explanation - original story [4]

chapter nine

CHAPTER NINE
eyes wide open

"Gina!" Gina's mother widens her eyes, "You're here."

Gina has made the decision to visit her mom in prison.

"I am," Gina nods.

Gina's mother gives her a disgusted look, "How could you do this to me? Gina, how could you?"

"How could I?" Gina scoffs, "You kicked me out of my house. You fucking abandoned me."

"I'm your mom, Gina."

"You are not my mother." Gina shakes her head, "I look at you and I see nothing. You mean nothing. You mean nothing to me."

Gina's mother furrows her eyebrows.

"CPS is gonna deal with me," Gina says, "If my dad doesn't take me... I'm gonna have to get fostered, but he has to agree to take me either way. And he will."

"You're going to move in with your father?" Gina's mother chuckles without any humor in her voice, "He left us."

"You left me."

Gina's mom sighs.

"Goodbye, Mary."

•••

The CPS worker places her hands onto Gina's shoulders carefully, "Do you believe that this will be a safe home environment for you?"

Gina furrows her eyebrows, looking over at her dad and Robin, "Uh..."

"If you don't, you don't need to stay with them," The CPS worker explains, "Do you have any other family here?"

"No."

"Your dad could always foster you until a family chooses to adopt you," The CPS worker suggests.

Gina raises her eyebrows, "Really? That actually sounds awesome."

"Alright, we can discuss with your dad and your lawyer, yeah?" She says.

"Yeah. Yeah, definitely."

•••

"Why are you always at my door?" Robin furrows her eyebrows, staring at Dylan.

"I have to apologize to you."

"For... what?"

Dylan shakes his head, "I shouldn't have asked you out. I thought I really liked you, which I do, but in a friend sort of way, not... you know. I'm sort of talking to this guy..."

"Tom, right."

"What? How did you...?"

"Tara told Gina who told me," Robin shrugs, "It's cool, dude. You don't have to apologize to me. I will always think you're stupid cute, Dylan, but I'm really hot, so I'll find someone else."

Dylan nods, "Right. So you're cool with it?"

"More than cool," Robin responds, "...But I'm a little occupied right now with my half-sister, so... uh... goodbye."

"Yes! Sorry, yeah, bye!"

•••

"Gina?" Gabrielle says, "Um... before you leave, we have something we'd like to ask you about."

Gina raises her eyebrows, "Oh. Okay."

"The two of us have been... talking," Daniel explains, "And we know that you're fostering until... until you get adopted."

"And we just wanted to tell you that if it's what you want, the two of us want to adopt you," Gabrielle shrugs, smiling softly, "But it's always going to be your choice."

Gina smiles, "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Oh my god, thank you so much..." Gina shuts her eyes for a moment, "But I think I need... more time to think about it...?"

"Of course!" Gabrielle nods, "As long as you need."

Gina takes a step forward and hugs the two of them abruptly.

"Thank you."

A/N: short chapter but only one chapter left and then the epilogue 😭💔