Hello everyone! Just one thing to note before you read, I have adjusted Eden's age to be fourteen months, rather than being eleven months as I wanted to make a few different things happen differently. Thank you all for the kind words, here is the second chapter!
Freya lead her down the hallway towards the closed door at one of the corners of the compound. She turned the doorknob slowly, quietly pushing it open as she looked into the room. Both women walked into the room where Keelin laid on the bed. A small body curled up beside her made Hayley's heart drop.
She approached the bed slowly and looked down at the tiny curled up body that clenched onto a worn pink kitty and had a pink pacifier sticking out of her mouth, half hanging out. She scanned the small girl, dressed in purple pajamas that had small blood splatters on them, and white socks. Looking at the tiny babies face made Hayley's take a deep breath, she looked almost identical to how she had looked as a child. She had chocolate brown hair that curled at the ends, she was petite and had a small nose that was similar to the one Hope had, and Hayley before her.
"She looks like me." Hayley breathed out softly, reaching out with a shaking hand to brush a single curl that laid across her face. If that note had not been convincing as it was, one look at this child and you could tell she was related to Hayley, she was practically a clone.
"I just got her to calm down, she cried herself to sleep." Keelin sighed softly, standing from the bed and walking over to Freya who wrapped her arm around her girlfriend, kissing her temple softly as she whispered a "thank you."
"Hayley, maybe you should look through the rest of the packet. Do you want me to go grab it?" Freya asked as Hayley sat down on the bed beside the girl. Hayley nodded her head slowly, her eyes never moving from the body of Eden.
Freya and Keelin moved silently from the room towards Hayley's room and began packing up the package.
"Look at this." Keelin handed Freya a photo that had been sitting on the bed. It was a photo of a tiny Hayley standing in front of a tree, the family had heard this story before, her adoptive father had hung a tire swing and she was so excited about it. On the back in cursive was written, "I was able to get my hands on this photo a long time ago, it was the only thing that comforted me during some hard times, knowing that you were out there somewhere, alive and thriving. Eden looks a lot like you, doesn't she?"
"Wow." Freya examined the image quickly, but dropped it into the package with the rest of the paperwork.
"This is crazy." Keelin spoke to her girlfriend as they walked down the hallway to give Hayley the package. Freya agreed, it was insane to think that Hayley all of a sudden was responsible for another child, a child that she may be related too, but wasn't her own.
Giving the package to Hayley who spoke out a shaking "thank you", Freya and Keelin made their way downstairs, giving Hayley some space. She needed time to figure it out, a battle she needed to fight on her own.
Hayley looked down at the sleeping child beside her as she began to unpack the envelope, going slowly and looking at each item. She took several minutes to compare an old photo of herself that she hadnt seen in years, to the sleeping girl beside her and smiled softly. They could be twins, and Hayley could see a tiny glimpse of Hope's face when she looked at the photo and at the little girl.
There was a birth certificate that had blanks for father and mother, a health card, immunization records, supernatural records that had been kept on her, everything thing Hayley needed as well as parental rights paperwork, the paperwork was filled out like Hayley's sister didn't exist, and that Hayley was taking the child on.
Notes were scattered everywhere, little sticky notes that Alexai had written about Eden or things Hayley needed to know.
"The pink stuffed kitten is her favorite, she can't sleep without it, and she loves her pacifier, we called it a sookie at home, like a soother. She should have arrived with a dark blue sun and moon blanket, I made her that before she was born," Hayley felt tears well in her eyes. "She still drinks formula, the bag she was dropped off with should have had some in it, and some clothes too, but we didn't have a lot packed for her." Hayley read note and after, taking in all of the information. She knew that she hated naps, but loved to be cuddled, that she wore a size 3 diaper and that she had started walking at ten months, running the next week. Another letter told Hayley about all the signs the fourteen month old knew, such as thank you, some, more, bye and much more.
Hayley let tears fall down her face as she continued to learn new things about this child. She was a tiny thing, she was eleven months and was still wearing nine month clothing, and that she had four teeth. She read about her favorite snacks, strawberries and peach dissolvable stars.
Once the last note was read and the last picture had been looked at, Hayley repackaged the envelope and set it aside. Her movement caused the small child to stir and sit up slightly, looking up at the woman.
Tears began to well in the little girls eyes, but Hayley was quick to push her brown hair back from her eyes and smile at her.
"Hey, no tears, baby girl. Its okay. Im Hayley. Were going to figure this out, together." Hayley spoke with a slight sigh. She was shocked when the tears retracted and the big eyes looked up at her, Eden then laid her head down again Hayley's chest. Hayley took a deep breath, the look in her eyes made it seem like Eden recognized her name, and that made Hayley's heart race.
In that moment Hayley realized that they had known something was going to happen, and they spent months planning for this, making the baby recognize her name, and know that it would bring her comfort, not harm.
