Ethan's tutoring business was in full swing. It had started to get busy with school starting soon, but Ethan hoped it would slow down. He was almost working Lex's crazy hours. That's why hours free meant everything. Hannah had her dentist appointment and Ethan was there, spending precious moments with her. Hannah leaned into Ethan in the waiting room.

"What's shaking, Banana? Is everything okay?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah. I've barely had any time with you and Lex. I've missed you guys," she said. Ethan offered a tight hug.

"You can always say something and I can say no to clients," he said.

"As much as I'd appreciate that, you deserve this," she responded as an assistant appeared from the hallway.

"Hannah Foster?" Hannah stood up solemnly with Ethan by her side. "Hi, you're going to be coming with me right now."

Ethan put a hand on Hannah's shoulder and they walked together to the back of the dentist's office. It was very crowded, especially with school starting soon.

An hour later, Hannah and Ethan returned home. Lex was still working, and Ethan was figuring out a tutoring schedule for the school year. He wouldn't have all day available anymore, so he would have to turn back some clients that were there more than once a week. Put a limit before there was a steady schedule and then maybe, maybe, he could add a bit more.

When Lex returned from work at about 6:15, Ethan looked up from his work. "Hey, babe, how was your day?" He asked her.

"It was normal. But I have a question for you."

"Shoot."

"So some dogs were found and they want fosters before the next adoption event so they can get homes. Can we foster one?" Lex asked as she let Bailey off of her leash.

"What breed are they?" Ethan asked, locking the front door.

"Chihuahua," Lex replied.

"And when's the next event?"

"Saturday. It would be two days and then we find fosters or forever homes," she explained.

"We can do that. And if you need to keep Bailey home or something, we can take care of her. We start school next week," he said.

"That would be great. I'm going to bring one home tomorrow and we'll go from there," Lex smiled, heading into the kitchen to hug Hannah.

"I heard something about fostering a dog," Hannah said, hugging Lex.

"It's a two-day foster, Banana. But how was the dentist?" Lex asked in return.

"No cavities, and no mention of braces!" Ethan cut in proudly.

"And I got a new toothbrush and toothpaste," Hannah added. Lex grinned at both of them.

"I just love you guys so much," she said.

The next day, Lex came home with Bailey and a new, smaller dog. Before Lex could even lock the door, Hannah raced in. "Hey, Banana."

"Hi, Lexi. What's its name?" Hannah asked.

"This is Carole. She's about eight years old and we're going to be taking care of her until Saturday, when she'll most likely find a foster family or a forever home," Lex explained to Hannah.

The adoption event came quicker than anyone in the Foster/Green household could have expected. Despite what little time they had spent with Carole, they still formed a close bond with her. Hannah and Ethan were out and about as Lex waited at the adoption event. Lots of people came, but they were hesitant about Carole and preferred the other dogs. As much as Lex felt her heart break, she was secretly a little happy. Carole could be hers.

"Hi, who's this?" A familiar voice said. Lex looked up to see Emma and Paul.

"Hi! This is Carole. She's about eight years old," Lex said, hugging the couple. She picked up Carole. "What brought you guys here?"

"Well, we've been thinking about fostering for a while, debating when and we decided that there was no time like the present. Ethan may've also mentioned you were here today and the end gets boring," Emma smiled.

Lex grinned. "Well, what were you thinking?"

"I think I might actually want to foster this angel. She's like Diane, who is being very chill right now," Emma said. Paul nodded in agreement.

"Well, how about you spend about ten minutes with her and I can call for the paperwork if you're sure you want to foster," Lex said.

"That sounds good." Paul smiled and took Carole from Lex's arms. She smiled and called Lydia.

"What's up?" Lydia asked.

"I found people that want to foster Carole. Can you bring the paperwork, please?" Lex asked.

"I'll be right there to take care of the transaction," Lydia said, hanging up. Within the next minute, she came towards Lex's station, clutching a clipboard.

"Hi, Lydia. Paul, Emma, this is Lydia and she will lead you through all the transactions and stuff now," Lex explained.

About half an hour later, Emma was holding her new temporary child. Lex smiled from her station, a little ways away. "Lex, you can go now. We found homes—whether temporary or forever for all of them. Good job today," Lydia said, "I'll sign you out."

"Thank you so much! I'll see you Monday!" Lex exclaimed, grabbing her phone and wallet and heading off. When she was about to call Ethan, Paul called her attention.

"Heading home?" Paul asked Lex. She nodded. "Let us give you a ride. No protests."

"Thank you," Lex said, sliding into the backseat. Emma sat in the passenger seat, while Paul drove.

"Lex, how did Bailey respond when Carole came?" Emma asked, twisting around to face Lex.

"She was so excited. It was weird, but I hope Bailey's okay when I return with no Carole," Lex responded, "Diane might be different, though."

"You read my exact thoughts," Emma replied with a smile.

"Lex, do I turn on Sycamore or Pine?" Paul asked, coming to a total stop at the red light on Sequoia.

"Pine. Mom went to Hatchetfield High and she won't live anywhere near Sycamore," Lex replied.

"Pine is only the next street down, you know that. Right?" Paul asked, his eyes scanning the road signs.

"Yeah. That was the only non-Sycamore house she and Dad could afford," she said, looking out the window before a thought dawned on her. "Wait, didn't you go to Sycamore?"

"Well," Paul started to speak before Emma eagerly interrupted.

"He was a fucking Timberwolf!" Emma exclaimed. Paul reddened slightly.

"I think I'm the only person in Hatchetfield to go to Sycamore. All my classmates moved out, except for Bill," Paul said, turning on the turn signal and carefully turning onto Pine.

"But that gives you the chance to start anew," Lex said as Paul pulled into her driveway. Her seatbelt hissed as it retracted. "Thank you so much for the ride. Have fun with Carole."

"No problem! I hope we get to see you soon!" Emma exclaimed out of the window. Lex gave them a wave before unlocking the front door. When she looked back, Paul's car had pulled onto the road. Only when she entered did it leave.

"Good morning, Lex!" Hannah exclaimed from the kitchen.

"How long have you been up, Banana?" Lex asked.

"Three and a half hours about," Hannah replied.

"What're you doing up so early? And I presume Ethan has gone back to sleep already?" Lex asked Hannah, who nodded. "I'll go wake him up. Do you want me to make breakfast or lunch?"

"I already ate. Ethan hasn't," Hannah replied. Lex gave a thumbs-up as she headed upstairs to wake up Ethan. Bailey, having discovered Lex back home, followed suit. When both of the girls arrived to Ethan's room, Lex gestured for Bailey to jump onto the bed.

Ethan groaned as Bailey covered Ethan's face with kisses. "Good morning," Lex smiled as Bailey jumped onto the ground and lay down.

"Do I have to get up now?"

"Yes. I started a new pot of coffee just for you," Lex said, sitting on Ethan's bed. She grabbed his arms and helped him get in a seated position.

"How did it go with Carole?"

"She has a foster family."

"I'm grateful we got to have proper goodbyes."

"The family is Diane, Emma, and Paul," Lex said as Ethan shoved his glasses onto his face. He looked at Lex.

"Really?"

"Well, they mentioned you spoke to them."

"I just thought they would just talk, not foster Carole!"

"I'm not mad. Come on, coffee's gonna get cold and we need to get your body clock used to waking up earlier. You work there. That means no sleeping in until eleven," Lex responded softly.

"But it's hard," Ethan complained, leaning into his girlfriend.

"I know. But I know you can do it."

The next Wednesday, it was Hannah and Ethan's first day of school. "I hate that you made me wake up this early," Ethan groaned.

"I'm sure you want to stay employed. I mean, look at Hannah. She's the real champ," Lex said. Hannah smiled with pride.

"She's still young."

"You're not that old," Hannah said. "You're like Lex, both young high school dropouts working full-time."

"Okay, come on, one picture and then I'll drive you guys," Lex said, pushing Ethan and Hannah close to each other with Bailey obediently sitting in the middle. "I got it. Okay, everyone in the car, I don't want you guys to be late!"

After the entire household slid into the car and buckled in, Lex started on the drive to the school. It was silent due to the nerves. Five songs later, they had all arrived at the school. "Have fun! I'll do my very best to be back here on time!" Lex exclaimed, as she made sure both Hannah and Ethan entered the building safely.

"Wait up a few seconds, Banana, I just have to sign in and I'll walk you to class," Ethan said. Hannah nodded with a smile while he went inside the room and signed in. When he was about to leave, the school principal entered. He was a short man with a balding head and a white mustache.

"Ethan, I'm so sorry to spring this on you on such a short notice, but Avery's sick and you need to take over today," he said. Ethan was in shock.

"Teach the class? Like everything?" Ethan asked.

"Don't worry, Avery sent you an email with everything that you need to do today. Don't worry and please don't bring up your lack of a diploma," the principal said. Ethan nodded numbly and walked Hannah to class.

"I'll get you from here later, Banana," Ethan said, making sure Hannah was safe and inside before he headed to his classroom. Luckily, no one had showed up, so Ethan flicked the light switch on. The room was flooded in light as he peered around. Not much had changed from when he left the classroom in May, except that the walls were bare, save for a few motivational posters. Once he gathered his bearings, Ethan dropped his backpack behind the teacher's desk and started the computer. It whirred softly as the logo showed up.

After reading Avery's extremely detailed email, Ethan went around the desks and set up place markers for the students. He placed the last one down as the door opened. "Hi, is this Ms. Johnson's class?" The mother of a child had opened the door.

"Yes, come on in. Unfortunately, Ms. Johnson is under the weather, so I'm going to be teaching today. You can call me Mr. Green if you'd like or just Ethan," he said, "What's your name?"

The kid spoke shyly. He was young with a clumsy mop of black hair. "My name's Harry," he said.

"Hi, Harry, it's nice to meet you. Let me show you where your cubby is and then I'll lead you to your desk," Ethan said, leading the small boy to a cubby and then to a clean desk.

"I'm Angela, by the way," the mother said, sitting in an empty chair by Harry's desk, "Pleasure to meet you. If you don't mind me asking, how old are you and what's your level of education?"

"I'm nineteen and I'm currently taking a gap year. I TA-ed a bit last year and here I am. I do a lot of math tutoring on the side, too," Ethan said.

"So, you don't have a college diploma?" Angela asked in disbelief.

"Not yet. However, Avery has trusted me to teach a lot of the harder math topics," Ethan said, the door opening to reveal another student.

WC: 2093

Hi, all! I hope you found that little easter egg at the end of this chapter. Can you believe there are only three chapters left? That's crazy! Also, I don't know if anyone's seen Joey's instagram post about the proposal puzzle, but it's my favorite thing. Have an awesome week!

--Luna :D