Hello again!

This is my shortest chapter, I believe, other than the first chapter (maybe) so I felt like I ought to explain why I didn't change Lafayette's full name in any way. When I was writing the last chapter, I figured that Laf would be the sort of person who would give themself the longest and most extravagant name they could without a fuck to give. When they were little, they had a really feminine set of names that they got bored of and changed as soon as they told the Washingtons to the more masculine names as a change, keeping their last name (which they had previously told friends to call them by before she came out as non-binary).

Also, to those who have been watching the pairings change since I first posted this... Sorry! I was initially just going to have Lams and Mullette, but I've been working on some of the later chapters and decided to ultimately go with Elams as a polyamorous relationship. It will all make sense as I release more chapters. Mullette is still there though XD I'm sorry if you were reading this to get your fill of Lams. I've never really been set on a particular pairing in this fandom, unlike other some of my other fandoms, so it was kind of to be expected that I would flip around on the pairings.

Alright, enjoy the chapter XD

"Alex? Alex?"

The small girl refused to wake up. Laf frowned.

"Alex?" They nudged the girl gently. "It's dinner time."

She simply rolled over, still sleeping.

"Alex, please get up." They nudged her more roughly, not really wanting to startle her. "It's time to eat!"

Finally, her eyes screwed up as if to wake. Lafayette sat back on their heels just in time before Alex sat up sharply, breathing laboured.

"Ne t'inquiète pas! You are in your room at the Washington's house. I had to wake you up for dinner."

"Where?"

"At Vernon House. George and Martha brought you home from the care home in Brooklyn an hour ago."

"Right." She still looked disorientated, but she was less panicked.

"I'm sorry that I startled you, but you weren't really waking up."

"S'okay," Alex mumbled, slipping out of bed. "Where are we eating?"

Laf stood up. "I'll show you. It's easy to get lost in this house."

"Thanks." She slipped off the bed and Laf lead her downstairs to the dining room.

"I'll give you a proper tour of the house after dinner if you are up for it," they offered. "But, if you are tired, we can do that tomorrow."

"After dinner is fine. The nap helped and I don't usually need a lot of sleep anyway."

Laf frowned. There was something off about Alex. Not in a bad way, but it was beginning to worry them. It was possible George and Martha already knew what was wrong and they would tell them in due course, or Alex was keeping something from them. Not that Laf expected Alex to have relayed her entire life story to them, but they still felt like there was something that they were missing out on.

And the little unnerving comment about her apparent insomnia was not really helping them feel any more reassured.

George and Martha were already sat at the table, all the plates filled with the beef stew and roasted potatoes that they had been cooking all afternoon.

"I hope you are hungry, because Laf made a lot of food," Martha said.

Laf went to sit down, noticing that Alex was hesitant to do so first, as if they would get annoyed at her if she sat in the wrong seat. They didn't comment, not wanting to embarrass her in any way, but indicated for her to sit beside them.

"Thank you," Alex mumbled.

"Pas de problème."

There was silence for a short while as they all started eating, simply enjoying the glorious taste of the tender beef. Laf could feel the table wobble slightly as Alex started bouncing her knee. None of them commented; it wasn't really bothering them much.

"So, Alex," Martha said, looking up at the girl sat opposite her. "Would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself? We don't really know much about you, other than what the file told us, which wasn't much."

Laf could feel her freeze up next to them, panic evident from her posture alone.

"I—"

"It's okay if you don't want to," Martha was quick to reassure. "I'm just nosy and I like to know about people."

"No, it's okay. I, umm…" Alex pushed the meat on her plate around. "I'm from Nevis, one of the Caribbean islands. No one really knows about it, but umm…"

"Did you like it there?"

"I suppose. I miss it. It's the place I think of when I think about home. Anyway, I lived there with my mother until she… umm… died…" She trailed off. "Then I lived with a cousin. For some reason, a lot of people thought I deserved a shot at getting to the US because there aren't any universities on the island and I was doing really well in school. My teachers sorted out my immigration papers, got me a visa, a plane ticket, everything. They registered for me to go to school in New York City, a state school, but it had a good reputation and they couldn't quite get me a scholarship because I was still quite young. They gave me everything I needed, including finding me a place to stay. One of them said they had family in New York and they were happy to have me. So I went."

She was on a roll and no one really wanted to break the flow, too engrossed in Alex's story.

"I arrived in New York, expecting the family to be there. They might have been there for all I know. I was about thirteen. I—" She suddenly stopped talking and just like that the spell she had them under was broken. "Can I stop now?"

George came to his senses first and nodded. "Of course. You tell what you want in your own time."

Alex had tears shining in her eyes. "Thank you," she whispered.

They were quiet again as they polished off the now cold food. Alex had barely touched her own, but before Laf could say anything about it, they were gently prompted to start clearing the table by Martha. "We'll be in the living room with Alex. When you are done, you can give her a proper tour of the house, how about that?"

"Sure." Laf didn't protest to being excluded. They were probably going to give Alex a run down of the house rules and make sure she was okay. They picked up the plate of barely eaten food, feeling a pang of guilt when they realised it was going to have to go in the bin. They didn't like to waste food, but there wasn't much that could be done about it. They would just have to suck it up for a bit.

George and Martha lead her through to a well lit room that was just slightly too big to be defined as cosy.

"Come and sit down, Alex," Martha gestured to one of the sofas. "We just wanted to have a little chat."

She did as she was told, sitting on the soft pillows rigidly. She was already beginning to fidget again.

George leaned back against the opposite sofa, looking relaxed, wrapping an arm around Martha's waist. "We just wanted to discuss your medication and therapy sessions that you've been having so we know what to do and what to expect, is that alright?" he asked.

Alex nodded.

"Alright, so…" Martha shuffled few some papers. "It says here you are being medicated for ADHD, right?"

"That's right."

"We got told by your social worker that you are able to sort your own medication out, but you sometimes need prompting about it."

Alex flushed. "Yeah, I'm a bit forgetful about it sometimes."

"That's okay!" Martha reassured. "We can remind you about it and get you the prescriptions for you, like Manuela would. We keep our medications in a cupboard in the kitchen. We have a few bathrooms, so it made more sense to keep them in the kitchen so that everyone has access to them. If we keep the meds in there and then we can remind you at breakfast to take it, would that be a good routine?"

Again, she nodded. It was much more than what Manuela did. Not that she was a bad social worker or anything, but she really didn't have the time to be checking up on Alex taking her meds properly. Sometimes, Alex would forget and just couldn't concentrate at all in school to the point that she would get herself into a fight (verbal or physical or sometimes both) and would get excluded for the day. Then Manuela would give her a look and simply ask, "Meds?" before sending her off to go and take them.

"We also need to talk about your therapy sessions. Unfortunately, because we are now quite far from Brooklyn, you won't be seeing your usual therapist."

That was fine. He was an asshole anyway.

"We've found you a good one nearby. Some good reviews. Her name is Nina Rosario and she specialises in helping people with anxiety disorders, like PTSD, so we thought she might be good for you. Naturally, if you aren't finding her helpful, tell us and we'll find someone else."

"Alright."

George gave her a look. "Is there anything else you wanted to ask us?"

"Do you have any rules?"

They looked surprised. "Well," said George, after a moment. "I suppose the one thing we would like you to do is to be respectful of everyone that we welcome into our home. Naturally, if they do not respect us, we will ask them to leave, but you shouldn't behave as they do. Okay?"

"Yes, sir.'

"You don't have to call me sir, though," George laughed, even though Alex wasn't really sure why he was laughing. "George is fine."

"Okay." A pause. "I don't think I told you earlier, but thank you for giving me a chance."

They smiled, the same welcoming one from before when Alex said she wanted to be fostered. "It's our pleasure, Alex," George said. "Now, I do believe you are due for a tour of the house. You still up for that? Lafayette has been looking forward to this for a while."

"Sure."

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Sorry that it is short! There is a longer one scheduled for next week XD

~Leo