No Exceptions(Adopted by Jack Barakat)

Chapter Four: Courtroom

The next week crawled by slowly. I couldn't handle not knowing if there was a court date and neither Jack or Allison would tell me anything. It was agonizing.
On the very last Tuesday of school(it ended that Friday) Jack wasn't waiting outside the door for me. This wasn't completely unusual, I mean he couldn't come all the time. So I decided to catch up with Leo and walk home, but stopped when I saw Jack leaning against one of the nicest cars I'd ever seen. He was dressed nicer than usual, in black skinnys, a white button up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a navy tie and a pair of beat up Nike sneakers. His eyes were covered by a pair of sunglasses and he was smiling wide. I smiled too.
"Hey!" I exclaimed as I jogged up to him.
"Hey kiddo!" He held his arms out for a hug and I obliged. When we pulled apart he opened the door for me and I slid in. He walked around and got in his side.
"So where we going?" I asked.
"Take a wild guess." He responded.
"Ice cream?" He shook his head. "I don't know." Although I had a pretty good idea.
"The courthouse." My eyes went wide and I smiled. He glanced at me and then chuckled. "Excited?"
"You have no idea."
"Oh I think I do." He replied. We reached the courthouse and got out. We met Allison, Alex and Lisa when we walked inside. The five of us made our way down the hall to the courtroom. Inside was my social worker, Jack's lawyer and the judge. Jack's lawyer and my social worker walked over to us.
"Mr. Barakat." William, my social worker, said and held out his hand for a handshake. Jack accepted. "Annalise."
"Hey William." I smiled at him and he nodded in return.
"Hello Miss Dane. I'm Mitchell Lawson." Jack's lawyer introduced himself to me.
"Nice to meet you." We shook hands and then he started talking with Jack. William led me to a seat and told me to sit down. He took a seat beside me.
"How are you? Haven't seen you in awhile." He said.
"I'm amazing!"
"That's good. And you like Jack?"
"Yeah. He's awesome." William smiled at my enthusiasm.
"I'm glad you're happy. I think this should go pretty smoothly." I nodded. Before he could say anything else the judge slammed his gavel down and silence fell over the room. Jack sat down in front of me and Alex sat on my other side with Lisa next to him.
"This court is now in session." The judge said and looked around.
"Mr. Brandt please proceed." William stood and began talking about the legal and fiscal responsibilities of adopting a child so I tuned him out. About ten minutes later he finished his little speech and moved on to things I actually cared about, like when this would be official.
"We'll have to do a home visit before she can move in." William pointed out. I glanced at Jack. He was leaning forward, elbow on his knee and holding his chin in his hand. He was taking this incredibly seriously. I was too, but I was also grinning like the Cheshire Cat. This is was a huge moment for me though. I was allowed to be happy.
  When William finished Mitchell stood and began rifling through his briefcase. He pulled out a small stack of papers.
"As requested bank statements and proof of insurance." He handed the stack to the judge, who flipped through them then nodded in approval.
"Ms. White do you have Miss Dane's file?" Allison stood and offered the judge a Manila folder. He accepted it and flipped through it as well.
"Wonderful. Mr. Brandt if you please? The forms." William pulled a few sheets of paper from his case and laid them in front of the judge.
"Mr. Barakat, Ms. White." They made their way over.
"Please read carefully." The judge said and Jack began reading intently. Alex grabbed my hand and gave me a comforting smile. I smiled back and squeezed his hand. A few minutes later everyone backed up from the judge.
"This will not be valid until the eighteenth of this month." The judge said, "After that she can move into your home, Mr Barakat." Jack nodded. "Well I believe we're done here. Congratulations. Let's have a picture. Hm?" We all stood and walked into the center of the room. I stood in front of Jack, who placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. The stenographer stood in front of us with the camera.
"On the count of three everybody smile." She said and held her camera up. "One, two, three." Everyone smiled and the light flashed.
"Before anyone moves could you take one with my phone?" Jack asked and held out his phone. The stenographer smiled and took the phone.
"One, two, three." She took the picture and then handed it back. After that we all said our goodbyes and the judge left.
"I have to go, but it was nice to see you Jack and to meet you Miss Dane." Mitchell said and shook our hands before leaving. Allison grabbed Jack and began talking to him quietly.
"Congrats." Alex said and wrapped me in a hug. I hugged him back.
"Thanks." I responded and I got a hug from Lisa.
"We plan on having you over dinner sometime soon." She told me.
"Sounds like a plan." I replied. Allison finally let Jack go and he bounded over to me with a goofy grin. She followed and wrapped me in a hug.
"Can you believe this!" Jack asked. I shook my head, smiling just as wide. "I think we should celebrate with some ice cream. What do you think?"
"Definitely."
"You guys want to come?" He asked Alex and Lisa.
"We can't. We have," Alex paused to wiggle his eyebrows suggestively, "Plans."
"Ew." I scrunched up my nose in disgust. Lisa smacked Alex upside the head.
"No. We have errands to run." Jack nodded.
"Your loss. See you later." Then he grabbed my hand and drug me from the building. When we reached the car he stopped and turned around. He wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me off the ground. He laughed and I did too. He set me down. He opened the door for me and then went around and got in his side.
"Sucks we have to wait till Friday for you to move in, but after school I'll pick you up and take you home." He said.
"Friday is the last day so it's only a half day. I'll be done about noon."
"Oh. Awesome." I nodded.
"So tomorrow is parents day. You know, so parents can see all the things we accomplished throughout the year and I was hoping that you'd maybe like to come." I glanced over at him trying to gage his reaction. His eyes were wide and he looked surprised.
"Of course I'll come! I'm your dad aren't I?" He asked.
"Yeah. I guess you are." I smiled.
"By the way, before I forget, again, I won't be able to pick you Thursday." I nodded.
"That's okay. I'll have to pack anyway. Allison told me she'd find me some boxes to pack my stuff into. Not that I have much." We arrived at the ice cream shop shortly after that. He ordered our ice cream and we sat down.
"So since today is your gotcha day I got you something."
"You didn't have to do that." I protested. He grinned and shook his head.
"I wanted to." He pulled a small black box from his pants pocket and sat it on the table. I stared at it. "Go ahead. Open it." I opened it and found a velvet covered jewelry box. I opened that and found a necklace with an Eiffel Tower pendant and matching earrings. I gasped and looked at Jack.
"It's beautiful. Thank you so much."
"I'm glad you like it." I pulled the necklace out and put it on.
"How does it look?" I asked brushing my hair out of the way.
"Beautiful." He stood and slid into my side of the booth.
"What are you doing?"
"I want to take a selfie with you." He said, pulling his phone out and throwing an arm over my shoulders. I rested my head on his shoulder and he laid his head on mine.
"Smile." I did and he took the picture. "Now a funny one." He pulled a ridiculous face and I crossed my eyes and stuck my tongue out. He took the picture. He showed me the picture and we both laughed. More because it was stupid than because it was funny.
"Sadly I should probably get you back to Allison's." I pouted.
"Okay."
"Aww come one don't be sad. Only two and a half days until you'll be living with me." I smiled.
"True." We finished our ice cream and went back to the car. The drive was quiet, but not uncomfortable. I sighed as we pulled up in front of the group home.
"See you tomorrow." I sighed again.
"See you tomorrow!" He leaned over and gave me a hug, then kissed my forehead. I smiled and climbed out of the car. I waved as he drove away.
I spent the evening with Leo. We played card games and watched music videos using Allison's laptop. She would let us use it occasionally if we asked nicely. Leo and I listened to All Time Low and watched interviews. I learned a lot about Jack and Alex and quite a bit about the other two, but not as much, because apparently most people think All Time Low is just Jack and Alex. We laughed till we cried watching their foolishness. And the only reason we stopped was because I fell asleep.
  The months of April and May produced some of my greatest memories. I'd never felt so loved or wanted. On Tuesday the fifteenth of May I legally became a Barakat and on Friday the eighteenth I would move into my new home. In my opinion Friday couldn't come fast enough. And to make things even better, for the first time in almost five years I had a parent coming to parents day.
   Jack told me a few years later that although he'd had many great days and made many amazing memories nothing could compete with my gotcha day. And I knew he was being truthful. In fact I'd never seen someone more sincere. I really, firmly believe that he and I are soulmates. Not in a weird way, but just because we had such a strong bond. We found each other when we needed someone most. We shared a connection I'd never had with anyone, not even Leo. I'm sure I had a connection like it with my parents, but I don't remember it. I wish I did. All I have is a few hazy memories and a box of photos.
Jack and I were two peas in a pod. In search of something we couldn't identify. Something we found in each other.