A/N – This one is for Jessica314, because she wanted me to write some Edward…little human Edward is the best I can do!

And even though they're never likely to read it, its for my own little dudes, who have taught me all about the world of little boys.

Edward.

The day that Emmett came was not a Good Day. I did not know this in the morning, because that part of the day was all normal. I had oatmeal and raisins for breakfast, got dressed in my blue jeans and green tyrannosaurus shirt and tied up my shoelaces by myself, and then Mommy drove me to preschool.

At preschool I had fun playing. It was also Tuna Pasta Day for lunch, which is my favourite, and then it was my turn to choose the story for afterwards which is the best special job. Instead of Mommy coming to get me Andy's mom took me home, and on the way we had ice cream and got to watch the fish fountain, so actually I thought it was a very Good Day.

But then I walked into my house and it became a Bad Day. Because sitting at the table with Mommy was a boy I didn't know, eating a yoghurt cup and wearing MY spaceman pyjamas. Mommy said hi and gave me a hug, but she didn't ask about preschool and ask to see my art like she normally does.

"Who's that?" I asked.

Mommy said, "This is Emmett. He's going to stay at our house for tonight. And Emmett, this is Edward."

Emmett and I didn't say hi. He just kept eating the yoghurt, and I said, "Those are my pyjamas."

"Emmett is just borrowing them for tonight," Mommy said.

She even frowned at me, which didn't seem very fair. Why should a strange boy be wearing MY pyjamas? Why didn't he have any pyjamas of his own?

"Edward, while I run your bath can you take Emmett in to the living room and show him the toys? You can choose something to play with Emmett. There are lots of cars and trains and Lego, or you could look at some books."

When Mommy was in the bathroom Emmett finished the yoghurt. He didn't put the spoon and the empty cup in the sink like he should have, so I did it for him. He didn't even say thank you.

I took him in to the living room and showed him the shelves where I keep all my toys, and the Lego table. I hoped he didn't want to play with the Lego, because Daddy and I had only just finished building the police station and I didn't want it broken yet. But Mommy always says I have to share with guests, so I didn't say anything.

"Are these toys all just for you?" Emmett said, like he couldn't believe it. He looked all along the shelves and then went to the table and picked up the Lego fire truck and looked at it.

"Do you have Lego?" I asked him.

"No."

Emmett put down the Lego fire truck and then picked up the police car, but even though he'd been careful with the fire truck this time he just broke the car in pieces! Even though it was new and I had hardly played with it yet!

I went to find Mommy in the bathroom so I could tell her that Emmett wasn't playing nicely with the Lego. But when I got into the bathroom I had only just started telling her when I saw that my bath boats were all jumbled up instead of in the proper row that I left them in.

"Mommy, my boats…"

"Your boats? Oh sweetie…we'll put them up the way you like after your bath. Emmett had a bath earlier and I just moved them out of the way."

"Why is he at our house? He's messing up the Lego and wearing my pyjamas!" I sat down to undo my shoes and take my socks off. "Why didn't he have a bath at his house?"

"Emmett's mommy isn't very well, and he needs someone to look after him for tonight," Mommy said.

I climbed into the bath and she gave me a clean face washer so I could wash my face and scrub the paint off where it was on my arm. "Is his mommy sick like my other mommy was sick?" I asked.

I had another mommy when I was little, but she got sick and died. I don't remember very much, but I have her picture in a frame next to my bed. Her hair was the same colour as mine, and she was pretty.

"No, she's not sick like your mommy was," Mommy said. "But she can't look after Emmett, and his little sister Alice is in the hospital with Daddy, so that's why he's here. He might be a little bit scared to be in a strange house, so I'd really like it if we all tried to be nice to him."

I didn't really feel like playing with my boats then, so I lined them all up on the edge of the bath in the right order. I felt sorry for Emmett that his mommy and his sister were sick, so I didn't tell Mommy about him breaking my police Lego. "Is he going to sleep in my room or in the spare room?"

"I thought he might like sleeping in the other bed in your room, if that's okay with you?"

I thought for a moment and then I said it was okay. I wasn't sure if I liked Emmett, but I felt bad that his mommy was sick and his sister was in hospital so I thought it would be okay if we had a sleepover in my room.

"Thank you sweetheart, that's very nice of you. Now, you run upstairs and get some jammies on, and I'll go and see what Emmett is doing."

When I came downstairs again, Mommy was in the kitchen chopping up tomatoes to make spaghetti sauce, and Emmett was building with the Lego. I wanted to shout at him when I saw that the police station was broken as well as the police car, but I thought that would not be being very nice to a guest so I didn't. Instead I got out my trains and started making a track on the other side of the living room.

After a little while Emmett put down the Lego and came and watched me. "How old are you?" he asked.

"I'm five," I said.

"I'm older than you. I'm seven." He picked up a piece of track. "You should put this piece there."

"It doesn't go there."

"It will be better if this piece goes there."

"It won't. This track has to go there, and that piece can go over there."

I tried to show him, but Emmett just threw the piece of track down on the floor and went in to the kitchen. I thought he might be telling Mommy that I wasn't sharing so I went in too, but really Emmett was just looking in the fridge.

"That's a lot of food," he said, and I thought he was a very strange boy, because it wasn't that much food, it wasn't even grocery day.

"Are you hungry?" Mommy asked. "I'm making us some spaghetti for dinner, and it will be ready as soon as Carlisle comes home."

I could see that behind Mommy's back Emmett snatched some grapes and shoved them all in his mouth at once. I opened my mouth to tell Mommy but he gave me such a mean look that I stopped, even though it's not allowed to eat snacks close to dinner.

I heard the front door then, so I ran and jumped up to hug Daddy. He gave me a hug and asked me how preschool was and if I had fun like he always did, and he carried me into the kitchen. He had a little paper sack and I tried to take it out of his hands to see what it was.

"Is this for me?"

"Nope." Daddy put me down and ruffled my hair, and then went and gave Mommy a kiss and said, "Hi Emmett, how are you doing?"

"Is Alice still at the hospital by herself? Did she wake up?" Emmett chewed on the sleeve of the pyjamas and I thought he looked scared.

"A nurse called Katie is looking after Alice tonight," Daddy said. "Alice woke up and had some juice and a sandwich and I told her that we'd be looking after you tonight and that you'll go and see her in the morning." He opened up the paper sack and gave Emmett a toothbrush. "Here you go buddy, I thought you'll need one for tonight. I got Spiderman, since you had him on your t-shirt today I thought you might like him."

Emmett took the toothbrush from Daddy, but he didn't say thank you, which was not good manners.

"I've got some worm medicine too," Daddy told Mommy. "We got a sample from Alice and she's infested, so Emmett probably is too. I thought we'd better get that out of the way right away. Come here Emmett, I want you to take some of this medicine, so we can make sure there's no worms in your tummy."

"No way," Emmett gave Daddy an even meaner look than he gave me. "I don't have no worms in my tummy and I don't want no fucking medicine. You can't make me."

I could not believe that he said such a bad word right at Daddy! And Daddy and Mommy didn't even do anything!

Daddy just smiled and said, "I can't make you, but I think it would be a really good idea. It's just a little chewy tablet that tastes a bit like candy. Alice had some in the hospital." He showed Emmett the medicine, which was small and round and orange.

"You shouldn't have given her any!" Emmett growled. "That medicine isn't for kids! Kids' medicine is like a drink and we have it on a spoon."

"Ahh." Daddy nodded like he had just solved a problem. "Your mom sometimes had medicine like this?"

Emmett didn't say anything, and after a moment Daddy said, "Well, you're right to be careful about taking medicine. That's smart, because some medicine can be dangerous. But medicine can be a really good thing when we get it from a doctor and take it just like the directions say. I got this from the pharmacy at the hospital, and on the box it tells me exactly how much we should take. See?"

He showed it to Emmett, but he just shook his head and mashed his lips together like Daddy might try and force it into his mouth.

"Would it help you feel better if we took some too?" Daddy asked. "This medicine isn't going to hurt anyone – if there are any worms in someone's tummy it will make them go away, but you won't even feel it. On the box it says that kids should take one tablet with their food, and adults should take two. So how about it? Esme and I and Edward will have some with you, so we can be sure that no one has any worms?"

Emmett still didn't look very sure, but he didn't say no and he watched very carefully as Daddy took out two tablets and chewed them up. "Tastes like orange," he said, "Here you go Esme, and one for you too Edward. Chew it up."

Mommy took her tablets, and Daddy gave me one too. I didn't really want it, but I thought about having worms in my tummy and that made me feel a bit sick so I quickly chewed it up. It tasted like an orange candy.

"See?" Daddy said to Emmett. "We've all had some, and no one is sick or acting funny, right? You have yours, and then we'll all have spaghetti for dinner."

I sat at the table and watched Emmett, who sat across from me and played with the tablet. I could tell he didn't want to eat it, but when he saw Mommy putting the spaghetti in the bowls he chewed it up anyway, so he could have spaghetti. I think spaghetti must be his favourite, because he ate so fast that his bowl was empty when I had only had five bites. He even ate a whole second bowl before I had finished one! He made a big mess too. Spaghetti is hard to eat neatly, but I don't think Emmett even tried.

Mommy helped us wash our faces and clean our teeth. Emmett used the new Spiderman toothbrush Daddy had bought him. Mommy brushed our hair too. Emmett's hair was very dark and very curly, and I liked it when Mommy brushed it and then it all just whooshed back into little springs. Emmett didn't want to leave his new Spiderman toothbrush in the bathroom, so he carried it with him when we went back out.

Daddy said that Emmett and I could choose a game, and then we'd all play it when he and Mommy were finished washing the dishes.

"Do you have an x-box?" Emmett asked. "Mark has one at my house."

I shook my head. "I don't know that game. We have these ones." I showed him the stack of games in the cupboard.

"I know how to play that one," Emmett said, pointing to Candy Land. "My grandma had that game and she played with me and Alice."

Candy Land is a very easy game to play, and we played two games before bedtime. Mommy won one game and Emmett won the other game, and Daddy came last both times. After that it was time to go to the toilet and then get in bed.

Daddy came up with us and turned on the rocket nightlight. Usually he and I read from a chapter book at bedtime, but Daddy said that since Emmett would not know what was happening in the story we could just skip tonight and read some picture books instead. I was a little bit disappointed, but when we read picture books Daddy and I take it in turns to read a page which is quite fun, so I didn't mind too much. Daddy and I read Green Eggs and Ham and The Lorax. Emmett didn't want to read, but I thought he liked the stories anyway.

It was a little bit strange sharing my bedroom. With the nightlight on I could see Emmett in the other bed, and he was noisy because he kept rolling over and kicking the blankets. But I was very tired after preschool and playing all day, and I don't think it took me very long to fall asleep.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The next day when I woke up Emmett was already gone from the bedroom. I thought maybe his mommy was better and had taken him back to his house, but when I went downstairs he was sitting up at the table and drinking milk.

Mommy gave me a kiss and then gave me some milk too. "What do you two want for breakfast? What do you like Emmett? Eggs, or some oatmeal?"

"Sometimes me and Alice have pop-tarts," he told Mommy. "Or Count Chocula."

I wished I could have pop-tarts. Mommy says they're junk and doesn't buy them, but I had them at Andy's house once and I thought they tasted good.

"Well, we don't have any pop-tarts or cereal today," Mommy said. "Would you like some oatmeal with raisins and honey? That's what Edward likes."

Emmett looked like he would rather have pop-tarts, but when Mommy gave him the oatmeal he ate it so fast that he burned his mouth and even said, "It's good," as though it was a surprise.

Mommy would tell me not to eat like a barbarian if I ate my food so fast and so messy, but she didn't say anything to Emmett.

We got dressed and even though it was already hot Emmett put on his woolly red sweater. He kept asking Mommy about going to the hospital to visit his sister, but Mommy was talking on the phone for nearly an hour and kept telling us to wait.

Then she got out some cardstock and markers and said we should make cards for Emmett's sister, since she was sick in hospital and that's what people do. So we did that, while Mommy made even more phone calls. Emmett drew a pretty good picture of a boy and a girl on his card, but when I told him to write 'Get Well Soon' he just shook his head and drew a rainbow on the inside of the card instead. I wrote 'Get Well Soon' but I didn't know how to spell his sister's name and Emmett wouldn't even tell me.

When Mommy was finally off the phone she spelled 'Alice' for me so I could finish my card, and then she said we could go to the hospital and visit Daddy and Emmett's sister. I put on my sneakers but Emmett didn't have shoes so he went in bare feet.

I always like visiting Daddy at the hospital. I don't get to do it very often, because Daddy is a doctor and that is a busy and important job, but sometimes we go and have lunch with him in the cafeteria.

Emmett's sister was upstairs in a room with two other kids, and had the curtain pulled around her bed to make it private. Mommy stopped at the desk to talk to the nurse, but Emmett ran right in and climbed up on the bed and his sister hugged and hugged him. She was much smaller than Emmett and had a very smiley face, and her black hair was in a bunch that looked like a bird's nest.

"Are you better?" Emmett asked her. "Did Momma come? I stayed at Esme's house last night, Esme from the food pantry. That's Edward, her son."

Since she was looking at me I gave Alice the card I made. She didn't say thank you, but she smiled at me so I think that's what she meant. Emmett's card had got crumpled when he climbed on the bed, but Alice held them both tight in one hand. In her other hand she had a pink and blue teddy bear. Mommy knits those teddy bears sometimes, and then kids who come into the hospital can have a teddy bear to hug if they're feeling sad or scared. I wondered if Mommy had knitted this bear that Alice had.

"Hello!" It was Daddy, coming into the room and smiling at everyone. He gave ma kiss and then ruffled Emmett's hair. "And how are you feeling this morning, Miss Alice?"

Alice smiled at Daddy but still didn't say anything, so I asked, "Can she even talk?"

"Of course she can talk!" Emmett said, sounding cross. "She's four! She just doesn't want to right now, that's all."

I hadn't meant to make him mad. I had just wondered if maybe Alice didn't talk and if she could talk with her hands instead like the lady that came to preschool once.

"That's okay," Daddy said, looking at the chart on the end of Alice's bed. "But if something doesn't feel good Alice, do you think you could point to it for me? Does your head hurt, or your tummy hurt?"

Alice shook her head and hugged her teddy and her cards. Even when Daddy asked her some other questions she still didn't say anything.

"She feels better now," Emmett told Daddy. "See, she's awake and everything! So I think now me and Alice need to go home to our momma." He chewed on the sleeve of his sweater.

Daddy sat down on the edge of the bed. "You can't go home right now," he said to Emmett. "The police have been there and taken away a lot of things to do with making drugs, but it's still not a good place for you and Alice to be."

Emmett looked very upset. "But what will happen? When can I see Momma? Where is she?"

"I'm not sure right now," Daddy said. "At the moment we're waiting on a visit from the social worker, who is a lady whose job it is to see that you and Alice have a safe place to live and people to care for you. She'll probably know more about your mom, too. So even though it's hard, at the moment we just need to wait."

Emmett was chewing his sweater so hard I thought he might bite a hole in it. I didn't really understand what Daddy was talking about, but it was making Emmett look very mean, although he kept blinking very fast like he was trying not to cry.

Before he could make a fuss though, Mommy came in with three cookies and three jello cups, and a pile of movies. "Snack time!" she said, sharing out the food. "And I've bought some movies in so you can choose one and the three of you can watch a movie while we wait to hear from the social worker."

Alice had her own tv on the ceiling at the end of her bed. Mommy showed her the movies and asked her if she'd like to choose one, but Alice just looked confused and shook her head. I thought we should choose Toy Story, but Emmett picked Finding Nemo and gave that to Mommy.

"This is your favourite!" he said to Alice.

Emmett and Alice sat on the bed together to watch the movie, and I sat in the chair at the side of the bed. We all ate our cookies and jello, even though it was hard for Alice because she didn't want to put down her teddy or her cards.

When the movie finished, Alice and Emmett were both actually asleep in the bed, so I got up very quietly and went to find Mommy. I followed voices until I found Mommy and Daddy talking with another lady in the tv room.

"…can discharge her today, she's physically stable. Neurologically, the nurses have raised a couple of concerns but it's impossible to judge that now. Alice isn't talking more than a word or two, and of course there's no history of well-checks with a paediatrician to provide a baseline. Both children are malnourished and Alice certainly had a bellyful of worms, we've documented that, as well as the bruises and marks on Emmett. It may be worthwhile x-raying him to check out any healed fractures if we need more…hey, Edward buddy, what are you doing?"

When Daddy said my name I went in and climbed on his lap. "The movie finished, and Emmett and Alice are both asleep."

"I think they're both probably pretty tired," Daddy said. "Yesterday was a pretty big day for them. Edward, this is Mara. She's the social worker who's going to be looking out for Emmett and Alice while their mom is working on getting better."

Mara smiled at me. "Hello Edward. It's nice to meet you."

I said hello back and then asked, "Is their mommy still sick?"

"She's not very well, and it's not really safe for Emmett and Alice to go back home with her right now," Mommy said.

"Will they stay in the hospital?" I asked. I have never had to stay in hospital, but I know you get to watch lots of movies and eat your food in bed on a tray.

Mommy and Daddy looked at each other and I got a funny feeling that maybe I wouldn't like what was coming next.

"Well, they can't really stay in hospital," Daddy said. "They're both pretty healthy, and we need the beds in the hospital for sick kids. What usually happens to kids like Emmett and Alice who can't live with their parents for some reason, is that they go and live with a foster family. A family who has room for them to come and stay and who promises to look after them until they can go back to their parents."

"And we thought that it might be best for Emmett and Alice if they came and stayed with us for a while," Mommy said. "We could be their foster family."

"Really?" I was shocked. Nobody else I knew had a foster family. "For how long?"

"For as long as they need us," Daddy told me. "Sometimes kids are n foster care for a few days or weeks, or sometimes it can be a few months or even more. Right now we don't know how long it's going to take Emmett and Alice's mommy to feel better and be ready to look after them."

"What do you think about that, Edward?" Mara asked.

I looked at Mommy, but she just nodded at me to answer by myself. "Emmett broke my police station Lego," I said. "And he eats like a barbarian."

All the adults laughed, but I was being serious. He did break my police Lego, and if I ate so messy as he did Mommy would scold me about being a barbarian.

"I'm sure you'll be able to show him how to eat with beautiful manners," Daddy said, tickling me in my ribs. "But apart from that…how would you feel about Emmett and Alice coming to stay for a while? You would have to share your room and your toys, but it would mean you have two extra people to play with."

I didn't know if Emmett would be fun to play with, but Alice looked nice and smiley and if she didn't ever talk she couldn't really be all that annoying. I also felt bad that their mommy was sick, because when my first mommy got sick she died.

"Is foster family like being adopted?" I asked.

Mara smiled at me. "A foster family is a little bit different to being adopted. Being adopted means it's forever – like you, you got new parents and they're going to be your mommy and daddy for always. But with a foster family the children might only stay for a little while, and they might still have visits with their parents or relatives while they're living with the foster family."

"What about their dad?" I asked, playing with Daddy's special upside down doctor watch. I carefully counted the minutes so I could tell the time.

"Well, we're looking for Emmett's dad," Mara said. "And maybe if we find him he'll be able to take care of him."

"My friend Andy's dad lives in Oklahoma," I told her.

I was glad I had my daddy at home. I thought about how I would feel if he was in Oklahoma and if Mommy got sick and I had to go and live with a foster family and I thought it would be very scary, so I didn't say that I didn't want to be a foster family for Emmett and Alice. "Where will they sleep? And we only have four chairs at our table and we would need five."

"We'll bring in a spare chair from the garage," Mommy said. "And Emmett can sleep in your room, and Alice can sleep next door in the little bedroom."

"Oh." I leaned back against Daddy. "Will they go to preschool too?"

"Not with you. If they usually go to preschool or daycare we'll find out and take them to their own school, but it's nearly summer vacation anyway," Daddy said.

I thought about summer vacation. It was a long time without preschool, and this year we weren't going away on a vacation because we went to Disneyland on the spring break. "It might be good to have someone else to play with on vacation," I said.

"I'm sure you and Alice and Emmett will be able to have some good fun," Mara said to me. Then she pushed a big stack of paper over to Mommy and Daddy. "Luckily we still have your homestudy and police checks and things on file from Edward's adoption, which is really going to speed up the process of you being formally approved as foster carers. In the meantime we need to get you to sign here, and here, and here…"

Daddy and Mommy signed their name on lots of pieces of paper. I tried to read what they said, but Daddy moved them away too quickly once he wrote his name and I didn't really understand what I was reading anyway.

"Why don't you go and say hi to the nurses on the desk?" Mommy suggested. "We'll only be a little bit longer."

At the desk the nurses let me spin on their spinning chair, and gave me some bandaids with cartoon characters on them so I stuck them on my knees to pretend I had an injury. I was telling them all about preschool when Mommy and Daddy came out of the tv room with Mara, and then they went in to Alice and Emmett.

I went in with them and leaned against Daddy while Mommy woke up Emmett and Alice, and then Mara introduced herself to them. She told them that their mom had been talking to the police, and that she would be working with their mom to get better and fix up their house so they could go home. She told them that someone called Mark was in jail, and he wouldn't be allowed to live with them anymore, which was the only thing that made Emmett smile. Then she told them that for a little while they would have visits with their mommy in her office, and that Mommy or Daddy would take them.

After a long time of talking, Mara said goodbye and Daddy said that since she was feeling so much better Alice could go home with Mommy and Emmett and me. He signed even more papers, and then Mommy helped Alice put on her dress instead of the hospital nightie. Her dress was very dirty and she didn't have any shoes, but she didn't seem to mind. It was already lunchtime by then, so even though Daddy had to go back to work Mommy took us to the hospital cafeteria and we had chicken nuggets and fries. We were even allowed to have pudding for a treat, and I finally heard Alice talk, since when Mommy asked what flavour she wanted Alice said, "Chocolate."

"Mara hasn't been able to get any of your things from your house yet," Mommy said, when we were all finishing our puddings. "So I think on the way home we'll have to stop and buy you some clothes and some shoes. Some shorts and t-shirts and pyjamas…maybe a bathing suit, and then we can play in the wading pool this afternoon? Does that sound like a good idea?

Emmett looked very worried. "But what about the money? That's too many things. Shoes cost lots of money, and it's okay to have no shoes in summer."

"Don't worry about the money," Mommy said to him. "Mara said that if we need it there are special grants and things for foster families, but really it's fine. We have enough money to buy you what you'll need for the next little while."

Mommy picked up Alice to carry her out to the car, and I walked next to her. As we were leaving the cafeteria I saw Emmett swipe a package of gummy bears and hide them in his pocket. I could not believe what a bad boy he was! But when I opened my mouth to tell, he grabbed my arm and whispered very fiercely, "If you tell your mom I will smash you!"

I closed my mouth. I didn't know if he would really try and smash me right there in the hospital corridor, but I thought I didn't really want to find out. I know that stealing is very wrong, and I thought I might talk to Mommy later, when Emmett wasn't there.

Our first stop was the shoe shop. The man had to measure Alice and Emmett's feet even though they were so dirty, and then Mommy said they could choose some sandals and some sneakers. It took forever. Emmett wouldn't stop chewing on his sweater, and then he couldn't even do up shoelaces so we had to find sneakers with Velcro for him. Alice liked all the shoes too much and couldn't choose for a really long time. Mommy just sat with her while she decided, and I had enough time to measure my feet and walk around the shop with tiny little steps and try on some giant motorcycle boots and spin the rack with socks on it and count how many chairs they had and tidy up the shoes that were in the wrong row or not neatly in the box. When they were finally done the man thanked me for tidying and gave us each a lollipop.

Mommy bought Emmett some socks off the rack so he could wear his new sneakers out of the shop. Alice wore her new white sandals with pink flowers on them and she liked them so much that she kept looking at her feet when she was walking instead of looking where she was going and she walked right into the door!

Next we went to Target, and we bought a lot of things - t-shirts and shorts and pyjamas and sweaters and dresses and underpants and socks and bathing suits for Emmett and Alice. Even I got a new bathing suit and a new t-shirt with a picture of a brachiosaurus on it. Emmett didn't want a new sweater and wouldn't choose one, and he kept asking Mommy about money. Alice just took ages to choose anything. She liked things that were pink or had cats on them, and when I found a t-shirt that was pink with a silver sparkly cat on it she jumped up and down because she was so happy and carried it all around the store and wouldn't even put it in the cart. Mommy bought a toothbrush for Alice and some hairbands and a hairbrush for little girls' hair, but I didn't know how she would ever be able to brush Alice's hair because it was so tangled up. Finally after all that we were able to go home.

Mommy said we could have the wading pool since it was hot, so we all put on our new bathing suits and ran out in to the yard. Emmett helped hold the hose to fill the pool up. Alice and I jumped in right away, even though it was so cold it made me shout. But Emmett wouldn't take off his woolly sweater even though it was so hot his face was all red and his hair was sweaty. So he sat with Mommy in the shade instead of wading.

I showed Alice how I could blow bubbles underwater like my teacher taught me at swimming lessons. She liked blowing bubbles too, so we pretended we were fish and swam all around. It was much more fun than being a fish by myself and I was glad we were a foster family and I had Alice to play with in the wading pool.

I think Alice liked playing with me, but she also kept jumping out of the pool and running over to Emmett to try and make him play too. "Sharks Emmett, come be sharks!" she said, pulling on his arm.

I guess Emmett finally got too hot, because he took off his sweater and came in the wading pool with us. Then our game got even better because Emmett pretended he was a shark and he wanted to eat up Alice and me because we were little fish, so we were swimming and chasing all over. At first I thought his back and part of his legs were all dirty, but when it didn't wash off in the water I saw it must really be bruises.

I didn't want to ask Emmett, so when I was tired of playing I went and sat with Mommy, all wrapped up in my towel, and I asked her what happened to Emmett.

For a moment I thought she might not answer, but then she said, "There was a man who lived with Emmett and Alice and their mommy, and sometimes he used to hurt Emmett. That's another reason why we're looking after them for now, so they can be in a safe place where no one will hurt them."

I knew that sometimes some moms and dads might spank their kids, even though my mommy and daddy never do, but I didn't know that a grown up would ever hurt a kid so much that they would have bruises all over like Emmett. "Did he hurt Alice too?"

"We don't know," Mommy said, and she leaned over and gave me a hug.

"I don't like it when people get hurt," I said.

"Me either," Mommy said. "But that man is going to go to jail, so even when Emmett and Alice go back to live with their mom he won't hurt them ever again."

I fiddled with the corner of my towel. I felt very sorry for Emmett and I didn't really want to get him in trouble, but Mommy and Daddy always said it was important to do the right thing, so when I was sure he and Alice were too busy in the wading pool to hear me I whispered to Mommy, "I saw Emmett take some gummy bears at the hospital. He hid them in his pocket."

Mommy looked like she was thinking very hard. "I think Daddy and I will have a talk with him about that. I'm glad you told me. But we're going to have to be very patient with Emmett and Alice – they've had a hard time and they might not always do the right thing. We'll need to be very kind while we help them learn the rules…do you think you can do that?"

I nodded. I'm very good at following the rules; that's what Mommy and Daddy and my teacher at preschool said. And I thought I could try and be nice to Emmett and Alice, and share my things since they didn't have anything of their own yet except the new clothes and shoes Mommy bought them.

Mommy gave me a big hug. "I love you Edward, and you're going to be the best foster brother for Emmett and Alice that there is."

We played outside in the yard and in the wading pool until Daddy came home. Alice got all shy and went and sat with Mommy, but when Daddy asked her if she had a good day she pointed to where her new shoes were sitting on the step and gave a big smile before she hid her face.

Daddy asked Emmett if it was a good afternoon and Emmett said that our wading pool was pretty fun, even though it wasn't big like the river at his house. When Daddy asked me I threw water at him and then he roared like a lion and kicked off his shoes and jumped in the wading pool to make a big splash, even though he still had his clothes on!

Mommy said "Carlisle!" like she was pretending to be mad, and I laughed and laughed and kicked water at him and then Emmett joined in and Daddy ran away around the yard while we chased him. It was the best fun of the whole day.

We had a bath and put pyjamas on, and then Daddy cooked dinner while Mommy sat Alice at the table and tried to comb her hair. It was a disaster! Alice's bird's nest hair was so tangled that some of the teeth broke off the comb when Mommy tried to smooth it out. A little bit later Mommy muttered something that sounded like a swear word and took Alice back to the bathroom and washed her hair with the special shampoo that we bought when I got lice in my hair from preschool. Alice cried and screamed the whole time. Emmett kept telling her to shut up and kept saying sorry to Mommy and asking her to please stop, and since his pyjamas had short sleeves and he couldn't chew on them he bit his hand so much that there were purple tooth marks on his knuckles.

Eventually Mommy gave up and tied Alice's hair out of her face, even though some of it looked like dog fur and some of it looked like strings. After that she inspected Emmett's hair and he had to get washed with the special shampoo too. Mommy looked in my hair too and said I was fine, but I was so worried about having bugs in my hair that I made her look again. Because of all that it was very late when we sat down to dinner.

"What is that?" Emmett asked, looking at his dinner like it was poison.

"Salmon," Daddy told him. "That's a kind of fish…do you like fish?"

"I like fish sticks."

"Well, give the salmon a try, you might like it. And for salad we have tomato, peppers, carrots, cucumber, avocado and some feta cheese." Daddy pointed to all the little bowls on the table. "You can mix it all up together and have some dressing on it like I do, or you can eat things separately, like Edward likes to do. And there's some bread too, if you want it."

"I don't like salad."

"If there's something you don't like after you try it you can just leave it on your plate," Mommy said.

I chose my salad (everything except avocado) and then carefully started eating my salmon. It's not supposed to have bones in it, but sometimes the fish man misses them and I wouldn't like to get one stuck inside me.

Emmett ate all of his salmon, and I guess he wasn't afraid of fish bones because he at it in fast, big bites. Even though he had said he didn't like salad, Emmett had a piece of everything on his plate. He ate nearly everything, but when he tried the avocado he spat it back on his plate!

"Mommy!" I said. "Look!"

"I didn't like it!" Emmett said. "It's all slimy."

"But you're not allowed to spit it out! I can't eat with that chewed up piece on your plate! It will make me feel sick!"

"Edward!" Mommy said, sounding fed up, "You're not going to be sick. Look, I'll get rid of it for you." She took her napkin and wiped away the spit out food from Emmett's plate. "See? All gone. And Emmett, spitting food back on to your plate isn't very good table manners. But if there's something you really don't like and you really have to spit it out, you can use your napkin."

Emmett spitting food out was bad, but then it all got worse. Alice didn't eat her salmon and the only salad she ate was carrots and cucumber and feta. But she ate all the cheese and lots of bread and drank two cups of milk, and when we had brownies and ice cream for dessert she ate all hers up and pushed her bowl to Mommy to ask for more, even though she had already had a big piece.

Mommy gave her another little piece but she said, "Are you sure you can fit it in? You've had a lot to eat."

Alice nodded, but as soon as she finished her second brownie she made a gagging noise and was sick right on the table! It was the most awful thing ever, and I was nearly sick too because it was so disgusting.

Alice started crying and ran to hide behind Emmett. He stood up from his chair and held her very tight and said, "She didn't mean it! It was an accident!" He hugged Alice and then said again, "She's sorry, she's really sorry, she didn't mean it…" He looked scared, like he thought Mommy and Daddy might shout at him.

"Oh sweetie, it's okay," Mommy said. "Of course it was an accident! Let's just take you into the bathroom Alice, and we'll wipe your face and clean your teeth…can you take care of the mess, Carlisle?"

I couldn't stay in the kitchen with Alice's sick all over the table, so I went in to the bathroom with Mommy and Emmett and Alice. Mommy wiped Alice's face and when she stopped crying we all brushed our teeth.

Before we had to go to bed Mommy read to us. We had The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Paper Bag Princess and Where the Wild Things Are and The Monster at the End of This Book. I sat next to Mommy on one side and Alice sat on the other side and Emmett sat next to Alice.

I was very tired when it was time to go to bed. After Mommy kissed me goodnight I got straight in under the covers. But Emmett wouldn't lie down and then he went in to the little bedroom next door where Mommy was sitting with Alice who was supposed to be going to sleep in there. Daddy came in and tucked me in, and even though usually he just says goodnight and goes back downstairs, this time I held his hand so he would stay.

"Are you feeling okay?"

I didn't say anything.

"I guess it's a big change having Emmett and Alice here," Daddy said.

I nodded. "It was fun playing in the wading pool, but…"

"But it's going to take a while to get used to it?" Daddy guessed. He rubbed my head. "It's been just you and me and Mommy for a while, hasn't it? Two more kids make a big difference."

"And I don't know how long they will stay," I said. "I don't like not knowing if they'll be here for one week or for the whole vacation!"

Daddy smiled. "I know you don't. But it's something that can't be helped." He leaned down and kissed my forehead. "I love you buddy. Mommy and I are so proud of you for being such a good sport about having them here. We think it's great that you're doing such a good job at sharing and being kind to them, and we're sure that Emmett and Alice appreciate it."

It made me feel good to know that Daddy loved me and thought I was being nice to Emmett and Alice and sharing my mommy with them. I closed my eyes and listened to Daddy leaving the room and Mommy and Emmett talking in the bedroom next door, and waited to go to sleep.

And that's how Emmett and Alice came to live at my house and how we became a foster family.

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That all happened before summer vacation. But now vacation is nearly over and Emmett and Alice are still here. Next week we all start school.

I'm excited about going to school. I can already read and write lots of things, and when I go to school I'll learn even more. When I was still in preschool we went on a visit to the school so I know where my classroom is and I met my new teacher, who will be Miss Alex. We saw the cafeteria and the library and the gym and got to play in the playground.

At school we have to wear blue shorts and polo shirts, so the other day Mommy took us all shopping to buy them. As well as new clothes for school we each got a new backpack to carry our things, and Mommy bought a whole stack of paper and markers and pencils and erasers and glue sticks and scissors to give to our teachers.

Alice is excited about going to school too. She can't read yet, and Mommy had to show her how to write her name. Alice likes writing and sometimes she asks me to write down words so she can copy them. Now she knows how to write 'Alice' and 'Emmett' and 'Mommy' and 'Daddy' and 'Edward', although she sometimes makes mistakes or does her letters the wrong way. She's going to be in kindergarten with me, but Emmett is going to be in first grade even though he never went to kindergarten or even preschool.

Emmett can't read anything, even though he's seven. Mommy tries to teach him letters and writing but he doesn't like it and can only write 'Emmett'. At first I thought maybe he wasn't very smart, but Mommy said that lots of kids can't read before they go to school and that he will learn, and wasn't I lucky that I have had two mommies and a daddy who liked to read me books and teach me things? I think this is probably true.

Now I don't think Emmett is stupid at all, even if he can't read. He's very good at playing games and he always has the best ideas for things to do, and he's not scared of anything. He is the best at playing baseball out of any kid I have ever seen. He doesn't want to go to school though.

We still don't know how long Emmett and Alice are going to live with us. I don't really understand what's wrong with their mom and why they can't go and live with her again, but Mommy and Daddy and Mara say that she's still not well enough. Every week she is supposed to go to Mara's office and Mommy takes Emmett and Alice there so they can visit with her.

Sometimes I like visitation days. While Alice and Emmett are at the office with Mara and their mommy I either stay home with Daddy, or Mommy takes me for ice cream, and both of these are Good Things. I am used to being a foster family with Alice and Emmett now, but sometimes it is nice not to have to share my Mommy and Daddy for a little while.

Visitation days aren't always very good though. Sometimes Emmett has fun at the visit and comes home all smiling and laughing and extra happy. But sometimes the visits are bad, or else his mommy doesn't even come, and then he is angry and sometimes mean.

Alice doesn't like visitation days at all. She doesn't want to go and visit her mommy, and so sometimes she cries before they go and Emmett yells at her. Sometimes Mommy has to carry Alice into Mara's office because she won't even walk, and then Mara has to hold Alice while Mommy and I leave quickly. Those are always Bad Days, because even if we go for ice cream Mommy is still worried about Alice and so it's not very cheerful.

The other day was the worst visitation day ever. Alice didn't want to go, and when Mommy said it was time Alice just pretended like she couldn't hear and kept playing. She wouldn't talk or even put on her shoes, so Mommy had to do it. I knew it was going to be a day when Mommy had to carry Alice into Mara's office and I was right.

Mommy and I left quickly, but even when the door was shut I could still see through it and Alice was crying. But Mommy just looked straight ahead and walked very fast, so I nearly had to run to keep up.

We went for ice cream. Mommy chose butterscotch and I chose chocolate with sprinkles. I had only eaten half of it when Mommy's phone rang. When she saw who was calling she snatched it up right away.

"Hello?...Oh, no…Okay, we'll be there in a minute." Mommy put the phone in her bag and leaned over to wipe my face with a napkin. "I'm sorry Edward, we have to go."

"But I haven't finished yet!"

"I'm sorry, you'll just have to leave it. We need to go and collect Alice and Emmett."

"Already?" I was so angry I wanted to scream and stamp my feet and make a big fuss. Their visitation time wasn't over yet, so why should I have to leave my ice cream and go and pick them up? "Mommy, no…"

Mommy didn't even listen. I had to leave my dish of ice cream on the counter and even though I was crying she just took my hand and marched me out to the car. When she was helping me buckle up my seatbelt she gave me a hug and a kiss though, and said, "I'm sorry sweetheart. We can have some ice cream later at home, I promise. But that was Mara on the phone and she said that Alice and Emmett need us to come now."

Ice cream at home isn't as good as ice cream at the ice cream store with just me and Mommy, so I just kicked the back of the seat and didn't say anything. It wasn't fair.

At Mara's office Mommy and I went in to the playroom. There are lots of toys in the playroom and that's where Alice and Emmett visit with their mommy, but when we got there she wasn't there and Mara was sitting on a little chair with Alice on her lap, holding an icepack on her face. As soon as she saw Mommy Alice started crying and pushing Mara away so that Mommy could pick her up.

At first I couldn't see Emmett, but then I found him scrunched down on the floor in the corner, biting hard on his hand. I hate it when he does that, because his hands always look sore and sometimes they even bleed.

"It's okay sweetie," Mommy said, rubbing Alice's back while she hid her face in Mommy's t-shirt. "You're okay now…what happened?"

Usually Mommy and Mara tell me to go and play while they talk, but this time they were so worried about Alice that I guess they didn't notice me standing behind Mommy.

Mara shook her head. "She's had a rough day. Melody was late, and on something when she got here, although I didn't realise it then. Alice was…well, you know she didn't want to be here, and I guess she decided to let her mom know how she felt. I was coming in to intervene when Melody hit her. Her face… Security got Melody to leave, and I've had ice on Alice since then, so I don't know if it will bruise."

"Ouch." Mommy tipped Alice's face back to look at her, and I saw that where she had had the icepack covering it was bright red. Mommy kissed her. "Is it feeling better, sweetie?"

"She's just being a stupid fucking baby." Emmett came over, and he looked so angry and so mean I was scared of him. "It's all her own dumb fault…if you hadn't been so stupid to Momma then…"

"No, no no!" Alice screamed so loudly that it made me jump, and then she even tried to kick Emmett in the head. Mommy held her foot so she couldn't, and Alice then Alice gave Mommy a strangling kind of hug and cried so hard we could hardly understand what she was saying. "No! I didn't…want you…be my mommy…"

Emmett stomped out of the playroom and slammed the door, and Mommy and Mara talked a little bit more but I couldn't hear them over Alice crying. Then we finally all got into the car and drove home.

At home Mommy said we could all watch a movie and have some quiet time. I sat on the sofa and for once Alice sat next to me instead of always wanting to sit with Emmett. Emmett sat on the other sofa by himself, and he bit his hand so much that there was blood on his face and even on his t-shirt. When Mommy tried to speak to him he wouldn't answer or wouldn't look at her, so then we all just watched the movie and were very quiet.

When Daddy came home I ran and gave him a big hug, and then he and Mommy talked very quietly in the kitchen while we finished watching the movie.

"How are you doing, pumpkin?" Daddy said, coming into the living room and giving Alice a hug. He turned her around so he could see her face under the light, and in the bright light I could see a bruise on her cheek and her eye was a bit puffy. "How does your eye feel?"

"I had hotdogs for lunch," Alice told him. This wasn't really an answer to Daddy's question, but sometimes Alice isn't very good at conversations and forgets things or gets mixed up. "With mustard."

"Mmmm, yummy!" Daddy said, and he pretended to eat Alice up, which made her laugh. I was glad she wasn't sad because of the visitation anymore.

Daddy crouched down next to Emmett and reached for the hand that was in his mouth and said, "Can I have a look at that, buddy? It looks like it hurts today."

But Emmett just pushed Daddy away so hard that Daddy nearly fell over, and then he started crying and screaming, "NO! No looking! I don't want you! I hate you! I want my momma! I hate you!" and he didn't stop.

It was very awful, and I didn't know what to do. It was scary to see Emmett screaming and crying and trying to hit Daddy, and I think Alice thought so too because she squashed up very close to me on the sofa.

"Esme," Daddy called. "Can you take Edward and Alice upstairs? How about a bath in the big tub, kids? You can having some bubbles in the Jacuzzi." He moved so that Emmett couldn't hit him in the face, but he just let him keep screaming at him and sometimes punching at him while Mommy came and in took Alice and me upstairs.

Like Daddy had suggested, Mommy filled up the big Jacuzzi tub in their bathroom for Alice and me, which is usually a special treat. She put in bubble bath, and the jets made the bubbles froth up until they were all the way up to my chin! I made a bubble beard so I looked like Santa Claus, and Alice piled bubbles on top of her head so that she looked like a cupcake. It was fun, but the best thing was that the water jets were so noisy that we didn't have to hear Emmett any more.

I was very nervous when the bath was finished and I had to go downstairs, but it was very quiet. When I peeked into the living room Daddy was sitting on the sofa and Emmett was asleep on his lap.

I didn't say anything, but I tiptoed over and climbed up next to Daddy so that he could put his arm around me too. Alice came in too and she sat on Daddy's other side and hugged Emmett, but he didn't wake up.

"Is Emmett okay?" I whispered.

"He'll be fine," Daddy said. "He just got too mad and too sad, and he needed to yell and cry and shout for a little while. I'm sure when he wakes up he'll just be the same old regular Emmett. He really misses his mom."

"Not me," Alice said. "That mommy is mean. I want my new mommy and I'm going to live here for ever and ever."

Daddy didn't say anything, but he reached out so that he could hug Alice too. I was glad that his arms were big enough to hug all three of us at the same time.

When Mommy came in she smiled at us all and gave Emmett a kiss, and then she sat down next to me. Her eyes were all red, and I climbed up into her lap and touched her face. "Are you crying?"

"I was, a little bit," Mommy said. She shuffled over on the sofa so she could rest her head on Daddy's shoulder.

"How come?" Alice looked worried.

"Because it makes me feel sad when any of you kids are sad," Mommy said, but she smiled when she said it. "I want to do everything I can to make sure you're all happy and safe, and it's very hard when there are things I can't fix."

I hugged her tightly. "You're the best Mommy I know."

"Thank you, sweetheart."

We all sat on the sofa, and even though it had been a Bad Day it was nice to be sitting all together. After a little while Emmett woke up and then Daddy said that we should buy our dinner for an easy night and what should we get? Because Emmett had been so sad I said he could choose. He chose pizza, and Mommy didn't say anything about it being junk and needing our vegetables.

The next day Emmett asked me to come with him to our room, because he wanted me to help him. Emmett had never, ever asked me for help before. He didn't even like asking Mommy and Daddy for help because he liked to do everything for himself.

He invited me to climb up on his top bunk, where usually Alice and me aren't allowed to go. At the top of the bunk there is a shelf, and on there I could see Emmett's radio and books about baseball and sea creatures, as well as his baseball glove and his Spiderman toothbrush that he still wouldn't leave in the bathroom, and a photo of him and his momma when he was a baby that Mara gave him one day. His red sweater that he slept with instead of a teddy bear was half under his pillow.

Behind the photo I could see a package of cookies and a yucky brown banana, but I didn't say anything about that. Sometimes Emmett would hide food in our room, and when I told Mommy she said to tell her but don't say anything to Emmett, so that's what I did.

On Emmett's bed there was a notepad and some markers. Mommy says markers belong at the table and not on beds, but when I said that to Emmett he just shook his head.

"I want to write a letter for a surprise. But I can't write it by myself," he said. His ears were red, which means he was embarrassed, but I didn't think he should be. You need a lot of words to write an actual letter, so it's quite hard.

"Do you want me to write?" I asked, and he nodded and pushed the paper to me.

"I'll tell you what to say and you write it."

Emmett wanted the letter to have different colours for all the words, so it took a long time for me to write what he said.

Dear Dr Carlisle and Esme, I don't hate you I like you and I like it here at your house. I like that you can look after me and Alice and I'm sorry I shouted and said mean things. Love from…

"And then I can write my name," Emmett said. He chose the blue marker and wrote his name very big. "That's a good letter."

I agreed. I had done my very best handwriting, and there were only a few words that I wasn't sure how to spell. Usually I would have asked Mommy to spell them for me, but since Emmett wanted his letter to be a surprise I just wrote my best guess. "Daddy and Mommy will like it."

"Thank you for doing the writing," Emmett said, carefully folding his letter.

"That's okay," I said. "I like writing." I really did like writing, and it was nice to be able to help Emmett because usually he didn't really like me that much. "Are you going to give them your letter now?"

"I'll put it on their bed for them to find," Emmett said. "Do you want to go outside and play the spaceman and alien game?"

"Sure." I climbed down and then Emmett and I sneaked into Mommy and Daddy's room and left the letter on the pillow, and then we went outside to play.

The game was really fun, and at first when Mommy and Daddy came out and interrupted it I was disappointed. But Daddy said thank you for the letter, and Mommy gave Emmett a big hug and asked if we should all go out for ice cream, since we didn't get to finish the day before. Emmett and I said definitely yes, and so everyone got into the car and we went to the ice cream store.

Instead of sitting on the tall stools at the counter like Mommy and I usually do on visitation days, we all sat squashed into a booth to eat which felt very cosy. We all chose our favourites. Mommy had toffee and I had chocolate with sprinkles and Daddy had plain chocolate and Alice had rainbow with gummy worms and Emmett had Rocky Road with five wafers and eleven Smarties because that's what he asked for. He even let me have a taste from the side he hadn't touched yet, because that's the only way I can taste other people's ice cream because of germs.

The ice cream was delicious, and it was nice to be all sitting and having a treat together. I thought that even though being a foster family was sometimes hard and sometimes scary and sometimes sad, sometimes it was happy and sometimes fun, and I wouldn't mind if we stayed as a foster family with Emmett and Alice for a while.