Chapter 19: Adoption Rules!
Jaden went to talk with Chazz, and Syrus about what was going on while I was filling out forms and such that I had been e-mailed from the adoption agency. I didn't mind the paperwork; meanwhile Kate was spending the day talking to her grandparents about things. I choose not to interfere. Jaden and I would now have to work our lives around the little girl. But I'm sure neither I nor Jaden minded in the least.
We sat down for dinner, a new place at the table for our daughter, Kate. Kaiba didn't seem to care at the least that we adopted her. He seemed concerned about how it would affect our lives, dueling and everything else. I had told him that Jaden and I had kept a 3 day old child for two months; a 6 year old girl was even less work, especially a handy cook like her. She could cook mini-meals for Jaden as well as if she was hungry. Who wouldn't want a daughter like her?
One thing that honestly amazed me is how innocent the girl was, she had a horrible life, not that it was her fault or her grandparents but she honestly did have a horrible life. How someone could keep their innocence like she had while going through that. Her eyes, were so clear, as 'doorways to the soul' her soul was pure and innocent, much like I expected it to be.
One thing that caught me off guard was Lisa. I had saw Lisa as a girl who had beaten Zane, once. She was, a girl who was a great duelist and more of an acquaintance other than a friend. I didn't talk much with her but today I would.
Jaden had picked up Kate, like she was and had always been her daughter and carried the little girl around. He was like I had always said, a good father. He was a child at heart and one day I was happy we'd get married and have a wonderful daughter like her. Jaden was only 2x Kate's age which didn't seem like much and if you saw them you'd thing it wasn't even that much. Jaden loved taking care of Kate, as did I. I guess that's why he saw it fine that I take care of her. A normal boyfriend and eventually soon to be husband would probably say no to adopting a 6 year old child, but not Jaden. Jaden agreed that it was the right thing to do and he backed me up.
When it got late I thought about where to let Kate sleep, that girl was nothing but hard ships, to sleep in a bed was a gift for that girl. I found the girl in the grass outside as well as Jaden, they were sleeping. I stiffened a little giggle from the too very tired children that were sitting there.
I walked over to the girl, my daughter, Kate and scooped her up in my arms. I lifted her up and carried her in my arms. I walked over to Jaden and sat down. I knew that saying wake up wouldn't work because I've tried during our lectures. "Jaden, you're going to get a cold if you sleep here." I whispered in his ear.
Jaden jumped up, and almost fell over. I grabbed his jacket, and pulled him behind me and Kate to his room. "Come on back."
"What's up Alexis?" Jaden asked, sitting on my bed.
"I wasn't going to let you sleep outside; we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow, big matches, and the adoption people. You should get some rest." Jaden nodded and walked off into his room, after he kissed me goodnight.
"Hey Alexis, I'm going to be staying in your room so you two can stay in mine, okay." Lisa said walking in my room, handing me an already packet suitcase of my stuff, and carried it to my room and I was left in her room, everything already set with my stuff, and a bed prepared for her.
Lisa had always been one girl I couldn't get to know, it was her shy nature which surprised her enemies, and opponents in battle, who knew that it would lead to her beating Zane. Though, because of it Lisa was the only one to defeat Zane, except Astor Phoenix which we don't talk about.
I laid the sleeping Kate, in her bed; tucked her in and went to sleep myself. I didn't know why but I knew that something would stop this sleep tonight, and as always, I was right.
After only an hour of sleep, I had a knock on my door; I wiped my eyes and opened the door. "Alexis, I'm hungry." I sighed, I hadn't expected Jaden to be the one to bother me, I expected some horrible event but Jaden was much better than a horrible event. "I'm sorry I…
"It's fine Jaden; I was expecting some horrible accident to wake me up for some reason. I'm glad that it's just you wanting food." I said interrupting him.
"You're welcome… I think." Jaden said.
"Yeah," I walked into the kitchen, which was even seemed the same size even without all those people in it. I got a bowl of chicken and rice and set it out in front of Jaden.
"Thanks Lex."
"You're welcome." I said, yawning and resting my head on the table. I don't know why but I was extremely tired. I found myself back in my room, and a little girl looking in my face.
"You're awake, yeah!" Man, you'd think I've been her mother for her whole life, I've only known her 3 days. She takes to people well. I wonder if she can duel. I wouldn't teach her, but maybe just maybe, Jaden could. I laughed. I knew Jaden would love to teach someone how to duel. Though I'd make sure she knew all the things that Jaden had no clue about, if he stuck his head in the books, he would be even better… Jaden.
"Morning," I said smiling. I stretched and the girl sat on my lap, I realized it but she had been wearing the same thing over and over again. We had to go shopping. I hated shopping but this was something I had to do. I didn't really care for shopping, I didn't hate it. "Do you feel like going shopping today?" I asked her.
"Shopping?" She asked.
"We're going to buy you some more clothes, and stuff. How does that sound?" It didn't get to her, she was confused, and she was defiantly not making it to the point of understanding. He stomach growled and she was completely ignorant at the fact it meant she was hungry. It was so sad, I wanted to cry. "Well then you'll just have to come and see what weren't doing." She smiled.
"Are you hungry?" She shook her head. I had asked knowing that she was but asked to see if she even realized her stomach growling meant she was hungry.
"Well then why don't we just go and eat with Jaden, and you can snack on something while we're there, okay?" She nodded and jumped off running into the hall, all the way to the kitchen.
"Hey Alexis, what's with the little girl?" Chazz asked.
"Didn't you hear? Jaden and I adopted her. She's our daughter."
"Man, you and Jaden are just itching to have some kids, eh Alexis." I smacked Chazz hard.
"Don't even think about it Chazz. We're taking care of her because her grandparents couldn't and her parents left her." I sighed, and walked off. "Six Years."
"What happens in 6 years?" Chazz asked.
"Nothing, well something, wait 6 years and you'll find out." I answered him.
"Whatever, let's go to eat." Chazz responded.
"Hey Lex, what are you waiting for? She's hungry." Jaden said pointing at Kate.
"No I'm not," She argued.
"Yeah you are I can hear your stomach growling it sounds like mine when I haven't eaten in an hour." I sighed. Then I smacked Jaden a top the head and sighed. "What's that for?" He asked.
"I'll talk to you later. Kate, let's go get you a piece of bacon or something. I'll be back with your breakfast Jaden." I was very glad that Jaden didn't wake me up for all of his meals; I hoped he hadn't starved himself. We all ate and Kate had went to my room, to as she said, 'clean up' which really meant as her grandma told me, put it in the river and take a bath in the river then come out and dry off with fig leaves.
I had told her just to wait for me to show her how to do it without the river which she agreed to. "So what's up Alexis?"
"It seems Kate doesn't get to eat much, little scraps that are left over from cooking, and stuff that falls on the floor, other than that not much. One meal a day. She doesn't know what her stomach growling means; she is completely ignorant of it. Don't say anything. We'll have to take care of it day by day, eating a bit more. But let's keep her out of the habit of eating as many times as you do."
"Hey I'm always hungry, it's not my fault."
"I know but don't mention what he stomach growling means, or she'll feel bad for her grandparents' treatment of her. She'll feel that they weren't good to her, and not appreciate how much they could do for her. Got it?" Jaden nodded.
"Okay Lex, so where are you going to?"
"I'm going shopping for clothes for her, she wears the same thing of clothing over and over again and I might buy a thing or two for myself for the party and such. See you later." He nodded and I ran off.
--
"So how do we clean up without a river?" This would be one tough task.
"Wait a second; I have to find something for you to wear." I answered.
"What about what I'm wearing?"
"It's okay but wouldn't you like to buy different clothing, like I wear." She nodded, I was scared that she would say no and cause me more problems.
"You always look nice, and I could too?" She asked. I nodded.
"We'll go get you clothing but first we have to find something you can wear until we buy you some things." She nodded. She found the perfect thing for her daughter to wear. It was another unfortunate thing her father had sent her, it was a light pink dress and had puffy sleeves and was just a shirt, it had a matching skirt which would make it too long for her but the shirt with a ribbon would be just perfect.
"But don't I have to get clean first?"
"Okay, the shower is in there."
"What?" I sighed, but then forced a smile. 'Remember Alexis, she doesn't know. It's all training.'
The girl came out of that bathroom without anything on but I knew she would so I put the towel in front of my face and wrapped the little girl in the towel and picked up the girl who was completely covered in the towel and sat by the bath tub and filled it with warm water and set the girl in there and closed the shower curtain.
"This feels nice." She said happily playing in the water.
"Good, it should. It's a good temperature. Warm water cleans things as well as people really good. So have fun, and when you've had your fun I'll come in here and teach you how to bubble up with soap."
"Okay." I doubted the girl could soap up herself, but I had no clue to what extent this girl had been through. She's never been shopping. She lives in a kitchen, sleeps in a straw bed, cleans herself in a river, what else could I say. I didn't expect anything. She was an orphan except a bit better, she had family; people who cared for her. She was loved and by the way she talked to me, I knew that that was all she had, and all she needed.
I started crying, crying for her and her troubles. I felt so bad for her. The poor girl what else could they say. If I ever did something this horrible to a child, I would make sure I put myself in jail for a long time. It was good fate that she found Jaden and me to be her parents; the poor lucky girl.
"Mommy?" The girl asked. She was covered in a towel. She came in got me rather than telling me she needed help. "Mommy, why are you crying?"
"Nothing, so let's go get you washed up, and cleaned, okay?" She nodded and we were off. I soaped her body up, washed her hair and conditioned it. She was a beautiful little girl. She reminded me of me when I was little, blonde hair all the way to her mid-back, blue eyes and very pale skin.
We went shopping and I bought her a ton of clothes, I ended up buying 5 dresses for her, and 7 shirts with shorts with them. I also bought 7 matching skirts that matched the shirts so if she needed to go out she could easily change. I encouraged her not to buy too many dresses because I knew she'd be playing around a lot with Jaden, and running around so shorts and shirts would be better but you can't ever have too many dresses and skirts.
We were about to take a break and have lunch when she stopped by a dress shop. "It's pretty."
"What is?" She raised her hand and pointed at a beautiful light blue outfit, it was obelisk blue colored, it was a solid blue shirt with a solid blue knee length pleated skirt with embroidery in the skirts and a matching light blue belt to match the skirt.
"You have to get it, it's so pretty."
"She's right you know." Lisa said coming out of the store. "It's absolutely beautiful. If I could pull off wearing that I'd defiantly wear it. Buy it and wear it to the party. I mean it's the kind of thing you wear to a dueling party, it's pretty and workable in dueling."
"Okay, I think I will." Kate and Lisa were right, it was beautiful I bought it and told them both not to tell Jaden, to surprise him. We returned home and I collapsed on my bed, super tired and ready to sleep, even though I couldn't. I'd take a nap. Kate with my help put on her outfit and went to play with Jaden; while I rested.
"Lexy, they're here." Jaden said walking in the room, and woke me up. I brushed my hair and walked out with Jaden.
"And there was this pretty outfit and mommy bought that for me and a pair of shoes and she bought those for me, and socks and she bought those for me. She bought one thing." The girl was talking to the people.
"She was just telling me about her day, so you spend a lot of money on her today, I see."
"Compared to how much I spend at duel academy with taking care of everything there, no. I have unlimited account spending so it's fine to spend money on people." I answered.
"I had a great day, except mommy cried, and it upset me."
"Why were you crying?" They asked.
"I'd rather not talk about it, it was just thinking about things that made me think about how much nicer I have to be to her. It scared me for a second but I was fine, wasn't I."
"Yeah," She answered sitting on Jaden's lap.
"So it seems you have enough money to support a child; but what about housing?"
"Alexis lives in a mansion, she has a whole wing to herself, the only way housing could be a problem is if Kate got lost but she doesn't leave our side so it wouldn't matter." Jaden said laughing.
"I see, so what about occupations?" They asked us.
"We're pro duelists." I answered them. "We travel around the area dueling, and then go back to duelists' academy for more schooling, and such."
"Where will she go while you're at school?"
"I was planning on taking her with me." I said. "She doesn't deserve to be left alone, and if she wants to be left with a friend or family member of ours while we're at school, Jaden's cousin has 2 rooms to herself and she volunteered to baby-sit the other child we were taking care of and the same with Kate."
"The other child?"
"She was a 3 day old child when we found her, she was separated and after 3 months we found her parents and gave her back to them. So she's there now, but Jaden's cousin loves taking care of small children, the company is good for her."
"Better children then me." Jaden said.
"Molly had a need to treat Jaden like a small child, so when she was allowed to watch Hailey she was free from treating him like a child."
"Are you two married?" Jaden and I shook our heads.
"How long have you two been dating?"
"A year and a week or so," They wrote something on their board.
"How long have you known each other?"
"Two years."
"Do you believe you're going to get married?" Jaden and I laughed.
"I hope to marry Alexis in like 5 years when we're completely done with school and stuff." I nodded as Jaden laughed, and so did I.
"Okay, well it seems that's everything is in order here, she has emotional support, financial support, maternal and paternal support, and she has a home, parents, and according to the files and what the girl tells us she loves you too and it's fine and it's approved." The girl jumped happily. Jaden and I smiled.
They handed us the last document and Jaden and I signed it. It stated that every 6 months they'd come check on her and us to make sure everything was going in order and I knew it would.
On the back of our copy of the paper was a list of things we had to supply to her: Housing, Clothing, and Emotional Support, financial support, maternal and paternal support, caring, compassion, understanding, gentleness, love and happiness. These were things we knew we could do. I could say this without a doubt. "This is going to be easy."
On the front it read:
"The Arlington Adoption Agency states that Kate Jenzi was adopted by Jaden Yuki and Alexis Rhodes on the date of 8/29/2023."
When I got back to my room, I literally passed out from the tiring day. I entrusted Jaden to watch Kate, our daughter; like I knew he could and would. I realized that when she referred to me it was always mommy, and Jaden was well Jaden, never Alexis. Jaden said that when she talked to him, I was Alexis, but I guess that's just the rules of refractory terms in use. She didn't call Jaden daddy, and I found that strange but I knew she would, soon.
A/N: I know I missed the chapter early in the week and I'm sorry. I forgot why I missed it but I think it was because I got my first game station ever, it's a PS2 and I'm super excited I've been playing it all the time, I'm stuck now so until I figure out how to do it, I'm back to writing normally. Sorry for the inconvenience. Forever, Aniecä.