dedicated to the cause

They knew bits and pieces about her childhood with the Zabos, and while Jiaying and Cal weren’t able to care for her in a way that she needed them to, it didn’t mean their love for her didn’t come in spades. It was in the way Jiaying taught her new phrases in Hunanese every time they had supervised visitation, the way that Cal bought her flowers every time he saw her, the way they smothered her in love and adoration every second of every visit they had with her.

But the system wasn’t based on just those little moments, and unfortunately the judges had declared that they just weren’t capable of looking after Daisy on a full time basis. Andrew had reached out to her parents after the conversation with the social worker, just to check in and see how they were doing, but the hurt was still raw and while they’d been polite, the conversation hadn’t lasted longer than necessary.

When Daisy gets home from school, they sit the girl down right away and tell her what had happened, neither one of them offering up any sentiments of false hope or sugar coating it. She’s distraught, as they had both anticipated, and when she runs upstairs to her room, phone clutched tightly in her hand, they decide to leave her be.

The social worker has had very little to offer in terms of how they should go about contact in the future, neither Mel nor Andrew wanting to tear her away from her parents or her older half-sister. In the meantime, Andrew decides to get started on dinner, while his wife types up a draft email to send to the social worker and the Zabos in the morning.

They can hear the muffled screams and thudding noises coming from Daisy’s room, and while both of them want to rush in and take care of her, hold her in their arms, they know it wouldn’t do her any good. As Andrew carries on cooking dinner, Melinda decides to book an emergency appointment with Daisy’s therapist, Dr. Hand, for the next day, informing the woman that TPR has occurred.

When Andrew dishes up dinner, Mel heads upstairs and knocks on Daisy’s door, letting the young girl know that dinner was ready if she wanted to join them, and if she didn’t then she could take her plate upstairs. Going back into the kitchen, she thanks Andrew with a kiss on his shoulder before taking her plate and having a seat.

When they hear the heavy footsteps of their ward coming down the stairs, neither of them hold out for any hope that she’ll join them, but when she doesn’t leave immediately, Mel flashes her a smile and tugs Andrew down beside her.

“I’m not going to call you Mom, you know that right?” The teen says as she settles down at the kitchen table, sitting directly opposite her foster carers.

“I wouldn’t expect you to Daisy.” Melinda responds, staring at the angry looking teen.

“Because you’re not my mom. You take care of me, and I appreciate it, but you aren’t my mom. And I won’t call Andrew Dad either, because he isn’t my dad.”

Melinda nods and Andrew settles his hand on his wife’s forearm when he sees her hands clench as she resists the urge to reach out to the young girl.

“We know Daisy. Jiaying and Cal are always going to be your parents, we don’t want to replace them. And if adoption or permanent guardianship is a route you’d want to go down, then you should know it’d be for your sake, not ours.”

“We care about you, Daisy. But we aren’t going to do anything that would upset you, or your parents for that matter. Whether you’re legally ours or not, you will always have a place to call home here, and we will always keep you safe.”

“I know that Phil is gonna want to know now if you’re going to adopt me, but, can we wait? I don’t, I don’t know yet if that’s something I want. And uh, I wanna see Mom and Dad first, if that’s okay?”

“Of course it is honey, I’ll tell Phil to hold off on bringing it up for the time being. Now, eat up, Andrew’s food doesn’t taste as good if it needs to be heated up.”

“Can’t be as bad as yours.” Daisy says without thinking, wincing as soon as she realises what she’s just said.

“I’ll let you off that one, for now. Now, eat your food, or else I might have to cook tomorrow.”

The laughter that comes from the threat isn’t as carefree as Daisy’s usually is, but it’s a marked improvement on her mood so Mel and Andrew decide to take it as a win. The rest of their meal is had in silence, Andrew holding his tongue despite the irregularity of the situation, and once Daisy is done with her food, she gets up from the table, putting her plate in the dishwasher and giving both adults brief but tight squeezes before running back to her room.

“She’ll be okay Melinda,” he says when Daisy’s door slams shut, “she just needs to process everything first.”

“I know that, but it’s just hard to see her like this. It’s so awful. We should let her take tomorrow off of school, give her some time before her therapy session to just feel lost.”

“Wow, look at you.” Andrew sidles up behind her and drapes himself on her back. “Melinda May, tiger carer extraordinaire, willingly letting a kid take a day off school without being nudged into it. I’m impressed.”

“Well, she deserves it, especially in a situation like this. Even if she is a mouthy little shit at times.”

“You’re not wrong there. But she’s a good kid.”

He isn’t really fond of comparing women with the effects of drugs, but there is no other way to explain the fog inside his brain. Except, maybe, the dizziness.

“I can’t take no more. I give up,” he pants while he collapses on one of the chairs of the club. 

Melinda promptly snakes her way into his lap, and despite the mentioned fatigue, Andrew circles her waist with his arms. He might not be thinking clearly, but he doesn’t need his rational brain to know that there is where she belongs.

“Aw, already?” She is fake-pouting at him and Andrew has to refrain himself from wiping that puker with a kiss. Her eyes are glowing, both with excitement and mischief, and that is exactly why he accepted to come here. He doesn’t give in to the kiss but he does push back a stray of hair from her face. 

“You know I am not the club type.”

Melinda moves her leg to straddle him instead of only sitting sideways across his lap; Andrew arranges his arms to accommodate her. He gives a brief thought to the fact that this is not much like him, that maybe he should be nervous about how her friends will look at him, what they will be saying about them. But how could he be anything but receptive when Melinda May is looking at his lips, five inches apart, with hooded eyes.

“Neither I am,” she says and it is unfair the way her voice is a caress that leaves goosebumps on his skin while she is actually smirking.

“Melinda May,” he begins and the world fades around the edges: there is nothing but her and being this close, “you can be whatever type you want, and you know it.”

She blinks and each eyelash sucks the air out of the room.

“Is that supposed to be my superpower?”

Andrew leans in; screw everyone else who must be looking at them, there are some things that just can not be resisted, and Melinda May’s gravitational pull is one of them.