Chapter 32

Part III

First Charlotte has started crying as she didn't like being in the seat but soon she got used to it and with Miss Peregrine tickling her or talking to her, she quickly forgot about her initial discomfort.

During the drive both adults stay quiet. Alma and Charlotte sit in the second row behind Ethan, busy with themselves, while Ethan concentrates on the street. They seem to have gotten into the rush-hour traffic and all the highways leaving out of the city are jammed.

Therefore it takes longer than expected but eventually the three of them arrive in front of the police station.

Quickly Alma and Ethan leave the car, Ethan again carrying Charlotte, who has once more fallen asleep in her seat.

In the building, at the front desk, they ask for Claire and are immediately led into a separated room, where an older police officer is already waiting for them.

He wears dark and loose clothes, has a moustache and dark intimidating eyes.

Apparently he's in charge of their case.

"Good evening," he greets them harshly and motions for them to sit down on the opposite side of the table.

"I take it you're Miss Peregrine," he addresses Alma directly, who nods. She doesn't like the tone in his ways, it makes her feel like being treated like a criminal.

"And you are?"

"Ethan Sands, Sir!" he answers, smiling politely at the man in front of him.

"I'm her partner."

"Oh," the man says surprised. "There's nothing about a partner in your files."

"What files?" Miss Peregrine asks confused. She has never had any contact with the police before.

"Miss Peregrine, of course there are files about you," the officer laughs. "There have to be institutions for that. You're taking care of twelve children and not very successfully as it looks."

"What do you mean?" Ethan accuses angrily.

The man stays calm and smiles to himself.

"Let's see. We found one of your children alone on a train leaving the city, a girly at the age of only 7 like she told us and apparently without your knowledge. She didn't want us to take her back, so I guess she has run away, which doesn't shed a good light on you, does it?" the officer states coldly.

Miss Peregrine is speechless with shock, never has she been accused like that.

Ethan just wanted to come to Alma's defence but is interrupted by the officer again.

"Furthermore your girl has bitten one of the conductors and not just a bit, she left a real flesh wound."

He takes one photo out of the folder in front of him and shoves it across the table for Alma and Ethan to look at.

At seeing the traces of some sharp and long teeth in the flesh of this hand, Alma gasps.

"Oh no," she says, realising what her girl did. Also Ethan seems to understand her thoughts and gives her a helpless look.

What are they going to do now? How can they explain this? Has the man noticed Claire's backmouth? And do the people here know about it already?

"This girl shows an aggressive behaviour," the man continues. " She's dangerous and that doesn't make me think better of your educating.

"What are you saying? That I teach my children to bite other people," Miss Peregrine answers angrily.

"I can only speak from what I've seen," the officer retorts calmly and puts the photo back into his folder.

"That's ridiculous!" Ethan exclaims. "Claire must have been scared and maybe the man has grabbed her more firmly than necessary, so she felt the need to protect herself. She would never hurt someone without a reason."

The officer shakes his head and laughs.

"And now the poor man is to blame for his own injury. I don't want to hear your lies and accusations. The only thing I'm interested in, is what the girl says but so far she hasn't told us much."

"Can we at least see her?" Miss Peregrine begs desperately.

"I'm afraid, that's not possible yet. We still need to talk to her and we don't want you to intimidate her until she says what you want her to say," the man says and then stands up.

"The court will take it from here, so let's see what they have to say. If you'll excuse me now, I have other things to finish."

He holds the door open for the couple to leave the room.

"For now you can wait in the corridor!" With that he disappears into another room.

Both of them are too shocked to answer and are left it the drafty corridor with only two wooden chairs.

The friendly secretary approaches them, tells them to sit down on the chairs and offers them some coffee, which they gladly accept.

Ethan places Charlotte in her seat next to them on the ground. Luckily she's still asleep so they don't have to worry about her for now.

Slowly the adults are realising what's happening around them and Miss Peregrine can't help but cry again.

Lovingly, Ethan takes her in his arms and kisses her forehead.

"It's going to be alright, Alma. I promise. You didn't do anything wrong, they can't take Claire or any of the other children away from you."

"But that's not true" Alma sobs. "I let my tiredness and pain out on Claire, that was irresponsible. Maybe they're right and I'm not good for my children anymore."

"That's nonsense!" Ethan answers. "You've been good enough for the last 70 years or more and you still are. And even more than that. You're the most loving and caring mother, I've ever seen. Don't let such people make you think otherwise."

Sobbing, Miss Peregrine nods. She knows that Ethan is right but in her emotional state she just can't stop feeling so whiny.

As they sit there arm in arm they both hear other employees talking about their case.

"Have you heard about the little girl they found?"one woman asks another. "Yes of course. Poor little thing and then it's also Harrison's case..." "Yes very unfortunate. But have you read the report about the conducter?" "No, what's about it?" "It seems to be some kind of lunatic, he swears the girl has bitten him with the back of her head," the woman laughs out. "Can you believe that someone might actually think that?" Both women can't stop laughing.

Miss Peregrine looks at Ethan with wide eyes.

"Not that as well," she sighs desperately.

Ethan lays his arm around her waist and presses her closer against him.

"It will be alright, Alma. You have heard what they said, no one believes him, so don't worry."

But Miss Peregrine is still worried.

What if this man tells more people about it? What if someone believes him and what if the police officer is inspecting Claire closer? What if they have already found her backmouth?

By now Miss Peregrine is nearly hyperventilating. She's eventually brought back into reality by her little girl crying.

Slowly recovering, she looks down at the unhappy baby in its car seat next to her. She unfastens her and lifts her up in front of her.

"What's wrong, darling?" she asks in a soft voice before taking Charlotte in her arms.

"Do you think she's hungry?" Ethan asks thoughtfully.

"Probably," Alma answers while letting Charlotte suck at her little finger and looking around the room.

Next to them is the entrance door, opening now and then as people enter or leave. To their left at the end of the corridor is the front desk with a little office behind it, where the lovely secretary works.

Along the corridor are more offices behind glass walls and a few more closed rooms like the one they were in earlier.

All the time there are people in uniforms, crossing the corridor, gossiping or discussing other cases.

Ethan seems to read Alma's thoughts.

"I'll go and ask if they have a free room where you can feed her, it's not right here in the corridor," he says, plants a kiss on Alma's forehead and stands up.

Gladly the secretary, who introduced herself as Linda, shows them to a room, also with a table and two chairs. They are luckily softer than the ones outside, so Miss Peregrine leans into one, making herself as comfortable as possible with Charlotte in her arms, while Ethan sits down next to her.

He gets her one of the cloth diapers from their bag before Alma starts nursing their child.

Afterwards while Miss Peregrine redresses herself, Ethan changes Charlotte's nappy again, taking advantage of the room, they have to themselves for the moment. Then they go back outside.

The two chairs are now occupied by other people, so they stop at the front desk to thank Linda for her help. She's really fond of Charlotte and plays with her as Ethan has placed her with the seat on the desk, the parents standing in front of them, just watching.

"This can't be truly happening," Miss Peregrine sighs, more to herself as she's standing next to Ethan. She has placed both her hands on his right shoulder, supporting her body weight and resting her head on top of it. Miss Peregrine really feels exhausted from being on her feet all day and also her stitches have started hurting again, surely also because of the hard chairs they had to sit on.

She should just take Claire, wipe all these people's memories and leave with Ethan, Alma thinks to herself. But she's not sure if she is still able to do so, as she hasn't tried any of her peculiarities since the birth. And even if she could, she's not sure if she has the energy to do it to 20 people or more.

Miss Peregrine sighs out and leans against Ethan.

He worries for her as he can see that this is not good for her and as another police officer passes them, he loses his temper.

"Can someone talk to us, please," he shouts at the younger man.

"We've been here for more than an hour and nothing is happening. We're treated like criminals, while all that we want is to take our girl back home. My fiancée has been worrying all day. It has only been two days ago that she had the baby and instead of lying down she has to stand here."

"Let it go, Ethan," Alma begs quietly. She doesn't want to get into more trouble and this young man surely isn't the one to blame.

"No, I won't. This is not right here. We're sorry that Claire has hurt this man, we truly are. But there must have been a reason, she would never just do it without one. We have a right to talk to her, she shouldn't been alone any longer."

"I'm sorry, sir," the man stammers. "I'll see what I can do for you." Looking back insecurely the man leaves and disappears through a door down the corridor.

Linda looks at them compassionately.

"Would you like to have another cup of coffee?" she asks and Miss Peregrine nods gratefully, happy for the distraction. Maybe it will give Ethan some time to calm down again.

Linda shows them into another room, as it seems some kind of staff room, where Alma can sit down on a couch.

"Thank you," Ethan says, smiling at Linda. "It seems like there are also nice people around here."

"There are," she confirms. "Harrison is an exception. I'm sorry for what he said. He exaggerates all the time and is not really popular around here."

Linda winks at the couple mischievously and they both nod before they are left alone.

Together they finally relax a bit, cuddling with Charlotte as a distraction.

She's just a happy little girl, at least when she's not crying. But so far that wasn't very often except for when she really had a reason to.

At the moment she lies on Alma's thighs again, making funny noises and looking at her parents who keep talking or snuggling her.

Charlotte just looks adorable in her tiny red dress, the white stockings and also a red hairbow.

Looking at her Ethan notices that she's dressed the most appropriate of them all.

Alma, who's usually dressed more than elegant, only wears some loose pants and one of her nursing shirts and he is still dressed in the clothes he has put on to build the tree house with the children earlier.

No wonder that this officer sees them as a weird couple with too many children to cope.

And also the fact that they both haven't slept properly for the last days doesn't help. They probably look like they had too many drugs last night.

Ethan sighs, taking Alma in his arms.

For the second time today he just hopes that this will end soon and that with a happy outcome.

A little while longer they can stay in this room until another police officer stands in the door to get them.

First Ethan thinks that the young man from earlier has really achieved something but then they're told that this Harrison needs to talk to them again, needing some more information about Alma and the children as well as what happened before Claire left.

Reluctantly both Ethan and Alma get up to follow this man back into the corridor before he will bring them into the next room for the interrogation.

At the front desk they stop once more as Linda starts talking to them. She offers to look after Charlotte for some time but Miss Peregrine would rather have her close to herself, which Linda understands of course.

"In the first weeks it seems that you can't be without them for longer than a few minutes. But it will change." She winks at Alma, who smiles as well.

Only as they want to turn around to follow the man down the corridor, they see Claire coming out of one of the rooms on the left side.

She's followed by another woman, approximately Alma's age, who has placed her hand protectively on Claire's shoulder.

Then she sees them all standing on the one end of the corridor.

"Miss P.! " she exclaims happily and runs towards them.

Also Alma makes the way down the corridor before she kneels down to embrace her girl in a tight hug. She doesn't care how much her whole body refuses to make this movements, it's hurting all over. But that she now has her Claire back is so much more important.

"Don't you dare do that ever again," Miss Peregrine sobs into Claire's dress while Ethan looks at them happily.

It seems like an eternity until they eventually break apart and Miss Peregrine stands up again. Claire keeps hugging her legs tightly.

"I'm so happy to be back with you," she sobs silently. "I've really missed you."

Soothingly Miss Peregrine lets her hand caress the little girl's head while turning towards the woman, who now approaches her and Ethan. She desperately wants to talk to Claire. Ask her why she ran away and apologize for her behaviour but now is not the time.

"You must be Miss Peregrine," the woman says in a friendly voice before shaking her hand and then turning towards Ethan.

"And you're Ethan, right?" He nods and shakes her hand as well. They are both happy to finally see Claire and to have another friendly woman to talk to, but nonetheless they stay confused and scared about what might happen next.

"I'm happy to meet you," the woman continues. "Claire has told me a lot about you. I'm glad that you're here now to pick her up, she has missed you."

Miss Peregrine looks back even more confused.

"Can we take her with us?" she asks with wide eyes.

The woman laughs. "Of course or do you want to leave her here."

"Of course not. But what about the hearing and all the other things the officer said earlier?"

The woman shakes her head lightly.

"Forget about that," she says then. "Harrison was all over the top once more. He only sees numbers and laws, never the people. Besides, he doesn't have any children, so how could he ever understand what that means."

She winks at the couple. Probably she's a mother herself, Ethan thinks.

"It took me only one glance at you and Claire together to know that she loves, respects and trusts you completely. And she also told me about her life with you, how happy she is. Not many foster children get such a second family and it would be a huge mistake to take her or any other children from your care."

Insecurely Miss Peregrine looks back at Ethan but he doesn't know what's just happening either.

"Furthermore, Claire told me what happened in the train. This conductor has grabbed her by her hair and she got scared and just wanted to get free. Of course it wasn't right to do that but I think Claire knows that now and she's sorry. It was just unfortunate that the man's hand got hurt so much in the process but he probably did it himself when trying to free it," the woman guesses while Miss Peregrine darts Claire a knowing glance. She just lowers her head in shame.

"You may have to pay for her ticket and probably even for the treatment of the man's wound though," the woman adds.

"Without any other consequences?" Ethan asks surprised.

"Yes! The man won't report Claire as he didn't behave according to protocol. He would have never been allowed to grab her like that. And he as an adult would have to fear more consequences than Claire as a child."

Miss Peregrine nods relieved. She would have never thought that everything would straighten out so easily.

Claire has also turned around, looking at the other woman, who's obviously the child psychologist around here.

"And what about the officer who talked about a court trial?" Miss Peregrine wants to know confused.

"Let me take care of that. Harrison makes a great fuss about everything but luckily he's not the one in charge here. We'll just need you to sign a few forms and then you can leave. And it's about time, you surely had a hard day."

Ethan nods, half laughing about it now and also Alma has to agree, now feeling how exhausted she is, as the adrenaline is wearing off.

"I admire you," the woman keeps talking to Miss Peregrine. "I surely wouldn't have been able to be on my feet for so long, this shortly after the birth of my first child."

"Neither am I," says Alma.

"Speaking of it. May I see the little Charlotte as well? Claire has told me that she's a real cute baby."

Ethan and Miss Peregrine smile at Claire, who looks proudly up at them, before Ethan gets Charlotte from Linda to hold her up for the psychologist to look at.

"Oh and how right Claire was," she says and looks at Charlotte adoringly.

After Ethan and Alma have finished with all the forms they have to sign, they are finally ready to go.

Happy and relieved Miss Peregrine takes Claire by her hand and together with Ethan, who's carrying Charlotte, they leave the station. Of course not before thanking Linda and the friendly psychologist again.