Archive of Our Own ^beta

“When Tj and I were hanging out in the living room earlier, Becky tried having the strangest conversation with us.” Tim said, he was lying in bed under him and his wife's new comforter while Sally was sitting at their wooden dressing table, doing her night routine and preparing to join her husband. It was dark outside, the crickets chirping through their open window. Their children where down the hall-having already been put to bed an hour ago.

“Really? What was it about?” She said with a hum, Tim’s smile instinctually grew wider at the sound of his wife’s voice but then his expression slowly turned into a grimace once he remembered what exactly he was about to say.

“It was the silliest thing” He started carefully, then continued “she tried to tell me and Tj that she was WordGirl.” he said, Sally turned around-still smiling but there was a good bit of curiosity in her expression. She had started to apply her night mask, the light green substance only covering her chin at this point.

“WordGirl?” her lips pursed.

“And that's not all, she tried to say she was an alien. She was super serious about it too. She started it all off with a spiel about how she had to tell us ‘The truth’” He said, trying to intimate Becky's serious tone at the end.

“Oh my-an alien?”

“Tj was getting a real kick out of it but..I don’t think I handled it quite as well as I could of. I thought maybe she was just playing pretend at first, but she was..”

“She wasn’t.” Sally turned and Tim knew the conversation was already upsetting her.

“She had a whole backstory, she said she was from Lexinon?- no Lexicon. She sprung it all on me so suddenly I was taken aback I must admit. She even said Bob was Captain Huggy face and an Airforce pilot.”

“Bob-in the military?” Sally laughed a bit, but it was a quieter one then usual. He could tell she was trying to imagine it and Tim was trying to aswell. Bob was quite smart-even for a monkey-but him trying to operate any type of machinery besides their family tv and maybe a library computer was out of the question. A while ago they had tried training him to be a emotional support animal for Becky but they had to stop as it stressed him out. Tim pictured Bob dressed in an Airforce uniform, helmet on his head and operating a plane.

“Becky claimed she had crawled into his spaceship for a nap before he had taken off for an important mission.” Tim said, sally was snickering now- “Sally this is serious, we have a veteran in our house and we’re missing out on important discounts!” his wife wheezed.

“Goodness Tim!”

“Sorry-sorry! Anyway, she apparently startled Bob when she woke up, because he hit a meteor and crash landed on earth. Afterwards-Bob took her through the woods where we found her.” Tim finished. “She seemed really exasperated, she really thought we forgot we adopted her.”

“I...really thought she didn’t remember.” sally said. “she was so young the idea of that kind of slipped my mind.”

“I mean, she wasn’t adopted traditionally. It would make less sense if she did forget. Not everyday does a kid get found in the woods with a monkey.” Tim said “and apparently Bob remembered, because when Becky was talking about being found Bob started rubbing his stomach when she mentioned the sandwiches.”

“Oh the ones from the deli? Those where so good, I can’t believe they stopped making them.”

“I know! Anyway, Tj didn’t really take it all that well. We never told him so he didn’t believe her.”

‘He didn’t say anything did he?”

“He said WordGirl was awesome and well, she wasn’t. But I guess it could of been worse. I didn’t really want to open that can of worms without you there-so I kind of just..blew her off and told her I loved her no matter what. I mean the alien story was quite ridiculous, so the conversation wasn’t going to be productive either way.” Tim said, but Sally could tell that he was upset about it. Sally had finished applying her mask, closing the container. “Do you think we should try talking to her about it?”

“What if this is just something to do with her Reactive Attachment though? You know what the therapist said. You got lucky she didn’t lash out, especially in front of Tj.” She clenched the container of the mask and sighed. Tim frowned hard, he didn’t even take the reactive attachment disorder into account-it had been so long ago since she had any type of episode. Everything seemingly flooded his mind all at once. One of the reasons he had decided to be a stay-at-home dad was because of Becky's episodes and everything else. It took only two days for Becky to start wanting her biological parents and once she did it became days and nights filled with meltdowns and tears. Tim called her their little hulk, because it was like she got super strength when she was upset.

“Grandma was devastated about the coffee table.” Tim said, trying to lighten the mood. “Honey, I don’t think she would ever hurt Tj or anyone for that matter. This is Becky we are talking about, Shes a sweetheart. We would of noticed if she was getting bad.”

“Unless she was pushing us away, like during that magician convention-was it really her preparing for a trick with that guy like she said or was she uncomfortable with the idea of a family outing? And the teacher caught her talking to..the narrator again.” Sally said, sounding embarrassed at this point.

“That guy? What was she saying?”

“That thing is not a guy. I called Dr.Murphy and he said he wants to see her again to see how she's doing and figure out if anything's wrong. He didn’t exactly say it but clearly what the teacher said was cause for alarm. What if she has multiple personalities? Or Shes psychotic? We have no idea how her biological parents treated her Tim, the abandonment could just be the tip of the iceberg.”

“goodness sally, the narrator is just an imaginary friend. If he was controlling her we would of noticed, we aren’t that bad of parent's sweetie. Plus Becky has lots of friends who care about her and they would of told us if she was acting strange.” Tim said “And abandonment is a heavy accusation; we have no idea what happened to Becky's biological parents. She was well cared for before we found her and her doctors said she was in good health. No signs of abuse. No drugs in her system.”

“Violet isn’t exactly able to gauge what is appropriate behavior and what is not. Did you know her and scoops have a little relationship going on? and that boy is anything but normal. Becky could of also just told them not to say anything, they’re her friends not ours.” Sally said “But your right, we don’t know what happened to Beckys biological parents, I shouldn’t of said that. I just get so worried. I love her so much I might as well of given birth to her. But what are we supposed to do if she doesn’t want our love?”

“Becky loves us, and she loves Tj. Even when she tried telling that alien story, she still called me dad, she sees us as her parents. Adopted or not. its not her or our fault that she has struggles. Plus, it could be worse, she could be like that Tobey kid.”

“Bless Ms.McCallisters heart.” sally said. “Even if she could be worse, it's not usual for a kid her age to have the ‘imagination’-” she said with hand quotations “she has. Shes supposed to be playing with dolls not...disembodied voices.”

“I see what you mean and well, I am a little worried too. Maybe a visit to Dr.Murphy isn’t such a bad idea.” Tim said, Sally got up from the chair and shuffled over to their bed.

‘And a family conversation is a great idea. We should be honest to Tj especially if Becky is ready to tell him. You don’t think Becky used WordGirl because of Tj's special interest, right?” Sally said.

“Maybe, she is ten and was trying to explain a topic possibly out of her own grasp of understanding.”

Sally slid into bed, wiggling a bit to get comfortable. “What if she wants to find her biological parents?”

“Oh..I didn’t think about that.” Tim scratched the back of his neck. “Do you really think this might be what all of that was about?” he raised his brow

“I mean, you’re right. We don’t know what happened to them, they could be looking for her. They told us to prepare for the idea that they would want her back if they found her.” Sally said

“We kind of messed up in that department.” Tim chuckled but it was obvious that the conversation had taken an even more uncomfortable turn for the couple. The cops had given up years ago on actively looking for Becky’s parents but her case’s tipline was still up and it still sometimes got reports. Of course, Becky had no idea about any of that. She was too young. “If they do..we’ll figure something out.”

“I’m not giving Becky up.” Sally said, her tone had gotten serious and aggressive.

“It’s not about giving Becky up.”

“No Tim, Becky’s been ours for eight years. We would fight tooth and nail for her.” Sally crossed her arms. Tim was silent for a moment, pondering on if this was a subject he really wanted to broach. He didn’t want to upset his wife too much right before bed.

“Of course.” was the response he settled on. The weight in Sally’s shoulders lifted, but she was still staring at the wall-refusing to look at her husband. “Becky is really good with words-”

“Oh my god Tim, Becky is NOT our cities alien superhero!” Sally said, shoving him playfully. “Plus isn’t Captain Huggyface a dog?”

“I thought he was a miniature pony” Tim said, Sally turned off the lamp on her nightstand, plunging the couple into darkness.

“No he's a dog.”

“I don’t think so sweetie, he definitely has hooves.”

“No, he does not.”

“Yes, he does”

“No he does-”

(fin.)