I'll wait for you, I promise

10

Anna's Pov
"Hazy... when's your birthday?" I asked Hazel who had just woken up and came into the kitchen.

I had gotten legal custody over her just a few days ago from court. I wanted to be able to surprise her but when she answer it broke my heart.

"What's a birthday?" She asked.

"Uhm what date were you born?" I asked.

"April 14 2005." She said and I spat out my coffee.

"That's today." I said and she nodded.

"I know right? It's really cool." She said and walked off.

"Hazy have you celebrated your birthday?" I asked her.

"No. What's a birthday?" She said.

"Birth-day. Put those two words together." I said and it took her awhile.

"Wait is today my birthday?" She asked and I nodded.

"Oh that's really cool." She said and I frowned as she kept doing the laundry.

"Hazy stop working. Today we're celebrating." I said.

"For what?" She asked.

"Your birthday." I said and she looked up.

"Wait we celebrate my birthday?" She said and I nodded.

"So... stop doing the laundry and let's go celebrate." I said and she smiled.

For her birthday I decided that me and the girls would go to the zoo. It was her first time going and she looking forward to feeding the animals.

"Make sure to pack water and food." I said and she nodded.

When it looked in the bag. The entire thing was filled with caprisuns and goldfish.

"Hazy I said water not caprisuns." I said and she frowned.

"Fine we can get caprisuns and water. Will you get some actual good food?" I said and she hopped over to the pantry.

She got some cookies and donuts as I rolled my eyes. I started making sandwiches for the both of us and I cut them up to triangles and put them in a bag.

"You ready Hazel!" I asked and she came down with my sweatshirt and jeans.

"I'm ready!" She said and I looked at her as she brought her dinosaur.

"Let's go." I said and hopped into my car.

"Am I gonna be able to drive someday?" She said and I smiled.

"I can teach you. When I turn 21 I can get you your intermediate license." I said and she smiled.

"But you better start studying now. You'll have to past a test first." I said and she nodded.

The whole time she talked about wanting to go to the aquarium and seeing the sharks. I don't actually think they have sharks but the closest things they have are dolphins at the most.

We met up with the girls and Dev and Sab had presents for her.

"I don't deserve those I didn't work for them." She said and I frowned.

"But these are for you since today is your birthday." I said.

"But I didn't work for them. I have to work for them." She said.

"No you don't... look at me. These are your presents. Everyday for birthdays people will give you presents. Open them up." I said and she opened dev's first and found a pillow pet that was a shark.

"It's so cute!" She said and I smiled.

Sab's gift was some sweatshirts that had dinosaurs on them. There were like animated comics and it they were so cool that Hazel decided to wear one now.

"Okay! Wait. Let's change in the car since you don't have anything under this." I said and she ran to the car changing.

She came back with the baby dinosaur on the front saying. 'More like tyrannosaurus flex' and she looked like the happiest person in the world.

It's sad that she's never experienced a real childhood and I wanna make it an experience now.

We walked in and paid while the girls were talking to Hazel, Eva came up to me.

"It's sad..." she whispered.

"Sad to think she has to earn her way through life." Eva said and I shrugged.

"I'm gonna give her an actual home where she can be freely to do things she wants. And I'm gonna teach her that she doesn't have to earn her way through." I said and Eva smiled.

"Your a good person Anna. I belive you can change her mind perspective." She said and I smiled this time.

We tracked through the Zoo and Hazel couldn't take her eyes off the animals. Whenever she couldn't find the animal she wouldn't give up until she did.

We arrived to the Cats and she took pictures of the lion and the tigers. We came across some geckos on the bricks of flowerbeds as I took one in my hand.

"You want to pet it?" I asked her and she got a close up picture.

She gently put her finger on the lizards head and pet it softly. She smiled and I put the lizard in her hands. She carried it to the next checkpoint and than let it go after one more pet.

She's so innocent and she's a sweet girl. She loves animals and is so gentle. When she fed the giraffes she made sure to do it correctly cause she didn't want to harm the giraffes.

The next stop was gonna be the aquarium and she has been waiting to see the sharks. I've realized that her and she has been folding up so while we took a break from walking I fixed it.

I kissed the side of her head and than we continued.