Together (Demi Lovato Adoption)

Chapter Sixty Seven

SAM'S POV

"Ellie, wanna play with me?" I wandered into my big sister's room, her head resting on the pillow behind her as she swallowed the remainder of the sandwich that had been in her hand before. It was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and I watched Mommy cut it into triangles while she was making it. Triangles is the best way to cut sandwiches and cutting it into squares on into rectangles is bad.

"What do you want to play Sammy?" Ellie smiled over at me as I studied the soft rug beneath my feet. "I can't leave my bed, Mom would kill me."

"Why would Mommy kill you?" Sam asked, slightly panicked. "That seems very extreme just for getting out of bed! I know you might need to go to the toilet so would she kill you then? How do you go to the toilet Ellie? Because I think you havent left your bed because you not dead and --"

"Oh my god," Ellie giggled lightly as I tilted my head in confusion. "I was joking Sam. Mom couldn't kill a fly. I was just saying I can't get out of bed because Mom would worry."

"Oh. She would worry because you were sick and then you went into the hospital because you had Sepsis?"

"Yes Sam."

"Oh."

"Tell you what, how about you go get a puzzle, and then you and me can do the puzzle in here up on my bed."

"Okay!"

Happily skipping off to my room, I nearly tripped over a lip in the rug in the hallway before successfully making it to my puzzle draw. I picked out a Barbie and the Diamond Castle puzzle from the left side before taking it back to Ellie's bedroom, where my sister was still in the same spot.

"I bought a puzzle Ellie. It's my favorite, Barbie and the Diamond Castle. Can we watch it later? On your 'puter?"

"Sure Sammy, we can watch it later. For the millionth time." Ellie rolled her eyes before sighing deeply, staring at me with an smirk. "Other 15 year olds are probably learning how to drive cars, shopping with their friends at the mall, travelling -- me? I'm getting ready to watch a Barbie movie again."

"At least you aren't spending your summer buying me Starbucks 'llie. That's what Grace is doin'."

Chuckling to herself, I watched as Ellie took the puzzle from it's box, dumping it out on her bed as the two of us began sorting out the pieces to find the corners. Next we worked on the pieces that connected to the corners, making our way from there.

In about fifteen minutes we were finished -- the puzzle was easy. I've done it lots of times with Marissa and Mommy. Even Dallas helped me do it one time. Pointing towards one of the girls we had just made, I looked up at Ellie with a grin.

"D'ya know who that is?" I asked, bouncing up and down with excitement.

"No, but I'm sure you'd love to tell me, hey?" I nodded furiously at my big sister's answer.

"It's Liana! And that's Alexa, and that's Melody, and that's the evil mirror! Ellie, do you think we have an evil mirror that's gonna destroy our castle."

"No babe," Ellie laughed, opening her arms up for me to crawl into, the gesture one I was happy to accept. "There isn't a magic mirror that's going to destroy our castle."

"Phew!"

As I fiddled with the ears atop of one of the bears on Ellie's bed, I noticed a small necklace around it's neck with something written on it. I wondered where it was from and what it said, so I asked.

"Where's your bear from, 'llie?"

Ellie bit her lip for a second, hesitating. "Don't say anything to Mom alright, I don't want her to get upset that I still have it."

"Okay!"

"It's from my birth parents. It's the only thing that was left with me when they put me up for adoption." Ellie explained as I nodded to show I understood. "The locket around it's neck has Eleanor engraved on it, so I assume that's how Ms Avery named me."

"Ms Avery nameded you? Why couldn't you have just telled her your name?"

"Because I was only a baby, Sammy. I couldn't even talk yet. I could barely even crawl."

"So you were with Mrs Neveah and Ms Avery for a long time?"

"Very long time. Nearly 14 years."

"Wow!" My eyes nearly bulged out of my head. 14 years is older than me! "How long was I there Ellie?"

"You were only there for about 7 months before we got adopted. You know, I remember the day you came into the orphanage. Do you?"

I shook my head, looking up at my big sister as I couldn't wait to hear the story. She always told the best stories.

"You were tiny. You had only just turned three, and you didn't know what was happening. The only person you would let near you was Ms Avery, so she ended up having to carry you everywhere for hours. Then, later that day, you mistook me for Ms Avery and basically climbed up my leg like little monkey to get away from the other kids. Then you realised that you liked me a lot when I took you up to my bedroom so you would stop crying, and we warmed up to each other."

"Were you scared like me when you camed to the orp-oprh-orphanage?" My butchering of words and scrunched up expression made a smile come to Ellie's lips.

"Honestly baby, I don't remember."

"You don't? Not even a liddle?"

While Ellie shook her head, I looked up at her, wondering if she knew the answer to my upcoming question.

"Why can I still remember some of the things my old daddy did to me but I cant remember much of da orph--or--orphanage What would have happened to me if I didn't meet you and you didn't saved me 'llie?"

"I. . . Sam . . ." Ellie's voice trailed off as she tried to come up with the words. "Sammy baby, you know what your dad did wasn't right yeah? It was bad."

"Yes, I know."

"And you know you didn't do anything to make him do all of that to you?"

"Mommy told me that once."

Ellie took a deep breath, her hair tickling my cheek while her teeth sunk into her bottom lip as she continued. "Sometimes, when people go through things that are scary, they have trouble forgetting it. Sometimes it makes them really sad because they can't forget it and it's all they can think about. Sometimes they get really scared because they think it might happen again. Do you think maybe that's how you feel? Are you sad or scared about it?"

"No," I replied simply. "I think maybe dat's how I useded to feel though."

"Sad?"

"No, scared. I was always worried dat someone would be angry at me if I did someding wrong. Dat I would get in trouble and I'd have to. . ." Ellie ran her fingernails down my arm gently as she noticed me getting flustered.

"I know baby, I know."

Taking a piece of Ellie's hair and rubbing it against my lip gently, the two of us sat there in silence for a while. It had been too long since I had been able to sit and play and talk to my sister -- I forgot how nice it felt to be with her.

"'llie?" I mumbled against my big sister's chest.

"Mmm?"

"I love you. And I'm happy you're out of the hospital and not sick anymore 'cause dat was scary."

Wrapping her arms around my body, I felt Ellie press her lips against my hair gently. "I love you more Sammy. I love you forever and ever."