Finding Home

Want

Dinah nodded her head. "Dr. Kelly said Lauren would be helped by having a puppy. And look at her."

Selena looked at Lauren, who was smiling. Leo was trying to lick her face, while she pushed him away. She wasn't as tensed as the first time she saw her.

"Therapy puppy, you'll need to have him trained," Selena said, smiling. "But it's good to see you guys going the extra mile even though they aren't your official kids. Have you told them about your plan?"

Dinah nodded her head. "They know, and they are okay with it. But you can ask them if you want."

Selena smiled. "It's part of the procedure. I will have to, but I know you guys are one of the good guys."

"We understand," Ally told her.

"What are our chances of actually adopting them?" Dinah asked, looking at the two girls.

"Really good. Given that you adopted Camila before, and things have been good, I see no problem with you adopting Lauren and Normani."

"It took a few months for us adopt Camila, do you know how long it'll take for Normani and Lauren to officially be Hansen-Hernandez?"

"A few months. It could be official in November."

Selena then helped Dinah and Ally with the paperwork, while the three girls played with the puppy.

"How's speech therapy going?" Selena asked, turning to the mothers.

"It's going good. Lauren started sounding out, well sounds. Dr. Kelly is sure Lauren will be able to speak. And Camila is having a blast with sign language."

"How is Normani doing?"

"She is getting better. She still can't believe we want her times. It's like she's waiting for us to tell her this is a joke and we are going to send her back to her old parents."

Selena gave them a sad smile. "I know why."

Dinah and Ally looked up from the paper work, curious.

"With the exception of the Martins and her actual birth parents, she has been with two other families. They weren't very nice to her, ignoring her and giving her away the first chance they got. And it was all because of the color of her skin. And it seems like she's waiting for you two to say you don't want to raise an African-American girl."

Dinah looked so angry, while Ally looked sad. Dinah shook her head. "Normani deserves the world. We would never return her. She had us hook from the second she came into our lives."

"That's good to hear. But Normani has been abandoned before. It'll take her a while before she can trust that you won't back out."

"Will Lauren's birth parents be a problem?"

Selena shook her head. "They gave up their parental rights shortly after she was born, which was how she went to live with the Martins. We also found Lauren's old social worker. That man, he just dropped her off at whatever house, and didn't check up on them once. Normani's social worker gave up. As of now, I am their social worker, and I plan to make multiple checks up. I trust you two, but I want to show those two girls that they aren't alone."

Ally smiled. "They need more people on their side."

"Can we know more about the abuse? We don't to trigger them."

"Okay, well closets are their safe place. Once in the closet, they weren't physically punished. But they weren't allowed out and couldn't get any food. As stated before, Lauren didn't get much stimulus growing up. Maybe a toy here and there, not until Normani was put in the house, so that helped her. Belts, spatulas, sandals, they were used a lot. Which is where the scars came from. Have they had any triggers yet?"

"Just sounds so far, with them being 'loud'. When Lauren started crying, Normani was scared we'd punish her. And when Lauren woke up while Normani was shopping, she stayed in the closet until Mani returned."

"Have they been separated yet?"

"Other than that time, not for too long. Just when one would wake up earlier than the other. But they are okay with that."

"Have you talked about school yet? The new school year will be beginning soon."

"Has Normani been to school before? We plan to have her tested, to see where her grade level will be and go from there. We're hoping one of us can stay the first day to make sure she's okay."

Selena shook her head. "The Martins didn't let her out. If it weren't for the crying, their neighbors wouldn't have thought kids living in there."

"The neighbors heard them and did nothing?"

"The bystander effect. They thought someone else would call the cops."

Selena turned to see Lauren watching as Normani and Camila rolled a ball between them while Leo tried to catch it.

"They are going to be happy here, and that is all that matters."

-

What do you guys think Lauren's first word be? (I know what it will be and when it'll happen.) I want to know what you guys think it'll be. It will be a while before Lauren says her first word though. She isn't going to be talking outright either. It'll take time, as she has to learn how letters sound and how to make them into words.

I'm excited for the next chapter. It's the scary/cute one. Yay.