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Minor changes and mistakes corrected*
B.
Xoxo...
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from R&I, just the plot and OCs.
Megan's POV
"I don't know if I want to go with them," I said, hiding my face on my pillow.
"What do you mean, you don't know!? Are you nuts!?" Jannet snapped at me, we've been talking about the interview and according to her, it went perfectly. She especially loved the fact that they were a homosexual couple, which meant that there were no abusive foster fathers to worry about.
I raised my head from the pillow "Do I have to explain the whole thing again?" I said, raising an eyebrow.
"I just can't get that a nice couple wants to foster you, they even gave you the option, which is super cool, and you still don't know if you're going with them? If you don't go with them, you are nuts" Jannet voiced, trying to convince me to go with Jane and Maura. Even though I was hesitant about it, she was right; they gave me the choice.
"You're really frustrating, you know?" she concluded, smirking at me.
I chuckled softly and remained silent for a little while until Jannet broke the silence "Seriously, I think you should think about going with them" she said in a serious tone
I noticed the tone of her voice, raised from the bed and looked puzzled at her "Why are you so sure?"
"I've been in the system long enough to know two things. One, is that you have to build a wall and don't let anybody in and two, if you can get out of here, do it! You have that option. Go!" she said, not leaving room for arguments.
"I'll think about it" I simply said sighing deeply, once again sinking on the lumpy mattress.
"Good" said exclaimed "Night, grumpy pants" She finished and turned on the bed, facing the wall and falling asleep.
I ended up lying in bed, looking at the ceiling; my mind was running and could stop thinking. I was confused, I did want to go with them, but right after that thought always a wave of guilt hit me, the tightness in my chest grew stronger with each passing minute, and with every tick of the clock I felt more confused for I felt like a traitor, every time I closed my eyes I could see the disappointment in my mom's eyes and the betrayal on my dad's, I could even feel my sister's hurt. My mind and heart were a bag of mixed emotions that I couldn't comprehend; these past hours had left me senseless. That night I ended up falling into a restless sleep somewhere around 3 am.
I was in my house; everything was exactly like I left it in December. I started to walk passed the hallway to the living room, I wasn't walking, and I felt more like levitating throughout the house. "I can see you're pretty confused, princess," a voice said behind my back; I closed my eyes and gathered some strength, I sudden wave of sadness came to me because the only one who called my princess was my mom. I immediately turned towards the voice, I gasped when I saw my mother sitting on the couch with a cup of tea, just like she used to. I tried to run to her arms but I couldn't move. Tears started to roll down my cheeks like a waterfall, and I felt as if I was tied up, I also tried to scream but nothing came out of my mouth; I just cried.
She took another sip from the steamy, hot cup of tea and placed it on the coffee table in front of the couch "You don't have to worry about us, we are ok" she said and caressed my cheek making my cry even harder than before "There's no need to cry, baby" she smiled her beautiful smile and wiped the tears off my cheeks. "I know this is hard, but you have to think for yourself, not for us, we aren't here anymore, but you are and you cannot waste your time. It's too precious, my love" Once again she wiped the tears falling from my eyes and started to rub my upper arms "We will love you no matter what, baby" There was a silence for a few minutes, we just looked at each other's eyes, she held my hands the whole time just smiling at me, her eyes sparkled as warmly as they used to "You will always be our baby, never forget that….Nothing can change that. But I have to let you go... enjoy what is ahead and open up your heart to love, because if you can't love, there is no way to live… now, follow your heart and give love a chance. You won't regret it. Goodbye, baby girl" she said cupping my face in her hands, kissing my forehead for a few seconds and embracing me like when I was a kid, my head pressed against her chest, the beating of her heart soothing me and her arms protecting me from whatever was outside her warmth "I love you, princess".
I wanted to tell her that I loved her too and tell her to stay but after she let go of me, everything went black. I woke up on the floor of the piano room and like I was a puppet, I levitated from the floor to the piano stool and sat on it, my hand directly went to the keys and started to play a song I couldn't recognize at first but after a few seconds I knew it was 'You raise my up' by Josh Groban, song that I learnt to play for a gift for my parent's 20th wedding anniversary. While the song was playing I stared at the keys and my fingers moving smoothly. I listened to the music intently and let myself be immersed in it until a wrong note brought me back to reality.
I woke up sweating around 5 am, not much before my alarm went off, I was breathing erratically and my heart was pounding against my chest 'Calm you down, Meg, you're on the verge of a panic attack' I said to myself, trying to regulate my breathing. I touched my right cheek, where my mom placed the kiss in the dream. It felt too real, I'd swear that my mom was there talking to me. Her words were dancing on my mind and I knew what she meant with them.
After I could regulate my breathing I got up and went to the bathroom and turned the spray of the shower on looking for the warmth of the water. Under it I let the hot water wash the tension away from my body. I stood there for a while until a loud knock on the door startled me. "Come on, Megan. You don't need that much water!" the voice said, I recognised the nasal voice tone of Kara's, she kept on knocking until I screamed, "Give me 5 minutes".
She groaned and left. Quickly I got dressed and went to the room, Jannet was just getting up. "You look awful," the girl said, smoothing her curls that were tangled from the bed.
"Thanks" I said annoyed and rolling my eyes at her while I was ordering my thing and making my bed.
"Ok, that wasn't what I wanted to say, I meant that you look like you haven't slept," she said, sounding concerned and getting up from her bed, picking up her towel, clothes and toothbrush.
I sighed and nodded without looking at Jannet. "I bet you've been thinking about whether to go with them or not… Hate me, but I think you should" she said and left the room, heading to the bathroom.
Once again that left me thinking about why it was so difficult for me to make this decision, I was beyond scared, I didn't want to be let down. I sighed resignedly walking down the stairs and going into the kitchen, it was my time to make breakfast. Kara was probably still in the bathroom so I stared alone. I started placing the bread on a line and spreading it with cream cheese, when I was almost down Kara entered "What do I do" she simply said, opening the fridge and taking the water pitcher and serving herself a cup.
"Mmm... You can add the ham to the sandwiches" I said.
She threw the cup on the sink and lazily went to the fridge to take the ham and started to add it to the breakfast. "Hey!, I heard that you got an offer" Kara suddenly said while she finished the sandwiches.
"I…Yep," I simply said, trying to avoid another probable lecture, this time from Kara.
"And so I heard that you are considering not going with them… In my opinion, you should go" she said, not turning to look at me and carrying the tray full of sandwiches out of the kitchen and towards the now crowded table.
I sighed and leaned against the kitchen counter thinking, once again about that question. Why was everyone so sure about what I should do but I was so confused about it? I stood there until one of the girls called to come to the table. I ate a few bites of the sandwich and excused myself. Running upstairs; I entered the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face; looking at my reflection in the mirror 'Are you seriously going to do this? You better be sure' I thought to myself and drying my face with a cloth I went out of the bathroom not so sure about my decision.
Maura's POV
Jane parked the car and with her hand still on the steering wheel she turned to me "How are we going to explain this to the kids and our family" Jane asked, worried about the reactions, everyone knew that we would foster a child, not a teenager.
"I told you that we should have let them know before we meet her, but you insisted" I replied, remembering our conversation a few nights before the interview in which I clearly said that we should inform everyone in case we decided to bring Megan home. But of course, Jane insisted on don't tell just yet because it wasn't a sure thing.
"I know you said that but we never anticipated liking her that much; at least, I didn't, though," Jane said with an apologetic look in her deep brown, sparkly eyes.
I sighed and rubbed my forehead "Well none of us did, and neither could I anticipate that we would ask her to come to live with us" I breathed deeply and turned to see my wife directly "I know this will be a change but I think she's a nice young lady and the kids probably will love to have someone to gang on us" I said smiling at her.
Jane chuckled "You mean to gang up on us" Smiling brightly and laughing she said, whilst I rolled my eyes at her, making her laugh loudly "And Yeah, I don't think I like that and I know you won't either" she finished.
I laughed and shook my head "Well, yes that might not be the best part" I chuckled.
Jane looked lovingly into my eyes "Oh! You bet" she said. We both got out of the car and entered the house. Jane's mother, Angela was with the kids and knew about the interview, she saw us coming in and immediately ran to us.
"So, how it went? Tell me about the little girl" she asked eagerly.
"It went pretty good, and… well the thing might have changed a bit," Jane said, waiting for the avalanche of questions her mother would ask.
Angela looked at us puzzled and furrowed her brow "What do you mean. You won't foster anymore" she asked.
"No Angela, we are indeed fostering a kid," I said, looking at Jane "But we met a teenage girl, Megan, who we think might be the perfect fit" I said.
Angela looked shocked, she imagined another little kid running around the house, she didn't expect this at all, but after a few seconds her features softened and her eyes looked lovingly at us, she held one hand of each one of us "Well, you know what you're doing and I know this girl must be amazing for you to speak of her like a perfect match" she said, her eyes sparkling with true happiness for us.
"She is, though," Jane said right after her mother finished.
"So, when this amazing young lady is coming" Angela asked excitedly.
Jane looked at me and then spoke to her mother "We don't know if she's coming… yet!" Jane said hesitant, knowing that the last statement would bring more questions up than answers to her sometimes pretty-nosy Mother.
"What do you mean, Janie?" she asked confused.
Jane sighed "She is a teenager and we felt she was hesitant and kind of scared, we didn't want to make her more uncomfortable than she was, so we gave her the option to come with us or not" Jane explained
Angela looked sympathetically at us with a small smile on her lips "That's very noble of you, girls…I want to believe that she'll say yes" the older woman said.
Jane and I, both smiled widely and Jane hugged her mother for a few seconds mumbling a barely audible 'thank you' in her mother's ear. She separated from her and I did the same, I hugged her and said thank you. She has been beyond comprehensive with all this and had supported us from the very beginning and this made me sad sometimes because when my parents knew about the fostering they just said 'congrats' and both excused themselves, hanging up the phone right after. I hope that when they finally meet Megan, they will be more warm and welcoming than they were on the phone. They acted like it didn't matter like it wasn't a big deal, but it was a big deal; a huge deal in fact.
After I let go of Angela we heard little footsteps running down the stairs. "Mama" Lily screamed and jumped into Jane's arms while Lucas came to me and hugged me.
"How was your day, lovelies?" I asked, kissing Lucas' temple and giving another on Lily's cheek.
"Good! We did the letters of the alphabet today" Lily said excitedly.
Jane smiled lovingly at Lily's innocence and happiness "That's great, baby! I'm dying to see your letters" Jane exclaimed "And you, little man? Was school fun?" Jane asked Lucas, who was fairly silent, something pretty unlike him; He is all his mother and he inherited that amazing, but annoying at times, quality of speaking non-stop.
Lucas shrugged "Fine. It's school, there's nothing fun about it," he said and let go of me, standing in between Jane and me, I looked at him horrified and Jane was on the verge of a fit of giggles.
"I have to disagree with you, young man, school can be really fun. You get to study science and math, history, literature and many other subjects. School seems like a lot of fun to me" I said convinced that my arguments would be good enough for him, who was standing, looking at me with one of his eyebrows raised.
"Yeah, those weren't good arguments, honey" Jane said joking, smirking at me, making both kids laugh.
I rolled my eyes at her and slapped her forearm playfully. Jane placed Lily on the floor and before we could say anything else Angela said that she had left to run some errands, she kissed everyone's cheek, said her goodbyes and left.
We were left alone; I looked at my watch and noticed we had plenty of time before dinner so we needed to put the kids on board with the new situation about the fostering.
"Well kids, we have something we need to talk about," Jane said leading all of us to the living room. We all sit on the couch "You know that today we went to the group home to meet this girl that probably will come to live with us, right?" Jane said.
Both kids nodded. "We are having a sister?" Lily asked excitedly, looking at my wife with her big, hazel sparkling eyes.
"It's a possibility, yes," I said "She has to decide if she wants to come with us"
"And what's her name" Lucas asked shyly.
"Her name is Megan" I said and looked at Jane, who started to speak about her "And she's fifteen, she loves sports and plays the piano and the guitar and maybe she could teach you guys, isn't it that cool" She said, trying to encourage the kids to like her and welcome her
A hint of worry could be seen on Lucas's sharp features "She's gonna be older, I thought that I would still be the man" he said sadly.
"Oh! Baby, you will always be the man, she might be older but you are our little man and that won't change" I said, cupping his face with my hands, reassuring him that he'll be the man.
"I think she sounds nice, when is she coming?" Lily asked hopefully.
Jane placed her hand on Lily's little knees "Well, cutie pie, she has to decide that, but maybe in a few days we'll know if she's coming" Jane said. The girl nodded eagerly, satisfied with her mother's answer and smiled sweetly at her.
We spoke for a few while about school and other things, until dinner time came and we started to prepare dinner all together, the night was lovely and calm, and the kids were easy to bathe and put to bed.
Both Jane and I tucked Lily in and were about to do the seam with Lucas, but Jane received a call from work and had to answer it, so I went to Lucas' room to tuck him in. I knocked softly on the door "Hello, little man" I said while entering the room and walking towards his bed "Ready to drift off to sleep?" I asked him, smiling.
He nodded softly, his eyelids beginning to close "Yep" he just said.
I smiled sweetly at him and pulled the cover up to his chin. "I just want you to know that I want to meet Megan and I don't care about not being the oldest anymore" he said almost asleep.
I couldn't help but smile widely and give him a kiss on the forehead "You have no idea of how happy you have made me and how happy you'll make Mama" I said "Goodnight, my love. I love you" kissing him once again on the forehead. "Night, Mommy. Love you too" he mumbled half asleep.
I got out of the room, turning the lights off and half-closing the door. I saw Jane coming towards me "No troubles with Luc?" she asked me.
I shook my head "But he said He wants to meet Megan" I said excitedly and smiling brightly.
"That's great, now it's just a matter of Megan, deciding if she's coming," Jane said, worry filling her words.
I sighed "I hope she says yes," I said, hugging Jane, grabbing her by the waist and resting my head on her chest, while she wrapped me in her strong but soft and loving arms.
"Me too, baby" Jane said, kissing my temple "I really want her to say yes" I looked into her eyes and saw that hopeful sparkle on her eyes that spoke of so much love.
"I love you, baby," I said, placing my head back on her chest.
"I love you too, My love," Jane said and led me to our room.
Please leave your comments and reviews, they mean a great deal!
B.
Xoxo...