Anastasia

I'm practically bouncing in my seat as we pull up outside Bridge Haven, we're getting to see Phoebe for the first time in two whole weeks. I've missed her so much, my baby girl. We've spoken on the phone of course but it isn't the same as being able to hold her and smell her. God I've missed her so much.

Christian takes his sweet time getting out the car and I want to shout at him, I've been on edge all morning just wanting to get here already and it was like he was dragging his feet, almost as though he didn't want to come.

Phoebe meets us in the door, a wide smile on her face. I can't get over the size of her bump, she's grown so much since we last saw her.

"Mommy." She dives into my arms and I hold her tight to my chest, running my fingers through her hair. "I've missed you." She breathes into me.

"I've missed you too PB, more than you'll ever know." I say still holding her tight, I don't want to let her go.

"You gonna give your Dad a hug?" Christian asks from beside me and I release her to her father. He holds her tight too, unusual for Christian. I guess he has missed her even if he's not been obvious about it.

"Come on in guys." She says once she's free from her father's hold and we follow her through to the open plan. Phoebe takes us through to the kitchen and makes me a tea, her father a coffee and herself a juice and we sit together round the dining room table. She tells us all about her big sister Sarah and her pregnancy and fills us in on the baby that's been born here already and how she got to help with the labour and see the baby after it was born.

"Maisie is going home today." Phoebe says. "She feels ready to go."

"What about telling us how you're doing?" I ask seeing as she seems more comfortable talking about everyone else.

"I'm ok I guess." She shrugs.

"Just ok?" I ask glancing at Christian, he's just listening intently.

"Yeah, I mean I love it here, everything is great." Phoebe reassures. "Just coming to terms with everything is hard. Mary's had me speaking about… well about my relationship with Preston." She glances at her father who's tensed up beside me.

"Oh?" I question, I don't want her to not talk about it. If she wants to open up to me I'm listening.

"I'm coming to terms with the fact that what he did was wrong." She says looking back towards me. "It's not easy, dealing with the fact that I was groomed and manipulated but Mary is helping me and all the other girls." She explains and I see the pain in her eyes, I can't imagine what she's going through but she'll never know the relief I feel that she is dealing with it. I couldn't imagine her always thinking he loved her, always thinking it was ok and normal because it so wasn't.

"What have you been up to here Phoebe?" Christian asks changing the subject, I don't think he can handle talking about it.

"Well therapy, class and exercise is pretty much it." Phoebe smiles. "I mean I'm always busy." She chuckles. "I'm meeting with the adoption agency next week, they're bringing me some family files." She says and my heart skips a beat. She's going to be choosing who is having her baby soon and I don't want to think about it, it hurts to think this baby will be born and then taken away, will I even get to meet my grandchild?

"That's good right?" I ask trying to sound supportive.

"Sooner I can make a decision the more time I have to make other choices." Phoebe replies and I smile at her, she's so mature now, I dropped off a little girl but in front of me stands a young woman. "I did want to ask you though Mom, would you be my birthing partner… I mean you don't have to but I really would like you there with me." Phoebe says it quickly, fearing my rejection but I beam at her.

"If that's what you want I'll be there." I say smiling, I'm glad she wants me to be a part of that with her, I want more than anything to be there to support her.

"You'll need to come up and do some of the birth preparation classes and stuff with me, but that won't be for a few weeks yet." She says and I nod enthusiastically, whatever it takes to help I'll do it. I just want my baby girl to be ok. "Ok good." She smiles. "So how's Teddy?"

Christian and I fill her in on every member of the family, what they've been doing how they are. She listens happily and while I see she misses her family I can also tell she's happy where she is. It's lovely to see, my little girl happy is all I want in life.

"Are you keeping up with school work?" Christian asks, he's determined our kids will do better academically than he did even though it didn't stop him.

"Yeah, the teachers here are great." Phoebe says smiling. "I think they're struggling with me in maths though because I'm far more advanced than they thought. They've bought in some college books for me to work out of." She chuckles, maths has always been Phoebe's subject and she is extremely talented.

"That's good, as long as you're keeping up for when you return to school." Christian says and she smiles tensely, I don't think she wants to think about going back to school right now.

"Right how about we go and see Mary?" Phoebe asks and I nod, I didn't know that was on the cards today but I'm happy to do whatever Phoebe wants to do.

Christian

We follow Phoebe down to the office where Mary Griffith is waiting for her, she shakes our hands and guides us to the couch in the room where we all sit. I can't get over how relaxed Phoebe is here, she's so comfortable and happy. I didn't expect that. I was half expecting to get her to have her begging to come home or maybe that was my wishful thinking, I've struggled not having her home where she belongs.

"Ana, Christian." Mary says as she sits in front of us. "How are you both?"

"We're good." I say answering on our behalf and through the corner of my eye I see Ana nodding in agreement.

"Good. So this isn't a therapy session, family therapy will start in a couple of weeks and will be with Amy. Just Phoebe and I thought it would be a good idea for us to have a sit down and I could fill you in on her progress, she's happy for me to do that right Phoebe?" Mary looks to Phoebe who's sat between Ana and myself, she's nodding happily. It's nice to have Mary tell us about Phoebe not leave with just Phoebe's word about how she is.

"So Phoebe has settled in well. She's just a part of the family now." Mary says and I feel Phoebe smiling beside me. "I think she's a little spoiled by the other girls because she's the youngest." Phoebe giggles and nods. Yes well Phoebe can capture anyone's hearts so a bunch of maternal hormonal teenagers… well that doesn't surprise me one bit. "Phoebe is very responsive to therapy, she's partaking in group which is great and she's doing art therapy with Meghan one of the counsellors here and we're doing psychotherapy twice a week too."

The treatment side of things is what really sold me this place when I called to enquire about Phoebe coming here. It's all well and good taking care of these girls until they give birth but they go further than that. They help these girls mentally, not only with getting ready for birth and beyond the birth but everything else that comes with them. In Phoebe's case that's dealing with the fact an older man manipulated and used her. That was most important to me, she needs to deal it and not be like me. I was nearly thirty when I realised what Elena had done to me and it kills me to know that my child fell into the clutches of a child molester too.

"Are there any complications we should be aware of?" Ana asks looking from Phoebe to Mary.

"No, the midwives are very happy with how everything is progressing. Phoebe's weight is what it should be, her growth is perfect. There's absolutely nothing to worry about right now." Mary reassures my wife and she nods tensely. "Well that's everything. Do you have anymore questions?" I shake my head as does Ana. She's filled us in and we're grateful for that.

"Why don't we go to the garden and hang out?" Phoebe suggests and I nod. I just want to spend time with her before we have leave again and leave her behind.