I know :( The absolute worst.
While I have a number of ideas where I want this story to go, when I sit down to write, nothing happens.
And thus here we are.
Santana POV
It's been 3 months since I started my new job and things are going really well. While the pay increase is a plus, it's just so good to wake up being happy to go to work again.
Dani's album is out and has been doing really well. She's been travelling a lot doing promo work but it's only been for a couple of days at a time.
Tonight is a rare night where we're both at home. Dani has cooked dinner and we're hoping to get B to bed early so we can have some alone time.
We're mid-way through dinner when Dani's phone rings.
"Sorry, I'll turn it off" She says while jumping up to grab it.
"It's fine babe, just answer it if you have to"
"It's my mom." She says before answering it. "Hey Ma" Dani says before sitting back down at the table.
"I'm at Santana's, we're having dinner." She winks at me and I go back to eating.
"What? Are you kidding me?" She says in alarm, this causes me to look back up at her since I can only hear her side of the conversation.
"I'll go straight there and I'll call you once I have more information. Yeah, okay bye." She hangs up and the puts her phone down looking uneasy.
"Babe, what's up?" Bailey is glancing between the two of us, sensing something is wrong.
"My cousin is in New York." She says and I wait for her to continue.
"Michaela, she's 14; she just got arrested for shoplifting. They called my mom. I don't even know how she got here."
"Where is she?"
"She's at a station downtown. I have to go and get her." She stands up and looks around, trying to figure out what she's doing.
"Do you need me to come with you? Are they charging her?"
"I'm not sure, my mom just said that they needed someone to come and get her and she didn't want her to have to stay overnight since she can't get a flight until tomorrow." I stand up and move over to her, wrapping my arms around her to try and calm her down.
"Well, why don't you go and if you need me to come down, call me. If it's a first time offense they'll let her off with a warning, particularly at her age. Depends if they want to prove a point or what it was she was stealing." She leans her forehead on my shoulder.
"I'm sorry about dinner." I lift her head up and kiss her cheek.
"Don't worry about it. Go get Michaela and let me know if you need anything." She kisses me then kisses Bailey on the head before leaving the room.
"Den okay Mami?" He asks.
"She'll be okay buddy, eat your dinner." I smile at him.
Dani POV
I haven't seen Michaela in years. Our families aren't really close. Her mom is my mother's younger sister but she was kind of the wayward kid of the family. And by that I mean, she is into heavy drugs and no matter how much my mom and her other siblings tried to help, she didn't want any of it. She got pregnant young with Michaela and I remember the family trying to convince her to get help for Michaela's sake, to no avail. My mom has kind of kept me updated and I know she has had a couple of other kids. God knows what kind of household they've been brought up in.
I make my way downtown, hoping I'll be able to find somewhere to park and also hoping no one will see me. I wasn't really thinking about what I was wearing when I left Santana's and I have nothing to try and hide my identity.
Luckily enough there's a spot right out the front.
When they walk me through, I'm happy to see they don't actually have her locked up and she's just sitting at a desk with an officer. She looks so small, her eyes look so sad and she makes eye contact with me and then looks away.
Before I can speak with her, a woman who tells me she's from Children's Services asks to speak with me.
"You're here for Kayla?"
"Yeah, I'm her cousin, Dani. My mother was going to fly up but there was nothing until tomorrow so she didn't want her to have to stay overnight."
"I spoke with your mother. Anna right? I'm Judy." I nod.
"How much did she tell you?" She asks.
"Not much, I wanted to get down here as soon as possible."
"Okay well, she was picked up after stealing a bunch of food from a 7/11 a couple of blocks over. Pretty minor and normally they wouldn't have even brought her back here but due to her age and the fact she's been picked up before, they wanted to check out her background."
"What else has she done?" I asked, not knowing if I actually want to know.
"Nothing major; shoplifting, property damage and underage drinking."
"Okay." I say, trying to take everything in. "Did she tell you how she got here? My family live in Georgia."
"She's not saying much at all. But there's something else."
"What?"
"When they brought her in, she was pretty upset. She got quite aggressive with the officers. They got her calmed down but one of her sleeves pulled up and she's covered in cuts. From what they've described, they look self-inflicted. "
"Jesus. Did you say anything to her about it?"
"No. I knew you were on your way and I didn't have enough background. Kids that are hurting themselves are extremely volatile. I recommend that if you plan on talking to her about it, you pick your moment. I can give you some information sheets and recommend some people to talk to. If she's going back to Georgia, I can do a bit of research and get back to you."
"Thank you. I haven't seen her in years. Her mom is not exactly winning any 'Mother of the Year' titles. I really just want to get her home and find out what's been going on and how she got here."
"Understandable."
"Are they charging her?"
"No, she's being let off with a warning but if she gets picked up again, I can't guarantee they won't push for charges."
"Okay. Can I see her?" I'm calmer knowing that she's not being charged but now I have new stress.
"Of course" She guides me over to where Michaela is sitting.
"Hey Kayla, your cousin is here to pick you up." She continues to look down, playing with the cord on her sweatshirt.
"Hey Kayla, when did you grow up?" I say, trying to lighten the mood.
She looks at me but doesn't say anything.
"Okay, well, why don't we get out of here? Are you hungry? We can get some food." I realise how stupid that was given she just got caught stealing food but she doesn't react.
Judy hands me some paperwork and her card telling me to call if I need anything. I go to pick up Kayla's bag for her but she snatches it back then stands up.
"I got it." She says quietly.
"Okay" I nod, glad that she at least said something.
The drive home was uneventful. It mainly consisted of me asking her questions that she didn't respond to. By the time we got to my apartment, I'd decided to just leave her be.
I show her around and then to the guest room and grab her clean towels and some of my clothes to sleep in.
"They might be a little big on you, but we can go and get you some clothes tomorrow if you want."
She's staring off in to space, non-responsive.
"Kayla?" I say, touching her hand gently. She jumps at this and turns back to me.
"Why don't you have a shower and get changed and I'll make you something to eat?"
She simply nods back.
"Actually, I'm going to have to order pizza, I haven't been home in a while. Any preference?"
She shakes her head.
"Okay, I'll meet you on the couch; hopefully the food won't be long." I say, walking out of the room.
"Dani?" I turn back to her
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for not leaving me there." I smile at her then leave her to it.
I put the call through to pizza and then quickly call my mom to let her know what's happened. She agreed that it might be too much too soon for Kayla if she flies up here as well so until I find out more, she's staying put. As soon as I hang up with my mom, Santana calls me.
"Hey"
"Hey you, I just wanted to check in before I got ready for bed. "
"We're at home now, my home. She's just having a shower. They're not charging her, which is good, but we have a lot of stuff to sort out."
"Well let me know if I can do anything, okay? Maybe you guys can come over for breakfast?"
"Yeah, maybe." I say distractedly as Kayla walks in and stands awkwardly by the couch.
"San, I've gotta go"
"Okay, well, hopefully I'll see you tomorrow. I love you, goodnight superstar."
"I love you too. Night."
Once I hang up the phone, I motion for Kayla to sit down. I've decided that I'm not gonna push her to talk tonight.
"Was that your boyfriend?" She asks me.
"Uh.. no. Girlfriend" She doesn't respond negatively to this, she doesn't respond at all actually.
We both settle back on the couch and I put the TV on to some random sitcom. I can't remember the last time I spent time at my own apartment, it's actually really weird.
"I'm not going to force you to talk any more tonight, but tomorrow we're gonna need to talk about some stuff, okay?"
She just stares at me then nods.
What the hell am I going to do?