Chapter Text
“Female, bio age around 27 and little age of around 6. Rescued from a facility where she was subjected to torture and abuse”
The small girl was pushed forward on a gurney as Bobbi Morse watched in horror. She seemed so tiny, probably under 5” easily and the girl was clearly malnourished. Large patches of hair were missing and made clear some trauma to her skull. A couple of her teeth were missing, clearly having been removed by force and there were so many cuts and bruises littered across her tiny body. Bobbi took a deep breath, of all the poor little babies to be rescued from that facility she seemed to be one of the worst treated they had seen.
They started an initial assessment, which included cleaning up the various wounds all over her body and dressing any that were deep enough to require it. Some of them even needed stitching up. They asked for someone to take her to the ward once the assessment was complete and Bobbi immediately volunteered. She was totally adamant that this girl would be taken care of well and just felt an instant connection to her.
She got everything set up, the girl was on an IV for pain meds as well as various monitors to check her vitals and make sure that was okay. The girl had awoken just as Bobbi was finishing up and she gently crouched down by the bed. They had to be prepared for any reaction, the girls they’d rescued so far had ranged from screaming and crying and trying to escape the strange room to eerily silent and numb. The girl looked around at her surrounding curiously, not crying but not numb either as large brown eyes scanned around the room.
“Hospital?” The girl questioned after a moment and Bobbi nodded
“Yes, sweetheart. You’re at the hospital. We brought you here to make you better” she explained, the girl seemed to shudder at this and she tried to soothe her.
“You’re a smart little one aren’t you” Bobbi praised and the girl gave her first real smile of the day, it was addictive and Bobbi just knew she wanted to see that smile over and over again. Her and Lance had been fostering little ones for a while now but after their most recent little found their forever home they had started to talk about wanting to adopt.
“What’s your name cutie?” She asked with a smile, the little one looked pensive and Bobbi tried not to push her as she wanted the girl to trust her “It’s okay, you don’t have to say it if you’re not happy to”
“Jemma” she said quietly “My name is Jemma”
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Lance arrived in the ward, apparently one of the newest girls they had rescued needed some emergency dental work doing and his wife has handling her care. She was apparently one of the worst affected and Bobbi had immediately volunteered to look after her. He couldn’t help but smile a tiny bit, that sounded like his wife, always just wanting to take care of everyone and she would be perfect for a little one who was so traumatised given their foster work and her loving nature with even the most difficult of kids.
He walked in and was a little surprised by the look of the girl. She was so tiny and skinny, clearly malnourished with some severe burns to her scalp that looked suspiciously like something that made him take a sharp breath. She seemed so fragile and yet a tiny smile graced her lips as Bobbi changed her IV and entertained her with some silly stories.
“Hi girls” he greeted softly and the girls curious eyes turned to him, scanning over his features and assessing his uniform. She gently poked Bobbi’s shoulder.
“Dentist” she declared to the woman who nodded and carefully patted her head
“That’s right, clever girl” Bobbi said and Lance caught a sight of his first true smile from the little one. Instantly he could tell why his wife had fallen for her.
“This is Lance, he’s a dentist who’s going to have a look at fixing your teeth” Bobbi explained, helping the girl to sit up before looking to Lance “He’s also my husband”
Soon as Lance saw the look on her face, he just knew that they had found their little forever girl. There was no way Bobbi was letting this one out of her sight, and to be honest he was also suitably smitten.
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After a meeting at his office, their social worker Fitz was coming to the hospital to assess their suitability for adopting Jemma. The girl was due to be released soon and so they needed the approval before she was released to avoid her being sent into a group home. Even though they could still adopt her from the home, both of them felt that the quiet, gentle girl would not be able to cope there and it would only push her recovery further back so they were anxious to get approved then they could take her straight home with them upon being discharged.
It had been quite the morning already. Jemma could finally get her head bandage off and Bobbi was both excited and anxious to be able to see her little girls full head once again. It should now be well on its way to healing from the burns and trauma
However, they were nervous about how Jemma might react. In order to prep for surgery they had to shave off her remaining hair and Bobbi had truly felt heartbroken. She had tried anything they could think of so that the girl would be able to keep even just a section of hair, she felt like they were taking a part of her little ones dignity by shaving her head but there was just no way around it. Bobbi had stood there with her baby girl laying on a gurney in front of her, having just soothed her to sleep when the anaesthetist put her out promising her that it would all be ok and yet here she was with a shaver in hand having to take another part of the girl away from her without her consent. She had found herself feeling a little unsteady in almost all of her surgery preps recently, every little one reminded her of Jemma when she first arrived, so fragile and weak and barely clinging onto life. Perhaps it was time for her to move on to a new job. She had been thinking about it for a while but was yet to talk about it with Hunter, knowing that it really needed to wait until they had adopted and settled into life with a little but she just needed a break from this. Bobbi sighed, took a deep breath to steady herself and tried to get into her usual mode of focusing on her work instead of the patient. If she could pretend that it wasn’t her baby laying there as she turned on the clippers and made contact with the girls head, swiping them over her hair to remove it, then maybe she could get through this without breaking down.
When they took the bandage off, they took a second before allowing Jemma to look in the mirror. The good thing about it being their social workers appointment today was that Lance had the day off meaning he could be with them all the time. He picked up a mirror and held it in front of Jemma so that she could see herself.
“Wow” she said, pausing before tipping her head forwards for a closer look
“My head isn’t so red anymore, and it really doesn’t hurt that much either”
“Miss Bobbi?” She asked softly, looking up at the woman after Lance put away the mirror. The woman answered her with a “Yes, sweetheart?”, already daydreaming somewhat about the day when the little one might start calling her mommy
“Where did the rest of my hair go?” Jemma questioned and Bobbi felt a lump in her throat. She didn’t know how to answer, didn’t want to admit she had to do it but thankfully Hunter jumped in.
“You know how your head was very poorly and the doctors needed to fix it so that it wouldn’t hurt anymore?” He said, stepping up to her bedside and gently rubbing his wife’s back to calm her “Well so they could make it better, they needed to be able to get to the poorly bits and if they were being hidden by your hair then they wouldn’t be able to fix it”
“So they took my hair away? To fix me?” Jemma asked and Lance nodded, giving her a moment to process it.
“That’s right, but it will grow back and it should come back fully too as you won’t have the sore bits any more. Plus, until then you can have some really fun wigs”
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Fitz walked back into the room after his assessment. He had been part of the group who had rescued all the girls from the facility, and had to carry Jemma out since she was so small and fragile. He had hoped that the little one would find her forever family though he knew in reality it might take some time given her issues and past trauma. However, it seemed that fate worked in mysterious ways. Being adopted by the nurse who had been looking after her sounded like something from a fairytale but he could tell instantly that this family were destined to be together. Hunter and Bobbi were such caring and kind people who also had experience dealing with kids who had problems and significant trauma. They were the perfect match for a shy gentle girl who was in need of plenty of comfort, love and reassurance.
“Hello again” he greeted as he walked in, immediately lowering his voice when he realised that Jemma was napping. The little one had seemed slightly distressed that her daily nap was delayed due to the man’s visit, though the fact Hunter and Bobbi had at least prepared her for this happening and been very patient with her even when she had taken longer to answer due to being tired and out of routine was a good sign. He looked to Hunter and Bobbi with a smile, this was definitely the best part of his job.
“I’m so glad she found you. She’s a perfect match and you’re going to be so great for her.” He said with a fond smile, handing over a file of paperwork as Hunter and Bobbi looked to each other excitedly “Congratulations, she’s all yours”
“Thank you so much” Hunter told the man, smiling at his wife who had happy tears in her eyes before he went to take the paperwork and shake Fitz’s hand
“I’m genuinely happy for you, all three of you. You’re a good fit and lord knows she needed that.” Fitz said, watching as Bobbi crouched by the bed, content to simply watch their new baby girl sleeping “I would recommend keeping her as an only child, least for a while. She’s going to need plenty of care and attention, but I can’t think of anyone more suited for the job”
“Perhaps we can organise a play date sometime” Hunter smiled, adding “We’ll let her get settled in first but I think that might actually help both of them. They both had brain surgery, well Jemma’s was more just on her head but we know something like that has a long lasting impact. It might help both her and Deke to chat with someone else who’s been through a similar thing”
“That’s true” Fitz nodded “Do you remember my old boss, Phil? He retired last year but still consults now and then. Word has it he’s taken in a girl too”
“Oh wow, him and May finally have a new little one?” He asked, knowing that the couple hadn’t had anyone in a long time after the tragic death of their daughter Kora “She must be a special girl”
“She was the worst affected survivor. Cant speak, feeding tube reliant, quite a few behaviour issues. They worried she’d be a lost cause cos her injuries are just too complex to send her to the home but her face lights up around them. I get the impression that the feeling is mutual” Fitz said, a small smile as he thought back to doing the approval meeting for his old boss and his wife and their tiny little fireball.
“I wonder if Jemma and her knew each other? It says in her files that Jemma was punished severely on a daily basis. I can’t imagine what for, she’s such a gentle soul but by the sounds of things this place was barbaric. When they did the surgery, they found out what had been used on her brain. Powerful electric shocks, so bad they singed the skin around the electrodes and burnt a hole in her skull” Lance took a deep breath, it had hurt to read what happened to his little one but her pain had been far greater.
“I believe a similar thing happened with Skye. Only hers seemed to be localised for just one area and far more consistent, even multiple times a day. One time they went too far, ending up causing brain damage. The poor girl was still strapped to the table when our team found her, they thought she was.... thank god for the nobody left behind policy. We pulled far too many dead bodies from that place but thankfully she wasn’t one of them” Fitz said, Hunter rested a hand on his shoulder “She’s a true little fighter. If your old boss gives the go ahead we should introduce them. If the girls did know each other it might be nice for them to see that they both made it”
Fitz thanked them both, making sure they had everything they needed in order to take Jemma home and promising to arrange the play date soon. Hunter then walked back over to Bobbi as their little one opened her eyes.
“Mommy?” She asked instinctively, but this was to be the first time in forever that her call would actually be answered.
“I’m right here baby”
Jemma opened her eyes properly, smiling at the woman who appeared in her view.
“Has Fitz gone now?” She asked
“Yes he’s left, but he gave us some very good news” Bobbi said and Jemma instantly perked up, hearing what she’d dreamed of since the moment she met the couple “How would you like to come home and live with us?”