heart like yours (jennifer jareau)

3. four

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"nobody realises that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." - albert camus

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Delilah sat in Vince's office, legs tucked underneath her in the chair as she sipped on her cup of coffee. Vince sat opposite her, flicking through Ziggy's file with raised eyebrows.

"Well?" Delilah said. "What therapy is gonna be best for him?"

"Well, I don't know," Vince said. "Won't really know until you try a few options, and a few therapists. You're also making sure Liv gets him a full check at the hospital, right? You don't know what kind of things have happened to that kid, and there might be things they pick up on."

"Like disorders?" Delilah asked.

"It looks like he may have something going on with him," Vince said, handing her the file back. "But it's also a possibility that he's just lashing out a lot right now and some stability will help him regulate his emotions better."

Delilah nodded, running her fingers through her hair.

"His father had bipolar," Delilah said.

"Bipolar can be genetic," Vince said. "I would advise researching it to pick up on any signs ahead of time, give you, Liv, and Ziggy some knowledge of this so it's not a shock if it happens."

"We're getting him a full exam done. Liv's friend, Mar, she's a pediatric surgeon and agreed to do the exam to rule everything out," Delilah said.

"That's good," Vince said. "How is the kid? You met him, what, a week ago? End of June?"

It had been a quick week since they'd met Ziggy. Now they knew each other, staying in touch was easy enough while they waited for their next visit and the court dates to be settled.

"Yeah," Delilah nodded. "We're going to visit him again in two weeks. We've been calling him twice a week, and texting him every day. Dave went and bought him a phone while we were meeting him, 'cause the fucking social worker wasn't going to do shit for us to keep in touch. Said Ziggy was fucked, and implied we should run away while we had the chance."

"Is he fucked?" Vince asked.

"You saw his file," Delilah said. "And they said I was fucked. I've made it to the FBI. I think he's got a fighting chance."

"You like him!" Vince grinned. "Oh my god, you actually like Eli's son? Is the world ending?"

"Ha ha," Delilah stuck her tongue out at him. "He's a nice kid. He's got a fucking mouth on him, but he's a sweetheart, really. Funny, too. It's trauma humour, but, still. He's sweet. I do like him. Liv adores him, already. I'm not surprised. He's definitely related to us."

"Are you scared about having a kid in the house?" Vince asked. "He's around the age Sunny and Albie were when they died."

"He's eight, so, yeah, around the same age they were," Delilah said. "I'm not scared about him living with us. I'll barely be there, anyway, and it's a different circumstance. I'm just gonna be aunt Delilah. I'm not gonna be his mom. Liv gets primary custody. I'm just the backup guardian."

"That's good," Vince said. "And how's JJ?"

"She's not avoiding me, but she's not exactly speaking to me, either. It's just... It's weird, now. We've talked and we've kissed, and I know exactly how waking up with her in my bed feels, but we don't do anything except stare at each other. I think we've actually fucked this up," Delilah said.