Lost and found a USWNT story

Chapter 8

Tobin's POV

After Zari had told her story I was in tears, the kid had been through so much more than a kid her age should go through. "We'll give you some time whilst we get this all sorted"Mark said as he got up to walk out. "You're a tough kid Zari, I'm sorry you had to go through this" Jess said before following her partner out of the room.

After the two officers had left the room Zari shifted around in my lap, so she sat sideways. She tucked her head into my neck and I wrapped my arms around her, holding her tight to make her feel secure after having to tell all the horror that had happened to her she was probably quite exhausted.

out of the corner of my eye I saw Alex walk up to my side and rub Zari's shoulder "You did amazing sweetheart" She said "Yeah you did amazing Fishy, there's no way I could have done something like that" Ash said ruffling Zari's hair.

For a few minutes we sat in silence making sure Zari was okay. The door opened and Jess walked back in, "So social services have been called and your parents are going to be arrested. Would you like to hear the charges?" Jess asked "No but we would like to have custody of Zari" I said pointing at Christen and myself.

"Okay i'll get on the phone with social services and ask them to bring the right papers" Jess said walking out of the room again. "Thank you" Zari whispered into my neck "What for kiddo?" I asked quietly "For everything" She replied, making us all smile.

"Zari, do you want your phone?" Alex asked "Maybe to text your friends telling them that you're coming to school tomorrow" "I don't have a phone" Zari replied "What! Kid we are gonna get you a phone" Ash said dramatically, making us all laugh "Um my parents never gave me one, they gave me a time to be back home otherwise you know" She explained.

"Well we're gonna get you a phone so you can contact your friends and keep in touch with us when you're out" Chris said. Ash bent down and whispered in Zaris ear. I didn't hear what she said but it made Zari laugh.

We sat talking and laughing and the atmosphere in the room went from sad to happy pretty quickly. Mainly thanks to Ash and her crazy sense of humor. Soon there was a knock at the door and Jess and another man walked into the room. "Hi guys this is Tyler, he is from social services" Jess said, "Oh hi, nice to meet you" Alex said, sticking out her hand, which he shook.

"I'm Alex Morgan, this is Ashlyn Harris , Christen Press, Tobin Heath and Zari Tame," Alex said, introducing all of us. When Alex said their name Ash and Christen shook Tyler's hand, I would have but I still have Zari sitting on my lap clinging to me and I had a feeling she didn't want me to let go.

"Okay i'll get straight to the point, who is thinking of getting custody of Zari Tame?" He asked, whilst taking a seat on the opposite side of the table. "Me and Tobin would like to get custody of Zari" Christen said "Okay I've heard a lot about you guys I know that you travel a lot so what is your plan for that?" He asked, pulling dome papers out of his briefcase.

"Well Zari doesn't have that long left of school and she does want to stay at this school, so Alex and Ash here have said that when the season starts that they will look after her. When we go to different countries for the national team we would take her with us and she can do online school." Christen explained.

"Okay I like how you have this all thought out and I have noticed that she has not even moved since I've walked into the room so I know she is comfortable with you. So if you both would like to sign here you can be the legal guardians of Zari Tame. You would have to schedule a meeting with the judge for you to officially adopt her '' He explained, sliding the papers and a pen across the table.

Christen grabbed the pen and signed the paper after reading it through carefully, then slid it over to me. I kept one arm around the child in my lap and signed the paper with the pen with the other. Christen took the pen and paper and slid it back over to Tyler who took it and slid it back into his briefcase. "I'll leave you ladies to it, have a good night" he said, standing up and walking out.