When they got home, Gabriella asked to speak with Lilliana privately in the living room. The little girl seemed to notice her sister's mood as she sat beside her and gave her a hug. "Are you ok Bria?"
"I'm ok, just a bit nervous." She turned to Lilliana properly. "The principal called me to the office today and they found my cousin like how they found your mom and dad and your dad invited them over this afternoon for me to talk to them."
"What does that mean, if they found your family, does that mean you have to leave?"
She could see the tears filling her sister's eyes at the thought and silently hated the fact that her sister was so observant for once. She pulled the little girl into her arms and hugged her tightly. "I don't know what happens now Livie, I really don't know."
"You can't leave me, you promised."
"I know Baby, I know. I'm not gonna leave you, not now. They're just going to come over today and talk to me, for now, I'm just going to get to know them before I agree to anything else, I'm not going anywhere Livie." Lilliana nodded and gripped Gabriella. "I'm sorry I made you worried but can you do me a favour?" The girl nodded. "Can you stay with me while I talk to them? I'm going to be nervous if you're not next to me. Would you be comfortable with that?"
"I'll stay with you."
Gabriella smiled. "Thank you Sweet Girl." A few minutes later, the doorbell rang and Gabriella stood to answer it, Lilliana beside her, their hands tightly gripped. She opened the door revealing Scott and Blaire. "Come on in."
They walked into the living room and were joined by Jack and Lucille. Blaire addressed the parents. "Thank you for inviting us into your home." They waved it off and she turned to Gabriella who had sat on the edge of the couch with Lilliana on her lap, hugging her. "So Gabriella, I'm guessing you have questions."
"Yeah a lot actually." She continued at their nod. "How did you find me?"
Scott started. "Well you've been missing a long time Gabriella and when the people who took you were arrested, it was the cover of the newspaper in Denver. We looked into it, spoke to Denver police then to Albuquerque and here we are?"
She nodded slowly. "Why were you still looking after so long?"
"We're family aren't we?"
"Ok um if you found out from the newspaper, why did it take you so long to come here?"
He sighed. "It's a lengthy process Gabriella but we came as quick as we could."
Gabriella accepted the answer. "Alright, what's the family like? Who's side are you from? Where are you from? How is everyone?"
"There's some loaded questions." Scott laughed. "The family's going well, well as well as we can be without Maria and Greg even after so long. We were from Maria's side as you can probably guess from the different last names. We're still in California but there's not too many people left with the grandparents passing away and aunts and uncles moving out of country."
Gabriella scrunched her eyebrows at the statement. "If you're from California, how did you see a newspaper in Denver?"
"Well we were in Denver visiting some friends of ours when we came across it, convenient timing to be perfectly honest, otherwise we never would've found you. Do you have anymore questions?" Gabriella shook her head. "Alright then." He looked over to Lucille and Jack. "Now where do we go from here as far as Gabriella coming with us?"
Gabriella's eyes widened as Lilliana whimpered, gripping her sister tightly, her knuckles turning white. Lucille seemed to pick up on the action. "We're fostering Gabriella so the contract needs to be renewed in a year's time. You're welcome to stay and get to know Gabriella and spend as much time as you'd like, she can even stay with you for periods of time if she wants but as for now, we are her guardians. In a year's time when the contract's ready for renewal, we can hand over guardianship to you if that's what you all want."
Scott seemed annoyed at the answer but quickly recovered. "That sounds reasonable." He turned back to Gabriella. "Would you be free to meet again on the weekend?" She nodded silently. "Alright we'll see you then I guess. Lucille, Jack, thank you for allowing us into your home. Y'all have a good night."
They said their goodbyes before leaving and Gabriella looked down at Lilliana as Jack and Lucille left the room. The junior lifted her in her arms, the girl having a death grip on her as she carried her up the stairs to Troy's room. She knocked on the door and Troy opened it, met with the tear-filled eyes of his girlfriend and his sister, the former falling into his arms with the little girl. He steadied them and led them over to his bed, where she still leant against him. "Are you ok Brie, what happened?"
She shook her head. "The story doesn't make sense Troy, it doesn't make sense. I can't leave Livie and I've already hurt her, I didn't mean to." She looked down at the little girl tucked away in her arms. "I'm so sorry Baby, I'm so sorry."
Troy cupped Gabriella's cheeks. "Brie, you need to calm down." Gabriella calmed her breathing before Troy continued. "I'll get to your cousins in a second, but what have you done to Lilly, how did you hurt her?"
"She's too little, she's so mature that I forget how young she is, I put too much on her." He asked her to elaborate further. "I asked her to stay with me while I talked to them, I didn't want to be away from her and she didn't want to leave me but I should've told her to, she's too young, I should've made her wait up here with you so she wouldn't have to hear it. I've scared her now and I hate myself for her, I never wanted to hurt her and I did. How could I put this on a six-year-old little girl? She thinks I'm going to leave."
"Are you going to leave?" Gabriella responded with 'of course not.' "Then you haven't hurt her Brie, yeah she's probably a little more anxious now and she'll probably want to cling to you for a bit but you haven't hurt her. She loves you so much Baby. Now what's this about your cousins?"
She shook her head. "Nothing much, they tried to get me to live with them but it's not even an option until my fostering contract is up next year but I don't even think I wanna go with them. I don't trust them."
Troy sighed. "You've only known them a few hours, of course you don't trust them yet."
"But their story doesn't add up Troy."
"No offense Brie but I think you might be trying to find flaws." He took her hand in his. "Just give them a chance, put aside your feelings and everything involving Lilly and just get to know them, they may surprise you. You can't make your judgement of them without even getting to know them."
"I'll try." She looked down at her little sister and gently removed her head from where it was buried in the crook of her neck. "Are you ok Baby?"
Lilliana shook her head. "I don't like them Bria, I don't like them, you can't go with them."
Gabriella hugged her sister to her. "I'm not Livie, I'm not going with them, I'm not going anywhere, I promise." Lilliana looked up at her. "Have I ever broken a promise?" The little girl shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere Baby, I'm sorry I scared you, I shouldn't have gotten you to stay with me."
"But I wanted to stay with you, I would've asked to stay with you anyway, it's not your fault."
"Yeah it is Liv, I should've known better, I'm your sister and it's my job to stop you from getting hurt and you were hurt."
Lilliana shook her head. "You didn't do anything Bria, you're the best sister and it's not your fault. I just don't want you to leave."
"I won't leave, I promise."
"I know." The little girl hugged her sister around the neck. "I love you everyday to the end of the universe Bria." She said kissing her forehead, making Gabriella laugh sadly.
"I love you too Liv, everyday to the end of the universe." She shook her head slightly, so proud of the little girl in front of her. "Thanks Sweet Girl, I needed that, you're wise beyond your years and I'm so proud of you."
"I'm proud of you too."
Seeing that it was the end of their little heart to heart, Troy having watched the scene, pulled the girls into his arms, kissing both their foreheads, whispering. "You two are amazing, I hope you know that." They spent the next few minutes in that position until they were called down for dinner.