Tricia was quieter than Nicky had been. Her presence didn't fill up the apartment the same way. Sometimes, it was easy to forget she was even there. She had been brought home three weeks ago and she still felt like a stranger to them. Aside from going to school, she spent the majority of her time in her bedroom and Galina wished it wouldn't be that way. Perhaps Tricia would be more comfortable opening up once Nicky came home, but for now her new mother hadn't figured out how to reach her herself.

"Some...times, it was nec-nec-"

"Necessary," Galina corrected, before promptly biting the inside of her cheek again. Gritting her teeth was how she got through these mandatory study sessions together. She sat down with Tricia every night after dinner to work on homework together and it was torture for both of them. Her new little girl got frustrated and struggled, and Galina always was forced to accept how little patience she actually possessed.

"Necessary….to….fail and….I don't know that word," Tricia said, banging her head against the table.

Galina blinked. "You don't know the word 'begin'?"

"This is a stupid baby book anyway," Tricia complained, pushing on it so that the early reader text slid across the table.

"Well, if you're still having trouble identifying the words in it, then I don't think it being too easy for you is the problem," Galina said shortly.

She stood up and reached for the book. Silently opened it back to the page they had been working on and set it back in front of Tricia.

"Sometimes, it was necessary to fail and begin…" she read smoothly, pointing with her index finger at each word.

"What's that word?" she asked quietly, pointing at the text. "Sound it out."

Tricia shrugged her shoulders.

"What's the first letter?" Galina asked her, impatience creeping into her tone.

"A," Tricia said quietly.

"And the next?"

"I know the letters!" Tricia exclaimed, she looked hurt at being asked such juvenile questions. She was behind in school, but not that behind, but her refusal to apply herself made it impossible for her foster mother or her teachers to measure where they should begin.

"This is making my head hurt," she said pitifully. "Can't I just go to bed?"

"No, we just started," Galina told her, though she was very close to giving in yet again and they both knew it.

It was like pulling teeth to get her to learn or even pay attention. Tricia's mind was focused on survival and she had never been a regular in school before now in her life. She had experienced things no child should ever experience. Then she had been homeless, hungry, and cold. The social worker had already warned them she was a known thief and of her addictions. She was in court ordered therapy and never left alone, and in the big picture her unwillingness to study was hardly the biggest issue. Yet it was still frustrating to Galina that no progress was being made.

Galina took a calming breath. "If it's the book that is the issue, go look at my bookshelves and grab anything you want off of it," she suggested. "We'll read a few pages."

Tricia made a face and shut the early reader text closed. "Can we do that tomorrow?"

"Honey…" Galina sighed. She glanced tirely at a green folder set on the table. Tricia's education assistant sent it home every day. Though she was in the seventh grade, she was not doing seventh grade work. She had an individual education plan and they were all trying to work with her. She was supposed to read the text they'd been attempting. Write a few sentences about it, and then do a single math worksheet.

"You're never going to catch up if you don't put the effort in," she told her gently.

"I do this kind of stuff all day at school," Tricia reminded her. "I know it...I'm just tired. Homework isn't fair. You don't go to work all day and then come home and have to do the same work again."

"That's just the way it is," Galina said indifferently. "I don't know any child ever who has been excited about homework, but they still have to do it. So do you."

"Well, it makes my head hurt," Tricia protested.

"I think that's just an excuse," Galina said bluntly.

Tricia buried her face in her hands and Galina sighed, conceding defeat. She picked up the book and set it on top of the folder with the blank worksheets inside. Another note to the Educational assistant about their pathetic attempt at finishing work that would have taken twenty minutes had she actually applied herself.

"Go take your bath," Galina said quietly. "I'll write a note to your teacher."

"Thank you," Tricia said politely, raising her hands from her face and giving her an almost angelic smile.

It made Galina wince however. She knew she was being taken for a ride. Tricia was manipulating her whether she intended to or not, and she saw no way to fix things yet. She wanted her to make progress in school, but she also wanted a positive relationship with the girl she had already decided she was going to adopt before she'd brought her into the house. So far, she was failing at everything.

"How did it go tonight?" Dmitri asked, walking into the kitchen. "Or should I know better than to ask?"

"Don't ask," Galina said bluntly.

She watched him lift the glass lid off of the cake she had baked that afternoon. He collected a plate from the cupboard and then cut himself a large piece.

"Maybe you should try reading with her tomorrow," she said.

"No," Dmitri said immediately. "She's scared of me."

"That's true," Galina pursed her lips. Tricia had barely spoken to him in three weeks and they were never left alone together. It was clear Tricia was uncomfortable, and it didn't take too much to imagine why that might be the case. Poor child. The mere thought made some of Galina's frustrations with her dissolve.

"Do you want some?" Dmitri offered, pointing to the cake.

She silently shook her head and he replaced the glass lid over her cake stand. She watched him pour himself a glass of milk. Then carry both back into the living room.

Galina sat at the kitchen table silently, picking at one of her nails until she realized she was scratching the polish right off. She was much wiser this time than she had been bringing Nicky home. She wasn't as emotional. She could see things for what they were. Yet, she was still at a loss to resolve anything because there wasn't really any guarantee she even could.

A little while later, after Tricia had finished her bath and retreated to her bedroom for the night with the door closed, Galina decided it wasn't going to end like that. She'd selected a very battered copy of the first Harry Potter book off of her shelf. All three of her sons had been obsessed with it, and it had been read countless times before. She clutched it in her hands as she walked up to the girls' bedroom, and rapped twice lightly on the door before she let herself in.

"Hi," Tricia said softly. She was dressed in her pajamas and sitting cross legged on her bed as she brushed her hair.

"Hi," Galina smiled.

She closed the door behind her. Then stepped over to settle herself down on Nicky's vacant bed. The twin beds were identical, even with matching purple and turquoise comforters. She was very eager for the day that she would have both girls at home and sharing this room, like her boys had when they were little. For now though, there was still so much work to be done.

"I was thinking about what you were saying," Galina told her. "And I was thinking we could try things your way, for now. I'm not particularly interested in wasting more of my evenings like we just did. So maybe we leave school at school right now, and I'll talk to your teacher and we'll give you a break there. Okay?"

"Yes," Tricia nodded, flashing her a small relieved smile from across the room.

"But that doesn't mean you're just going to lock yourself in here all the time and do nothing," Galina warned her. "I'm sick of this door being shut all the time. We're going to do other things."

"What other things?" Tricia asked suspiciously, setting her hairbrush down on her bedside table beside her alarm clock.

"Well, why don't you decide that?" Galina suggested. "What is something you have always wanted to do?"

Tricia thought about it. "Anything?"

"Try me," Galina smiled.

"Go to the aquarium?" Tricia said softly.

"I haven't been there in years," Galina said.

"I've always wanted to see sharks, not just on TV," Tricia confided.

"Okay," Galina nodded. "We'll go tomorrow after school."

"Just like that?" Tricia asked in amazement. She looked completely stunned, sitting there cross legged in a pair of flannel pajamas that Galina had bought for her. The dresser was full of clothes that had all been purchased ahead of her arrival. Tricia had come home with nothing but the clothes on her back.

"It's not far," Galina said simply, though it was obvious what a big deal this was to Tricia. She had never been anywhere before. There were so many firsts she had never experienced, but it wasn't too late. They could do them now.

Tricia quietly pulled back the covers of her bed and crawled under them. She pulled the blanket up over her lap. She seemed quite at a loss for words right now. Though she didn't feel pressured to say anything. She knew that she was safer now than she had ever been before in her life.

Nicky hadn't got thrown away for making so many mistakes, so Tricia already felt reassured that she wouldn't be kicked out either. She knew she was going to be taken care of how. It was comforting, but it was also awkward. She didn't know how to be a kid or a part of a family. She was happy to have a mom, but she barely knew her and didn't know how to act.

"I know you don't want to read, but I hope you have no objection to being read to," Galina said. She was settling herself on Nicky's bed, parallel to Tricia's. Tricia did not object. She laid down in her bed and turned on her side to watch her.

"Reading is something you should love," Galina said, it was one of her own greatest passions. "It shouldn't be painful and stress you out so much you go to bed with headaches. It should help you relax before you fall asleep."

Tricia nodded her head. She silently watched Galina open the battered novel and start reading from the beginning of the first chapter. It was so familiar that it made Tricia smile. Nobody had ever read her the books before, but she had seen one of the movies and anyone who wasn't living under a rock would know about this series.

Her new mother was right, that it should relax her. That was exactly what it was doing to her now. Tricia stopped thinking about everything else that was overwhelming her and just listened for once. It was calming her down and she could feel her heart rate slowing. Within minutes, she was fighting to keep her eyes open. She didn't want to fall asleep and miss out on this time, and disappointment welled up inside her when the chapter came to an end.

"I want to read more," Tricia told her honestly. She meant now, and was disappointed when Galina closed the book.

"Do you think tomorrow, you could read some of it to me?" Galina asked, setting it on the bedside table beside the hairbrush.

Tricia thought about it, but shook her head. She would have loved to please her right now, but she had loved being read to even more. She didn't have a memory of anyone ever reading her a bedtime story before. She couldn't imagine anyone before ever would have.

"No? Well, okay," Galina said simply. She was done arguing about reading or anything with her. This past hour together had been the most maternal she had felt about Tricia since she had met her. Things felt very natural right now and she wanted to keep it that way.

"Get some sleep, and I'll see you in the morning," Galina said.

She got up to leave. Tricia rolled over in bed to keep her in eyesight as Galina opened the door and then switched off the light. Tricia would have liked a little affection that night before bed, but she had stiffened up the first time her foster mother had tried to hug her, and Galina hadn't made a second attempt. It was hardly her fault, but Tricia hated being her own worst enemy. Being difficult for the sake of being difficult. She had no logical explanation for why she sometimes refused to cooperate or knowingly frustrated someone she was grateful for and already loved.

She rolled over a second time in bed, and then pushed her blankets back in frustration. She moved over into the second bed. Nicky's bed. The bed their mom had just been lying in. She could hardly believe she was at the start of this life. In a beautiful room with a big sister who would soon be there to protect her and a mother who would take her to the aquarium after a long day of work as though it was nothing. It was everything to Tricia, and she could hardly wait.