Title: Just A Little Love

Author: Midst Ride

Author's notes: Keep in mind that this is very, very, very AU.

Inspired by "Make Lemonade" and "Surviving the Applewhites".

Please note that the "Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby" program is not real, and does not represent any actual program.

Another note: The foster care systems, along with other various references to other organizations in this story, are not real.

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Splash Page/Sneak Peak/Trailer

"Mom?" Frank demanded, looking at his mother in shock and shaking his head. "That's a lie. My mother is Celestine. She did everything but birth me. She did everything for me. Celestine is my mother. She said not to respect my real mother, since I was a drop-off baby."

Laura closed her eyes for a moment, regaining her composure. "Frank, if she did 'everything' for you, then why are you in the foster care system?"

"You shouldn't even be allowed to foster kids, since you seem so fond of dropping them off," Frank yelled, running to his bedroom and slamming his door. Then, loud enough to be heard, he yelled, "I give you ten days before you give me up again, and that's being generous!"

Chapter One, Part One

Laura, 17

"The baby's due any minute!" Laura yelled at her mother, gasping in pain. "Can't you call 911, or something?"

"And how are we supposed to pay for this with no money?" Laura's mother demanded, standing over her angrily. "I've birthed thousands of babies at the hospital, Laura! Don't tell me I can't birth yours."

No money, my foot, Laura thought angrily, staring at her mother. They had plenty of money. Laura's family was very wealthy. Her father was a lawyer, her mother was an RN, and the annual income was well over three figures. "In the hospital you've birthed thousands of babies! I'm on the damn baby program, they're paying for it!"

"They don't pay for premature babies!" Laura's mother yelled.

"It's premature by a day!" Laura shouted back, "And they do!"

Laura had recently left the house, having been told by her mother to leave and never come back. She had joined a "Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby" program. Recently, however, her father had found her, and dragged her home. Again.

She was still on the "Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby" program. All that meant now, however, was that she had to attend her classes – and give up her child at the end. She couldn't drop out in the middle. She'd signed a contract. Now, however, she regretted it. As a baby's wailing scream entered the world, Laura Hardy wondered exactly what her life had turned too.

LAURA HARDY, 33

"Hey, Mom," 14-year-old Joe said. "Any mail for me?"

"Nope," Laura replied, smiling. Her son was always asking about the mail, even though he never got anything. "Sorry, honey. Good news, though. Your father and I were just approved for the foster care program."

"They told you that by mail?" Joe asked, staring at the open letter on the table.

"No, we got the telephone call this afternoon. That's from the child we're sponsoring," Laura replied, sweeping the mail into the side table drawer. "Anything exciting happen at school?"

"Brent got expelled. Seems he had a cell phone on him."

"He got expelled for having a cell phone?"

"He would've just gotten detention, but he went to the principle's and revealed he had a knife in his pocket."

"He threatened the principle with a knife?"

"Nope. Just me," Joe replied with a grin.

"He threatened you with a knife? Why didn't the school call me?"

"Dad was already there, giving a lecture. He said he knew you would flip out, so he would just tell you when you got home."

"Why on earth did Brent threaten you with a knife? And where was he, that he threatened you with this—Joe, what's that bandage for on your arm?"

"Um… Bruise at soccer practice?" Joe suggested sheepishly. At a glare from Laura, he said, "I said something to Brent. I was trying to calm him down. The next thing I knew he stabbed me."

Laura groaned. "Joe, only you could be stabbed in the principle's office… Wait, speaking of stabbed, why were you in the principle's office? Do I want to know?"

"I was just telling him about our latest school's absence, Mom. Well, I was going to. Now he says it doesn't matter."

"Only you, Joe. Listen, our foster kid is going to arrive tomorrow. We need to straighten up the guest room for him. 'K?"

"When did we actually find out we were fostering this child?" Joe asked.

"A week ago. I just had to sign the papers, but I really wasn't sure who we were fostering and I didn't want you to know until we were absolutely sure."

"So who is it we're fostering?" Joe asked.

"A fifteen-year-old named Frank," Laura replied.

"Frank… Does he have a last name?"

"Everyone does, Joe, sometimes they just don't know it. Or they choose not to know it. Either way, we wouldn't be getting that information."

Joe nodded. His mother was always looking for ways to give back in the community. Recently, she'd signed up for the foster-to-adopt program, a program for teenagers. Over the course of the last few months, Joe had been warned that this might not work out, that the teenager might be moody, blah, blah, blah. Joe was excited about having another sibling, though. It got lonely, being the only child, even though he had a lot of friends.

"He arrives tomorrow? Why so quickly?"

"Teenagers always need homes, Joe. As soon as they get someone approved for the system, the foster care process actually is pretty quick."

Half of Joe hoped tomorrow would get here soon.

The other half of Joe hoped it would never come.