~Lin POV~

When I come back, Pippa has her arms wrapped securely around a very tired Lillian. She still looks scared and hesitant.

"Don't worry Lillian. We will keep you safe. I promise. Lillian, we already love you." Pippa said, slightly rubbing her back and running a hand through Lillian's somewhat disheveled hair.

"Yeah. We just worked everything out and we are now fostering you. I hope you're okay with that. We don't want you to have to go through foster care." I say.

"That would be good Mr. Lin and Miss Pippa." She says.

"Aww, sweetie. Just call us Lin and Pippa." I say. She looks at me and nods.

"Okay Lin." She says. She's so cute and tiny but she looks very tired. Pip hugs her harder.

"Lillian, I know you're scared. I'm very sorry about your mom and dad. But you don't have to be worried or scared. Lin and I will keep you safe and help you with anything. I was just in a small car accident," I shoot her a look that says 'that car accident was anything but small,' "and Lin helped me and took care of me. We promise we will take care of you and love you." Pippa says gently.

"Thank you Pippa. I'm just really scared."

"And that's okay. You have every right to be scared. You will be okay. We will help you." I say back to her gently.

"Lillian, you look tired. We'll take you home to sleep." Lillian nods.

"Can we go to my house? I want to get something." She asks. Pip and I nod in unison.

"Yes. Do you know your address?"

"4490 Mulberry Lane." She recites. Pip and I nod. Since we already signed everything and we are officially fostering Lillian,we head straight out of the hospital.

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Pip and I are going to try to get Lillian to open up a little more. We want to find anyone she was connected with to have her talk to them. Someone familiar would really help her. I think. Pip and I decided to pack up everything Lillian needs. Her stuff, her parents stuff, and anything else. I really hope Lillian will warm up quickly. She has had no time to adjust to this new life. She was just thrown into it. We aren't going to tell the cast just yet, we'll see how she and Pippa are tomorrow. I pull up to the house. I quick explain to Pippa that I am going to pick up moving boxes. I drop Pippa and Lillian off, and quickly head in to see the house quick, and then head to the nearest Wal-Mart. Once I have a load of moving boxes, I head back to the house. I walk in and see that Pippa and Lillian have started making piles of stuff. We have 3 extra rooms in our apartment, so Lillian will have her own room and the other two can be used for anything.

---8 hours later---

I know. I know it's late. I know eight hours is a long time. I know that a five year old should not be awake at three o'clock in the morning. But Lillian needs this. We were actually able to get moving trucks here this late. We also put the house up for sale. All the money that is made from selling the house and selling the furniture will go into a savings account for Lillian. She can use it for college or whatever she needs. Once we have everything packed and loaded in the moving trucks, we headed back to our apartment. We will unpack tomorrow. If everything doesn't fit in our apartment, we will put in in the storage lockers in our building. As we are getting her bed set up in the room for her to sleep. I think back to when I first dropped them off at the house. When we walked in, Lillian bolted up the stairs and came back clutching something very tight. It was a raggedy stuffed bunny. What made it special was her reply when Pippa asked what the story behind it was.

"My mommy and daddy gived it to me when I was littler. My mommy and daddy went away for work a lot so they gave me Bunny. One ear says 'mommy' and the other one says 'daddy'. If I press the 'mommy' ear, I hear mommy say 'I love you, Lillian.' If  I squeeze the 'daddy' ear, daddy says 'I love you, Lillian.' It helps me not miss them anymore."

That was her reply. She held that bunny the whole time. Pip and I made sure multiple times that the bunny was with her when we left the house for the last time. Lillian grabbed a bunch of her parents stuff as well. I'm just glad she has pictures of her parents and their voices too. We recorded the voices on Pippa's phone, just in case anything would happen to the recordings, so we have a backup, essentially. We finish setting up the bed, and Lillian climbs in. She falls asleep quickly, her bunny tucked under her arm. Tomorrow we are going shopping for 'kid food' as Pippa says. We are also going to get anything else she needs, and then we will probably head to the theater. We got her a small backpack and water bottle to keep her bunny in and to take to the theater. I love Lillian so much already, and I know Pippa does too. I really hope Lillian will eventually love us, I just also hope that we aren't replacing her birth parents. I want her to treasure everything she has left of them. I hope they know their little girl is safe and loved.

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~Pippa POV~

We are currently heading to the theater. I woke up to Lillian crying this morning, but I was able to calm her down. I was a little sore when I woke up, but I'll be okay. Tommy isn't letting me rehearse today, but I don't have a problem with just getting to know Lillian and hanging with her while they rehearse. One of the things she grabbed from her old house was her iPad. We charged it and connected it to the internet for her. She's going to bring it to the theater to play on if she gets bored. We went shopping and now are arriving at the theater. When Lin parks, he opens his mouth to speak.

"Lillian, there are going to be a lot of people in there. This is where we work. We do a play and we sing almost every night. But all the people are very nice. You don't have to worry, nobody will hurt you. Ok?" Lin says. He's really good with little kids. He knows just how to talk to them and interact with them.

"Ok." Lillian replies. She is still a little sad, but she's cheering up now. I know it will take time. I know she will grieve, and she has every right to. I just don't like seeing her sad. I help Lillian out of the car and we head towards the back entrance, so we don't get mobbed by fans. We lead Lillian to the stage, where everyone is taking a break. They have been rehearsing all morning. None of them know about Lillian. They think we are late because I just got out of the hospital last night. I clear my throat and all heads shoot toward us.

"So, everyone, we would like to introduce our new foster daughter-" I start to say.

"LILLIAN?!" (END OF THE CHAPTER) (MWAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAAHAHA JK)

"Thayne!" Lillian happily yells. Thayne picks her up, twirls her around, and hugs her tight.

"Wait a second," Lin says. "You two know each other?"

"Yes. At my church, I volunteer with the kids program. That's where I met Lillian. Lillian took an immediate liking to me. Obviously." He pantomimes flipping his hair. "Then I met her parents-"

"UGH THIS SOUNDS LIKE A RELATIONSHIP STORY! GET ON WITH IT!" Anthony yelled, earning a elbowing from Jas.

"ANYWAYS," Thayne continues, glaring playfully at Ant. "And they hired me to be her babysitter. Since they were away on business a lot, this little one," he says, playfully tapping Lillian's nose. "and I got to hang a lot. I haven't seen her in a while." Thayne explains. Lin nods his head. I'm just glad we found someone Lillian is comfortable with. Thayne could help us find out more about her. Thayne now has Lillian on his hip, her head resting on his shoulder. It's honestly adorable.

"So, Lillian is your foster daughter?" Renée asks. I nod. Thayne's head pops up from where he was talking with Lillian.

"What happened to her parents?" He asks. I make a motion to try and make him stop, but he doesn't see.

"Shoot." I hear Lin whisper. Lin moves in closer to me. "This isn't good Pip." He whispers under his breath. He's right. This is going to set Lillian off again.

"Mommy and daddy's car got hitted by a truck when we driving home." Lillian says quietly. Everyone gets quiet. "They live in Heaven now." She says. Sad looks arise, and they sadden more when she buries her face in Thayne's shoulder and starts to cry. Thayne hugs her close, and he doesn't look apprehensive at all. Lin and I are apprehensive handling Lillian because we just met her and she's not comfortable with us. Thayne doesn't panic, or look scared that something is going to happen. He slowly rubs her back and makes quiet "shhh"-ing sounds. He is experienced, I guess. He slowly unzips her bag and pulls out her bunny. He gently taps her shoulder. She lifts her head. Her little face is tear stained and puffy. He hands her the bunny and she cuddles back into his shoulder. She squeezes the ears one by one, listening to the recordings. She grips the bunny for dear life. Thayne just holds her close and rubs her back and whispers comforting things in her ear. Lin pulls me close to him and lightly kisses my head.

"Stop worrying, Pip. Thayne knows what he's doing." He says. He always knows what I'm thinking. I'll ask Thayne about this later. I glance across the stage. Anthony is hugging Jas and lightly kissing her head. I'm so glad everything is okay between them now. I look back to Lillian, still crying into Thayne's shoulder. Thayne gives us a questioning look that says 'we need to talk about this.' I nod. Lin squeezes my hand and we start rehearsal. Thayne walks-still holding Lillian-into the seats and sits down.

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1789 words-excluding A/N (1789 how does a *******, orphan, immigrant, decorated war vet-I'll stop)

A/N First things first, THANKS FOR 1k READS!!! And secondly, I'm SUPER sorry for not updating yesterday. I was really busy and couldn't get the whole thing typed up in time. (I was actually gonna end this when Thayne shouts, but decided I had to make it longer because I felt bad for not updating) Thanks for reading, voting, and commenting!

❤️~K