I invite the agent into my home, fearing what this woman will say when she reports back to her superior. This family is not exactly picture perfect at the moment...

"This is Tilly, she is six years old." I smile, lifting the small child. Tilly cries over her broken Barbie doll. The dolls head rests in Mason's hand. "And that is Mason. He's eight." I glare at the boy, hoping he gets the message to behave himself. "Summer!" I shout at the bottom of the stairs. "Summer, please come downstairs."

Summer comes hounding down the stairs. "Ugh, a new mommy? Isn't two enough?!?" She groans and runs back up the stairs.

I laugh awkwardly as the woman takes notes. "She's only 10. And she's going through a phase. Everything she says has so much emotion! Haha." My smile quickly fades away when I see she is clearly not liking what she is seeing. "Okay. Anyways." I continue through the house

Peter grabs an Apple from the kitchen "Another stray?" Peter asks, biting into the apple.

"Be nice!" Brandon smacks Peter's arm.

"What? She's already got her hands full with all of us and a baby on the way." Peter tries to keep quiet.

"Peter that was a secret!" I groan.

Peter shrugs. "You and Tyler need to learn to be quieter if you are going to talk about secret things then."

Maria continues adding notes to her collection. With the way my family is acting, she sure has a lot of notes to add.

"Well, who is she then?" Peter asks, still wanting to know who the new woman is.

"Peter," I try to laugh my anger away. "That's Peter. As you can see he is quite the shit-stirrer." I grinds my teeth. "He just turned 18. And that's his boyfriend. He doesn't live here."

"I mean he basically does."

"Peter! Not now!" I loose my temper.

"Is that all of the children?" Maria asks, clearing the frustration from the air.

I sigh and quickly collect herself. "Yes. That is all of the children. As you can see I've got it under control. You just came at a bad ti-"

"And the other adults?" Maria asks.

"What?"

"You said there are 'three adults' in the house. Where are they?" She quotes me from earlier in our conversation.

"They are currently on bed rest." I whisper, hoping I would be able to keep that a secret.

"Bed rest? So they are unable to care for the children?" Maria clarifies.

I nod. "Well not at the moment. But they are great with the kids. You see, my husband and I-"

"Listen, I understand you are tying your best to care for these children but from what I've seen, I have no choice but to -"

I cut her off. "Please! Please you can't take them. They are fine with me right here. They have all been through enough. Please don't take them from their home too. They need me." I begin begging the woman to show us some mercy.

"Avery?" Peter asks through her desperate pleads with Maria. "What is happening?" Peter suddenly realized how serious this situation is.

"I will be back in no more than a half hour to retrieve the children. If you do not cooperate, you will be arrested and charged with child endangerment. I will have two officers with me to assist. I will see you all when I return." Maria hands me a piece of paper detailing what I should be doing while she is preparing to take the children.

"Please don't do this. Please give me another chance. Please!" I beg, ready to get down on my hands and knees if it will convince this woman to be kind to us.

"I understand what you are going through right now but I'm afraid I can not leave any of these children in your care any longer. I would not be doing my job." Maria makes her way to the front door to leave.

"Is your job to take innocent children away from their families?!" I shout and run through the door to chase her.

"My job is to protect children, Mrs lock. And from what I've seen today, they need all the help they can get."

Author's note: what do you guys think? Will Avery figure out a way to get out of this new mess she's found herself in? Or will the children be taken from her forever?