A Taste of Everyday -- Chapter 10

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Zane, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Rena/X5-120, etc.).

I lay down on the bed in my room and stared at the ceiling. Vincent’s funeral yesterday afternoon had been strange. It was just one big surreal experience. It was an open casket, so I actually saw his body during the funeral. He looked perfectly fine and sleeping. I thought he was going to wake up at any given point and tell everybody that it was a mistake. I cried during the funeral and the burial. I’d never felt that sad since the night of the escape when Eva had been shot down in front of us.

I sat up when I heard a car pull up to the house. I got off of the bed and crept to the top of the stairs and listened as somebody got out of the car and walked up to the house and rang the doorbell. I heard Brianne walk to the front door and answer it.

“Mrs. Wright! I wasn’t expecting to see you,” Brianne said.

“I’m sorry to come by so soon after your husband’s death, Mrs. Griffith, but there are some matters concerning Jane and Marissa that need to be discussed,” Mrs. Wright informed her.

Matters that need to be discussed…oh shit! They could move me and Marissa out of the house and to a new foster home! Oh crap, don’t do that! I love it here. I really like Brianne and Marissa is a nice girl and I have friends here. Please don’t move me!

“Oh,” Brianne said. “Please, have a seat.”

I heard them sit down on the couch. “Mrs. Griffith, you know that with your husband’s death, the situation with Jane and Marissa has been re-evaluated by social services,” Mrs. Wright began.

“I can understand that,” Brianne said. “But they’re both doing so well. Jane has been doing absolutely amazing since she arrived here two years ago and Marissa has made so much progress since she was placed here as well. She has really come out of her shell. It’s almost as if she’s a different girl.”

“I have no doubt of that and everything that we have indicates exactly that,” Mrs. Wright assured her. “However, after re-evaluating the situation and taking into account how Jane and Marissa are and have been doing, we have decided that Jane will remain here with you, but Marissa will be moved to another foster home.”

“Why?” Brianne asked.

“Mrs. Griffith, Jane will be turning fourteen in less than two weeks and Marissa will not be turning nine for another seven months,” Mrs. Wright said. “There is a tremendous difference between a fourteen-year-old and an eight-year-old. The fact of the matter is that you are a single foster parent now and while I have no doubt that you will not love either of the girls any less than you have been, you will not be around as much as you have been while your husband was alive. Jane is a teenager and teenagers are by nature more self-sufficient. Marissa has several years to get to where Jane is now. Marissa needs two parents in the home. Not that Jane doesn’t, but we feel that Jane is a little better adjusted than Marissa and that Jane will definitely continue to do well here.”

“Marissa will, too,” Brianne insisted.

“I’m sure, but it is out of my hands,” Mrs. Wright said. “I’m sorry.”

“I understand.” I heard Brianne take a deep breath and pause before she continued to talk. “When will you be taking Marissa to her next foster home?”

“The day after tomorrow,” Mrs. Wright said. “I’ll come by to get Marissa and take her to the foster home.”

“Very well,” Brianne said.

I silently stood up and went back inside of my room and lay back down on top of my bed. They were going to leave me here after all, but they were taking Marissa away? That didn’t make any sense. Okay, I could see where they were coming from and all of that, but it still didn’t make me happy about it. Marissa was doing as well as Brianne had said that she was doing. She should stay here. I wish I could do something about it, but I’m not one of those Psy Ops soldiers that I heard one time that they’d made to work exclusively in Psy Ops and for field interrogations. Some of those Psy Ops could read minds and influence thoughts, or at least that’s what I’d heard. That’d be nice.

Somebody knocked at my door. “Janie? It’s Brianne. Can I come in?”

“Sure,” I said. I waited for Brianne to open the door and enter the room. “What is it?”

“Can you come downstairs, please? I need to talk to you and to Marissa,” she answered.

I knew what it was going to be about, but I nodded anyway and played dumb. “Sure.” I got off of the bed again and went downstairs and sat down on the couch and waited for Brianne and Marissa. The came downstairs a minute or two later and Marissa sat down next to me on the couch and Brianne pulled a chair up so that she was facing Marissa and me.

“Girls, I had a visit just a few minutes ago from Mrs. Wright,” she said. “She said that because of Vincent’s death, that the circumstances concerning the two of you had changed. She said that Social Services has decided that Janie will stay here with me but that Marissa will be moved to another foster home.”

“Why?” Marissa cried.

“Because, they think that you will do better with both a foster dad as well as a foster mom,” Brianne said. “I wanted to keep you here with Janie and me but Mrs. Wright said that the decision had already been made. I’m so sorry.”

“But I like it here,” Marissa whimpered.

“I know you do,” Brianne said. “You can always call or write me or Janie whenever you want, okay? I really wish that you didn’t have to leave here, but that’s unfortunately what you’re going to have to do.”

“When’s Marissa going to have to leave? Is she going to have to leave right away?” I asked.

“Practically,” Brianne said. “Marissa, Mrs. Wright will be coming by the day after tomorrow to take you to your new foster home. She didn’t tell me where it was yet.”

“Oh,” Marissa said.

“I am so sorry,” Brianne apologized. She got up and reached over and hugged Marissa. “I will always miss you so much and you let me know if you need anything, okay?”

“Okay,” Marissa said.

“Good,” Brianne said. “We should start packing Marissa’s things up tomorrow, so we’ll have a nice dinner tonight. Marissa, pick what you want to have for dinner.”

“Um…Chinese food,” Marissa told her.

“The usual for both of you?” Brianne asked.

“Yes,” Marissa and I said.

“I’ll go and order it right now,” Brianne said. She got up and went into the kitchen to use the phone in there.

Marissa turned to me. “I wish that I didn’t have to go, Janie.”

“I wish that you didn’t have to go either, Marissa,” I said. I gave her a hug. “I’m going to miss you so much.”

“Me too,” Marissa agreed.

“How about after dinner we go outside and blow those bubbles? It’s actually kind of warm outside tonight,” I said.

“Okay,” Marissa said. She smiled a little.

“Okay,” I smiled back at her. I was going to miss her.

TBC