Hero (Tom Hiddleston)

14

After they arrived at the police station and Tom explained as best he could with Shae's input where they needed it, they waited half an hour for Pauline, who was Shae's acting social worker, to arrive. When she had, two officers sat down with them, neither out of their twenties, a man and a woman, who introduced themselves as Officer Reagan and Officer Fields.

"Alright, Shae," Fields began. "Can you tell us what happened, starting with after you were dropped off at the foster family's house?"

Tom kept his eyes locked on the young woman as she took a deep, shaky breath. "After I was dropped off and introduced and everything," she said softly, "they told me I could go to my room and get settled. So I stayed there until dinner."

"What were your impressions of the family when you first arrived?" Reagan asked, his eyes locked on hers. "Did anything seem off to you?"

"Not really." She shrugged slightly. "I don't know. They seemed nice. A little fake, but a lot of people are. I guess I had an off feeling about all of it, but I thought I was just being weird since... since it was my first time in that... environment... since before everything happened."

"Understandable," he agreed. "I'm sure it was a lot to take in. When did their behavior change?"

"When the lady came to tell me dinner was ready, I was on the phone with my best friend," she explained, a slight tremble in her voice. "He's a Ranger in the Army, who my..." She swallowed hard. "My dad kinda took under his wing when he first joined. I hung up and went downstairs, and that was when they started acting weird. I closed my eyes and prayed in my head before I started to eat, and when they asked and I told them I was praying, they said they didn't believe in that kind of thing. So I told them that was fine and I'd keep it to myself, but they still acted unhappy about it and said we'd talk about it later."

"That's already violating the rules as foster parents," Pauline sighed. "They're supposed to respect any beliefs kids come in with, and never question them as long as they're not directly causing any serious behavioral issues."

Since he'd spent the last month getting himself registered and cleared as a foster parent, Tom had already known that. Apparently, not everyone took the agreements they made upon licensing as seriously as he had.

"Was their behavior hostile when they said that to you?" Fields asked, looking up from taking notes.

"Not really hostile," the girl replied uncertainly. "Maybe a little... disgusted... but not like they were gonna hurt me over it or anything."

"I see. But they didn't press the issue at the time?"

"No, ma'am. They just said we'd talk abut it later and moved on."

"Where did the conversation go from there?" Reagan asked as his partner took more notes.

"Molly, the lady, had already asked who I was on the phone with, and I told her it was my best friend who lived in Georgia," Shae explained.

She was being so strong, but Tom could see an inner battle raging behind her eyes.

"So she asked me what he was in Georgia for. When I told her he was a Ranger, they started acting the same way they did when I was praying, except worse. The daughter made some comment about how it takes the best of them, and then they started going off on the military, calling them murderers who killed for the sake of killing and other **** like that. I tried as hard as I could to be polite when I defended them, but they just called me a confused kid who'd been lied to by the world. And said they liked fostering kids like me so they could show us the truth or whatever."

The look on Pauline's face was utterly horrified. "How have we let them foster so many teens when they act like this?" she asked, almost like she was questioning herself. "They should have never been licensed."