the only exception

 "Can someone just tell me what's going on?" Phoebe asked impatiently as Hayley frowned and looked to Mrs. Murphy, urging her to continue before the teen had a full blown panic attack.

"Well, your mother has reached out and would like to meet with you." Mrs. Murphy stated plainly, a small smile on her lips.

For a second the words didn't really process, feeling far away and fuzzy. However, the moment they did, nausea stirred up inside her.

"She's not my mom." Phoebe spoke plainly, steeling herself to not let any real emotion show.

"Okay," Mrs. Murphy nodded slowly, "Your birth mother, Erin. She would like to meet."

Phoebe shook her head, "What does she want?"

"She'd just like a talk with you. We've been in communication with her for a few weeks now and have finally decided this week would be the perfect time seeing as you're out of school for the holidays." She explained, trying to offer a comforting smile to the teen, however it just looked condescending.

"This week?" Phoebe asked quickly, the feeling that she was going to be sick growing stronger by the second. She tore her eyes away from the social worker and looked over at Hayley and Taylor, "Do I have to?"

They both gave her sad smiles in return, Mrs. Murphy spoke up when neither of them did, "The goal of foster care is reunification, Phoebe."

"Well, where the hell was she for the past ten years? She didn't want reunification then, did she?" Phoebe snapped, crossing her arms.

Mrs. Murphy sighed, "Listen, I understand this may be hard for you. It's completely valid to be angry and upset with her, but she just wants you to hear her out. The meeting is set for Monday at 10AM."

"That's so soon, though." Phoebe mumbled, her tone switching from anger to clear fear.

"You have a few days to prepare." Mrs. Murphy assured her, standing up, "Erin is excited to see you again."

"I'll walk you out," Hayley spoke quietly, standing along with the social worker as they began towards the front door.

"You okay, kid?" Taylor asked quietly, just above a whisper, as Phoebe just stared ahead. The teen just shrugged in response, pushing up from the table as she heard the front door open.

"I need to find my shoes." She answered tightly before quickly clearing her throat and moving towards the living room to search for the boots. She moved around slowly, and wasn't shocked that a few moments later footsteps could be heard behind her.

"Are you okay?" Hayley asked slowly, sitting on the couch and watching as she teen moved around the room.

"I will be once I find my boots," Phoebe mumbled, pressing the heel of her palms into her eyes.

"They were on the front porch." The singer told her softly, and when Phoebe finally looked over at her, she saw the shoes by the couch. She remembered then, leaving them out there the previous day so she wouldn't track mud through the house.

"What time are we leaving?" Phoebe asked Taylor, moving towards the couch to sit by Hayley and put the shoes on.

"In about thirty minutes, I'll go and get ready." Taylor told her, slowly moving up towards the stairs.

"Are you okay?" Hayley asked again, watching as the teen slowly put on the shoes, a blank expression on her face. Phoebe just shrugged in response, not sure what to say.

Of course she wasn't okay, but she knew Hayley could tell, knew she didn't have to say it.

Once she got her shoes on, Phoebe let herself slump back on the couch, resting her head on Hayley's shoulder. Neither of them said anything, which Phoebe was grateful for. She didn't want to talk about it. Wasn't sure what she'd say even if she did.

The silence stretched until Taylor walked down the stairs, fully dressed and newly showered.

"Ready to go, kid?" He asked easily, earning a nod from the teen, both her and Hayley standing.

"Bye, Hayley." Phoebe mumbled, making her way to the garage.

"Bye, be safe. Make good choices." Hayley told her easily.

***

If her friends noticed how quiet she was, they didn't say anything. She went through the motions of the night, watching scary movies and feeling mostly like she was playing a part with every interaction she had.

The movie had freaked her out, but she didn't even feel like she could fully indulge in that fear seeing as she was distracted by something that seemed much scarier. The thought of seeing her birth mom again and getting taken away from Hayley and Taylor loomed over her head. Enough so that she ended up leaving a lot earlier than planned, insisting she was fine to take the bus, seeing as she didn't really wanna be around anyone right now, not even her friends.

The ride home wasn't much better. It was dark and cold and definitely didn't help diminish the slight anxiety she had from the horror movie, and once she saw the lights were off at home, sadness creeped back into her chest.

Her limbs felt heavy as she changed into some PJs before slowly making her way to Hayley and Taylors room. There was no light shining through the crack of the door, and Phoebe wondered if she should just go back to her room, but decided against it as she slightly peeled the door open a bit more.

It felt a little silly, tiptoeing into her moms room in the middle of the night because she'd gotten freaked out by a horror movie- amongst other things.

"Hayley?" She whispered, eyes squinted to try and adjust to the lack of light. There was no answer, so she opened the door a little bit more and stepped in, "Mom?"

Hayley stirred slightly, rolling over in the bed. Her words came out slightly slurred and pushed together, "Hey, baby, you okay? How was the movie?"

Phoebe shrugged, moving over to the bed and sitting beside it as she rested her chin against the mattress, "It was fine." She answered quietly.

"You okay?" Hayley asked, voice still thick with sleep as she brought a hand to smooth down the teens hair.

Phoebe shrugged. All the emotions that had been clouding her mind throughout the night felt duller through the exhaustion. "I'm scared," she admitted quietly. She meant it on two accounts, scared from the movie she'd watched and also scared of everything going on in her real life.

"I know," Hayley whispered, removing her hand from the teens head and instead scooting back, lifting the covers as an offering. Phoebe accepted it easily, climbing into the bed and hiding beneath them.

"Everythings gonna be okay," Hayley whispered after a moment, arm wrapped around Phoebe in a protective, yet comforting manner.

She wanted to argue, because she knows that no one knows how the whole mess will pan out. Knows that despite what she wants, or what Hayley, or Taylor wants, she could still be forced to go with Erin.

"I hope so." She whispers after a moment, eyes growing heavy.

"It will," Hayley insisted, "Now get some sleep."

Phoebe nodded, curling more into the singer and finally letting her stiffened muscles relax, "Night, love you."

"I love you too," Hayley mumbled, "More than you'll ever know."

***

a/n

yalls lucky day, im sick as hell which means no work for me today! which also means an update for each of my fics (sorry its taken so long</3)