Adopted by Top Gear

Chapter Seven: At Home With James

At the end of the filming day, when Jeremy and Richard shuffled back into the portakabin, Mercedes was near bouncing off the walls in her excitement. But when someone else walked in after the boys, she froze. He didn’t look like a police officer, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t one, right? Had Ms. Summers sent someone out looking for her already? She really didn’t think anyone would notice her missing.

“Mercy, this is Andy Wilman, our producer,” Richard told her, and she let out a small breath.

“Hello,” she smiled, so as not to be rude.

He nodded at her with a small smile, and she realized he was on the phone. Her heart started hammering against her ribcage again. He’s on the phone to the orphanage. But the man just wandered into the little kitchen, saying something about cars.

“Are you alright?”

She jumped slightly when James touched her arm, but turned to smile at him. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She waited for him to smile back before she looked back to Richard.

“Guess what,” she grinned. “James says I can spend the night at his house!”

“That’s great,” he smiled at Mercedes. “I was going to say you could stay the night at my flat, but since you’re already sorted out.” Richard glanced at James who shrugged. “As long as he feeds you something decent for dinner, I have no complaints.”

Mercedes laughed. “Come have dinner with us, then! Um, if it’s alright with James, that is,” she added, looking to James for approval.

“It’s fine with me,” James nodded. “Richard?”

“Sounds good to me,” he grinned at Mercedes.

---

Richard told them he’d met them at James’s place, he just had to pick up a few things. So Mercedes hopped into James’s little black Fiat Panda and they drove back to Hammersmith. It was a rather quiet drive, but Mercedes didn’t mind, it gave her time to think. She figured that she’d be allowed to stay one or two nights, then she’d be sent back to an orphanage. So, if she ran away again before James could send her away, she could find somewhere else. Maybe she could convince Richard not to send her away? Or maybe it was better if she just found somewhere else to hide. Would she be able to find someone to adopt her, or would she have to live off the streets forever? Her musings were cut short by James turning into a driveway and announcing they were home.

“Herewe are, home sweet home.”

Mercedes thanked him and climbed out, hauling her bag over her shoulder. She followed James to the door, waiting patiently for him to unlock it, gazing around.

"You can put your bag in the spare room, if you like," James told her, pointing down the hall. "Last door on the left, opposite the bathroom."

"Thanks," she said, giving him a half smile.

"Richard should be here soon. If you'd like a shower, there's towels in the bathroom."

"Oh, yes please. I'd love one."

He nodded, already disappearing into the kitchen. "Turn on the fan, please," he called.

Mercedes skipped down the hallway and threw her bag into the spare room, then went into the bathroom. She flicked on the light and the switch marked 'Fan' then went and turned on the shower. While she waited for the water to heat up, she peeked around his bathroom a bit. Back at the orphanage, there were two bathrooms; the shared one for the kids, and the one in Ms. Summers' bedroom. She'd snuck in there once, and stolen a bottle of bubble bath solution. She and her friend Laura had spent hours in the tiny bath playing with the bubbles, even after the water went cold.

Mercedes shook off the memory, it wouldn't do her any use thinking of Laura, and quickly stripped her clothes off. She put them in a small pile on top of the toilet, then climbed into the shower, reveling in the warm water. Carefully, she edged the shower knob towards hot, and after a few moments, hot water was pouring out. She grinned, amazed at finally having a hot shower (usually by the time she got to use the shower, most of the hot water was gone and it was lukewarm at best), and stayed under the water long after washing her hair and exfoliating until she smelt like a lemon and her skin was pink and tingly.

Climbing out of the shower, she found a large blue towel to wrap around herself and a smaller one for her hair; the twist was something she'd seen Ms. Summers do, and it was rather easy, although the balancing took a bit to get right. She collected her clothes and padded back across to the spare bedroom. Just as she started going through her bag for fresh clothes, there was a light tapping on the door.

"Mercy? Richard's arrived with pizza and ice cream," he laughed a little, "apparently his version of a decent dinner is junk food."

She laughed as well. "I'll be out in a moment."

"Okay." His footsteps faded back into the lounge.

Mercedes quickly pulled out a pair of jeans, and her favourite faded green top that said Keep Calm and Make Things. One of the girls had secretly sent gifts after she'd been adopted, and Mercedes had loved it straight away. She was always trying to create things, whether out of the boys' Lego or the chef's ingredients. She hurried out of her room, wondering what pizza Richard had brought.

"There she is," Richard grinned as she walked into the kitchen. "Nice shirt."

"Thanks." She peered into the pizza box, delighted that it was Hawaiian. "Can I have a plate, please?"

James handed her a white paper one, flipping open the other pizza box. "The idiot brought far too much, so go hard."

Her eyes widened. "Really? I can have more than two slices?"

James nodded, a wide smile on his face. "Have as many as you like. Just don't make yourself sick."

"Remember, I got ice cream, too," Richard added.

 Mercedes's smile couldn't have been wider.