I am so, so sorry for not updating. But I kind of lost my interest in this story, I still have but I'll try to get on until things actually start happening and so. I won't give up on this story or any other. I've also had a ton of things to think about, but here we are again. I hope you like this chapter.

I made a tumblr for this story with pics of the characters. You'll find the link on my profile.

Oh, and you might have seen that the cover picture for this story and most of my others have disappeared. This is not a mistake or anything, I deleted most of them because they weren't my pictures and I was afraid that the stories might get taken down for breaking the rules. And some of the others because ffn changed their picture formats and then I was too lazy to shoot new pictures.

Later on I sat on the floor in my room with Mike next to me. I had my back against the wall and my knees pulled up and my hands full of ham that had went out of date so I could give it to Mike. Mike sat right next to me looking right up at me and didn't do a thing I didn't tell him to, even though it would have been the easiest thing in the world for him to just flinch and jump forward and grab all the very tasty ham from my hands and eat it all.

But he just waited silently, and looked at me with his best puppy eyes for me to give him more ham. And so when I couldn't think of anymore tricks that he'd know then I just sat there. And I waited until the right moment and so every time the 'right moment' seemed to come I broke a piece of ham from the others and gave it to Mike.

I couldn't help but to find the irony in how Mike took the pieces of ham from me. All my life, or at least as long as I could remember pretty much everyone I had met had hated me. And even though they told me they did, they would make very sure that I had something that they wanted and they'd take it.

Pride, confidence, virginity. Belongings, food. Everything I had had had been taken from me in the most gruesome ways. By people, the human race who was said to be the only race on earth that had the knowledge on how to know how to treat each other like they should and also the only ones to have intelligence and God knows what else.

Now, I had a dog sitting next to me. And every time I held something out to him he looked at me to know he could take it, I nodded to show he could. And so he took the piece of ham hanging in my hand. Very, very carefully to make sure he didn't as much as touched my hands with his sharp teeth. And the first time I noticed it I thought it was me seeing things that I wanted to see. But after all the times I had seen it I just knew that I had been right.

All the people I'd met before had tried and wanted to hurt me. Mike did not. He was determined that whatever he did he wasn't going to hurt me and so having him there just made me feel safe. So safe I didn't notice the footsteps coming up the stairs and through the hallway until Burt and Carole stood in the door. So I saw them and when I moved out of the way and Mike shot up on his paws and got into a position where he would be able to protect me towards anything and everything.

"It's okay." Carole began, but I wasn't too sure. Even after Mike and everything I still wasn't too sure about ever trusting them- or anyone. "We just thought, we obviously have only gotten leash and collar with us when we got Mike so we need food for him and bowls and toys and God knows whatever else. So we were going to take a ride to the feet and paws in town. And I guess that at least Mike will have to come with us." I nodded. "Well, come on then. We were going now."

I took the leash from my bed but didn't attach it to Mike's collar since I knew he would follow me anyway. Damn it, I had barely even known Mike for a day, and I already trusted him more than I'd ever trusted any human being. And for the first time in forever I just knew there was someone who wouldn't hurt me.

Mike walked by me all the way downstairs and to the car, as usual I got in the front seat after a nod from Carole and Mike crawled up and sat down in between my feet and there he sat the whole way to the store with his chin on my knee. I just continued scratching behind his ears that had been cropped to make him look tough.

I suddenly had a thought about how I and Mike- I and Pitbulls maybe were very much alike, but I shook the thought of and stepped out of the car when Burt pulled over in front of a big building with a sign with painted footprints and prints from paws. And I took the leash but still didn't attach it to Mike's collar while I and Mike walked after through the doors but suddenly were stopped by a member of staff.

"Excuse me but we don't allow Pitbull terrier's in here." We stopped. And s out of a reflex I grabbed onto Mike's collar and held on as hard as I could. "Excuse me miss" The woman came over. "Didn't you hear me? We don't allow Pitbull Terrier's in here, take him out or I will have to throw you out." I flinched and backed a step, holding even tighter onto Mike's collar. He seemed to realize the woman scared me and suddenly got in front of me and growled. "Take him out, now."

In the same moment as that woman was trying to make us bring out Mike form the store another woman came into the store. Holding a Chihuahua by the leash and that tiny little dog was growling aggressively and wanted to get to Mike but Mike just glared at the tiny dog as if he was wondering what on earth she was playing with.

"Really?" Burt was annoyed by the staff I could tell. "You are going to let an aggressive dog in, and then throw out Mike that is the kindest, sweetest dog I have ever met in my life. And that only because he's just simply of the wrong race? Like would you throw out a black person for being black too?"

"Don't be ridiculous." The woman said. "Now get him out before I call for security… And obviously this dog is being aggressive."

"He's protecting he's owner." Now Carole and Burt were both arguing with the woman. "And he has to do it because you are going at us, and that is scaring her." Carole made a gesture towards me. "So…. How about we keep him on a leash all the time. And take him out the moment if he as much as touches anybody? Is that an alright deal?" The woman sighed, but gestured to us that it was nice as if she was realizing she was wrong and I quickly attached the leash to Mike's collar.

Carole showed me to come after her and we went through the hallways of the store until we at last stopped down by the cages with rabbits, hamsters, mice and guinea pigs. "Are you alright Cai?" I nodded slightly, making sure I wasn't looking at Carole. But still could see her enough from the corner of my eye so I could see if she wanted to hurt me enough for me to get away in time.

"What happened back there…" Burt started and continued even though I was looking towards Mike who was sniffing on the rabbits on the other side of a glass wall, I made sure I had an eye on Burt and could run if he tried to touch me. "…It wasn't your fault, okay? But I'm afraid that you kind of just have to get used to it because since they have been used as dogs for fighting and need a firm hand people think all Pitbull Terriers are aggressive and will bite anyone who comes to close. So… come on. Now where do they have collars and leashes?" I pointed to the one we had gotten from Marianne. "Well, these are both old and as I can see it's a miracle they're both in one piece. And besides, you have to pick up something nice for your new bud don't you?" Burt was on his way to- I don't know, hit me? Pat my shoulder but I jumped away and almost jumped straight into a shelf with cats' toys. "Oh, sorry Cai. I forgot."

"Hey." Suddenly a skinny, dark- haired boy holding onto the least of a big white dog with brown spots came around the corner and smiled at me and then looked to Burt and Carole. "Aren't you the guys who had lost their kid at the store yesterday?" Carole nodded. "So… You found her. And who is this?" The boy kneeled and reached out his hand towards Mike. "Come here, boy."

Mike looked up at the boy and then reached his head forward to smell the boy's hand. Carole had told me about how they had gotten help from some old friends of Finn and their friends to look for me and I understood that this boy who was now letting his dog come and smell at Mike was one of them who had come to help.

"Hello." Carole greeted. "Ehrm… Keith, was it?"

"Kai. Kai Freecss" Kai shook hands with Carole and then with Burt and then turned to me holding his hand out. "Hey, you're Cai right? I'm Kai. That's very easy for you to remember since they're almost the same. So..." Kai looked down on his hand that I still hadn't shook and then up at me before he reached his hand back and shoved it in his pocket. "And this is Homer." He tugged the leash of the big white and brown dog. And then he had to stop to actually breathe in some time. "So… what are you looking for here?"

"Yes, she's Cai." Carole answered for me. "And yes, we found her and we also found a new member to our family. Mike the Pitbull terrier. And we're looking for collars and leashes… You don't happen to know where that is do you?" Kai nodded and was just about to point when a dark- haired woman came around the corner.

"Kai, what have I told you about just disappearing like that?" Kai shrugged and told her something that I couldn't hear and gestured to me, Burt and Carole saying something else I couldn't hear. The woman greeted me and then turned to Burt and Carole, they started talking and Kai caught my attention, nodded to the three adults and rolled his eyes.

"Come on. I'll show you where the collars and leashes are. Otherwise we might get to be standing here for a while." I hesitated and glanced towards Burt and Carole- maybe they would be angry with me if I just left. "Come on Cai, I met them. They're nice. They aren't going to care as long as you stay in the store." It was almost as if Kai had read my mind. "Come on." He reached out and tried to grab me by the hand. And before I'd barely had the time to react to it I'd pushed him away a bit too hard.

"NO" My shout caught the attention of my foster parents and Burt turned just in time to catch Kai when he fell. Kai got his feet steady on the floor and looked to me along with Burt, Carole and the woman who had come with Kai while I grabbed tightly onto Mike's leash to feel that he was there while Carole told Kai something I couldn't hear. Kai whispered something in her ear and Carole frowned and didn't seem too sure about what he said. I took a tight grip in Mike's leash and I felt him getting in front of me so I knew I had him there while Kai took a couple of steps forward and sat down Indian style on the floor and gestured to me to do the same.

I wasn't too sure, what if, if I did and then he and the others would come and grab me and do whatever they wanted to with me. Just like everybody else had done- whatever they wanted! I glanced up at Burt and Carole who looked as calm and comforting and kind as they ever did. And Carole nodded so I slowly sat down, but still was ready to jump onto my feet and run away if they tried to do anything and looked at Kai who was resting his head a bit to the side and calmly looking at me.

"Hey." He said. "I'm Kai Freecss. That is my aunt Violet." He pointed back to the woman that had come with him. "And this is our dog Homer. We think he's got a bit of Border collie in him but other than that we're not so sure. What about you?" I hesitated and glanced up at Carole again, she nodded to me and I looked back at Kai and hesitated. "I figured we didn't really get a good start and everything so, why not start all over again?" I hesitated for another while and then spoke, quietly but making sure it was loud enough for Kai to hear.

"Hi. I'm Caitlin Romero. But everybody calls me Cai, those are my foster parents. Burt Hummel and Carole Hudson- Hummel." I patted Mike's neck. "And this is our dog Mike. He's a Pitbull terrier." I scratched behind his ear. "And you might be right about that. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault… hey. I can show you where the collars and leashes are while these three talk if you want to." I kind of wanted to… I glanced up at Carole and she nodded that it was okay. So I nodded to Kai. "Okay, come on then." Kai stood up and I quickly did the same. "This way." With one last glance towards Burt and Carole, Burt telling me to choose a nice collar and leash without worrying about the price I went with Kai through the hallways of the store and ended up by the shelves in one of the corners.

I stood for God knows how long and glanced over the long lines with collars and leashes, tried one after the other on Mike and smiled at Kai when he made a joke with putting a collar around his own neck and then crawled around on all four like a dog playing with Homer and tried doing it with Mike too, but Mike faithfully sat by my side and only laid his head a bit to the side before he reached up and started licking my hand.

Kai sighed, it seemed as if he was disappointed with something and then got onto his feet again and bit his lip and leaned his head to the side while hanging the collar he had used on its hook again and didn't say too much else before I reached for a collar, with beige bottom and plaid with thin red and black lines along with a simple, matching red leather- leash.

"Violet, and Burt and Carole." Kai almost shouted as we came back to the adults and Kai had insisted to put the collar around his neck and me holding onto the leash. "Look, we found one." Violet sighed and shook her head, she had a look on her face as if she was used to Kai doing crazy stuff like this. Kai laughed, I gave a slight smile while he pulled the collar off and handed it to me and I handed it to Carole and looked up at her with a raised eyebrow hoping that she would get why I looked that way and say if it was okay or not?

"Well, this looks okay doesn't it? Good job." She turned and looked a bit to Burt and Violet and then back to me. "We were actually talking for a bit so… why don't you go off again and found a suiting dog bed and some toys for Mike. We'll go find some dog food and then we meet by the cashier okay?" I nodded and once again Kai showed me the way through a hallway and up some stairs and the second floor was full of cages, dog beds and big bags full of dog and cat food.

I got a brown, soft bed for Mike and since Kai insisted that I was too small to carry it he carried it himself down the stairs again. Since we were walking upstairs Mike had been holding onto a soft stuffed duck and I managed to take it from him, actually Kai couldn't. But as soon as I grabbed onto the duck Mike opened his mouth and let me take it without protesting, and Kai showed me a set with some dog's training toys and then we were done and went to the cashier to wait for the adults.

"You know…" Kai said after a while. "I've liked hanging out with you. You should come over to mine some time. And so would your foster parents because they seem to have a lot to talk about my aunt about." Kai sighed and leaned back towards a shelf. "But I mean it. It would be great if you came over to mine some time."

"I think…" Just as Kai had said that when Burt, Carole and Violet came around the corner. Both Burt and Violet holding onto big bags of dog food and Carole spoke. "…That it would be you who would have to come over to ours. With the social services and everything it might be that we can't leave Cai alone at anyone's and God knows everything. But… I'm sure Cai would love that. Wouldn't you?" I nodded. And it actually wasn't only because I could see it was the answer she thought she would hear, but because I thought so too.

"You've got your backpack in the car right?" Kai nodded quickly at Violet's question. "Have you got a pen and paper there?" Kai nodded again and Violet handed him the keys to her car. "Can you go get pen and paper so we can write up our numbers?" Kai answered her yes and then ran away through the doors and out at the parking lot where both he and Homer disappeared out of my sight, Kai coming back alone and quickly scrabbling down two phone numbers on a paper, ripping it out of the book and then handing it to Carole.

"Here are mine and Violet's phone numbers." He told us. "You can call or text at any time." He smiled and was almost jumping at the place while Carole wrote down her and Burt's cellphone numbers and handed it to Kai while Burt was paying for the things we bought for Mike and then walked out into the parking lot.

"Bye Violet. Bye Kai." We mostly shouted our goodbyes and Carole put the paper with Kai and Violets' numbers in her pocket while Burt turned to me with a weird look on his face. "Did we have lunch by the way?" Carole sighed and shook her head and then they discussed something I couldn't hear so I just stayed and patted Mike while they did discuss but still keeping a close eye on them both to be able to run away if they tried anything.

"One thing you're going to learn here" Carole leaned a bit closer and told me. "Is that stuff like Pizza, burgers, hotdogs and all of that kind of food, you name it. It's a very good kind of food and when we constantly forget to cook anyway. But I promise you we're going to get better with that now that you're here. But I really hope you don't have anything against this kind of food since you're probably going to get stuck eating it quite a lot." Carole smirked and then raised again and we put the things we had bought into the back of the car and then walked around the store to a Chinese restaurant on the other side.

Standing looking over the menu and finally deciding I realized that Burt and Carole had probably spent more money on me today then all the money I had had in my whole life. And the least I could do was to actually make the most out of it and not leave anything be. Within all of that not leaving a single piece of food so I forced myself to eat every single piece on the plate until it was empty- and I was full like never before.

Walking out of the store the thought hit me that even if it wasn't a long way to go home I would for sure get car sick- very car sick before we had gotten home. And when Burt jokingly pulled another joke about how he had never seen me eating so much as right now I couldn't even smile at it. Not even pretend that I was fine or that I thought it was funny and he took it wrong.

"Don't get me wrong Cai. I'm so happy you're eating I start joking about it. You didn't do anything wrong." I wasn't too sure what I would answer, so I just nodded silently and got into the passenger seat in the front. Mike crawled up to sit by my feet and silently I patted his back and looked forward on the road, hoping it would help so against the odds I wouldn't get sick.

Still the car had barely started moving when I felt my stomach lurch. Mike sensed there was something wrong and when I'd pushed myself as far towards the door as I possibly could there was enough room on the seat for Mike to climb up. He was half on Burt's seat but still close enough to me to lie his head towards my chest to give his comfort.

I pushed Mike a bit out of the way so I wouldn't get sick right onto him. But he reached up and laid his head towards my shoulder and licked my cheek to do what he can. I tried to thank him with a word and a pat but I'd started to get so nauseas I could only concentrate on not getting sick and I

tried to look as far away on the road as I could while concentrating on not to throw up and just wish that we could be there soon.

"Cai?" I could see the house when Burt seemed to notice that something was wrong with me. "Are you alright?" His voice broke my concentration, and when I felt the bile rising in my throat I knew I wouldn't be able to keep from getting sick and not knowing what else to do I leaned forward over the floor and threw a hand over my mouth. But none of it helped when I became violently sick.

"Whoa." I guess it was that Burt was somewhat surprised that made him flinch and turn the steering wheel and to stay safely on the road he had to quickly tug it again, the movement in the car caused me to one other time throw up. "I'm sorry Cai." I didn't answer, I couldn't when Burt instead of breaking speeded to get home faster, I couldn't help to throw up yet another time. And started shivering, with fear of knowing what would happen later when at the same time I felt Carole, who sat behind me take a grip around my hair and hold it back- and the flashbacks only from having her hands touching me only. Triggered so much I threw up again, and again… and continued doing so all until there was nothing left in my stomach to throw up.

"Can you please not touch me?" I begged weakly when I had finally stopped throwing up and could catch my breath again just as Burt pulled over in the right driveway. "Can you please not touch me Carole? I'm sorry but please?" Mike is reaching up and licking my face. But in fact, right now I can barely feel it anyway.

"Honey, I'm only holding away your hair so you won't get sick in it."

"I won't get sick anymore. I'll try and be good."

"It's not about being good…"

"CAN'T YOU PLEASE STOP TOUCHING ME?"

Flashback

I looked around in the car I was put in the back seat in. So this was yet another new foster home- the Paulson's- Hispanic people this time and yet another color to add to my collection of black, white, yellow and soon I'd probably have freaking purple- not that what color they had really mattered to me though. Not even that mum and son were the Hispanics while dad was white in this one. But as I said, I had a bit of a collection by now. And I just hoped that these would be better than the last ones, or the ones before that, or the ones before that…

The dad- Thomas Paulson, he was driving, the mum, Reeca sat in the front passenger seat. And Daniel, a boy who was around one year older than me sat and told his mum about some project he had in school. I couldn't concentrate enough to hear what it even was about. With the movement of the car the nauseated feeling was creeping up my throat and I wasn't too sure I would be able to keep from throwing up much longer.

"Mr. Paulson." I said weakly and tried to catch the attention of the man in front of me. The man in spoken was very tall and I couldn't see past him and onto the road no matter how much I tried. "Mr. Paulson." Finally I could see him look in the rearview mirror and look at me. "Please sir. The movement is making me very motion sick. Can we please stop?" He glared at me in the mirror and only kept on driving. "Please sir. I really don't feel well."

"It's barely five minutes left until we're home." Mr. Paulson told me with a cold, callous voice. "You can hold it until then." I hugged my stomach and tried to seem like I really couldn't- which I couldn't. Maybe it would make him give in, but the only thing that made was that Mr. Paulson started turning the steering wheel in yet one direction yet the other to make the car move as much as possible.

I couldn't help it. The movement made my stomach turn and bile was rising in my throat faster than what I could keep it down. At last I leaned to the side and the floor in the middle not to get it all over neither me, nor any of the Paulson's when I lurched forward and threw up.

"MUM." Daniel was pressing himself up towards the door. "MUM. The stupid new foster kid puked on me." I tried to say I was sorry, but didn't have the time before I had to throw up again and at last Mr. Paulson pulled over and parked in front of a big, white house that I understood was the Paulson's living house and someone told me to stay where I was while Mrs. Paulson got out and around the car and pulled me out.

She then just held onto my shirt standing right outside of the car in the middle of the rain while I only tried to take deep breaths to ease the nausea and Mr. Paulson came back with a bucket of water and some cleaning supplies that he handed to me.

"Clean this up." Mrs. Paulson told me strictly. "And no… I don't want to hear another word about it. Clean it up. What?"

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to."

"Well you being sorry doesn't clean my car. So clean it up." I shivered cold. "And then come inside and I'll show you to your room and then you're going to stay there." Just as she was done a loud crash of thunder was heard and I flinched- I really hated thunder.

"Please…."

"CLEAN IT UP! AND DO NOT COME INSIDE UNTIL THE CAR IS SPOTLESS." With that Mrs. Reeca Paulson turned on her foot and stomped up the driveway and slammed the front door with a loud bang before she disappeared out of my sighed and I was left to clean up vomit before I had even seen the inside of their house.

And with that. I might or might not have understood that the Paulson's weren't any better- if anything even worse than any other foster family I had been with earlier. And once again I could just hear my heart break when I realized I would have to spend like all my time with people that didn't want me there- once again, this time too.

Mike is portrayed by some random Pitbull on polyvore, Kai is sent in by Calisurfingboy2 and portrayed by David Mazouz, Homer by Kuma- the dog who played Stan in the first few episodes of dog with a blog. Thomas Paulson is portrayed by Guy Henry, Reeca by Maria Canals Barrera and Daniel by (younger than now) Jake T. Austin.

Random fact

I mostly had to add the line that Carole said about how much they eat fast food when I realized exactly how short of time I've been writing into the story, and exactly how many days of these th Hudson- Hummel- Romero's have been eating fast food.