Chapter 7

I don't own Bones

Josephine Wick or Josie as she preferred to be called was preparing the house for two now fosters. They were abused by their real father as the report said and she was making sure that everything was just right. She put two new toothbrushes and a new toothpaste tube in the bathroom, mac and cheese cooking on the stove, and rubber sheets placed on the mattresses just in case of a nighttime accident which was fairly common. She and her husband were pros at this now and loved kids. She knew to let the kids come out of their shells at their own pace and Ben knew not to intimidate or try to physically interact with the kids until they were comfortable with him. Even though he was the sweetest man on earth he was big, strong, and intimidating to most.

Ding dong! The doorbell chimed. Josie turned off the stove and rushed to answer the door. As usual Mrs. Aldwin was outside with the two boys she and Rube would be taking care of, Lucas and Lysander. It was strange how they always got stuck with Mrs. Aldwin for their charges social worker because she was always rude and indifferent to her and the kids. Josie had not yet met a single kid who had liked Mrs. Aldwin.

"Hello," Josie said cheerfully, "I am Mrs. Wick but you can call me Josie if you like." The only response she got was a shrug from the older boy and a stare from the younger one.

"This one here is Lysander," said Mrs. Aldwin pointing to the older boy and then pointing to the younger one, "This one is Lucas. Well I must go, I am terribly busy and you should know what to do by now." Mrs. Aldwin walked off before Josie could even give a polite good-bye.

"Well come on in boys," Josie said trying to maintain her cheerfulness, "Now I am going to ask you a quick question since all the other kids left, would you two like to share a room or be in separate?"

"The same," answered Lysander.

"Ok then this will be your room," she said gesturing to a room with bunk beds, light blue wallpaper, and a poster of a motorcycle hanging up, a little souvenir from her sons, "The bathroom is just down the hall and I have new toothbrushes and toothpaste in there if you don't have any and I just have to heat up dinner so it will be ready in ten. You two can decide who gets which bunk but you have to make them in the morning alright?" Still nothing, "Also what would you like me to call you? Nickname wise."

Lysander stared at her like she was speaking Greek and then said in a rude tone, "You can call him Luke and me Lizard."

Only letting her smile waver a tiny bit she said, "Watch your tone mister. Just because I might seem to be a little fake and too cheery does not mean that you can be rude. I have fostered seventeen kids and raised my own six kids and I am not above spanking if it is needed. Don't worry I'll only ever do that if you break one of my more serious rules, got it?" The only reason she added that last bit was because Luke looked scared when she mentioned spanking. She and Rube only ever spanked the kids when they broke bigger rules and they only ever hurt enough to teach their kids a lesson, not to actually leave a mark. Josie and Rube didn't care much for spanking but they still did it when lines were crossed. If someone ever teetered on the line they would usually get a warning or a scolding depending on the infraction. Truth be told, they were harder on their real kids then their foster kids about the rules.

Josie remembered how her first husband George would hurt the kids whenever he was in a bad mood or the kids acted a way he didn't like, which was usually just existing and making the slightest noise. He'd even act that way to Josie and whenever someone had to be taken to the hospital, he promised that it was the last time. Josie was now deaf in her right ear because he hit her so hard. When that happened, Josie was afraid that something similar might happen to the kids if she wasn't around so she and Rube started planning her and her kids escape. Their wedding actually took place on the anniversary of their arrival to his house, December 2nd. They actually started planning two months before they left and her daughter Daisy found out about it three weeks before they left an helped prepare by watching the boys while she left to call Rube on a payphone and plan.

She was a good girl who lost part of her childhood since she was only in the fifth grade when she had to take on a job working a paper route to help pay bills when Josie lost her job as a teacher. Josie did manage to find work as a waitress at a ritzy restaurant that only paid her three-fifty an hour with her mostly relying on tips. To be completely honest Josie was still surprised over the fact that Daisy was hired because a.) Who hires a ten year old girl to run around in the early morning hours in a city to deliver papers each morning and b.) Seriously what idiot does that? Daisy says it's because she offered to run the daily paper route for less than the others. She was being paid 9 cents per subscriber per day while others got 16 cents for the same route.

Daisy was so much unlike her older brother Paul who could get away with anything because as her husband states "he's the one who'll bring this family fortune because the first son inherits." Her sister Susan agreed because she and her husband paid for him to go to a ritzy boarding private school out in New York where they live. Paul is her first out of seven kids but since he claims that she is not her mother for leaving George and all of her photos with Rube show only six. Josie claims that she only has six. Which is sad, she'd love to see him again and she wants her whole family. But right now she has to feed her husband and the two boys upstairs.