justagirl4fun

Four-year-old Rowan looked up at Michelle with wide blue eyes and forced a smile, trying to be brave. She squeaked out a tiny "hi," before averting her gaze to the floor, a single tear running down her pale cheek. Peter returned and squatted down in front of the girl to introduce himself. "Hi there, Rowan. I'm Peter." The girl offered him the same forced smile but didn't say anything. "So, what do we need to know?" he asked once he had taken a seat next to his wife. Of course they had been given a brief rundown over the phone, but it was always good to double check and make sure they had all the information they needed. "Well, your file said you're comfortable dealing with complex medical needs, so hopefully you're ready for this. These are her medications," the social worker said, handing over a sizeable insulated cooler bags. "They're all in liquid form and go right in her feeding tube. It says in your file that you've dealt with feeding tubes before, so I won't get into that. Some are once daily, others are two or three times a day. Everything is labeled, but here's a list of what she gets, how much, and when, to make it a little easier." She paused to take a breath and handed over the paper. "There's also a couple day's worth of her enteral feeding formula in there. She can eat and drink, but because of her heart condition she breathes very rapidly, which makes it difficult to coordinate chewing, swallowing, and breathing without aspirating. Plus her heart works a lot harder than normal, which burns a lot of calories so she needs a lot more than the average kid her age. She gets one hundred percent of her caloric needs from the formula, anything she takes by mouth is a bonus so don't stress over getting her to eat. Once she's settled and insurance kicks in she can work with a feeding therapist but right now if she doesn't want to eat don't worry about it." The social worker paused, looking at Peter and Michelle to see if they had any questions before she continued.

Rocky grabbed one of her Underjams and a pair of aqua ones piece shortie pajamas printed with yellow shooting stars. She handed both to Sarah - if Kaley could get help with everything, so could she! "Okay, you want a story before bed?" Alex asked after leading Alley back to her room. "There are more books in Rocky's room if you want something else," he reminded her.

Peter, who had just brought a basket of laundry up from the basement, checked the time on his phone. "Should be here in about ten minutes." He felt bad that they couldn't have taken the girl sooner, as they had been out of town visiting his parents for his mother's birthday, but at least the social worker had been able to secure an emergency placement for a few days. He folded the load of clothes they'd gotten out of storage - they had a few day's worth of clothing and pajamas in every size for the age range they were open to fostering - and had just gone upstairs to put them in the girl's room when the doorbell rang.

Rocky wasn't thrilled with bath time being interrupted but didn't want to risk angering her father. She waved back and forced a smile, though her eyes didn't crinkle and her dimples didn't pop out the way they did when she genuinely smiled. She glanced up at Sarah, hoping her mother would be pleased with her efforts. Once Kaley's teeth were brushed he had her sit on the toilet and try to go potty.

Rocky furrowed her brows and thought for a minute. Clearly Sarah wasn't going to give in easily, and she wasn't even sure Alex would care if she didn't talk.But she wasn't ready to give up just yet, so she put the bubbles back with a sigh. Alex got Kaley dressed for bed. He noticed the smell of stale urine from her earlier accident when he swapped out her underwear for an Underjam but decided now was not the time to say anything and potentially get her upset before bed. Not knowing how long Sarah and Rocky would be in the bathroom, and not wanting to keep Kaley up and risk her getting cranky, he brought her in to brush her teeth anyway. "Don't mind us, just getting Kaley ready for bed," he said as he set the girl down on the counter.

Rocky's eyes lit up and she nodded enthusiastically. She was still disappointed that Alex wouldn't be going, but excited to go with her friend. Suddenly she spotted the bottle of lavender bubble bath Alex had left in the tub after Kaley's bath. She never got to have bubbles! She grabbed the bottle and waved it in Sarah's face, hoping her mother would let her use them. Alex let Kaley play until he noticed her yawning. "Okay, I think it's time to get ready for bed. " Do you want to bring a couple of your kitties upstairs? "

Rocky wanted to blurt out everything to her mother - this was going to be harder than she thought! But even if she did speak up, it would all come back to Kaley needs this, and Kaley needs that, be patient, be nice, blah blah blah Kaley Kaley Kaley. So she resolutely kept her mouth shut, looking around with that blank expression that seemed to make her father go all soft. "Don't be sorry, honey, I just don't want you to choke," Alex repeated gently for what seemed like the millionth time. "No one is going to take your food away. You don't have to stuff it all in your mouth at once." He wondered if it was ever going to sink in, like the doctor said, or if he was doomed to repeat it at regular intervals for all eternity.

By the time Rocky finished her cookie the game was finally over. She held her arms up to Sarah, ready to go take her bath. She hadn't had one since before Kaley arrived so she was looking forward to it. Alex cringed. "Kaley, please, small bites," he begged, though he knew the request would fall on deaf ears.

Rocky looked over and made grabby hands towards Sarah - of course she wanted a cookie! Alex grabbed a cookie, sat down next to Kaley, and offered it to her. "You want a cookie?"

"She's mentioned her dad once or twice, I think she misses him," Alex said, though he wasn't really sure. "I don't know, I think we should wait. Maybe tell her tomorrow night so she isn't totally blindsided. I think if we tell her now it will just stress her out."

"No, I don't suppose we can do anything about it. At the very least, he could request to have her moved to another foster home, at worst..." He shook his head, not wanting to think about what Kaley's father might do in retaliation. "Okay, so do we tell her now, so she has time to get used to it, or wait til Saturday so she isn't stressing out about it until then?"

"Already? How can that be? She hasn't even been here a week! How could he have possibly made any changes that quickly to get her back? That's bullshit!" Alex said angrily, though he kept his voice low so as to not alarm Kaley.

Alex got Kaley situated and left the tablet with her in case she decided she did want to use it. He was a little bothered that Rocky was watching TV, he let it slide since Kaley didn't seem interested in resuming her show. "What's up?" he asked Sarah once he was in the kitchen. Rocky wanted to tell Kaley to shut up, but was determined to stick to her plan. Instead she just turned the volume up - not loud enough to make Alex mad, but enough to drown out the whining.

"We can go down and play with your animals," Alex said as he hugged Kaley back. "And if you want, you can watch more Bluey, like I promised."

"That's not true, Kaley! You're a very smart girl. Look how quickly you learned to use the tablet! Maybe you need a little help using your words, but that's okay. Your brain works a little differently, but that doesn't make you dumb. Now, Rocky doesn't need help using her words, but sometimes she needs help paying attention, or calming down and being quiet. That's because her brain works a little differently too, but Sarah and I still love her. It's okay to be different. It's not bad, or wrong, or dumb," Alex explained, hoping it would make her feel better.

"No, Kaley, you are not bad. Not at all. I know Rocky isn't being very nice, but that's not your fault. She's being bad. You're not. You're a good girl, and Sarah and I like having you here. And Rocky will, too, once she gets used to you being here."

With Sarah occupied and Alex upstairs, Rocky slipped away to the living room. No one had said she could watch TV, but no one had expressly said she couldn't either, so she found the soccer game hoping to finish watching it. "No more what, honey?" Alex asked. "The tablet? But it makes me very happy when you use it. Don't listen to Rocky, okay? Nothing she says matters. Don't pay her any attention."

It still didn't make much sense to the five-year-old, but it did give her an idea. Maybe if she stopped talking her parents would have to let her have the tablet. She shrugged and finished her dinner without another word. Alex grabbed the tablet and followed Kaley. He could tell she was upset, and it took every bit of restraint he could muster not to blow up at Rocky. He did shoot her and Sarah an icy glare before heading upstairs to find out what was wrong. "Hey, you want to tell me what's wrong?" Alex asked, offering Alley the tablet when he got to her room.

"What if I want to use it to talk?" Rocky asked. Nothing about the situation made sense to her. Kaley could talk - Rocky had heard her! So really it was quite stupid that she got to hog the tablet - at the table, even! - to talk when she could just talk for real.

"The tablet doesn't belong at the table," Rocky said, repeating the phrase she'd heard numerous times from her parents. Not wanting to break his promise to Sarah, Alex ignored Rocky, instead keeping his attention focused on Kaley. "You want more food?" Once she confirmed, he put another serving on her plate.

"Oh good, that should be fun." Alex forced a smile, but he had a knot in his stomach worrying about what Sarah would have to say later. Then he noticed Kaley fidgeting. "Honey, are you okay?" He grabbed the tablet and handed it to her in case she wasn't able to tell him what was wrong.

"I promise you can watch after dinner," Alex repeated, seeing Kaley's frown, which caused Rocky to frown in return. How was she supposed to watch the rest of the game if Kaley was still hogging the TV? She was afraid of setting Alex off again, though, so she kept her mouth shut.

"It's time to eat. You can finish watching after dinner," Alex assured Kaley. He glanced at Sarah with raised eyebrows when she returned. Despite her cheery facade he could tell she was worried. "Fruit punch!" Rocky declared as she dug into the pot pie. She wasn't usually allowed sugary drinks but had sweet talked Alex into buying it the last time they had gone to the grocery store.

"I think dinner is ready," Alex said and turned the TV off. He brought Kaley to the table and set the tablet on the counter so it would be safe in case of spills. He didn't want to leave her alone at the table but strained to hear what Sarah was saying, curious about what was going on.

"That's right, Bluey and her family are all dogs. Do you like dogs?" Alex asked.