A/N: I know its been a long time since this has been updated but I'm back with an update. Finals are here and so are the state exams so its going to be hectic for a while so I thought I should post an update now and then start to come back when the tests are all done. Through the summer there should be frequent updates. Hope that you'll continue to read and let me know what you think. Let me know if you think I'm doing a good job or a bad one. Just no flames about it being Femslash. I have it clearly marked as femslash.

Part 24

------Madden household------

Melinda smiled as she watched the little girl enjoying the many toys that hid inside the play bin. Melinda hadn't really gotten a chance to talk to the girl's sister because she had just been there to drop off the little girl and then leave. Dr. Madden had told her that three other girls would be arriving soon, each one looking for their real parents as well. Melinda hadn't really thought much about it until she met the brunette, or just met her shadow. The little girl and her had talked and gotten to know each other, they had to, because Melinda was babysitting her till her sister, Melissa came back.

"Melinda?" Kathleen asked as she walked over to the older blonde. "What's this...?" Melinda asked as she held up a magic eight ball. "It's got a whole and a number eight on it." Kathleen said as she handed Melinda the toy and then hopped up onto the couch next to the teenager.

Kathleen wasn't afraid with Melinda, because Dr. Madden and Melissa said that she was a good person and she'd be her babysitter. Kathleen liked babysitters...Melissa was her babysitter and so was Molly. They are both good babysitters, she liked Melissa the most though. Melinda was just her knew babysitter and that was okay because she knew Melissa was going to get Anna. They had to leave Anna with Kendall because of the bad people trying to take her away, but Melissa and Dr. Madden wouldn't let that happen, and now neither would Melinda.

"It's a Magic Eight Ball." Melinda said smiling as Kathleen sat on her lap.

"Magic?" Kathleen asked her face lighting up as she looked at the MAGIC eight ball.

"Yeah…if you ask it a question and shake it…it will answer you." Melinda said smiling as she took the black magic eight ball from Kathleen and brought it up to her face and looked at it and closed her eyes. "See…you close your eyes…ask a question…shake for as long as you want…but don't open your eyes till you stop shaking…then…" Kathleen watched Melinda in fascination. "….you read what it says to your question." Melinda said and handed Kathleen the ball. "Here…you try."

"Okay.." Kathleen said smiling, hopped off Melinda's lap and sat on the edge of the couch, brought the magic eight ball up to her face and thought of a question. "….is that weird lady ganna get me?" Kathleen asked and shook the ball

Melinda watched Kathleen…a frown on her face. She felt horrible for this little girl. She hadn't been told the whole story, all she really knew was there were people trying to take her away from her sister and she didn't want to go. Melinda had ease dropped on Dr. Madden and Melissa last night while they were talking about it, she hadn't meant too but she was just getting up to get a drink of water and they were talking rather loud. Turned out that Melissa and Kathleen weren't related by blood but were adopted into the same family and now Kathleen's biological parents want to take her back because their adoptive mother passed away a month or so ago. It was sad. Melinda knew what it felt like to lose a mother. She may have never met hers but when Dr. Madden informed her that she passed away it had hurt because she never was able to fill a void that had placed itself in her heart all these years. She had wanted to ask her biological mother so many questions, now she'd never get to, but if she was lucky enough she might be able to ask her sister and father the questions that could never be answered by her mother.

"Oh no…" Kathleen said and dropped the magic eight ball, jumped up and ran toward the bedrooms.

"Kathleen…" Kathleen didn't answer. "Kathleen…wait what happened?!" Melinda called out to the youngster but the only reply she was given was the slamming of a door.

Melinda stood up from the couch and bent over picking up the magic eight ball, wondering what had made her so upset. Melinda got her answer when she saw the pyramid inside the eight ball on 'Yes'. Melinda dropped the ball to the floor and rushed to find Kathleen. Now would be a good time to explain to Kathleen that the magic eight ball wasn't always right and that she wouldn't let the lady get her.

"Kathleen…?" Melinda asked as she knocked on the door. "Kathleen….sweetie…can you open the door?" Melinda asked as she tried to open the door but the doorknob stopped turning and wouldn't let her enter the room.

Melinda put her ear to the door and listened closely. The sound of scurrying feet was heard on the other side of the door and she smiled when she heard the door being unlocked. She pulled her ear away from the door and watched as the door slowly came open to show a tear stricken six year old in the doorway.

"Oh honey…its okay…" Melinda said and bent down picking Kathleen up into her arms, closing the door behind her.

Melinda wasn't sure how to handle this but she was going to do what she thought was the best way to approach it, and that was to let the little girl in her arms that everything was going to be okay. Melinda didn't grow up with any siblings, but she knew now that she had half sisters and half brothers from both her mothers side and her fathers side but they were all older then her. Melinda was also a pretty good person, and she was the favored babysitter in her neighborhood so she knew how to comfort a child, she just wasn't sure how to do it in this situation but she was going to try.

"You know….some times you have to try more then once to get the answer you really want." Melinda stated as she sat down on the bed with Kathleen sitting in her lap.

Melinda brushed a strand of blonde hair behind the little girls ear and smiled at her to show she wasn't lying. Kathleen had these eyes that just looked into you and they knew when you were hiding something. Melinda had figured that out very early on in this odd relationship.

"Really?" Kathleen asked as she used her sleeve to wipe her nose.

Melinda reached over and grabbed a tissue and gave it to the six year old and then took it when Kathleen blew her nose and gave it back to her. Melinda refused to make a face and just wrapped the used tissue in a clean one that she grabbed from the box and let it sit on the bed. Melinda moved Kathleen so she was sitting on the bed instead of her lap.

"Really…I'll show you." Melinda said and then walked out of the room to get the magic eight ball.

Kathleen waited for Melinda to come back, sitting patiently on the bed. When Melinda came back into the room Kathleen moved over on the bed giving Melinda more room to sit down. Once Melinda was sitting on the bed Kathleen moved over to her and leaned her shoulder against the older girls side as she watched what she was doing with the magic eight ball.

"Okay…" Melinda said and turned the magic eight ball around so the pyramid inside was being show to her through the small circular glass portal. "Now….I'm going to ask it a question and the whole point of it is if I don't like it I ask again but differently cause you know the magic eight ball might not know what you meant before." Melinda said making it up as she went along but if it made Kathleen happy then she'd go with it.

"Okay…" Kathleen said and looked up at Melinda and waited patiently until she couldn't wait anymore. "…your turn!"

"Right…" Melinda laughed lightly and then looked down at the magic eight ball and thought of a question. "Is…um…is my father going to except me?" Melinda asked a question that she had been asking herself and making up scenarios for almost her entire life.

The Magic Eight ball read 'Try again later'. Melinda laughed and looked over at Kathleen and smiled. "Well I'm ganna try again later…now it's your turn." Melinda said and handed Kathleen the black eight ball.

Kathleen took it and looked at it oddly before she decided to try again. "Will the woman from last night take me away from Melissa?" Kathleen asked and then shook the eight ball and then stopped.

The Magic Eight Ball read 'No'. Kathleen smiled and looked up at Melinda and dropped the eight ball on the bed and wrapped her arms around the older girl. Melinda looked down at Kathleen and smiled. She was happy she could help. Even if it just gave Kathleen some peace for only a little while.

TBC…..