Family

Chapter 1

"Rachel?" Richard was your average loving husband. Tall, fit, strong, and very attentive. "Honey, I'm home." He wandered through their house, wondering where she was. The couple had just moved into the home and had just unpacked the last box the night before. Moving up to the second floor he made his way to their room.

"Rae? You awake?" She was curled in a ball in the middle of their california king bed. He sat down on the bed behind her and put a hand on her arm, rubbing small circles. She rolled over so she was facing him, a little white stick in her hands. He didn't need to ask what it was, he already knew.

She couldn't meet his gaze as she shook her head, laying the pregnancy test on the bed between them. "I'm sorry Richie…" They had been trying to get pregnant for months now but still hadn't had any luck. This was the fifth negative test in as many weeks.

Richard glanced across the room at the clock, it was still early enough. Looking back to his beautiful wife he took her hands and pulled her to her feet. "Go get dressed, we're going out."

She looked up at him sighing, "Do we have to? I'm not really up to going anywhere."

He smirked at her, running a hand through her long beautiful black hair. "Getting dressed or not is your choice, bit you do not have a choice about coming out with me." She sighed one more time before walking over to her closet and pulling on some clothes, throwing her pajamas on the chair to her makeup table.

Richard took her hand smiling and leaned down to give her a chaste kiss. They had been married just over a year and had been trying for over six months to start a family, but hadn't had any luck yet. He knew that it was upsetting her, and he hated it.

"Where are we going?" He smirked and squeezed her hand. "If I told you then it wouldn't be a surprise." She pouted, sticking out her bottom lip.

"I hate surprises." He knew she did, but he also knew that she would love this one. And he promised her that as they climbed into the car.

Twenty minutes later Richard parked the car in an empty parking lot. "Richie…where are we?" He smiled at her before motioning for her to get out of the car. She did so and moved over to where her husband was waiting for her a few feet away.

Once she was within his reach he looped his arm around her waist and led them down the street and around the corner. "Where are we going?" She asked again, whining quietly. He smiled down at her before gesturing to a doorway across the street.

It was too dark out for Rachel to see the sign, and there weren't any streetlights close enough. He knocked on the door three times, smiling when there was an eruption of noise on the other side of the door. She looked up at him, confused.

"Rich-" She stopped when the door in front of them opened up revealing part of a brightly lit hallway.

"Please, do come in. My names Kori by the way." A lady in her mid-forties opened the door, dressed in a simple t-shirt and jeans. She stepped out of the way glancing down the hallway where two little boys were sticking their heads out of a doorway. Once they realized they had been seen they ducked out of sight.

"Would you like to have a look around, go meet some of the kids?" Kori said, smiling at the couple.

"Why don't you go on ahead Rae, I'll be there in a minute." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before walking off with Kori. She watched him walk away, talking quietly with the older woman. When they rounded the corner she went looking around the house.

Walking past a doorway she glanced in to find a group of younger boys playing with cars on the floor. Looking into the next room she saw ten or twelve kids watching T.V. on their stomachs on the floor. Leaning in the doorway she noticed a little boy with a stuffed animal by himself in the corner. Slowly she made her way over to him, some of the kids looking at her and waving as she passed.

"Hi," She got down on her knees about a foot and a half away from him. He looked up at her with hazel eyes that complemented his caramel brown hair perfectly. He couldn't have been more than five or six years old.

He waved a little. "What's your name?"

"Cody." He said quietly. The teddy bear was sitting in his lap, and he picked it up and hugged it. "I like your bear. Does he have a name?"

Cody nodded slightly, gently petting the top of the teddy bears head. "Teddy…" Rachel smiled and laughed quietly. "Thats a good name."

Richard and the older woman stood in the doorway to the living room. He smiled as the little boy held the teddy bear out to his wife showing it to her. Looking at Kori, he wondered how she managed to take care of all these poor children. "I think she found someone…"

He nodded, agreeing with Kori. Walking over to the pair he put a hand on Rachels shoulder before getting down on one knee next to her. "Hey buddy, what's your name?"

Cody instantly pulled the teddy bear back against his chest, trying to hide his face.

"Cody?" He looked up when Kori called his name. "Come here," the child obeyed, looking at Richard uneasily as he went by him. "Rachel, do you want to bring Cody home with us? Even if it's only for a few days, see if maybe he'd like us to adopt him?"

Rachel tore her eyes off the little boy when she heard the word 'adopt'. Somehow the thought hadn't even crossed her mind. Getting off the floor they walked back over to the door and Rachel crouched down behind Cody, lightly putting a hand on his shoulder. "Cody, would you like to come home with us?" He nodded and slowly moved forward to give Rachel a hug. She wrapped her arms around the small boy, glancing up at Richard.

When Cody finally let go of Rachel he took her hand, pulling gently. Richard stood behind her and squeezed her shoulders, telling her to go with Cody while he started on the paperwork and she could come and add her signature after. He watched her get pulled by Cody upstairs to where he assumed the bedrooms were.

"Right this way Mr. Grayson and we'll take care of the paperwork." Kori said leading him to her office, rattling off a few things about Cody, confirming Rachels thoughts that he was five. She gave him a clipboard with a packet of papers to fill out. While he worked on the packet, Kori rifled through some filing cabinets, when she finally found what she was looking for she sat down at her desk with something in hand. Cody and Rachel came in a few moments later, him never letting go of her hand.

"Cody, how about you go ask Samantha to help you get your things together, and wait on the bench when you're done, alright?" He nodded before leaving the office, looking over his shoulder at Rachel only once before disappearing from view.

"He doesn't talk much does he?" Rachel mused, still looking at the door he had shut behind him.

"No, he's one of the quietest kids here. He doesn't have that many friends either. He's been here close to two years now, and doesn't have that much that he really cares about." Richard glanced up from the papers, "Except for that bear?" Kori nodded. "He is inseparable from that old toy, it means the world to him."

"Hmm," Richard mused passing the clipboard to Rachel so she could sign as well. "Sounds like you when you were little Rae. Didn't you tell me you use to carry around a stuffed raven?" She fought back a blush while nodding, skimming the pages as she signed and initialed when needed, handing the packet back to Kori when she had finished.

"And I thought you might like to see this," Kori slid a photograph across the desk for the couple to look at. It was of Cody with his parents, his mother looking surprisingly a lot like Rachel. They were all silent for a moment before Kori spoke up again asking, "Do you have a car seat for him?"

Rachel shook her head and took Richards hand. She still couldn't believe they were doing this. Kori walked over to a closet and pulled out a blue booster seat. Reaching forward Richard grabbed it with his free hand before turning towards the door. Walking out of the office they found Cody sitting on a bench with his arms wrapped around an older girls waist, her own arm draped over his shoulders. He looked up as the group of adults walked towards him. "Will I see you again?" Cody asked, looking up at Samantha.

She smiled down at him. "I'm sure these nice people will let you come back and visit if you want to."

"Are you ready Cody?" Rachel asked as she picked up his suitcase with his few clothes and tooth brush and tooth paste in it. He nodded slowly as she offered him a hand. Samantha gave him an encouraging nudge. He looked up to Rachel nervously, "Can I see Sammy again?" He pointed to the girl sitting on the bench, his bear still in hand.

"Of course you can Cody, you can come visit whenever you want." Richard promised with a smile. Cody moved and took Rachels hand, putting her between himself and Richard.

Later that night Rachel had tucked Cody into bed in her and Richards room. He whispered a quiet goodnight as she turned off the light and cracked the door on her way out. She went downstairs to the living room where her husband was watching football on their flat screen T.V. Standing behind the couch Rachel slid her hands over his shoulders, he turned slightly and easily pulled her over the back of the couch so she was sitting in his lap.

"Is Cody asleep?" She nodded leaning against his chest as he laid them down. "I promised him earlier that I would sleep with him." Richard nodded wrapping an arm over her stomach and tracing light circles along her ribs as she closed her eyes.

"I'll sleep out here on the couch." Her eyes instantly snapped open. Pushing herself up on one arm she frowned at him. "Why? I'm pretty sure that bed is big enough for the three of us." He shook his head, resting his forehead on hers briefly. "I don't think it's a good idea. Cody hasn't really warmed up to me like he has with you." Her frown deepened, her bottom lip sticking out.

Richard smiled at her. "I'll be fine. We can go out and get him a bed and stuff tomorrow, set up one of the empty rooms for him." His smile grew tenfold when he saw her eyes light up with excitement. He glanced at the clock, realizing it was after eleven already. Sitting up, he quickly scooped her up in his arms and started towards their room. "Now if my memory serves me, I believe kids have a tendency to get up early. So I believe you should be getting to sleep."

Gingerly he put her feet back on the floor once he had reached the door to their room. With her arms looped around his neck, she reached up on her tip toes and gave him a soft kiss, murmuring against his lips, "I love you Richie." Pulling away from her tempting lips he smiled. "I love you too Rachel." Giving her one last quick kiss, he went back downstairs to his couch for the night.

With a smile still gracing her lips, Rachel silently went into the bedroom and slid between the blankets. Just as she was getting comfortable Cody rolled towards her, wrapping her arm around him she let herself drift off.