216 |𝐛.𝐚| (hiatus)

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ASPEN KINGSLEY skipped into the room with "Joe" after kicking Peter in the leg, the bad leg too. Just some payback. Peter would never know how long it took Genevieve to do her hair in that waiting. Aspen went over and sat on top of the table waiting for Joe to come inside and close the door.

"There are chairs right there, you know," Joe stated while pointing out the two metal chairs across from each other, separated by the metal table where the brown-haired girl currently resided on.

Aspen shrugged, "The table looks more comfortable."

Joe chuckled under his breath, he had a young Iris on his hands now. Oh, no. He sighed and pulled one of the metal chairs away from the table, watching the young girl kick her feet, each one swinging.

"So, Aspen. What happened today at the park?" Joe asked. He was flipping through this girl's file, nothing too interesting.

Aspen's eyebrows furrowed, "So, Penny and I were on the swings and this guy came out. He stunk of alcohol and he wanted the swings, even though there were two free ones. Genevieve got up for him, nonetheless, and then the guy started cursing and saying bad words and Gen tried to get him to leave. Penny doesn't like cursing, and she started crying and the man tried to fight Peter and he got him away from us."

Joe raised an eyebrow, "That's all that happened?" Aspen nodded. "What about the lightning strike?" Joe asked.

"Oh, yeah!" Aspen's eyes lit up, "It was so cool. The sky became all dark and then lightning struck! It was like, so cool."

Joe nodded, "And where did it strike?"

"Uh, it hit the metal poles on the swings. It was like the poles were lightning rods!" Aspen said excitedly.

'Does Lucy usually let you kids have free roam?"

"Yeah, but she is still very protective. She doesn't want to crowd us most of the time and she lets us go out as long as Penny or I are with Peter or Genevieve. Although we are only allowed to go out two or three blocks at a time and only for two hours or so. Otherwise, Lucy is with us."

"Okay," Joe sighed, there was only so much you could get from one family without getting repeats of such things.

"Uh, what about your uncle, Hartley? Have you heard from him or anything?"

Aspen laid her back on the table, being investigated and interrogated was boring, she continued kicking her legs back and forth, "Nope. Sometimes Uncle Hartley is, excuse my language, kinda a douche. Peter taught me that word. It's fun to say."

Joe chuckled, "Okay, uh. Do you think of Lucy as your mom?"

Aspen shook her head, "No, not really. I mean I don't call her mom or anything. She's just Lucy. She cares for me as a mom would, but I had a mom. I was old enough to remember them and they would send us letters. Peter never read them, but I did."

Aspen suddenly lifted her head up at looked at Joe with a puzzling look, "Do you have any Caprisuns?"

Joe chuckled again, "Uh, I'm not sure, but I can check. What's your second choice?"

"Any juice really.", Aspen said shrugging, "But, not adult juice. Thank you!"

This time Joe full out laughed, "Of course not. I'll be back, don't do anything, cameras are watching." Joe pointed to the corner closest to the door and nodded up to the black camera.

Aspen nodded and laid back down on the camera, continuing to kick her feet back and forth on the table. Joe took one last look at Aspen entertaining herself before going out of the room.

Genevieve stood up, "Is she done?" Penny continued to sit down even though their hands were locked together tightly. Penny was looking over the balcony a little way away to where Peter and Lucy were sitting, talking and waiting for the rest of the family.

"No, not yet. I'm getting her a juice box, now." Joe said with a curious tone. Iris was so similar at the same age it was almost frightening.

Genevieve shook her head, "Of course. Is Penny going next?"

Joe nodded, "Yeah," Joe looked over to Penny gently, "I'm actually going to get you a police dog to be with you during the interview and the juice box. Is that alright if a dog is with you?" Penny nodded, looking at the floor and not saying anything.

Joe held his hand out, "Do you wanna come to see them?" Penny eyed Joe's hand and tightened her hold on Genevieve's hand.

Joe's eyes zeroed in on the hands, "You can bring Genevieve if you want?"

Penny then nodded and the two girls followed Joe through the system of hallways, stopping once in the break room to rummage through the fridge for some kind of juice before finally finding a non-expired Caprisun.

Joe opened the door labeled, "K9 UNIT", and held the door open for Genevieve and Penny who were still holding hands. In the room, there were multiple dogs training on obstacle courses, different obedient trials, and even a few German Shepherd puppies starting to train as well.

Penny looked around with rapid, excited, light brown eyes. Joe watched the girl as her attention dart around to all the dogs in the room. Genevieve slowly lifted her hand from the loosening grasp of Penny as Penny looked back at Joe.

Joe ushered the girl forward, "Go ahead, they are all friendly unless told otherwise." Penny nodded and slowly walked around the room. Along the way around the room, Penny came across a four-month-old German Shepherd puppy with its ears all over the place. They were still developing and moving upwards.

Penny went over to the handler that was currently watching the girl, all the handlers had been notified of what was happening.

"C-can I pet your dog?" Penny quietly asked. The handler smiled and nodded before Penny reached her right hand out to the dog. The dog then licked the girl's hand and pushed it's furry little head up to her hand, demanding to be pet. Penny giggled and continued to pet the dog, finally, Penny knelt down and started petting the dog with both hands.

Penny looked up to the handler, "What's it's name?"

"Bolt. He seems to like you a lot."

Penny smiled and went back to petting Bolt, who had now started loving on the girl that kept giving him pets.

Joe walked over and looked to the handler, "Hey Kammi, do you think Bolt can spare his training for a little bit?"

Kammi nodded and smiled as she handed Penny the leash attached to Bolt. Bolt looked to his handler expectantly only for Kammi to usher him away and Bolt running circle around Penny excitedly.

Joe looked at the girl and the dog, "You ready to go back?" Penny nodded while giggling at Bolt. Joe went to go when Genevieve got his attention.

She held up the juice box, "I'm pretty sure it's not cold anymore."

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I hope you guys are getting a taste of what each character is like! And yes, I am writing each one for their own interview because that way you have a way into their "file". Some characters might have more to them than you think. Such as gambling with Peter and the thing I eluded to with Penny which you will find about more soon.

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