𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐓//𝐋𝐮𝐤𝐞 𝐃𝐮𝐧𝐩𝐡𝐲

"Sal de mi camino!" Season 7-Part 4

Maddie stood at the door and reluctantly brought her hand towards the doorbell and she paused. She paused as she thought if she should ring it, or just go home. She took a deep breath before pressing the bell. "Ay she's here! Sal de mi camino!" She heard the familiar voice from inside before the door opened.

"Welco-ay Maddie! You look...eh different." Gloria painted a false smile onto her face as she looked down at the girl. "Hey Gloria, you okay?"

"Uh, yes yes. Come in." She welcomed the girl in as other family members began making their way towards the front door to welcome her. "Hi Maddie. W-What's going on with you?" Mitchell questioned in a higher pitched as his eyes swiftly shifted to his husband who gave him an 'I told you so' look before looking back at Maddie.

"Didn't Cam tell you, everyone calls her Mads now." Maddie let out a grumble as she looked to see the curly haired brunette with his arms crossed over his chest. "Dunphy." She spat his name out as if he were some kind of vermin, and Luke did the exact same. "Black."

There was an silence that filled the room as the teenagers gazes burned into each other, whilst the two gay men watched intently not sure what was happening. "Okay, we're gonna go tell Claire you're here. She's desperate to see you." The ginger broke the intense eye contact the teens were holding. "Okay." Maddie spoke and the two men walked away cautiously before leaning in towards each other and whispering like teenage girls.

"I told you she'd changed!"

"You didn't tell me she changed that much!"

"You sure you wanna be here Mads? Not rather be at some stupid party right now playing truth or dare or something stupid like that." Luke's inflection on certain words made the girl furrow her eyebrows together as she scoffed. "Please I'd rather be anywhere than he-hi Claire!"

To say Claire was shocked was an understatement. Claire had always thought of Maddie Black as her daughter, hell she thought of both the Black children as her own. But this wasn't Maddie Black. It wasn't the girl who lived the colour pink, the girl who once mentioned she dreamed of writing children books, the girl who sobbed for the entire day after watching Bridge to Terabithia. That was Maddie, the girl standing in front of her wasn't. She couldn't be.

"Hi." Was all Claire could force out of her mouth as she looked the short girl up and down. God she remembered when Maddie was really small. She still was small, the girl was only 16 but she looked as if she were in her 20s.

"What do you mean Margret?"

Maddie could hear a familiar voice call out from the kitchen before a concerned looking man wondered in, the phone brought up to his ear. "How many times have I told you not to wander around pet stores alone. Wh-" Jay paused as he looked the small brunette girl up and down before shaking his head and walking off.

Rude

"Maddie, I think we need to talk." A hand wrapped itself around the girls wrist, and before she could protest, she had been dragged away from the family who had erupted into conversation about the girls new look.

"What is that all about?"

Cameron.

"That was Maddie?"

Gloria.

"What happened to her?"

Mitchell.

"It's only been a few months."

Alex.

"That can't be her. Not my Maddie."