Work Text:
Everything started with a bump on the head.
—though—
Not specifically.
The bump on the head wasn’t the normal bump on the head, as the latest tantrum from Caillou drew blood, and this drew more attention than just a bump on the head that would have been considered normal, which in turn led to questions being asked.
Questions that—
—led to the realization that everything started what felt like ages ago, with a toddler who simply could not take no for an answer and made his family’s life hell.
And he was prone to taking things out on his little sister Rosie, because—
Well, Rosie was born to replace him, or that’s how Caillou’s mind worked, but on further assessment.
“Sorry, but we believe Caillou to be a risk to himself or others, so we will be removing him from the home,” the social worker said.
“Yes, but…”
“Look. You’ve done everything you can. Not to mention I suspect you were hoping Caillou would grow out of whatever is going on with him, but this isn’t the first time he’s hurt Rosie, is it?”
It wasn’t.
And of course, Caillou didn’t like it, throwing a tantrum, wailing about how unfair it was, that Rosie was getting special treatment because she’d gotten hurt, and his parents were abandoning him.
He was allowed to take his teddy bear with him.
Until he started beating up Teddy because Caillou wanted to hurt somebody, when it came to his frustrations.
“Man. I pity whatever foster family ends up with the kid.”
“I pity whatever foster kids are in the family.”
Which, of course, wasn’t the kind of thing that one would want social workers to say, yet—
There existed a difficulty for such children, where a fix was an unsure thing,
Yet—
There was still hope, that a concelor might be able to turn things around, and Caillou might return to his family.
Because—
Nobody wishes for the other outcome.