Disclaimer: The Characters of Due South belong to Alliance
Communications; characters from The Commish, ER and Touched By An Angel belong to their respective creators. The song title Arms of the Angel belongs to Sarah MacLachlan. No copyright infringement is intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: there is a Commish character named Stan in this story.
Ray is the original Ray Vecchio. Arms of the Angel
Arms of the Angel
by Canada3dayer
PROLOGUE
Eastbridge, New York, February
The six of them stood by the bus at the Eastbridge bus depot. "Mr Schraeger's gonna see to it that the three of you get to Schenectady safely," Detective Paulie Pentangeli told the three boys waiting to board the bus. "I'll give you a call tonight, OK?" He bent down to tie the youngest boy, eight year old Kevin's, scarf around his neck. As he did, Kevin and Jake wrapped themselves around the surprised detective. He hugged back just as hard, only now realizing just how much he would miss the three boys he had known for only a few short days. "It's gonna be fine; I promise you." Standing up, Paulie hugged Michael, at 16 the oldest of the three Collier boys and the one who had started it all when Paulie and Commissioner Tony Scali arrested him for robbing a drug store - both for money to live on and cough syrup for the middle boy, ten year old Jake, who was sick. Paulie had taken in the three boys temporarily, but now Child Services was taking custody and sending them to a halfway house in Schenectady until they could be placed in foster care. Mikey was worried that the three of them would be separated - and it did seem inevitable.
"OK, fellas, c'mon - let's go," Schraeger said. Kevin and Jake picked up their little bags and the four of them moved towards the door of the waiting bus. Tony patted Paulie on the back, wordlessly reassuring his friend that he was doing the right thing for the boys. After all, Paulie would be a single parent with no really set hours of work - hardly a stable home environment for three street kids whose mother was dead and whose father had deserted them six years ago.
"Tony, I don't care if it's right or not - I can't let 'em go. Maybe I'll fall flat on my face, but I'm gonna try to keep those kids together. Maybe Child Services here can find a family that'll take the three of them. Hell, maybe I'll keep 'em myself."
"You? Paulie, you don't know anything about being a parent! You said so yourself!"
"Hey, I don't remember Sarah and David coming with an instruction book! Besides, I can always call you and Rachel, right?"
"You know you can, pal. Are you sure you wanna do this?"
"As sure as I've ever been about anything. Hey, Schraeger - hold up a minute...."
The bus pulled out of the depot - minus three boys. Tony, Paulie, Mikey, Jake and Kevin all headed back towards Paulie's car. "It's only until we can find a home that'll take all three of you," Paulie was saying.
"You're the only one that'll take all three of us," Mikey replied.
"So you're gonna be our Daddy now," cried Kevin from his vantage point on Paulie's shoulders.
Paulie looked over at Tony. "Well, we'll see. C'mon."
