The baby’s lungs and heart weren’t fully developed yet since she was more than a month premature, so it was fairly certain that she’d be here for a few weeks at least before she was released into foster care. Helena let us know that Social Services had been unable to find a relative willing to look after her, so she was going to be at the mercy of the system.

I really think she fell in love the second she saw her. It was kinda hard not to, she was all pink skin and chubby little cheeks and itty bitty feet. Alice visibly softened. I think if it were possible for a person to melt, she’d have done it. Instead, she just got all misty-eyed and leaned her forehead against the glass, looking down into the incubator at the tiny baby who was soon to become our daughter, completely unbeknownst to me at the time.

“What would it take to get approved to foster?” Alice asked. I was about to tell her that I had no idea when I realized the question had been directed at Helena.

She shot me a confused glance before turning back to Alice. “There’s a screening process, but seeing as she’s a baby it’s a bit simpler than it would be for an older child. Babies adapt easily to new surroundings, and as long as it can be ascertained that she’d be properly cared for I see no issues.”

“And you said she’ll be in here for awhile?” Alice asked, still looking at the baby.

“Well, yes, until she’s healthy enough to be released…” Helena said, trailing off at the end as she look at me with an obvious question in her eyes. I shrugged and spread my hands in a gesture of helplessness and touched Alice’s shoulder, motioning for her to follow me. I only walked a few feet away from Helena, who was looking into the incubator.

“Honey…what are you doing? Do you want to apply to foster her?” I asked.

Alice shrugged. “It’s not like, a plan or anything. I was just curious about what it would take to do that.”

“Oh,” I replied, not knowing what else to say. I gave it a few seconds’ thought and continued, “Well…she’ll need a place to stay. We have a lot of extra room that we don’t use anyway.”