trapped | lierra

nine

Luke

"Please never do that again," Sierra pulled Amber into a tight hug once Amber and I were in her office.

"What the hell were you thinking?" The officer scolded her as Sierra loosened the hug, but Amber kept her arms around her waist, now terrified of the officer who was screaming at her. "Do you know how dangerous it is out there? And you're a child, you-"

I cut him off, "She was a scared kid who had no answers about what was going on, I would have done the same thing if I was in her situation," I snapped, which caught everyone off guard. The officer stared at me down, about to say something, but a woman broke that tension.

"Anyways," she sang as she went over to Amber, grabbing her arm which made her let go of Sierra, "you and I are going to go fill out some paperwork so I can find you the perfect home," with that, the two left the room, followed by the two officers.

"I don't want her to go to a foster home," I told Sierra quickly.

"Luke-"

"We've always wanted a kid, maybe now's the time,"

"Whoa, hold on," her eyes widened as she cut me off before I could continue. "Now is definitely not the time. You just got a huge promotion and have more responsibility, I'm still recovering from my health issues and tumor removal, and I'm her psychiatrist. I can't continue our sessions if she's living with us,"

"But she doesn't need a psychiatrist right now, she needs a family, stability, someone she can turn to for help. She's alone right now, and sending her home to home isn't going to help that," I argued, making Sierra silent. "I know our lives are crazy, but that's never going to change. And right now, that little girl needs someone more than ever, and I know that you care about her a lot, and she is looking to you for some help, whether she wants to admit it or not. You're all she has right now,"

She was quiet for a minute until she looked up, "You know we won't be able to foster, it will be legal guardianship or adoption,"

"I know," I nodded firmly.

"And there's no going back from that,"

"I know,"

Sierra nodded with a small smile before exiting the room and leading me to a different room where Amber sat across from a woman at a desk, answering whatever questions she had, "Ms. Robin, can we talk to you for a second?"

"Of course," she nodded, getting up and following us out into the hallway. "What's the problem?"

"How would we obtain legal guardianship of Amber?"

"Excuse me?" her eyes widened slightly.

"We want her to be part of our family," I clarified.