Thank you you to all of my wonderful followers. Your comments truly make my day, sorry about the hiatus and the short chapter. I really hope you all enjoy it! Please rate, review, comment, criticize, and PM me. i love all feedback, no matter what. EnjoyXOXO
Sadly, I don't own any of Grey's Anatomy. (Yet)
3 years ago
"How many foster homes have you been in?" Mrs. Sedalia gave Natalie an over enthusiastic smile. This seemed to be a routine for her. She would get to know a child's history and use it to help her care for them.
"This will make 12." Natalie said back quietly, her voice only slightly more than a whisper. "This is the third one I've been in since the move to Seattle." Her hands were trembling in her lap. She was clicking her heels together softly, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, except, Natalie didn't have a home to wish for. All she had was the clothes on her back and the stuff in her suitcase.
Natalie was 9 years old, and had been through quite a bit. Her parents had been killed in a car wreck when she was barely a year old. She had bounced around through foster care almost her entire life, never staying anywhere for more than a year. No matter what she did, nobody seemed to want to adopt her.
Present
"You guys want to adopt me." Natalie looked at the two surgeons with a look of utter disbelief. "Really? Me?" Her voice was skeptical, as if Meredith and Derek were playing an elaborate prank on her. No way. Natalie thought to herself.
"Yes. We want to adopt you." Meredith spoke kindly, giving Natalie a gentle smile. A smile that crept slowly around the corners of her mouth, and slowly made it's way all over, causing Meredith to flash her teeth. It was the kind of smile that Natalie loved.
"Adopt." Natalie rolled the word around in her mouth, as if making sure that she was saying it right. The truth was, Natalie liked the way that word felt coming out of her mouth. It comforted her, gave her hope.
"That's right."
"Not foster, or just take care of me."
"Nope we're going the full mile." This time Derek spoke, his voice kind like Meredith's.
"Like, full on, change my last name, have parents, have you guys pay for my insurance and my college kind of adopt?"
"Of course." Derek lightly shook Natalie's shoulder, making sure that it was the good one and not the one she had injured in the wreck.
3 years ago
"Welcome to your new home Natasha!" Mrs. Sedalia gave Natalie a toothy grin as she unlocked the front door to her house.
"It's Natalie." Natalie corrected her quietly.
""What was that?" Mrs. Sedalia was still preoccupied with the lock to notice her quiet voice.
"It's Natalie. My name is Natalie." She corrected her again.
"Oh, sorry about that sweety!" Mrs. Sedalia said ever so fakely as she finally managed to get the door open. She pushed the heavy door open to reveal the inside of the house.
There was a long hallway just inside the house. A set of stairs went up just a few feet from the door. The hallway led to a large, open concept kitchen. The whole floor was covered with worn hardwood. Pictures of flowers and beaches and smiling people hung on the cream colored walls. Everything in here was perky and hope inspiring. I hated it.
"Your room is just upstairs dear. Second door on the left." Mrs. Sedalia was just sounding more and more fake every minute. Why were foster parents always so annoying to me? They would always give her hope of adoption and a real family, but they never came through.
"Oh. Okay." I said trying to give her a smile. She seemed to believe the weak attempt at gratitude and smiled even larger.
"It's late." She told me. "Why don't you go upstairs and get some sleep and get settled. I know you already ate, dear."
"Great!" I tried to keep my sarcasm to a minimum. Little did she know that as soon as she went to bed, I was going to leave.
Not just leave this house, but leave the system.
I wasn't going to be a foster child anymore.
Present
"So, uh, what do you say?" Meredith said, snapping Natalie out of her memory.
"What?" I didn't hear you. Natalie thought
"Would you like to legally become our child?"
Natalie already new the answer to that. She knew it as soon as they asked. She loved Meredith and Derek. They weren't like other adoptive parents. They weren't all fake and smiley. They didn't promise sunshine and rainbows. Well, Derek was usually happy, but Meredith was kind of the opposite of rainbows. She was caring and she was intense, and Natalie loved it. They told the truth. They didn't sugar coat. They were surgeons. And Natalie loved them for it.
"Yes." Natalie told them with a giant smile. "Of course I would."
"Really?" Derek sounded surprised, like he didn't believe her. "Like, really?"
"Yes. Really means yes." Natalie rolled her eyes. "How did they let you become a surgeon. You're so slow!"
Meredith laughed aloud at this comment. Derek took his hand off Natalie's shoulder, giving her a look of mock hurt. "Wow. That was cold. I mean really cold. One would think my daughter would have a little respect for me!" This just made Meredith laugh even louder, but Natalie stopped laughing.
"Daughter" she whispered to herself. This word was almost as strange as adopt. She was about to be part of a family. She was about to be someone's child, someone's DAUGHTER. It was quite honestly a little terrifying.
What if they didn't like her outside of the hospital? What if Meredith and Derek had other children and they decided that they didn't want me anymore? What if I was awful at being a part of their family? What if my wounds open up again and I had to have more surgery? What if they realized that having a kid with one leg was too hard on them and sent me back?
What if?
What if?
"Now you can't come home with us right away." Derek said, not even noticing that I had zoned out completely. "Torres wants to keep an eye on your leg. She says that you are going to get fitted for the prosthetic leg soon."
"Really?" Natalie was shocked. She didn't expect to get the leg so soon. Some people had to wait quite a while for prosthetics. Natalie knew these kinds of things from listening to doctors speaking at the nurse's station. She knew that some people never felt comfortable with their new legs and just lived with a stump. Some people got phantom limb pain and went slightly crazy. Some even cut off their good legs just to feel normal.
Knowing Nat's luck, something like that was going to happen to her.
She just knew it in her gut.
"Yeah. Torres has you at the top of the list. You're sort of like her VIP." Meredith said jokingly, brushing a hair out of Natalie's pale face. "She likes you, you know."
"Well, I like her a lot too."
A loud beeping noise interrupted our little family conversation. Derek looked down at his pager, which was flashing the words ER 911. "Oh. I gotta run." He said quickly standing up off the bed, making it groan with the shift of the wait.
"I have to go check on my patients." Meredith said after, standing up too. They both turned and looked at me with loving eyes. "See you later Nat."
"Thank you for joining our little family." Derek said softly.
Then he did something Natalie had not expected.
Slowly, Derek leaned forward and kissed her gently on the top of her head, causing the girl to blush slightly.
"We love you Natalie. I hope you know that."
"I know."