Fetus Camren/Lauren. Sequel to adoption because there was demand for it.
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Teaching Lauren to swim becomes one of Clara's favourite parts of the week. Seeing her daughter in the Lion King armbands they'd bought her, and nervously bobbing around the pool makes her smile.
"That's the deep end," Clara explains as she helps Lauren down the steps. Even the shallow end is deep for Lauren. "You can't swim down there until you're really good."
"'kay," Lauren answers, clinging onto Clara, "'eep."
"I know this part is deep too," Clara laughs, "but that's only because you're so little. It'll get shallow when you grow bigger."
Lauren kicks her legs under the water, and Clara beams, "Are you sure you don't know how to swim? Because that's what you're supposed to do."
Lauren giggles, happy she's made Clara proud, because she wants to stay with the Jaureguis forever. After a few minutes of explanation, Clara tells her how to move her arms and her legs to do the front crawl, and Lauren splashes around in the pool, managing to swim to the other side under the support of her arm bands and the pool noodle Clara had gotten out for her.
"P'ay?" Lauren asks Clara when she sees the inflatable shark in the pool shed. She wants to play with Clara, because none of the adults at her old house would ever play with her, and she's really hoping that Clara will be nicer. "C'ara, p'ay?"
Clara gets out the inflatable shark and tosses it into the pool. "There you go. You can play with the shark."
"P'ay me?" Lauren asks, clinging onto the side of the pool and kicking her legs. "C'ara p'ay too."
"Okay," Clara smiles and gets back into the pool with her. They play for a while – Clara chases Lauren around the shallow end of the pool with the inflatable shark, making sure to go slow so that Lauren can try and swim away.
Lauren lets out a loud, happy squeal when Clara finally catches her, shouting out, "C'ara win!"
While Clara wishes that Lauren would call her 'mami', she knows it's a work in progress. She knows it'll take a while, and she's okay with that.
She takes Lauren inside and pours her some lemonade, smiling as the little girl gets wrapped up in the Lion King towel they'd bought by Mike.
-
When Angelica comes over for the first time, and Lauren starts calling her mami, Clara can't think of a time she's ever been happier, because Lauren is hers, even if she didn't have her from when she's a baby, and they've bonded so much in such a short time. She has a daughter, and she can't think of anything better.
"Mami?" Lauren toddles into the kitchen as Clara is making dinner. "'amila come?"
Clara smiles at her. "You want Camila to come over for dinner?"
"'es," Lauren nods, "she- she girlfwend."
"Okay, Lauren," Clara tells her, "I'll call Sinu and see if she'll bring Camila over for dinner."
"More 'isses," Lauren murmurs, because she hasn't seen Camila since they met, and she wants to see her girlfriend, since that's what Camila said they were. "'iss her."
Clara laughs. "That's sweet. I'm sure Sinu won't have a problem with Camila coming over."
Thankfully, Sinu says yes, and drops Camila off at half past five. Lauren excitedly introduces her to Angelica, excited that she has an abuela, and Camila tells her all about her abuela as well. They go into Lauren's room before dinner, and play with Simba and Nala again, but halfway through their game, Camila looks up nervously. "Lolo?"
Lauren pets Nala. "'es?"
"Are we still girlfriends, 'cause I wanna give you a kiss," Camila says, and when Lauren nods, the younger girl leans forward and gives her a clumsy kiss. "I like your kisses, Lolo."
Lauren giggles. "'amila."
"You can call me Mila, if you want," Camila offers, "that's what my friends call me."
"'amz," Lauren decides, not wanting to call Camila what everyone else calls her. "You 'amz."
"Okay!" Camila beams, "I'm Camz. Can we get married?"
"'kay," Lauren answers, "when older."
"Yeah, when we're older," Camila says, "'cause I'm supposed to buy you a ring, and I don't have much allowance left, I spent it all on candy. But I'll save up from now on, and then when I'm big... I'll buy you a pretty ring and then we'll be married."
"'kay," Lauren nods, "hakuna matata?"
Camila frowns. "You wanna keep playing, or watch it?"
Lauren hums in thought. "'atch."
"Okay," Camila nods in reply, "where do you keep your DVDs?"
"Ask mami," Lauren answers, since that's what she'd been told to do when she wants to watch a DVD, "mami C'ara."
Camila nods, and stands up, holding out her hand. Lauren takes it inquisitively, and follows Camila out of her room and into the lounge, where Clara, Angelica and Mike are talking. "Hi! Lolo and me want to watch The Lion King."
Angelica smiles down at the two of them. "I'll go and get the DVD for you and we'll all sit and watch it."
Camila turns to Lauren with a big grin, and then points over to the couch. "Wanna cuddle?"
"'es," Lauren nods, because Camila is always really gentle when she holds her hand and kisses her, so she'll probably be gentle when she cuddles her, too. "Cuddle 'amz."
Lauren clambers onto the couch after Camila, and then nestles close to her girlfriend, her eyes widening when Mike drapes the blue blanket she'd been bought over them. "B'ankie!"
Camila smiles. "This is really warm."
Lauren hums in agreement, and when she feels Camila's hand on her tummy, she giggles and murmurs, "'ubs?"
"Huh?" Camila frowns as Angelica gets the movie set up. "What do you want?"
"'ubs?" Lauren asks again, but when Camila's hands stay still, she pouts. "Want 'ubs!"
Camila, not knowing what she means, watches her in confusion. "I don't know what you want, Lolo. If I did, I'd give it to you."
Lauren puts her hand on top of Camila's, and moves the younger girl's hand around on her tummy. "'ubs!"
"Oh," Camila laughs, "You want me to rub your tummy? You're funny, Lolo."
Lauren doesn't know how she's funny, because she didn't make a joke, but Camila is rubbing her tummy, and that makes her happy, so she snuggles up to the younger girl.
What feels like a few minutes later, she hears Clara calling her name, and opens her eyes to see that the movie is nearly over. "Hi, sweetheart. You had a little nap."
"Oh," Lauren rubs at her eyes and sees that Camila is asleep next to her, too, "'amz, too!"
"Both of you fell asleep a little while through the movie, but dinner is ready," Clara says, "come on, I'll take you both into the dining room."
Lauren turns over to Camila and shakes her, waking her up, "'amz! Up!"
Camila groans and opens her eyes, "What time is it?"
"Dinner!" Lauren announces, before she clambers down from the couch and looks up at Clara, "Uppie!"
Clara picks her up, and Camila toddles after them, following them both into the kitchen, rubbing at her eyes. Clara puts Lauren in her place, and Camila goes next to her. Halfway through dinner, the younger girl moves closer to Lauren and gives her a kiss on the cheek.
Lauren turns to her with a frown, "iss?"
"You just looked really pretty, Lolo," Camila shrugs, "and 'cause I'm your girlfriend, I've gotta kiss you when you look pretty, which is always, but you looked super pretty then."
Lauren blushes, and the adults laugh. "Tank you, 'amz."
"You're welcome," Camila beams, "When are you gonna come to my school? I want you to meet Dinah, I told her all about you."
Lauren doesn't know the answer to that, and looks up at Clara with a frown. Clara just smiles and says, "Maybe next year, Camila."
"Okay, so long as Lolo gets to meet Dinah," Camila says, "Dinah says that girlfriends have to be- um approved by best friends. And Dinah's my best friend, and I think she'd really like Lolo."
Mike smiles. "Everyone likes Lolo."
Lauren looks down at her feet, embarrassed, but Camila just smiles, "I know! That's why I think Dinah would like her. Lolo, how come you haven't lived here forever?"
Lauren swallows the lump in her throat, because she wished she had lived with the Jaureguis forever, since they're really nice and let her sleep in a bed and give her three meals a day. "Don' know."
"Oh," Camila frowns and looks up at the adults, "Can you tell me?"
"Lauren was adopted, Camila," Mike explains, and when he sees the shocked look on Lauren's face, he looks at her, "Surely you noticed that, Lauren. You've been here over a month."
"But- but... das- das f'ever!" Lauren mumbles. She thought she'd just been staying here for a little while, like a foster family. That's what her social worker, Britt had said a while ago, that she'd get a foster family until she found a forever home. She hadn't realised that this was her forever home.
At bedtime, after Camila has gone home, Clara puts her to bed, and Lauren asks the question on her mind. "Why me?"
Clara frowns at her. "Why you what, Lauren?"
"F'ever," Lauren tries to explain, "you pick me. Why?"
Clara looks like she wants to cry, and Lauren feels bad, because she didn't want to make her upset. "Why wouldn't we want you, Lauren?"
"Old- old mami didn'," Lauren mumbles, "why you? Why you no hurt? I bad."
"No, no, you're not bad," Clara assures her, "you're my little girl, Lauren. I'm going to look after you for as long as you want. Your biological family weren't nice people, Lauren. You could've died with them. Nobody here is going to hurt you, and we wanted you because you're so sweet and have so much love to give. You needed a home that could give that love back to you."
Lauren sits up and cuddles her Nala. "Tank you."
"You don't need to thank us," Clara promises her, "we're the ones thanking you. Sometimes I can hardly believe that someone as perfect as you is my daughter."
"F'ever?" Lauren asks, because she needs to make sure. "Pwomise?"
"I promise," Clara assures her, "we've already been through the legal process. You're Lauren Jauregui now."
Lauren blinks in surprise. "Me?"
"Yes," Clara laughs, "you. Angelica is already talking about teaching you how to pronounce it."
Lauren bites down on her bottom lip and tries to repeat what Clara had told her. "Huh-weg-ee!"
Clara laughs and ruffles Lauren's hair. "You're so cute. Now get to sleep, you'll be grumpy in the morning otherwise."
Lauren closes her eyes, and feels Clara kiss her forehead, before the lights are switched off and the door is pulled shut.
It never takes Lauren that long to fall asleep; she's out within ten minutes.
-
When she opens her eyes, she's still in the dark, but it's cold, and she's laying on the hard floor. She frowns to herself, rubbing at her eyes, and when she realises where she is, her heart stops. She's back at her old house, in the scary basement.
Had her old parents come to find her? Did they steal her back? Had they hurt Clara and Mike?
At the last thought, Lauren's heart races, because if they hurt Clara and Mike, she's going to be upset, because she loves Clara and Mike, and she wants to stay with them. They'd said she's staying with them forever, so she's not staying here. She's going to go and find them.
Slowly, Lauren climbs up the basement steps, shivering from the cold, and she pushes open the door to get out. The house is quiet, and Lauren thinks that it's night time, so the bad people are going to be asleep. She doesn't want to call them her parents, because that's Clara and Mike.
She tiptoes down the hall, and decides that the best route to the front door is through the lounge, so she sneaks in, her heart stopping in her chest when she sees the bad people, sat in chairs, staring right at her.
"You think you can get away from us?" The bad man tells her, towering over her. "No. We got rid of those people who took you away. You're stuck with us forever."
The bad lady laughs at her fear. "You know what happens when you're really bad. This means the iron."
Lauren whimpers, shaking her head. She's not supposed to be here. She's supposed to be with Clara and Mike. "Wan' mami!"
The bad lady smacks her, and Lauren tries to ignore the pain. "I'm your mother."
"No!" Lauren cries out, spotting the iron in the bad man's hand. As they move closer to her, she cowers in the corner, shaking her head. "No, p'ease! No hurt!"
"Lauren!" When a pair of hands come in contact with her, Lauren hits out, screeching, no hit, no hit! "Lauren, nobody is going to hit you."
Lauren opens her eyes, and sees Clara knelt down in front of her. Without thinking, Lauren launches herself into her mami's arms, crying her eyes out. "Mami!"
"It's okay," Clara shushes her, "I've got you. Come on, you're sleeping in with me and your papi tonight."
Lauren lets Clara carry her into her and Mike's room, and lays her down in the bed. She's not sure how Clara knew to come and get her, so she decides to ask.
"How you know?" Lauren asks, wiping at her eyes, "How you know 'ightmare?"
"We have a baby monitor in your room, just in case," Clara explains to her, "I heard you crying and went in straight away to make sure you were alright."
"I s'eep here?" Lauren asks, not sure if she's allowed to get comfortable.
"Yes, you're sleeping in here tonight," Clara tells her, and Lauren nods, snuggling up to her mami. "It's okay. It was just a bad dream, honey. You're safe with us."
"Bad people no come?" Lauren asks. She has to make sure. "Ever?"
"Ever," Mike says, and Lauren smiles, "you're safe with us, Lauren."
Lauren decides, while sandwiched between Clara and Mike, that she feels safer than ever, with them both protecting her.
-
I'm open to doing more in this timeline if there's enough demand for it. :)