Chapter Text
Dave never knew how Linsey was always more or less ready to go from the sound of her first alarm at five in the morning, but it never ceased to impress him. Rolling over in his bed, he clenched his eyes shut as she turned on the side lamp and got up.
“You wanna help make breakfast and pack lunch or you wanna corral the kids today?” She asked him and Dave considered it. Breakfast and packing lunch meant waking up earlier, but the task was overall easier, while corralling the kids meant at least an extra thirty minutes if not a whole hour of sleep but it was definitely a more difficult task with seven kids. He did the mental math in his head.
Screw it, the bed was especially comfortable this morning.
“I’ll get the kids,” he said before hitting the backup alarms and pulling the covers over his head. Linsey laughed before exiting their bedroom and heading downstairs to the kitchen. Dave allowed himself to drift back to sleep, the early morning hours was the only time his home would ever be quiet and while he normally loved the circus he called home, it was nice to get some peace.
The peace only lasted what felt like a minute before his alarm started going off. Somehow forty-five minutes had already passed in the blink of an eye. Stretching with a groan, he forced himself to get up. It was time.
Getting ready for the day took no time at all, it was what happened after he left his bedroom that he could never account for. Exiting his bedroom, he made his way down the hallway to the kid’s bedrooms. His oldest two were his first stop, knocking on the door.
“Chester? Mike? You guys up yet?” He waited a moment before cracking the door open. His son Chester was out cold in his bed, the covers halfway covering his body and a leg dangling off the side. Mike on the other hand was already up and starting to pick out clothes for the day, his shirt already off and his flannel pajamas bottoms hanging low around his waist.
“Dave!” Mike cried out in annoyance as he tried to cover his bare chest with his hands. “You didn’t even give me a chance to answer!” Dave raised his hands in front of his face with a smile, halfway covering his eyes.
“Just checking in! Make sure Chester is up before you get downstairs, okay?” Mike rolled his eyes and huffed before he motioned with one of his hands to leave already, making sure to add,
“This would be better if I had my own room!” Dave smiled before closing the door and moving on to the next door.
“You boys up yet?” He asked after waiting longer between knocks.
“Yeah we’re up Dave!” He heard Rob call from inside the room. Taking that as his queue, he opened the door. Brad was already finishing getting dressed, his favorite black and silver headphones already covering his ears as he pocketed his Switch. His son Joe was still in his bed, clearly still processing being awake as he stared at the wall across from him. Rob was still picking out clothes for the day to his brother Brad’s annoyance.
“We’re going to be late,” Brad complained as Rob decided against the shirt he was holding and looked for a new one, “you know I don’t like being late.”
“We’re fine Brad, we still have over an hour before we have to leave.” Rob said as he finally settled on a shirt. Brad huffed before heading towards the door. Dave smiled at the teenager.
“Morning Brad, sleep well?” Brad shrugged as he rubbed his pointer finger and thumb together.
“I guess. Linsey making breakfast?” Dave nodded and Brad continued walking past him. Dave looked back at Joe, who was starting to register being awake as he slowly blinked.
“You gonna be okay son?” Dave asked and Joe silently nodded.
“He was up all night editing his movie!” Rob said with a grin as he gathered his clothes and ran out of the room to change in the bathroom, squeezing past Dave and the doorframe.
“Tattletale!” Joe complained before yawning. Dave huffed at his son.
“Joe, we’ve talked about this,” Dave started and Joe rolled his eyes as he started to get out of bed.
“I know Dad, sleep is important to my development, I know. Can I get changed now?” Dave raised an eyebrow, a look he had perfected over the last seventeen years. Joe lowered his head sheepishly.
“Sorry Dad,” he apologized, “I just got in the groove again and the next thing I knew it was three.” Dave sighed, disappointed, but not surprised.
“If it happens again the laptop isn’t allowed in your room at night anymore, you understand?” Joe opened his mouth to protest, only to snap it shut when Dave gave him another look.
“Okay…” he murmured and Dave had to resist taking it all back. He hated being the bad guy, but it was one of the necessary jobs of raising kids. Closing the door, he went down to the last room, unsure how to feel with the volume of the voices on the other side of the door.
“Leave me alone already Colin!” He heard Alex yell, “it’s not funny!”
“Yes it is!” He heard his nephew Colin laugh, only to shriek followed by a loud ‘thud’. Not wasting any time, Dave opened the door.
Alex’s head was soaking wet and he had Colin in a headlock. The younger boy was pinned to the ground, Colin looking like he was torn between laughing or crying out in pain to better get Alex in trouble. Dave was on them in two large strides, pulling them apart only for Alex to try and lunge at Colin.
“Stop it!” Dave yelled, doing his best to keep his volume at an appropriate level. Turning to Alex, he tried to keep a level head.
“Explain.” He demanded and Alex glared at Colin before answering,
“He woke me up by dumping water on my head!” Alex hissed and Dave turned to his nephew, a stern look gracing his face as he hardened his eyes. Colin was no longer laughing, and now couldn’t make eye contact with Dave.
“Colin, is this true?” He asked and his nephew’s head dropped, all the evidence that he needed. “Colin…” he waited for the younger boy to pick up the hint and hid his joy when Colin muttered an apology. Nudging him and giving him a look, Colin repeated himself more louder and more clearly.
At least it was something.
“Hurry up and get dressed,” Dave ordered as he let the two go, “breakfast should be ready soon and I want all of you downstairs in the next ten minutes. Understand?” The two boys nodded and Dave caught the side eye that Alex shot Colin. “I mean it you two.” Dave warned before he stood up and left the room.
“This is your fault,” he heard Alex mutter, followed by someone, presumably Colin blowing raspberries. Dave rolled his eyes, Colin would have to learn somehow.
Dave popped his head in the other bedrooms to double check that the boys were making progress in getting ready. Rob was finishing up brushing his teeth while Mike and Joe were brushing their hair in the large family bathroom. Noticing that he hadn’t seen his oldest yet, he went to his bedroom once more, finding the door closed. Knocking louder than before, Dave called out,
“You better be awake young man.” There was a pause before he heard a groan on the other side of the door.
“I’m up! I’m up!” He heard Chester say between yawns. Opening the door, he was greeted by the sight of Chester swinging his legs over his bed. His freshly dyed mohawk was a mess and he was struggling to find his glasses. Spotting them in the floor next to his bed, Dave reached down and picked them up before passing them to Chester.
“Thanks Dad.” Chester said with another yawn. Giving him a solid pat on the shoulder, Dave instructed him to hurry up.
“Don’t wanna be the last one to breakfast,” Dave added before leaving, “or else you’ll be left with nothing but scraps!” The reminder that there were six other hungry boys was enough to light a fire under Chester as he raced towards his dresser and began looking for an outfit. Satisfied that they were on track, Dave headed downstairs to the kitchen.
Linsey was finishing up zipping up the last of the lunchboxes when he entered the kitchen, the aroma of eggs wafted through the air. Moving silently, he embraced his wife from behind with a large hug, planting kisses on her cheek. He felt her smile as they began to rock back and forth.
“And good morning to you,” She said as she turned around, “they on their way?” Dave nodded.
“I told them to be down in,” he checked his watch, “four minutes and you know what? I think they may actually be on time!”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence Dave,” he heard Brad say from behind him. Turning around, he saw his son was halfway through eating his scrambled eggs and toast.
“Hey in my defense, I never have to worry about getting you anywhere on time!” Dave joked as he grabbed a plate and perused what Linsey had prepared for breakfast. There was a large plate of toast out, with scrambled eggs sitting in a bowl next to it, and some cold cuts and sliced cheese waiting at the end. Opting to make himself a sandwich, he piled his plate up just in time to hear a stampede of feet racing down the stairs.
Chester was somehow downstairs first, jumping down the last five or so steps to get ahead of the crowd, grabbing the first plate in victory.
“Haha, suck it!” He jeered before he began loading his plate up while the rest waited their turns.
“No fair!” Colin protested with a stomp of his foot, “Auntie Linsey, he’s gonna eat it all!” Linsey shot a glare to Chester, who groaned before putting some of the food back.
“There’s still plenty of other options if we run out,” Dave assured them, taking a quick glance towards Alex, “there’s plenty of food for everyone.” Before he could say more, his cellphone rang. Sighing at the possibility of his food getting cold, he looked to see who could be calling so early in the morning.
Crap. It was the social worker.
Placing his plate down, he stood up and walked to the next room before taking the call.
“Dave Farrell speaking,” There was a cough on the other end before the person on the other line spoke.
“Hey Dave, it’s Rick,” the older social worker sounded exhausted, his rough voice somehow even more gruff than normal, “I hate to do this to you, but I got an emergency foster I gotta place, would you be able to take them?” Dave sighed and rubbed his eyes. It wasn’t unusual for them to be asked to take a kid on short notice, that didn’t stop the small amount of frustration settling inside of Dave however.
“Of course, gimme a second,” Dave said, looking for a spare piece of paper and something to write with. He settled on a scrap piece of paper and an old ballpoint pen that he was amazed still had ink in it, “what can you tell me?” He heard Rick shuffle some papers before answering,
“Let’s see…a seven year old girl, you’d be her first foster family so I don’t have much else in terms of what to expect.” Dave wrote down the information, continuously irked that most of the time they’d only be given an age and a gender, but that was how things went. “It’d probably be on the longer end of a stay while we try and find some next of kin.”
“Do you know when you’ll be here?” Dave asked, “just wanna get things ready for her.” Rick was silent before he replied,
“She’ll be there in roughly an hour or two.”
****
The boys hadn’t been pleased that a little girl of all possibilities was being assigned to them, but a friendly reminder that they had all been in her shoes at one point was enough to keep them quiet. Dave was quick to help Linsey load the kids into the cars, with Chester less than pleased that he had to take the older kids to the high school instead of Dave.
Once they were out of the house, Dave got to work. Cleaning the kitchen thankfully didn’t take long, the boys for the most part understood that their help would be needed over the upcoming days with the new placement. The biggest task for Dave was getting the room ready. Heading upstairs, he opened the last bedroom.
Being foster parents meant that at any given time they would potentially be asked at the last minute to house a child, so they always had a spare bedroom ready. The room was small, but not cramped with two twin beds. The previous temporarily placed child had opted to place removable stickers on the walls to make the room feel more welcome. He would start there.
Stripping the mattress was next, as well as remaking the bed with fresh white sheets and choosing a reversible comforter of pale blue and light green. His mind raced as to what a girl may need as he loaded up a welcome bag with the spare supplies from the closet. Toiletries, hair accessories, a blanket, a few Magic Treehouse books, colored pencils, and a notebook. There were a few choices of stuffed animals available in the closet, but Dave settled on a giraffe that he placed next to the backpack on the bed. He also made sure to restock the small fridge in the room with some snacks and drinks. The fridge didn’t hold much, but when Alex had been placed with them, it proved invaluable to help the beginning process of breaking him of his food hoarding habit.
The ring of the doorbell came all too quickly and Dave found his heart racing. Forcing himself to calm down as he gripped the doorknob, he opened the front door. He was greeted with the familiar face of Rick Ruban, one of the many social workers Dave had come to know over the years. After all, he was still Mike’s case worker and Dave was always appreciative of Rick’s efforts in trying to get the courts to understand that his mother needed to sign her rights away so that Dave and Linsey could go through with adoption.
Stretching out his hand, Dave greeted the social worker with a handshake. “So, what do you have for me?” He asked. Letting go of his hand, Rick looked down and gestured to the small blonde haired girl hiding behind him. Kneeling down to her level, Dave softly introduced himself,
“Hi, I’m Dave,” he said and she hurried her face behind Rick, “what’s your name?” She slowly turned her face towards him until at least half of her face was sticking out from behind Rick.
“Emily,” she muttered before lowering her eyes. Dave smiled.
“That’s a really pretty name Emily. Do you wanna come inside so I can show you around?” She was quiet before she nodded her head, reluctant to step out from behind the safety of Rick. “You know what, I bet you’re hungry, would you like some breakfast?” The mention of food seemed to brighten her up as she eagerly nodded. Dave stretched his hand out and Emily cautiously grasped it. Stepping out from behind Rick, Dave could finally get a proper look at her.
She was small for her age, definitely on the thinner side. Her hair looked like it hadn’t been washed in a few days and her clothes looked like they were hand-me-downs several times over with how thin her shirt and shorts looked. As he took them inside, Dave felt his heart break when he saw Rick pick up a trash bag and bring it inside, presumably filled with Emily’s belongings.
Guiding them throughout the house, Dave gave her a brief tour of the first floor before leaking her to the kitchen. Pulling a chair out at their massive table he laid out some options for her once she sat down.
“We have some frozen waffles, and a couple of different kinds of cereal if you want. We also have some breakfast sandwiches that I can heat up for you if you want.” Her eyes widened at the offerings before whispering,
“Waffles please.”
She smothered her waffles with butter and maple syrup, her legs kicking back and forth as they dangled from the chair as she happily ate them. Rick coughed and he and Dave stepped to the side.
“So what’s the deal?” Dave asked with a low tone so that Emily couldn’t hear him, “Abuse, neglect, sudden loss of family, what’s her deal?” Rick grimaced.
“You seen the news lately about that Cult? Children of Silence I think they were calling themselves?”
How could he not? The news of the ATF and other federal agencies storming their compound about thirty minutes away had made headline news. Apparently they were some doomsday cult that had been plotting some sort of terrorist attack from what he had heard.
Which meant—
“She was one of about, thirty? Maybe twenty? That they took in once the compound was raided. We’ve been able to find next of kin for all of them but her. Mom was one of the higher ups, she’s gonna be behind bars for the foreseeable future and we haven’t been able to even get a name for a dad much less find one.” Dave nodded as he took the information in. Rick checked his watch before handing a file over. “I gotta get going, I’ll be back in a few days to check up on things.”
And then Dave was alone with Emily.
“Whenever you’re ready I can show you the rest of the house.” he offered as he sat down across from her. She nodded as she dipped her waffle piece into some more syrup. Pulling out his phone, he opened it to a picture of his family and showed it to her. She stopped eating and examined the picture.
“We have a lot of people living here so I understand if that makes you nervous,” he said gently, “but they all know what it’s like to be in a new environment so I promise they’re not scary.” Emily was silent before asking,
“Why don’t they look alike?”
“Well, it’s because we have a bit of a weird family,” Dave explained as he started pointing at members of his family, “that’s my wife Linsey and next to her is our oldest son Chester. We adopted him when he was around two. Over here is Mike, he’s been fostering with us since he was ten. Then this is Brad and Rob, they’re brothers and we adopted them when they were eight and six. Joe over here was adopted when he was just a few months old. Alex has been fostering with us for a little over two years now. And this little guy is my nephew Colin, he’s been living with us for about a year.”
Emily listened intently as she took the information in. “Are you gonna keep me?” She asked, her lip quivering, “but I wanna see my mom, when do I get to see Momma?” Dave pursed his lips as he put his phone away.
“You’re gonna stay with us until we can find someone from your family to come pick you up,” he explained, “and I’m not sure when you can see your mom, but when I do find out I promise to let you know.”
The house was quiet as Emily put her fork on her plate and nodded. Taking her plate, he guided her throughout the home, trying not to rush her.
“And upstairs are the bedrooms,” he said as they came to the top of the stairs. Emily took it all in, noticing how each bedroom door had colorful letters on them with the names of the home’s inhabitants, “you’ll be staying in this one, and if you want we can put your name on the door too.”
Emily looked at him in astonishment. She could get her own room? She didn’t have to share a bed with three other kids? Looking inside it was nicer than anything she had experienced back home. Sitting on the bed, she found it softer than what she was used to. Picking up the stuffed giraffe, she held it up.
“What’s this for?” She asked.
“That’s for you and so is everything else in this bag, even the bag is for you!” Dave said. Emily’s lip quivered again as she slowly hugged the stuffed animal. “So we have a few hours before people start coming home, how about we get you cleaned up and your things washed? Maybe we can do some shopping too if you’re up for it?” Hugging the giraffe tighter, she was silent as she nodded.
****
“What‘dya think the new kid is like?” Rob asked as they piled into Chester’s car. He tried to take a window seat for once only for Brad to push him to the center seat. Rob pushed back, the two ready to fight before Chester looked back at them with his rear view mirror.
“Knock it off you two!” He chastised, “Brad, you can sit up front, Mike just texted me that he’s gonna stay behind and work on one of his AP art projects and get a lift home from one of his friends.” Brad flipped Rob off before crawling to the front seat, who flipped his brother off in return.
“I just hope they’re not weird,” Joe said as he buckled up as the car’s engine roared to life, “remember that one girl who thought she was a horse? She kept trying to eat grass.”
“They’ll be fine,” Chester said as his tongue ran over his new lip piercing. “Just be nice, Dad said we’re gonna be her first home.”
“So long as she stays outta my stuff I don’t care,” Brad said as he played his latest game on his Switch. Chester rolled his eyes before turning his radio on, taking care not to make it too loud for Brad.
“What’s for dinner?” Rob asked as he browsed his phone. Chester shrugged.
“You know the rules, new kid gets to pick.” Rob huffed, but was quiet. He remembered his first day at what would become his permanent home. Brad had gone almost completely nonverbal at the shock of losing their parents and it had fallen on him to take care of his older brother in a new environment. Dave and Linsey had made things feel more normal with that first meal of pizza, even going so far as to make it fresh for them.
The car ride home was mostly silent the rest of the way, with Chester’s music filling the void. Chester quietly sung along to the songs he knew while Joe worked on editing a video on his phone. Brad silently rocked back and forth as he continued his game while Rob for the most part just stared out the window.
When they got home, the first thing they noticed was Dave’s car was missing. Linsey’s car was there at least, odds were that Dave was still out with the new kid. Parking the car, the four of them piled out, with Brad never taking his eyes off his Switch.
There was already a growing pile of shoes and backpacks by the front door, Colin and Alex had clearly ignored the hooks and shoe cubbies in favor of running off as soon as they crossed the home’s threshold.
“We’re home!” Chester called out as he hung his backpack onto one of the hooks. From down tbe hallway he heard his mom call out,
“Awesome! Can you guys come into the kitchen for a quick sec?” They all groaned and Brad mumbled something they couldn’t make out as he saved his game.
Linsey was sitting at their massive kitchen table, Colin and Alex were already sitting down and enjoying an afternoon snack while they worked on their homework. Linsey stood up and gave each of them a hug before asking them to sit down. Colin and Alex looked at them, both clearly unsure what was going on.
“Are we in trouble?” Chester asked as he took a seat. He didn’t think they had done anything at lately that warranted a family meeting.
“Why do you always think we’re in trouble?” Rob asked with a huff. Brad shrugged before dryly answering,
“Given Chester’s unfortunate habit of being Chester, it’s a fair question.”
“I resent that!” Chester protested as Joe snickered, only for Linsey to clear her throat before speaking,
“No one is in trouble, I just thought I’d let you know what’s going on with the new foster,” Making sure she had their attention, she continued, “first things first, her name is Emily-” Colin made an over exaggerated gagging sound.
“A girl? Gross!” He pretended to retch once more before Chester slapped him upside the head.
“Shout up!” He chastised his cousin, “you’ll like girls one day you know.” Colin made a scandalized face before wincing,
“Never! Girls are weird and gross.”
“Can you both shut up already?” Brad asked as he rubbed his pointer and finger together in small circles. Chester shot Colin a look, but the youngest out of them just rolled his eyes in annoyance.
“Like I was saying,” Linsey continued, her mouth tighter as she tried to keep their attention, “her name is Emily and she’s seven. I don’t think I need to remind you all to be on your best behaviors while she’s here.” Joe raised his hand before asking his mom,
“How long is she here?” None of them expected a clear answer honestly, it wasn’t unusual for a foster to be with them for only forty-eight hours, leaving suddenly and without word. Linsey grimaced before answering,
“From what we understand she comes from a,” Linsey was quiet as she tried to find the right words to explain before settling on, “unique circumstance. They’re trying to locate family to place her with but it may be slow going. She’s very sheltered and nervous, she’s had a rough two days. So please, remember that you were all in her shoes at one point.”
“Where’s Dave?” Alex asked, his eyes darting towards the fridge with old anxieties. Linsey gently pushed the place of apple slices and peanut butter towards him as a reminder that there was no shortage of food.
“He’s out with Emily right now picking out some clothes and other supplies for school. They’ll be getting things for dinner too, so don’t fill up too much on snacks.”
****
It had taken Emily some time to get used to the car seat, but she was softly kicking her legs in the air as she hugged her giraffe. She was quiet for most of the trip, but Dave could tell that having a choice in anything, much less the clothes she wanted to wear, was a foreign concept to her. Once she had understood that it was her choice she had wanted to try everything on just to see how she looked in them. The clothes she did choose were more of a tomboy variety, lots of jeans and T-shirts, with her eyes nearly widening to the point of concern when she had found a small area in the boys section dedicated to band shirts. She had asked with such a small voice if she could wear the Nirvana smiley face for the rest of the day that he couldn’t help but say yes.
Changing the radio to his phone, Dave put on some Nirvana and from the rear view mirror saw her break out into a soft smile as the opening notes of Smells Like Teen Spirit began playing. But once she saw that he was looking at her, her face dropped and she hid behind the giraffe.
“It’s getting close to dinner time,” Dave said as he decided to change the subject, “we have a rule in our house, all new people get to choose dinner on their first night. So, what’d’ya want kiddo, we can do anything you want.”
Emily was quiet as she watched the buildings go by. Back home meals were more or less the same and she wondered if she’d ever have Sister Louise’s cooking ever again. A part of her wanted to request the bean and cabbage stew over rice that was a frequent dinner. But then she remembered a handful of the older kids telling her about a place they used to eat before their families had joined. It sounded magical with its ice creams and fried potatoes, and while she didn’t know what a hamburger was, maybe today she could find out.
“Can we get McDonald’s?” She asked quietly. The request surprised Dave. Fast food wasn’t the most frequent request, most kids would go for pizza, but it wasn’t an uncommon one either. Looking at her through the rear view mirror, he inquired,
“McDonald’s huh? You like their Happy Meal?” Emily looked confused as she shrugged.
“I dunno, I never had it. But some of the older kids told me about it. Do they really give you a toy with it?”
Dave tried to hide his shock at the question. Even Alex had gotten McDonald’s at least a handful of times with his less than ideal previous foster homes.
“McDonald’s it is!” Dave said with a grin and was happy to see Emily’s face break out into the biggest smile he had seen so far. Typing into the GPS, he adjusted their route. “You wanna go inside or order through the drive through?”
“Can we go inside?” She asked as the car made a turn, “I wanna see the playground if that’s okay.” Dave nodded, glad that despite everything that Emily must’ve been through, she seemed to be a calm and polite child.
“I need to make a call, okay?” Dave informed her as he paused the music and dialed Linsey. Emily continued to stare at the window as she rubbed one of the giraffe’s ears. Linsey picked up on the fourth ring.
“Hey, how’re things?” Linsey asked and they could hear the clamor of the house in the background.
“Things are going great,” Dave answered, “we’re heading to McDonald’s for dinner, can you do me a favor and ask everyone what they want and text it to me when you can?” She chuckled before warning him,
“Okay, but it’ll be a large order with the boys.” Dave couldn’t help but grimace, but she was right. They all ate like they had two or three stomachs, with Chester and Rob being the worst ever since they had taken up track and football. “I’ll get that to you soon. How’s Emily doing?” Emily perked up when she heard her name and Dave smiled.
“She’s doing well, we picked up some clothes for her and registered her for classes, she starts tomorrow.”
Emily continued to look out the window as Dave talked to Linsey. She had never been to a normal school before, and it had been scary walking down the maze of hallways as Dave and the nice lady had shown her earlier today. Back home it was one adult teaching all of them and Brother Tom was always nice to her and making sure she had plenty of books to read. He even kept them safe for her once Momma found her reading one and hit her because they weren’t the kind Father Noah would’ve liked. She hoped Brother Tom was okay.
It wasn’t long before they pulled up to a building with a giant yellow “M” sign and the car was parked. Dave unbuckled her and held her hand as they entered the building.
The inside was loud and crowded with people looking to order their food. Emily looked in awe at the plastic play area with its tunnels, slides, and tubing. Tugging at Dave’s sleeves, she pointed at it before asking,
“Is that the playground?” He nodded before picking her up with a grunt.
“Let’s see what you want to get first and you can play while we wait for them to make our food, okay?” He pointed her to the large screens up front and Emily carefully examined the items.
“What’s a McFlurry?” She asked as she read over the types.
“Vanilla ice cream with candy mixed in,” Dave explained as the line moved forward. Emily’s eyes lit up and Dave was all but certain she’d be ordering one. “What looks good to you?” Emily continued scanning the menu, a very serious look overtaking her face.
“Can I have a hamburger Happy Meal please?” She asked and Dave smiled before setting her back down.
“That sounds perfect!” He said as they approached the front. He scanned his phone for his family’s order grimacing at just how much food seven boys could put away. “I’ll take five Big Mac’s, all large with fries, two double quarter pounders with cheese, both with large fries, two deluxe McCrispy both large fries, a plain McChicken, that’s no lettuce, no tomato, nothing but the chicken on a bun, and a large fry with that, two twenty piece McNuggets, two ten piece McNuggets, one large fry, a cheeseburger happy meal, and eight Oreo McFlurries please.” The cashier’s smile faltered as she tried to input the order, asking him to repeat it twice.
When Dave was done paying, he brought Emily to the play area and took a seat. “Why don’t you go play,” he encouraged Emily, “I’ll wait here and get you when the food is ready, okay?” With a smile that lit up the room, Emily took off, climbing up the plastic ladder and squealing as she went down the slide.
Dave watched Emily closely while keeping an ear out for their order. The first night was always a hard one for new placements, and he imagined it would be the same for Emily. He had tried to do some research throughout the day when he could on Children of Silence. He hadn’t found much other than a handful of news articles, the Feds were keeping things under wraps it seemed. But it appeared that the rumors were at least true, that they were a doomsday cult bent on kick starting the apocalypse with a disaster of their own making. Fortunately it seemed that there was a few that managed to alert authorities before their plan came to fruition.
Dave sighed. It was clear from what he had seen today with Emily that she was a bit behind in terms of schooling and the rest of the world. Hell, she couldn’t even sing along to any of the classic nursery rhymes that Dave tried to get her to sing. He knew it’d be a learning curve for her to make friends her own age, but she seemed like a sweet enough kid.
Perking up when he heard their order being called, he called Emily over, who was quick to respond. Her cheeks were rosy with excitement and her smile even bigger.
“Our food is ready,” he told her and her smile dropped, “I know it’s fun, but we gotta go before our food gets cold.” Emily pouted but shuffled behind him.
****
“We’re home!” Dave announced as they walked through the door. Emily was doing her best to hide herself behind him, the sudden realization that she was about to meet more people intimidated her. It wasn’t the large number of new people that scared her, after all, she loved the hustle and bustle of home with all her Brothers and Sisters. No, just meeting new people was always scary. Hearing the loud stampede of running only scared her more and she clutched her giraffe closer and buried her face into Dave’s jacket.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Dave said softly as an older sandy haired woman rounded the corner, “this is my wife, Linsey.” Linsey knelt to her level and smiled.
“Hi,” she said in a soft voice, “you must be Emily. I like your giraffe, does he have a name?” Emily was silent as she covered her face.
“NUGGIES!” A loud voice screamed and Emily jumped at the noise. She heard the rustle of their to-go bags being handed off as more footsteps took off running. Turning around, Dave picked her up with a grunt.
“You ready to meet everyone?” He asked her and she was shaking her head side to side before he was even done asking the question. “Hey,” he assured her, “there’s nothing to be afraid of. They’re all just a bunch of loud dorks, I promise.” Poking an eye out, Emily asked,
“Pinky promise?” Dave extended a finger and swore,
“Pinky promise.” Emily hesitantly entwined their pinkies together, the bond unbreakable.
“Everyone’s in the TV room!” Linsey told them, “Emily, you get to pick what we watch tonight!”
Dave carried her through the large home, the chatter of several boys growing louder the closer they got.
“Who got the double quarter pounder with cheese?” Someone asked.
“I did!” A voice answered followed by a, “Me too!”
As they entered the room Emily was greeted by the sight of seven boys, ranging from older teens to roughly a few years older than her. She recognized them from Dave’s picture, but their names escaped her. But the one who caught her eye the most was the one with his brown hair shaved to a buzz on both sides of his head, except for a bright red spiked stripe down the center of his head. His ears had earrings in them and his neck and wrists were adorned with spikes and chains. Even his lip had a thin loop down the middle of his bottom lip and he adjusted his black rectangular glasses before distributing the food amongst the other boys. Even his clothes were loud with black and red plaid pants and chains hanging from his waist. His white tank top had paint splatter all over it and his black boots had silver spikes on them.
Momma had told her about people like this. Evil devil worshippers, he fit the description perfectly. Momma had told her that people like him would whisper temptations in her ear to stray her away from Father Noah. But as he laughed at a fart joke and handed out fries to the others, Emily couldn’t help but think he didn’t act like a devil worshipper very much
“Everyone,” Dave said and the boys went quiet as they listened to him speak, “this is Emily, she’ll be staying with us for the foreseeable future. Say ‘hi’ sweetie.” Emily felt the words sit in her mouth like rocks, unable to make a sound. Finally, she squeaked out,
“Hi,” before tightening her grip on her giraffe. The boys waved to her before Dave went around the room, pointing out who was who. Colin had curly brown hair and was a few years older than her, Alex too had curly brown hair but his was darker. Rob and Brad were brothers despite not looking too similar, especially with how much taller and broader Rob was compared to Brad. Joe was busy looking at something on his phone, brushing his black hair out of his eyes as he tried to focus. And Mike’s hair was spiked with gel and when the light caught it she saw that he had strands of blue and red throughout his black hair. Chester was the devil worshiper, but his smile was so nice as he handed over her Happy Meal and McFlurry, so maybe Momma was wrong.
“So,” he asked as he handed her a remote, “you’re in charge of the TV tonight, what’re we watching? We got all the major streaming services, plus a ton of DVDs, its dealers choice.”
Emily took the remote, its buttons intimidating her. They weren’t allowed to watch much television at home because it went against Father Noah’s teachings. Even cartoons were against most of the rules, the only one they were allowed to watch was an old tape of The Carebears Movie. Seeing all the options in front of her was overwhelming and she felt her lip begin to quiver.
“Hey,” a soft voice said as an arm wrapped around her shoulder, “don’t worry, we can help you decide if choosing is too scary.” Emily leaned into Chester’s embrace as she nodded.
“Do you want a cartoon or real people?” He asked and she thought about it for a second before answering with ‘cartoon’. “You want action or funny?” This time she was faster to answer with ‘action’. “Okay, how does something called ‘Transformers’ sound? It’s about good robots fighting bad robots and they can turn into cars and planes.” Emily’s eyes widened at the prospect and quickly nodded.
“Transformers it is!” Chester declared as he showed her how to work the remote, the opening theme song soon playing. Everyone began to eat, the boys wolfing down their food like they hadn’t eaten in days. What was really strange to her was watching Chester dip his fries into his McFlurry before eating them. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye before popping another fry into his mouth.
“It’s weird, I know,” he admitted as he dipped another into the vanilla ice cream, “but the salty and sweet are a good combo, give it a shot.”
It didn’t make sense to her, putting fries in with ice cream, but she was curious. Grabbing a fry between her fingers, she hesitantly dipped the tip of it into her McFlurry. Taking a bite, she was happy to find that Chester was right and began devouring her fries. She was so occupied with watching Optimus and Bumblebee that it came as a surprise when her hand soon reached the bottom of her fry container.
A larger bag of fries was placed in front of her, Chester flashing a smile at her.
“Try not to fill up on just fries,” he said before diving into his burger. Emily picked her own burger up and took a bite, ketchup smearing everywhere on her face and between her fingers as she ate.
Maybe things would be okay here.