LOVE FOR A CHILD

Okay, I have been working on this fic since December and it is still not technically done. I mean, really, my chapters had to be divided into chapters. This is that epic fic of epicness I've been mentioning sporadically over the months. It's set in 2011/2012, but it takes certain liberties (Maxie and Spinelli were never really together, Jason turned Sonny in during an FBI ambush, various other little stuff, too. Any questions, just ask, kay?) All in all, characters you recognize are not mine, but the new characters are mine. Enjoy!

-PART 1: Chapter 1/3-

November 23, 2011

The distant sound of a ringing cell phone invades the blissful state of half-sleep that Jason and Spinelli are enjoying. The younger's head is resting comfortably against Jason's shoulder, arms comfortably curled around him in such a way that it's almost as if his life depends on getting as much contact as he can without actually fusing them together.

"Ignore it." Spinelli demands, in a sleep thick voice that is mostly lost against his lover's skin.

Jason listens intently, deciding that the obnoxious noise is coming from Spinelli's phone and not his own. "It's yours." He murmurs, but Spinelli either doesn't hear him or doesn't care. As Spinelli's hurriedly discarded jeans are within Jason's reach on his side of the bed, he manages to retrieve the cell phone before it stops ringing. Given that Spinelli does not look at all inclined to answer it, Jason does it for him. The caller ID is telling him that the number is unknown, but he presses the Accept Call button and holds the device to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hello, I'm with Oakfield Memorial Hospital. Is this a, ugh, Damian Spinelli?" A woman's voice comes through the line.

"One second." He tells the unnamed voice, and he nudges Spinelli. "Hey, Spin, come on. It's for you. Some hospital in Tennessee." It should be obvious that the call is for Spinelli since it was his phone, but given that the only thing obvious to the younger man right now is sleep, he figures he should point it out just in case.

The word 'hospital' gets Spinelli's attention, though, and he ends up even more sprawled across Jason is his attempts to take the phone. "Hello?"

"Is this Damian Spinelli?" Jason can hear the same woman ask, only with slightly more impatience in her tone this time.

"Ugh, Affirmative." He answers, his fingers absently tracing patterns on Jason's bare chest.

"Would you be related to a Diana Spinelli, residing in Oakfield?" The woman asks, and Jason eyes his lover curiously. As much as Spinelli knows of Jason's life, the elder knows comparatively nothing of Spinelli's.

The finger's playing nonchalantly on his chest still, and Spinelli mutters out another acquiescent reply before asking, rather hesitantly, "Is she okay?"

"Ms. Spinelli has left the hospital against medical advice, and we are trying to track down her next of kin, who she informed us in her history, is you. Would you be willing to come to the hospital?" The still unidentified woman inquires.

Spinelli begins the rather complex task of untangling himself from his lover, as he presses the phone closer to his ear as if that will somehow make this conversation start making sense. "I… I don't understand. She left the hospital? Why was she admitted to the hospital?" He finally asks, as the realization pops into his mind. Jason's moving now as well, already off the bed and digging through their shared dresser.

"Heads up." He warns, before he tosses a pair of boxers and jeans to his lover. The clothes land harmlessly on the bed even as Jason rushes through getting dressed himself.

"She was brought into the ER last night when she went into labor."

Spinelli falters as he hops into his jeans and just barely catches himself on the bed. "What?" Granted that he and Diana haven't talked in… well, years, at this point, he'd like to think she would call him if something as big as this were to happen, but evidently, she doesn't share his opinions on the matter. "She… she… a baby?"

Jason's head snaps up, mostly because he has no idea who Diana Spinelli is, or how she's related to his Spinelli. "What's going on?" He mouths, but Spinelli looks rather like he's going to pass out, so Jason decides some intervention is required. Just as he reaches for the phone, though, Spinelli seems to return to reality. So he settles for offering Spinelli a t-shirt instead.

"Is she okay?" Spinelli asks again, which is at least a coherent sentence.

"She was supposed to be discharged tomorrow afternoon, but that's not what we want you to come in for. We need someone to discharge her baby to, or else we'll have to contact Child Services. She signed a release that lists you as an acceptable person to discharge the baby to."

Jason watches Spinelli as he drops the forgotten shirt. "She just left the baby there?" He asks, rather incredulous. "Why… I'll be there as soon as I can." He promises, and another long moment of exchanging information, the call is ended.

"Care to tell me what that was about?" Jason asks, as he tugs the t-shirt over an otherwise unresponsive Spinelli's head. While he did hear the majority of the conversation, he is still rather lost as to its context.

"We… The Jackal is needed in his humble hometown of Oakfield."

An hour later they're on the road to Oakfield. It's a long drive, and flying would have been faster, but convincing an insanely frantic Spinelli that waiting for the plane was the best decision had been easier said than done. In the end, they'd each packed a bag and climbed into the black SUV, Jason in the driver's seat, intending to drive the first leg of the trip.

"Who's Diana?" He asks, when they're well on their way. Neither has said a word since they've left, and Jason figures he should at least use the fifteen hour drive to learn something new about his lover's mysterious past. Spinelli doesn't answer, so his hand settles on the younger's, which gives him cause to look up.

"Oh, ugh, my sister."

Jason takes his eyes off the more or less vacant roads to stare pointedly at the younger man.

Spinelli shifts awkwardly in his seat, and this is obviously a topic he does not like discussing. "I… Diana is the Jackal's younger sister. She's 19, and the last time I checked she was in college, with a rather impressive 3.9 GPA."

"That… is impressive." Jason echoes. "You don't have any other siblings I don't know about, do you?"

A shake of the head answers his question, and he finally refocuses on the road. But, now it seems he's opened the can of worms that is Spinelli's past family life and the younger man regales him with tales of himself and Diana growing up. How he always hid in the tree house in the neighbors backyard with her when their parents were fighting, and how much she cried when their dad finally had enough and left. How their mom always picked fights with them over the tiniest things. And then, despite the fact that he is five years her senior, she ended up only 3 years behind him in school. But, aside from excelling at her education, pretty much every other aspect of her life hadn't been so good. She'd been known to make bad decisions about her friends, and ended up in a lot of jams. Once with the police, and he's still not sure how she got out of that mess, unless her boyfriend at the time, a cop's son, pulled some strings with his dad. She wrecked her first car the day she got it, but her loving brother took the blame because he didn't want her to get in trouble, and that's why his mother had shipped him off to live with his Granny. And sadly, he hasn't spoken to her since.

Jason just listens, because it's utterly bewildering that Spinelli has managed to hide all this away, especially from him, for so long; and also because he likes hearing Spinelli talk. About anything really, especially Jackal speak, as opposed to when they first met and all he really wanted to do was slap the kid upside the head with a dictionary in hopes of getting some of the fancy words out of his vocabulary. Spinelli eventually talks himself to sleep – a talent Jason didn't think anyone could possess - and he ends up snoozing softly against his shoulder for a good while.

However, he does have to wake the younger man sooner than he would like, because falling asleep at the wheel is not typically a good thing, so he pulls over at the next gas station he sees, and reluctantly rouses his lover for the second time. "Hey, wake up." He prods, looking at the digital clock on the dashboard. They've made good time. Only 9 hours to go now. "You have to drive for a bit, okay?"

"Mm. Kay." Spinelli says in answer, but just burrows closer to Jason instead of making any move to switch sides.

Jason laughs. "Come on, we'll run inside here and get some coffee or orange soda or something." He promises, and unbuckles his seatbelt. Spinelli only finally moves when Jason opens the door and gets out himself.

Once his personal pillow has vacated the car, and the engine clicks off, he climbs out as well, stretching as they walk side by side into the convenience store included in the gas station. He sends Spinelli off in the direction of soda and barbeque chips while he grabs a large coffee and a couple of lunch wraps to get them through the better part of the rest of their impromptu trip. They meet up again at the register where Jason pays for the food and the gas he intends to buy, and then they return to the SUV. Spinelli sits in the driver's seat, the door open as he watches Jason. "Why would she just leave the baby there, Stone Cold?" He asks, looking rather liked a kicked puppy.

But he doesn't really know how to answer that anymore than Spinelli does. So, he leans against the SUV as close as Spinelli as he can get, and runs a hand through his hair. "I don't know." He replies honestly. "But we'll figure it out when we get there, alright?"

Spinelli nods, just as the gas pump stops. Jason deals with it quickly enough and then takes his place in the passenger's seat, taking a long sip of his black coffee.

"When you wanna switch, just let me know." Jason tells him, and turns the GPS system back on. "And there won't be any moose's, I promise." He adds, as an afterthought, as Spinelli pulls away from the gas station.

Spinelli rolls his eyes at the jab and drives on, but at least it gives him something else to focus on as opposed to why his sister has abandoned her child.

They stop again when they're 4 hours out of Oakfield, Spinelli is as exhausted as Jason, who's been sleeping soundly for a good while, although he simply chose to recline his seat as opposed to sleeping on Spinelli. They've gone through all their food and Jason's coffee was gone not thirty minutes after he got it.

"Stone Cold." He says, quietly. And that's all it takes. Jason is a light sleeper at the best of times, in the car, it's even easier to wake him, even though the soft noise from the radio doesn't. He's stopped them at a small diner, and a gas station is just next door. It's nearly 4 in the afternoon and they both need the break from the car.

They're out of the car much quicker this time, and Jason easily catches the keys Spinelli throws at him. Luckily, the diner isn't crowded with a late lunch-early dinner rush yet, and they manage to grab seats quickly off in one abandoned corner of the place.

A waitress, her name tag reads 'Lisa', approaches them, looking about as bored as they do, and sets down some menus. "Coffee?" She asks, and receives a 'yes' from the muscular man in the black t-shirt, and a 'no, thanks' from his not so muscular friend. She smiles rather pointedly at Jason as she prances off to get him his caffeine.

But Jason has paid her no mind, and hastily flips through the menu, just to set it down again a moment later. "You gonna wanna go to the hospital first? Or see if your sister is at home… wherever that is."

Spinelli shrugs, and pretends to be intently inspecting his own abused menu until Jason's hand pulls it away. "I… I suppose the hospital. But-"

The waitress returns, pouring Jason a cup of freshly brewed coffee.

He nods in thanks, but watches Spinelli. "You ready to order?" He asks. And his lover nods.

Lisa looks a little put off by his lack of attention, but takes out her notepad nonetheless. "What'll it be?" She asks, pen at the ready.

They both order simple cheeseburger and fry meals - with an orange soda for Spinelli - and wait patiently for their food. Jason continues to ignore the fact that the waitress is apparently his new biggest fan, and nudges Spinelli's foot under the table. "You were saying?"

"Oh, ugh, right. If Diana doesn't… want to be found, what will happen to her baby?" Spinelli inquires, nervous eyes glancing across the table at Jason.

Jason has thought of that, and he already knows his answer. "Then we'll take the baby back with us." He answers, without much in the way of hesitation. He's rather glad that their food hasn't come yet, though, because if it had, Spinelli probably would have choked on it. "If that's what you want."

Spinelli only stares at him in something akin to total awe. "You… really?"

"Yeah, really." Jason answers. The only thing he did know about Spinelli's family prior to this were his feelings on Jason keeping Elizabeth and Jake out of his life. And, while this child is not his or Spinelli's, he doubts those feelings are limited to specific people. Now that he knows some of the secrets Spinelli had spoken of, he is even more determined to make sure nothing within his control makes those feelings of abandonment stronger.

The waitress returns after a few moments of companionable silence. "Thanks." They both say at the same time, and Jason still pays no attention to the girl. They eat their food in the same silence as before, all the while Jason occasionally nudging Spinelli under the table because it makes him smile. And they're ready to go in virtually no time at all. Spinelli orders a milkshake to go, and Jason stocks up on more coffee. They pay and head back to the SUV, making one last quick stop at the gas station to refuel before they head out again.

"Get some sleep." Jason instructs. "There any hotels in Oakfield?" He imagines there are, as there are typically hotels near hospitals.

"Yeah." Spinelli confirms, and locates one on the GPS before he rests his head against Jason's shoulder again.

Jason smiles. "I'll wake you when we get there, then."

Spinelli's eyes drift closed after about thirty minutes. And now they're sitting in rush hour traffic. Music is still playing softly, but Jason doesn't mind so much, because if they end up returning from this trip with a baby in the backseat, it's probably one of the last quiet moments they're going to get for a while. He wraps one arm around Spinelli's shoulder and drives on.

They arrive at 9:17pm. 15 hours and thirty-odd minutes after leaving. Not bad time, considering the traffic, or their stops. He finds the hotel Spinelli set the GPS to easily enough and manages to keep Spinelli sleeping as he runs into the main office to check in. He books a room with a queen bed, and pays upfront before returning to the car.

Then they drive to the hospital, Spinelli still sound asleep, but looking less exhausted.

"Spinelli." He finally says, when they're parked in the mostly empty visitor's lot. "Hey, we're here. Come on."

"The hotel?" Spinelli inquires, looking around with sleepy eyes. "That was fast."

Jason laughs. "Not really. But, come on. We're at the hospital." He ruffles his lover's hair before he undoes both their seatbelts, and is forced to climb out of the car again before Spinelli will budge.

It's chilly out, not as cold as New York had been when they'd left, but the night air, combined with the winter weather, makes Spinelli walk a little closer to Jason than he would otherwise, and the security guard who lets them in stares at them for a second longer than necessary. "Nursery?" Jason asks, because really, he has no idea where to go, and the signs around them aren't much help.

"Down that hall, to your left." The guard says, then returns his attention to the Sudoku puzzle book he'd been working on before they 'd interrupted.

They make quick progress down the hall, and make the turn. The doors to the 'Family Birthplace' are shut for the evening, but there's a buzzer on the wall. Jason depresses the button and a voice through an overhead speaker reaches their ears. "Who're you here to see?" The disembodied voice questions.

"Ugh, we're here about Diana Spinelli." He answers, and he's not quite sure if he's supposed to say anything else. There's a long pause, and the door clicks and opens automatically. The two proceed through it quickly and spot a nurse's station a few yards ahead.

A familiar voice calls to them. The woman from the phone, she looks a little surprised to see two people, but at least she guesses which one of them is Spinelli correctly. "Mr. Spinelli." She says. "I'm glad you could get here so fast." She eyes Jason warily.

"Sorry it took so long, though. We live in New York." Jason explains.

She nods, and opts to ignore the other man's presence. "So Mr. Spinelli said. I'm Emma, I was Diana's nurse for most of her stay here, and she left this behind when she took off," she produces a folded over note, and hands it to her ex-patients brother. "To give to you."

Spinelli looks to Jason, but Jason only unhelpfully shrugs. So he unfolds the note to reveal his sister's bubbly handwriting.

-----

Damian,

I can't do this. Don't try to find me. Just… Take care of her, okay?

– Diana.

-----

It's short and not all that sweet, a little bit heart-wrenching really, and he passes the note to his lover.

"Did… did she say anything about running away before she did?" Spinelli asks, eyes only focused on the ground.

Emma shakes her head. "No, she snuck out between shift changes. I'd just gotten back on." She explains.

"Can we see the baby?" Spinelli requests, and again the nurse eyes Jason suspiciously but she inevitably nods and leads the way down the hall toward a bunch of glass windows with drawn shades. Around the corner from that is a door that requires an access code, which Emma types in quickly. Another nurse looks up when they enter, and Emma steps aside."This is Ruby. Ruby, this is Diana's brother, Damian and ugh," She looks to Jason.

"Jason, my boyfriend." Spinelli answers automatically.

Emma stares at them for a moment. "Oh, um, that's nice." She says awkwardly, before she excuses herself, but when she does the other nurse gets their attention.

Ruby snorts, waving a dismissive hand at the now absent Emma. "Ignore her. You two are cute together." She grins, and looks through opposing windows, these with blinds up. She points toward one of the incubators in the middle of the room. "Baby Girl Spinelli here, she certainly is glad to see you."

"She doesn't have a name?" Jason inquires.

"Nope, her momma left before we had the chance to get her to fill out the birth certificate paperwork." Ruby says sadly, and offers them each a pair of scrubs to put on over their clothes and a pair of covers for their shoes. "Give me your jackets, wash your hands, put that stuff on and we can go in."

They follow her protocol to the letter and just a few minutes later they are allowed into the nursery. Ruby leads them to the incubator she'd been looking at previously, with 'Spinelli, Baby Girl' printed on the tag on the side, along with other information, too. And the number scrawled underneath the words matches the number on the tiny hospital band on the baby's ankle.

"And it looks like someone's conveniently awake." Ruby notes, when the infant starts kicking and squirming as she looks up at her admirers.

Spinelli turns into a giddy mess of insanity and clings to Jason's arm with a face splitting grin rapidly spreading across his features. He starts babbling in a quiet rush of Spinelli-speak, never taking his eyes off of his wriggling niece. "Ten fingers, Stone Cold," he squeaks out.

"She has ten toes, too," Ruby comments with an amused grin.

"Ten toes!" Spinelli repeats. "She has ten fingers and ten toes." Jason, to his credit, takes in the little person in front of him with more silent reverence.

"She's beautiful," Jason states simply, and Spinelli nearly gives himself whiplash nodding in agreement. Jason's settles his hand on the small of Spinelli's back. "Can he hold her?" He asks Ruby, because he doubts his lover will manage to get the words out. "If he calms down." He hints idly.

Spinelli stills nearly immediately and Ruby laughs and picks the silent and cooperative infant up. She shifts her to Spinelli, who, to his credit, has held babies before and therefore does know what he's doing. He cradles the beautiful baby girl carefully, supporting her head and neck, even as she reaches one hand out from the pink blanket she is slowly escaping from.

Jason stands behind his lover, looking over his shoulder as Spinelli slowly rocks back and forth, and he still has one hand still resting on Spinelli's back. He reaches his free arm around Spinelli's side to adjust the equally tiny pink hat on the baby's head and catches a glimpse of dark brown hair. "I'm sensing there's a very large shopping trip in the immediate future." Jason notes.

"When can she go home?" Spinelli asks. While he's still rather heartbroken over his somewhat irresponsible sister's abandonment, he's already fallen head over heels in love with the bundle in his arms.

"In the morning. She could go home now, but the hospital prefers that we don't discharge babies this late. It sounds like you two have some work to do in the morning anyway." Ruby explains. "And if you can think of a name, that would move things along, too. Since I assume you're not staying in town long?"

The younger shakes his head. "We're not staying long, and there are indeed some essentials we need to purchase before we can take the little one back to New York with us." He explains, even as he reluctantly sets the baby back in her incubator. "We'll be back in the morning, baby girl." He promises as he tickles her tummy.

Ruby leads the couple out of the nursery slowly, knowing they don't want to leave. "I'll have her ready to go at 11." She tells them, as she points to a bin for their hospital wear.

"We'll be here. Hopefully with a name." Jason assures her, and offers Spinelli his jacket as he pulls his own on.

"Thank you for your most caring assistance, Sanguine One." Spinelli smiles at Ruby. "It was most appreciated." He calls out as quietly as he can as he follows Jason out the door they came in and then subsequently down the hallways that lead back to the main entrance and the Sudoku obsessed security guard.

"What did that one mean?" Jason asks, rather used to the plethora of nicknames after having been with Spinelli for so long. He doesn't always get the reasoning behind them, though, so he usually ends up asking.

His lover doesn't answer until they're back in the SUV. "It means to be confidently optimistic and cheerful, and it is also synonymous with Ruby." He explains, as Jason begins the short trek back to the hotel.

Jason nods, that one makes sense. "Think we can come up with a name before tomorrow?"

Spinelli nods in the affirmative. "I might have a few proposable ideas, but we can think that through once we get to the hotel."

That doesn't take much time at all. They're in room 411, on the fourth floor, obviously. They park the SUV and grab their bags from the back and make their way to the elevator. And just a few moments later, they're collapsing onto the single queen mattress in the room.

"Do you think we should drive back?" Jason asks, once they've rested for a moment. Somehow 15 hours in a car with a two day old infant does not sound like a particularly good idea.

"Can we get the jet down here on such short notice?" Spinelli inquires. And it is a bit of a chance. Jason is rather picky with his pilots; he only trusts one of them. The only one he hired and not Sonny, and that man has a family of his own. He likes a little more notice than this. So he tacks that onto a mental list of things to do before 11am.

"I'll work on that." He says. "You, though. You need to start online shopping and express ship everything back to the Penthouse. We'll get what we need here in the morning before we go to get… her. And, yeah, we need to think of a name."

They set about their self-appointed tasks, Jason on his cell phone, making rather apologetic calls to his pilot buddy, and ultimately deciding that the 15 hour car ride was not, in fact, worth the poor guy missing his son's first little league game.

"We're driving." He informs Spinelli.

The computer hacker in question motions him over to where he is sitting on the bed with the laptop resting against his knees. "There…. There is an overwhelming amount of necessary supplies on here. None of which we have. How are we going to do this, Stone Cold?" Spinelli rambles, in a state of mild panic. "We don't have clothes, or diapers, or bottles, or milk, or a car seat, or anything."

Jason lies down beside him. "Relax." He whispers, an arm curling protectively around his lover. "Just order whatever we don't need right away and have it sent to New York. The stuff we do need for the trip home we'll worry about in the morning."

Spinelli does relax with Jason curled beside him. They can't go to sleep just yet, they need to get this stuff ordered, but it's nicer with Jason lying beside him pointing stuff out as he goes. His head rests against Spinelli's shoulder, which is a nice change, and by the time Spinelli presses the order button and dents Jason's bank account by what is probably a much smaller fraction than he thinks, they're both pretty exhausted.

It's only 1am or so, but they need the sleep. Jason's sets the alarm for 7, giving them enough time to shower and grab some breakfast before they head over to the local Babies R'Us store, which opens promptly at 8, or so says it's website.