the hansen-hernandez family seemed perfect, or at least that's what they ought to be.
being the oldest out of the four children, lauren hernandez took on the role of the most protective sibling. she and her biological sister, camila, were taken in by dinah and ally when she was four, while camila was only a year old. from then on, lauren promised that she wouldn't leave camila, or let anyone repeat the same mistakes on camila like her father did.
the raven-haired girl loved softball as much as she loved her siblings. her parents would often nag about how her cleats would drag orange clay around the house (which was a pain to get out of the living room carpet). as much as dinah and ally would pester her about how it looked like the "sun threw up" in their living room, or how dinah would occasionally brake a bone or two by tripping over her metal bat, it wouldn't stop her from playing. the feeling of the wind whooshing against her skin as she threw a perfect line drive to third base was all she needed to keep her distracted from what took over her mind, what kept her up at night.
you see, lauren hernandez has been scarred ever since her father made her do things–forced her do to things that words cannot explain. for the first few weeks of fostering lauren, she didn't speak a word. dinah and ally were scared that the little girl would stay mute forever. after months of therapy, dinah-jane almost broke down into tears when lauren read the contents of a cereal box.
after getting to know the broken girl, the couple didn't think fostering was enough. so, after months of preparation classes and money spent on redecorating their boring guest room into a pink princess room, lauren and camila jauregui finally became lauren and camila hernandez.
two years later came along shawn hernandez. although his background isn't as interesting as his sisters', it sure is one he'll remember. he never met his biological parents, but he grew up happy and healthy with his foster parents. after his foster mother grew sick, they simply could not afford shawn, and left him on the doorstep of newlyweds, dinah and ally.
lauren immediately grew fond of shawn, telling all her classmates that she got a new brother for christmas. there was no way the wives weren't going to adopt the little boy, so in came their third child.
around eighth grade, he became extremely fond of music. his parents thought it was just some phase that would wash over, like his one-week phase of wanting to be a helicopter pilot.
for his fourteenth birthday, the pair got shawn a classic fender, and he was ecstatic. he took it wherever he went, usually keeping his big sister up at night. for the past year, it literally became a part of his body. his mothers didn't mind, though. he sung like an angel.
on his fourteenth birthday, a new guitar wasn't all he got. he met his new best friend, normani.
dinah had received a call from her good police friend, khalid, asking if she could foster over the fourteen year old girl. it was only hours after derrick and andrea hamilton died in a car wreck. khalid found normani scared and alone, wandering around the dark streets of downtown miami. they took the girl in, and in no less than a year, they adopted normani.
it was safe to say normani and shawn were attached at the hip. the two were inseparable, considering their love for music and writing. dinah and ally had to basically pry the two away from each other.
years pass, and shawn still loves music, normani and him still cannot be separated, and lauren's favorite person is still camila.
but quite recently, teenage camila has really been testing lauren.
"YOU'RE SO ANNOYING! JUST LEAVE!"
dinah sighs, a pattern of footsteps and an agitated lauren following.
