There Is Enough To Go Around

Chapter 12

An intense chapter for you guys! :)

The grieving process began long before Mila's mother had actually died. Somehow Mila had known beforehand, hence her odd behavior before visiting the hospital. Both mothers still couldn't understand it, but assumed sometimes kids just could sense spiritual things like that better than adults could. But only Mila knew, the angel of her mother, visiting her in the Adams-Foster living room, explaining to her daughter that she was leaving, and to visit her before she went into the afterlife.

The next couple of weeks passed much like they did when Mila first arrived at the Adams-Foster home. She grew very quiet once again and barely ate. Not that she refused these items, she just didn't initiate in them or participate, much to the mother's worries. They would ask her to cuddle with them or participate in something fun, and she would just sit there, seeming as if she was trapped within herself. The only reaction they gained from the little girl was her night sessions, where she woke up, crying and calling out to her mother in hysterics. It was a scary thing for both Stef and Lena to witness their foster daughter wither in depression and cry so hard at night she seemed she couldn't breathe. Her therapist assured her that in time and patience, she would recover, and that time would heal all wounds.

It wasn't until the funeral of Mila's mother that Mila gained some of her own personality back. The funeral itself was small, the party of people counting to only three other people. A friend of Jordyn's had put together the funeral after the hospital had tried to find someone to take care of her body. The friend, whose name turned out to be Shelby, was best friends with Jordyn for a long time before Mila's mother got married, and seemed to go off the grid suddenly. Once Stef, Lena, and Mila arrived at the funeral, Shelby couldn't help but get emotional when looking at Mila. She never knew of her existence, and only found out about her a week ago when Lena and Stef contacted her about wanting to attend the funeral. As she looked at the three-year-old now, she saw so much of her old friend in the little one.

Mila was quiet and still most of the funeral, until the end when most of the people had left, and Lena set her down with Stef, while she went to the restroom. As Stef was talking to Shelby, Mila wandered to the closed casket and caressed her hand over the wood. She then laid her head against it, murmuring soft words, directed to her mother. Once Stef found her, Mila turned around, and clung to Stef graciously, something she hadn't done in weeks. Both the older woman and little girl cried in each other's arms, both joyous to be with each other. Stef pulled her back, and looked at Mila's blue crystal eyes, to once again see some happiness and feeling in them again. Her little girl was back, and she was determined now to make her an official part of the family if Mila would allow it.

Since then, Lena and Stef tried to get in contact with Bill, who tried to get in contact with Mila's father. Over the course of the now five months that Mila had stayed with them, they had no luck in finding her father. All they knew was his name, but little of where he was stationed or his relationship with Mila. She rarely spoke of him, only the birth certificate and the checks he sent, supplied any evidence he was any part of her life. As much as Lena and Stef didn't want yet another parent getting in the way of adopting the child into their family, it was necessary to find him for the process to move along. After a couple of weeks after the funeral, Mila would slip more often than not about calling Lena and Stef "mama" and "mommy." Almost as the funeral had given her some closure, and she now wanted to live with the Foster family permanently and call Lena and Stef her moms, like everyone else. Both mothers felt joy in this but also worried. What if he wanted her when he came back? There would be nothing they could do to get her back. She would be ripped out of their home, a feeling of loss for both her and the Foster family. Lena knew she probably wouldn't be able to handle another loss. Not Mila. Of if there was a God, she wished not Mila. Their family would be complete.