Shoulders

Chapter Four - Home?

Joel's POV
It had been twelve days since we sent in the paperwork, the tour was over, and Moriah and I were at the airport waiting for our girl to arrive. Our girl. That sounded so amazing. Moriah knew I was jumpy, and I was already pacing the waiting area, and as I went past her for about the two-hundred and forty-fifth time, she grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the seat beside her.

"I can't sit still right now! She should've been here already." She laughed.
"You're even more nervous than Luke said you were when we got married. Calm down! She'll be here. It's an airport, Joel! They always have delays. She'll be here." Just as the words left her mouth, a voice came over the intercom.

'Ladies and Gentlemen, flight 7230 from Richmond, Virginia to Nashville is now arriving at gate 13. We apologize for the delay, and thank you for flying O'Hare Airlines.' I jumped up, and Moriah laughed.

"Easy! We'd better wait a minute so that we're not hitting the crowd of people that are leaving first. She's not going with anyone else. Ms. O'Neill said she'd be personally bringing her here. We don't have to get there right this minute." I huffed, sitting back down. Ten minutes later, we headed to the gate, finding it still somewhat crowded. We scanned the crowd, and I tapped Moriah on the shoulder, pointing to a sign that read Smallbone. We headed over there, and we saw Ms. O'Neill with Amber, who had her nose in a book and headphones on. I chuckled when Ms. O'Neill saw us and poked Amber, making her jump. She looked up and saw us, pulling the headphones down around her neck and smiling shyly. Ms. O'Neill pulled a couple papers out of her briefcase and shuffled through them.

"Everything seems to be in order here. Any more questions?" Moriah shook her head, and Ms. O'Neill nodded. I picked up her suitcase, and she grabbed a smaller bag, following me towards the door. The women were still talking, so we just headed out.

Moriah's POV
Ms. O'Neill gently grabbed my hand as Joel took Amber's suitcase and they headed for the door.

"Just two more things I think you should know. One, she does get some blinding headaches sometimes, and it's best if she just sleeps it off, but ibuprofen doesn't hurt." I nodded sympathetically.
"I know what that's like. It's not at all fun." She nodded.
"And, two, at every home she's been at, except for one, which she ran away from, she has attempted suicide. She's not a bad girl in any way, she's just hurting, and she doesn't quite understand the feelings she has, so my guess is, she wants so desperately to have feelings she can understand that she's doing this to herself. Please, I hope everything works out here. If I weren't a social worker, I'd adopt her myself. She's a wonderful girl, but she's badly misunderstood." I nodded sadly.
"It's so hard to see them going through things this painful when they're so young. I'd better go, or my husband might take her home and leave me." We both laughed, shaking hands. She handed me two small cards.

"This one is for my sister, Claire, who's a lawyer, if you need it, and the other one is mine. Lovely to meet you, Mrs. Smallbone." We said goodbye, and I headed for the car, but Joel pulled up to the door, and I climbed in, hearing gentle laughter from the backseat.

"Alright, what's so funny?" I asked as Joel pulled out into the traffic.
"I was saying that three weeks ago, just getting autographs was a big deal, and now, just like that, you're fostering me. It's kinda funny when you think about it." I chuckled quietly.

"Yeah, a little bit. Hey, do you mind listening to Skillet?" She grinned.
"Nope! My favorite is Hero. I loved the way they did that at the concert!" Joel barked a laugh.
"That was cool. Luke said he's not going to ever do that again. He said they gave him a headache, and he had in-ears in. I, personally would though." After about ten minutes of Skillet, we pulled up to the house, and we got out, with Joel getting the suitcase again. I unlocked the door, and led Amber up to her new room.