Chapter Text
Leanne felt like a weight had been lifted over the last week. The words of the judge spinning around her head, while she watched Ethan and Ariel mess around in the back yard.
“I hear by grant sole custody of Ariel Louise Rorish to Leanne Marie Rorish.”
Everything had felt right in the world when she heard those words, Ariel had hugged her so tight, before hugging everyone else, and Leanne felt so much pride when each and everyone one of those people told Ariel how proud they were of her, and how much they loved her and considered her family.
A week had passed, and finally things were getting back to normal. Ariel was back in school, she’d taken up gymnastics and netball, and often stayed behind to help out with projects or get extra tutoring, and Leanne swore her career ambitions changed like the wind, but at least the teen had some normality in her life.
Sometimes Ariel would volunteer at Angels, she and Jesse would have conversations in Spanish, something the senior nurse loved. He had told Leanne that if there was anything he wanted to do for Ariel, it was to make sure that Spanish was her second language. Angus would randomly ask her what the capital of a country was, just to help her out with Geography, and sometimes Noa would give her lectures about her posture now that she was into gymnastics.
Everything seemed to settle. Leanne and Ethan had fallen into a normal routine, and despite the ups and downs they’d been through, they were closer, stronger, and more in love, even though neither of them thought it was possible.
Pulling herself away from the window she wondered upstairs, stopping outside of Ariel’s room. She knew they really needed to get it sorted. It was still full of Caitlin’s things, her posters on the wall, some of her clothes still in the dresser. As much as Leanne knew it was going to be hard, this was Ariel’s room now, this needed to be her safe space.
Walking to the next door she came to her son’s room. It was exactly how he had left it six years ago, Leanne would dust it from time to time, but she’d never had the heart to sort his things out. She knew it could be used as an office, or a spare room, the spare room seemed like a good idea with how many sleep overs Ariel kept planning.
Walking into the room she sat on the bed, looking around. It was like going back in time, but she knew she needed to look forward, she had a new life now, a new life with Ethan and Ariel, she couldn’t keep living in the past.
“I wish I had the opportunity to meet them,” Ariel voice made Leanne look up.
Ethan and Ariel stood in the door way. “Yeah, I think they would have liked you. Caitlin always wanted a sister,”
“Do you want some time alone?” Ethan asked.
Leanne shook her head, she’d spent enough time alone over the years, now she had two people in her life who loved her, and whom she loved. She needed to stop closing herself from everyone.
“No, I came up here to start cleaning. I mean, now we know that Ariel isn’t going anywhere, I think it’s about time to take all of Caitlin’s pictures down, maybe paint the walls. I am sure this room can be turned into an office or something,” Leanne got up off the bed, gesturing to the room.
“Mum,” Ariel said, her voice quiet.
“They’re not here, Ariel, they’re never going to be back here, so why deprive you of your own room, because I keep living in the past. What kind of mother would I be if I made you live like Caitlin did?” She smiled, tears spilling over, and slowly rolling down her cheeks.
“Why don’t I call my dad? I am sure we could find some boxes, we could store it in his garage?” Ethan put in, taking a step further into the room.
Once again, Leanne shook her head.
“I have these memory boxes that John’s father brought me when they died. I can put what I want to keep in there, but the rest of it can go.” Leanne looked at Ariel. “I’m sorry for making you stay in that room for so long.”
Ariel shook her head. “She was my sister. I guess being in that room, I got to feel like I knew her.”
Ariel moved forward, hugging Leanne as tight as possible.
“Come on, let’s start with your room. I’ll get those memory boxes out of the basement, and we can start making that bedroom into your bedroom.” Leanne said with a smile, a genuine smile, one that Ethan and Ariel hadn’t seen for a while.
“You sure?” Leanne could hear the excitement in Ariel’s voice.
“Yes!” Leanne and Ethan said in unison, making the teen squeal with joy before she left the room, heading to what would soon be her room, just the way she pictured it.
Ethan looked over at Leanne for a moment, giving her a smile.
“I’m sorry,” Leanne said.
“For what, love?” Ethan asked, wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him.
“Everything. I don’t know, I just feel like, like I should have done more to move on,” Ethan shook his head, moving backwards to sit on the bed, waiting for Leanne to sit next to him.
“Leanne, baby, you lost everyone. You lost the three most important people in your life, you have got every single right to feel that grief. Ariel and I, we know that, and we accept it. Love, we’re not replacing them, we don’t want to, but don’t feel like just because we are here, that you need to forget you were married with two kids.” Ethan said, before placing a kiss to the side of her head.
“I’m scared I am going to lose you two, like I lost them, Ethan.”
“Leanne,” Ethan started, making her look at him. “I am not going anywhere. I love you, I have done since I first set foot in that ER, and I love Ariel, and she’s not going anywhere,”
There was a slight pause, before the realisation seemed to hit them both.
“She’s ours, Leanne. She is our little girl, and she isn’t going anywhere,”
“It’s true,” Ariel said from the doorway, making them both look up. Ariel had tears in her eyes too, and for a moment Leanne wondered how much of the conversation she’d overheard.
“I’m not going anywhere, mum. I’m staying here and I’m going to make you both proud. All I wanted when my dad died was a family, and now I have one. I have a mum and a dad, and two sibling who I want to know more about. I want to hear you talk about Caitlin and Eli, I want to hear you mention John from time to time, just like you let me talk about my dad. We are a family, and families accept each other.” Ariel moved further into the room, sitting in between Leanne and Ethan.
“Honey, you are so important, to the both of us, we love you so much,” Ethan said with a teary-eyed smile, pulling both Leanne and Ariel into his embrace.
“I love you both too.”
A few hours passed as the three of them started to clean out Caitlin’s old room. Leanne making a pile of things she wanted to keep, while Ethan and Ariel discussed paint colours.
“Well, I know what I want hanging first,” Ariel smiled, reaching under the bed, and pulling out a box of things.
“I want to put these two frames up.” Ariel pulled out the first frame, a picture that Jesse had taken outside of the hospital months ago after a long shift, they all had their backs to the camera, Ariel was in the middle of Ethan and Leanne and they had their arms around her.
The second was a frames quote. “I read this in one of the magazines, I thought it was fitting for all of us.”
Ariel passed the frame over to Leanne and Ethan.
‘Family isn’t defined only by last names or by blood; it’s defined by commitment and by love. It means showing up when they need it most. It means having each other’s backs, it means choosing to love each other even on days when you struggle to like each other. It means never, ever, giving up on each other.’
“I think that pretty much sums us up.” Ethan smiled.
“Yeah, I think it does.” Leanne couldn’t help but agree, looking over at Ariel. Feeling the same amount of love for this child as she had done for her other two.
They were all finally home, all where they needed to be.