Disclaimer: Leverage is (c) 2009 Leverage Holdings Inc.
Meet The Foster Parents
"Ready?" Hardison asked.
Parker nodded.
Hardison rang the doorbell on the oak-panelled door. The sound of the chimes reverberated throughout the house. As they faded footsteps could be heard approaching the door. Parker swallowed hard, anxiety radiating from her.
It had been her idea to come here, after all, so why was she so nervous?
The door opened and a short, stocky woman of west indian descent appeared. She looked to be in her mid to late sixties. She came forward and embraced Hardison tightly.
"Alec, how are you? It's great to see you!"
Hardison grinned. "Hi, Nana!"
The woman released him and turned to Parker. "And this must be the girl you were telling me about. What's your name, dear?"
"Uh... Cerys, ma'am." Parker was still not used to using her real name.
The woman laughed. "Pssht! Ma'am! No need to be so formal! My name's Laverne Hardison. But you can call me Laverne." She smiled broadly at Parker, showing an array of dazzling white teeth. Parker managed a nervous grin in response, which turned into surprise as Laverne seized her in a hug as enthusiastic as the one she gave Hardison.
She released Parker and beckoned them both inside. "Come in, come in, I was just getting ready to make dinner."
No sooner had they stepped inside when there was an almighty cry from upstairs. "UNCLE ALEC!" Two small children, a boy and a girl, bounded down the stairs and flew into Hardison's arms.
"Guys, guys! It's great to see you! Wow you're getting big!" Hardison said as he struggled to keep his footing.
"Are you staying for dinner, Uncle Alec?" the girl asked.
Parker heard a laugh from another room. She turned to see a girl of about seventeen watching them. "Bobby and Franny love Alec. He's like a big brother to them," the girl explained, indicating Hardison and the two children. "Actually, I suppose he is in a way." She held her hand out to Parker. "Hi, I'm Sandra."
"I'm Cerys." Parker shook her hand.
Sandra tilted her head and looked at Parker appraisingly. "Nana told us Alec was bringing his lady friend round. That must be you then."
Parker was saved from answering when Laverne ushered them all into the lounge. The two children – Bobby and Franny – held onto Hardison.
"Nana, can Uncle Alec come and play with us?" Bobby asked.
Franny nodded vigorously. "And can Big Sis come as well?" She grabbed Sandra's hand.
Laverne smiled. "Of course." Hardison and Sandra were led out of the room, leaving Parker alone with Laverne.
Parker felt a familiar sensation rise up inside her. Fear. Laverne seemed nice enough but she was a foster parent, and Parker had never had any good experiences with foster parents. Everyone of them had hurt her, beaten her, neglected her or abused her in some way. Her feelings must have shown on her face as Laverne looked at her searchingly.
"Am I making you nervous, dear?" she asked. Parker just lowered her gaze to the floor. Laverne nodded slightly in understanding.
"You were in foster care, weren't you?"
Parker nodded slowly.
"And you were moved from family to family."
Again Parker nodded, feeling tears start to sting the sides of her eyes.
"And they all treated you terribly."
"How do you know all this?" Parker whispered. "Did Alec tell you?"
Laverne shook her head. "Dear, I've been a foster parent for thirty years. I know the signs." She indicated a photo on the wall. It showed a woman, presumably Laverne herself at a much younger age, and a man. They looked happy together. "That photo was taken the day my late husband Frank asked me to marry him. I had to tell him it was impossible for me to have any children of my own. I thought he would change his mind but he said not to worry, we'd adopt. Well we took in our first child shortly after our wedding. Then we took in more. Frank passed away about ten years ago and I thought I might have to stop doing it. Fortunately some of the older children – like Alec – helped me out."
Parker was still looking down at the floor so Laverne got up from her seat and kneeled down in front of her so she could see her face. "Every child I've taken in has had the same story. They were abandoned by their parents, shuffled from home to home, unloved, neglected, sometimes beaten and abused. It always takes time for them to open up, to realise that they can have a proper home here. Some of them take days, some take weeks. In fact," she motioned back to the door Alec had been taken through, "When Alec came to me he was in a terrible state. His last set of foster parents had been alcoholics. They would leave him to fend for himself while they went out to bars. Sometimes they wouldn't come back until the early hours of the morning. He was only five! It took him a week and a half to understand that I wasn't going to leave him like they had. I raised him like I raise all of them, just like he was my own flesh and blood."
Laverned sighed. Parker finally turned her face up from the ground to meet Laverne's gaze. Laverne's eyes were starting to fill up with tears. "My only regret is that I can't help them all. For every child that comes to me there are ten that have to go through unimaginable suffering. I know I can't get to every one of them but it still hurts when I meet one of the ones I couldn't help." She put her hands on Parker's and held them tight. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for what you had to go through. I'm sorry I couldn't get to you first."
Parker felt a tear run down her cheek. "Laverne, I... I..."
Laverne smiled as tears ran down her own cheek. "I think you can call me Nana now."
That was it. Parker started crying uncontrollably. Laverne held out her arms. "Come here," she said. Parker leaned forward and embraced Laverne tightly, tighter than she had ever held on to anything before. She felt Laverne's strong arms wrap around her as she closed her eyes and poured out her pain and grief for all those years she grew up never knowing the love of a parent.
...
Hardison opened the door to the lounge quietly. His first reaction upon seeing Nana and Parker embracing each other was surprise, then he smiled. He heard movement behind him.
"Looks like Nana's adopted a new family member," Sandra said quietly. Hardison could tell she also had a smile on her face.
Hardison nodded and just watched the scene before him. Parker's eyes, red and puffy from crying, opened and met his. She smiled slightly and for a moment Hardison didn't see the thief or the woman he loved. He saw a little girl finally with a mother who loved her in the way that only a mother can. Not wanting to interrupt any further, he closed the door quietly. He felt tears gathering in his own eyes.
...
Dinner that evening was a grand affair. Laverne had called some of her old children, now grown up with their own lives and families, and they had come round to the house. Hardison was embroiled in a mass of back slapping and handshakes and hugs from people he had grown up with and he seemed to be enjoying every moment of it. It seemed that reunions such as these were rare occasions and they all lost no time in catching up with each other's lives and gossip.
What surprised Parker the most was that these people knew exactly what Hardison did for a living. They just took the fact that he was a hacker in their stride and laughed and joked about it as if it was the most normal thing in the world – which, seeing as he had grown up with them, it probably was.
"So Alec," one of them would ask, "I saw on the news last month that some corrupt corporate executive had been taken down. That you?"
Hardison nodded. "You better believe it. Me and my friends, there ain't nothing we can't do!"
"What about Cerys? Does she know what she's getting into?" another asked, motioning with his fork towards Parker.
Hardison just smiled. "She's right there in the thick of it with us."
They were all sitting around a large table with Parker and Hardison next to Laverne, and Sandra, Bobby and Franny next to them. The food was immense and never ending – Laverne did not believe in doing things by halves – and consisted of steak, chicken, chips, pies, almost everything they could ever think of. Parker did not hold back, wolfing down second and third and even fourth helpings. Even Bobby and Franny managed to get through more than they looked like they should.
Eventually the food did begin to wear down, at which point Laverne returned to the kitchen and produced a vast array of desserts and puddings. Ignoring Parker's protestations that she could not eat another thing Laverne set a huge bowl of apple pie and ice cream in front of her.
After dinner had officially finished and they were all relaxing and generally chatting to each other Laverne stood up and rapped a knife against her glass. When she had silence she spoke.
"I'm sure you all know me by now, at least after this many years you should," this caused a few chuckles, but Laverne didn't stop for long. "I'll have any excuse for us all to get together and have a good time. And when one of our family returns after a long time away," here she indicated Hardison, who just smiled and waved, "Well it's certainly a special occasion. It's even more special when we can welcome someone new into the family." She indicated Parker, who started to feel her eyes welling up again. "Cerys, I know we've only just met, but you're as much a part of this family as any other person at this table, and no matter how far away you are, you'll always have a home here."
As everybody cheered and clapped Parker felt tears running down her cheek. Hardison put his arm around her shoulders and held her close. She smiled and nodded at the others, and underneath the table she grasped Hardison's other hand tightly with both of her own.
...
It was finally time for them to leave. Bobby and Franny went up to bed after a goodnight kiss from both Uncle Alec and Auntie Cerys. Sandra smiled as she hugged Hardison.
"You've found a good one there," she said.
Hardison smiled. "She's more than good, she's the best."
Sandra then turned to give Parker a hug while Hardison went to say goodbye to Laverne.
"You look after her, you hear me?" Laverne ordered him with a smile. "And make sure I'm the first to be invited to the wedding."
Hardison spluttered. "Wedding? Nana, I haven't even thought about that! It's nowhere near that time yet!"
Laverne lightly cuffed him on the ear. "Don't lie to me boy, I can see it in your eyes. You've been thinking about it alright. You've been thinking about it ever since you met her." She leaned in close and spoke softly into his ear. "I know because I was thinking the same thing when I first met my Frank and I was thinking about it every day since then and I know he was too. He told me so when he asked me to marry him."
She moved back and brushed some dust from his shirt. "Now off you go before I start crying."
Hardison kissed her on the cheek and then led Parker out of the door and down to their car. On the way she asked him what Laverne had said to him. He blushed.
...
Laverne watched them go from an upstairs window. Despite what she had said, she was indeed crying.
"You treat her good now, son. I'm so proud of you."
There was a crash behind her. She turned with the full fury for which she was legendary.
"BOBBY! BED! NOW!"
A/N Okay I admit it. I cried during this one. I cried when I thought of it, I cried when I wrote it, and I cried when I read it back through. Very manly of me. That scene between Parker and Hardison's foster mother gets me each time. Not too sure what that says about me.
For the record I wasn't brought up with a foster family so I can only imagine what it must be like for children on both sides of the equation. I just hope that I've done it some sort of justice.
Incidentally Nana was based on the actress Aloma Wright, who among other roles - including Laverne on Scrubs, hence the name - played a lady on Cold Case who ran a cafe and helped homeless kids, even fostering some of them. Her character didn't end up too well in that show as she and her husband were the victims-of-the-week, but it still struck me as being the sort of person Hardison describes when talking about Nana.
So yeah I hope you liked it.
