Chapter 11
*I don't know if I mentioned this or not in the story but Brooke did give up her company to mom and is now helping Karen with her cafe*
*A week after the sleepover*
"So how has your week been?" Brooke asked Katie the friday after her sleepover with her friends. "It feels like I have barely seen you all week" She added, it was true, Katie was always staying after with her friends, new and old and when she got home she was in her room or was texting her friends.
"It's been great, I have been hanging out with this other girl from my english, math, science class, and she is also in my study hall. We have been doing a science report together on the growth of plants and we have been working together on it after school and getting to know each other" Katie said as she began to take a bite of the pizza. Her appetite was slowly growing to the pleasure of Brooke.
"That's great! What's her name?" Brooke asked, glad that the girl was making more friends.
"Her name is Lily." Katie responding looking at her foster mom.
"So I was thinking that we could have a quiet weekend, just me and you, if you want to?" Brooke asked. "It just feels as tho.." Before Brooke got to finish her sentence her phone went off. "Let me grab that"
"Hello?" Brooke asked wondering who was calling her at 7 on a friday night.
"Hello, is this Katie Winters foster mom, Brooke Davis?" The person asked.
"Yes, it is. Who is calling?" Brooke asked clearly puzzled as she took the phone into her room signaling for Katie to wait at the table until she was done.
"Hello, My name is Dawn. I am Katie's social worker. I am just calling to let you know that I am going to be stopping by around 10am tomorrow to interview both you and Katie and see how well of a placement this is for her." Dawn said.
"That's fine." Brooke said. "Is this a routine thing or is there a problem that was brought up to you guys?" Brooke asked.
"It's just a routine thing ma'am" Dawn said as she reminded Brooke that she would be there at 10 tomorrow morning.
"Who was that?" Katie asked as her foster mom sat back down at the table five minutes later.
"That was your social worker, Dawn." Brooke said. "She just wanted to call to let me know that she was going to be coming over around 10am tomorrow so she can interview us and make sure that this is a good placement" She added.
"Oh" Katie responded not sure of what to say.
"So how do these things work?" Brooke asked. "Does she just come and interview us separately?"
I don't know how these things work so I am just going on what I assume would happen.
"Well, first she is going to come and interview us both together and then she is going to want to see where I am sleeping and then in my bedroom she will interview me alone and then interview you alone and then she will talk to us both together to talk to us about if she thinks that this is a good placement for me or not." Katie said as she looked at her foster mom.
"What type of questions do they ask?" Brooke asked.
"They will ask us both how we think it is going, and how we like this placement and she will be also looking to see how we interact with each other and stuff like that. And the questions that she will ask you will be along the lines of if I am causing any problems, or if you have any concerns with me or anything like that" Katie said filling her foster mom in on what was going to happen.
"Okay" Brooke said as she was internally freaking out. "As I was saying before I got interrupted by the phone, I was wondering if you wanted to have a quiet weekend with just me and you. We can do whatever you would like" Brooke said changing the topic.
"Yeah, that would great. I would love that" Katie said as her face lit up.
"I just figured it would be nice and we could get to know each other more" Brooke said as she started to clear the table.
"Yeah, that would be nice" Katie said as she went to help Brooke.
"So what would you like to do?" Brooke asked.
"I don't know" Katie answered honestly. "Maybe a movie night one night?" She asked.
"Alright" Brooke agreed.
"Thank you for dinner" Katie said as soon as all the dishes were put away.
"No problem kiddio" Brooke said as Katie left to go to her room.
"Hey Katie, may I come in?" Brooke asked a few hours later as she peered into the girls room.
"Sure" Katie said as she put her phone down on the bed as to give her foster mom her undivided attention.
"How are you feeling about the interview tomorrow?" Brooke asked the girl as she sat down on the bed facing Katie.
"I have no feelings about it. I mean I have been through enough of them to know what is going to be asked and what to say if I want to stay in the house and what to say if I don't want to stay in the house" Katie answered.
"And do you?" Brooke asked.
"Do I want to what? Stay in the house?" Katie clarified.
"Yes. Because if you don't I won't make you stay" Brooke answered.
"I do want to stay in the house" Katie said before she took a breath and continued, "This is the first house that I genuinely like and want to stay in." Katie said as she gave Brooke a hug.
"Good. Im glad. I like having you here" Brooke said as she returned the hug.
"What time do I have to get up tomorrow?" Katie asked as she pulled away from the hug.
"Well I was thinking that I would get you up around 9 so that way you have time to shower, eat, and get ready without having to worry about rushing around" Brooke said.
"Alright." Katie said as she started to get under the covers so she could go to bed. "Night Brooke" She said as she started getting comfortable.
"Good night Katie, I'll see you in the morning" Brooke said giving the girl a kiss on the forehead before turning off the lights and shutting the door.
"Katie, its time to get up!" Brooke called from the kitchen the next morning.
"5 more minutes" Came the sleepy reply.
"You have to get up now, the social worker is coming in an hour" Brooke called back as she went to knock on the girl's door.
"I'm up" Katie said sleepily but all the same got up and went to sit at the table where Brooke had laid out a plate full of eggs and a piece of toast.
"How did you sleep?" Brooke asked once they were both seated.
"Alright" Katie said to tired to make small talk at this ungodly hour in the morning.
"Im going to go shower and get dressed" Katie said after she finished her breakfast.
"Alright. Just be quick, Dawns going to be here is 30 minutes" Brooke said as Katie headed towards the bathroom.
25 minutes later Katie emerged from her room with her phone in hand texting away as she went to sit on the couch.
"Have a nice shower?" Brooke asked her, but getting no response. "Hello?" Still nothing. "Katie!" Brooke said as she took the phone away from the girl.
"Hey!" Katie exclaimed as she tried to get her phone back.
"Well now that I have your attention, how was your shower?" Brooke asked.
"It was good" Katie said as she grabbed her phone from Brooke right before the doorbell rang.
"Hey Dawn!" Katie said happily as she opened the door to see her social worker at the door.
"Please come in" Katie added inviting the woman into the house.
"This is a lovely home you have here Mrs. Davis" Dawn said as she took a seat the chair facing the couch.
"Please call me Brooke, and thank you so much" Brooke said as she lead Katie to the couch and sat down right across from Dawn.
"So Katie how are you doing today?" Dawn asked as soon as they were all seated comfortably on the couch.
"I'm doing well, thank you" Katie responded. "I have made some new friends at school and have been getting better grades and enjoying it here" She added.
"Well thats lovely to hear" Dawn said as she jotted down what was being said. "Brooke, how do you think everything is going?" Dawn said facing the older woman.
"I think everything is going quite well, I am enjoying having Katie in my home and even though this past week has been a bit busy for both of us we still managed to have a nice dinner together last night and made some plans for this weekend" Brooke answered honestly as she put an arm around Katie.
"Thats great to hear." Dawn said. "So Katie what are your weekend plans?"
"Well we are planing on having a movie night tonight and then just hang out together and relax tomorrow" Katie said as she leaned into Brooke's touch, which did not go unnoticed by the social worker.
"So Katie, do you want to show me where you sleep?" Dawn asked a few questions later.
"Uh, sure" Katie said as she got up.
"We will be right back" Dawn said to Brooke as she started to follow Katie to her room.
"Alright" Brooke said as she headed to the kitchen to start putting away the dishes that were in the dishwasher.
"So Katie, how do you like it here?" Dawn asked when they got into Katie's room.
"I love it here, Brooke is amazing and her friends are really nice as well" Katie said sitting in her bed.
"Thats good to hear!" Dawn said writing down Katie's answer. "What did Brooke mean by things were a bit busy this week?" Dawn asked, as she too sat down on the bed.
"All she meant by that was that I was staying after school every single day working on a school project" Katie clarified.
"Well I am sure that you will do great on it" Dawn said.
"Thank you" Katie said.
"Im just going to talk to Brooke for a few moments okay?" Dawn said as she headed to the kitchen to talk to the foster mom.
"So Brooke, how well do you think that this arrangement is going?" Dawn asked the younger women who currently nursing a cup of tea.
"I think it is going pretty well, I mean this week was kind of busy and we didn't get a lot of time to spend time with each other and I am working on changing my work schedule so that doesn't happen again, but other then that I think everything's going pretty good. Katie has been opening up to me more and she has been making some new friends as well." Brooke said trying to be as honest as she could.
"That's great to hear. It seems like a great placement for here" Dawn said taking a breath before continuing, "I am going to recommend that Katie stay here" Dawn finished as Brooke gave her a hug. "Before I give Katie the good news, I just have one question for you" Dawn said.
"What is it?" Brooke asked.
"Are there any concerns that you have about Katie?" Dawn asked.
"I just had one but that has been taken care of now so no, but I will let you know if anything comes up" Brooke answered.
"Alright! Now I should go and let you and Katie have your weekend together. I dare say that I have crashed it enough" Dawn said as she made her way out the door.
"So glad she said that I could stay!" Katie said as she came out of her room as soon as she heard the door close.
"Were you eavesdropping?" Brooke asked as she playfully raised her eyebrow.
"Yup" Katie said popping the P.
"What am I going to do with you kid?" Brooke asked as she pulled the girl into a hug.
"So I was think, since I don't really like movies can we watch a TV show instead? Or a few tv shows?" Katie asked a few minutes later as she pulled out of the hug.
"Of course! We can do anything you would like to do!" Brooke said befor she added "What tv shows did you have in mind?"
"I was thinking the new show Supergirl" Aria said as she went to turn on the tv.
"Sounds good to me" Brooke said as she went to join the younger girl on the couch. They stayed like that all night, just watching tv and enjoying each others company until they both ended up falling asleep.