thirteen ── visits
𝕰den hummed as she finished cleaning the house, tucking the supplies back into the kitchen cupboard. Bradley was prancing around behind her, waiting eagerly for a treat, but Eden was procrastinating until Luke woke up so that he was able to do that instead.
The soft sounds of footsteps reached Eden's ears and she turned as Luke walked into the kitchen. He was bleary eyed, his hair a curly mess, and dressed in a large hoodie and pyjama bottoms.
"Morning," Eden fought a smile as Luke hummed, walking around the island and into a hug as he seemed to fall back asleep. "Someone's sleepy."
Luke muttered something intelligible that Eden couldn't catch as she ran her hands through his hair and tried to smooth it back down.
"Pat's coming round today for a check up." Eden muttered, placing a treat into Luke's hand so that he could feed Bradley. "She'll be here soon."
"Cool. Do I have to be here or can I go back to bed?"
"I think she's hoping to talk to you but if you want more sleep, go to bed."
"Fine, I'll stay up." Luke nodded, before walking off to the living room and diving over the back of the couch to go back to sleep. Eden rolled her eyes, stifling a giggle as she watched Luke miraculously fall back asleep in a matter of seconds.
How he was able to do that, she never knew, but she was highly jealous of it. Sometimes she wished that she could fall back asleep as quickly as Luke did.
The doorbell rung, causing Luke to whine and hiss from the sofa as Eden continued to giggle as she walked towards the door. Throwing it open, she smiled at the elderly social worker on the other side of the door.
"Hi, Pat." The woman smiled. "Come in."
"Eden, so good to see you. Luke...?"
"He's trying to fall back asleep on the sofa." Eden grinned, hanging her coat up and leading her into the kitchen. "Let me just wake him up."
"Sure thing." Pat watched as Eden leant over the sofa, shaking Luke's shoulders gently.
"What...?"
"Pat's here. Come on, up." She gave his hair a quick ruffle as Luke rolled off of the sofa, landing with a thud, and pulling himself to his feet. "Nice nap."
"I had like two minutes extra sleep. Couldn't you have just left me?" Luke whined, watching as Eden shook her head. "Why not?"
"Pat wanted to see you."
"Hi Pat."
"Hi Luke. Did I wake you?"
"No." Luke sighed, reaching up to grab the cereal out and make himself some breakfast. "What is this meeting about?"
"Well, I wanted to see how you were doing and settling in. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah. Jasper, Eden's brother, is teaching me how to skate so I can play ice hockey." Pat nodded her head as Luke began to explain it to her, causing Eden to smile. "So yeah! Oh and Eden's got all my achievements up on the fridge now and look, this was my most recent maths test result."
"Wow!" Pat's eyes went wide, seeing the achievement, turning to look at Eden, who nodded her head.
"Yeah, Luke's brilliant at maths and sport. We're working out how best to help with English, but I think we've got a system." Eden nodded, grinning as Luke placed the maths test back onto the fridge carefully, "and all three of my siblings are really excited to have Luke in the family. We went and met with them two weeks ago."
"They're really nice." Luke nodded, having woken up more now that he had food in front of him and he could brag about his achievements. "Grandma Macy made us this really good dinner and I felt so full."
Eden bit her lip to hide her smile at the sound of Luke calling her mom 'Grandma'. It had been a new thing, having really only happened over the last few days, but it was a massive step in a positive direction. Pat shot her a look, her eyes wide as Eden grinned.
"Yeah, so we had a good weekend that time and we're going to be seeing them again for Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as some other family friends." Eden nodded her head, sitting on the countertop. "So, that's the plan."
"I'm glad." Pat nodded. "So, Luke, are you doing okay? Everything alright?"
"Yeah." Luke grinned, drinking the milk from the bowl. "It's great."
"I can tell." Eden ruffled Luke's hair again as he grinned.
"You think you can let me and Pat talk?" Luke nodded at Eden's question, before leaving the kitchen with Bradley as Eden sat down opposite Pat, who had brought some questions out.
"Alright, so, Luke's birth certificate?"
"He's got a new one listing me as his legal guardian and I've applied for another social security number." Eden listed off on her finger. "All of that's been dealt with, and I'm keeping everything in a secure folder for him for when he's older. Speaking of that, I was wondering if I could know about Luke's mother. I just want to keep a note of where she is just in case Luke ever wants to meet up with her at a later point."
"I can look in for that for you." Pat nodded, writing something down.
Eden wasn't too worried if Pat couldn't find the woman. She hoped that Hermes would have some insight, and she'd get him to tell her. Guilt tripping him was always on the card if he decided to refuse, because he was still in Eden's bad books and would be for a long time.
"And finally, Luke getting into a fight at school?" Pat cocked an eyebrow. "Should that be something that I should be concerned about?"
"Absolutely not." Eden shook her head. "Luke is learning that fighting is not acceptable, and he's been reminded of that and was very apologetic, but that particular incident was something quite hurtful and included two boys ripping a family tree that he'd spent a long time making. It was something he should have talked to someone about, but I understand why he didn't. Luke's not used to relying on others, but hopefully, he's starting to learn and trust adults once more."
"Given Luke's history, that's completely understandable." Pat nodded. "He just needs consistent reminders that fighting is not good and maybe channel his energy towards something else."
"Well, hopefully, ice hockey will do the trick."
☾☼☽
There was a knock on Eden's door later that night, causing the woman to open one bleary eye and look at the time.
Two in the morning.
"Yeah?" She stretched waiting for a reply.
"Eden, it's me." Eden sat upright, turning her bedside light on as the door creaked open and Luke's head popped around. "Hey, can I come in?"
"Course you can, baby."
"I didn't wake you up?"
"It's fine." Eden patted the bed next to her as Luke jumped on and settled down on the pillows. Holding her arms open, Eden allowed the boy to hug her as he settled down. "Everything alright?"
"Just...bad dream. That's all." Luke muttered, as Eden turned the light back off and began to run her hand through his hair once more.
"Do you want to talk about it, or do you want to just sleep."
"I don't mind." Luke muttered, his eyes fluttering closed. "I just keep thinking I'm on the run again. It was really hard to sleep when I was on the street cause I was always worried that someone might grab me."
Eden tightened her hold ever so slightly, pressing a kiss to his head.
"And I keep getting comfortable and then worried, cause I feel like I should be on guard."
"For monsters?"
"Or humans." Luke mumbled, his head buried further in Eden's shoulder as he grew drowsier. "I'm just worried but, I'm not complaining or anything. Not at all."
"I know you're not. It's completely understandable, and alright, Luke." Eden pressed another kiss to his head.
"Thanks. I didn't have it that bad anyway."
"Luke, it was bad." Eden muttered, pulling away to look at him. "Yes, it could have been worse but don't put down your experiences because you don't think that they're 'bad'. You didn't have a good time and you were in a position that you shouldn't have had to be in at nine years old."
Luke went quiet, a small pout forming on his face before he hummed and settled back down.
"You're safe now." Eden reminded him gently, settling back down. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
"You are?"
"If I can punch a god, I can deal with some pesky little monsters." Eden grinned at her boy, "and humans have no chance."
"Thanks ma."
☾☼☽
Hiya,
So, we'll leave it on a slight cliff hanger of Luke calling Eden 'ma'. I love him so much tbh, and Eden is just a sweetheart.
Let me know what you think,
Love Li xx