Review Replies:

Pitbulllady: Thanks! I had fun writing the scene with Frankie, she's a very cool character to write about.

Yeah, I hoped you all would like that shotgun wedding thing. I think it sounded like a Madame Foster touch!

And don't worry, I doubt my pen name will prove true for this one. I have people to read it! When I have an audience to please I actually stick to the deadlines I set for myself.

Cheeseisawesome: Thanks for the heads up about the chapter titles, they are now fixed!

time capsule: So you finally read it eh? Now the only question is will you keep reading? (cough coughyou shouldcough cough)Thanks for the pointers, I fixed the things you noticed. Oh, and Crackers isn't mine . . . tear

OH! Almost forgot! I'm making avatars for Foster's fans (I can make animated ones now too! YAY!). Check my profile for a link to them!

Chapter 8: Adopt-A-Thought Saturday

The lawn of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends was the very picture of chaos. Children ran to and fro, flitting around the imaginary friends like bees to flowers. The sounds of innocent laughter and carefree play filled the air. Several parents stood grouped around the refreshment tables, talking, eating, and questioning Madame Foster and Mr. Herriman. Frankie was flipping burgers at the grill, sporting her favorite apron and a baseball cap to shield her eyes from the sun. The scene was almost reminiscent of a family picnic.

Satin sat beneath a tree on the edge of the proceedings as though frozen. She felt trapped, caught in the open, like something was bound to pounce on her. Her eyes never left the children unless they looked her way, then she'd quickly look away. She couldn't risk being noticed.

Crackers sat in the grass looking torn between staying to comfort Satin and getting up to go play with the kids, "Satin? Hey, you know you can always go back inside, right?"

Satin nodded, "I know." she replied tensely.

She couldn't go back in. She . . . She shouldn't. If these other friends had the courage to leave the safe haven they'd been given for a chance to befriend another child, she could too. It wouldn't be right for her not to, in fact, it would be unimaginary friend-like to do so.

"I'll be fine, bud. Go on and have some fun. I'm just going to relax here for awhile, okay?" she continued, smiling for his benefit.

Crackers stood slowly, trying his best not to look excited, "You sure?"

Satin smiled and hugged him, "Absolutely, you don't need to stick around with a sour puss like me all day! Go have some fun. I'll see you in a bit."

"Okay, if you're sure . . ." he replied as she put him down, "And Satin?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks." Crackers replied, bounding off.

Satin laid back, looking up into the greenery above. Maybe, if she stayed here all Saturday no one would notice her. Then she could just slip back in among the others that evening. Maybe she should go back in, it certainly would be easier. She just didn't feel up to this. Last night had taken a lot out of her, physically and emotionally. Strangely, in spite of her worries, she found her eyes drawn to the shapes of the branches. The patterns the leaves made as the wind drifted through them soothed her. It was like a lullaby for the eyes. Slowly, she let her mind drift into a day dreaming haze. A place not quite in the realm of sleep. She imagined Natalie arriving, sweeping her into a hug and telling her she was so sorry, that she would've been here sooner but she'd been delayed and that now she would never leave her side. She could almost smell Natalie's hair brushing past her nose, hear her voice, feel her embrace . . .

"Excuse me, miss, could you help us?" came a voice from nearby.

Satin sat straight up. She looked up in a daze at the family standing next to her. Two parents and a little boy. The mother had spoken to her. Carefully she rose, and said, as politely as she could muster with her heart pounding as hard as it was, "Perhaps, what is it that you need?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, I thought you were the young woman who works here. Sorry to disturb you." she said hurriedly, looking embarrassed. Who wouldn't? Satin wondered, After all, you'd hate to get a friend's hopes up.

Dropping all formality Satin replied, "Well, maybe I could help you. What do you need?"

"Ryan-o here is looking for an imaginary friend of the sporting persuasion." the father, a man in white slacks and a blue polo shirt supplied jovially.

A little boy with dirty blonde hair grinned up at her expectantly.

"Ah!" Satin exclaimed, bending down to Ryan's level, she couldn't resist kids when they looked at her like that. He looked to be about three. He grinned at her, "Hi!"

"Hello there, Ryan! So, what sort of sports do you like?" Satin couldn't believe this, she was drawing attention to herself, what was she doing!

"Lots!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms wide.

Satin could tell. She'd never seen that many grass stains and bruises on such little surface area. The child was a living dirt clod. But he was cute . . . In a dirt clod sort of way.

"Well," Satin said, rising, "We have a lot of specialty friends here. Ummmm . . . There!" she pointed in the direction of the basketball court, "That's Wilt and over there is Handy . . . And there's Hafback and-"

"Mommy! Him! I want him!" Ryan shouted, tugging on his mother's skirt and leaving a muddy handprint, "The football one!"

Ryan's parents looked stricken as they turned to Satin.

"He's up for adoption. If you want you can visit with him first and then ask Mister Herriman about the paper work." in a whisper meant only for the parents she added, "Hafback's great with kids. Teaches them how not to get hurt while playing and his room is probably one of the cleanest in the house."

The stricken looks melted into smiles with this revelation as they allowed Ryan to drag them over to Hafback.

Satin smiled as the family walked away. That had been awesome. She could see Hafback's grin from here. Then she realized something. If parents thought she worked at Foster's then she wouldn't be adopted! Suddenly, the day didn't seem so bad after all. So she went off walking with an authoritative stride into the crowd. Perhaps she would make it through this day after all!

Wilt grinned at the kids, "Time out! Sorry, guys, but I need a little rest. Is that okay?"

The boys nodded and continued playing ball. Most of them were the older brothers of the adopters who had nothing to do until their siblings had picked out a friend. Some of them had been here several times because their little brother or sister hadn't found a friend they really connected with. James had been one of these boys . . . Wilt shuddered at the memory of his one and only child other than Jodee. James had seemed so kind, so honest . . . But he'd only been pretending. Wilt had kicked himself over it often through the years. He should have known that James wasn't as he appeared. He'd been using him all along.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the memories, he watched as a young couple and their son lead Hafback to where Mister Herriman and Madame Foster stood. With a smile, he leaned back on the bench, it was always nice to see another friend get adopted.

It was then that he remembered. This was Satin's first Adopt-A-Thought Saturday! She was probably nervous. Maybe I should make sure she's okay . . . he thought to himself, rising. After all, she seemed pretty upset last night . . .

With long strides, he made his way across the lawn, looking for a familiar pair of ears. He saw Eduardo holding one end of a jump rope for some little girls who were playing double dutch. Coco was running in circles and had a train of kids following her, begging for her to lay some eggs. Mac came drudging up the walk, looking thoroughly displeased with the proceedings. Wilt understood why he was so upset, he'd hate to not see Mac again if he were adopted but . . . Well, it was every imaginary friend's dream to be adopted again and Mac knew that. He always arrived at Foster's with a chip on his shoulder when it was Adopt-A-Thought day, he still hadn't quite gotten over being locked in a closet with Bloo for four hours (not that Wilt could blame him). Wilt had apologized several times and Mac always assured him it was fine, but a dark cloud still surrounded him whenever the appointed date came up.

Suddenly, Wilt spotted his quarry. Satin stood talking to a very nice looking family of five. The oldest daughter, who looked about ten, was already accompanied by a copy-friend of a ninja turtle. The two younger children were friendless and listening to Satin with rapt attention. At first, Wilt thought they were going to adopt her. He felt himself break out in a sweat. His heart plummeted into his stomach and then . . . Satin pointed off towards the lawn and the children's eyes lit up. Following their gaze, Wilt saw that she was pointing towards the unicorn stables. The family ambled off in that direction.

Satin looked up and waved at him, "Hey!"

He came over to her, "Hi, what was that about? Were they lost?"

He noticed that Satin's face was flushed a cheery pink and that she was smiling broadly. His heart was suddenly dragged right up out of his stomach and made itself known in his chest by pounding.

"A family came up to me earlier and asked me to help them pick out a friend for their kid. Can you believe they thought I was Frankie at first? I helped them and I've been helping families ever since!" Satin exclaimed, "It's amazing."

Wilt smiled at her, "So everything's okay?"

"Everything's perfect!" Satin replied, looking up at him with joyful eyes, "Just perfect."

Wilt found himself relieved, "That's great! I was worried you'd be nervous."

"I was at first . . ." she said, looking down, "But I like helping people."

Wilt grinned, he knew exactly how that felt. He felt like he was ready to burst, he was so happy. Seeing Satin smile like that . . . It was like the day he'd asked Mister Herriman if Satin could use the sewing machine in the hall closet. He was so thrilled that she was pleased that he'd practically bounced through the rest of the day.

"Are you Satin?" A lady asked behind her.

Satin turned towards the woman, "Yes, I am."

"We were wondering if you could find our daughter, Julie a friend?" asked a pudgy woman with short black hair.

"One sec." she replied to the lady, then to Wilt she said, "I'm sorry. Do you think it's possible we could meet up later? Maybe play a game of checkers?"

"Yeah, sure. That'd be great!" Wilt replied.

"Okay. Thanks, Wilt." then she turned away.

Wilt strode back towards the courts, with a bounce in his step. Things were looking up.

Several hours later, the day was winding down to a close. The sun hovered low to the horizon, a red orb in the sky. Many happy, yet tired children and similarly feeling imaginary friends were leaving through the front gates. And just as many children and friends were ending the day with heavy hearts, not yet having found that one special person they quested for.

Satin let out a sigh of relief. The day had gone well, no one had offered to adopt her and she hadn't seen any of her newfound friends get adopted. A mingling sense of sadness for the others and happiness for herself, vied for attention in her heart. She knew that Crackers wanted to be adopted more than anything and as his friend she wanted that for him but she still felt a guilty glee that he was still here with her. Then there was Wilt . . . He'd come very close to being adopted three times today and each time she'd felt all of her fur stand on end, her heart beating faster than a hummingbird's. Yet, each time he was passed over and she felt this same mixture of joy and sadness. She didn't want Wilt to go, but she did want him to be happy. So enrapt was she in her feelings that she didn't notice the lady until she bumped into her.

"Oh! Excuse me, madam. I didn't mean to run into you." she apologized.

The lady, a overweight woman in a motherly looking floral print dress smiled broadly at her, "You're fine. No trouble at all." then the woman did a double take.

Satin could feel those brown eyes staring at her with a warm, open offering. The lady adjusted the small white hat she wore over her brown hair and said, "We were just leaving, seems Valerie can't find a friend that suits her. This is her fifth visit, you know."

Satin smiled and nodded though all of her senses were screaming danger. The little blonde girl turned and looked up at her with a pair of brown eyes overflowing with tears.

Satin reeled back as though struck. That face, that hair, those eyes, no, no, no, no, NO! Those eyes. They were the eyes that had condemned and betrayed her in her dreams. They were the eyes that had wept at their parting. Those were Natalie's eyes. Valerie looked slightly up at her mother and tugged on her sleeve. Her mother leaned down and listened as the little girl whispered into her ear. Satin knew what was coming even before the woman spoke. It all seemed to move in slow motion, as she carefully rose, parted her lips and asked, "Are you up for adoption?"

Satin turned and fled.

Wilt was helping Frankie take in the tables when he saw Satin talking with a lady and her daughter. He remembered them from their last visit, their names were Mary Finn and Valerie Finn. Valerie said something to her mother who in turn said something to Satin. Wilt watched as Satin's face contorted in fear and sadness. He had dropped his end of the table and was gone before Frankie had a chance to ask what was wrong.
She didn't know where she was, she just knew she was afraid. Would they come after her? Could they make her go? Oh she shouldn't have gone, she shouldn't have been there, she shouldn't even be here in the first place . . . Her legs burned as she ran up the stairs. Instinct carried her, nothing more. The sound of pounding footsteps reached her ears, they were following! Fear poured into her veins. They would take her away, wrench her from a place that had just begun to feel like home and take her somewhere new, somewhere without her family. Family? Yes . . . Yes, they were now . . . Weren't they?

She spotted a door, a familiar door. Yes! It was her door! Dashing in, she shut it behind her and slid down it. Crackers wasn't back yet, she was alone. Her weight pressed back against the door. She couldn't let them in. They wouldn't get in . . .

There was a knock on the door.

She had only this one salvation here . . .

Would they take that away too?