Adopted (a Zalfie fanfic) [1]

Chapter 14

*Zoe's POV*
I was woken by the gentle buzzing of my alarm clock at 8am. I lay in bed for a while, with a snoozing Alfie next to me. I thought about how much my life had changed in the past few years. I started out with a few subscribers and now I had over six million. It still blew my mind. It was crazy to think that hopefully, in a few months time, I would be a mother too. Lily would be our responsibility and we would have to care for her as our child. It was a bit scary but also very exciting.

I couldn't wait to see Lily again this afternoon. I just hoped she felt the same. It was still early days but as much as I tried, I couldn't imagine Lily being completely comfortable around us for a long while. I didn't know how the day was going to go. Would she come out of her shell a bit or would she have another meltdown? Would she want to stay at the orphanage or come back to our home? All I knew was that we had to be careful not to push her out of her comfort zone. She's gone through to much trauma already.

At long last, I hauled myself out of bed, being careful not to wake Alfie. I jumped in the shower and washed my hair. Then I dried it and shoved it in a top knot. I shoved on my dressing gown and pottered around for a little while before getting changed. I slipped on a long sleeved collared dress, pulled on some opaque tights and slid my feet into some cute little school girl shoes. By this time it was 9.30am and I sat in the living room on my laptop, patiently waiting for Alfie to wake up.

I logged on to Twitter and posted a tweet. "No daily vlog again today guys, sorry! I will be vlogging again tomorrow though😊". My notifications instantly went crazy, with many saying "okay" and "looking forward to tomorrow's vlog!". I was so blessed to have such amazing fans. I wondered how we were going to tell them about Lily and how they would react. I had no idea what we would tell them, I couldn't just say "Oh by the way guys, Alfie and I have adopted." It would have to be more in depth then that. We would probably end up doing a video about it. After that, I plugged in my headphones and watched numerous YouTube videos.

It got to around half ten before I decided it was time Alfie emerged from the duvet and actually got ready. Just as I stood up, I heard the creak of the floorboards above me, followed by a small bang. I walked up the stairs cautiously and bent my head round the corner of the bedroom door. A fully dressed Alfie was stood near the dressing table, styling his hair. "Wow, look at you, Mr Speedy. When did you get up?" I said, joking around.

"About half an hour ago. Thought I'd make a bit of effort." He replied, smirking.

"What was the bang?"

"Oh, dropped my aftershave didn't I."

"Silly billy!" I said, before running up behind home and wrapping my arms around his shoulders. "Excited for today?"

"Yeah! I can't wait to see her again." He said, hugging me back.

"Neither can I. Whatever we end up doing, it's going to be great!" I said. I left Alfie to finish getting ready and I went back downstairs and made us both some toast. As I sat munching on my breakfast, a Skype call popped up from Louise. "Chummyyyyyyy!" I exclaimed.

"Chummyyy! How are you?" She said.

"I'm great! You?"

"I'm fine! How did the other day go?" She asked. Alfie and I had told all of our close friends and family about us adopting because we didn't want to keep something so big from them.

"It went great. We've found our daughter! Her name's Lily and she's thirteen." I replied.

"Ooo! Aw, I'll have a little shopping buddy!"

"Yeah, urm I don't think that'll happen for a long time." I said.

"Well yeah, she's not going to come home straight away."

"No, it's not just that. Lily is different from others her age. I'm pretty sure she has post traumatic stress disorder. I mean, she's never been diagnosed but I think it's quite likely."

"Why, what happened to her?" Louise asked. She sounded concerned.

"Her and her parents were in a collision with a drunk driver when she was seven. Both of them died and Lily was left with no one." I heard Louise gasp. "And then she has been passed between five different families, three of which abused her, and the others decided they didn't want her. We'll be her sixth adoptive parents and hopefully her last."

"Oh my god, poor girl. So does she not speak much?"

"Not really. She's constantly on edge, nervous, keeps to herself quite a lot. I'm hoping that will change a little when she learns to trust us."

"I hope so. How are you planning on telling the viewers?"

"I think we'll end up doing a video on it sometime soon." I said.

"That's probably the best idea. It's not just something you can really post on Twitter. So what are you going to do with her today?"

"Well, we're getting to the orphanage for 1:30pm and then we'll either stay there, or come back here but it's completely up to Lily. I don't want to force her into anything or make her feel uncomfortable." I said.

"Yeah, are you just going to chat with her and things?" She asked.

"I suppose so. I can't really see her wanting to come back to the house but who knows, she might surprise us! If not, we'll probably stay at the orphanage until tea time or whatever. It'll be good." I said, smiling. I stayed on Skype to Louise for about an hour. By that time, it was around twelve o'clock and we still had time to pass before going to see Lily. I was so excited to see her again yet a little nervous for the same reason. What if she had changed her mind? I knew it was silly to think it and I tried really hard not too. It didn't stop me from feeling a little bit anxious though.

A fully washed and dressed Alfie strolled down the stairs and into the living room. He caught me in a world of my own and came and sat beside me. "Hey, what's up?" He asked, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

"Nothing. Just thinking about Lily." I replied.

"Yeah, I've been doing a lot of that too. Do you think she'll be home for Christmas?"

"I hope so. As soon as she trusts us and all the paper work and background checks are done, there is nothing stopping us from being a family for Christmas." I said, leaning my head on his shoulder. "I can't wait."

"I hope so too little one. Anyway, I think it's time we should be off!" Alfie said. I stood up and was about to leave the room to put my shoes on when he said, "Oh and Zoe? Do you think Lily likes pugs?"

We had had several conversations about getting a pug before we found out I couldn't have children and nothing more was said about it as soon as we decided to adopt. This was the first time it had come up in conversation ever since. "I don't know, you would have to ask her!" I said, smirking.

We both got our shoes and coats on and got in the car. I turned on the engine and reversed out of the driveway.

Authors Note:
A big thank you for 2k reads, that's insane!
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Thank you! X