Short fic writing trip

Adoption fic 11

"Kid, you have a lot of explaining to do."

She'd yet to see anything close to anger when it came to Frank. Not that this was anger so much as it was frustration, but the instinctual fear she had brought tension into every muscle fiber. This isn't Harrowood, he's not drunk, nothing's going to happen, just calm down she chanted as she tried to mentally soothe her pounding head and racing heart. The conversation being held in the quiet was disorienting enough, each person with their own questions worming into her skin without a single word being uttered, only the expectation that she would be the first to speak.

"Alright, shoot. What do you need to know?"

"First off," Frank started, "Do you know why you don't have anything?"

"No, I grew up with every nickname in the book being used interchangeably, and never went anywhere that required me to know that kind of information. I always thought that I'd get my name and what not when I was old enough. I figured 18 but I don't actually know when that would be. My parents never celebrated any one day as a birthday, or even a general time of year. It was just whenever they felt like treating me to something special. I only have any semblance of my age because I can remember stuff from when I was a toddler, which is around 3-5 years old, right? So I think I'm about 16."

"How did you get away with never needing documentation before?" Ray chimed in, pose mirroring Frank's as he entered the conversation.

"I was home schooled, never got hurt enough to need to go to the doctor, never got any check ups because I didn't have any health issues, and anything else that I might've needed to have that for I never really thought about. I guess my parents just never listed me on anything like taxes or whatever. I don't know, I was just a kid, I didn't ask those kinds of questions and just went with whatever they told me."

Frank knitted his eyebrows, "what happened to your parents?"

"They got arrested after the crash. Past that, I have no clue, never heard back from them. I don't even know if they know where I am." Her voice tapered off in sadness, she spent so long being a surrogate parent to the other kids that she hardly ever thought about her own. As horrible as she felt about it, she tried to forget them so she wouldn't feel all of that pain. She had enough to deal with as of right now, it does no use to hurt herself more.

"What happened in that crash?" Ray inquired again, "That was the last time you were in the hospital, right?"

"Yeah, um." She felt her chest constrict again, but rolled her shoulders to open her rib cage, she couldn't keep losing her grip. She closed her eyes and tried to distance herself from her own words.

"It was a few years ago, I think I was 11? They got really drunk, like absolutely trashed. They drank quite a bit, and always put up a fight whenever I tried to talk them out of anything reckless. I had gotten used to them driving drunk, I always made it home ok so what did I need to worry about right? But this time, we didn't. It was icy out, and there was a deer. Before I knew it, the car had nose dived off the side of a cliff, I was stuck in the back alone, and I could see my parents being taken away. I was restrained, I never got to them to ask what was going on. The cops drove off with them before I could even cry out for my mom and dad."  Despite her best efforts to not feel anything, she felt tears slip down her cheek. "I don't remember much of anything after that, I know I was in the hospital and that people came to talk to me. I got bounced around a bit before the orphanage, but genuinely it feels like one day I was in that crash, and the next it was 2-3 years later and I was in the orphanage." She hadn't realized how little she'd breathed in an attempt to hold back her sorrow. Shaky as it were, oxygen filled her lungs again and she dried her face hurriedly.

"Well, the cops are coming regardless, maybe they can take that DNA sample the doc mentioned and find where your parents are. But that's going to be a while, even in the best case scenario, and I don't like idea of you staying in that shit hole any longer than you have to. Is there no where else you can go?" Frank inquired, frustration melting into concern as he spoke.

She sighed, "if I had anywhere to go, I'd've gotten out years ago."

Frank stayed in silence, and the rest had congregated together in the window sill, removing themselves to be only observers now. The strangeness of the situation was not lost on her, but what she needed was friends who cared about her, so that's what they'd become in this moment. And perhaps it was because of that lapse of forethought did she dare to suggest her admittedly craziest idea.

"Didn't you claim to be my unofficial guardian? Can't you make it, I don't know, actually official? That way I'm not stuck at the orphanage for however long it takes, and you don't get in trouble for lying. I'll stay out of the way, I just don't want you to get thrown in jail." Even as the words left her mouth she cringed at how insane she sounded. She's still technically property of the orphanage, not that anyone there would go looking for her, but she was asking Frank, someone she'd just met 3 days ago, someone with a world's worth of responsibility already on his shoulders as a rock star, to do the orphanages job for her. She was simply being selfish, her desire for the festival to never end bleeding into her rational thought, she braced herself for the rejection she tried to convince herself wouldn't sting.

Except it never came. 

"When's the next housing event?"

What?

"What?"

"WHAT?" A unified chorus of disbelief broke from the window sill, observation turned action as all three occupants nearly fell over themselves trying to stand.

"What?! She asked! And it's a valid solution, I'm not sure if I'd get jail time but I'm not about to risk it. Plus, I'm serious, that place really sucks from what I've heard. The whole reason she's here is because of the fucking lady in charge of that place! I'm not gonna let her go back and be left to rot!" Frank's arms flew as his frustration returned, but this time now directed at his band mates. Argument erupted as each gave their own reasons why it was or wasn't a good idea. They tour too often, would his loved ones approve and accept her, he'd have CPS down his throat all the time, did he realize the responsibility he was taking on, and probably more but she couldn't hear them anymore. Their voices became muffled as she fell into her mind, thoughts spiraling and suffocating her as she realized how much she had actually asked of Frank.

"Guys," they hadn't heard her. "GUYS!" all eyes honed on her like a missile, sharp as knives and a cacophony of emotion behind each iris. She felt small, and couldn't keep it from showing in her voice.

"It's ok, I knew it was a big thing to ask. I don't want to cause any more issues than I already have. Just take me back and let the cops deal with me on their own. You said you were unofficial, so I could cover for you so you would only get a slap on the wrist at worst. I can hold my own until everything gets figured out," Her voice shrank even further,  "just please stop fighting about it."

All at once a room filled with a crimson bafflement and frustration was flooded by lapis melancholy and regret. Stab wounds left to bleed as everyone's eyes withdrew from her and remained averted for an uncomfortably long time. Finally, Gerard, who had been rather quiet this whole day, was the one to speak up.

"We don't mean it like that. I think you're really cool, and I do sympathize with your situation, but I feel like Frank is jumping in too quick and not thinking it through. If anything I care more about you in this situation, I wouldn't want any oversight getting you into more trouble. If we had more time to figure this out properly, maybe it could work, but I just want Frank to use his head about this." He said while flicking Frank in the head.

"I am, Gee," the latter swatted at the former's hand, "I may not have all the kinks ironed out right away, but I'm just trying to look out for her and get her out of a shit situation." Frank turned his attention back to her, and she managed to become microscopic under his gaze. "It doesn't have to be permanent, just long enough until you get identified, and you can go find your parents and be happy with them. I just want you to be safe in the meantime."

"What about my siblings? Will they be ok if I leave? I really can just go back, I'm causing enough trouble as it is, I'd just cause more if I went with you. I'm sorry for the suggestion." She felt her energy drain with every syllable, and she was almost glad when a nurse came in to inform that visiting hours were almost over. No one spoke as things were gathered and goodbyes were exchanged. Frank said he'd come back tomorrow and drop her off, sadness lacing his voice like cyanide, churning her stomach and poisoning her with guilt. But at least the night brought sleep, and she could forget it all for a few hours.