Hello! It is Wednesday (well, it isn't anymore because I forgot to actually press upload...) and I am back with a new chapter. I randomly remembered this story I wrote almost a year ago to the day and decided that this would be the one I would upload! Even though this story doesn't feature them properly, it has Justin and Sammy at the very heart of it, and what life is like for them when they are together, and, of course, when they begin fostering their two children, Darcy and Zack. Because of the similar age gap to Justin's own two youngest siblings, I thought it would be cute to see them all interacting! I hope you enjoy :)
Ages:
James: 46
Zack: 2 and a half
Darcy: 5
Jorgie: 6
Johnny: 4
Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned!
"Zacky, look at me." With a swift pinching of the cheeks, James tried to get the attention of the toddler on his lap, then both hands holding onto ones that effortlessly were dwarfed by his. "What color is my shirt? Is it blue? Can you say blue?"
As James with his floral locks that were often mistaken for the shade of the oceans and the skies spoke that word a couple of times, he made sure to enunciate, one hand leaving Zack's and pointed to his lips as they moved. There was no doubt that the toddler heard him loud and clear from the way that his head tilted, seeing the man from a different angle.
However, he didn't stroke that word across his own lips, instead taking his hands away from James' and with an expression like the sun shooting rays on a warm day, he instead tried to grab his cheeks before making a beeline for his nose in the centre of his face.
Apparently, he wanted a chew toy! James couldn't help but chuckle, continuing with their game.
"Okay, okay. What do we do when we try to eat something?" he questioned with a curve of the mouth, dodging the gaping mouth of Zack as he tried to help himself to a bite of his nose! "Do we chew? Can you say chew?"
Again, James pointed to his lips as they moved and I continued to watch as that same finger outstretched towards the mouth of Zack, trying to encourage him to copy him. Even with a bouncing motion from his legs as the toddler perched on him did not make the boy utter a single sound.
All James could do was smile softly and patiently, starting to see the young boy in return at an angle as he seemed to be far more content with just listening to the speech of James as he sat on his lap.
Nevertheless, James did not give up. And as I looked on, I knew that it was enjoying the time together far more than it was trying to get him to learn unfamiliar words.
"What sound does a train make? Does it go choo choo?" he asked. And I couldn't help but know that it was that fact that he did it for trying sake rather than believing that he would get anywhere that finally led him to success with Zack.
Biting the nose of James was a distant goal of the two-and-a-half-year-old boy. If he had ears the size of mine, they would have pricked up noticeably and perhaps moved in opposite directions. The higher-toned pitch of the train immigration from James snatched his attention without trying. And foregoing any usual stubbornness, Zack imitated.
"Choo choo!" he agreed, his face again a summer's day before it evened out, his brows drawing together in concentration as he seemingly became distracted with nonchalantly poking at the print on his t-shirt.
Although, he could have been purposefully putting on a display of casualness, acting like it wasn't all that great that he had finally said a couple of sounds.
Naturally, bountiful expressions lit up the room and I found my mouth widening as I took a couple of steps closer, wanting to see for myself and confirm that Zack had really decided to copy James. He had! I didn't think my smile could stretch wider, but I was stood corrected when I was invited into the little learning game too.
"What about Pikachu? Can you say Pikachu, Zacky?" James tried to pry the toddler boy's attention away from poking at the prehistoric creature crawling across the pattern of his t-shirt and tried to direct his attention to me.
In return, I stuck my front paws on the leg of James and my face grew inches from Zack's. He laughed right in my face! And chubby, soft hands made their way to the swell of my cheeks.
Between ripples and suction motions of my face, I made noises that I hoped he could follow. He showed us all that he could do more than just that. In fact, he impersonated me to a T and even mocked the pitch of my voice scarily well!
He didn't find it nearly as impressive as James or I did, far too focused on using my cheeks as his very own moulding toy and mimicking my noises without a second thought.
"You're giving Pikachu a run for his money there." James complimented, his cheeks giving mine a run for their money as they grew warm with fondness. He let go of the toddler, his palms flat on the carpet behind him as he supported his body, the boy still bouncing on his lap. "Can you say Pikachu?"
I was left with cheeks aching in a separate way as with nails still digging into the fur of my face, Zack's brown and saucer-like eyes wandered over James and gave him quite the look without having to say anything at all.
He received the message very well indeed, one hand no longer supporting him from behind and instead moving to brush the mature, shorter curtain locks away from his eyes.
Softness caused his lips to curve.
"I see. Blue, Pikachu and even chew are a big no-no." James spoke, and air softly travelled out of his nostrils. "But you're a big fan of all the noises, aren't you?"
He stopped supporting his body entirely. And suddenly, Zack felt some support under his armpits as he was lifted and brought even closer to James. As if he perfectly understood everything that was being said and it was just repeating words that were the problem, he then cried out a faultless choo choo noise before his hands went to either side of James' face, giving him a far gentler squeeze of the face that he offered me.
But as I sat back, I didn't mind. I just found myself in awe at how young things grew like little sproutlings, soon enough shooting up and blossoming for all to see.
A single, simple kiss was planted to the forehead of Zack but then that was that. Learning time was over. He had done his best. And his best was more than enough.
James stood up with the toddler on his hip, then instead of focusing on the fact that he was continually making proud train noises for all to hear, raising his arm to see and looking at the face of something else instead.
When I took a glance at the clock on the wall, I saw that no particularly interesting time of day was being shown. But that was how it was for me. It was different for James. And he told me this in not so many words with the way that he behaved next.
Giving Zack a quick tousle of unruly and curly locks that's hue matched that of his skin, he bent down to place him in front of a pile of toys that often occupied the living room of his household. After all, he always had a great many little tots scampering through his front door!
"I need to go to check on Jordan." James announced, not needing to encourage Zack to go ahead and play because the toddler boy didn't refrain from reaching his hand out and grabbing hold of the first of Eddie's old trains that he could find. "You'll make sure that everyone is okay for ten minutes, won't you, my love? And keep an extra special eye on Zack."
It was easy for me and everyone else to know who James was talking to from the way that his tone inflected, and it wasn't because just a handful of people were in the room, let alone the fact that he not only scooted over to that person but leaned down to their level while they played to themselves.
Jorgie instantly looked up to search for the face of her father that she had so much adoration for thumping in her heart. She promptly knew that she was being spoken to. And she understood what was being asked of her.
A quick surveying of the room and the other children around, she knew that she wanted to live up to what was being asked of her. She, however, could not hide the seed of doubt that was planted.
"I trust you." James read his daughter's expression and reassured her, going the extra smile of reaching out to her and she felt his fingers cupping the side of her cheek as he continually bent down to her. "And Pikachu is here too."
My chest rose and my chin pointed towards the ceiling. Yes, I was there. There would be no need to worry.
Another study of the room from Jorgie and her round meadow hued orbs. I hoped that it was my presence too paired with the extra reassurance from her father that caused her to nod her head dutifully a double of seconds after and abandon her playing for the time being to watch over the other kids.
James made sure to not make a fuss. Though his natural love that outpoured for Jorgie longed to be put on display and him to tell her how helpful and brave she was, he did not want to make it seem like his temporary absence was something to fret about.
And so, a touch on the head for each of the children in the room, then James left the scene for good. And it was Jorgie left in charge.
She needed to replay her father's faith for her inside her head all over again when she moved away from her doll's house and she sidled up to Zack, knowing that if she was to keep a special eye on him then she needed to have him close by to him or him close by to her.
A hand that matched the tone of her voice reached out to the toddler boy and with an equally nervous expression, Jorgie tried to get Zack to join her in the game that she was playing.
"Why don't you see what I'm doing?" she offered, that ginger hand of hers still reaching out to him and instinctively knowing that she should remain on her knees from playing rather than stranding to her full, six-year-old height.
As my eyes took in the scene, I knew that it was fortunate that she had not been standing tall. She would've most certainly lost her footing with what happened next.
While Zack couldn't often say with words how he felt, his actions and his expressions made up for it. In an instance, his features screwed up and with a huffing noise escaping from his lips that was not the impression of a train blowing off steam, he vehemently folded his arms over his chest and didn't want to look at Jorgie.
Rejection hit her like a ton of bricks and with cheeks then as crimson as mine, she didn't stop herself from looking over at me for what to do. When I unintentionally rejected her further by giving her a smile which I thought told her that she could manage things herself just one more time, her eyes scanned the area for more help.
She didn't bother to allow her eyes linger on her younger brother who was zooming around one corner of the room with a space shuttle in hand! Instead, they found themselves like a book lover scanning for the next title that would capture their heart, purposefully searching for Zack's sister who had been reading to herself, somehow undisturbed by Johnny zooming all around her.
No matter how absorbed in her picture book she had been, she knew when she was being eyed up and so she prepared to give a bit of an eyeing up back. However, Darcy gathered when somebody needed help so with gentle waves of air tumbling out her own nostrils, she put her book to the side and moved over to her brother, holding her hand out to him.
His first reaction was to huff again, seemingly doing a very good impression of a train even though that was not the intention! Zack wouldn't look at anyone, not even his sister. But Darcy did not go down without a fight.
"James thinks its best that you stick with Jorgie." She didn't let on whether she agreed with the words or not, her big brown eyes coming across entirely unreadable as she tried to reason with her younger brother.
A couple of seconds passed and then the tightness of his folded arms relented, and he was finally able to look at someone yet again. He met the identical hued gaze of his sister and then words tumbled out of his lips.
They were incomprehensible. But he was talking, nonetheless.
"I know." Darcy seemed to agree after Zack had finished getting his point across, his no longer constricting arms zooming around the room almost as much as Johnny's had been doing so. "But it's what James wants so…"
That time it started to become clear that perhaps she disagreed over who was best to mind her little brother. But I didn't bother to allow it to cross my mind that if she had thought a different plan would be better, then why didn't she say.
The younger of the two siblings felt his brow plaiting together that, while Darcy was seemingly on the same page as him, she still wasn't coming up with a better solution over who he could sit with. All over again, his arms became a very wide slithering reptilian creature before they constricted in the same way as before, wrapping around his own chest. He closed his eyes with just how exasperated he was.
Darcy was the one to let out a sigh, though. She couldn't get through to her brother when he shut off like that. So, she decided to give him space instead, retreating to her book until he was ready to listen.
While I tried my hardest not to stare, I couldn't help but feel my shoulders elevating at the top of my arms at the way that she held herself like someone who had already gone through the fullness of life at least once or twice. But then again, she had to sprout quickly. And that fact caused my shoulders to sink back down again, and a bit further than their usual level.
In the meantime, while Darcy intended to go back to her reading for just a couple of pages and to give her younger brother time to soothe himself, she felt eyes back on her again and she didn't decide to return my gaze in particular. She decided to mirror somebody else's.
After Jorgie couldn't help but flinch at being caught and she played with the hem of her floral dress when Darcy looked back at her, she swallowed her red cheeks but could not swallow her words. She explained what the reason for her lingering looks was.
"How do you know what he is saying?" she wondered, her demeanour coming across very prosaically although I could practically read her inner emotions and her inner chatter, hoping that she didn't come across persistent as she sat even closer to the floor, her legs folding over each other.
The two girls had a direct stare. Spring-like green met earthy tones. However, no spark of competition or defensiveness could be seen. After Darcy chose to have a good couple of seconds to look away, she soon shrugged her shoulders and answered in the only way that she knew how.
"James knew to see Jordan." She pointed out and fortunately, Jorgie understood that message. As she unfolded her legs beneath her and re-folded them again in the opposite way, her head bobbed up and down.
There were some things that could be spoken with just sounds. And there were some people that understood cues and followed intuition and knew exactly when they were needed and how they were needed.
A couple of clock ticks on the wall later, Jorgie's shoulders lifted closer to the lobes of her ears as she knew that she wanted to give what Darcy had put forth a go. She knew that she wanted to get her point across in not too many words either.
Jorgie decided to shuffle on her bottom back over to Zack and seeing that his exterior had softened, and he had started to drive the train across the carpet rather than just admiring the toy vehicle, she made the effort of behaving in the exact way that she felt.
A pale hand reached out towards Zack that hoped it would soon feel the squeezing of one that was rich in colour. But alas, all over again, even though his exterior had melted like a puddle of chocolate on a warm day, he soon enough closed yet again and rejected Jorgie.
He held a dismissive hand up to her. But before her meadow eyes could turn into a river, Johnny surprised me by not hooting with laughter and instead came to a halt in one of his laps with his space shuttle and he bent down to Zack, one hand around the space craft toy and the other reaching down to the toddler.
"You want to come and play with me, don't you?" Johnny asked, owning such confidence even though Zack had hardly paid any attention to him on that day. The toddler boy only needed to take one look at the vehicle in his own hand and the space one in the older boy's to know what exactly he wanted.
His hair bobbed up and down on his head and he bustled to stand up on his own two feet, his diaper there to function as padding if he lost balance and came crashing back to the floor. But he didn't. He especially didn't so because Zack actually accepted the offer of Johnny Jinn's hand and soon enough, the two boys were bustling over to the corner of the room to begin their game.
Jorgie didn't bother to hide her eyebrows creeping closer to her hairline and her eyes becoming wide like the windows of the toy boats that the boys hadn't bothered to take with them. Darcy's own orbs were equally as round. But then again, they were always like that. The rest of her expression remained unreadable.
Johnny's hand slid out of Zack's once they had reached the starting position where they would begin their running in circles together. Before a well-earned and hearty game, instead of flashing his sister a smile that could have filled her with envy, his lips pressed together, and dimples appeared down towards the younger boy.
Pale, possibly sticky fingers disappeared into tight curls of Zack, a head nodding approvingly.
"We should stick together. We look the same." Johnny told Zack, gesturing to what connected them both. Johnny Jinn's own curls bounced as he nodded to encourage.
An entirely serious and knotted expression took over Zack's features. But I watched as he mirrored Johnny's nod and bouncing of the curls and at once I knew that it was not just mimicking mockery. He believed it too. At last, their game could truly commence.
To distract herself from the uncomfortably hot feeling bubbling up in her stomach and pricking at the skin of her neck, Jorgie decided to let out a sigh and occupy herself with going back to playing with her doll's house.
Yet no matter how captured by her secret emotions that she felt, she was not blind to the way that Darcy did not go so easily back to her reading as before and it wasn't because of the noise that the two boys were making.
I was left feeling as elevated as the toys in the air as Johnny and Zack ran in circles from the way that despite her envious and mortified feelings that she could not live up to her father's wishes, she still did not allow this to harden herself to everyone else.
Seeing Darcy's eyes flickering to her and what she was doing more so than the pictures and the few words that were displayed out for her in the book, Jorgie held one of her little creatures out towards the younger girl as an offering.
"You could play with me if you wanted." She retracted her arm then, not due to a changed mind but to at least appear somewhat casual in order to protect at least some of her wounded feelings. Nevertheless, she nodded her head towards all the animals living inside the wooden crafted home. "There's plenty to choose from."
And somehow it was that easy. The group of four had separated themselves into duos to occupy themselves until the adult returned. Of course, I figured that there would be some disruption eventually! But it was forever interesting to me that bonds that children longed to both make and un-make.
As Darcy demurely sat herself down in front of the doll's house that somehow loomed over both the five-year-old and the six-year-old girl, she couldn't help but feel that it was a bit of a stretch when Jorgie said that there were plenty of figures for her to choose from.
Sure, she knew that she was lucky enough to have almost the whole collection of them but from past experience she knew that there were some that you just didn't touch. Darcy didn't bother to reach her hand out and trace the woodland family with very large teeth who were sitting at the dining room table.
She didn't exactly care that some were off limits. She cared more about finding one that she could see herself in. The possibilities of finding the perfect playmate were growing slimmer and slimmer.
I watched as eventually she reached out and selected a creature who often lived deep in the woods and liked to eat honey. Absentmindedly, her hand moved behind her and squeezed the bun of her hair as she picked up the figurine. Its ears and her hairstyle could be seen as similar so at least she found parts of herself in it there.
After Jorgie could not help but whisper an apology to the rest of the family hanging out in the bathroom together as the mother bear was taken away from the rest of them, the two girls started to play with each other.
Or rather, they played, and Jorgie directed. While it was true that she knew it was the polite thing to do to offer the other girl to play with her, that didn't mean that all of her fiery traits had disappeared! And they were her toys, after all. So that meant that she was higher up in the playing hierarchy, didn't it?
With a poised expression and whites of her eyes appearing very prominent against the contrast of her skin, Darcy listened as she was advised where was best to place her figurine to go along with the storyline of the game, but most importantly, keep it realistic.
Why would a bear-like creature want to hang out in the kitchen or dining room? After all, it was known fact that they took their food from the fridge and then hurried down to the woods to have a picnic and devour their snacks. And why would she enjoy hanging in the bathroom with her family? She should have been teaching them to go down to the stream. That was part of their wild instincts.
Darcy managed to bite her tongue and not remind Jorgie that she had placed the bear family in the bathroom in the first place. But then again, she couldn't be sure of that, could she? Maybe someone else had been playing with it and played a cruel trick on the orange haired little girl.
Air torrented out from the five-year-old girl's nostrils at that point and it wasn't due to the fact that someone might've muddled with her toys in her doll's house. To tell you the truth, she had a bit of a good guess who!
No, wind escaped from Darcy's lungs for a different reason. And words soon explained this as she aimlessly wandered the mother bear up and down the stairs, still not having decided where was best for her character to be.
"This house is like Georgina's house." She spoke aloud and from finding myself surrounded by all the toys that the children didn't want to play with, I couldn't be sure whether she was speaking to Jorgie – or myself – or just to anybody who cared to listen.
From the way that Jorgie's irises moved to the corners of her sockets as she had a buck toothed creature in either of her hand to play with herself, it was clear that she was experiencing the same thoughts as me.
And once again, Jorgie unfolded her legs before refolding them again, causing me to believe that her action was going to be the only thing to speak. It was true that silence was the only thing that made its voice known for a good couple of minutes, Darcy's bear creature in her hand pacing up and down the stairs while the wide toothed mother and father busied themselves in the kitchen, making a platter of fish for their children's supper.
Then, however, Jorgie decided that it was okay to let her voice be known too. After all, how were the girls going to get to know each other in the way that the boys were doing if they did not speak?
"It's nice there." she daughter began, breaking the silence before that silence prevailed for another couple of moments. But then, it dissipated for good, and Jorgie could not stop the real part of her sentence from making itself known. "Do you miss it?"
A beat of hesitance was present before Jorgie spoke but then she decided to just come out with it. a habitual shrug rolled off the shoulders of Darcy initially, that being the only thing that she said or did for a good few more paces of her bear friend up and down the stairs.
The buck toothed family remained frozen in the kitchen, motionless and hungry. Darcy did not know what to say. Moreover, I knew that she knew what to say. She just knew that in that moment, honesty but not have been the best policy. Jorgie probably would not have understood.
The child with hair the hue of a paling sunset had to look away when more than just her eldest brother's foster child's shoulders squirmed. In those jittery motions of her body, it was as if the truth was bubbling up inside of her and trying to escape.
With a soft gasping of air from the back of her throat, she decided to set the truth free and invite the bear into the kitchen with Jorgie's friends, despite her earlier warnings.
"I would miss not seeing Zacky everyday more." she replied tentatively and that was that, an adjusting of her body against the carpet and her legs pulling against her chest speaking volumes.
Jorgie discovered herself to be looking away from their game and it was not because she could not stand the horror of a mixture of creatures being in the same room of her house. The six-year-old's eyes wandered to the two boy's playing crazily together and more so than the other, her vision took in the tight of her younger brother and his unruly locks.
"Sure." This word was an unusual one for Jorgie but a telling one too when it slipped out as she focused on her little brother.
She knew that she would miss Johnny Jinn if she had to stop seeing every day too. And that she would rather be in a situation that was unknown to her but with him by her side than in a familiar environment and without the company of the person that shared genetics more closely than anyone.
In the meantime, of Jorgie thinking these things to herself and starting to bring her characters back to life while still absentmindedly focusing on the sight of the boys' and their game instead, Darcy's grip began to loosen on the only figurine that she was holding.
Her kneecap digging into the centre of her rib cage, she started to feel as though she did not feel comfortable with bringing that one to life anymore. And it was not because she felt like she stuck out like a sore thumb in the kitchen and in the presence of animals that did not catch their own fish for themselves.
Jorgie's eyes had wandered back to properly focusing on the game at hand. But then they travelled back over to Darcy when she tried to place her figurine back down as neatly as she could, but the insistence of her actions made her velvet foot lose footing and cause hampers of vegetables to tumble not only onto the floor of the kitchen in the doll house but in our world too.
"I don't think I want to be the mother bear anymore." She told Jorgie and anyone else who was listening, her reddening of her cheeks being felt by her far more than it could be seen by anybody who happened to glance over.
Swallowing, Darcy tried to ignore the heartbeat in her face and focused on picking someone new when, after Jorgie had a flashing of knowing decorating across her eyes, a wave of the hand told the younger girl that she was welcome to play with any of the figurines that time. Yes, even some of the children belonging to the long-toothed family.
Shakily, Justin and Sammy's foster child picked up the otter creature who appeared to be a boy in blue and white checked dungarees but no shirt underneath, the only other garment being his long tale flopping out from a gap in his trousers.
He moved out of his chair to go and help his mother with serving dinner. He made such a mess though, his plate of fish slapping down onto the wood of the kitchen floor.
Jorgie understood more as time went on, her lower lip falling into her mouth as she tried not to stare at Darcy too much but also unmistaken eyes rattling around in her sockets.
Wordlessly, she made both the mother and the father help their otter son in cleaning up after himself while his similar aged sister and three absent toothed siblings sat frozen in motion in their highchairs, clearly anxiously anticipating their food.
But when she saw that the young otter boy had another accident in the kitchen no sooner than the first one had been cleared up, Jorgie knew that the younger members of the family must spring to life and the mother must address their every need. It was up to the father to help fix the errors of his eldest son.
Before he could make any more blunders, though, Jorgie stepped in. And she stepped in in real life too, slowly placing down any of the figurines in her hold and turning to Darcy. The five-year-old girl then was merely tracing along the very pearly white and sticky out teeth of the boy, as if she could make those defects fade away while the food blunders kept on repeating themselves.
"You know…" Jorgie began, all the figurines in the kitchen and lifeless, any sign of animation in their body's faded away and that quality being used to turn into a level of maturity within the six-year-old girl. It was her turn to sigh. She knew how to conclude. "I miss my Mommy too when she has to go away."
And with that, I watched as Darcy's eyes pinged down towards the creature in her hand as if for the first time since playing, she was willing for him to come alive and take hold of her hand like she had been cupping him in her whole one and to save her from saying any words in return to Jorgie.
And more importantly, prevent her from feeling hotness bubbling even more to her cheeks and her heart rate increasing on either side of her face. She swallowed like she had received a mouthful of the dinner waiting to be enjoyed in the doll's house.
She tried to nod. Really, she tried to nod. She knew that she would never be able to meet the other girl's eyes because truly – though she had tried to get empathy across – how could she understand?
Still, her head had tried to bob. But it failed. Jorgie's eyes wandered to the carpet below like it was a comforting and pillowy thing that could protect them both from emotions that were too grown up for such little girls to experience.
And while she could sense the slightly younger girl's distrust, she wasn't offended either. That time, she didn't experience the sensation of rejection. In fact, they were united partially by the briefest meetings of eyes. And then, they were united fully by eyes wandering over to their little brother's.
Or rather, their eyes travelled over to the absence of their little brothers! Jorgie was the first to subtly grunt. But then surprising me, it was Darcy to finally found her voice and directed the other one in her own, firm way.
"Hadn't you better go and find them?" she asked her, her legs breaking the distance from her chest and her fingers flexing towards her and then away from her at the peculiar relief that she was away from all family members of Jorgie's doll house. "You're the one who was meant to mind Zacky."
And with that, Jorgie could not refrain the groan that tumbled out of the back of her throat! For the first time that day, I intervened. With a curve tugging up my lips and a glint like a star in the night star in my eye, I reminded the six-year-old girl that she had a duty to live up to.
I understood that the rejection of finding Zack again only to realise that he was huffing at being in the care of her rather than Johnny Jinn would be quite a lot for a young heart to take. But it was the right thing to do. And even Jorgie could not deny this.
So, with a sigh at the exact same time, hands slapped over their own knees and then they decided to stand up, going to find the young boys and wherever their mischief had taken them to.
Naturally because it was the home that she grew up in, Jorgie's eyes did not change in circumference once she had crossed the threshold of the room with Darcy, instead honing her ears which she acquired from her father to figure out where the noisy boys had somehow silently scurried off to.
Darcy on the other hand had visited that household a great many times and even spent the night there. However, she knew that she would never get used to the vast rooms but far more than that, she would never get over the joy that bounced off each and every wall of the house but the ceilings too.
Sure, it was like that in Justin and Sammy's house too. But how long would her and Zack last living there? And how long would it be until vast hallways like the Morgan Household became a thing of the past and it was back to moving scarce belongings from foster home to foster home, in bin liners that ripped apart in just the slightest movement?
A sensation of the hand encouraged Darcy back to reality and it was not her palm growing sweaty when she realised that while it had been an adjustment leaving foster care, she now knew in her heart that she did not want to return to it either.
The five-year-old girl felt the six-year-old girl's hand entwining with hers and then she was tugged on. She was dragged off to one of the nearest room's just the next one to the living room. Far more than the weary glint of an eye and a shake of the head explained to Darcy.
"Boys love being in the bathroom up until it's time to actually take a bath." She pointed out and with that, her eyes stopped being towards the corner and looking at Darcy and instead, they rolled like ping pong balls for all to see.
But not for much longer! The two girls headed into the bathroom, and I was forced to catch up. And true enough, Jorgie was correct. The boys had found their new playing hot spot and it was exactly like she had suspected. Though the tap was running, and no bubbles were being formed everywhere, they were certainly preparing to turn that room into their room of fun.
Jorgie put a stop to it, and I looked on at her as apparently, she felt more confident with being the oldest in the group when Darcy's hand still did not leave her one, not during her words and not after either.
"You really shouldn't be messing around in here, should you?" she asked, only one of her arms able to fold across her chest for extra comfort while the other was still being held by the steady yet firm grip of Darcy. "It's not safe. We're meant to be sticking together."
Jorgie focused her gaze on Zack more than anybody because she knew that not only was he the one that she was set in charge of, but he was the one who was going to react outwardly the most and in the strongest away.
I could've wondered what it was like to be so correct. But I related!
Dropping his train toy down onto the floor with a crash, Zack's arms flailed around before the child with the often-sunny disposition changed to the state of thunder that he was equally known for.
His arms folded tightly around his chest yet again although this time, he managed to look straight at Jorgie as he frowned. Taking her off guard, while she swallowed and knew that she had to hold her head up high in the face of the stubborn toddler boy, it was actually her brother to speak up against her with words.
It was his turn to roll his eyes around and around in his sockets before condescendingly leering across at his older sister, his curls bouncing on his head with defiance.
"We're just playing." He insisted and a similar tone of voice and string of sounds could be heard echoing from Zack but of course, no comprehensible words could be heard. Johnny drew back, one hand letting go of his spaceship toy to stuff into his shorts pocket. "You could stick with us in here."
From my position on the bathroom floor and surrounded by shards of plastic that had pinged off Zack's train in the fall, I saw that while Jorgie and Darcy's hold on each other faltered, their stance side by side did not.
They knew who was in charge and who was best to be in charge. But they were adaptable leaders all the same. So, after a good couple of moments, those two girls were re-entering the bathroom yet again after briefly leaving and they had some toys in hand as well.
If they were to keep the boys out of trouble, then they were to play in the bathroom as well. And in truth, I didn't need more than a second glance in Darcy's direction to notice that her shoulders fell lower and her chin pointed straighter when she carried the bear mother and some of the younger siblings of the otter family over to the bath so they could all believe that it was a river and they were living their life as they were meant to.
They were no longer confined to the walls of their doll house. They had everywhere to explore, and they could not be more excited!
Well, almost everywhere. Johnny soon set them straight while quickly abandoning his spaceship and hooking Zack under the armpits for him to claim the porcelain land as though it was rightfully his.
"No playing in the tub. Not allowed." He began, his snub nose scrunching up before his hand itched underneath it while the two girls stared. A bounce of the head. A bobbing of curls. "That's our ancient burial for game number two."
And with that, Zack knew to prove, and he dropped himself down to the empty bottom of the bathtub and crossed his arms over to his chest, pretending to be an ancient mummy from times oh such a long time ago.
Once more, Jorgie and Darcy were united in their stances and they shared a look with each other, conveying all. But then they nodded their heads in compliance. Whatever stopped either of them from having a tantrum. And whatever stopped them from getting in such trouble that it would get them into trouble.
The two girls carried their creatures over to the sink instead and decided that they could enjoy a life more luxurious than their ones in a natural habit and they could have a spa day. Still, Darcy's shoulders did not stiffen. In the same way that she felt now that she was no longer living under a roof that could shop and change at a moment's notice, the mother bear felt far more at ease in her hand and vice versa.
She found herself set up quite nicely on a bar of soap while the otter children dived straight for the plug hole, brave little souls despite their age and longing to explore the depths that even the bravest of folk felt too afraid to venture.
In the meantime, the two boys cracked on as well and I began to watch it from the closed lid of the toilet seat, unable to keep my chuckles to myself when Johnny Jinn began to stand in the bath tub alongside a then standing Zack and not only did the two of them do that, but their ancient game really began!
The toilet paper was reached for, and it was obvious what was going to happen next. And although the girl's felt that they had all the components and all the ease to involve themselves fully in their own game, the laughter echoing around the bathroom from Zack as he was wrapped in the toilet paper like an ancient mummy vastly distracted them!
They really did try to ignore it at first, encouraging the noises and the jubilations to roll off like water off a duck's – or an otter or a bear's – back. But the noises were just so infectious.
With straight faces all the same and sighs that were utterly private except for with each other, the girl's put down their figurines all over again and it was Darcy's turn to pipe up.
"Can we play too?" she questioned, her hand travelling to the tight bun of her hair and secretly wondering whether she would prefer to be an ancient princess rather than the mummies in which they became in preparation for the afterlife.
But then, she decided that she should not be too fussy. She already won at that life; she didn't need to win in game too.
It was lucky. Johnny Jinn who often was far more compliant with her than he was with his own sister shook his head.
"Nope." He told them, a smile appearing on his face despite his answer and reaching for and pulling off another lengthy line of toilet paper to wrap up more of the two-and-a-half-year-old boy. "You can help wrap Zacky and then you can wrap me too. Then it will be decided if you can be wrapped yourself."
A shared gaze with each other, Jorgie and Darcy had. A shared gaze with me too. Shoulders rose and then shoulders dropped. And eventually, they nodded. They were lucky that there had been some wiggle room around the first nope so they should count themselves lucky and at least see if they were worthy.
The two of them stayed on the other side of the bath and went ahead in finishing wrapping Zack from head to toe in crisp white toilet paper that no doubt factually needed to be a bit darker and dustier in colour. But it was called suspension of disbelief, so I had been told by Katie.
Given his short stature and the fact that he had already been wrapped, it didn't take too long for the toddler boy's covering to be perfected and then it was time for Johnny Jinn to be wrapped. He presented a far greater challenge!
He wriggled and he giggled, and he somehow had even more voluminous hair that needed to be covered. Every time that he laughed right from the pit of his belly and his face screwed up like a gleeful piece of crumpled paper that owned happy memories scribbled across it, the toilet paper pulled tightly that hung across him contorted and tore apart.
This happened a good few times! But after some stern words from his older sister and from a look that didn't need to say anything from Darcy, Johnny managed to keep his laughter from twitching at his shoulders and dancing across his face but not allowing his belly to rip apart the toilet paper that was tightly sending him to the next part of life.
Eventually, he had been successfully dressed ready for what awaited him next. What awaited both Jorgie and Darcy were judgement. And I didn't hesitate to clap my hands, well and truly into the game myself when it was a positive result.
"Well, I guess it's your turn then!" More volume from Johnny Jinn erupted and more toilet paper was reached for. Somehow whilst managing not to rip any of his burial bandages, Johnny Jinn climbed out of the bathtub and of course made a grab for his sister. "Let's see who can wrap the fastest!"
And with that, a competition ensued, and I was sucked into being the referee. Acting in quite graceful ways despite it all and clearly using the times in which the children danced crazily with their siblings too, Jorgie spun around and around while she was wrapped from head to toe by Johnny and in turn, Darcy spun around while she was wrapped from toe to head by him!
Around and around and around and around the children spun. Meanwhile, I clapped my hands and I awaited to be the judge and Zack clapped his hands and jumped up and down in the bathtub making quite the racket.
In his mind, it was his burial chamber and if he fell through then so be it. He was a king, and nothing could stop that. He was king on that earth. And he would be king elsewhere too.
Jorgie, however, had other ideas for exactly what they were.
Johnny Jinn's laughter was infectious at the best of times, but it was rare for it to be passed onto people who were as level-headed as Jorgie and Darcy were. Nonetheless, on that day, even they could not help but allow the sunshine to pound down on them and feel elated by the joy of what it meant to be young.
In the middle of tears pricking the corners of their eyes as they laughed and laughed, still spinning around and around and being wrapped up, Jorgie managed to hiccup out in between giggles, her words somehow comprehensible to us all.
"Nobody needs to worry anymore." She began and for once, the mocking soul that was Zack did not copy her tone or her pitch in sounds that were no decipherable. Perhaps he knew that everyone needed to be able to listen. "With games like this, all of us will always have a mummy around!"
And a pause in Darcy's laughter made me wonder if colour would return to her cheeks and for her to feel a heartbeat racing in her face while it sunk down low in her chest. I need not have worried, though.
She was learning that becoming part of a new family did not mean that she had to forget about her old one. And after all, Justin and Sammy were taking care of her and Zack because her mother was sick, and she was unable to. She was lucky that people had stepped up. And she was lucky to experience true laughter once again.
The pause in Darcy's own happiness did not last more than a few seconds. She hiccupped and she gasped but then she continued belly laughing for all to hear. And not only that, but in between spins and being wrapped up tight, she reached for Jorgie's hand as well.
Because of the swiftness of their motions, they were soon forced to break once again. But that wasn't the point. The point was that contact was made. And contact had been felt.
Apparently, Zack felt all kinds of things rushing through him. And not only in that moment did he feel the need to jump up and down in the bath even more so, but he felt the need to use his own voice.
The tears from laughter in the corners of my own eyes almost turned into something else when I heard his words properly forming.
"No worries!" he repeated some of Jorgie's words, but I was alone in my reaction. This was yet another thing that rolled off the children's backs as though they were ducks – or whatever creatures they wanted to be.
Johnny Jinn laughed, Jorgie laughed, and Darcy did too. They had accepted Zack as one of their own so didn't think anything of it when he spoke a couple new words that he had not been able to form from his lips before.
That's what made it all the more special for the little boy. He merely grinned to himself and kept on repeating them. He knew that he was capable of greatness. But he knew that he was capable of blending in too. And that was all that he had ever wanted.
Minutes went by and jovial noises did not cease but eventually I was able to share a look with someone. You see, certainly hearing all the noise and hearing all of Zack's burbling got someone else's attention.
James headed off elsewhere, it was actually Jordan who made his way into the bathroom to see what was happening and he stood there with a curious grin lacing his face and strong arms hugging across his broad chest.
He took one look at all the children playing together and didn't need to say anything. And then he took one look at me and despite his usual animated demeanour, it was the quiet knowing on his face that shone through to me more on that day. And caused my face to light up as though it was a similar hue to my fur.
Yes, many had wondered if the closeness in age between Justin's siblings and Justin's foster children would cause them to wind each other up. We would go on to see that they would indeed wind each other up. But in the best way! In the playful way. And the way that led to hours of fun.
Like Zack said, there were to be no worries. He could never have predicted that his young words had set up the future for him and his sister.
They didn't have to fret anymore. They had found a home. They had found a place where they could laugh, and they could misbehave, and they could make mistakes and they could learn from them. They found a place where they could be themselves.
That's all anybody wants, isn't it?
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :) It was enjoyable to work out all of the interactions between the four children. I figured there would be a clear separation of them, into the group of girls and boys, given their age and temperaments as much as anything else! I liked the details in here too, like James getting Zack to copy his speech. I might have mentioned it before in another chapter, but Zack has speech delays due to growing up in foster care. And because of that as well as being older, Darcy very much takes on roles for them both beyond her years. Thankfully as she learns in this story, she can learn to be a child again. If there's anything that Justin and Sammy and their extended family and friends can teach both the children, it is certainly that! :D Thanks again for reading and I will be back again on Wednesday so see you then :)
Amy signing out!