heart like yours (jennifer jareau)

2. thirty five

•

"i killed a plant once because i gave it too much water. lord, i worry that love is violence." - josé olivarez 

•

Delilah sat on the couch in the apartment the next day, Friends playing on the TV as she zoned out watching it. She was waiting for Liv to come home from work and it was around lunch time, but Delilah wasn't too hungry.

She'd stopped by a store on her way back from gym in the early hours of the morning and had grabbed some snacks which she ate while avoiding sleep, so, she wasn't too fussed about eating yet.

"Hey," Liv said, kicking the front door shut behind her and dumping her keys in the bowl.

"Hey," Delilah said, looking over at her sister.

"So, we need to talk. About Ziggy," Liv said, dumping her shoes and jacket and coming to sit on the sofa with Delilah.

"Okay," Delilah said, turning to look at Liv.

"He's our nephew. And we're in a position to help him. So, I think we should try and help him. Hear me out, okay? We're gonna need a DNA test to prove he's even Eli's kid, 'cause Eli isn't on the birth certificates, and we'll need foster licenses and we'll have to meet him and explain this all to him, and he might not want us to foster him. We might not be able to. But, if we can, I think we should," Liv said.

Delilah nodded slowly.

"It'll be difficult. I don't particularly to look at my dead brother's face every day, but Ziggy is innocent. And the way he's going now, with how his life is, he's not gonna have a good childhood or adulthood if someone doesn't step in. I know how to handle kids like Ziggy and so do you, and so does dad if we need help. I think we can really do this and help him," Liv said.

"It'll take us months," Delilah said. "We're not just gonna apply today and be fully approved tomorrow. Even when the DNA test confirms he's our nephew, they're not gonna let us take him from Nevada to Virginia. They might not let us do that unless we're going to adopt him, and that begs the question of who is gonna adopt him. We also have to consider who's gonna have him when I'm away, when you're working nights. We hardly have a huge support system in Virginia."

"We could talk to dad," Liv chewed on her bottom lip. "Ask him to stay for a while. I'm sure he wouldn't mind. And he'd be in school most of the day. I can put him in the same school as Zara, so, Jace and I can do carpools with them. And he can hang out at the hospital daycare. It goes all the way up to fifteen year olds. We can figure it out."

"We live in a two bedroom apartment," Delilah said.

"We can move apartments if we get approved," Liv said. "Or buy the place next door and knock the walls through."

"What if he doesn't want us to foster him?" Delilah asked.

"Then we listen to him," Liv said.

"What if we do foster him and he turns out like Eli? Or like me? Are you gonna be able to do that all over again?" Delilah asked.

"He's got more of a chance at breaking the cycle with us than with anyone else," Liv said. "You know the statistics of foster care."

Delilah hated how Liv was always right.

"I know," Delilah sighed. "Okay. Okay. I'm in. We'll foster the shithead."

"I'll call the lawyer. Do you want to tell dad, or should I?" Liv asked.

"Let's just see what the lawyer says, first. We might not even have a case. How are we going to explain how I found out about him without me confessing I overstepped in my very government orientated job?" Delilah asked.