Beautifully Broken

The Deal

Jenifer POV

We lead Justin back into our dining room to talk about Ryker for a little bit. "So My husband and I read over Ryker's file this afternoon."
"That's fantastic, did you have any questions?"
"No, but We do want to explore the option to possibly adopt Ryker."
"Adopt Ryker? You just met him." Clark interjects himself in the conversation "Something inside tells us that He's supposed to be ours, and when we met him that feeling was confirmed."
"Okay, well you know he needs to live with you for six months before you can adopt and because he is fifteen He does have the right to refuse to be adopted." We both nod our heads. "Okay... Ummmm... I was honestly not expecting you guys to want to adopt Ryker."
"Nicole has helped us adopt our last two, if she thinks Ryker is a good fit, we at least want to know if that option is open."
"Yes, we can start that process whenever you feel is right for you and your family." We both nod our heads. I hear the oven beep in the other room telling me it was preheated. "Excuse me, I need to go put dinner in the oven." I walk into the other room to put the frozen lasagna into the oven. Most of the time I would try to make a homemade dinner, but today got a little crazy so I decided to do a frozen dinner tonight. "Sorry about that," I say walking back into the dining room and sitting back down at the table. Justin has papers scattered across the dining room table. "Ryker does have some bruises from the last fight He was in." We both nod, "reading through his file, you can see he has had a rough past. His mother was a drug addict and his stepfather was abusive. He was removed from his mother's care several times, then she would get clean, every time He would go back to live with his mother she would kick his step-father out, but he always came back. He was removed permanently about a year ago. He usually doesn't stay at any foster placement very long."
"Is that just because of the fights?" Clark Asks. "Mostly."
"But not fully?"
"As you know kids in foster care have their own unique challenges. With Ryker's past, he is very headstrong."
"Aren't all teens," Clark says with a laugh. Justin politely laughs in return. "Riker is especially headstrong, Riker took care of his younger sister for years before they were permanently removed."
"Younger sister?"
"Yes, they were split up just about a year ago and she was adopted." I nod my head. "We understand that Ryker is a big challenge and if he gets to be too much let us know and we will try to find him another placement."
"We want Ryker, we aren't planning on giving up on Ryker any time soon." Justin nods his head. We look over some more paperwork before locking it away in the filing cabinet as Clark walks Justin out. After relocking the filing cabinet I hear the oven beep again. "Kids, Dinner!" I yell taking the meal out of the oven. I quickly hear four sets of feet come running downstairs and down the hall. We all eat dinner and end the night with ice cream and a movie.

Ryker POV

After the movie ended the four of us headed upstairs. I walk into my room and get ready for bed. As a finish getting ready I hear a soft knock on my door. "Who is it?"
"It's Jenifer can I come in for a minute?" I walk over and open my door. "Hey, I wanted to make sure you had everything you needed."
"Yeah, I think I have everything. Thank you, for checking." I say as she walks into my room. She sits down at my desk. "Ryker can we talk for a minute." I nod my head. I sit down on the edge of my bed, I've had this conversation before. It's going to be about everything that I've done wrong since I got here. I take a deep breath and close my eyes for a second and brace for the lecture. "Ryker. Clark, and I both love you very much. We want you to know that we want the very best for you. If you ever need anything please let us know."
"Thank you, Mrs. Harris. Opening up your home to me is more than enough." She nods her head before giving me a small smile before heading out the door. I walk over and shut it behind her. I slide down the back of the door laying my back against the door and running my hands through my hair. It has only been a few hours and I have already broken my cardinal rule, I take a breath and whisper to myself hoping that maybe I have time to reverse some of the damage that has already been done. "Don't get attached."

Clark POV

I hear footsteps come back downstairs and see my beautiful wife come around the corner. I have no idea what I did to deserve the beautiful woman who is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. When she enters the room I see her eyes are red and puffy. "Beautiful, what's wrong?"
"He's our Baby." She says walking over to the couch and laying next to me in my open arms. "What?" I ask as I begin stroking my hands through her hair. "Ryker, the look he gave me tonight. It was the same look that Carson gave me the day He moved in, the same look Chase gave me when he moved in, and the same look that Alana gave me when she moved in. I know in my heart that Ryker is our missing piece."
"Jen, I know that this feels right, but I thought we wanted some little feet around the house. You understand that if we go through with this we aren't done. I think we're missing more than just Ryker in our lives."
"I know." She says letting out a small sigh. "When we first got married and started foster care do you remember what I told you?" She shakes her head. I wrap my arms around her just like I did when we were dating and look deep in her eyes just like I did the night we first kissed. "I told you no matter how old we get I will always love you and, no matter how many kids we have if we are doing what we are called to do, we will find a way." I look deep into her eyes and get lost just staring at their beauty. I see a smile come across her face. "What did I do to deserve someone as wonderful as you?" I smile at her and say "I ask myself that same question every morning."