"What happened? Is she okay?" Is the first thing my boyfriend said when he rushed into the ER.
"She's okay, she's awake now. Colouring actually"He sighs.
"I would've been here sooner but I was in Brooklyn and the bridge was backed up"
"Leo breath" I instruct. He nods slowly.
"Right, sorry. Has anyone from the orphanage come for her yet?" He asks. I shake my head.
"Julie"Erica says coming out of Nellie's room. "How about you make sure Nellie is comfortable while I talk to Leo"Julie says. I nod and look to my boyfriend. Who looked as sleep deprived as me.
Leo looks down at me "can you tell her I'll be in to see her in a second?" He asks me, I nod and he presses his lips to my forehead before we split. I knock on Nellie's door before opening it.
"Hey there pretty girl"I smile at her. Thankfully she didn't have any internal bleeding, but she did have a broken arm. She smiles at me a bit.
"I have a special visitor for you"I smile as I walk closer to the bed, she looked so small and fragile in it, it broke my heart.
"Who?" She asks me, her voice hoarse.
"Remember Leo?" I ask her. She nods, her face lighting up. "He's just outside talking to Mrs Erica, he'll be in to say hello" I smile at her. She nods.
"Mrs Erica gave me colours"she says and I look to the desk in front of her "want to colour?"she asks me. I nod.
I sit down beside her, half of my body hanging off the hospital bed just to make sure she still has some room.
"Is Leo gonna ask me questions?" She asks me suddenly.
"Maybe"I nod. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to"I assure her. She nods just as the door opens and in steps my boyfriend. His tired face lights up to the man I fell in love with.
"Hi Nell"He smiles.
"Colour?" She asks, offering him a blue crayon. He shrugs and sets his jacket down on the chair in the corner before sitting on Nellie's left side, he hangs off the bed as well wanting to leave her some room.
"So Nellie, I have some questions"Leo starts slowly. "And you don't have to answer if you don't want"he reminds her.
"I want too"she announces.
"Okay, just try your best at answering"He says as he places his phone down on the desk in front of us and that's when I knew he was recording.
"Okay"She agrees. I listen to their conversation. Nellie explains that the kids at the orphanage have been mean to her and often tease her to the point she gets bruises, and the owner of the orphanage isn't all sunshine and rainbows either. She would hit the girls with a belt, which I didn't know still existed and clearly from Leo's posture he was beyond pissed.
"You know the number to call me Nellie, why haven't you?"Leo asks.
"Because she would have hurt me more"
"Who would've?" I ask Nellie.
"Mrs Sheen" she says.
"And she is?" Leo asks
"The owner"I look over her head to Leo and we make eye contact.
"Tell me how you got hurt today Nellie"Leo says calmly.
"I tried to call you today"She says, engrossed in her colouring.
"Me? Today?"Leo asks.
"Yes"She nods her head. "And then she heard me and hurt me"
"What did she do to you Nell, it's okay if you don't want to tell me"
Nellie gets quiet for a second before looking between the two of us sitting beside her "she hit me with a belt a few times and then threw me down the stairs outside" she tells us.
My heart breaks.
Leo and Nellie stay at each other before he pulls her gently into his side "I'm Sorry Nellie"he sighs, I try to stop myself from crying as I watch the two. Nellie begins to cry.
"I don't want to go back Leo"She hiccups between her sobs.
Leo kisses the top of her head "you won't, I promise you that"he assures her. Leo holds her as she sobs into him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
We stayed with Nellie as she fell asleep and the two of us decided it would be best if we talked outside of her room.
"I have to go to the station"
"Okay Leo Wait, think about this"I say stopping him.
"Think about what Julie? I'm not letting that little girl go back there"
"When she's discharged at the end of the week she's going to have too"
"No she won't because all I need to shut that place down is in here"He waves his phone. I sigh.
"Leo, this is a bad idea"
"What was a bad idea was letting that women run the place!" He yells. We stare at each other.
"Nellie has no home and so do the other girls, your really gonna do that to them?" I ask him, placing my hands on my hips.
"They need someone better"
"I agree but talk to your Chief before you make any impulsive decisions" I tell him.
"Bullshit"he shakes his head at me.
"Your not thinking"
"I am thinking!" He gets louder. I clear my throat as a doctor walks past us. Leo looks away from me.
"They could replace Mrs Sheen with someone much worse"
"I'll do the background checks on the new owner"
"And if you can't?" I ask him.
"She's not going back" He says to me.
"Then where the hell is she gonna go?"I ask raising my voice.
"I don't know Julie!" He says his own voice raised. "All I know is that she can't go back and I won't let her"
"You have no authority of such thing" I tell him.
"I'll adopt her or something!" He yells. I give him a shocked expression and take a step back.
"Now your certainly not thinking"
"I am"he nods.
"Leo" I say.
"I have to go"He sighs.
"Okay Wait Leo"I say as I follow him down the hall.
I grab his wrist and pull him around after he slipped on his jacket "you seriously can't be serious about adopting her? Are you?" I ask him.
"Do you have a better idea?" He asks irritated. I gape at him. "I'll call you later, I have phone calls to make"He tells me and leaves me standing there in the hall.
What the hell.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"And he thinks adopting her is the best decision?" Mom says as she slides me a cup of tea. I shrug and rub my forehead.
"You should've seen his face Ma, he was very set on it"I nod.
"This is crazy"Mom sighs as she sits down across from me.
"I know" I nod.
"Maybe he was just heated at the moment and after he cools he will come to his senses"Chris says as he sits beside me.
"No I think he was being serious, I've never seen him be so furious and serious about a situation. Like what if he goes through with this?"I ask "he's only like twenty four" I express and Chris squeezes my shoulder.
"Well if he thinks he's ready then I don't see why not"Chris shrugs.
"Chris!"Mom yells.
"What? If he seriously thinks he can take on such a huge thing then I don't see why it's being debated"
"Who's side are you on?"
"The safety of Nellie's. If Leo is capable of doing this, I support him"
"I married you why?" Mom asks him.
"This is insane"I mumble as I put my head in my hands.
"It is but the better question is do you think he's ready?" Chris asks.
"Of course I think so, he's a great big brother to Isla and I've even thought about kids with him"I blurt out I stop myself and open my eyes. Mom smiles at me.
"I guess you have your answer" Mom shrugs.
"I need to call him"i mumble as I stand up from the kitchen and into the living room. I press his contact number and the phone call rings out. I curse under my breath.
I'm unavailable at the time, leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
I end the call and curse again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I rock back and forth on my heels as I wait for the elevator to open up to Leo's precinct. It was early morning and I couldn't sleep yet again because Leo never answered my calls. I called Finley and he says Leo never came home.
Considering it was still early morning the precinct was busy "Julie"A voice says and I turn a bit to see Chief Jameson with a cup of coffee.
"Hi"
"Are you looking for Leo?" He asks. I nod slowly. "He's been here since yesterday, I assume you know his situation"
"I do"
"And how do you feel about it?" He asks.
"I'm not sure quite yet"
"Well Leo is around here somewhere"He says looking around. When suddenly he came out of the break room with another police officer.
He looked exhausted and you could feel his exhaustion.
"Leo" I call out. He looks over at me and starts towards me. "Have you been here all night?" I ask him, as I kiss his cheek.
"Yea I have been"
"You should go home son"Chief Jameson says.
"Im fine Chief"
"That wasn't a request"
"With all due"
"No, your going home. I know you want to get this thing done but you can't without a clear head"
"My head is clear as day" Leo rebuttals.
"Leo, lets go home" I encourage. He looks between me and Chief Jameson.
"Okay"He finally agrees, I let out an eternal sigh.
"If you would like we can see Nellie first?" I suggest.
"Maybe after I nap, it won't be long"He says as he grabs his jacket before we leave.
"I don't work till later tonight, would you like me to stay?" I ask him as we enter the elevator wrapped in each other's arms.
"Please"he nods and yawns.
"We need to talk about this whole adoption thing afterwards Leo"
"I know"he says and squeezes me before kissing the side of my head "and I'm sorry for ignoring your calls last night, I was busy" I didn't answer him but instead held him up because he was swaying a bit.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Are you sure?" I ask Leo as the two of laid in bed awake from our nap.
"I'm sure Julie, I cant leave her in there no matter who the new owner is. She's already been through enough with the death of her mother and her father still MIA"
"And why couldn't you talk to your mother about this?" I ask. "She would fit right in with Isla"
"My mother would not be able to protect herself if her father comes back"
"Leo"
"I've made my mind up Jules"he says calmly.
"And Finley is okay? Considering you two live together"
"He does, and we were lucky to have a third room in this apartment" He tells me "I've got this Jules, trust me"He says. I look down at our intwined hands laying on his chest.
"Okay"I say lowly.
"And how is that process going?"
"I've reported Mrs Sheen to Chief Jameson and he said we will lucky hear back from my superiors tomorrow and then an investigation will start"
"So what about Nellie?"
"I'm meeting with her social worker tomorrow after I talk to her" he tells me.
"And how the hell are you gonna spring that on her?"
"Haven't thought of that yet"he mumbles. I look up as he pulls back a bit to look down at me.
"Are you ready to be a dad?" I ask him with a small smile. He chuckles.
"Are you ready to date a single father?" He asks, it was my turn to chuckle.
"A twenty four year old, very hot single father. I'm ready"I smile and he chuckles.
"I'll still be hot?" He asks me.
"I mean considering you have no other girls to impress and you've already swooned me. Yes your hot to me" I say and squeeze his abdomen.
"Well I'll take that as great compliment, considering the girl I'm dating is insanely sexy"he winks at me and I roll my eyes.
"You ready to see your future daughter?" I joke.
"Yea lets go" he nods and kisses me quickly. "I was really about to say let's go see our daughter" He chuckles as we roll out of bed.
"At this point I'm just as invested with you"I shrug as we walk out of his bedroom and towards the front door.
"At least I have you"he says and kisses my cheek as he grabs both of our jackets as I slip on my boots.
"I bet none of your other girlfriends would be as invested as me"
"Never"he smiles back at me.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey Nells"I smile as I open the door to see her colouring, yet again.
"Hiya!" She smiles as we enter her hospital room.
"So Nells, I have to talk to you about something very important"Leo says as he sits at the end of her bed.
"Okay"she nods.
"Mrs Sheen is a mean lady, you know that right?" Leo asks.
"Yes"she nods.
"Well I don't want to send back with Mrs Sheen"
"Mommy and Daddy are gone"She says.
"I know so I was thinking you could live with me and Fin?"
"Live with you?" She asks.
"Yea, how does that sound feel? You would have your own room and get to decorate it however you want"he suggests.
"Okay"she slowly says and I smile a bit.
"Can we go home?" She asks. Leo gives her a smile.
"Soon, I promise"he promises. "I just have to handle a few things okay?" She nods with a smile.