The Best Years

25

"How did they get her name?" Holland asked, her words coming out panicky.

"I don't know. Management is supposed to be sending over the article now." Calum replied quickly.

"Do you want us to go?" Luke asked.

"No." Holland answered. "You guys just got here and it's probably for the best if Chloe stays occupied with Camp and Cai until we see what we're dealing with and have a solution."

"Here it is." Calum said, tapping away on his screen until he had the article loaded. "Fuck, they have a picture of us and all the kids on Halloween trick-or-treating." He said, his brow furrowed and continuing to scroll on his phone.

"Just days ago 5SOS bassist Calum Hood (27) took to instagram to announce that he and Olympian wife, Holland Hood (24), had welcomed a baby boy, Knox, on November third.  Our sources however, tell us that baby Knox may not be the only addition to the Hood family. Over recent weeks a few pictures have emerged of the Hood's accompanied by a darling little girl, as seen above on Halloween. We now have a name and possible connection. Six year old Chloe Aull is a member of Holland's elite gymnastics program, Valley Gymnastics. She has competed in one competition for the gym where she placed first in her age division. We did a little digging and found out that Chloe is a ward of the state and has been living in foster care at the Children's Center of LA for three years. Are the Hoods planning to add her to their family tree? If so we wish them nothing but the best!" Calum read aloud, the group quiet and reflective once he had finished.

"It's worded positively but I feel like them printing half of what they did is illegal as fuck. I mean, Christ's sake, she's a minor." Ashton offered.

"I don't know," Holland countered. "The stuff from the competition, her name and age and that she competes for me is all public information on the competition's webpage. The lawyers told us last time that the paps can take her picture and use it, as long as they aren't being malicious in their attempts to take the picture, and since we didn't even know these were taken that won't work either. The only dicey thing I guess is that she's a foster, which unfortunately, is information we're supposed to do our best to keep quiet. Cal, we need to call Elise and find out what we need to do about all of this."

"You guys are sure you don't want all of us to go?" Crystal asked, readjusting Knox so that he was resting against her shoulder, his eyes fluttered open for a brief moment before he fell back asleep."

"No. You guys stay, until we know if this is going to affect anything. We need all the distraction that we can get."

*

The rest of the afternoon passed by waiting for Elise to call them  back after reaching her voicemail. Their friends did their best to keep their minds occupied, and for the most part, it worked. The conversation and laughter died immediately however when Calum's phone began to ring.

His eyes met Holland's and he rejoined her on the couch, taking Knox from Ashton who had current possession of the infant though he had made the rounds multiple times now amongst their friends.

Holland took him from Calum and held him close as Cal wrapped his arm behind her and finally answered the call.

"Calum Hood speaking."

"Hey Cal, it's Elise at the Children's Center how are you?"

"I'm alright. We were calling because we've been made aware of a small situation and we aren't sure what, if anything, we need to do."

"Okay, what's going on?"

"A tabloid printed an article about us and has included Chloe's full name and the fact that she is a foster child. We think they used information from a gymnastics competition website to get her name and then a google search of that probably brought up the articles about her parents and the fact that she is in foster care. They didn't include any information about her biological parents but we weren't sure if what they did include would cause problems for us."

"Do you mind forwarding me the article?"

"No, not at all." Calum said, tapping away on his phone until he had done as she had asked.

"It sounds like nothing too serious, they didn't drag up her parents death case information and while having her name and foster status shared isn't ideal it's not like you guys personally blasted the information across social media. Celebrity adoption's go through this kind of thing pretty often so I don't think it will cause any issues for you. Just work on that paper work for me and I'll see you guys in a few days for our meeting."

"Okay, sounds good Elise, thank you."

"No problem. You all have a good night."

"You too." Calum said politely as he ended the call and breathed out a heavy sigh.

"Well, I'm glad we called her. She seems to think it's not a big deal but I was already freaking out." Holland admitted. 

"Me too." Calum replied, leaning back against the couch and clasping his arms loosely around her shoulders as Knox began to cry.

"Think he needs a diaper change." Holland said softly.

"You stay, I've got him." Calum said, standing and taking the baby from her before wandering off to change him. The sound of the kids playing down the hall drifted into the living room and Holland smiled. How could she ever have not wanted this?

Chloe and Knox brought so much energy and joy to their home. They gave her life added purpose and she adored watching Calum be their daddy.

Sure things would be different for her, she herself could never be the shining star gymnast she once was, but she could help other girls appreciate the sport like she did and maybe by teaching her girls to love and respect their bodies she could finally learn to do the same for her own.

Whatever the case she was glad that all of her fears about becoming a mother had been unfounded. Her life had only improved. Soon she would be able to return to the gym, Knox in tow, and she could get back to work with her best friend on her new dream, building an elite gymnastics program that she could be proud of.

Things were already great, and they were set to get even better.

AN: Awww what a nice sentiment

That's cute

Ily,

Sav