They had been living at the apartment for two months and things had been progressing smoothly.
Gosalyn hadn't figured out what Drake's master plan was, but she suspected whatever it was, was going to happen sooner rather than later.
"Hey Gosalyn, I need to talk to you about something", Drake said.
Or maybe it would happen right now.
"What is it?", she asked, trying to hide the fact she was suspicious of the situation.
Drake sat next to her on the couch, visibly nervous, "Well, you know how you've been living with me for almost three months".
"Yeah, I've been aware", Gosalyn said.
"Well, the school year is coming up and I'm not exactly equipped to homeschool you".
"So you want to enroll me somewhere?", she interrupted, "That's what you want to discuss? It'll be a waste of time".
He clasped his hands together, "It's a bit more complicated than that".
Gosalyn looked at him expectantly, why couldn't he just spit it out?
"I don't want you to think that it's anything permanent or to misinterpret this, but for general purposes if you want to keep staying here, we should try to make it official".
'Official? Does he want to…adopt me?'.
"Don't feel any pressure to make a decision. I just want to be your legal guardian in case anyone ever questions why you live here. It's up to you though, I don't know what your situation was before you broke into the tower", Drake rambled, trying to make his point.
Gosalyn internally sighed in relief. He wasn't talking about adoption, he just didn't want to get arrested for potential kidnapping.
"That sounds like something we should've done sooner", she said, "Why didn't we think about that before?".
"Oh perfect! Technically this whole arrangement is unofficial, and we could get in big trouble if someone were to report it for one reason or another, and if you get taken away how can I help you get your grandfather back?".
"What do we need to do?", asked Gosalyn, interrupting his rambling again.
"Here's the plan".
—
"Well that could've gone better", Gosalyn groaned as she returned to the apartment.
"At least the situation has been resolved, and you're still living here, which is a plus", Drake said.
"You're right".
"One question though, where did you get a pig?", Drake asked.
"That's not important. Just know that if we need one, I can get one", she shrugged.
"Why would we need a pig?".
"For situations like these".
Drake rolled his eyes and sat on the couch, trying to walk through what happened in his head.
He arrived at the orphanage with Gosalyn. Having searched through the law and how this fostering thing worked, he was at a potential advantage.
Lies. Lies they had made up.
"Gosalyn Waddlemeyer, you've been missing for weeks! Where have you been?", the woman attending them had said when Gosalyn walked in.
'I can't believe she actually remembers me', Gosalyn thought, but tried to seem annoyed and uninterested.
"Is this what you wanted?", she asked in a moody tone while looking at Drake.
"Yes actually. It's not right to run away, even if it's from a place you don't like to be in", Drake responded.
"Gosalyn, you can head to the rooms, I'll see you there in a few minutes", the woman sighed.
Gosalyn rolled her eyes, but did as she was told, dragging her feet to the back.
"Thank you…".
"Drake Mallard", Drake said, offering a hand to shake, "Nice to meet you".
"Hello Mr Mallard, I'm Ms Cavanaugh. Thank you for bringing Gosalyn back, I hope she wasn't much trouble, I know she's kind of a handful", she sighed just thinking about it.
Drake shifted uncomfortably, "I wouldn't say that. She's spirited, there's nothing wrong with that".
Ms Cavanaugh nodded, "Well, it's not unusual here. Especially with teens that have never been alone".
Drake could see kitty in her eyes, but he shook it off, continuing with the plan, "She was very close to her grandfather, I can imagine it would be hard loosing him".
"You knew Dr Waddlemeyer?".
"He taught me back in uni, great teacher. I met Gosalyn a few times when I asked him for help after lectures. What's going to happen to her if you don't mind me asking?".
"She was staying here, but she might be better suited for a foster home. For now, I'm just hoping she won't run away from here", Ms Cavanaugh explained.
"Can anyone foster her?", Drake asked.
"Are you interested?".
"She's a good kid, and her grandfather really loved and cared for her. I firmly believe she deserves some sense of security. And I could use some spirit at home", Drake said.
"Well, it would require some paperwork, but you can apply. We're always looking for family and friends, it gives us more security", she said as she typed on her computer, "Do you think Gosalyn would go for it?".
Screaming was heard and both adults quickly stood up, "If you'll excuse me, I should check on that", Ms Cavanaugh said.
'What is she doing?'.
Drake grew more and more concerned the longer Ms Cavanaugh was gone. Taking the opportunity, he looked over at the computer and started taking note of all the papers he would need.
"Mr Mallard, if you don't mind, could you help?", Ms Cavanaugh's voice came past the back door.
Rushing over he was confused by what he saw and quickly got to work.
Ms Cavanaugh was holding a pig as a crowd of children stared and laughed, Gosalyn grinning proudly in the back.
'What?', Drake shot her a look asking this.
She bobbed her head, 'Trust me'.
Drake looked for something to lead it, settling on a jump rope thrown on the ground, he tied it around the pigs' neck, "Do you have a garden or something?".
"Yes, I'll lead you", Ms Cavanaugh said, relieved of being able to let go of the pig.
Drake dragged the pig outside and got it to calm down. Some kids kept coming outside, even though Ms Cavanaugh had specifically told them not to.
"Careful", Drake said, "It's confused".
Still, under supervision, he allowed the kids to pet him and feed him some carrots they had found in the kitchen.
He stood out there patiently waiting for animal control to come and pick up the animal. Through the window he could see Ms Cavanaugh and Gosalyn talking.
This had most definitely been her idea.
"Mr Mallard", Drake gulped.
The kids had settled down now that the pig had been picked up, much to their protest, and Drake had just finished giving his interview with Ms Cavanaugh.
"Everything checks out. You can take Gosalyn home today".
A sigh of relief left Drake. For a moment he expected to get rejected.
"I'll go get her".
Drake nodded, still surprised that this had actually worked.
He smiled at the recent memory of Gosalyn coming out from the orphanage with a bag of her stuff, ready to live with him, without a risk of either of them getting in legal trouble.
Ms Cavanaugh would come over at a later date to check up on them, but Drake was fine with that.
He finally started feeling like he could give Gosalyn a proper home while they got Dr Waddlemeyer back.
"Is there anything I can do to get ungrounded for releasing a pig in the orphanage?", Gosalyn asked, peeking out of her room.
"Do you want Ms Cavanaugh to believe I can be your foster parent or not?".