[Maya's POV]
The three of us had just finished breakfast, now getting ready to meet the social worker and Elias biological father. My hands are shaking from how nervous I am, I don't like not knowing what is going to happen next.
Carina haven't really expressed how she's feeling about this but I can tell that she is nervous.
When we arrived at the park I could already see the social worker sitting next to a man.
"Hello, I'm Jason" the man introduced himself.
"I'm Maya and this is my wife, Carina" I said.
"You must be Elias, wow you're so tall" the man said, crouching down in front of our little boy.
"Why don't you two come over here, I want to discuss something with you" the social worker said, now letting Jason walk with Elias over to the swings.
"He has filed for custody of Elias, this could go two way's. Either you fight for adoption and risk loosing it or you let him get custody of Elias" she said.
"How is that even possible? He has been absent for Elias entire life" I said, already pissed off.
"Unfortunately he has a stronger case than you do, he is his biological father and the judge in court wants to keep family by blood together. I'm not saying that you don't have a chance at all but it is a long shot" she explained.
"We want to do it, he has been living with us for almost a month now, we are not letting him go without putting up a fight" Carina told her.
"Okay, I will let the court know that you want to do it" she nodded.
"Mommy, hurt" Elias interrupted, clutching his knee.
"Let mama have a look" Carina said calmly, placing him on her lap so she could look at the cut.
"All better now, bambino" she smiled, placing a bandage on the smaller cut.
"Thanks mama" Elias said, snuggling in to Carina's chest.
I felt tears building up in my eyes, not knowing if this was the last time we would be able to go to the park together. We've grown so close to each other on this last month, I'm not ready for it to be over.
After the visit at the park we walked home again, Carina giving Elias a bath while I approached Casey in her room.
"Is something wrong?" She asked, putting her book down.
"Elias biological father is filing for custody over him, Carina and I will do everything we can to keep him here but I don't know if we will make it or not" I said quietly.
"The system is fucked up, why would they send him to a guy he doesn't even know at all" she said, sighing.
"I don't know Casey, I just hope we win the case" I said.
(A week later)
[Carina's POV]
Maya and I sat down on the right side of the court room while Elias's biological father Jason sat down on the left side of the room. We waited for the judge to arrive, when she did so the room quieted down.
"We are gathered here today to decide who gets custody of Elias Smith" She stated.
I took a deep breath, holding Maya's hand tightly in mine.
"We have gone through both of your cases, looked through every detail to come up with the best solution for Elias home situation. Since we want to keep family by blood together at all costs that's why we've have come to a conclusion now"
"Full custody of Elias smith will go to his biological father" she stated.
I felt my heart shatter in a million pieces, knowing that we would have to say goodbye to our little boy we've been having as our own for a long time now.
We walked out of the court room, immediately seeing Elias sitting on one of the benches waiting.
"Hey bambino, we just wanted to say goodbye. I think you'll have a great time with your dad" I said, trying to lighten up the mood a little bit for him.
"Want to stay with you" he said, tears now running down his face.
"I know that bambino, we wanted you to stay with us too. We love you so so much" I told him, wiping his tears.
"We will miss you a lot Elias, you're the best little brother" Casey admitted, giving him a tight hug.
"Love you sissy"
"Alright time to get going Elias" Jason said, now appearing next to us.
"Mommy will always love you" I heard Maya whisper to Elias, so Jason wouldn't hear.
The three of us watched as they walked away, taking our little boy with him.
Maya yelled, kicking the chair hard.
I took her hand in mine just as I had done with Casey, now making our way home to the apartment.
The ride was quiet, an empty car seat in the back of the car to remind us what we just lost.
Casey walked up to her room as soon as we arrived at our apartment again, probably overwhelmed by everything that took place today. Maya paced around in the kitchen, tilting her head upwards to prevent the tears from escaping her eyes.
I sighed, walking over to my wife and gently wrapped my arms around her waist. Guiding her head to my chest so she could let it all out.
"I hate this" she cried, sniffling.
"I know, so do I Bambina" I told her, rubbing her back as I tried to comfort her the best I could.
"How did this happen? This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He's our little boy"
"Deep breaths" I reminded her, sensing that she was on the verge of a panic attack.
"What are we going to do?" Shale asked, now looking at me.
"Well, we are going to clean his room up a little bit and then take the car seat out of the car. We will make ourselves ready to take someone else in, if you're still wanting that" I explained.
"I-I do, it just feels empty now" she admitted.
"I get the feeling Bambina, I understand"
"What if this happens again? With the next child" she asked.
"I think that we should get more information out this time, we didn't even have his file to see what his past was like. That's a first step, then perhaps we should have a conversation with the social worker so we can find out everything we need to know" I explained.
"We should talk to Casey, she's probably really upset right now" she said, taking my hand as we made our way up to her room.
"Hey, how are you feeling sweetheart?" I asked her, gently placing my hand on her back.
"He really felt like my brother, I thought he was going to stay here with us forever. It makes me sad" she admitted.
"I know baby, we thought he would've been able to stay too" I told her.
"Are you still wanting to foster another kid?" She asked hesitantly.
"We want to yes, it might take a while for the social worker to call or she might call this week. We don't know yet. Are you still okay with us fostering another child?" I asked.
"I am okay with that"
