SEVEN
Olivia hangs up the phone and puts it back on the bedside table.
"Because she isn't Allison's case worker, she can't pull the birth certificate, but because we're her guardians she can have her case worker bring it to us." She says.
I nod. "Okay. Maybe after that we can go find some new clothes and things for Allison?" I say.
Allison didn't want to go back out after we got home so we decided that she needed to feel safe more than she needed new clothes at that moment.
Olivia nods. "Yeah." She says.
"Okay. Let's try to get some sleep then?" I say.
Liv nods and lies down on her side of the bed.
I lay down on my own side of the bed, then scoot closer to Liv. She warps her arms around me and sighs contently.
I smile. "Goodnight Liv." I say.
"Night Manda. I love you." She says.
"I love you too Liv." I say.
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I hear a pounding and I startle awake.
Olivia sits up beside me. "That must be Allison's case worker." She says as she throws the covers off.
I follow her out to the living room and sit down on the couch. Olivia opens the door and a thin red-head steps into the apartment and scans the place. She nods approvingly before looking at Olivia.
"I'm Beatrix Campbel." She says extending her hand.
Olivia shakes her hand and smiles brightly.
"I'm Olivia, and this is my girlfriend Amanda." She says, as she leads Beatrix over to the couch.
I smile and wave awkwardly. "Hello." I say quietly.
Olivia sits down beside me and Beatrix sits across from us, on the other couch.
"I understand you've requested Allison's birth certificate." She says.
Olivia nods. "Yes." She says.
"Why?" Beatrix asks.
"We want to know as much as we can about her." Liv says.
Beatrix nods and pulls a file out of her briefcase. "There isn't much on her. We have a copy of her birth certificate, and her medical records. That's it." She says sadly.
"Medical records?" I ask.
"Yes, when Allison was born, her left lung collapsed and she required surgery." She says.
I remember that.
"Is she okay now?" Olivia asks.
"Oh yes, she's fine now, but if she gets a cold, you just need to watch her carefully." Beatrix says.
"Anything else?" Liv asks.
"A few months ago she was ill, and she had a febrile seizure, it's fairly common in children her age. There was no damage." She says.
I let out a sigh of relief. "Okay." I say.
Beatrix smiles. "How is she doing?" She asks.
"She's having nightmares, and she's terrified of everyone and everything, but I think she'll be okay." Liv says.
Beatrix looks down at her watch. "I should get going." She says, handing me Allison's file.
"Thank you." I say.
Olivia walks Beatrix out and I wander back into the bedroom and sit on the bed to stare at the closed file.
Olivia finally enters the bedroom and sits down beside me.
"Are you gonna open it or do you want me to?" She asks.
"You do it. I can't." I say quietly.
Olivia slides the folder over to her side of the bed and opens it. I can't even look toward her.
"Okay, let's see, name; Allison, there isn't a last name on this, date of birth; July 3, 2011, Borough; Manhattan, birth weight; five pounds eight ounces, mother's maiden name; Amanda Sierra Rollins…" She trails off.
"She's mine?" I say.
"According to this. Was everything right?" She asks.
I nod. "Yeah." I say.
"Do you wanna look at this?" She asks.
I nod and she hands me the birth certificate. "Everything is right from what I remember." I say.
"What you remember?" Liv asks. I nod. "Yeah, I didn't know her name." I say.
"So what do you want to do?" She asks.
"I want to wait for the DNA test to come back before we do anything." I say. Olivia nods.
"Alright." She says.
"She's mine." I say quietly as I lean against Liv.
She wraps her arms around me. "It looks like it." She says.
I smile. I could actually get my daughter back. I could actually have a family. A good family.
"I love you." I say quietly.
Liv tightens her grip on me and kisses the side of my head.
"I love you too Manda." She says.
"You ready to get up?" Liv asks.
I nod. "Yeah." I say as I stand up.
"Liv?" I ask.
She turns to me. "Yeah?" She says.
"What if she's mine? Like what if she's really mine, and I get her back? What do I tell everybody?" I ask.
"You tell them what you want them to know." She says.
I nod slowly. "What if I don't want them to know anything?" I say.
"Well then we tell them the truth. We tell them that we volunteered to take custody for a little while and then we decided that we wanted to adopt her." Olivia says.
I nod. "Okay." I say.
"She said she looked like me." I say.
"Who said what?" Liv asks.
"The girl at the shoe store. She said Allison looks like me." I say.
Liv smiles. "She does Amanda. She's like a small-scale photocopy." Liv says.
"I didn't think she would." I say.
"What do you mean?" Liv asks.
"When I was pregnant, I would have these dreams about my baby, and all I saw was him." I say.
Liv nods. "What about after you had her?" She asks.
"I didn't look long enough to find out. I held her for about a minute, before she started making this weird wheezing sound and she was choking, and the doctor took her away." I say.
"What about now. Do you see him or you?" Olivia asks.
I smile. "I don't see him." I say.
Liv smiles. "You know she's not his right?" Liv asks.
I nod. "She is his, but she's mine too." I say slowly.
Liv nods. "He will never know her." She says.
"I hope not." I say.
"We should really get up now." Olivia says.
I nod. "Yeah." I say.
"What are we gonna do today?" Liv asks.
"I'm hoping that we can go and get Allison some new clothes." I say.
Olivia nods. "That would be a good idea." She says.
Olivia stands up and walks over to the dresser. I stand and walk up behind her and wrap my arms around her.
She jumps a little bit but settles quickly.
"Are you sure you want me to be this normal?" I ask.
She turns around to face me and wraps her arms around my waist. "I want you to be normal, I'm just, afraid I guess." She says.
"What are you afraid of?" I ask.
Olivia shrugs. "I really don't know." She says.
I nod. "I love you." I say.
Liv smiles and puts her head on my chest. "I love you too Amanda." She says.
I pull out of the hug and walk over to my dresser and pull on some sweat pants and a tank top.
"What time is it Liv?" I ask.
She walks over to her side of the bed and opens the drawer in her bedside table.
She reaches in and pulls out her phone.
"It is ten twenty." She says.
"Is Allison okay?" I ask.
Liv chuckles a little bit.
"Amanda, I've been with you all night." She says.
I sigh. Duh. "Right. I'm gonna go check on her." I say.
Olivia nods. "What do you want for breakfast?" She asks.
"Umm I'll take bacon and toast please." I say.
She nods and walks out of the room.
I grab my cell phone off of the night stand and walk down the hall to the office where Allison has been sleeping. I poke my head in the door and see her curled up on the bed, clutching Teddy. I walk over to the bed and sit down on the edge. I watch quietly for a minute and then I put my hand on her shoulder and gently nudge her awake. She tenses and rolls over quickly, eyes wide.
"Hey, it's okay sweets. It's just me." I say.
It takes her a moment to realize where she is and she relaxes slightly.
I smile.
"You okay?" I ask.
She nods. "You want to get up and get some breakfast or do you wanna sleep some more?" I ask.
She shrugs. "Okay, well Olivia is making breakfast right now, so you can come out and get some if you want okay?" I say.
Allison nods. "Okay." She says quietly.
"If you need us, yell." I say as I stand and walk out of the room.
I walk down the hallway and into the kitchen where Olivia is cutting the pound of bacon in half.
"She okay?" She asks.
"I think so. She was still sleeping when I went in." I say.
"Is she coming for breakfast?" Liv asks.
"I told her that you were cooking." I say.
Liv nods. ""You just gonna stand there and watch me?" She asks.
"Well I would help, but the fire department would be here in about five minutes." I say.
Liv laughs. "Remember last time? I asked you to flip the pancakes and it ended in you running from the kitchen in your underwear screaming 'FIRE, FIRE CALL 911!'" She says, as she doubles over laughing.
"They were big flames!" I say, trying to defend myself.
"Amanda, baby they weren't big enough for a fire truck. All you had to do was pour some baking soda on them." She says.
"They were big for that tiny burner!" I say, laughing.
"Okay baby, whatever you have to tell yourself." She says.
"Well fine then. If I'm not wanted here, I'll just go watch TV." I say jokingly.
"Okay you do that then." Liv says as she tries to control her laughter.
I smile and walk out of the room, and plop down on the couch. I turn the TV on and turn it to Grey's Anatomy. I lean back against back of the couch and close my eyes. I hear Allison walk out of the office and into the kitchen to see what Olivia is doing, then I hear her footsteps coming towards me.
I feel the couch dip and then I feel Allison curl up beside me with her head on my chest. I open my eyes and look down at her and see she's looking up at me.
"I can move." She says quietly.
I smile. "You don't have to." I say.
Allison smiles.
"Can I put my arm around you?" I ask.
Allison hesitates for a moment, then nods. I smile and wrap my arm around her back, and she snuggles into me.
