Emersen sat on a bed with her back against the wall. He knees were drawn up and her arms hugged them. She had pretty much been glued to the bed since she had arrived at the foster home.

The foster home was nice. It was far nicer from the home she had known. It did however have 5 other kids in it. That made the house far noisier from the home she had known. It was a big change.

Her foster mother, Connie was nice. She had come to check on her regularly. She hadn’t really met the three boys in the house. The two girls however shared a room with her. They seemed nice but she had only spoken to them a little.

They seemed to understand that she was emotionally hurting and left her alone. She needed to be alone. Everything she had been through, and so quickly, was a lot to handle.

She heard a soft knock on the door. Assuming it was Connie checking on her again she said, “I’m fine.”

The door opened slowly. “Emersen, Someone is here to see you.” Connie said peaking in.

Emersen was confused; she looked up at the door.

Connie disappeared. The door swung open and in walked Detective Kathy.

“Hi, sweetie. How you holding up?” She walked over and sat on the bed.

Emersen shrugged and sighed deeply.

“Are you ok?” She seemed worried about the young girl.

“Yeah,” She whispered. “Ms. Cheryl said I have to stay here until they figure something out.”

Kathy nodded, “Yeah, hopefully it won’t be much longer.”

Emersen stretched her legs out a bit.

“I actually came to talk to you about everything.” Kathy explained.

“Have you found my dad? Ms. Cheryl said you guys were looking for him.” She tried not to sound too hopeful.

“Well, we did find the man listed on your birth certificate. He says he didn’t know anything about you. He’s highly doubting that he’s your father and has asked for a DNA test.”

Emersen felt like crying.

“I don’t want you to worry at all. We will know for sure with the test.” Kathy tried to reassure her.

Emersen looked around the room. The pale pink walls seemed to be closing in. “If he isn’t my dad…” She trailed off. Licking her lips then clearing her throat she finished, “Then, I’ll be stuck here. Wont I?”

Kathy felt so bad for the girl. She wished she could take away her pain. “For the time being, yes. Nick and I are trying hard to find another family member. Certainly there’s someone.”

Emersen picked up on the fact that her last line had actually been a question rather than a statement.

She shook her head, “I can almost remember my mom’s mom. I was pretty little. I only saw her once or twice. It was a long time ago and she was pretty sick. I think I remember mom saying she died. Other than that, I don’t know of anyone.”

They both sat silent.

“Tyler has parents and a sister. We saw them a lot but… they aren’t actually family.”

Kathy nodded, “Well, like I said before, we are working to figure out something. In the meantime Connie seems very nice.”

“She is, I just, I don’t know.” Emersen was hurting so badly but she couldn’t figure out how to put it into words.

“Everything you’re feeling is normal. It’s gonna take some time but you’ll get better. I’ll talk to some people about maybe getting you into some therapy.”

Emersen nodded. It sounded like a good idea. Maybe someone could help her recover from all this.

“Let’s take the first step together. Connie says you’ve been in the room since you got here. Stand up and lets go outside.” Kathy stood and tried to sound cheery.

Emersen looked at her.

“Come on, you won’t feel any better if all you do is sit and think about all this.” She held out her hand.

Emersen looked at it.

“It’s just a hand.” Kathy smiled.

Emersen nodded and took it. As she stood Kathy led her out of the bedroom.

The other kids in the house noticed but said nothing. They just watched as the two went outside into the bright sun.

“Come on over to my truck, I need to take a sample for the DNA test.”

Emersen followed her over not even daring to say how good the fresh air felt.

“All I need is to swab the inside of your mouth.” Kathy pulled a cotton swab out of her kit.

“Okay.” She had learned Kathy was someone she could trust so without question she opened her mouth.

Kathy took her sample and the secured it. “It’ll be rushed so we should know tomorrow if he’s your dad or not.”

Emersen looked around feeling a bit nervous. Not making any eye contact she asked, “If he is?”

“If he is we find out if he wants custody. If he does we take you both before a judge and have him ask for you. The judge will then have to decide if he’ll get you or not. “

“How does the judge make the choice?”

“Well, she’ll factor in what you want to happen. She factor in whether or not your mom should regain any custody of you or lose you completely.  She also look at how stable he is.”

Emersen nodded.

“I can’t really tell you anything about him but, if this man is your dad and he does want you I have a feeling the judge won’t deny him.”