“Do you know if she’s actually a little? Or even kinky? I know you met her because she was at the club but the guy she was with was clearly an abusive and controlling asshole who didn’t give a shit about her needs or wants or her humanity, for fuck’s sake. Who knows if she would’ve been there voluntarily.”
The thought made Hudson’s stomach churn like he’d just eaten one of Ian’s terrible burritos. Eric had a point. If Cosy wasn’t into kink, would it be damaging for her to live above a fetish club? To be cared for by people who were kinky as fuck themselves?
But first of all, consent was a huge fucking deal to him. He wasn’t going to do a damn thing without her okay. Of course not everyone who was into BDSM was awesome at communication and consent, but more of them were than vanilla people he knew. If she said stop, he’d fucking well stop.
Second, he remembered the first time he’d seen Cosy—how she’d been peering through the door to the nursery at Hive to see what the littles were doing, seeming as though she desperately wanted to get a closer look.
“From what I saw when she was at Hive, I think she’s at least interested in age play. And if she’s not, I’m not going to force her. That’d be gross. But you’ve seen how she responds to me—she just wants to be hugged and cuddled and protected. If it turns out when she’s recovered that she’s had enough of us, I swear we’ll let her go. I would never try to make her stay with us against her will.”
“I know.”
“Then you gotta let me try. She’s my responsibility and I just…” He wasn’t going to tell Eric he knew in his gut that Cosy was his. The good doctor might think that was kosher when people met at the club—hello Sable and Jethro—but he had on his MD hat on right now. Or stethoscope or whatever. “I think if it really freaked her out she wouldn’t want to see me, never mind come home with me."
“Okay,” Eric said slowly, clearly not sold.
What was it going to be? Hudson willed his heart to slow down before it cracked through his ribs and ruined this suit by bursting out of his chest. It was a grey houndstooth and it was his favorite.
Eric looked up at him, his arms folded across Cosy’s chart in front of his chest. “The committee approved your petition, mostly because Cosima’s not a minor and she’s shown no signs of being a danger to herself or others. She’s been very clear that she’d like to be discharged into your care and Clover City General isn’t interested in pursuing legal avenues to prevent that. Nora and I will continue to check in with her to make sure everything is okay. Cosima should be ready to be released tomorrow evening and you’ll be able to take her home so you better go get ready.”
Hudson felt like fireworks were going off in his brain. With like a parade and confetti and glitter and puppies and cupcakes and unicorns and everything good in the world. Cosy could come home tomorrow. She was coming home and he could keep her safe, hopefully make her happy.
“Thank you, Eric. I appreciate all your help, I really do.”
“Look, I know if anyone can handle her it’s you. I wasn’t trying to throw shade by being cautious. It’s just that I’m not sureanyonecan take her on. But you’ve got Ian, and Ryker. You’ve got me too, and all your friends. It takes a village, right?”
“Everyone needs a village sometimes,” he agreed, and Eric nodded, probably thinking about the same things he was: when Plum’s cafe had burned down and they’d gotten together with some folks from All Saints and Caffeinatrix staff to clear the lot; when Ian had provoked a guy into punching him so he could file an assault report instead of Sable having to do it; when Gunnar had called Eric to look over the girl who was now his wife after she’d been beat up by some boys at school. Yeah, they were always here for each other. And now they’d all be there for Cosy.
“Let’s go tell Cosima the good news,” Eric said, and Hudson used every ounce of control he had to keep from taking the stairs three at a time up to Cosy’s room. He couldn’t wait to tell her she was coming home.