castaways

~19~

*one week later*

Hazel was finally being discharged from dr Charles' mini therapy programme and she was feeling a lot better, she still has a long way to go but she was making progress. She walked out into the waiting room to see the intelligence unit stood smiling at her, "hi" she waved and stood in between jay and hailey. Hank smiled, "you feeling better kiddo?" He nodded. Hazel nodded, "yeah" she smiled back.  She realised she had nowhere to go home to now, "where am I going?" She kept her head down.  Jay smiled, "how would you feel about coming to live with me and hailey?" He looked down at her.  Hazels head shot up, "really?" She laughed a little.  Jay nodded, "really" he smiled sincerely.  He really does have a soft spot for this kid.

The team smiled at the pair, "c'mon let's get outta here" hailey placed an arm around the girls shoulder. Hazel smiled and nodded before they all walked out, the unit all went home and back to their own places whereas jay and hailey went back to their place with hazel.  They walked through the front door as a new family, "pretty neat" hazel smiled and looked around.  Jay smiled, "how about you have hailey take you up to your room and I'll put some dinner on?" He handed her bag to her.  Hailey nodded, "let's go" she smiled and ruffed the teenagers hair up.  Hazel laughed and nodded as hailey lead her upstairs into her room, "I love it" she smiled and looked around in awe.

Around an hour later they all sat down at the dinner table, "so you like volleyball?" Jay smiled. Hazel laughed a little and nodded as they tucked into their food, "yeah, I played for state last year" she shrugged. Hailey nodded, "we can get you back into it" she smiled. Hazel looked up at her, "yeah?" She smiled thankfully, god these humans are miracles. Jay nodded, "yeah, let's see what you got. I'm sure I'll be a million times better" he smirked. Hazel smirked back and shook her head, "I'm sure you are. You did say you could be and do anything"" she laughed. Hailey smiled, "I just want you both to know I really appreciate this, all of it" hazel changed the subject. Jay smiled at hailey, "you're worth it kiddo, we know you are" he smiled at hazel. He knows how the kids had no one fight for her in her life and they were planning on being the first ones to do so.

Later that night they were sat on the couch just watching TV, "you two aren't funny" jay shook his head but it was hard to keep a stern look on his face when the woman he was planning on proposing to soon was sat laughing away with this miracle child he now looks after, she's his daughter in a way, even though he knows she's not comfortable calling them mom and dad yet, she's still theirs for life. They had a chat before about things like house rules, future plans and boundaries; the subject of 'mom&dad' was one of them. Hazel feels bad for not calling them parents yet but she simply told them she doesn't want to associate them both with names that have had nothing but bad memories for her since she knows they're nothing like that, she's just going to stick with jay and hailey for now; and the adults were 150% fine with that.

Jay turned and faxed hazel after a while, "did dr Charles mention any group sessions or medication or anything?" He smiled. Hazel shook her head, "he said I don't really need them since I'm doing good but he said I can call him if I need him to talk to. But I have you two so I won't need to call him. He gave me some medication, it's in my bag. He said he'd contact you about therapy soon?" she smiled. Jay smiled at hailey as hazel looked back to the TV, god this kid really is sweet. Hazel turned back around, "he did mention night terrors though..." she dropped her smile. Jay smiled and placed a hand on her arm, "it's okay, we're gonna be here if they happen. I get them too and I promise you that you'll get stronger than them" he rubbed her arm gently. Hazel frowned, "you have them?" She tilted her head. Jay nodded, "I was a soldier many many years ago" he smiled back.

Hazel smiled at him thankfully and that smile didn't need to go along with any words, jay knew what she was silently saying to him, what she done next took him and hailey by storm. She rested her head on his shoulder and grabbed Haileys hand, "I love this, and you guys..." she spoke shyly, afraid they would take it badly. Jay smiled at hailey proudly, "we love you too haz" hailey rubbed her hand. Hazel smiled at their reaction as she felt jay place a hand on her hair, "after this ends I think we should head off to bed" he rested his chin on the teenagers head. Hazel nodded in agreement, it's been a long day of nothingness.

                     Hazel laid down in bed and rolled over so she could see jay and hailey stood in the doorway smiling, "night" she smiled back.  The adults nodded and closed her door, "night haz" jay answered her back before they wandered into their own room.  The adults flopped onto the bed, "maybe you were right, this is a good thing" hailey smiled and faced her boyfriend.  Jay smiled, "she's a good kid, she deserves a real chance at life and we can give it to her. I just don't wanna let her down" he sighed. Hailey burrowed her head into his neck, "you're not gonna let her down jay, we're both gonna do our best" she smiled.  Jay smiled back, "yeah" he nodded before the whole household dozed off to sleep.

The next morning was luckily the weekend but jay needed to find out about her schooling status so when she walked downstairs in her PJ's he nodded, "why'd you say you were placed into northside?" He smiled weakly. Hazel nodded, "uhm, my dad made me move product around school and I got caught" she upturned her lips. Hailey smiled sadly, "so you didn't actually move for bad behaviour?" She tilted her head. Hazel shook her head, "nope, I was actually a really quiet kid in school until I moved to northside and now I can't keep my mouth shut for more than 10 seconds" she laughed a little.  Jay smiled at hailey, they can tell that shes been changed by her family.

                     Hailey smiled, "we know this might not be what you want, but we're probably gonna have to move you to a different school. One that's a little closer to home" she nodded sadly.  Hazel smiled, "that's fine" she shrugged.  Jay tilted his head, "you won't miss your friends?" He smiled weakly.  Hazel smiled back, "I haven't really talked to them in like 3 weeks, I guess we just drifted apart. A change might be for the better anyways. I talked to Emily though, she's just glad I'm okay and she gets it" she nodded.  Jay and hailey nodded, "we can look at schools later today" hailey smiled.  Hazel nodded and smiled back, "how about you go change and we can go for a nice walk before our shift starts?" Jay smiled.  Hazel nodded, "sure" she smiled and ran off upstairs.