The Good Life.

The sound of an irritating beep made me slip back into consciousness. My eyes fluttered open, causing me to wince when I found a bright light shining on me. I looked at my surroundings. I was in a bed with tubes coming out of my arm. A groan escaped my lips.

Great. I'm in a hospital.

I wasn't exactly sure how I got here. The last thing I remember was being on the porch of Allison's house, Brian showed up, and then Adam showed up.

Adam.

Oh no. He's going to take me back to the foster home. Those fuckers will be able to adopt me now. My heart beat started to quicken as I eyed the tubes on my arm. I had to get out of here. The beeping started to get really loud and fast. Just as I was about to rip the tubes out of my arm, a nurse came rushing in, "Whoa.. Sweetie! You can't take that out!"

I shook my head, "No! I have to get out of here!"

"Listen, just a deep breath and relax! Your family is waiting in the waiting room. I can go get them if you want?"

My family?

Great they were already here.

I shook my head, feeling the anxiety consume me, "No," I shouted, "I don't want to see them, ever!"

She adjusted the tubes on my arm, "Oh, they seem like nice people. We had to put them in a private waiting room because people were starting to recognize them."

I got really confused by this, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, sweetie. Please don't tell me you have amnesia. Your Dad said you didn't hit your head and there was no signs of trauma-"

I cut her off, "My Dad? My real Dad is here?" I asked, trying not to get my hopes up.

She smiled, "Well, of course he is! He's the one who called the ambulance! All of his friends or should I say, 'band mates' are here as well. You have a lot people that care about you, Eden."

I could feel my anxiety slowly starting to slip away, "Could you send him in here?"

"Sure, I'll be right back."

Brian is here, so that must mean he didn't sign the adoption papers. Or maybe he just wanted to make sure I was okay before he signed them.

The door opened and Brian walked over to my bed, "Hey. How are you feeling?"

"I feel light headed. What happened? Why are you here? Is Adam still here?" I started to freak myself out.

Brian sat on the bed and took a hold of my hand, "Shh.. Relax. The nurse said if you don't calm down, she's going to have to sedate you."

Just by him holding my hand, seemed to help me relax, "Can you tell me what's going on then? How did I even end up in here?"

He sighed, "You fainted. They said it was the lack of food and sleep in your body. They want to keep you overnight before they let you go."

"I knew I should have slept on the plane.." I muttered to myself.

Brian was about to speak again, but a lady walked in, "I'm glad to see you're awake, Eden!"

I frowned, "Who are you?"

"Cindy, can this wait? She just woke up!" Brian got a little tense at this.

She sent a smile in my direction, "I'm Cindy. The social worker that's been assigned to your case. I would really like to talk you right now. The faster we do this, the faster you get to go home."

Home?

I tugged on Brian's hand, "It's fine. I can talk to her."

He looked down at me to give me a fake smile which confused me. "I just want you to know one thing. I care about you a lot! You're my daughter and only you can make the decision. Just make sure it's the right one, okay?" His voice broke off, like he was scared.

I was still confused, but I nodded, "Okay."

Brian kissed the top of my head and walked out of the room. Cindy took a seat in the chair next to me. I looked at her, wanting answers, "What did he mean by decision? What kind of decision do I have to make?"

She smiled, "I'll just put everything out on the table. So it looks like you've been trying to get emancipated, huh?"

"Yeah, I wanted to get out of the foster care system." I watched as she flipped through some papers on her lap.

She looked up at me, "You do realize that you have to be sixteen years of age to be emancipated in the state of California, right?"

I shook my head, "No, Mr. Jay told me-"

She cut me off, "I'm sorry, Eden. He lied to you."

Mr. Jay lied to me? He's the only person I was close to since I was born. Why would he lie to me?

Cindy continued on, "So with that being said, your mother signed her parental rights over, but your father has not. He's letting you decide this."

"Decide what?"

She smiled again, "Adam said that the Becker's want to adopt you. You have history with them. It says that they fostered you the longest out of anyone."

The anxiety was back.

Cindy shuffled the papers into a pile before looking up at me, "The Becker's can't adopt you unless Brian signs his rights over."

I was shocked. This was the first time that I ever had a say in this and Brian was the one I had to thank for it. He told me to make the right decision, but I wasn't sure what that was.

"What if he doesn't sign his rights over?"

She sighed, "Well, then the Becker's won't be able to adopt you and you would go home with Brian."

My eyes widened, "What? Why wouldn't I just get shipped back to the foster care?"

"Brian won't allow that. He said that if you don't want to go with the Becker's then he would take you home."

I rubbed my hands together, "Well, what if I just want to go back to the foster care? I'll wait till I'm sixteen and get emancipated."

She sighed, "Sweetie, emancipation is tougher than you think. You would have to go to trial in front of judge. You would have to prove that you can take care of yourself and being in a hospital right now doesn't really help your case."

This angered me, "Can I talk to Brian about this before I chose?"

Cindy smiled, "Of course, but if you want my advice, I would go with the Becker's! They seem like nice people and you have history with them!"

"Nice?" I scoffed, "Right."

She chose to ignore my comment and exited the room. I didn't know what to do. My heart is telling me to go with Brian, but my brain is telling me to go with them. I really want to live with Brian. He's my father and this would be my chance to get to know him, but he's a famous rock star and his wife hates my guts. I'm not sure if I could live myself if I ever damaged their marriage. The Becker's did horrible things to me and it will probably get worse if I went with them, but I rather myself get hurt than anyone else.

Brian walked in, but lingered by the door, "Hey, before you make a choice, there's someone that wants to talk to you." I frowned, not sure who it could be.

He opened the door again and Michelle walked in. My eye brows knitted up in confusion, "Michelle?"

She gave me a smile, like a real one, "Hi Eden. Do you think we could talk alone for a minute?"

I looked at Brian who gave a nod and a smile. I did the same, "Sure." Brian left the room and Michelle stood by the door, like she was afraid to come closer.

"You can come closer, ya know? I'm not contagious, I swear." I said, trying to lighten the mood.

Michelle laughed while walking to the foot of my bed, "You're funny. You get that from your Dad."

A smile formed on my lips, but stopped once I realized she was being nice, "So did you realize I'm not some crazed fan?"

She started to play with her fingers, "Eden, I'm so sorry-"

I cut her off by putting my hand in the air, "Michelle, you don't have to apologize."

"No, Eden. I really do. I was just angry with my husband and I took it out on you. I'm sorry, I should have never said those hateful things to you." She said while giving me a sad smile.

I adjusted myself on the bed, "Why were you angry with Brian? I was the one that fucked everything up."

Michelle took a seat at the edge of the bed, "Aw, honey. You did nothing wrong. You were just trying to find your Father."

"Do you have two personalities? I'm pretty sure you hated my guts, so why are you being nice to me?" I asked, not fully understanding what was going on here.

She took a deep breath, "Eden, I don't hate you. It was never about you, I was mad at Brian."

"Why were you mad at him?"

Michelle ran a hand through her hair, "When Brian and I got married, he told me that he didn't want kids and I didn't think I did either until my sister had one. I love being an Aunt, but seeing how Val and Matt are so happy with River made me change my mind. The past few weeks I've been pestering Brian about having a baby and he kept shutting me down. Then you showed up our door step and he automatically accepted you with open arms. I just didn't understand-"

"How he could take me in when he won't even have a kid with you. Wow, I'm sorry I really fucked everything up, didn't I?" I asked, starting to regret everything I did.

Michelle shook her head, "No, honey, you didn't. It was just a bad time, that's all. Brian and I talked everything over and we want you to live with us. It's like you were a blessing in disguise. I think you deserve the chance at a normal life. I know Brian and I don't have much experience, but we're willing to learn."

This stunned me, I could barely breathe, "You want to be my m-mother?" I asked.

Michelle smiled, "I would be honored to be your mother, but there's no pressure. We can start off as friends."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. No one ever wanted me, "I don't have a good past." I said, wanting her to know what she was getting herself into.

She moved closer to me to grab my hand, "Let us give you a good future, then."

The water works flowed without warning and Michelle on instinct pulled me into her arms. I cried on her shoulder, but it was a good cry. I was happy.

Brian walked back in with a smile on his face, "Everything okay?"

I let go of Michelle and she wiped the tears off of my cheeks with her fingers causing me to smile.

Michelle got off the bed to wrap her arms around Brian's side. Brian kissed her on the lips and smiled at me, waiting for an answer.

Since I was a kid, I imagined what my parents would be like and what it would be like to have parents that care about me. They were exactly what I imagined them to be like. I knew my decision wasn't the smartest one, but I couldn't give up this opportunity.

I took a deep breath before saying, "So when can we go home?"