Together Forever - (Station 19 fanfic)

ANXIETY

TW : Panic Attack

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Maya's POV :

I remembered when Carina was grieving her brother, it was so hard for her to eat but I managed to settle her stomach a little bit each day. But it was different for Bianca, she was eating well until yesterday when she threw up at the ceremony. It's been more than a day and she didn't seem hungry but we tried to give her lunch and she looked very disgusted by it.

"What is it ? Are you scared you'll be sick again if you eat something ?" Questioned my wife in her doctor voice.

"N- no. I'm not sure. I just don't feel like eating." She whispered on the verge of tears. I felt so bad for forcing her to eat, even more after the events of yesterday so I decided to drop it for now.

"It's okay. We'll try again later don't worry little one."

Carina shot me a glance saying she disagreed with me, but I didn't want to pressure Bianca.

The young girl nodded and stood up, walking to the couch. We were focused on a movie when the doorbell rang. Bianca flinched a bit.

"Shhhh, it must be the social worker." I soothed and went to open the door. I was right, it was an agent from CPS. I let him in and we sat at the kitchen table, soon joined by Carina.

"Where is Bianca Fiore Accardi ?" he immediately asked both of us.

"She's resting on the couch. We had a hard day yesterday, it was her parents funerals." Carina replied, trying to stay calm at the aggressiveness of the man.

"Alright. Is Bianca causing you any problems or troubles ?" He then demanded.

"No !" I said very loudly. Bianca was the nicest teen I've ever met. I felt Carina's hand on my leg telling me to calm down. "I mean no. She's absolutely no trouble. She is polite and sweet, she is still a little shy to ask things but we're working and it. No, Bianca doesn't cause any problems." I ended.

"When do you want her to change her placement ?"

"Sorry ?" I frowned.

"You can chose to send her to another family or a group home. I'll have to check our availability but as soon as-"

My wife interrupted him. "We don't want to be separated from Bianca. On the contrary, we want to keep her, forever."

"What made you think we wanted to send her away ?!" I asked a bit shocked as he was talking like the little girl was something we could get rid of when we were annoyed.

"I- I don't know. Usually families want to discover a new child, and when it's a traumatized one they want an easier one." He answered, taken aback by our reactions.

"An easier one ? AN EASIER ONE ? They're children sir ! You can't talk like that about children !!" I now screamed but stopped myself when I heard little wails coming from the living room.

I shot him an indignant look before running to our foster daughter. Carina stayed with the man to finish answering his questions.

When I saw Bianca on the couch, I immediately understood she was having a panic attack.

"Hey hey hey baby girl look at me, it's alright I'm here, Maya's here now." I said sitting next to her. She was hyperventilating and grabbing her chest violently as it was clearly getting harder to breathe.

"Shhhhh you're okay sweetie. You'll be just fine." I stroked her back but it wasn't soothing her.

"Okay I ready need you to breathe now Bianca."

I decided to sit her on my lap, facing me. Her legs were on each sides of my body and I led her head to rest on my own chest, so she could hear my heartbeat and feel my warmth.

I kept soothing her for a while until she seemed to be calmer and after few minutes, I pulled her head off of my chest. "Feeling a bit better lovely ?"

"Mmmmmh." She hummed.

"I'll go grab you a glass of water. I'll be just a minute." I stated but just before I stood up, Carina said "I'm going, don't move Maya." and that's when I realized my wife and the social worker were standing behind us the whole time during Bianca's anxiety attack.