Adopted by Hamilton

Chapter 166 - Godfather

"I'm really sorry Dad." I said, pulling away from the hug.

"For what?" He asked.

"He was a racist jerk." I said.

"He was." Lin nodded, "it feels pretty crappy to be told you're a bad parent because you're Puerto Rican."

"You're not a bad parent. Dad both of you are amazing." I explained. "He just kept asking if I was being abused."

"Okay, so now they're looking into your life to see if you're being abused."

"Ironic right?" I shrugged.

"He didn't do anything to you? Right?" He asked, pulling me over to the couch.

"No, I'm fine, he just kept asking if you were hitting me, and refused to believe you weren't."

"Well, I'm sorry." He said, and squeezed my hand a bit, then we heard a knock on the door.

"I'll get it!" I heard Vanessa offer from the kitchen, she came into the room, and opened the door to reveal Chris.

"Hey!" Lin stood up happily, to see his closest friend, "why are you... Oh." He trailed off when he realized the answer. "The social worker left a couple minutes ago."

"Oh. So, how'd it go? I mean, Abi's still here right?" He asked, slightly nervously.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" I smiled, standing up.

"Oh thank God." Chris said, coming over and giving me a hug, "so, they realized you two weren't abusive?" He asked Lin and Vanessa.

"No, he was racist." Vanessa sighed.

"Wait, really?" Chris asked, "what happened?" He asked all of us.

"He told me that they were wary of me being placed here, because my parents were Hispanic." I sighed.

"Wait, seriously?" He asked.

"Yeah." I sighed, "he kept telling me that if I was being abused I could say something, and they wanted to place me with a, quote unquote 'nice white family'."

"Oh my gosh. Guys, I'm so sorry. Abi, they love you." He added, taking my hand, "no other family could love you like they do."

"I know." I smiled.

"We're probably going to get a call from CPS asking why we yelled at a social worker and kicked him out."

"Yeah, that's possible." Chris laughed a little, "so, should I go?" He asked, "I mean, I was only here because they needed a non-related reference."

"Actually," Lin thought for a second, "I want to tell her, would you be okay with that?" Lin asked, and I was confused.

"Sure!" Chris smiled.

"Okay, Abi can you sit down?" Lin asked.

"Okay?" I said, "am I in trouble?" I asked, nervously sitting on the couch.

"Oh! Of course not! Peanut, it's good news." He laughed a bit.

"Okay." I smiled.

"Well, Vanessa and I, sort of were thinking about things to do for you, that could sort of, I don't know, really make you part of the family, I don't know, it's just, we asked Chris if he would be willing to be your godfather."

"Really?" I asked looking at Chris, "you said yes?"

"Of course I did." Chris smiled at me. "You're dad's my brother. He really is." He leaned down and hugged me.

"Thanks Chris." I smiled, returning his hug.

"I guess that would make me your uncle." He pulled away, and tousled my hair.

"This is so cute." Lin smiled, and took a picture of me and Chris. "Now, we actually have more news, darling." Lin smiled at me.

"Really?" I asked, excited.

"Well, this was just an idea, but, um, we looked your name up, Abigail, it's Hebrew, it means, fathers joy, which we thought was ironic, you know that your parents would name you 'fathers joy'." He laughed a little.

"Oh! It was the first name in the baby book they were using." I shrugged.

"Oh." Lin frowned, "then, your middle name, Leigh, um, it's also Hebrew, and it means weary."

"Doctors name." I added.

"What?" Vanessa asked, as I cut in.

"The obstetrician, her name was Leigh."

"So, your middle name, it doesn't mean anything to you?" He clarified.

"Yeah, because I'm so close to the obstetrician that delivered me."

"We were wondering, my mom and my sister, they're both named Luz, we were wondering if you would be open to changing your middle name to Luz?" He wrung his hands nervously.

"Really?" I asked lighting up.

"Of course, we just, it's Puerto Rican, it means light, you're, we love you." Vanessa kissed the top of my head.

"I can get it legally changed." Lin added.

"Thank you." I gave both of them a smile.

"By the way, your first name, it's not ironic anymore," he smiled at me, "fathers joy."

"Really Dad, thank you." I leaned over to him, and rested my head on his shoulder. He slipped his arm around my waist. Then I heard my moms phone ring.

"Hello?" I heard her answer the phone, "he was, he was really offensive, he was racist," I realized she was on the phone with CPS, "as long as we get a different employee," I internally groaned and Lin actually groaned, "see you in a half hour. Bye." She hung up the phone.

"So, we have to go in?" I asked.

"I'm sorry." Vanessa said, patting my knee.

•••

A half hour later, I was sitting in a small room with my family, and a social worker came in.

"Listen," the lady said, sitting down across from us. "We are so sorry about Clark, quite honestly, all this was supposed to be was a formality. It's policy to do a basic check on the family after three calls, and the arrest. The calls, they weren't reliable, and the airport arrest wasn't your families fault."

"Thank you." Vanessa sighed. "So what really is this meeting?" She asked.

"We just wanted to check in." She smiled, "how is everything with the family?"

"Great." My dad smiled, "we just had her birthday, the Tonys are coming up, we're all excited, she's getting along great with her little brother. Wait!" He grinned and pulled his phone out, "pictures." He handed her his phone, open to pictures of Sebastian and I.

"So cute!" The lady smiled.

The meeting went well. It was basically a social worker making sure I wasn't being, like, brutally murdered.

Eventually Lin and Vanessa took me and Sebastian out to lunch, as a family.

All in all I guess today was a good day. I mean, we did have to deal with a really racist social worker, but, also, I got a godfather, and they changed my middle name to Luz, after my abuela and my tia.

•••

Thanks for reading!

- Abi