Chapter Text
Chloe’s head was buried in the crook of Beca’s dad’s neck. His strong arms made her so safe. She felt him walk towards her house with Mrs. Martinez beside them. Chloe breathed in deeply, smelling sweat and freshly mown grass.
Beca’s dad winced when he saw the state of the house. While the place seemed grand on the outside, it was filthy inside. This family lived in one of the best neighborhoods; they had a gardener, for crying out loud. Yet they couldn’t clean their house or feed their child. He shook his head in disgust.
“Where’s your room, baby?” Chloe directed him up the stairs to her bedroom. A thin mattress was on the floor, and piles of clothes were everywhere. “Can you pick out a few clothes and some undies?” Beca’s dad searched around and couldn’t find a suitcase. The only thing he could come up with was a trash bag.
When he returned, Chloe had put two dresses on the mattress and a pair of panties. “Everything else is dirty,” she said, hanging her head, somehow knowing the shame that should accompany it.
“That’s okay,” he said brightly. “We’ll get them washed. Or better yet, get you some new clothes.” He shoved some extra clothes in the bag. He and Beca didn’t have much, but he’d somehow make good on his word to Chloe.
Beca’s dad carried her downstairs and buckled her into Mrs. Martinez’s car. “What’s going to happen to her?”
The social worker explained that she’d take Chloe to the hospital for a complete workup to determine any injuries or if she’d been sexually abused. “Then she’ll go into the system. I’ve arranged for temporary placement into foster care. After that is up to the courts.”
“And her parents,” he questioned?
“They’ve been placed under arrest for suspicion of child abuse and neglect. Anyone can see that child is woefully malnourished. And with the pictures I took inside the house today, I doubt any judge will put her back in their care anytime soon.”
“What if she came home with me? She and my daughter are friends. They have a bond, and I’d venture to say she’d feel much safer with me than strangers.”
Mrs. Martinez’s face became grim. “Unfortunately, a child must be placed with a relative or an approved foster family. You need to go through the process of applying to be qualified as a foster parent – take some classes, undergo a home inspection, etc.”
“So, I call child protective services, and you come in and just take her?”
“I’m sorry, sir. That’s the way the system is designed.”
Everything checked out with Chloe at the hospital. She was grossly malnourished, but time and food would remedy that. Once doctors had cleared her, Mrs. Martinez drove her to a strange house. She grabbed Chloe’s trash bag of clothes and walked Chloe to the front door. A tall blonde woman with kind eyes answered when the front door opened. She kneeled in front of the little girl. “Hi, I’m Suzy. You must be Chloe. I’m happy you’re here.”
Chloe shied into Mrs. Martinez’s legs. “It’s okay, Chloe. You’re going to be staying with Suzy for a while. She’s going to take care of you. Do you want me to come in with you for a little?” Chloe nodded her head.
The social worker took a seat on the couch while Suzy took Chloe’s hand. “Why don’t I show you around the house? I can show you where all the rooms are and the locks and cameras. You’re safe here, Chloe. Nothing bad will happen.” The two walked around with the foster mother showing Chloe the kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. When they got to the toy room, Chloe looked around wide-eyed. There were books, puzzles, toys, and all sorts of stuffed animals.
Suzy disappeared for a brief moment and returned with Chloe’s bag. The nurse at the hospital had given Chloe a shower and dressed her in one of the cleaner dresses. Suzy squatted to Chloe’s level again. “I have some clean pajamas your size in your room, and tomorrow we are going to go shopping for some new clothes. Would you mind if I washed what you brought?” Chloe shook her head. “Okay, let’s go say goodbye to Mrs. Martinez.”
Mrs. Martinez again assured Chloe that Suzy would take good care of her. She was concerned that the little girl hadn’t spoken since Beca’s dad had left, but trauma affected children differently. All she could do was let the system churn through its processes.
After the social worker left, Suzy said to Chloe, “I’m hungry. Are you hungry?” The redhead nodded her head furiously. “What should we do? Have a pizza? Go to McDonald’s?” Chloe didn’t respond. Suzy pulled a laminated card from a drawer in the kitchen. “We can eat here, too. This menu has pictures of what the words say. You don’t have to say anything; just point to what you want.”
Chloe looked at the card. So many choices. All she could think about was Beca. She missed her friend. Finally, she found what she was looking for. She pointed to a picture of a banana and a jar of peanut butter. “Good choice, Chloe. Would you like some milk?” Suzy poured Chloe a glass of milk and gave her a banana to nibble on while making her a peanut butter sandwich. Chloe was careful to peel the banana from the end like Beca had shown her.
Suzy laughed, startling her. “Oh honey, I’m sorry. I’ve never seen anyone do that before. Why are you peeling the banana that way?”
Through the food in her mouth, Chloe pointed at the end of the banana. “Monkey end.”
Mrs. Martinez had told Suzy that Chloe would probably guard her food resources due to the lack of proper nutrition. So the foster mother made sure the redhead knew she could come into the kitchen anytime and get anything she wanted to snack on. Then they picked out several snacks for Chloe to take with her to her room so she wouldn’t have to venture out into the strange house at night.
After Chloe was changed into her pajamas, Suzy tucked her into bed. “I left a voice monitor on, Chloe. So, if you get scared or need anything tonight, call out, and I’ll come. You are safe here.”
The following day, Chloe still wasn’t talking, and all she would point to was the banana at breakfast. “I have an idea, Chloe. How about a milkshake for breakfast?” Chloe tilted her head sideways. She’d had a milkshake once before but not at breakfast.
Suzy lined up several kinds of fruit and let Chloe pick what to put in the smoothie. Chloe pointed to the banana and strawberries. So Suzy cut some fruit up and dropped them into the blender. She put a scoop of ice and poured some vanilla Ensure. She knew that if the child hadn’t been eating on a regular basis, she needed the calories the nutrition drink would provide.
“I washed all your clothes, Chloe. But I thought we’d go shopping today. We can go to Target. They have everything - like food, clothes, toys, and maybe something for your bed? Would you like that?” Suzy wasn’t sure how Chloe would react to going out in public since she hadn’t gotten much information during the intake call. So she was relieved when Chloe nodded.
Suzy held Chloe’s hand as they went into Target. “You can pick out what you want. Show me what you like and what you don’t like, okay?” Their first stop was clothing, where Chloe picked out three new outfits while Suzy got her some more undergarments and pajamas. Next was the toy section. “You can pick two toys.” Chloe picked a princess Barbie and a stuffed elephant. Then they picked out some books to read.
“Okay, let’s get something for your bed to make it comfy and nice.” Chloe giggled when she saw the pillow pets and picked out a tiger one. “Oh, a jungle theme, I get it.” Suzy smiled at the little girl. They finally walked through the food section with Chloe pointing to some snacks she liked. She actually didn’t know what she liked and only pointed at things she knew Beca had brought her to eat.
After their trip to Target, Chloe helped put up their purchases and went into the toy room to play. Suzy couldn’t help but notice she carried the stuffed elephant with her everywhere. That night, Suzy checked on Chloe one last time before bed. She’d tucked the little girl in earlier and hadn’t heard a peep from her since, but Suzy always did a visual check before turning in.
She quietly stuck her head around the door and saw the strangest thing. Without Suzy or her husband hearing, somehow Chloe had gotten out of bed and gone to the toy room and gathered up a whole army of stuffed animals. She stood them all up around her bed as if they were standing guard. The little redhead was curled up with her elephant sleeping soundly.
The following day, all the stuffed animals were back in their place in the toy room. Suzy nor her husband mentioned anything to Chloe. If the stuffed animals made her feel comfortable, then there was no harm.
Slowly Chloe settled into the foster home and became more at ease around her foster parents. Eventually, she even stopped building her nightly stuffed animal army and just slept with her elephant. While still a quiet child, she was beginning to talk and open up a bit.
Several weeks in, Suzy had a check-in with Mrs. Martinez. She let the social worker know that Chloe was settling in fine and was even starting to put on some weight. “I do have one concern, Mrs. Martinez. I thought CPS always tried to place sibling pairs together. I do have room for another child.”
“I’m not sure what you mean,” replied Mrs. Martinez.
“Chloe keeps asking when she gets to see Beca. She’s told me stories about how Beca always fed her and played with her. She really misses her sister. She feels abandoned. But not by her parents, strangely enough. But by Beca.”
“Suzy, Chloe is an only child. Beca isn’t her sister.” Mrs. Martinez then explained the situation on how child protective services were called. “Beca is the daughter of the man who reported the situation. Apparently, their bond was deeper than I imagined.” She promised to look into the matter and see what she could arrange as far as a meeting or even a phone call.
A week or so later, Mrs. Martinez knocked on Suzy’s door. “Is she ready?”
Suzy sighed. “I packed her things, but all she’ll do is sit in the corner of her room, sullen and afraid. If I push her, I’m afraid I’ll break the trust we’ve spent all this time building.”
“I understand. I pushed this through as fast as I could. Let me go talk to her.”
Suzy showed her Chloe’s room. The little redhead was sitting in the corner, now with her comforter pulled over her head. “Hey there,” Mrs. Martinez said. “Can I join you under here?” She crawled under the lightweight cover. “Who’s this?” She pointed to the elephant.
“Why do I have to leave? I like it here.” Chloe sniffed. “Miss Suzy is nice. And I have toys.”
“We have a new place for you to go. You’ll like it there, too.”
“No, I won’t! I’ll hate it.” Chloe kicked out her legs, pulling the comforter off her head. “Miss Suzy is leaving me just like everyone else. Nobody ever stays.
Mrs. Martinez looked down at her with a sad smile. “Baby, Miss Suzy isn’t leaving you. We just have to move you to a new place. You like Miss Suzy, don’t you?” Chloe nodded. “You’ll like the new place, too.”
Then Chloe’s mind snapped to something she hadn’t considered. “You aren’t taking me back to my parents, are you?” She shirked away from the social worker, balling up.
“No, no, no, shhh, Chloe. You don’t have to go back there. I promise.” Mrs. Martinez was heartbroken to see the anguish in Chloe’s eyes about the possibility of going back to her parents. “Come on. I’m going to take you to a new foster home. They are excited to meet you.”
Reluctantly, Chloe got up and looked around the room. She’d gotten used to the nice comfortable bed, all the toys, and most of all the food. She hadn’t gone hungry for even a minute since she’d been there. Suzy came into the bedroom.
“All your clothes are in your new suitcase. And here’s a bag for everything else.” She held up a decorative drawstring bag and opened it. “Okay, in goes your elephant and your tiger. You can pick two toys and two books to take with you.”
Chloe ran off to the toy room to make her choices. Suzy looked at Mrs. Martinez. “She doesn’t know, does she?” Mrs. Martinez shook her head. “You sure were able to push that through quickly.”
“I actually didn’t have to fast-track it a lot. He started the paperwork the day after taking Chloe to the hospital.”
The redhead came running back into her bedroom and dropped the toys and books into the drawstring bag. Suzy kneeled down to her level. “I’m going to miss you, Chloe. I put my phone number in your suitcase. If you ever need to call me, know I’ll pick up the phone no matter what time it is.”
Chloe was quiet during the entire drive to her new foster home. Mrs. Martinez tried asking her questions and getting her to respond, but Chloe wasn’t having it. She was still upset at having to leave Miss Suzy. Mrs. Martinez told her that her new family’s place may not be as nice as Miss Suzy’s, but they would love her just as much. Hearing this made Chloe pout even more.
When they arrived at the new foster home, Mrs. Martinez turned to Chloe. “Okay, baby, we’re here. Now, I have a feeling you’ll like this family just as much as Miss Suzy. Come on, let’s go.” She grabbed Chloe’s suitcase and bag and headed up to the second-story apartment. Chloe sat next to the door, back against the wall.
After Mrs. Martinez knocked, the door opened, and Chloe could hear the social worker talking to someone. A man. But. His voice sounded familiar. Chloe quickly scrambled to her feet and turned to see Beca’s dad standing there.
“Hey, Chloe. I’m glad to see you again. Someone else is excited to see you, too. She’s been decorating your room all day.” He then called out over his shoulder, “Beca! They’re here.”
Chloe didn’t wait. She rushed past Mrs. Martinez, past Beca’s dad, and barreled into the tiny brunette flying down the hallway. They both ended up sprawled out on the ground, laughing. “I missed you, Beca. I thought you’d left just like everyone else.”
“I told you, Chloe. I’m your friend. I’ll always come back.” Beca got to her feet and reached out her hand. “Come on; I wanna show you our room.”