a/n: just to avoid confusion. Katherine and Patrick are Collins birth parents. they died when she was 11, and when she was 12 she was adopted by Eleanor and Marcus. Katherine and Patrick were called "mama" and "papa". Collins now calls her adoptive parents "mom" and "dad", finding it easier since that's not what she called her birth parents. ~
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i know we cut all the ties but you're never really leaving, and part of me wants you back but i know it won't work like that...
~ gracie abrams / i know it won't work
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COLLINS STILL COULDN'T BELIEVE THIS WAS REALLY HAPPENING. Was she really back? Okay, it wasn't technically the same place, she was raised in "The Cut" for most of her life, but for some reason, even just being in Figure 8 gave her a vibe she couldn't quite put a name to.
"Everything alright honey?" She turned to see Marcus, her adoptive dad (whom she'd been calling "dad" since she was 13), approaching. "Mom and I are gonna get started unpacking, why don't you take a look around, maybe go explore the backyard?"
"Okay," she mumbled. Marcus was worried about her. They knew it was a bit of a risk, moving closer to the life that Collins was whisked away from. But he was presented with a new work promotion / opportunity, and Collins was the one who pointed out that they'd be stupid to turn it down just for her sake. She'd told them (and herself) that she'd be fine. Eventually.
After a couple more minutes of standing in front of their new house, Collins decided to do what he'd suggested, and she wandered in to the backyard. A flutter of excitement appeared when she spotted the big pool, but it quickly died down. As much as Collins wanted to be excited, she couldn't quite allow herself to feel that emotion just yet.
10 minutes of slowly wandering around the outside of the house later, she made her way back around and went in through the front door. Their family only consisted of Marcus, Eleanor, and Collins. But they were moving in to a 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom mansion, as Collins called it. She always knew they were wealthy, but now she really knew. It was quite an upgrade from their 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom home.
"Collins, come up here!" She glanced up to see Eleanor (aka "mom") beckoning to her from the top of the staircase. She linked her arm through Collins', and excitedly pulled her down the hall, stopping at each of the empty bedrooms. "I know there's a bedroom downstairs, but the other four are up here and I figured you'd want to be up here with dad and I, but it's completely up to you. Ours is the master bedroom at that end of the hall. You can look around all of them again and just let me know which one you want to be yours. The moving trucks should be here within an hour, and we can tell the movers where to start putting your boxes."
