I spent the next few days wallowing in self pity. Tom had allowed me to take a few days off work, so I stayed in bed mostly. Rob hadn't come home since we argued, and I refused to text him first.

After three days of only leaving my bed to use the bathroom, or to make food, I received a phone call that made me get my shit together.

"Hello Miss Shaw. My name is Tracy, I'm calling from Connections Foster Service," the polite voice said, when I answered the phone.

My eyes widened. I had completely forgotten that it was my brother's birthday today. I sat up in bed immediately, and cleared my throat, before speaking.

"Hi, yeah, it's great to hear from you."

"Yes, I'm sure," she replied. "Liam has asked me to give you a call. As you know, he turned sixteen today, so he's now able to make contact with you directly. He's out at the moment, but we were hoping you could pop down later, as we've got a few things to discuss with you."

"Yes, of course!" I said excitedly. "What time should I come?"

"Any time after four. He's gone out with some friends for a few hours, but he'll be back by then. I look forward to seeing you."

"Thank you," I said happily. "See you soon."

I hung up the phone, and jumped out of bed. After looking at myself with disgust in the mirror, I showered for longer than usual, then dried my hair, and got dressed. I put on some make up, then got my jacket on, and left my apartment.

I still had two hours before I needed to be at the foster home, but I wanted to buy Liam a nice gift. My phone buzzed as I got into the car. The text from Larissa read,

I was surprised to see that she had text me, and sad that I wouldn't be able to go.

I replied hopefully.

I put my phone down, and started to drive into town to find a birthday present.

After twenty minutes of panicking about what to buy, I decided to call Rob.

"Don't hang up, please," I said. "I need help."

"What's up?" He replied.

"I'm going to see Liam, it's his birthday... what the hell do I buy for a sixteen year old boy?"

Rob laughed, and agreed to come to town to help me shop. He arrived within fifteen minutes, and hugged me when he saw me.

"I'm so sorry, Ivy," he said quietly.

"Can we just forget about it? I missed you."

"I missed you too, dumbass," he grinned.

We got straight to shopping, as I didn't have too much time before I needed to go to see my brother.

After about half an hour, Rob had found the perfect gift. It was some kind of remote controlled drone. Rob was reeling off a list of specifications, but I didn't pay any attention as it wasn't really interesting to me. However, I knew Liam would love it.

"Thank you so much, Rob," I said, as we walked back to my car.

"It's alright. Good luck with Liam, tell him I said hi," he replied. "I'll see you when you get home."

"See you later."

I smiled happily as I drove to the foster home. I was glad that Rob would be back at home tonight. As annoying as he was, I was used to him annoying me at home now, and I had felt really lonely for the past few days.

The drive was too long for my liking, I was anxious to see my little brother for the first time in years. When I got there, I quickly got out of the car, picked up the huge gift bag from the seat beside me, and walked over to the building.

It just looked like a big, old house, but there was a reception at the front. When Liam was first placed at the home, I had come with him to help him settle. There were eight other children living here then, of all different ages, and backgrounds.

It was the worst day of my life, when I had to leave him. He cried as I walked out of the building, but I wasn't allowed to stay any longer. I promised him that he could come and live with me when he was old enough. I was hoping that would be soon, I didn't want to be away from him any longer.

When I walked into the building, the black haired lady, behind the desk, smiled at me.

"Ivy?" She asked.

"Yes," I grinned, forgetting about the last time I was here.

"I'm Tracy, we spoke on the phone," she said, standing up. "Come through."

She led me through into a small sitting room, where my little brother sat, staring at me. There were tears in his eyes as he jumped out if his seat, and into my arms.

"Happy birthday, baby brother," I said quietly, as I hugged him tight. Tears started to roll down my cheeks, too. I was so happy to see him.

"I've missed you so much," he sobbed, as he pulled away from me, wiping his eyes.

"Me too," I sniffed. "I bought you something."

I handed him the gift bag, and he looked inside. His face glowed when he saw the drone, and a massive grin appeared on his face.

"Thanks, Ivy. I love it!"

We spoke for a while about what we had both been up to, and then Tracy wanted to talk for a bit. Liam started to look at his gift, while she addressed me.

"Liam made it clear that you were the only one he wanted to be in contact with, which we have respected. Your mother has made contact on a few occasions requesting to see him, but that request was denied."

"Good," I said.

"Yes, we don't want to put him under any stress. He's been doing so well with school and everything, since he's been here," she said, and I smiled proudly. "Now, the matter we wanted to discuss, was his residency. Although Liam is comfortable here, and he is more than welcome to stay, he is at the age now where he is able to stay with an adult relative, and he has expressed his wish to live with you."

Liam looked at me hopefully, as she spoke. I smiled at him reassuringly.

"I would love for him to live with me," I told Tracy, and saw my brother smile as I spoke.

"Okay, perfect. So there's a few things to sort out first. It won't be immediate. We usually try to transition slowly to their new home. We will first need to arrange an inspection of your home, and then we would normally start with one night a week for a few weeks, and increasing the frequency of days until it's permanent. The whole process will normally take around three months, but can be quicker if we deem it suitable."

"Okay, that's great. So when would the inspection be?" I asked, knowing that I would need to find somewhere else to live, and fast.

"I can inspect your home on the Monday after next, if that suits you."

"Yeah, that would be fine," I smiled.

"Great, so I'll call you next week to arrange it, once my timetable is sorted. I will be joined by Liam, and another member of staff. And it should take around an hour. We're not going to be checking for dust or anything like that, we just need to see it's safe and suitable for Liam," she told me. "Now, I'll give you two some time together so you can test out that drone. I'll speak to you soon, Ivy."

I smiled and said goodbye to Tracy, then Liam and I went outside so he could fly his drone without breaking anything. We messed with his birthday present for a while, then ended up sitting on the grass, talking about our lives. It was like we were meeting for the first time, so much had happened in four years.

I could have sat with Liam all day, but I knew I needed to get home to start looking for somewhere we could live, so I walked Liam back to the building.

"I'll see you in a couple of weeks," he smiled happily.

"I can't wait," I grinned.

We hugged briefly, and then he went inside, and waved through the window to me, as I started to drive away.