Chapter Text
Ray had his kid's last day of school before winter break planned out. He would pick up Alex and Julie from school and take them out to lunch to celebrate finishing their midterm exams before they went and picked up Carlos to go Christmas tree hunting. They were supposed to spend the entire night together as a family, watching holiday movies and drinking hot chocolate. But now, it looks like things were changing.
Ray sighed as he hung up the phone, and he immediately went onto his laptop to start a Walmart pickup. He needed to make sure that there was plenty of food in the house. He looked up and smiled as Alex, Julie, and Carlos walked through the front door. Carlos immediately turned the tv on and started up his PS4. Alex and Julie headed straight into the kitchen to grab a snack.
“Hey, dad,” Julie said. She set her bag down on the table and went in to hug him.
“Hey, baby girl,” he said, giving her a tight squeeze. “How did your pre-calc exam go?”
Julie looked to Alex giving him a nervous glare. Ray took a deep breath. He had a feeling he knew what that look meant, but then again, the two had a habit of pulling a bait and switch.
“I think I aced it!” Julie exclaimed.
“I knew you would,” Ray said as he high-fived Julie. He then turned to Alex and smiled. “How was APUSH?
Alex took a deep breath as he started to clean an apple thoroughly. He looked up at Ray and just shrugged.
“I’m sure you did fine,” Ray said, hugging the boy.
“I don’t know,” Alex said, taking a bite out of his apple. “I feel like it could have gone better. I probably got a four on my essay. There’s no way Mr. Mendoza will give me a five.”
“Yes, but a four is still really good! Considering, he grades them harsher than the actual AP exam,” Ray said.
“Yeah, I guess your right,” Alex said as he took a deep breath and sat down in the chair next to Ray.
Alex glanced over at Ray’s laptop, confused. They always did their grocery runs on Sunday.
Ray huffed and sat down next to Alex. “Can you please go get Carlos for a second?” he asked Julie.
Julie nodded and went into the living room to drag her brother away from the PS4.
“Is everything okay?” Alex asked.
“Everything’s fine,” he said, reassuring Alex. “I just need to run something by you guys. That’s all.”
Alex slowly nodded his head before realizing what this could be concerning. Julie had mentioned a similar meeting before he came into their home.
Julie and Carlos finally made their way into the kitchen after Carlos got killed in his Fortnite battle.
“Are you kidding me?” Carlos yelled in frustration.“Dad, Julie just made me lose my match!”
“You can start a new one later. We need to have a family discussion,” Ray said.
Alex blushed when Ray mentioned him as part of their family. Even though the boy had only been living with them for nine months, he still wasn’t sure if he was an official member of the Molina family. Even though Ray had given him a bedroom, paid for drum lessons, helped him get for his first date with Willie, and even had a matching Christmas Stocking made, he still felt like this wasn’t real. He wasn’t really apart of this family.
“So,” Ray said, making sure that everyone was paying attention. “I got a call from Linda from Social Services today, and she was wondering if we would be interested in taking in another kid.”
“Girl or boy?” Julie asked, hoping the answer would be a girl.
“A boy, he’s 15 and...” ray took a deep breath and looked at Alex. “He’s been staying at the Covington Home for Boys.”
Alex took a deep breath and took another bite of his apple. He hadn’t thought of that place since he moved in with Molina’s, and he wasn’t exactly keen on reliving his memories. But, he remembered his time there was rough, and there was no way he was going to deny any child’s chance to escape.
“When will he move in?” Alex asked.
“Tomorrow afternoon. Are you sure you guys are okay with taking in a new placement before Christmas?”
Alex nodded his head. He couldn’t imagine spending the holidays at that horrible place. He was lucky that he only had to spend a couple of months there before his social worker had found a family that was willing to take in an openly gay teen.
Alex looked at Carlos and Julie and gave them pleading eyes to agree to let the poor kid stay. The two immediately smiled and approved as well. There was enough love to go around.
“Perfect,” Ray said, picking up his phone. “I’ll give Linda a callback and let her know that we will take him in. Do you think Luke would be willing to give you guys a ride home after school?”
Alex nodded his head. He knew Luke would do anything to help a kid that was in the care of Caleb Covington. That was where they met, of course.
“I’ll double-check when he comes over tonight,” Alex assured Ray.
“Please do not be up all night,” Ray begged.
“Relax,” Alex said. “I’m just helping him rehearse his monologue for his drama exam.”
“I still can’t believe he signed up for that class as an elective,” Julie said, holding back her laughter.
“I can’t believe he lost the bet and had to do it,” Alex laughed.
Ray smiled at Julie and Alex and hoped that the new kid would fit right in with his new siblings.
********************************
Ray came down the stairs, checking to make sure everything was ready for the new placement tomorrow. The spare bedroom was vacuumed and had fresh sheets. He had a grocery pickup scheduled for nine in the morning, which gave him plenty of time to drop all of the kids off at school for their last exam and get all of the groceries put away and the snack basket filled before he needed to and meet his new child. There was just one little problem; he couldn’t find the snack basket.
Ray had gotten the snack basket as a precaution after the family had gotten their foster care license, but they didn’t need it with Alex. His parents had kicked Alex out after they caught him kissing another boy, and while The Molina’s weren’t his first foster placement, his short stay at The Covington Home for boys had been less than ideal. The boy, thankfully, didn’t get any long-term scarring from his stay there. However, after getting sent a briefing on their new placement, Ray decided it would be best to bring back the snack basket.
His search continued upstairs when he spotted Julie lying on her bedroom floor going over Biology notes.
“Hey, Mija,” he said, knocking on the door. “Why aren’t you with the boys in the studio?”
“They needed some private time,” Julie said, taking off her glasses. “I think they’re just reminiscing on their time at Caleb’s. Luke doesn’t talk about it much, but Caleb really screwed with his head.”
“Yeah, I bet,” he said, taking a seat at the edge of Julie’s bed. “Look, I haven’t told Alex or Luke yet but, the kid we’re bringing in has been in Caleb’s care for two years.”
“So does that mean-”
“-Yeah, they probably knew him.”
Julie got up from the floor and sat beside her dad. She looked up at him with concerned eyes.
“Why haven’t you told them?” Julie asked.
“You know how Alex gets. He worries about the slightest things. And Luke will automatically jump to conclusions about who he thinks is moving in. I just don’t want to get their hopes up. Especially since-”
“-They’re worried about their old roommate,” Julie interrupts.
“Exactly, do me a favor and just keep an eye on them at school,” he said, patting her knee.
“Sure thing,” she said, smiling. “We don’t want Alex going into a panic attack on the first day of Christmas break. Speaking of which, when are we getting our tree?”
“I’m not sure yet, Mija,” he said, getting up from his daughter’s bed. “Let’s play it by ear and see how the new boy is adjusting. I think this will be his first real Christmas in at least two years, maybe longer.”
“Smart, don’t overwhelm the kid, anything else,” she said, making a mental checklist.
“Do you know where the snack basket is?”
“Luke hijacked it and put it in the studio last week when we were helping him study for his math midterm.”
“Thanks, Mija,” he said, leaving the room.
Ray walked back out to the studio to grab the basket when he overheard Luke and Alex having a conversation on the studio floor.
“I just hope he’s okay,” Luke said as he flopped down onto a pillow.
“Yeah, I know,” Alex said, staring at the floor. “It’s just not fair that we got out before him.”
“I wrote him a letter when I got back home,” Luke said, smiling. “I doubt Caleb gave it to him, but I was hopeful.”
Alex smiled at Luke and held his hand. They both laid in the studio in silence.
“Hey boys,” Ray said as he opened the door to the Studio. “Do you mind if I take the snack basket? I promise I’ll get a new one for out here.”
“Go for it,” Alex said as he got up and emptied the basket filled with nut-free snacks.
“Thanks,” Ray said, taking the basket from Alex. He lingered for a moment before turning to both boys. “You know you guys can talk to me about what happened at the group home, right? It wasn’t your fault.”
Alex nodded his head. He trusted Ray, but he didn’t want to think about his time there any more than he had to.
“Okay, well, it’s getting pretty late. Luke, you may want to get home before your parents get worried.”
Luke nodded his head and got up from the floor.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Alex,” he said, hugging him. “Goodnight, Mr. Molina.”
“Goodnight, Luke,” Ray said as Luke was walking out the door. “Why don’t you stop by on Saturday and say hi to our new placement. I think he would like that.”
“Sure thing,” he smiled before the boy headed towards his car.
Ray walked over and hugged Alex before ushering him out of the Studio and into the main house to get ready for bed.