"On Monday, you won't be going to school, love." Eden explained.
She was sitting on the edge of Cailen's bed, brushing some hair out of his face while Dean stood beside the bed, looking down at him.
It was hard not to jump to conclusions with what Eden had said. Cailen immediately thought they were returning him to the orphanage because, why else would he be not going to school?
"We've got to go back to the orphanage and talk about the arrangements." Dean added, not doing anything to change Cailen's assumptions.
"We've got to fill out some paperwork and then head down to the adoption agency." Eden said with a smile. Cailen frowned at this.
Adoption Agency?
"Why?" Cailen asked, not following what they were telling him.
"Cailen, it'll be one month on Monday." Eden explained sweetly.
Cailen was shocked. He's never made one month before or even anywhere near it. He'd nearly forgotten there was a second step to all this.
He was so used to just being moved in and out of different families, no one ever actually wanting to adopt him that he was honestly shocked he'd made it this far and Eden and Dean wanted to adopt him.
They wanted to adopt him!
"Really?" Cailen asked, sitting upright in the bed.
Eden chuckled slightly and nodded but for some reason, Cailen needed even more confirmation than that and turned to Dean.
"Really, son." He said, smiling down at Cailen.
Cailen couldn't believe it. He was actually going to have a family.
In two days, Cailen would have a family. It's all he's ever wanted.
He didn't care about cell phones or game consoles, he didn't need fancy clothes or the latest toy out in stores.
He just wanted a family. People who loved him and cared about him and actually wanted him around. People who love him no matter what.
And he was finally getting them.
Eden, Dean, Stella and William were going to be his family.
"Okay, love, time to get some rest." Eden instructed, laying Cailen back down in the bed.
She leaned down and placed a soft kiss on Cailen's forehead as she tucked the blankets over him.
"Sleep well." She said before standing and heading for the door.
Dean smoothed out Cailen's hair, smiling down at him and pecking him on the forehead too, then following Eden out of the room.
"Goodnight, son." He said quietly over his shoulder before shutting the door, leaving it open only a couple inches to allow some light into the room.
Cailen went to sleep that night with a big grin on his face. He was so happy, he could barely calm himself long enough to go to sleep, but he didn't want to upset Eden or Dean so he forced himself to sleep.
He had plenty of time to be giddy tomorrow.
*****
"Okay, that settles it." The lady behind the desk said, a smile on her face as she organized the papers they had just gone over.
Cailen hadn't really paid attention. It was a bunch of words he didn't understand, all meaning one thing; Cailen was officially Cailen Hart.
Eden and Dean let him decide whether he wanted to keep his name or not but Cailen somehow felt wrong throwing his old name out the window.
Sure, he felt as though that's what his biological mother had pretty much done to him but he still felt as though it was part of who he was and he didn't need anymore confusion in that department so he asked if he could have keep it.
They both smiled at him and nodded, completely understanding.
"That's it? We're done?" Eden asked, a bright smile on her face.
The lady nodded again, slipping the paperwork in a file folder and handing it to Dean.
"We're done." The lady confirmed. "You and your son may go home."
Eden thanked the lady happily and stood, Dean following.
"Ready, Cailen?" Eden asked, holding out her hand to him.
Cailen hesitated for only a second then reached out and took her hand, hoping off the chair and allowing himself to be led away.
The three of them were all smiles all the way home. Cailen feeling like he could fly.
He had a family.
He was going home.
His home, his family.
He couldn't believe it.
"That didn't take as long as we thought. You could still go to school, Cailen." Dean said, turning to smile at him from the passenger seat.
Cailen frowned at this. He didn't want to go to school.
School meant he might run into Billy and his friends and Cailen really didn't want to ruin this day with that.
"Or... We could go get some ice cream and watch a movie instead?" Dean said knowingly.
Cailen smiled and nodded eagerly, bouncing in his seat slightly.
He has never been happier in his life than he was in this moment.
*****
Of course his happiness couldn't last long.
It never did.
Two days later after school, Cailen ran into Billy and his look-a-likes. He hadn't meant to, obviously, but they were hard to avoid sometimes. Especially when they looked for you in every possible corner you could hide.
Cailen heard them before he saw them and immediately turned the corner but wasn't fast enough to avoid being seen.
They caught up to him and Cailen barely had a chance to glance around to see if there was anyone to help him before he was on the ground.
"Heard you got adopted, orphan." Billy said.
Cailen wanted to tell him to shut up.
He wanted to scream at him because there was no way he was going to allow Billy to taint that part of his life.
That was a happy part of his life and Billy had no right to take that from him.
"He's not an orphan if he's adopted, Billy." One of the two followers commented. Billy frowned.
"True, but they only adopted him because otherwise, they'd look bad. Mr. Hart has a reputation to uphold. Sending an orphan back would look bad to his clients. Besides, the only reason to adopt a kid is so they have a slave to do all the house work." Billy explained, bringing those damned tears to Cailen's eyes. The other two boys laughed.
"Aw, he's already crying." One of them commented.
"You're such a girl, orphan!" Billy said, making Cailen flinch. "Stop crying! Boys don't cry!" He said and kicked out with his foot, hitting Cailen in the shin.
Cailen made a noise of pain and grabbed at his shin, only to be hit in the face by a shoe.
"Stop, please." Cailen begged, grabbing at his face instead.
He pulled his hand away to see blood smeared on the tip of his finger, where it was coming from, he didn't know.
"Stop being such a girl and we will." Billy said again, kicking again and sending Cailen backwards to smack his head on the concrete. "Stop crying, orphan!"
Another kick and Cailen knew he wasn't going to make it to the car in time. Cailen lost track of what hits went where, he only knew he hurt, a lot.
He was also vaguely aware that Billy was the only one hitting him. The other two stood and watched as Cailen actually became unaware of what was actually going on.
He was slipping in and out of consciousness and was thinking how ironic it would be if he died right now. He finally got his family and now he was going to die before he had the chance to enjoy it.
Cailen thought that was really unfair.
"Hey! Leave him alone!" Cailen heard a familiar voice say, Asher's of course.
Before he completely blacked out.