Chapter Text
Six months. Six long, grueling months with seemingly no end in sight. Stacked back to back with foster applications, background checks, home studies, and never ending training videos. All finally completed with flying colors and the long awaited green light to become foster parents for the husbands.
Over the past half a year, the now Hollander-Rozanovs found themselves finally being able to set up their second home office, the room that Ilya typically used as a gaming room on nights that his brain was too loud for sleep, into a makeshift emergency placement room whenever the time came. The closet in the guest room was neatly sorted and organized with various sized clothing that were masculine, feminine, and gender neutral, toys for all ages, and books of the same.
It was three in the morning, a month after their initial acceptance into the foster parent world, when the husbands received their very first emergency placement phone call.
Shane groaned softly, stirring awake from a deep sleep as he clumsily reached for his phone on the nightstand beside his side of the bed. He couldn’t make out the contact without his glasses on at this hour so he opted for his go-to greeting. “Hollander-Rozanov,” he mumbled in a low, sleep laced voice.
“Hey, Mr. Hollander-Rozanov. This is Macy with DCFS,” a young woman greeted on the other end of the line, making Shane immediately perk up and push himself into a sitting position, which in turn immediately woke Ilya with the abrupt shift in weight on the mattress. “I’m sorry to wake you and your husband at this hour but we’re looking for emergency placement for a ten year old girl with an autism diagnosis. Are you and your husband willing to take her in? I can give more details when we get there if you accept it,” Macy asked softly, like she was trying to keep her tone soft and even, “I would typically ask you to consider and call me back but we need an immediate response tonight.”
“Oh!” Shane was taken aback by the information, any sort of sleepiness immediately leaving his body. He held a finger up to tell his husband to wait as he was shot a questioning look. “Absolutely…yeah, yeah, of course…please, we’d love to take her. When would you be here?”
“Give us about two hours and we’ll be there. Thank you so much for taking her in tonight,” Macy sighed with relief before hanging up.
Shane immediately sat his phone back on the table before looking over at Ilya. “Get up and get dressed…we’ve got a little girl on the way,” Shane smiled warmly. “They’ll be here in about two hours.”
Ilya’s eyes widened slightly, a small smile emerging on his lips. He was honestly, positively, surprised at the sudden change in their night. They had been waiting for this moment for weeks now and it was finally their turn to be parental figures, even if for just a few days.
The two of them made their way out of bed and downstairs to start their day. The husbands worked together to make sure they had everything ready for the little girl. They placed clean sheets on the bed, set some books out on the shelf, and made some toys readily available. They anticipated that it would be a difficult transition, especially so early in the morning, and as two grown hockey players, they were sure the girl would probably be intimidated.
Just as 5am rolled around, there was a gentle rap at the door. Shane stood from his spot at the dining table, abandoning his half empty cup of coffee, and walked over to answer - Ilya following closely behind, leaning up against the entryway between the kitchen and living room. On the other side of the door stood a young, petite woman with a name tag labeled Macy, and behind her stood a cowering young girl, hanging on to Macy’s top for dear life as inconsolable sobs wracked through her small frame.
“Hello, you must be Shane and Ilya. We spoke briefly, I’m Macy,” the woman introduced herself, clearly trying to hide the stress on her face and in her tone. “This is Milana…May we come in?”
Shane smiled softly, stepping aside as Macy practically dragged Milana into the house with a small grocery bag full of personal items. Shane took the bag from her as he closed the door behind them.
“Milana, you are safe,” Macy reminded her softly, trying to ease the little girl’s trauma. She returned her attention back to the men, “she’s 10, autistic, non-communicative…came from a very unfortunate situation and you’re the third home in two weeks unfortunately.”
Ilya’s face immediately fell at that information, “oh, this poor little one,” he said softly. “Moving is hard on anyone, let alone small children.”
Macy nodded, “I emailed her file to Shane so you two can look over some of the important information when you get a chance. Honestly, she just needs someone that will give her the time she needs to adjust and I think you two would be a great fit, according to your own file.”
“How long do you need us to have her for?” Shane asked, keeping his eyes on Milana as she seemed to try and climb up Macy’s torso to get away from the two unknown men standing in front of her.
“The state is trying to strip her parents’ rights…so could be a few days, could be a couple of months, could be forever if you’re given the chance and would want to adopt her,” Macy frowned, unable to give them a straight answer.
The husbands both nodded at that. “I don’t want to stay too long because she is going to be very upset either way…if you need anything at all,” she stressed, “please don’t hesitate to reach out,” Macy told them before carefully adjusting the girl to the front of her torso. “Ms. Macy has to go now, okay? Shane and Ilya are going to watch you. Please be kind to them,” she gave the girl a sad smile before quickly making her way out the door, closing it before Milana could reach her.
Now that the girl wasn’t hiding, Shane and Ilya could get a better sight of her. At just ten years old, Milana was smaller than most, both height and weight wise, making her appear younger than her actual age. She was a petite, wavy haired brunette with hazel eyes and a splattering of light, almost invisible, freckles across her nose - and she was so upset, releasing guttural screams as nonstop heavy tears flowed down her cheeks.
It broke their hearts to see the girl so inconsolable but who could blame her? Nobody would want to be dumped at a random person’s house, not to mention they had no idea if she even understood what exactly was going on as she wasn’t able to communicate that.
Ilya was the one to make the first move as Shane hastily dug through the plastic bag in search of something that would comfort her. Ilya slowly crossed the living room, crouching down arm’s length away to meet her eyes. He wanted to show her that he was there but also not overwhelm her even more. Shane finally found an old, tattered strip of silk that had multiple holes ripped through the lining, possibly from a baby blanket of sorts. He tossed it towards Ilya who carefully held it out to the girl.
“Oh, is your odeyaltse (little blanket / blankie),” Ilya smiled softly, his heart swelling in his chest as he looked it over. He could tell immediately that this ragged piece of silk was very well loved.
Milana hesitated momentarily before taking the fabric, rubbing it against her nose as she shoved her thumb in her mouth and fingers twirling the ends of the material. As soon as she had her security item and a way to self regulate, she immediately began to de-escalate - her sobs and yells soon becoming quiet whimpers.
“There’s also a stuffed bunny in here,” Shane announced as he held it up to show Ilya. The bunny was light pink with ears as long as its body. There was a spot on each ear where the fabric was wearing thin, probably from the same motions that the girl was doing with the blankie.
When Shane held up the bunny, Milana immediately dropped her free hand from twirling the blankie and held it out for her bunny. As Shane handed the beloved stuffie over, Milana immediately snuggled the bunny tightly to her chest as she gently rocked on the balls of her feet.
“We love our odeyaltse and zaychik (bunny), yes? Is very nice blankie and bunny, very soft and comforting,” Ilya said soothingly. “Would you like to come see bedroom?” He asked, standing up and holding his hand out as an invitation for her.
Milana processed the question for a moment before slowly removing her thumb from her mouth and shoving her blankie against her chest with her bunny. She then used her free hand to hold onto Ilya’s, making the man chuckle softly at the size difference between them.
“While you show her around, I’m gonna start breakfast in case she’s hungry,” Shane smiled softly at the sight of the two of them. This moment was something he had been picturing in his mind since they first started discussing fostering and adopting after marriage.
“Don’t forget emailed file,” Ilya reminded as he began to lead Milana upstairs to where the bedrooms were located.
“Already on it!” Shane called as he scrolled through his phone, making his way towards the kitchen.