Today was Mattie's first day to go back to school after spending some time with his baby brother and sister. He had actually been a big help too. It seemed that with two babies, someone always needed feeding or a diaper change, or both. Mattie was good about picking up their signals. He also enjoyed holding a bottle at feeding time. And when one or the other of the twins got cranky, Mattie was great entertainment. While Mattie loved his baby sister and lavished attention on her, he was especially attentive to David. It was if he understood his brother's every need.

Since Gil already knew ASL, the ENT had reccommended that whenever Gil spoke to David, he use sign language too. That way, David would begin to understand the signs, just as a hearing child grew to understand words. Mattie watched and imitated and was soon picking up the signs himself. It became a game in the family to learn a new sign or word everyday. Gil was still frustrated and upset that David was hearing impaired and blamed himself. But being able to do something to help his son seemed to help him.

Jim had volunteered to take Mattie to school since he was just getting off work. That way, neither Gil or Catherine had to get dressed and leave the other alone with the twins. One baby had been a challenge when Mattie was born. They were finding two a bit overwhelming. The decision had been made to hire help, but so far the right person had not applied for the position. Jim had selfish motives for volunteering the taxi service. He had become fascinated with Mattie's teacher. The woman irked him at times, almost goading him it seemed. It had started with their exchange the first time Jim had picked Mattie up from school. She was never rude,but she never quite gave into the Brass charm either. Trying several appraoches to win her over, she'd seen through every one. He always had the distinct feeling that she was laughing at him. He wanted to ask her out but didn't know how to go about it. How do you go about asking out your unofficial nephew's teacher, he wondered.

She was no raving beauty but she was attractive. And she was very different than most of the women he had ever been involved with. At times he thought she might be flirting with him a little, but it was never obvious enough for him to be sure. She had a joking, happy attitude about her anyway and it was hard to tell how much of her humor was just her being her and how much was her trying to flirt with him. So Jim intended to be Mattie's taxi at every opportunity until he could figure this out.

As he stood inside the door, waiting for Mattie to come downstairs, Catherine was thanking him for the help. "No problem," he said. "It kinda gives me a chance to flirt with his teacher anyway."

""Wait...Jim? You are flirting with Mrs. Troy?"

"He shrugged. "Kind of...she's...fun...I mean, well..." A pink hue was crawling up his collar and into his face.

"Why don't you just ask her out?"

"I, um...thought about it. But I can't tell what she thinks about me. So...I'll just keep on like this for awhile longer. We'll see what happens."

Cahterine laughed at him. "Okay...I won't give you up. But Jim, ask her out."

Unknown to them, Mattie had been around the corner and heard the conversation. He looked at his Uncle Jim during the ride to school. He'd heard Lindsey talking to her friends about boys and knew sometimes older boys and girls like each other as special friends, kind of the way Mommy and Daddy liked each other. It seemed strange to the little guy, however, that his Uncle Jim would like girls like that. But Uncle Jim thought Mrs. Troy was fun. Mattie thought she was fun too. He liked the idea of Uncle Jim and Mrs. Troy being friends. Maybe if they became special friends they might get married like Mommy and Daddy. Mattie gave the situation a lot of thought all through the morning.

He had watched as Jim walked him to class. Jim had looked around for Mrs.Troy and Mattie could tell that he wanted to talk to her real bad. She had been busy , though, with other parents and had only had a chance to say hello to Uncle Jim. He'd told Mattie good bye and that he'd see him later. Mattie thought maybe he looked a little sad when he left.

After telling his friends about his new babies, Mattie began his lessons. He practiced his reading lessons and Mrs. Troy showed him a new lesson about numbers. He couldn't wait to tell his Daddy that he held a thousand in his hands. Mattie had always thought a thousand must be a really big number but after holding the cube in his hands, he wasn't so impressed; although it was much bigger than one. After that he decided he wanted to paint. Standing at the easel, he carefully made his picture. First he painted one lone figure. Ms. Simmons, the assisatant teacher, watched and wondered who it was. Mattie had painted straight dark hair, so she knew it wasn't his father. Mattie painted a car off to the right of his picture.Ms. Simmons thought it might be a police car; it had bubble lights on it. Then several stick figures appeared around the car. Their faces looked happy. One had curly hair and one had reddish hair, so she thought they must be Mattie's parents. Finally, he painted another person, closer to the first one. Actually, very close.

As Ms. Simmons watched the figure develop, she thought it looked a lot like Mrs. Troy. Same hair color and the clothes were the same colors as what Mrs. Troy wore today. Mattie continued his work. The original figure, a man thought Ms. Simmons, was smiling. The last figure, Mrs. Troy, was smiling also and looking at the man. Once he was finished, Mattie hung his picture on the line to dry and cleaned up the easel. He hung his apron on the hanger and went in search of another lesson. Ms. Simmons continued to study his picture. That's definaltely Mrs. Troy, she decided. But who's the man?

During outdoor time, Mattie stood beside his teacher. "Mrs. Troy?"

"Yes, Mattie."

"Do you have a special friend?"

Mrs. Troy looked at Mattie oddly. "A special friend? I have many friends and they are all special."

"Yeah, but...you know, one that is more special...my sister Lindsey has special friends sometimes. Dad always chases them away. He says none of those boys are good enough. Does your Daddy chase away the boys that aren't good enough?"

She began to chuckle. "No, not anymore. Daddy's do that until they think their girls are old enough to decide for themselves if the boy is good enough."

"So you can pick your own special friend?"

Mrs. Troy was confused by Mattie's train of thought; also a little concerned. "I suppose I could, if I was looking for a special friend. Are you talking about boyfriends here, Mattie?"

"Yeah...I think so. Is that what people are before they get married like Mommy and Daddy?"

She smiled. "Yes...usually. But I'm a little too old to be a 'girfriend,' Mattie and I'm certainly not interested in boys. If I were looking, I'd be looking for a grown up man...he'd probably have grey hair."

"Oh." Mattie thought deeply on her response.

"You seem disappointed Mattie."

"Well...I was just thinking..."

"What were you thinking?"

"My Uncle Jim...he doesn't have grey hair; he doesn't have much hair at all."

A little shocked at Mattie's revelation, Mrs. Troy stood quietly for a few minutes. Then, "Are you hoping that your Uncle Jim and I can be special friends, Mattie?"

His face brightened. "Yeah...and he hopes so too. He told my Mommy that he's been trying to flirt with you but you won't flirt back. At least he doesn't think you are flirting back, but he's not sure. But he wants you to flirt real bad, I can tell. He was sad this morning when you didn't talk to him." Mattie stopped for a second and then another thought popped into his head. "What's flirting?"

Still trying to fathom Mattie's information about Mr. Brass, Mrs. Troy had to think about his question. "I'm not sure that I can explain it , Mattie. When two people think they might like to be special friends, as you call it, but they aren't sure... sometimes they talk and look at each other in, well...different ways. It's a way to let the other person know that you are interested in them but you don't have to say it. It's very complicated, actually. Something you'll understand better as you get older."

"Oh..." Mattie wandered off to give some thought to her information. He had seen his Mommy and Daddy talking and looking at each other in special ways...they had understood what the other one meant but Mattie hadn't. Maybe that was flirting too. But they were already special friends. Being all grown up seemed like hard work to Mattie; so much to understand.

Gil had taken Mattie to school the rest of the week. As much as Mattie enjoyed having some alone time with Daddy because with the twins there wasn't much of that anymore, Mattie was disappointed that Uncle Jim didn't take him. He wanted Uncle Jim to have a chance to flirt with Mrs. Troy. That weekend Mattie asked his mother, "Mommy, can Uncle Jim take me to school again soon?"

"Sure Mattie. But I thought you liked it when Daddy takes you?"

"I do...but I haven't seen Uncle Jim all week. Besides, I think Mrs. Troy misses him too."

Catherine looked at her son, her mouth slighly open. What makes him think that? she thought to herself. "Why would Mrs. Troy miss Jim, Mattie?"

"I don't know...but I think she does. She looked sad when Daddy brought me to class the rest of the week."

Then Catherine had an idea. "Look Mattie, why don't we call Uncle Jim and ask him if he can take you. I'll dial and you can talk, okay?"

Mattie smiled at her suggestion. She dialed the phone and handed it to Mattie. "Hi Uncle Jim. It's me...Mattie. Mommy said I can ask you if you can take me to school on Monday.That's day after tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah...I like it when Daddy takes me. But I haven't seen you for a long time."

"You will? Okay..." Mattie held up the phone to his mother. "He wants to talk to you."

Jim and Catherine talked briefly, confirming that his services really were needed. Catherine decided not to tell Jim about Mattie's revelation about Mrs. Troy. Mattie seemed to be doing a decent job of matchmaking on his own; he didn't need her help.

On Monday, Mattie noticed that Mrs.Troy smiled when she saw Uncle Jim. She even came over and talked to him a little. Mattie found excuses why Uncle Jim needed to take him to school almost every day. Mrs. Troy seemed happier and happier. So did Uncle Jim. Finally Mattie asked Uncle Jim in the car one morning, "Is Mrs.Troy a special friend?"

"What? I guess she is, Mattie. She is a special person in your life."

"No, I don't mean for me. For you ,Uncle Jim."

"Me? "

"Yeah...you know, like a girlfriend...only I guess she would be a ladyfriend since she's all grown up."

"Ah...why would you ask that, Mattie?"

"I heard you telling Mommy that you like her and she seems to like you...She was sad when you didn't bring me to school. And she's always smiling when you do. So I thought you were special friends."

"Oh." Jim's mind was racing. She was sad...and she's happy to see me? Maybe...no, Mattie's just...but she did smile real big yesterday.When they arrived at school, Jim walked Mattie down the hall to his classroom. Mattie took his time in saying good bye to Uncle Jim, hoping that Mrs. Troy would come over. Another Daddy was talking to her though and even though she kept looking over at them, she never made it over. Finally Mattie gave up and told Jim good bye. He turned and started backdown the hall when he heard his name.

"Mr. Brass?"

Jim turned to see who was calling to him. It was Mrs. Troy. As she walked towards him , he felt his heart skip a beat. He swallowed, trying to rein in his nerves, hoping he wouldn't make an idiot of himself. Finally she stood in front of him.

"Ah...I was wondering if ...well, perhaps you'd like to get a cup of coffee, or something, one afternoon?"

Astonished, Jim grinned shyly. "Ah...coffee...yeah, sure. I mean, I'd really like that. Ah...how about this afternoon?"

Her smile was warm and genuine. "That would be great. I get off at 3:00. Does that work for you?"

His eyes lit up making his whole face seem bright. "Perfect. So..you...ah, want me to meet you here?"

"Yes..if you don't mind?"

Well, then...I'll see you at three."

Yes, Mr.Brass...three."

"Ah since we're having coffee and all...well, my name's Jim."

She extended her hand to shake, which he took in his. He held it a little longer than necessary as she spoke. "I'm Linda."

Still holding her hand,he smiled."Good then, I'll see you at three, Linda."

She nodded and he released her hand. Both turned and went their seperate ways. Once he was in this car, he called Catherine.

"Hey, it's me. Mattie's all delivered. And ah...I asked, well...no more like she asked me to go for coffee."

You did? You asked Linda Troy out? That's wonderful Jim.

Well...she actually asked me. I wonder what changed her attitude towards me?"

I think Mattie had something to do with it. I think he's been doing some hinting.

"Hinting? You mean he knows how I feel about her? How did that happen?"

It's Mattie, Jim. Why would you think he didn't know?

So if things go well, I'll have Mattie the Matchmaker to thank, right?

That's our boy, laughed Catherine.

Jim showed up at the Grissom's on Saturday morning. He had something special for Mattie. He had seem Mattie checking out the Hot Wheels parking garage at the store a few weeks back and knew that he would like it. Mattie was excited to get the unexpected gift.

"So what's this all about, Jim?" asked Catherine.

"Well, you remember that I said if things went well I'd have Mattie to than?. Things went very well. In fact, we've seen each other every evening this week and tonight I'm taking her to a really nice restaurant for dinner. So I thought I'd get the little guy a present...you know, as a thank you."

"It really wan't necessary. Mattie has been very excited that you two are becoming special friends, as he calls it. He had given us updates every afternoon after he gets home. Seems once the ball got rolling, you're making all the right moves...at least according to Mattie."

"Gonna have to watch that kid, Catherine. He's a real schemer. Linda told me what he did to get her attention. Even gave me a picture he painted as a hint, we think. Anyway, I have it at my office.

Just then Mattie came bouncing over to Jim. He wrapped his arms around the detective's leg and squeezed. "Thanks, Uncle Jim. The Hot Wheels is cool."

Jim chuckled. "Thank you, Mattie. Mrs. Troy is pretty cool too."

"So you are special friends now?"

"Yeah, I think we are..."

Mattie grinned. "Cool." he ran back to his new toy, happy that he got a special friend for his Uncle Jim.

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Hope you enjoyed this lighter Mattie story. The last one was pretty heavy. The little button is to the left. I write according to what it seems people want to read, so if you still like Mattie...gotta let me know.