Chapter 7
Thanks once again to Soar for all her help. Any left over mistakes are completely my own. Thanks also to JuliaAurelia and Sinead-Conlan for their feedback.
Disclaimer: No money is being made from this.
1979 - Two weeks later.
This was it. Today was the day that Mary and John were going to find out whether or not they were approved as foster parents. They'd submitted all the paperwork, gone through all the interviews and visits that examined every inch of their lives, and it had left the Winchesters feeling like they had been put under a microscope. Mary didn't care, though. It would be worth anything to have Dean.
Mary was feeling more nervous than she'd ever been in her life as she stood in front of the mirror and finished pulling her hair back into a ponytail. The meeting with Dean's social worker was in about 45 minutes. This had to go well because she had to go to work immediately afterward and she wanted to be able to tell Dean the good news. Her little boy was getting stronger each day, but he still had a long way to go and he had been through so much already. She couldn't bear to disappoint him.
She realized that she really needed to stop doing that. It seemed lately, that every time she thought of Dean, she thought of him as hers. Right now, she had no legal right to him and there was still so much that could go wrong. Stop it Mary, she told herself. You can't think like that either.
"Mary, you ready?" John came up behind her.
"As I'll ever be. It's going to be good news, right, John?" Mary said hopefully.
"They'd be stupid to turn you down," John confirmed with a confidence he didn't feel. He was as nervous as his wife.
A short time later, they found themselves sitting in Donna's office, waiting for her to give them the news. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she entered.
"John, Mary," she greeted them pleasantly and then gave them a wide smile.
Mary felt her heart leap into her chest.
"I have some good news for the two of you. All reports are good. I was very pleased with your application and the results of interviews and visits. I am recommending your approval as foster parents, and am also further recommending to the courts that James Dean Newton be placed in your care until such time that his biological parents come forth, or he is legally placed for adoption. Congratulations," she said genuinely.
"You mean it," Mary said excitedly.
"Yes, I know it's not a done deal yet, but in at least 95 percent of cases, the courts follow our recommendations."
"Thank you so much," Mary said sincerely, a big grin on her face. She took back every bad thought she'd ever had about the woman.
John watched his wife light up at the social worker's words. He loved the way she was glowing. He also found himself praying, for the first time in a long time, that nothing went wrong now.
"John, Mary, I want to say I really hope this works out for both of you. I know that when we first met, I probably came across as cold and uncaring. I just wish I could say that this was the first time I have come across a child in Dean's situation." Donna paused and pointed to a large stack of folders on her desk. "About half of those are the same thing."
"It must be tough," John agreed with a shudder as some of the atrocities he'd seen committed against women and children in Vietnam came back to him.
"I want to say that Dean is a very lucky little boy. He reminds me so much of Rebecca," Donna said sadly.
"Who's Rebecca?" Mary asked curiously.
"It was back when I first started. I had been on the job for just under a year, and let me tell you, it was the hardest year of my life. I almost quit several times. Seeing the worst of people has a way of getting to you," Donna admitted.
"What stopped you? Rebecca?" John said thinking that had something to do with her decision not to quit.
"Yes," Donna confirmed. "I had my resignation all typed out. I was just trying to get up the nerve to hand it in when I got assigned a new case. A little girl born to a teenage prostitute had been abandoned at a hospital, so I went over there to start the paper work. There was this nurse, much like yourself, Mary, who developed an attachment to the girl. She said that she wanted to talk to her husband about adoption. I was thrilled that one of my cases appeared finally to have a happy ending. Then they found out the girl had cerebral palsy and they told me that they were no longer sure that they could look after her properly. I was devastated. We had a hard time placing her."
Mary felt her eyes fill with tears over the little girl's story. No wonder Donna had acted like she had towards her. "What happened to the little girl?" Mary asked softly, almost dreading the answer.
Donna gave her own smile of affection and picked up a photograph that was on the corner of her desk and handed it to Mary.
She looked down and saw picture of Donna and a good looking man standing beside her. Between them was a young lady in a wheelchair smiling widely at the camera. "She became my daughter. My husband and I decided to adopt her and I haven't regretted it for a moment. When I saw you standing there over little Dean, I though it was Rebecca's situation all over again. I know it was unprofessional and I'm sorry, but I allowed my personal experiences to cloud my judgement. Dean just reminded me so much of Rebecca. I thought history was repeating itself."
"It's okay," Mary said firmly. "Just please rest assured that I am serious about this. I won't turn my back on Dean."
"I know that and I have to say that I am very glad I was wrong," Donna said warmly. "The court date is three weeks from now, at 10 am. Judge Willis is going to want to interview you both and he'll make the final decision, but I want you both to know that you have my support."
"Thank you so much," Mary said sincerely. "I have to get to work and tell Dean," she said excitedly and threw her arms around John.
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It was a good thing that there were no cops around that day, as Mary drove down the highway toward the hospital. She broke every speed limit there was.
She ran directly to the NICU, almost knocking over several people. She went directly to Dean's incubator.
Her happiness was brought to an abrupt end when she found Dr. Tyler and another doctor by Dean's incubator looking solemn. Oh, God, please no. It can't be anything serious.
"Adam," she said nervously.
"Hi Mary," Adam Tyler answered tiredly.
He'd been on all night and was getting ready to leave when he had examined Dean, his last patient of the day, and noticed a heart murmur. He had cursed and immediately paged Dr. Louise Salah, the hospital's leading pediatric cardiac specialist. Louise came immediately and ran some tests.
"Louise, this is Mary Winchester," Adam said, introducing her.
"Hi," she said in a friendly tone. "Adam told me that you're the one that wants to adopt Dean."
"I hope to," Mary said in a worried tone. This couldn't be happening. Not now, not today. "He's going to be okay, right?" He had to.
"Adam called me because he noticed a heart murmur. I ran an EKG and an echocardiogram. It looks like we're dealing with patent ductus arteriosus," Louise said.
Mary felt her heart speed up. Patent ductus arteriosus was a common condition among preemies. Basically, when a child was still in its mothers womb, its oxygen supply came from the mother through the placenta. The ductus arterios was a blood vessel that all babies developed in the womb that allowed blood to bypass the lungs. After birth, it usually closed on its own, but in a lot of premature newborns, it remained patent or open. It allowed extra blood to flow into the lungs, causing the heart to have to work harder to pump the extra blood. If left untreated, it could lead to breathing difficulties, tiring easily, respiratory infections, poor growth or even congestive heart failure.
"We're going to start him on indomethacin," Adam said, naming a drug that caused the PDA to constrict. "We don't want to have to do surgery unless it's absolutely necessary."
"I know," Mary said. Surgery would be extremely risky given Dean's birth weight.
"We'll keep a close watch on him over the next few days," Louise added.
"Oh, Mary, I'm so sorry. I forgot to ask," Dr. Tyler said apologetically. "How'd things go today?"
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Mary still felt herself smile. "We got approved as foster parents and we have an appointment with the family court three weeks from today to find out the official word. I'll need to make sure I'm off that day," Mary requested.
"I'll make a note on the schedule," Dr. Tyler said. "I want you to go home after your shift today as well. I don't want you getting sick because of you being here all the time. You need to take care of yourself too, okay?"
"I promise," Mary said.
"Okay, I'm going to head home. I have my beeper if you need anything. I'll leave you to tell Dean your good news."
"Thanks Adam," Mary said as she took a seat by Dean's incubator.
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The next three weeks were extremely tough for Mary. Dean developed an infection and it was touch and go for awhile. For two days, Mary sat with him, refusing to leave.
This left John extremely frustrated. He wasn't allowed in the NICU, as only parents and grandparents were. He couldn't even be there to comfort his wife and he really wanted to meet the little boy that might become his son. Right now, he was nothing more than a name.
Little Dean's fever finally broke, allowing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. The medicine seemed to be working for Dean's PDA, but Mary knew that it would be something that they would have to keep an eye on, as sometimes the effects of the medication weren't permanent.
The morning of the court hearing finally arrived, making both Winchesters really nervous. They were both afraid of saying the wrong thing to the judge. John especially didn't want to screw this up, as his wife would never forgive him.
First, the Winchesters sat in court as Donna presented her recommendation to the judge. She gave John and Mary nothing but the highest praise. Then, all too soon, John heard his name called and he was escorted back to the judge's chambers.
"Please have a seat, Mr. Winchester," Judge Willis said as he gestured toward the leather chairs in front of his desk.
"John, please," he said nervously as he took the proffered chair.
"John, I want you to tell me your feelings about all this."
John swallowed and tried to collect his thoughts. God, please don't let me say the wrong thing. "Being a father is something I have wanted my whole life. Then, when me and Mary found out we couldn't have children, we were devastated. I hated to see my wife in so much pain. We had been discussing adoption and then Mary came home from work one day and told me all about this little boy that needed a home. I was all for it," John said. He and Mary had worked out this story before hand. They hadn't actually been discussing adoption.
"From my understanding, Dean may be a special needs child. Are you prepared to handle that?"
"Yes, my wife's a nurse and I have been reading about preemies. I feel we can handle anything," John said, really hoping he sounded confident when, in fact, he was terrified.
The interview went on for about 20 minutes when the judge asked his last question.
"I understand you have not met the child yet? How do you feel about him?"
John only had to think about that for a second. "I know that when Mary first told me about Dean, I saw her smile for the first time in months. He filled a hole that Mary had in her heart, and for that, he'll always have a place in mine." I really hope that doesn't come across as corny as it sounds.
John couldn't tell a thing from the judge's face, he showed no emotion, good or bad, he simply asked the bailiff to show John out and bring Mary in. Now it was Mary who felt the pressure. The judge greeted her and asked Mary to have a seat.
"Mary, please tell me why you want to be a foster parent to Dean?"
"I work at the hospital and one night, a young woman gave birth to a little boy. I felt a connection to him immediately. As time went on, I realized that I wanted him in my life."
"You know that fostering is not the same as adoption. His biological parents still have a right to claim him."
"I know, and if that happens, I'll be heartbroken," Mary said honestly. "First and foremost, though, I want the best for Dean. If that happens to be letting him go, I would do it," she said with conviction.
"Would you be willing to foster other children?" the judged asked.
"Yes," Mary said sincerely.
"Thank you. I'll give you my decision shortly."
Mary and John went to the cafeteria and tried to eat, but they were both too nervous. They went back to the courtroom and Mary waited once more to hear if her life was going to shatter.
"Well, I have reviewed all the evidence," Judge Willis said. "From all reports, I feel that the Winchesters can provide a loving, stable environment for a child."
Mary once again felt her heart leap into her chest and she felt John's hands grip hers tighter.
"It is therefore the ruling of the court that James Dean Newton be placed into the temporary custody of John and Mary Winchester."
Mary wanted to run and hug the judge, but she restrained herself and politely thanked him. Once outside the courtroom, however, she threw her arms around John.
"Come on," Mary said, dragging her husband behind her like he was a rag doll. "We have to tell Dean."
"We?" John asked in surprised.
"Yeah, it's time you met your son."
That both excited John and made him nervous, but he was going to see his son. His son. He liked the sound of that.
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