Hello everyone and welcome back!

I hope you enjoy this chapter, it won't take long for them to meet. I would also like to point out that Frank Sr. is dead in this story.

Please, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts. Suggestions, comments and reviews are very much welcome. If there are any grammar mistakes, please let me know. Not a native speaker.

*Chapter revised for grammar

B.

Xoxo...

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from R&I, just the plot and OCs.

Megan's POV

I spent the night looking at the ceiling, my suitcase was in a corner of my room, and every light was off. There were no sounds, just the crickets in the background and the wind against the trees. The whiteness of the ceiling brought all the memories out, painful ones. My blank expression, not showing any emotion at all; just my mind running alone the memories. I was waiting for someone to rescue me, but nobody came. Nothing could make this house feel like home anymore.

'Money can be a bitch' my father used to say 'It can buy you people, but no love' He was so right. Just a few calls from people that I didn't even know, giving their condolences. The only people who called were a couple of "friends" of my parents. But they made it very clear that they wouldn't take me in, but at least, they said that we'll be in touch. I always saw the money my family had as a convenience, but the truth is that it was just a matter of interest, others more than ours. No family, apparently no friends, no helping hands out there. Lost and alone, those words were running through my mind the whole time.

A few jeans, ten shirts, two shorts, underwear, some sweaters, a jacket, shoes, two pictures of my family, some money that I'd saved. I put my life in a single, minimal suitcase. I didn't have enough strength to really take care of it. Locked all the doors but the front one, I tried to think about what I should do before going, but I was blank, I just didn't care anymore.

The morning came, and the sun started to pick through the curtains. I got up from the bed and dressed up; I closed the water valves after I took a shower and unplugged every electronic device in the house. I just had two things to do, wait until Trish arrived and pray to get out of there as soon as possible.

Fifty minutes later, it was 8 o'clock exactly; she rang the doorbell, and opening the door I let her in.

"Good morning, Megan," she said politely coming into the house, she registered the surroundings with her eyes, curiously looking at the covers on the couch and piano, all curtains closed. She looked down and saw my suitcase, a backpack and a laptop bag. "There's something I didn't make clear, you can't take your electronics which means, phones and laptops aren't allowed in the group home" she said, pointing to the bags"I'll allow you to take your iPod, but that's it" she finished.

I huffed angrily "You have to be kidding me…First, you to take me away from my home and now you make me leave my phone here. How am I supposed to have a life?" rage showing in my eyes and raised my voice, which sounded deeper than it usually is.

"I didn't make the rules; I'm just informing you of them. You must leave them here or you can take them but those will be put in storage until you are placed in a foster home" she strictly said

"Great" I sarcastically said, the annoyance and anger were visible in my expressions and moves. I grabbed my suitcase and threw my laptop in a closet in the hall. I tried to distract her so she would forget that I had my phone on me. It didn't work out.

"Please, may I have your phone" she said, showing her hand open, gesturing to put the phone in her hand.

I sighed deeply and reluctantly handed her my phone. "It'll be safe, don't worry. As soon as you're placed in a foster home, as I said before, it'll be given back to you" She tried to sound soothing and reassuring but she ended up upsetting me further.

"So now I'm an old piece of furniture that needs to be 'placed' somewhere," I said gesturing quotation marks with my finger. I started to walk towards the car, the tension in my moves being visible.

"You know that's not what I meant" she said, her arms crossing to her front and noticing a hint of annoyance in her body language and facial expression

I did not bother to turn "Do I really know that?" I said while I put my bags in the trunk of the car. I closed it rather hard. I was about to get in the back seat when Trish stopped me by grabbing my upper arm.

"You're just making this harder on yourself" she strictly said, no let me go, still grabbing my arm strongly.

"Am I making it hard? Look who's talking, the one that had taken me away from the last piece of a safe place I had left?" I said very angry, rage burning in my eyes. I set my arm free and sat on the back seat, closing the door with all my strength.

Trish sighed, grabbed the bridge of her nose, and stood outside the car for a few minutes before getting in the car and driving us to the group home. I was located in Hyde Park, a neighbourhood well known for being one of the worst in town. I sighed deeply watching the lampposts and trees by the window. The sky was getting darker, just about to rain. Perfect! A beautiful day to cheer me up. I thought sarcastically to myself looking at how the sky was turning darker every minute. After a long drive, 45 minutes at least, she parked the car in front of an old, ramshackle building, painted in a faint yellow; depressing in all its glory.

I got out of the car and looked at the surroundings, nothing seemed familiar, even at the distance 'Where the hell I am' I thought, my face showing my worry and disgust for that place. I opened the trunk and took my suitcase and backpack. She placed a hand on my upper back "C'mon, it'll start to rain soon" she said, pushing me gently to walk towards the door.

She knocked and a tall, rather skinny girl opened, she was probably older than me. She stepped aside to let us in. We entered; the girl looked at me with hateful eyes, I don't know what for, that was the first time we had seen each other. The lobby was a big, rounded room, plain white on the walls and wooden floors, with a few paintings on the wall, a big door in the middle and a smaller one, on one of the sides. Suddenly a mature woman exited a door on the side of the room.

"Hello, I'm Agatha Tales. I'm like a dean on this home" she said with a strict and formal voice, her hand behind her back, standing straight. She looked a lot like Miss Trunchbull from Matilda; well, she just needed the last name. She was short and round, her hair on a severe-pulled bun and piercing, merciless ice-blue eyes. Her voice was nasal and kind of annoying.

The old woman gestured at me to get into her office. I hesitantly entered and there was a man that I had seen before for sure, I knew him well. "This is Arthur Lane, your father's lawyer, that's what he claims to be, can you confirm that to me?" she said, passing by me, her hands still on her back and walking almost like a soldier.

"Yeah, he is," I said, plain and drily. Looking at him, he had compassion in his green eyes. He started to walk in my way "Hello, Megan. I'm so, so sorry" he said, his voice shaky. He approached and hugged me. Pulling away he rubbed my arm. "Ma'am, may we talk in private, there are some things we need to discuss" she asked, gesturing that 'in private' meant just the two of us.

She got up from her chair, huffing with annoyance "You have 30 minutes, then I'll get in, and my presence won't go away" she said, walking in the same way she entered.

I shrugged, looking at the man, Arthur gave me a sympathetic smile and He took the chair he was using before and I took the one beside that one, facing him. He took his briefcase and pulled out a bunch of files.

"This is your parents' will" she said, showing me and sealed yellow envelope. "I have to assume you know what a will is, right? He said with an apologetic smile. I nodded and opened the envelope, I took the content out, there was a few hand-drafted pages, a part of the pages was my dad's handwriting and the other was my mom's.

"I'll do the read and explain to you the details if it's ok?" he gently said in a soft voice. Once again I nodded, and he took the papers from my hand. He put on his glasses and started to read.

He read it and explained it completely, every single thing. In the end, as soon as I turn 21, everything will be mine. This made me more scared instead of being a relief. "What will happen while I'm here? With everything, I mean" I said, looking rather worried.

He took his glasses off and grabbed the bridge of her nose, sighing deeply "Well, everything will be where it is right now. Don't worry, I'll make sure personally everything is where it is now" he said smiling.

"Oh, and your father gave me this, I don't know what's inside, but I think it's important." He gave me a little, white envelope and right after, he stood up, said his goodbyes, and left. Before I went out of the room I placed the envelope in my back pocket, preventing them from taking it from me, as they did with my phone.

"Oh! It was about time!" 'Miss Trunchbull' said huffing. Starting from where she was standing to her office. "I'll see you here in a while when you finish settling in your room" she said passing by me with an estranged and malicious smile on her face, making her eyes look scary. I nodded "I didn't hear you" she said, looking directly at me.

I raised an eyebrow "Yes, Ma'am" I said, annoyance could be here in my tone of voice. I looked at Trish and she guided me to my room. We got there; It was even more depressing than the exterior, the same fainted yellow on the wall, two worn-out beds, two small closets, two drawers, and two desks. There wasn't much more. My roommate was sitting on her bed, reading some magazine. "This is your room; she is Jannet, and she'll be your roommate" I looked at her, she was about my age, and she looked careless and easy-going; she didn't even take her gaze from the magazine she was reading "In the closet on the left are your sheets, two pillows, and some blankets. Everything else you need to know will be told by Miss Tales, when you finish here you must go to her office, got it? She said, standing behind me.

"Got it" I simply said, placing my suitcase and bag on the bed and starting to unpack my suitcase, I hung what I could in the closet and the rest on the drawers. I put the backpack in the closet and put the envelope Arthur had given me before in it too, and to make sure it was safe I had brought a padlock and put it in the zipper, in that bag were those few important things, things that I needed to survive.

"You know, you don't need a padlock, we might be renegades but we're not thieves" the girl on the bed said suddenly.

I looked at her wide-eyed and rose from the floor "Oh! No! That…That wasn't my intention!" I hasten to say, not wanting to start on the wrong foot with anymore, less with the person I'll be sleeping with for God knows how long "I-I always keep it locked. I just…umm, It's too personal, that's all"

She stood up and approached me "Look, I was joking, I didn't mean to scare you… I'm Jannet," she said, narrowing her hand to shake mine.

I awkwardly laughed in relief "Oh! Megan, pleasure" I said while we shook our hands. She went back to sit on her bed right after "So, why are you here, what's your story" she asked me. I was surprised by the sudden question; I never imagined that people here would be so talkative "Well, my parents… they are dead" I said, the words tasted like vinegar when they came out of my mouth, being hard to pronounce, even hard to think of. "What's yours?" I asked, trying to be nice and winning her as an ally instead of an enemy.

"Not every life is perfect, you know," she said, crawling back to her bed and shielding herself with the magazine, which I'm sure she wasn't reading, she was protecting herself against my questions. I left it there and didn't push her further and after I finished putting my things in the drawers, I went back to 'Miss Trunchbull's office, I was waiting to be thrown into the hole since I knew she didn't like me, or she didn't like anyone really.

I knocked on the door "Ahg! It was about time, come in!" she said huffing annoyed. I swallowed hard at her voice tone "Great, my first hater here and I don't even know why she hates me?" I thought to myself while I pushed the door of the office open, finding her sitting straight on her chair with the same malicious smile on her face which, to be honest, terrified me.

"Finally, you're here, Miss Ainsworth. Please, take a seat" She motioned towards the seat and offered it to me, I reluctantly sat on it, the tone in her voice was even spookier than her weird smile.

She went back to her seat "I hope you're all settled" she handed me a page with a bunch of things written on it "These are your daily chores" she said in a serious tone. I raised an eyebrow; on the page were more than 10 labours.

"Ok, is this... serious?" I said, not believing what I was seeing or hearing.

"Oh, yes it is very serious" she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest and leaning back on the chair; on her face were visible signs of annoyance.

My eyes went wide like plates at this moment "When am I supposed to do all this, I have school and…" she stopped me there.

"Trish didn't tell you, huh?" she looked at me. I looked even more puzzled at her, really not understanding what she was talking about. "You won't be going to school while you're here you'll have, like the others living here, classes dictated by a governess". I was stunned and gasped in disbelief.

"Let me get this straight, I'm the boss here, I say, and you do as I say. Now, you need to know the basics, no phones, no visitors unless they want to file for fostering you, no fights or there'll be consequences, bedtime is at 9:30 pm and wake-up time is at 6:30 am… you will be knowing the rest on the go" she said, visibly angry "That's how things are going to be from now on, 'till someone wants to foster you... if someone ever does" she said last under her breath, I could hear it. "Go back to your room, lunch will be served soon. I recommend that you go to sleep early today, so you have to do breakfast tomorrow, at 7:00 am has to be ready" she finished with that creepy smile of hers, making me even angrier at her, Trish, this place, to this whole situation. I nodded and went out of the office, heading directly to the room, full of rage towards all of this

The day passed horribly slow, I spent the whole day in the room, looking through the window at the grey exterior, the cars passing by, and the freedom I had lost; it was raining heavily by now. Besides lunch and dinner, I did nothing but sit on the bed and look at the pouring rain. It never stopped raining; I was lying in bed, lulled by the sound of the rain. It was my favorite sound since I was a baby, it calmed me every time I was angry or frustrated, and it always made me think easier and clearer. I was with my eyes closed, not sleeping, but hearing intently at the sound. I was thinking of my family, everything we had lived together, good or bad but together whatsoever. Something suddenly clicked in my head, I didn't have that anymore, and it was hurting badly to be aware of that. After a lot of sighing and resignation, I decided to let it go, or at least try to let it go

General POV

"Ok, it's better if you talk to Luc, you have always known how to put him at ease," Jane said, thinking about the strategy to explain to the kid their plans of fostering a new kid in a better, more comprehensible way.

Maura nodded, showing a small smile "Yes, that's maybe because you joke all the time and he gets distracted" she said sweetly making Jane roll her eyes at her with a smile on her face. "And you can explain Lily more childishly"

"Perfect…I can see the worry in your eyes, Honey. They'll understand, they know we will love them as much as we do now. If they are aware of them on time and we ask for their opinion, I think there won't be problems. That's it, we must ask" she reassured her blonde wife, she squeezed her into a hug

The blonde sighed deeply "What if they said no?" She asked, clearly worried by the situation. Jane pulled her gently away and looked directly into her hazel eyes "As someone very wise once said to me 'Let's see what happens first, then we'll worry'…ok?" she said with a smile on her face "C´mon, we have a lot to do" Jane finished

Maura laughed at headed upstairs, to Lucas' room, he was playing with his toy cars and a race track his awesome Uncle Frankie got him. "Hello, baby girl," she said smiling sweetly at him.

"Oh! Hi, Mommy" he said, not bothering himself standing up.

Maura made her way through the room and sat on his bed "Can you come for a minute, baby boy. I need to talk to you" she said, patting the spot on the bed beside her. The little boy stood from the floor and sat on the bed, looking questioning at his mom.

She rubbed his back "Honey, I need us to talk about what we said to you and your sister the other night, about bringing another child to live here with us" She looked expectantly at him.

The boy waited a few seconds before answering "I told you, I don't mind" he said smiling, but his eyes didn't participate. He just shrugged "But why?"

Maura sighed never stopping the soothing strokes on his back "I know this is a complicated question, but the truth is that since we lost Lucy, we feel that maybe we can give a kid in need, a loving family and people that truly care about them because everybody deserves that. Your mama and I have so much love to give and I'm sure you and Lily too… It's not because you aren't enough for us, you are more than enough, It's just because there's something in our hearts saying that this is the right thing to do" The kid listened intently at each word her mom said "You remember how sad Mama and I were when your baby sister died?" the boy nodded and his eyes shimmer with tears at the memory of those sad December days. Maura's eyes started to feel wet as well "We thought that we would never be moms again, this might sound weird but the truth is, when you're old enough you will feel the desire to be a father and the overwhelming feeling of loving someone who depends on you entirely. You might not understand this now, but someday you will, my little man… I really want your opinion, my little man"

Lucas was looking down at his feet "I think is ok, while you adopt a girl. I still want to be the man of the house" he said looking with sparkling eyes at her

Maura's heart melted at his answer "Oh, baby. You'll always be the man of this house. That won't change" she said, hugging him tightly to her chest "So that's a yes? Little man?" she asked for confirmation. The boy nodded enthusiastically on her mother's chest "Thank you, baby. Thank you so much"

Meanwhile, Jane entered the playroom, where Lilly was watching TV "Hey, baby girl, you can come to sit with Mama for a bit" Jane said sweetly to the little girl.

The girl practically ran to her Mama's arms, Jane sat on the couch and put the girl on her lap, facing her "Baby do you remember the story I told you? About Lucy?" Jane said, a lump forming in her throat at the mention of that name.

"The story of the angel Lucy?" the girl innocently at the mention of the story her moms made up to explain to the little child that her sister died before she was even born. "Yes baby, Angel Lucy's story, do you remember it?" The brunette asked again.

Lily put her finger on her chin, thinking about the story "I think Mama, Lucy was an angel that lived on mommy's tummy, and she was called by other angels to play and she had to go" she said to her mama, whose eyes were full of tears at the sound of her daughter's voice telling the story so many times they told her to make her understand why she wouldn't have a little sister anymore.

"That's…that's right baby" she said, kissing her temple. "And Lucy flew to the sky to meet with other angels and meet Grandpa, who I'm sure is taking good care of her" she completed, tears welling up in her eyes. "I want to know baby if…if you would be ok if we bring another kid to our house?" she asked the girl in her arms.

The girl looked at her mama's face and nodded "But I want a big sister" she just said, making Jane's heart swallow with love. "Mommy and I will try to pick the perfect new member of our family, my baby," she said reassuringly at the little girl still on her lap, hugging her.

"How?" the girl asked with childlike curiosity. Jane laughed "I don't know, baby. We will know, I think" she answered her. The girls looked at her unsatisfied with the answer her mama gave her "But how? Mama" the girl asked once again. "Ok, I think I'll leave you watching your cartoon for a while, then will go to bed" she said and the girl responded immediately "You'll read me a story?" she asked with her pleading, big hazel eyes.

Jane laughed and squeezed her one more time "Of course, baby girl," she said, kissing her temple and leaving the room to find Maura at the door "How much of that did you hear?" she asked, her cheeks blushing "Oh! I heard enough," Maura said kissing her chastely on the lips.

They pulled away and Jane looked at her wife's eyes, which were a little redder than usual, and a bright smile on her beautiful lips "By the look on your face I can tell everything went as we hoped" she said with excitement in her voice and looking down into the shorter woman's eyes

Maura nodded and hugged Jane "We are fostering a kid, babe," she said. Jane put a kiss atop Maura's head "Yes, we are, honey" her voice laced with tears.

"You know, both agreed on fostering a girl, Lucas wants to be the man of the house forever," she said, smiling a small smile

"Yeah, both agreed on that, but as I said to Lily and as I think in my heart, we'll know who's the perfect match" she said, soothingly stroking her lover's back

Maura snuggled further on Jane's chest "I love you, Jane; I deeply, deeply love you"

"I love you too, my love, I love you so much!