Chapter Five

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bakura, but unless you find a job in the next three days, I will be forced to remove Elizabeth from your care." Mrs. Lowell looked at me from her seat .

"Yes, Ma'm." I picked Elizabeth up, and we walked out.

"I haffa go?" My sister was teary-eyed.

"No, Baby. I'm not going to let them take you away from me." I really felt like a loser though. Why couldn't I get a job? I also needed to go to school.

"Hey,Bakura!" Mokuba Kaiba smiled up at me. "Hey,Lizziebee."

"Hey, Mokuba. How's it going?"

"Pretty good. How about you?"

"Not too bad, actually. I was about to take her to daycare, and go to school." I shifted her to my other hip. "Why aren't you in school?"

"I'll be heading there myself next. Seto wanted me to get something for him." Mokuba patted Lizzie's back. "Is Joey picking her up today after school?"

"Yeah." I wondered why that mattered to him.

"Neat!" He left then.

I sighed as I headed towards Elizabeth's day care. "So, you're going to be good while Big Brother's gone, right?"

She looked up at me, frowning. "Where going?"

"You know where I'm going. I have to get to school." I rang the bell for them to open the door.

"Ah…Lizzie. We were wondering if we'd see you today." Miss Katie took her from me, a questioning look. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. Joey Wheeler is picking her up this afternoon, okay?" I gave Elizabeth a kiss on the cheek, and smiled. "Behave."

"I wills, Wyou." She scrambled out of Miss Katie's arms, and went into the center.

"She's certainly in a good mood." Miss Katie smiled, and followed her, closing the door.

At lunch that day, I didn't eat. I was looking through the want ads in the newspaper.

"Hey, Bakura. What's goin' on?" Joey sat his tray down across from me.

"I have to find a job, before they take Elizabeth away from me."

"What?! They can't do that!" Joey was concerned. "Can they?"

"Sure they can. If I'm not working, I can't give her the things she needs to have." I stared at the paper in front of me blankly. "Joey, I can't work. I have to finish school."

"Let's think about this for a few minutes, before we panic. What can we do to get around that?" Joey was actually being rational. Not much surprised me about him these days. He'd even started taking law classes.

"I could give her to someone else until I graduate. At least she'd be taken care of." I didn't really like that option, but it would be for Elizabeth's own good.

"Something like a temporary custody or guardianship." Joey nodded, thoughtfully. "Who do we know that could do it?"

"I don't know. I'm so hesitant about this, Joey. I mean, Lizzie won't understand."

"Maybe not, but at least she wouldn't go to an orphanage." Joey was thinking. "I got it! I'll ask Kaiba."

"What?! No way, Joey!" I gave him a Look. "Besides, Kaiba scares her."

"Seto likes her, Bakura. Mokuba adores her." Joey twisted his spaghetti on his fork.

"She's never met Kaiba. How can he like her?" I looked at him suspiciously.

"I…..I've been taking her to his house after school." Joey shrank back.

"You what?!" I glared at him. "I told you to keep her away from him! You know he's been wanting to.." I calmed down, suddenly.

"Take her?" Joey smiled satisfied.

"Okay, okay. Ask. But don't let him sign anything unless I read it first!"

"Sure thing, Bakura. I'll see him later, because I'm helping him." Joey and I stood up as the bell rang. "I'll see you later."

"Okay…." Was I hearing things, or had Joey just said he was helping Kaiba? I stared after him for a few minutes, before gathering my books up for my last four classes.

"You want me to what, Wheeler?" Kaiba looked at Joey as if he'd just asked him to eat slugs. "I don't think it's a good idea."

Joey looked at Seto, eyes narrowed. "You wanted her. Here's your chance." He watched Elizabeth play with Seto's tools. "Lizzie…don't play with those. Here." He handed her a deck of Duel Monster cards. "See if you can figure out some good cards." He smiled, as the girl settled in the middle of the floor. He returned his attention back to Kaiba now. "Please, Kaiba. Bakura will lose her if you don't!"

"Fine, but if I take her, she stays." Kaiba knew what it was like to bounce from one to the other.

"But….okay." Joey sighed. It was the best he could do.

"Good then. I'll have someone take her to my house in a little while. Let's finish this side, and we'll call it a night, okay?"

Joey nodded. "You got it." He and Kaiba worked on the machine Kaiba was building, taking turns checking on Elizabeth.

Meanwhile, I was job hunting. Most wouldn't hire me because they needed full time workers. I finally gave up, and headed home. I had a message on the answering machine. Hey, Bakura, it's Joey. Kaiba said he'd take Elizabeth. He'll be sending the papers to you in the middle of the week. He says to tell you to give her clothes and toys away,he's buying her all new things.Well,I'm heading to my mom's to pick up Serenity. See you later. I sighed, deleting the message. I sat on the couch. Well,that was that. Elizabeth was gone, forever. No matter how good the intentions were, it still hurt. I could only hope to get Lizzie back some day. That was all there was to it.