Finding Family |Adopted by Melissa Benoist and Chris Wood|

30

"Where is she!?" Melissa shouted, shoving her way through all the nurses and doctors, with Chris hot on her heels.

"Ma'am please calm down and lower your voice"

"Don't tell us to calm down! You were supposed to keep her safe! We need to know where she is!" Chris snapped.

The hospital employee sighed and mumbled something into the radio that sat on his shoulder before letting out a huff of annoyance. "This way."

Melissa and Chris followed behind, the three adults running through the hospital corridors and up and down the stairs until they reached a solid white door at the end of the hallway.

"Please prepare yourselves." the hospital employee warned before slowly swinging the door open.

Chris and Melissa's eyes fixated on a bundle of blankets, tears filling their eyes.

Earlier that day

"So it looks like the two of you have fulfilled your requirements..." Gladys mumbled flipping through the files. "You guys got lucky... ordinarily being a licensed foster parent could take many months..." She looked up at the couple and adjusted her glasses.

Melissa could feel her heart pounding in her head. This is the moment we've been waiting for! All that extra work! All that homework?! I forgot how annoying homework can be!

"Looks like the two of you are now licensed foster parents. You will probably get an emergency call for a child to stay at your house within the next few weeks so stay alert. Don't expect the call to be about Star as she is still safe with her biological family as far as we know... you have the emergency placement ringtone set on your phone?"

"Yes, everything is all set. We just need to put the finishing touches on the room but as for the contacts, they can either reach Melissa or myself based on the time that they call." Chris replied.

Okay..." Gladys looked up, staring coldly at the new, officially licensed foster parents. I know I come across harsh but they need to know the world of foster care... It's a dog eat dog sort of world... These guys are young.. Millennials... but good for the kids and the parents... and the system as a whole... "Don't celebrate yet. The work has just begun. "

Melissa and Chris ignored Gladys's curt tone and grinned at one another, practically bursting with excitement.

We can finally, hopefully, get our girl back! I know Gladys said that Star is fine at her new home but.. That's crap. Star belongs to us! So she will come live with us soon! Chris mentally celebrated, triumphantly punching the air "Whooo baby! Let's go!" he whooped in excitement before looking around and noticing Melissa's amused expression. Gladys cleared her throat and shot him a glare. "Sorry" he apologized sheepishly despite the fact that his heart sang with joy.

⚠️Trigger Warning ⚠️
"Stop crying! Get your act together and feed your f-cking baby!"

Slap

A red mark formed across the woman's face almost instantly the baby letting out a weak cry, startled by the loud noise

The man now turned his attention to the baby, reaching over and attempting to grab the infant who was being shielded by her mother. "You useless runt, shut the f-ck up! Gimme the baby Marie. Needs to learn a thing or two about being seen not heard."

The mother, Marie, glanced up. "No , please Richard. She's just a baby!"

"Dumb excuse. Your baby still doesn't have a name!"

"I told you, her name is Star and I don't care how stupid you think it is."

"There we go, she's back" A voice shattered through the vision, bringing Star back to the present as she was being wheeled through the emergency room. "Glad to have you back, kid. Gave us quite the scare."