's talk over here for a sec." the raven-haired vampire gently tugged Laura along with her. Once they were by the door, Carmilla looked Laura in her eyes. "Okay. Tell me exactly what you think is going to happen if Tall, Dark and Righteous decides to give Thing One and Thing Two to us." Laura quickly composed herself and prepared to outline her thought process.
"I just…Cohen's a sweet kid and I'd hate for them to be separated. If anything, they can just be safe with us until…whatever it is with their parents blows over. It's, obviously, putting them in danger." Laura gestured over her shoulder to where Levy was lying down. "Maybe being surrounded by a few paranormal nutjobs, a weapons enthusiast, a walking brick wall and an immortal being isn't such a bad idea for their safety. Besides, they're 14. They'll be old enough to go to school or just buzz off at that point. I just don't want them to be a part."
"I can't believe I'm doing this…" Carmilla sighed, "Hey, Twerps," Carmilla addressed them, much to Laura's disapproval. Levy and Cohen both looked up, "anyone have a problem doing chores?" the two of them looked at one another and turned back to face Carmilla, shaking their heads. "Okay, sold."
Carmilla swiftly turned around to open the door. She walked out into the hallway and was now face to face with Gina. The CAS worker had just put away her phone.
"So, what's the deal?" the vampire asked. Gina cleared her throat and took a step back.
"You don't even know what you're getting yourselves into." The worker said rather ominously. Laura and Carmilla just looked at one another.
"What do you mean?" Laura questioned.
"Do you have any idea who those kids are?" Everyone looked around the room and just shook their heads. Gina turned to face Kirsch and Mel, "You do local news, don't you?" they nodded, "What's been circulating the last few months?"
"The story of...the firefighter that got high and climbed the mast of a yacht, at the waterfront?" Kirsch responded.
"No, Burrito for Brains," Mel replied, punching her colleague in his shoulder, "I think she's talking about the Scott case." Gina just nodded.
"What do you know about Terrance and Gloria Scott?" Gina quizzed. Perry began to speak up.
"Well…they've been smuggling young girls over the border to join the sex-trade. Apparently, they were a very rich business power couple on Bay Street. They were convicted exactly three months ago. I don't know anything else –!"
"Scott." LaF said, cutting off Perry. They then turned to Gina, "Can I see Levy's student card?" Gina laughed and tossed the card at LaF. The scientist gulped as they read the card aloud. "Student ID at Marshall Thompson Secondary School; Number 100893422…Levy Scott…" LaF then looked up at their friends.
"And the reason we have issues is that those men who were following Levy tonight," Gina stated, looking at Laura, "were Terrance and Gloria's business deals gone wrong. They will stop at nothing to get those girls killed. Are you still considering taking them in?" Gina questioned. Carmilla just looked at Laura, already knowing the answer. Laura wasn't 100 percent sure, but when has that ever stopped her before? This was what she was used to; this was her next mission.
"Absolutely." Laura said, getting all up in Gina's personal space. "I won't let you permanently separate these girls, after everything they've been through. They deserve to be kept safe and kept together." Carmilla chuckled as the madness unfolded.
"That's my Cupcake."
"Well," Gina began, "the Children's Aid Society, because of all the other stuff that we have to deal with, are willing to let the Scott twins cohabit with you and your partner." Laura smiled, "BUT you do have to pass the home inspection. I'll set up an inspection date for Friday; Call me at this number tomorrow." Gina ordered, handing a card to Laura. "Until then," Gina said, going into the room where the girls were. After a moment of silence, the group heard some feet shuffling and soon, Gina reappeared with Cohen. "Cohen will be staying at this address" Gina said, handing a card over to Carmilla. "while Levy stays in the hospital. I've contacted Toronto police, and they'll be guarding this floor." As Gina turned to leave, Cohen turned around and ran straight for Laura, hugging her tightly around her midsection.
"Thank you." The young girl said before unlatching herself from the journalist and following Gina to the elevator. Once Gina and Cohen were officially gone, there was a collective sigh of relief from everyone except Perry.
"Did you not just hear her?!" Perry said, in frantic Perry-likeness, "These girls are targeted by a few, if not, hundreds of their parents' scorned 'business trades'!"
"We have nothing to worry about," Laura said wrapping an arm around Carmilla, "I have a successful small business and Carmilla is studying while working for the Art Gallery; we'll be golden!"
"Not so fast, Angelina Jolie," Mel stated, getting everyone's attention, "you seem to be forgetting some important facts, about your life."
"Like what?" Laura asked. Carmilla placed a hand on her shoulder and decided to fill in the blanks for her partner.
"Yeah, we'll be totally fine…except for the fact that we have access to over a dozen weapons, tons of supernatural equipment, all our history is documented online AND our apartment is full of blood because I'm a vampire." Laura balled her fists and sighed; she had completely forgotten about things in her life that could, potentially, be a child safety hazard and ruin their chances at having Cohen and Levy live at their home.
"Oh crap."