Chapter 18
Arriving home Barbara ordered them into the kitchen, now she knew both children were okay it was time for a much more in-depth chat about what had happened.
"Okay, I know we have had a long day, but I need to know, why was Johnny being mean Zona" Barbara asked opening a packet of chips for them to share. Since Zona's lunch ended up on the floor and Timmy's had been interrupted, she guessed neither child had really eaten since breakfast. "Zona" she pressed, watching the small girl squirm under her gentle questioning.
"He said I was stupid cus I use my fingers to eat, said I broke my arm tying my laces, because I was too stupid to do it right" Zona said shame faced staring at the table not wanting to look Nurse B in the eyes in case she thought the same.
"He was wrong, you are very smart and brave. What did you call him?" Barbara asked,
"Poopy pants" Zona giggled as she said it, as did Timmy, poopy pants was a funny insult,
"That's not a very nice name to call someone though is it" Barbara said sternly, Zona shook her head no, still staring at the table. "As this is your first offense, I want you to write your sorry to Mrs Thomas" Barbara said, Zona nodded, she was practicing her writing and could do a few words now. Barbara got out a piece of paper and pencil dotting the letters until she had the following, which meant all Arizona had to do was join up the dots,
Dear Mrs Thomas
I'm sorry for my bad words
Arizona
"Okay I want you to write that out and draw Mrs Thomas a picture to show how sorry you are, okay Zona" Barbara said,
"That's it, that's her punishment?" Timmy asked struggling to believe it, daddy would have gone mental, he would have killed them both and all she wanted Zona to do was lines.
"Yep, now Timmy defending your sister is admirable, but we can't let you get into fights, you could get hurt and you could hurt someone else, I want you to write one page on why fighting in school is bad and what you could do differently next time" Barbara ordered handing him a lined piece of paper,
"One page" Timmy checked sceptically, this didn't seem like punishment, not when daddy would have hit them both, lots!
"One page, and the writing had better be neat," Barbara warned, "I'll get you both some milk and cookies while you are working." She offered. Zona stared at Timmy confused, he shrugged, this was weird but then Nurse B had been weird, the whole time compared to daddy. They sat munching on the cookies drinking the milk working on their punishments. While Barbara began cooking supervising their work. They were just finishing when Daniel got home, he walked in
"Evening" he greeted going over to Barbara kissing her, "How was your day?" he asked sensing tension,
"Timmy and Zona got into a fight" Barbara told him, watching as both children tensed ready to receive a beating, Daniel rose an eyebrow, wondering if he needed to have a talk with them,
"They did? What happened son?" Daniel questioned,
"Don't hurt him, he was protecting me" Zona nervously told him, walking to Timmy who held her protectively, just in case he got mad.
"You were protecting Zona were you, Timmy?" Daniel pressed ignoring Zona's antics
"Yes Sir" Timmy answered, staring Daniel in the eyes, Daniel could see fear and defiance in them.
"Good man" Daniel praised taking Timmy's hand in his own looking at the bruises. "Of course, you need to know how to throw a punch properly, not mess up your hand next time but I'm proud of you son," he finished releasing Timmy's hand patting him on the back.
"You are?" Timmy asked really confused,
"Yes son, you defended our family, you're a good man in a storm Timmy" Daniel praised. "And Zona I can see your arm, you had your cast off"
"Yeah, she was really brave when they got the saw out," Barbara added,
"Wow, 2 brave children, this deserves a special treat, let's go out for dinner," Daniel suggested, Barbara sighed, she was nearly finished with cooking but at the pleading looks of her husband and the 2 kids she nodded,
"Well as long as we can go to the diner" she suggested, it was child friendly with good music, "And as soon as they have finished their punishments"
"We finished" Timmy answered, "Haven't we Zona?" the little girl nodded, putting her colouring crayons down.
"Okay let me read them" Barbara said taking Timmy's letter ignoring her husband's smirk, despite how scared the children were of him they both knew Barbara was the strict one. Barbara read Timmy's then looked at Zona's
"What is this picture of Zona?" she asked,
"It's me and Timmy and Mrs Thomas and I drew the horses to make Mrs Thomas happy" Zona explained,
"Good work both of you, Timmy I liked your essay, there were a few spelling errors, but I can see you really tried with your hand writing. Zona, you copied my letters well and I like the colours in your drawing. Punishment is over" Barbara announced, "Let's go out and eat, I'll pop this in the fridge it will keep for tomorrow."
"And we can eat out," Timmy checked, "Like at a real place, with real food"
"Yep" Daniel confirmed, "Come on get your shoes on" he ordered watching as Zona ran for the roller boots,
"Not yet Zona," he ordered watching her pout, "Tomorrow when we go and see the horses" he promised happily. If Zona was on her skates, it meant he could go back to his daily run, at the moment every day it was a slow walk to see the horses with sprints up and down the lane as Zona talked to the horses. He sensed Barbara's disapproval; years of marriage meant he didn't even need to see her face anymore to know. "We will be careful, and you said she could when the cast came off" he defended. "Won't we Zona"
"Uh huh" she agreed, not really sure what she was agreeing to. Barbara sighed,
"They are ganging up on me Timmy, you're on my side, right?" she asked,
"Sure, nurse B" Timmy agreed. "Zona, you got to be careful", he told her Zona nodded,
"Alright let's go" Daniel ordered, noticing Zona now staring worriedly at the boots. He piled them out of the house into the car driving to the local diner. Once there they sat in a booth the adults on the outside. A young waitress passed them 2 adult menus and 2 child menus with 2 packs of crayons, on seeing the crayon's Zona's eye lit up.
"What would you like to eat?" Daniel asked his eyes scanning the adult menu to make sure the steak was still there,
"Can you read it Timmy?" Barbara questioned, they all listened as he read out the menu, deciding on the cheeseburger,
"What about you Zona?"
"Not sandwiches" Zona piped up, from her colouring, "And warm" Barbara raised her eyebrow at Daniel who was sitting next to her, gently he placed his hand on the colouring, stopping her.
"Zona, would you like chicken nuggets or a cheeseburger?" he asked sternly, "they are both warm and neither is a sandwich although I suppose a cheeseburger is similar" he reflected
"Nuggets please" Zona replied she didn't want anything that was like a sandwich. Daniel nodded releasing her hands letting her go back to her colouring, some cartoon clown, while Timmy traced a maze. Leaning over Daniel began drawing on Arizona's causing the little girl to giggle, not to be outdone Barbara joined Timmy on his colouring,
"You good at drawing" Zona complimented Daniel, he ignored Barbara's smirk,
"Thanks" he said, "Your pretty good yourself, in the lines and everything"
"I can write my name" Zona told him, writing Arizona in large letters,
"Wow, here is my name" Daniel wrote Daniel on the page,
"Captain" Zona read, Barbara snorted,
"No, my name is Daniel Robbins, my job is Captain in the marines" he explained, writing Captain down, "Captain, Daniel" he said going over each word watching as Zona traced over with her pink crayon.
"And soldiers protect people against baddies" Timmy said, gazing at his hero
"Captain safe" Zona added not wanting to be left out of the conversation. Daniel swelled with pride, it's how he wanted both children to see him, safe and protective.
"And this is my name," Barbara wrote her name on Timmy's paper, "And my job" she wrote nurse,
"Nurse B" Timmy repeated, "Nurses treat people and make them better"
"And give cuddles and makes warm food" Zona added.
"We have 2 very smart children here" Barbara praised, "Oh look a quiz," she said reading the side of the menu, they played with the quiz for a while going through the answer before Barbara and Daniel started creating questions of the own, things they thought the children would know like the colours of the rainbow, or ABC for Zona and states and presidents for Timmy. The prize was dessert once they had eaten their main courses. Both adults the kids seemed to trust them, more and more.
Zona bounced into the school the next morning, happy, she'd spent the early part of the morning skating with the Captain and talking to the horses. Now both Nurse B and the Captain were coming into school with her. The Captain even had his uniform on and all her friends were looking impressed making Zona feel very special. Edna was waiting for them,
"Hello Zona, Timmy, Barbara, Daniel have a seat" she said, Barbara and Dan sat on the sofa, Timmy sat next to Dan while Zona sat on Barbara's knee within reach of her brother.
"Hello, I saw horses this morning" Zona told Edna,
"Wow, Zeus and Titus?" Edna guessed, after several session she was well versed in the horses, their names, what they ate, and well everything
"Uh huh, have you got the colours?" Zona asked impatiently, she loved coming to therapy because she got to colour for a whole 30 minutes while answering questions.
"Please" Barbara corrected,
"Colours please" Zona repeated, Edna knowing she wouldn't get any further without her props got out the magic pens for Zona and the play doe for Timmy.
"So, Zona, Timmy we have something really serious to talk to you about" Edna began, Timmy dropped the play doe his whole attention on Edna while Zona continued to colour.
"Is this about the fight?" Timmy asked fearfully,
"No, this is about daddy" Edna said, both children were tense now, both listening closely. Worried she was going to send them back or he was going to come in. "Daddy has said he doesn't think you should live with him anymore," Edna told them, they had had notice that he had signed away his parental rights even before the court case, which made the Williams children wards of the state.
"No daddy" Zona asked
"That's right, you never have to live with daddy again" Edna confirmed, watching the emotions flick across Zona and Timmy's face, happiness, excitement, worry, fear
"Where will we live?" Timmy questioned gripping Zona's hand.
"Well, we were hoping you might like to live with us forever" Barbara said, holding Daniel's hand tightly, "It would be up to the courts to say yes, but we love having you and want you to stay with us forever, how does that sound?" she asked nervously.
"Yay" Zona cheered, not fully understanding what was happened, but getting the gist, no daddy and nurse b and the captain forever.
"It sounds good," Timmy added nervously, clearing his throat slightly, as he got emotional "You really want us forever" he checked
"And ever" Barbara confirmed,
"And we get food every day?"
"3 times and snacks, and no sandwiches and 1 of the meals will be warm if not 2 of them" Barbara added knowing if she didn't specify no sandwiches she might lose Zona's support.
"And we can sleep in a bed, and don't have to sleep outside?" he barginned,
"Absolutely, inside in a bed, no wardrobes, no outside" Daniel agreed,
"And no hitting, no kicking, no belt?" Timmy continued laying out his ground rules, breaking the adult's hearts, these were rules that no child should even need to think of.
"Never" Barbara said, instantly, Daniel nodding in agreement, these were easy promises,
"And we can stay together"
"Uh huh we are family" Daniel agreed
"Okay" Timmy said, running out of questions.
"Great I'll let child services know" Edna said, Barbara and Daniel stood Barbara gently placing Zona back on the chair,
"Love you kiddo's see you tonight" Daniel said hugging both kids,
"Love you both, be good in school" Barbara added, hugging and kissing them both, before they left the room.
"Do you have any questions?" Edna asked the children
"Can I colour now?" Zona requested impatiently, Edna laughed,
"Of course, Timmy?"
"No"
"Do you like living with the Captain and Nurse B?" she asked them, they had said yes in front of their prospective parents, but it was important for them to have private time to say how they felt too.
"I like it, they read us stories, and help us with our homework, they play games with us and help us have a bath. They wash our clothes and feed us; they really look after us" Timmy said considering his answer
"Zona?"
"Nurse B is warm and the Captain races good" she told Edna concentrating on her drawing,
"And you'd be happy if you got to stay with them forever?"
"Uh huh" both children agreed.
"Would we have to call them mom and dad?" Timmy questioned suddenly
"Once the court has confirmed it's a forever home you could, or you could call them what you want, Mother, mamma, mummy, nurse B, Barbara, dad, daddy, father, the Captain, Daniel, pops" Edna listed the options she could think of. "I think you'd need to ask them what they want to be called"
Timmy nodded his agreement, playing with the play doe absently minded.
"Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?" Edna asked patiently, both children shook their heads no, "Okay, Timmy you mentioned a fight, what happened?"
Aww looks like they might get adopted,
Thanks for all the reviews,