Hey, I'm back with the new chapter! I hope no one's too mad about the wait, I just got caught up with school. You might know how hectic things can get. Well, without further ado, let's get this chapter started!
It had been almost a week since Linda and Tulio finalized their adoption of Fernando and the boy couldn't have been happier. At first, he had been blown away with how his new parents had celebrated it by letting him put up all sorts of posters he wanted up on his new bedroom walls and then filling him up with as much sausage, pancakes, fruit slices and juice he could take the each morning for the following two weeks. But he didn't dare try to complain, he was loving every moment of it, he had always dreamed of what it'd be like to have a real, loving family and he had every confidence that this was it.
Currently, Fernando was sitting cross-legged in the family-room playing Call of Duty on the Xbox One his dad got him as one of his house-warming presents. Now, Fernando was far from a violent person nor did he enjoy actual violence, but he was pleasantly surprised to find that the level of actual violence was generally limited in the copy his dad had gotten him to go with the Xbox One.
This was how Linda found him when she came upstairs after switching with one of her very few employees to bring him up a snack before he left with Tulio for Bring Your Kid to Work Day at the sanctuary. She frowned a little as she spied the open game case and knew exactly what he was playing.
"You know, sweetie," Linda said as she set the plate of peanut butter cookies on the table, frowning as she looked at the TV screen, "I'm still not sure this is such a good game for you to be playing."
"But Mom its not even that violent," Fernando said in protest, "This is one of the really earlier versions, so there's less weapons and the graphics aren't even that...well...graphic..." He couldn't stop snickering at his rather well thought pun, whilst Linda just rolled her eyes in amusement.
This was when Tulio happened to come walking in, finishing up with his tie, semi-loose and bright and loud as the rest of Rio, just like the rest of his clothes, yet still holding a somewhat professional air. "Actually, Linda, its the most harmless out of the trilogy, you should try it," Her husband suggested harmlessly as he snatched a cookie, followed by Fernando.
"Sorry, boys," Linda smirked a little despite the scene on the TV screen, "But I'm more of a Simmer than a Shooter."
"You never know, Mom," Fernando shrugged not seeing the smile that bloomed on Linda's face.
Even after two weeks, they still couldn't help feeling so darn happy every time Fernando called them mom or dad or some similar word. It had surprised them at first, with how quickly he had settled into the idea of them as his parents, but they didn't dwell on it for long.
"C'mon, son," Tulio chuckled, pausing to kiss Linda's cheek, "We don't want to be late for Bring Your Kid to Work Day."
"Kay, Dad," Fernando nodded saving his game and turning the console off, swiping another cookie, he hugged his mother goodbye, "Bye Mom, see you later."
Linda returned the hug with a smile and waved them off, "By sweetie, have fun!"
She then glanced back at the still open game case for a moment, before shaking her head as she snatched the last cookie off the plate with an eye roll, "Not a chance." Grabbing the plate, she then headed for the kitchen to place in by the sink before heading back down to resume her work.
While Linda alternated between caring for tidying their upstairs living space that was their home and working downstairs in her shop, Tulio and Fernando were quick to arrive at the sanctuary and upon entry were immediately greeted by the other workers. Tulio had made a bee-line for his office with Fernando right behind him, until Tulio asked him, "Do you mind feeding the birds, son? They seem to respond better to you."
Not at all put off by immediately being put to work, Fernando gave a bright smile as he nodded, "Sure thing, Dad!"
As Fernando walked away, Tulio smiled with a sense of pride at how well Fernando took to the sanctuary and went to work. Fernando waved to another of his father's employees as he reached the door of the special habitat for the birds so they could fly and live comfortably and picked up the bag of special bird feed. He quickly glanced around inside through the glass to see if anyone else was inside, before smiling widely with a mischievous glint in his eyes before heading in.
Almost immediately, he was swarmed by a bright flurry of color and feathers, dozens of voices chattering at once around him. Yep, instead of hearing shrill squawks, Fernando, for whatever reason he was unaware, heard the birds' real voices.
"Hey, Fernando!" The yellow canary, Nico, greeted cheerily, bottle cap-hat ever present on his head. "Buddy, whassup, give me wing, give me wing!" The cardinal, Pedro, greeted enthusiastically holding out his wing for a bro's hi-five, which Fernando gently obliged with, watching his strength.
"Fernando!" The voice of a certain male Blue Sphinx Macaw cried out and every bird quickly flew out of the way in time to avoid the blur that was Blu plowing right into Fernando, nearly knocking the poor boy over, almost immediately, Blu began firing off questions, "How's Linda? Is she still eating right? Is she getting enough sun? Is she still running the book shop here in Rio? Is sh-"
"Blu!" His female counterpart, Jewel, laughed pulling away carefully, "Breathe," Blu did as told, taking deep breathes as he managed to stay in the air, "There, better?" Blu just nodded, not trusting his voice at the moment.
"Sphinx Macaws," Nigel rolled his eyes at Blu's antics from his perch on a nearby branch. "So, Fernando, how are you enjoying your new nest?" Raphael smiled as he perched on the boy's shoulder, watching with a delight as he carefully fed each bird, watching how much he took out so each bird got an equal share.
"Its so amazing!" Fernando grinned having long given up trying to get the birds to use human terminology when conversing with him, he carefully scratched the top of Nigel's head as he gave the bird his share, making the Cockatoo smile despite himself, "Its just so...so warm and...safe...and I can't remember the last time I felt something like that!"
The thought made most of the present birds sad that a young chick was denied a safe, loving home for so long, but in the end they were glad he finally found it in Linda and Tulio. Even Nigel was smiling serenely as they listened to the boy prattle on about his new room.
Meanwhile, Linda had just closed for the day and had officially run out of things to do, having washed every last dirty dish that had piled up next to the sink, scrubbed and dusted every surface and even washed down the display window of the shop. Now, she was lying across the couch with nothing left to amuse herself.
At least, until her eyes landed on the controls of the Xbox and the still open game case. The headset that came with the actual game was sitting innocently on the table in front of her.
Sighing, she picked up the headset, "Why not?" Then proceeded to turn on the console.
Back at the sanctuary, Tulio had just finished most of his paperwork when he checked the digital clock on his desk for the time as Fernando started to walk in.
"Hey, son, why don't we go out and grab some lunch?" Tulio suggested as he turned in his seat to look out the window of his office, smiling at the cloudless sky, "Its such a nice day out and there's a place not too far."
Fernando smiled in response, "Sure, Dad, I'm starving anyway!" Tulio cringed a bit at the word 'starving', not that Fernando noticed, having his back turned. The older Brazilian male was immediately reminded of the doctors' reports, the police reports and the photo in the newspaper article that the social worker had shown them and once again felt burning rage towards the people responsible for putting Fernando in that situation, but quickly shook it off just as Fernando looked back at him.
Smiling sincerely, Tulio grabbed his coat and wallet, silently vowing that his son would never experience those sorts of pains again.
True to his word, the place Tulio had in mind for a quick, but filling lunch was just about a five minute drive from the sanctuary. Getting their food in record time, the father and son duo immediately launched into a random conversation about soccer.
"So, you think Brazil will beat the Americans?" Tulio questioned while eating his turkey sub. "Of course, Dad," Fernando nodded, eating his pizza sub, "Brazil is the number one team in soccer and I bet we go straight to the play-offs."
Back at the house, Linda was having a ball. She never expected to honestly to be enjoying the game as much as she was, but here she was, shooting enemies left and right with a wide grin on her face. And she was doing surprisingly good, in fact, she was leading an attack with some of the other online players once she figured out how the online playing worked.
"Man, you're good!" One random player told her. "Yeah, even I didn't get this far into the game yet!" Another agreed.
"Less talking, more shooting!" Linda replied completely focused on the game, even as she took a handful of potato chips, "Someone get that guy up there on the roof!" That said, she took the moment to eat the chips in hand and wash them down with a swig of ginger ale.
"By the way, are you a friend of Fernando or something?" The first player asked. "What?" Linda's face scrunched up with momentary confusion, before answering his question as she leaned back into the couch and propped her feet up on the coffee table, "No, I'm his mother!"
Evening was quick to come and the sanctuary was put under tight lock and key, more so than before due to Fernando's little involvement with the poachers' scheme to make money off Blu and Jewel. After saying goodbye to the security guard, they drove home in a relatively comfortable silence, which broke as they pulled up to the shop/house.
"I wonder what Mom's up too," Fernando mused as they got out of the car. "Probably finishing getting dinner ready," Tulio assumed as he unlocked the door, "Honey, we're home!" But when he didn't get a response as Fernando closed and re-locked the door, he narrowed his eyes, calling again, "Honey?" He looked at Fernando in confusion, but Fernando just shrugged.
But then Linda's voice shouted out from upstairs, "Yes! Now that's what I'm talking about!"
Sharing a look, they headed upstairs to the family room where they found Linda still playing Call of Duty with empty bags of various different chips and empty cans of various soda cans littered and cluttered around her, a wide grin on her other wise concentrated face.
"Hey, boys, did you have fun?" Linda asked eyes not leaving the screen. "Mom..." Fernando said slowly, blinking at the sight in front of him, "Have you been playing that game all day?"
"Yeah, can you believe it?" Linda answered without any hesitation, "You were right, sweetie, this game is loads of fun!"
"Looks like we're ordering pizza tonight," Tulio shrugged as he pulled out his cellphone, ready to dial a local pizzeria for their dinner. "No need, honey," Linda said without batting an eye, "I already ordered."
As if on cue, the door bell rang out, giving Fernando a mild fright.
"Fernando, sweetie, can you be mommy's little helper and get the door, please?" Linda asked never noticing him jump as Tulio gave him a comforting pat. "Um...sure, Mom," Fernando blinked quickly heading downstairs, no sooner did he open the door, he was greeted by the delivery guy.
"Hey, I got your two supreme all-dressed pizzas, two liters of soda and garlic dip," The teen said briefly finishing for the recite before demanding the price, "That'll be...thirty-two, thirty-five."
Fernando instantly turned and called, "Dad!"
"I got it," Tulio said as he came down, wallet in hand and paid the teen, adding a ten dollar tip for the trouble, he carried up the pizza, while Fernando carried the bag of soda, "Alright, lets eat...but first, Linda, honey, please stop playing the game."
"Not yet," Linda replied completely focused on the game, "I almost have the home base down."
"Um, Mom, I really don't think playing it all day is very healthy," Fernando spoke up in worry for his mom, "You might sprain your hands."
"Nonsense," Linda waved him off, "Hey, why don't you pick the extra controller and help mommy out?"
"Um, no thanks," Fernando shook his head nervously, cautiously backing into the dinning room, "I'm good." Linda just shrugged and continued playing the game as Tulio got an idea.
Leaning behind the TV, he spotted the extension cord they used to keep both the TV, the DVD player, the Xbox One and the speakers all plugged in at once. "Sorry, mi amor, but this is probably going to hurt me more than this is going to hurt you," Tulio mumbled carefully hitting the power button with his toe, causing the TV screen and the Xbox One to turn off.
"What? No!" Linda bemoaned in disbelieved-misery, "I was this close!" But she was comforted as her adopted son pulled her off the couch.
"Its alright, Mom, let's eat," Fernando smiled earning a little one in turn. "Alright," She admitted taking a seat, "I am a bit hungry."
Tulio grinned in response, "That's the spirit, mi armor!" Linda blushed a bit, having always had a weakness when he would compliment and call her his love in his native Spanish, smiling as she gave her hands a light shake to wake them up.
Fernando smiled widely as he finished putting the garlic dip on his first slice of pizza. Sure, they both had their quirks, but again, he wouldn't trade either of them for all the world.
This was his home.
And I'm done, yeesh that took longer than I honestly thought. Ah, well, better late then never, I guess.
Oh, to the one guy that did leave a review, as you can see, Blu and Jewel are going to be in the story, I'm honestly not going to be writing a new story in a fair while with all the ones I'm juggling now, but like I've stated before in other stories, I love the challenge, but this is my limit until I complete at least two or three.
Let me know what you guys think and be honest! Oh, and keep it to a respectable level, is all I ask in comments.
See you guys in the chapter!
