Capturing Memories

°•°Chapter 44°•°

"I have decided to stick to love; hate is too great a burden to bear."

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Chloe's POV.

"Molly!" I squeal as soon as she's in my arms giggling, "Hey there," Zach smiles over my shoulder, caressing her cheeks as she reached out to my face with her little hands.

"Are you okay, Ms. Miller?" Mr. William's voice breaks our little moment a Zach opens his mouth but I cut him off, "Yup just a small accident," I say giving him a smile making Zach sigh before taking Molly into his arms.

"Aren't Mr. and Mrs. Brown here?" I ask him confused, "Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you guys about,"

My gaze quickly meets Zach's as concern fills our minds, "Is everything alright?" he asks, entwining his fingers with mine while holding Molly in place with his other hand, "Mr. and Mrs. Brown have been struggling to take care of Molly,"

I raise my eyebrows at the sudden revelation, "They've come in here yesterday and decided to return her to the adoption list," my heart drops and my gaze shifts to a mumbling Molly, "But you said, that they were the best match. How could you let something like this happen? It's hard enough that Molly has to go to a new home and now she'll have to get used to new people again?"

Zach asks, clearly pissed off while my hand squeezes his, "Zach," I whisper in an attempt to calm him down, "You guys are the next on the adoption list," Mr. William's voice gets our attention making my heart flutter at what he said.

"Does that mean, we get to adopt her?" Zach speaks up with a hopeful smile, "Yes Mr. Russell, you guys get to adopt her and since you're the chosen guardians, the procedure is even quicker if you're willing to adopt Molly,"

I'm smiling so much that my slightly swollen lip is hurting now, "Of course, yes. We want to adopt her," Zach says with a small smile trying to contain his happiness as he squeezes my hand, "Just let us know what needs to be done," I add glancing at Molly who's falling asleep on Zach's lap making me smile.

"A usual check would be done, like last time to ensure that Molly is put into the right home and this would take about three working days," Mr. Williams starts telling us the details with a smile, he's been a wonderful person to us and kept us updated about Molly all the time.

"One the whole paperwork is done is when you can take her home. Molly will be taken care of at here at the social service center until everything's ready but you guys can always visit her during the usual visiting hours," my heart pulls when I realize, Molly will have to spend a few more days alone, "So, three days?"

Zach asks in confirmation and Mr. Williams nods, "The procedure can only start on Monday though, so three days from then." That makes it five whole days. Five long days but if it's the only five days we stay away from Molly then its all-good, right?

"Can we spend some time with her tomorrow?" I ask him and he nods with a warm smile, "Thank you so much, Mr. Williams," I thank him with a grateful smile.

"You're welcome, Ms. Miller. I'll leave you guys to discuss and have a few minutes with Molly," he stands up and quickly walks out of the office. I turn to Zach who's wearing a huge grin before pulling me into a kiss.

I kiss him back quickly before pulling away and looking at Molly who's trying to stay up but is falling asleep by the second, "This is amazing, Sugar,"

He whispers, kissing my forehead and I leaned closer to both of them before kissing Molly's little forehead, "This baby girl is finally going to come home," I whisper as I feel my eyes tear up but blink them away. My gaze meets Zach's and he pulls me close enough to hug me a little while holding Molly close to his chest.

"We're going to be a family,"

~•~•~•

"Snowy, no." I roll my eyes trying to stop him from licking the bruise on my right hand, which I didn't actually notice until I was back home. Just another reminder of what went down today in contrast with the amazing news we got about Molly.

"Blake wants to talk to you," Zach's voice gets my attention and I sigh before getting off the couch while gaining looks from Dan and Eli. Zach studies my body while I grab the phone from him making me sigh, "Hey,"

I breathe out over the phone while walking into my bedroom with Snowy right behind me, "Why the hell didn't you call me as soon as this happened?!" well, that's rather expected except for how my brother's voice is currently ringing in my head.

"Chloe, are you there?"

"Geez, shush! My heads pounding with how loud you're shouting over the phone," I whine squinting my eyes, "Sorry,"

"You've got nothing to be sorry about Blake," I say gaining a moment of silence with a sigh leading me to imagine the stressed-out expression on Blake's face. Snowy gets onto my lap and snuggles as soon as I take a seat on the corner of the bed, "How are you?"

"Well actually pretty good, did Zach tell you about Molly?" a smile makes its way onto my face as soon as Molly comes to my mind, "Hmm no?"

"Molly had to be put back on the adoption list and now it's we get to adopt her. Mr. Williams called us to his office today. Can you believe it, Blake? It's going to be amazing," Zach stands at the doorway with a smile and I pat on the space next to me while Snowy's paw lands on my hand as soon as he sees Zach walking towards us.

"Wow, congratulations little sis," Blake says but pretty sure his mind is occupied with the not so good part of my day, "Thank you," I sigh knowing what's coming next.

"As amazing as this news is Chloe, you need to talk to me about what happened. I'm not letting that fucked up asshole just get away with what he did to you," I bite my lower lip shaking my head while Zach wraps an arm around my shoulders, holding me close.

"Zach already told you everything, I'm just happy with the fact that I got out of there myself,"

"I'm definitely proud of how you defended yourself, Chloe. You have no idea how relieved I am about that and I know Zach would be there to take care of the rest. We'll need to have a conference call with Zach's lawyer tomorrow and I need to hear what you have to say about this before working on this,"

"A conference call?!" my jaw drops and I glare at Zach who's shrugging, "Yup," is all Blake says making me smack my hand against my forehead, "Fine. It's nothing I need to hide. You know it, Ethan forced himself on me and I didn't notice him enter Zach's office because I had my headphones on. I managed to get out of his hold and knee him before getting out and then Zach was there,"

I rant my words out while I end up scooting closer to Zach unconsciously seeking comfort while trying to utter everything without much thought, "And when did you meet him first?"

"At a party in July last year, we almost slept together but that was about it. I met him at the restaurant after that and he kept flirting around even after I made it clear that I wasn't interested in him," I gulp listening to the small sound from Blake's end of a pen click which meant he's trying not to lose it.

"Alright, that's enough information," he sighs and I breathe out, closing my eyes while resting my head against Zach's chest. Today was an emotional roller coaster, first bad stuff, and then good so hopefully, when I wake up, I get to think about Molly more than anything else.

~•~•~•