Alright ya'll. We're reaching a climax! Stay strong and we will make it through.
Also, some foster care procedure might be simplified/unrealistic but it's really hard to get accurate data on how exactly the system works... we tried so please don't be too upset if it's inaccurate please!
The chapter after this one is my favorite... just seven days away!
"You're sad."
Natasha looked up from her homework to find that Skye was staring at her with her large dark eyes.
"Do your homework Skye," Natasha looked back down, biting her lip.
Everything was just becoming too much. Natasha wanted nothing more than to protect Skye and she was trying so hard but John was getting meaner and meaner and food was getting scarcer and their bruises couldn't even heal before they got new ones.
The only good thing about their life was school and now Natasha was worried that her teachers were going to take Skye away from her. But she was more afraid that Skye would actually be better off without her.
Natasha didn't like to admit that she needed anything, but she needed Skye.
"Hey." A little hand patted her arm. "Don't be sad, Nattie." Skye got up and pushed her way onto Natasha's lap. Natasha just wrapped her arms around the smaller girl and held her close, letting her eyes close for a moment, kissing Skye's dark hair.
"I love you," Skye twisted to look up at Natasha. "You're the best sister ever."
"I love you too," Natasha kissed her forehead. "I'd be so lost without you."
"You'd never be lost, you're too smart to get lost!" Skye shook her head.
"I'm not perfect, kiddo." Natasha sighed.
"I think you are!" Skye chirped. "Mr. Coulson and Mrs. May like you a lot too."
Natasha didn't want to think about Mr. Coulson and Mrs. May because she didn't know how she felt about them so she changed the topic.
"Are you done with your homework?"
"Yep," Skye nodded, holding up her worksheet for Natasha to see.
"You want a bath or shower before bed?" she asked.
"I don't wanna go to bed yet," Skye pouted. "I wanna read a book."
They didn't have any books in the house before but Natasha had discovered that she could check books out from the school library and so she had picked out several books she thought Skye would like. Skye thought they were the best thing ever and Natasha had to admit, she loved their reading time together. It was nice to have a distraction.
"After you get ready for bed," Natasha nudged Skye. "You know that."
"I know," Skye grinned. "I was just checking if you would remember."
"I made those rules, I'm not gonna forget them," Natasha laughed, tickling her. "Come on."
They got up and Natasha quickly cleaned up the homework they had been working on from her bed. They no longer went downstairs unless absolutely necessary. A lot of times John would make them go down to the kitchen to clean, but if they could hide in their bedrooms before John got back, it was slightly less likely that he would go after them.
Suddenly there was the sound of a door slamming.
Natasha's heart dropped and she quickly ran to the door to close and lock it.
They heard John yelling downstairs and something shattered.
"Come here," Natasha whispered and Skye wasted no time throwing herself into her sister's arms. They moved to a corner of the room, behind the bed and far from the door.
"I don't wanna be here," Skye's lip quivered. "I wanna live somewhere else."
"I know." Natasha kissed her forehead and pulled her closer.
There was a crash right outside the door and Skye whimpered, burying her face in Natasha's shoulder. Natasha held her tightly, trying to stifle her own fear.
"Open the door." John's voice was rough and his words were slightly slurred.
"Skye, go under the bed," Natasha whispered. Skye only clung to her tighter, body trembling.
John was banging on the door, yelling.
"Go!" Natasha moved to push Skye under the bed but was a second too late.
There was a deafening crack and the door crashed inward onto the floor.
Skye screamed and even Natasha froze as the door came crashing down, splinters dancing across the floor, and John's form entered the room.
Skye felt Natasha try to push her under the bed but someone grabbed her ankle and yanked her back out, slamming her head roughly against the wooden bed frame.
"Leave her alone!"
Skye tried to get to Nattie, but John grabbed her arm in one hand and Natasha's in the other. He was yelling things as he dragged them down the stairs, horrible, awful things like bad words and mutt and worthless, and Skye thought her arm might be pulled off in his iron grip.
And then John was holding her down on the ground, screaming in her face, and Skye just shut her eyes and tried to shut it all out, tried to breathe around her sobs, tried to ignore the pain...
There was a hollow thudding noise and suddenly everything went quiet and John slumped over on top of her.
Skye pried open her eyes to see that Natasha was holding a metal pan in her hands, face pale and eyes wide and staring at John's still form.
"Nattie," Skye sobbed, trying to wiggle out from under John's heavy weight on top of her.
Natasha started and instantly was back in motion.
"Skye, oh god, Skye..." Natasha shoved John away and wrapped Skye in her arms.
"Did you kill him?" Skye whispered, clinging to her older sister.
"I don't know." Natasha's eyes were dark and panicked. "Come on, we've gotta get away from here, if he wakes up..."
"Too late."
They spun around to find that John was staggering onto his feet, eyes black with fury, one hand touching the back of his head gingerly.
Skye and Natasha froze.
"You fucking hit me," John stared at Natasha with disbelief while taking a step forward.
Skye's view was blocked as Natasha stepped in front of her protectively. She wasn't gonna let her little sister take the fall for this.
"You know what? I've fucking had it. Go pack."
Natasha stared at him and Skye kept her head buried in Natasha's shirt. John was stepping towards them but he was shaking his head and smirking.
"I'm calling the social worker. You're out of here. I don't need you as my problem anymore. Go!" John shoved Natasha towards the stairs. Natasha felt a rush of panic, felt her world slowly spin beneath her feet as she fell against the stairs, propelled by John's push.
Skye tried to follow but John grabbed her.
"Not you, you're staying."
No. No. No. This was all wrong. This couldn't be happening.
"No, you can't do that!" Natasha pushed herself back up onto her feet, trying to lunge for Skye.
He just lashed a foot out and she crashed to the ground as it connected with her side.
Natasha tasted blood welling up in her mouth and spat onto the ground, slowly pulling herself back up, only propelled by the sound of Skye's crying.
"You can't seperate us. Please."
She hated saying that word to him but if it could fix this...
"Yes, I can. You're a worthless foster brat and I'm Chief of Police." John smiled slowly, pulling out a gun. "Go."
Scared that he would hurt Skye, Natasha began climbing the stairs. John came up behind her, dragging Skye along. When they got to the top of the stairs, John opened the closet door.
"Nattie!" Skye cried out, trying to get free of John's grip. "Nattie!"
"Skye!" Natasha tried to run forward but John just raised his gun and she froze.
Helplessly, she watched as her baby sister was pushed into the closet, the door closing with a slam.
"Go pack or I will kill her." John waved his gun.
Natasha never cried. But shoving her stuff into her backpack while John called the social worker, Natasha couldn't help the tears that ran down her face.
The incessant shrill of her cell phone jerked Melinda out of sleep and she groaned, rolled over, and lightly kicked Phil's shin, "Get the phone."
Her husband grunted and hid his head partially under his pillow, "It's yours, you get it."
Sighing loudly, she pushed Phil's arm and ignored his sound of protest while she blindly reached over and grabbed her cell phone from her bedside table. She picked it up, squinted at the bright screen, and waited for her eyes to adjust. An unfamiliar number was displayed on her phone but she answered it anyways, "Hello?"
The line was silent for a few moments and she considered hanging up but a small, trembling voice stopped her, "Mrs. May?"
She immediately sat up, "Natasha? What's wrong?"
As soon as she said Natasha's name, Phil jerked awake. He sat up next to her and gave her a questioning look. She waved him off and focused on her phone conversation.
She heard Natasha take a deep breath and her voice wobbled when she hesitantly said, "Um…"
Her frustration with Natasha's inability to trust her was pushed aside by her fear. Natasha was calling her in the middle of the night, something bad must have happened, "You can trust me Natasha, please, tell me what's wrong."
She heard Natasha's breath catch and then a flood of words escaped her. She had never heard the little girl talk so much in all the time she had known her, "I-I don't know what happened! He was so mad and we tried to hide but he broke down the door and then, I don't know! He was hurting her! I didn't… I didn't mean to…"
Natasha was talking so quickly and nothing was making sense but Melinda understood enough to realize that something terrible had happened in Natasha's home and that she needed help, "Slow down, slow down. Are you okay?"
"You need to go get Skye! Get her out of there!"
Phil must have heard Natasha mention Skye because he wrapped a hand around her arm to get her attention and when she looked up at him, he was staring at her from worried eyes. She gave him a helpless look and focused back on Natasha, "Where is she? She isn't with you?"
Natasha made a frustrated sound, "No! You need to get Skye! Please! She isn't… she's not safe there and I'm not with her and… and… she's just a little kid… and..."
Melinda could feel her heart breaking. Natasha was a little kid too. She made sure that her voice was gentle but firm and tried to calm her student down, "Natasha, take a deep breath okay? Where are you and where is Skye?"
Surprisingly, Natasha listened to her. Melinda heard her take a deep breath and when Natasha answered, she sounded fractionally calmer, "Skye's in that house, you need to go get her."
Melinda looked over to Phil and mouthed for him to call Tripp. He nodded and she saw him grab his phone from the bedside table. She turned her focus back to Natasha, "Where are you?"
"You have to help Skye first!"
Normally, Natasha and Skye's dedication to each other was something that Melinda admired but right now, it was frustrating, "We'll help Skye, I promise, but we need to help you too. Now, where are you?"
There was a long pause and Melinda seriously thought that Natasha might have hung up on her but then she finally answered, "I got put in a group home. I took a phone from an older girl but I'll give it back, I promise."
The fact that this was the first time that Natasha actually sounded like a child rather than an adult made Melinda's heart break even more, "I know you will, you're a good girl. Do you remember where this group home is or what it's called?"
"I think it's called Olive Crest? I wasn't paying attention, I should have been paying more attention…"
Melinda knew the group home she was referring to. The social worker had given her a list of group homes with the hopes that she and Phil would foster a kid from one of them. She shushed the little girl, "No, you did great okay? Phil and I will come and get you as soon as we can."
Natasha protested, "No! You have to go get Skye!"
Melinda glanced at Phil and saw that he was talking on the phone to Tripp, "We're already working on that."
Sounding unsure, Natasha said, "You are?"
"Yes, do you remember Officer Triplett? He's already helping us."
"No! He's a cop! Cops are bad."
Rubbing her forehead, she tried to get Natasha to understand, "Tripp's good, he wants to help you and Skye. You can trust him."
She could hear Natasha's breathing pick up, "No!"
Phil was pacing in front of her and she knew he was talking to Tripp but she let his voice fade into the background. She didn't know how to get Natasha to understand that she was trying to help her. She realized that the fact that the little girl had called her was a miracle in itself and she had an idea, "You trust me, don't you?"
"...I think so."
That was good enough for Melinda, "You can trust me, I promise. You can trust that I won't do anything to hurt you or Skye. I just want to help."
It was quiet for a long time and Melinda held her breath until Natasha whispered, "Okay."
She felt a giant weight lift off of her shoulders but didn't allow herself to celebrate this small victory. She let out a relieved breath and nodded, "Okay, okay. We'll come get you as soon as we can, alright? And we'll help Skye, we'll get her out of there."
"She's all alone Mrs. May. She's all alone with them and I'm not there."
The desperation and heartache in Natasha's voice was enough to shatter Melinda's heart completely, "I know, we'll get her out of there."
"I wasn't supposed to tell. He said he would kill her if I told."
Melinda's heart stopped and then went into overdrive. She didn't have a chance to process that, let alone formulate a response, before Natasha whispered, "He has a gun."
Pushing her worry and fear aside, she said the only thing she could, "Skye will be alright. She's going to be fine."
"You don't know that." It was clear that Natasha didn't fully believe her.
She reached up to push some hair out of her face and realized that her hand was shaking. Closing her hand into a tight fist, she said, "I know that we're going to get Skye back."
"You promise?"
She shouldn't promise Natasha this, John Garrett was the Chief of Police, he held a lot of sway and there was no way that she could guarantee that they would be able to get Skye back, but she did it anyways, "I promise."
"Okay, I think… I think someone's awake. I have to go."
Quickly, Melinda said, "Hang in there Natasha. We're coming to get you."
She heard a beeping noise and hoped that Natasha had heard her.
She stared at her phone for a few seconds before Phil got her attention, "Mel, I'm going crazy here. What's happening?"
It had been thirteen hours since she had been taken away from Skye and three and a half hours since she had called Mrs. May. The sun was starting to rise and the clock that was hanging on the wall said that it was six thirty in the morning.
It had taken a long time for everyone to fall asleep and it had taken even longer for Natasha to get her hands on the cell phone that she had seen one of the older teens texting on and now she wasn't so sure of her decision to call Mrs. May. The cold hard truth was that she hadn't had anyone else to call.
Mrs. May had told her that she could trust her. Natasha wanted to believe her but she wasn't sure. She guessed that she'd just have to wait and find out.
The problem was that she couldn't wait. Every second that she was sitting here was another second that Skye was in that house, all alone with John Garrett. Her skin crawled just thinking about it and she had to force herself to stay still and not to do anything stupid. Being stupid wouldn't help Skye.
She wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her head on her knees. She could hear people walking around, probably the house parents and some early risers eating in the kitchen, but she stayed where she was.
Skye screaming her name and reaching desperately for her played through her mind over and over again and it was so painful but she couldn't make it stop, she didn't want to. She was safe here in a group home while Skye was all by herself in a house with John Garrett and Natasha hated herself for that.
Her lip was throbbing and felt bigger than it normally was and her head ached, whether that was from her hitting it somewhere or from trying to hold back her tears, she wasn't sure. She was pretty sure her ribs were bruised or broken from where John had kicked her and it hurt every time she breathed or moved.
She shouldn't have hit John, she knew that, but she didn't know what else she could have done. He was on top of Skye and Nat wasn't strong enough to push him off and he wasn't listening and she hadn't really thought about what she was doing, she had just grabbed the nearest thing and smashed it against John's head. She could still hear the sound he had made as he slumped over and crashed against the ground, she didn't think she'd ever be able to get that sound out of her head.
She hoped that Skye was alright. For all she knew, her little sister was still stuck in that dark closet, all by herself. Natasha felt tears well up in her eyes and the familiar burn that came with not allowing them to fall. Even though she knew that she had a lot of important organs in her chest, Mrs. May had taught her that, her chest felt empty. It felt like there was a giant hole where her heart was supposed to be and she just wanted Skye back.
"I can't do this."
May's face was one of exhaustion. They had been up all night, dealing with the legalities of gaining guardianship of Natasha and being on and off the phone with Tripp, who was doing everything he could to get the police involved.
The cops had processed Phil's call and Tripp's reports but Garrett called the responding officers and told him Natasha's story was a prank.
In the standoff between the word of a foster kid and the chief of police, Tripp was struggling to find anyone to take action and push for an investigation. His status on the totem pole didn't allow him any authority. He needed an ally desperately just to get approval to have Natasha brought to the station so that they could hear her side of the story. The only other way was if May and Phil were granted custody of Natasha and brought her themselves and forced someone to listen to them.
They were sitting under the harsh fluorescent lights of the agency which they had to fight tooth and nail to get open early for them over the emergency.
The worst part was now they were just waiting as the social worker talked to her superior about the situation.
"I know." Phil took her hand. "I know."
Everything was wrong and they couldn't do anything to make it right. It seemed like they were trying to wade up a fast moving river to get to Natasha and Skye, legalities and police bias tearing at their ankles, trying to knock them down as they painfully and much too slowly inched forward.
All Phil could think about was Natasha alone in the group home and Skye with Garrett, who had a gun, who had threatened two small children, who now had Skye isolated in his home...
He resisted the sudden urge to throw up as horror curled in his stomach, the overwhelming feeling of the night.
"You can take her."
Phil and May jerked up as the social worker spoke.
"I'll just need your signatures here..."
They were already scribbling their names down on the document, listening to the social worker talk, getting in the car, praying they were not too late.
"She's this way, we haven't gotten her to say a word."
May barely spared the woman a glance, focusing on following her through the house.
A door opened and May's heart broke.
Sitting on a bed, curled in a ball with her knees tucked under her chin, face hidden by limp strands of red hair, May had never seen Natasha look smaller.
"Natasha," the group home lady said. "Someone's here for you."
May resisted the urge to rush forward and take the girl into her arms, knowing that the last thing Natasha needed was unexpected physical contact.
Natasha didn't even lift her head.
May stepped forward.
"Natasha," she said gently.
At her voice, Natasha looked up and May was taken aback by the young girl's swollen lip and bruised cheek. Pushing away the fury that she could barely control, May slowly approached the girl.
"Where's Skye?" Natasha's voice was unsteady, her green eyes trained on May's face.
"Garrett isn't letting us get to her yet."
Natasha recoiled as though she had been bitten.
"You promised we would get her!" The girl's eyes flashed with anger. "You promised! She's not safe!"
"Natasha..." May held up her hands, recognizing the desperation and fear washing across her student's face but slightly worried by the intensity she saw there. "We're doing everything we can. But we need your help. And in order for you to help, I need you to calm down a little."
Natasha's jaw clenched but after a moment she nodded and listened as May explained their plan.
Almost there!
~silverlining