The Highland Kids: Closet Space

Chapter 21

"Meredith?" Aidan said with shock in his voice. "You're going right into adopting her?"
"Well, I was going to adopt her regardless. With no parents and she most likely feels like a burden. I didn't want her to think about how this might not be her forever home. The only thing she needs to think about is getting better."

"Wait, Jordan, Aidan, you know this woman?"
"Yeah, she's our caregiver. She adopted me about two years ago."
"What about Aidan? Is he adopted?"
"Well it's complicated, he was placed in Meredith's care in July and has been living here ever since. I don't know the plans for his adoption yet. But his legal status is that he's in foster care."
"O-okay, how many siblings will I have?"
"Including Jordan and myself, there's Alyza, Emilohi, but we all call her Em. Uh...there's also Jackson across the hall, and Arty."
"Wow, that's a lot of siblings...what are they like?"

"Well, I'm training to be a hair stylist. Aidan wants to be a baker, Alyza's into dance, Em is fairly new to he house and is a little shy so I don't know much about her, however I do see her draw in a sketchbook a lot. Jackson wants to be a tattoo artist or a professional street artist. Arty.. wanted to become a professional footballer but they haven't fully made a commitment yet."
"They?"
"Yeah, they're non-binary. It means they aren't a girl or a boy, and use they and them pronouns."
"There's a word for that? When will I get to meet everyone?"
"Hopefully soon. I need to have another word with your doctors in regards to your current health and at home treatments. Aidan, Jordan, if you want to get ready to go say goodbye to Jackson."
"Meredith, what about that other girl, the one in that crash?"
"She's still in the ICU, I'll check up on her again while you two are saying goodbye to Jackson. Now, say goodbye for now to Carrie."
"Bye Carrie! Nice meeting you."
"See ya!"

We headed back across the way and said our goodbyes to Jackson.
"Don't worry about me, the doctors said I should be moving out soon, either tonight or tomorrow morning. Hopefully I won't have to stay the night."
"That's good to know, you'll finally be able to meet Carrie face to face."
"Bro, I can't wait for you to come home."
"Bro I'm gonna be back soon, I promise."

I practically had to drag Aidan away from his homie. Meredith was still in Carrie's room speaking with her doctor, presumably about her treatments and therapies she would need.
I turned my attention Carrie who was quite enthusiastic about everything.
"Good news Aidan, you get to spend more time with Jac-"
I turned around and saw that Aidan went into cuddle mode and was practically taking over Jackson's bed.
"How did you get over there that quickly?"
"The love that two homies feel for each other transcends everything."
"But you guys are brothers, why aren't you fighting? Why don't you want to kill each other? Where's the sibling rivalry I had growing up?"
"What's there to fight over?" Aidan said, "I have no reason to kill Jackson, we are a team against the girls. The sibling rivalry is girls against guys against Arty."
"Makes sense. Oh, now Meredith's leaving. Aidan, say goodbye to your bro."
"See ya Jacks, I love you, no homo."
"No homo but I love you too."
"You two are disgusting," I left and Aidan followed. "You're supposed to treat your housemates like family, not family from Alabama."

We joined Meredith back outside and we headed to the elevators.
"The ICU is one floor down. I wanted you guys to see Katherine before we leave."
"Who's Katherine?" Aidan asked.
"She was in a car accident I witnessed when I took Em and Alyza to school. I wanted to make sure she was okay. Her parents were seriously hurt and her dad died in the crash."
"Oh my god, what about her mom?" Aidan looked worried.
"Her mom is in the ICU with her, but her mom is in a worse condition than she is."
"What if she and her mom survive?"
"Then the two go home and it must be fate that Katherine doesn't come live with us. If she does, it will most likely be temporary until she can be placed with relatives."

The elevator doors opened and we stepped out into the hallway which looked more like an actual hospital with white everywhere and thin painted lines on the walls that directed us to where we needed to go. Lime green to the OR, pink to the post-op rooms, light blue to the bathrooms, and...
"The purple line will take us to the ICU. All we have to do is follow the purple line and we find Katherine."

A few turns and following a purple stripe on the hospital wall later, we found the Intensive Care Unit.

It was a good thing that it was mostly empty. However, a woman and a girl were in two separate wards side by side. It was an even worse thing when I saw them.

The mother and daughter looked nothing alike.

Don't get me wrong, moms don't always look like their kids. I should know, But when I saw the two in the ICU, Katherine's chart had "Park, Katherine" and the other had "Kirin, Charlotte."
Either Katherine kept her birth name or her real mother didn't survive the crash. I tried to be optimistic and think Katherine was just adopted, but Meredith saw the two and her eyes were watery.
"I'm sorry, that isn't the woman that was taken with Katherine."
A doctor turned the corner and saw us.
"Meredith? I remember you!"
"Connor? It's been a while. Oh, These are Jordan and Aidan. Aidan is my foster son and Jordan is my adopted daughter. Aidan and Jordan, this is Dr. Hansen. We worked at the same hospital when I was a social worker."
"Why was I never told this?" I turned to Dr. Hansen. and shook his hand.
"Well it never came up in conversation." She turned to Dr. Hansen. "How's Katherine doing?

"Well I can't disclose anything due to patient confidentiality. Right now, I'm awaiting a response from relatives of hers so she is placed in the care of family. So far, I haven't been able to find family willing to take her, even temporarily. I suppose you could get in touch with some of your social worker friends and see if they can match her to a temporary foster family?"
"Well, I could do you one better. I adopt children who need a second chance at life and foster those who need a roof over their heads for a little while."

"Oh, thank you for telling me, I'll make arrangements for you to speak with the hospital's social worker. You can exchange contact information and hopefully she's fine. One of our social workers is actually in the building. Would you like to have a word with her?"
"Oh yes of course. Aidan, Jordan, you two can head to the car. I'll only be a minute."

The two of us quietly headed to the car. Aidan started sending memes to Jackson and I decided to start messaging Kai from camp.

_________

Meredith arrived a few minutes later and the three of us got in. She muttered something I couldn't make out before she pulled out of the car park and headed home.