Chapter 7:
*At the Hospital* -Four days later
Rebecca and Bayley sat facing each other on the older girl's hospital bed laughing and talking as Stephanie watched the two from outside the room. She was practically bouncing on her toes as she anxiously waited news on if she would be able to take Rebecca home soon. After the successful surgery in removing the fragments a couple days ago Rebecca had been put through extensive recovery treatments in order to boost the healing process of her ribs. While the girl's eye was starting to recover as well, even though she now wore dark shades over her eyes instead of the eye patch after saying that it was merely the bright hospital lights that hurt and gave her a migraine. Overall the girl was healing very well, Stephanie could see it and all of the doctors and nurses agreed but that didn't stop the bundle of nerves that welled up in her chest as she waited for the final go ahead to bring her newest addition home. Today was the last day before the dreaded flight home and all she needed was the final sign off from the head doctor Channing to put Rebecca on the flight with them. Hunter had already purchased three tickets for the flight back when he first planned this whole thing so Stephanie knew that she needed to bring her girls home.
She sat watching her two girls play together for almost an hour as she waited in the hall not wanting to interrupt their fun. While she on the other hand watched as nurses and doctors passed by the room time and time again with still no news on Rebecca's release and she was beginning to lose her already short patience.
"Mommy can me and Becky have something to drink?" Bayley called causing Stephanie to move from her 'post' and come into the room
"Of course babygirl I'll go get you two some water from the cafeteria" Stephanie said with a smile only to get a noise in response as Baylet began to complain.
"I don't want water"
"Well that's exactly why I didn't ask you what you wanted"
"But water is nasty can I get a juice please" She said in a high pitched whine as she gave her best puppy dog face.
"Your puppy dog face only works on your father and you need water, it's better for you anyway, you too Rebecca"
Rebecca looked up from the bed hesitantly and nodded her head-a little too quickly- not wanting to upset her new mother, "A water is fine thank you"
With a nod Stephanie exited the room leaving the two young girls to themselves, "i'm so excited for you to come home with us, i'm sure the others can't wait either"
She was met with no response as Rebecca looked out the window and nervously played the edge of the hospital banket. She didn't admit it to Bayley or Stephanie but she was having mild anxiety about going home with her new family. She had even thought about telling the doctor that she wasn't doing better in order to get them to let her stay for a couple more days. She could say that her ribs were hurting again or that her eye was like...on fire or something, anything that would let them keep her for a while. But she knew she couldn't do that, not to the only woman who would take her in. Not when she was closer to having herself a new family than any of the other kids in the orphanage had ever gotten. She knew that if she stalled or did anything to ruin her chances she would be insulting al of the kids around the world that prayed night and day for someone, anyone to adopt them and give them the family they always wanted. She was that kid for years, and she had almost given up hope in finding a family before she met Hunter and Stephanie.
"Are you excited about coming home with us?"
"Oh yeah I uh...I uh can't wait, but honestly can I tell ya something?" Rebecca paused for a second to watch as Bayley nodded back and leaned closer to her to listen, "I'm kind of nervous..I mean I've never been to the United States before and I haven't met….uh Sasha and ..Charlotte right?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't matter we were all new at once when mommy and daddy took us in, but we all got to know each other and got used to being in a new family"
Rebecca thought on this for a while before nodding and taking a deep breath, she knew she shouldn't worry too much. She had been put in many different homes and had to meet new people all of the time. It didn't end well in most situations but this was different, she knew that and Bayley was living proof of it. She had talked back to Stephanie and didn't get smacked or hit, that was something Rebecca wasn't used to, but it was evidence that Stephanie was different.
"Becky...did you hear me"
"Uh no, sorry what did ya say?"
"...I asked if you had any friends here that you wanted to say goodbye to before we leave?"
"Oh...uh..no I uh" She paused and gave a sad chuckle before continuing, "no I don't have any friends. Kids were kind of ruthless to me in that place, I was only friends with one boy but he got adopted a year or two ago"
"What was his name?"
Before Rebecca could answer Stephanie came back in with two water bottles, Ms. Sable and Doctor Channing by her side. The doctor was hold a clipboard and flipping through the pages before he loudly called out, "How's our resident firecracker doing?"
"I'm fine, thanks"Rebecca said smally as she turned to face the approaching doctor.
"Well I can see that...you know most children that just had surgery aren't usually sitting up in bed this soon. Well at least not for a couple of weeks, but I agree with your doctor, you are healing rather quickly."
"So does that mean I'll be able to take her home tomorrow?" Stephanie asked with her arms crossed over her chest
"Well I just want to do a check on her ribs and breathing and then see how that orbital bone is doing and if everything is good to go then she will be able all yours and just in time for your flight tomorrow" He said causing everyone in the room to smile, "Nurse Jackie can you please take Rebecca here to the X-ray room to get a scan on her eye and ribs"
"Of course Doctor Channing, Rebecca you can follow me" With that Rebecca and the doctor followed the nurse out the room leaving Stephanie, Bayley andSable in the room
"See you can breathe now Steph, once this check up is done, you'll be back home your newest girl before you know it" Sable said happily causing Stephanie to smile
"Yeah I just want this whole thing to be done with"
"And it will be soon, don't worry" Sable reassured with a gentle squeeze on Stephanie's shoulders before she excused herself and left, leaving Stephanie and her daughter to wait.
It was nearly 3 by the time everything was all settled and rebecca was released in Stephanie's care. The nurse wrapped the young girl's ribs and she was given medication to help her with any pain or discomfort she felt. She was also given an inhaler and a ventilator to help her with her breathing as the doctor suggested in order to combat her possible asthma that might occur as a result of the injury. But other than that she was good to go, she was placed in a hospital issued, black shirt that was too large for her body and a pair of baggy sweatpants which Stephanie rolled up for the girl twice.
"All righty.. Are you two ready to go?" Stephanie said to the girls who were shoving their many drawings that they had done into Bayley's backpack.
"Yes mommy" Bayley said happily before grabbing Rebecca's hand and pulling her out of the room and to their mother, "Are we going back to the hotel now?"
"Well I was thinking we could go to the store and get Rebecca some stuff and then grab a bite to eat"
"Good I want a PB and J sandwich" Bayley smiled, however Rebecca looked confused
"A what?"
This caused Stephanie and Bayley to both stop and look at the red head, "A peanut butter and jelly sandwich?"
"Why would ya eat that?"
"You guys don't eat peanut butter with your jelly on your sandwiches?"
"Um...jelly? Like a Jelly cup?" Rebecca asked confused only causing their mother to laugh as she walked both girls out of the hospital and towards the car.
"No like strawberry jelly, that you put on sandwiches"
"Oh...you mean jam, we eat jam samiches, or ham or cheese samiches"
"Oh I like grilled cheese" Bayley said as they reached the car and Stephanie helped the two into their seats
"Grilled? No just a regular cheese samich. Bread, cheese, bread"
"Why would you eat that?"
"It would be me lunch"
"Everyone is different Bayley, once we get back home you can introduce Rebecca to all this stuff she missed out on" Stephanie said from the front seat and went on to say something else but stopped and laughed as she saw Rebecca's grossed out facial expression in the rear view mirror.
*Back at the house*
"Crap" Hunter grunted as he swiped away the alarm on his phone to see that it read 8:30. He had exactly thirty minutes to get both of the girls up and to Creekside elementary school where both attended. If Stephanie was here all of the girls would have already been up, dressed, eaten breakfast and caught the bus which Hunter heard pulling passed their house as soon as he thought of it. He sighed and quickly pushed himself out of bed and ran out of his room and down the hall turning on all of the lights and loudly shouting for Charlotte and Sasha to get up.
"Okay if I can run downstairs and poor out cereal and then get their backpacks together i can hopeful get them up and moving fast enough so they can just grab everything and go" Hunter said to himself as he ran down the steps and into the kitchen. He began grabbing bowls and the boxes of cereal from on top of the refrigerator and poured them. Once he finished with the cereal he rushed into the dinning room to look for the girls bags, but upon five minutes of not finding them he began to grow frustrated. He knew he should have made them put their stuff out the night before.
He let out a loud groan as he gave up and ran up the stairs to see both of the girl's room doors still closed. Now he was furious. He rushed into Charlotte's room first and began shouting for the girl to wake only to see that the room is empty. Her bed was made and it looked as if she hadn't even been in her room for a while. He then went across the hall to Sasha's room which he had rearranged to be suitable for Rebecca and Sasha to share yesterday, it too was empty.
"What the hell?" Hunter scratched his head and slowly began walking down the steps and as he reached the bottom he looked at the door to see a sticky note on it.
"Gone to the bus, didn't want to wake you" The note read in Charlotte's neat handwriting
He laughed at his foolishness but it quickly died down as he realized that his daughter had done his job, he was supposed to take over for Stephanie as he had done the days before. He had managed to get the girl's to school for the past two days while Stephanie was away, take it they girls where both late for both of those days but at least they were there. He knew he should have been stricter last night. He let Sasha convince him to let the girls stay up to watch movies well into the night. Charlotte as well had protested against it saying that they had school in the morning and that Stephanie would never let them do such a thing. He in turn made the bold statement that he was not Stephanie seeing as how he was way cooler than her and proved so by providing the girls with tons of junk food and a Disney movie marathon.
And yet he doesn't understand how the girls got up and got ready without him. Well then again he does and Charlotte is an exact replica of Stephanie even if they aren't biologically related. She was keen on time and precision just like his wife so no in reality it does not come as a surprise that Charlotte managed to get herself and even Sasha up and ready in time to catch the bus.
Hunter pulled himself together for a moment and headed into the kitchen where there were two bowls of cereal- now soggy- sitting on the island alone. Hunter reached in his pocket and grabbed his phone to see a missed call from Stephanie, he took a seat at the island and pulled one of the cereal bowls towards him and began to eat it as he called his wife back.
"Hey babe" Hunter said as he heard Stephanie pick up on the other end
"Hello Hunter...you aren't just waking up are you? Charlotte and Sasha should already be at school, I already have two kids here missing school I don't need two there as well"
"No I got everything under control…..wait two….you got Rebecca?" Hunter nearly shouted causing Stephanie to wince on the other end
"Hold on...hang up and we'll facetime so you can see for yourself" Hunter not needing to be told twice hung up the call and quickly began facetiming, bouncing in his seat as he waited for Stephanie to pick up, "I didn't expect you to do that so quickly"
"What can i say, I'm excited" He responded with a mouth full of cereal
"Hey...is that my cereal?" Bayley said coming into the frame with her mother, "Those are my Lucky charms!"
Hunter looked curiously down at the bowl and then across from him to see the box of Lucky Charms which was now empty, "Sorry babygirl"
"No fair" the young girl pouted
"Don't worry babygirl, I'm sure you can get some from here...it is Ireland after all" Stephanie said patting the girl on the head to smooth out the tangles that the girl had somehow acquired.
"What are Lucky Charms?" A voice came from the background causing Hunter to peer around on the screen as if he was actually there.
"You know the cereal?" Bayley said, "With the Leprechaun on the front?"
Rebecca shrugged somewhere off screen, "Oh. I've seen it once in the store around Christmas time, ….we don't have many Leprechaun stuff here and if we do it's expensive"
"But...but..-"
"Sorry Bay…"
"It's alright Rebecca, and Bayley, I'm sure daddy will go to the store and get some more before we come back tomorrow" Stephanie said sharply obviously hinting at Hunter to do just that, "Now come over here Rebecca, let Hunter take a look at you"
Hunter took a small gulp as there was a small pause before bright red hair filled his camera screen causing Hunter to smile. The girl took Bayley's spot in the screen and hunter could now see that they were sitting on a hotel bed as his youngest daughter moved behind them so she was hanging around Stephanie's shoulders. The girl looked skinny than when he had seen her nearly a year before and he say the hesitance on her face.
"Nice shades kiddo" Hunter said causing the girl to smile and grab the frame of the dark glasses she wore over her eyes.
"The sun still hurts her eye so I gave her a pair of my shades" Stephanie said looking over lovingly at her newest child
"Well we definitely need to get you come cooler looking shades...I think I got some goggles in the garage"
"No" Stephanie said before Rebecca could respond, "Those flashy things, she'll look like a metal welder"
"I think they look cool...I used to have them back when we dated in High school"
"Yes I remember, why do you think they're hidden in the garage now?" Stephanie said causing Hunter to give a shocked look in the camera making both Rebecca and Bayley laugh
"Rude" Hunter looked to Rebecca and smiled, "I'll find them for you"
"Thank you"
"No problem kiddo, how are you feeling other than your eye?"
Rebecca paused for a second before she shook her head no, "No I feel fine"
"Well I'm glad, I can't wait for you to get here...I got the place all set up and Sasha's room has been completely redone for you two to share, I'm just waiting on the mattress to come today"
Rebecca frowned, "Oh no...I- ya didn't have to do that...I'm fine sleeping on the couch, or even the floor, I just...I don't wanna inconvenience you guys"
Hunter and Stephanie both looked a little shocked at this, neither expecting the young girl's verbal word vomit as Sasha would call it. Upon not responding Rebecca immediately thought she had done something wrong and went to retreat from her seat on the bed. Hunter regained his composure first as he furiously shook his head.
"Rebecca wait...you are not an inconvenience. We want you to live with us...to be a part of our family and you are...and with that comes certain things. Food and a bed, unconditional love from both me and Stephanie, a family of people that care about you, a group of sisters that will fight with you and for you no matter what and always a place for you to call home. You never will be an inconvenience. You got that?" Hunter said sincerely causing both Stephanie and Bayley to wrap Rebecca in their arms.
"Well said" Stephanie mouthed to him, "Like it or not you are stuck with us"
"Thanks...I never had people who cared about me before. Everyone was very mean to me, they would make fun of my weight and call me names. My mum she uh..she never cared about me much, she would kick me and my brother out-"
"Wait..you have a brother" Hunter asked
"Had...he died….my dad shot him and me mum when I was four, he was gonna shoot me too but I got away. I had been on my own until I was six and I was put into the system, but people didn't like me…." Rebecca paused and kept her head down.
Stephanie noticed that the young child was stuck on her words and didn't want to push the girl any further, "Rebecca you don't have to tell us anymore...things are gonna be different from here on out, just you wait."
After that the call carried out normally with Hunter talking to the girls about school and things that they would do once the returned. Seeing as how by the time they got there it would be about 2 in the afternoon and Hunter had to work so it would only be those three in the house for a couple of hours until Charlotte and Sasha got home from school and Hunter got home from work. After they talked for about an hour they finished all of their conversations and said goodbye before Hunter ended the call as he heard the doorbell ring.
A/N Next chapter will follow Sasha and Charlotte in school and Becky will finally be introduced to them so comment and review so I can get that one cranked out. And who do you guys think Becky's friend is that got adopted, though it's pretty obvious.