Clawen • What comes next

|| CHAPTER 7 ||

 "Yes, can I speak to someone else then?" Claire asked frustrated on the phone, with who she thought could get her the number of this Iris Carroll from. She let out a frustrated sigh followed by "Yes I'll hold". 

Maisie was in the backseat, looking from Owen to Claire and then back to Owen. She wasn't sure who Claire was on the phone with, but Owen had quickly told her a little. He told her that Claire was trying to get in contact with people that would allow her to stay with them. From what Maisie could hear, it wasn't going so well.

They were on their way into one of the bigger cities, as Claire had suggested to which both Maisie and Owen agreed on. Thinking there would be a bigger chance of getting everything they needed. 

"Hello, my name is Claire Dearing, I was wondering if an Iris Carroll works for you" Claire asked the person on the other end of the phone. There was a long pause before she spoke again. "Great, thank you. Is there any way I can get in contact with her?" Claire asked. Quick pause. "Thank you, wait just a minute while I get a pen" Claire said as she started rummaging around in her bag. "Alright I'm with you again" Claire said and then proceeded to write something down. Iris' phone number perhaps, Maisie thought when she saw the numbers. 

Claire put in the numbers she had written down and called. A couple of beeps before a 'hello' was heard from the other side. "Hello, is this Iris Carroll?" Claire asked and Maisie leaned forward to try and hear what was being said on the phone. "Hi, this is Claire Dearing" Claire told the person on the phone. "Oh, you remember me, okay" Claire said surprised and was about to continue but got interrupted from the other end. "Yes, I have her with me, that's actually why I'm calling" Claire then said. 

Claire was on the phone with Iris for another 10 minutes, talking to her about Maisie and what to do. Iris told Claire that Mr. Mills would get custody of her after Lockwood died but now that Mills got ripped apart, she wasn't sure what would happen. She suggested they took it to child services and couldn't find any reasons why one of them couldn't get custody of Maisie. Iris reminded Claire that because they aren't married, they got to find out who of them it should be.

They arrived in the city and walked to a shop they thought Maisie might be interested in. It was Claire's idea because she needed to speak with Owen alone. She grabbed Owen's arm and walked to the corner of the shop, further away from Maisie telling the girl to have a little look around. "Iris told me that she doesn't have a guardian as far as she knows and that we should take it to child services" Claire told him. Owen nodded and looked around. "Let's do that when Maisie is done looking then, and then maybe I wait outside with her while you go in, if she's more comfortable with that" He told Claire, which got him a confused look from her. "You should go in with me" She told him. "Why, I mean when only one of us can get custody" He told her with a serious look on his face. He knew she knew what he meant, but god was it adorable when she put on her fake confused face. "You know it should be you Claire, it's not even up for discussion" He told her and put a hand around her shoulders and let her lean into him. She sighed and shook her head. "We might have to go through a very long process before getting to keep her with us" She told him to which he nodded and said. "I know, but it will be worth it and you can see how much she needs us"

They walked to city hall after having asked Maisie, if she was okay with it. After their arrival at city hall, which was only 5 minutes away from the shop they were in before. They looked around trying to figure out where to take this. After asking around they found themselves sitting in three uncomfortable chairs, waiting for it to be their turn.