Their Instant Family

Chapter One - My Defenses Hit The Ground And They Shatter All Around

A small thirteen year old boy carried an even smaller nine year old into the emergency room. He ignored the pain in his own body as he carried his unconscious little brother to help. It wasn't as though anyone else would do it. Truthfully, he shouldn't be able to carry his brother. He guessed it must be adrenaline, he'd had enough experience with that in his young life to not question it anymore. Once his brother was safely in the building, he allowed himself to sink to the floor, still holding the smaller child as he called for help.

The thirteen year old quickly glanced up at his father. He hoped it wasn't as obvious to everyone else as it was to him that the man was drunk. He closed his eyes and tried to gather all his strength. Not only were his father's cover stories even more strange when he was drunk, but his acting skills were greatly inhibited. That meant he had to do the job for two people. He was going to need that acting talent his mom used to say he had.

A pretty brown-haired nurse came running to him. She looked nice and she reminded him a little bit of his mother. Maybe this wouldn't be as hard as he thought. "What happened?" the first nurse asked him as others ran to help. He took a deep breath. "He fell down the stairs. It was so scary! Is he ok?" he asked. He could do this, it wasn't all even lies. It was scary and technically, his brother had fallen down the stairs. He'd just had some help doing so. There was also the little fact that not all of the injuries came from that. He closed his eyes for a moment to clear his head. This wasn't anything he couldn't handle, it wasn't as if he hadn't been doing this kind of thing for seven years.

Spinelli almost felt like laughing. His wife was definitely in her element. To his surprise, when he had gotten up the courage to mention foster parenting to her she had readily agreed. Now, a little over a year after their marriage they were about to take in foster children. He had been very nervous in the beginning when after revealing his past he had been sent to a psychologist. Luckily, it didn't take long before he was basically declared sane. Now, after all the classes and home studies they were finally preparing for the first children to be placed with them. That meant Maxie was decorating.

She was very busy setting up a neutral bedroom that with a few changes she swore could easily be made into a boys room or a girls room. Those "few changes" were already bought and stored in closets. For the most part he had stayed out of her way as she went on a shopping expedition to put most others to shame. Now he was busy putting endless furniture together while she dictated where to put it. Michael had come over to help with this part when he realized just how much Maxie had bought.

He felt a small pang of sadness as he watched his brother walk over to hand him the tools he had asked for. Michael had never gotten over the weakness in his legs and slight limp like they had hoped he would. Michael would never again be the athletic little boy he had once been. No, that had been stolen from him by a stray bullet meant for their father. Michael had been left with the loss of some control in his left leg and an inability to be on his feet for extended periods of time without said leg giving out. But the young teen took it all in stride, as he always had everything else. Sometimes Spinelli thought Michael might be to strong for his own good, because he wasn't to sure all that bravery was real.

Maxie had just stepped out of the room to answer the door and she poked her head in to let the two brother's know that the pizza was here. She felt the same pang of sadness as her husband had a few moments ago as she watched Michael awkwardly run to the kitchen. She was reminded of her own words from almost two years ago, "It seems wrong that someone so little would have to suffer like this.". It had never stopped feeling wrong, because it was. But Michael was an inspiration, nothing could ever bring him down for long. He proved more and more each day how much he had deserved the honor of having Michaela named after him. She knew there were a lot of other little ones suffering like Michael, her husband and so many others had. It was why foster parenting had become so important to her. If she was able to help those children, she certainly was going to.

As his brother was lifted onto a gurney that same nice looking nurse locked eyes the thirteen year old. "We're going to take care him. Is he your brother?" she gently asked. The boy simple nodded and then held his breath as the nurse turned to his father. "Are you their father?" she questioned, obviously annoyed with his lack of concern. The young teen prayed that she wouldn't be able to smell the beer on his fathers breath, or notice any other signs of the mans drunkenness. It wouldn't matter who messed up, any suspicion about anything would inevitably be his fault. He breathed a small sigh of relief when his father gave a simple "Yes." and managed not to slur it.

After that, his father calmly went to sit in the waiting room. He watched the face of the nurse trying to decide if he should begin covering for his father or if saying something would only make things worse. As she was begining to look rather annoying, he decided to speak up. "He's just worried. He gets like this when he's upset, kinda quite and likes to be alone." he said while pushing the thought that he was lying through his teeth to the back of his mind. The nurse gave him a smile, "Can you tell me your brother's name, sweetie?" she asked. "Benny." the boy replied as he tried to smile back.

She smiled again, "What about your name?". The boy shot a quick glance at his father before replying "Kyle ... Kyle Archer.". They watched as Benny was wheeled off before the woman spoke again. "Well, hello Kyle. My name is Elizabeth." she said. There was silence between the two as she looked him over. Kyle quickly checked himself over as inconspicuously as possible, hoping there wasn't any blood showing through his clothes as he was suddenly worried about his own appearance. Now that the adrenaline was fading the pain was coming back all to quickly and he didn't have much hope that there were no obvious injuries. His father was never careful when he was drunk.

Elizabeth looked worried. "What happened to you, Kyle?" she asked as she took in the visible injuries to the older boy. 'Oh, great!' Kyle thought. He really wanted this nurse to go away as quickly as possible as he wasn't sure how much longer he could stand on his ankle. "I got in a fight. Benny was upstairs and he tried to run down when he saw I was hurt, but he fell." he explained. He'd have to make sure his father knew this more detailed version soon. The nurse took in the still heavily bleeding cut on the boys face and the other injurys before commenting, "Must have been some fight!". Kyle nodded, "An older guy. Real easy to tick off." he replied, wincing internally at the amount of truth in that statement.

Elizabeth nodded in sympathy. "Well, looks like that cut is going to need some stitches. Why don't you come with me?" she said. The boy fought down a wave of panic. "No! I'm ok. Just take care of Benny, please!" he said a little to fast. The nurse knelt in front of the child. "Kyle, that's a really bad cut. It needs to be looked at and we have more then enough doctors and nurses here to take care of you and your brother." she said reassuringly. Kyle closed his eyes for a moment to think it through. Coming to the conclusion that if he fought her on this it would only look more suspicious, he nodded.

He walked over to his father, fighting with all his might not to limp. "Dad, um, the nurse wants to look at the cut I got in that fight. I'll be back soon. I'm so sorry Benny got hurt because of me. I didn't know he'd run down the stairs like that." he said, alerting his father to the addtion to their story. His father gave him a drunken glare that didn't go unnoticed by the nurse before waving him off. The boy sighed. His father certainly was not making this any easier. He went back over to the nurse, who to a combination of his embarrasment and relief insisted that he sit in a wheelchair.

Spinelli was perfectly content as he sat at the table with his wife and little brother. He didn't think he would ever get to the point where he took family for granted. The simple miracle that was his life would never lose it's specialness. Once he would have laughed if he had been told he was lucky, now he would happily agree. He might not have always been that way, but he certainly was now. And he wanted to be able to share that feeling with children who were in the same position he had been when he was a child. Foster parenting was something he knew he had to do.

They talked pleasantly about anything and everything, although Spinelli made a mental note of the fact that more and more Michael was avoiding talking about school. The little boy did happily discuss a writing project though and so Spinelli assumed that he was simply upset about not being able to be involved in sports like he used to be. They began to trade stories of the last times that had seen Michaela and how cute she was. Michael was determined to have her able to carry on full conversations by the time she turned two and thus spent as much of his free time with her as he did his siblings. Of course, everyone spent as much time with Michaela as they could. Spinelli and Maxie adored their little niece, as that was what they had decided she was, though she was technically not even related to Maxie.

They discussed the fact that Spinelli and Maxie would soon be foster parents and Michael laughed when they pointed out that if they ended up adopting a child, he could end up with a niece or nephew as little as a year younger then him. As always, discussion of children soon turned to Morgan and Kristina. Kristina had gotten a part in a school play and was driving everyone crazy to help her practice, though they usually didn't really mind. Morgan had decided to play little league baseball this year and Michael helped him practice as much as he was able to. Spinelli and Maxie were amazed that he showed no bitterness over the fact that his brother was able to play the sports he had once loved.

Once they finished with supper, Jax came to pick Michael up and Spinelli and Maxie went to put the finishing touches on the room. Somehow that project resulted in a pillow fight which ended with them both laying on the floor and laughing. After straighting up the mess they made, they headed into the living room. As Maxie fliped through the channels on the TV Spinelli kissed her on the cheek. She laughed before kissing him back and they snuggled together on the couch knowing they were as ready as possible for the phone call they could get any minute about a foster child.

The small teenager sat on a hospital bed nervously starring at a blank wall as the nurse cleaned the cut on his head. "The doctor's here, Kyle." Elizabeth said as she finished wiping the blood of the child's face. She waved the woman in. "She's gonna patch you up and I'll go check on your brother, ok?" she asked. Kyle gave a small nod and the nurse left the room. The doctor walked over to him and smiled. "Hello, Kyle! My name is Dr. Robin Scorpio-Drake. Let's see how bad that cut is." she told him.

As the young doctor fixed the cut on the childs face she took note of the same injuries that Elizabeth had. Injuries that didn't look to have come from a simple fight. Before she could say anything to the child another nurse walked in and whispered something to her. Her face showed vivid anger for a second before she turned back to the child. Smiling again at the child in an attempt to make him more comfortable, she began speaking calmly and gently. "Can you take your shirt off for me for just a minute? I need to make sure you didn't break any ribs in that fight." she asked, trying to keep any hint of disbelief in his story out of her words.

The boy took in a sharp breath and then worked quickly to hide his panic. "No, ma'am. I'm fine. Really. It's just the cut and a couple bruises." he said much to fast to be believed. Robin smiled again, continuing to play along. "I know it's annoying, but I just need to make sure you're ok. It won't take long just to check." she said with yet another smiled. Kyle's brain went into overdrive. 'If I take off my shirt she'll see ... that's what the other nurse told her! Dad had his belt off when Benny ... oh, no!' he thought. Thoughts ran frantically through his mind before he finally came to what seemed like the only thing left to do.

He slowly lifted his shirt off, being careful of his left arm which was suddenly hurting an awful lot. He winced as he peeled the shirt off the wounds on his back, both in pain and in the realization that blood had been visible. He heard the quiet gasp that the doctor tried to mask when she saw the now visible wounds. He continued starring at the wall. He could feel the injuries, he didn't need to see them as well. He closed his eyes as he spoke in a voice almost to quite to be a whisper, "Please help us.".

Author's Note: Well, there you have it. The first chapter of the His Secret Past chapter! Hopefully, the other chapter will all be close to this size. Who knows, some may even be bigger! I really, really hope you guys like it! Please let me know what you think.

*Song lyric used in title is from Lindsey Haun's "Broken".