Chapter VII

"Okay, he's spending way too much time in the barn," Andrew said. "What the heck is he even doing in there?"

"He's said he's making my birthday present," Henry answered. His birthday was located on the calendar at smack dab December 1st. Foster had spent most of his time home in the barn. He was hardly seen unless it was time to eat. Other than that, it was like he ran away. Mary once stood by the door in front of the barn and heard all kinds of drills, power tools, electronic beeping, and things clattering to the floor.

"Wonder what kind of present it is," Daniel said. "Any guesses?"

Nothing. Everybody shrugged as if it was practiced and looked at each other. The front door opened and Foster came in with dirt and grease all over him.

"Foster!" Mary said, about to give him a hug. She stopped when Foster held up his hand. "What are you doing in that barn?"

"Like I've told you the past week; making Uncle Henry's birthday present," the green 'bot answered. He wiped some of the grease off his face. "Sorry that it's taking so long, its just that each time I fix it, a new bug comes in."

"So it's electronic?" Henry said, also trying to figure out the present.

"Eh, half and half," the baby answered simply.

"Well, we need to go to the store and get some more groceries," David said, putting on his parka. "Andrea's coming over when her shift's done so she can keep an eye on you. We'll be back in an hour."

"Okay," Foster said. Daniel sighed and told his kids to get their jackets on. After a few times of trying to un-jam the zipper, the kids had their coats on and were ready to walk out. The family waved good-bye to Foster and Mary gave him a little kiss on his metal cheek. Foster smiled and gave her a kiss back. Mary giggled and ran outside to get in the silver '97 Cadillac.

With nothing more to do, Foster walked back out in the snow and to the barn. He closed the door and went back to his "work station". In front of him was a baseball sliced in half and nearly filled with electronic gadgets. He inspected it to make sure everything was in place and screwed the baseball back up so it looked like any other baseball. He jumped down from the desk and over to the dogs. Some electronic barks came from his mouth and barks from Ken replied. The grey husky stood up and walked over to another machine Foster had set up. It looked like an arm on a pole, holding a baseball bat.

"Not until I give the signal, okay?" he said. Ken barked once and waited with his paw ready to push the button on the base. "Test number forty-three." He winded up the ball and threw it. "NOW!"

Ken pressed the button and the bat curved to swing. It missed the ball and hit the barn door. It rolled itself back to Ken and the dog whimpered.

"Still some bugs," Foster groaned.

* * *

Andrew was feeling kind of strange, getting all those batteries. He knew he had to get them (Foster ate the lead inside) but he was always thinking that people were murmuring "Why do they buy so many batteries?" and the same deal with kitchen knifes and bullets. He put the six packs of batteries in the cart.

"Any more?" he said.

"We have a little extra money," Daniel said. "You can get yourself something both you and your sister would use. Meet us at line five."

"Okay," Andrew replied. He walked off to the toy aisle. "Come on, Mimi." Mary followed close behind. They took a few turns and tried to follow all the signs to the store.

"We need to get a map of this place," Mary said, afraid to get lost. She looked above to find the toy aisle. She was sure she found it when she spotted a sign with a toy construction vehicle on it. "There!" she pointed. Andrew smiled, glad to get out of the maze, and ran towards the aisle.

"Let's see, Dad said to get something we would both use," Andrew said. "So no Barbie dolls."

"And no G.I. Joe action figures," Mary snapped back. She skipped down the aisle to look for something fun that both girl and boy could use, but everything was so diverse when it came to toys.

Andrew walked slowly down the aisle with his hands in his pockets, looking left and right so he wouldn't miss a single toy. He spotted one he thought he and Mary could use, but he wanted to be sure. He ran back to her and held it in front of the girl.

"How about these?" he said.

"Walkie-talkies?" she said.

"Yeah, it'll be fun! It could be a different kind of hide-and-seek."

"Okay!"

He laughed at how quickly his sister said yes and ran back to the front of the store, looking for the logo they usually displayed over there. They found it and ran straight forward to the line Daniel and Henry were in.

"Walkie-talkies, huh?" Henry said, picking it up from Andrew's hands. "You might have to share with me."

"No!" Mary said, taking the box back and hugging it to her chest. "These are for kids!"

"Andrea uses walkie-talkies, too, you know."

He had her beat. She gave the plastic box back to him and he placed it on the conveyor belt. Once everything was back in the cart and into the car, Andrew grabbed the walkie-talkies and opened them up, giving one to Mary. They gave a little test just for fun and laughed.

They were stuck in traffic when they heard someone had an accident. The whole road had been blocked. Mary started to worry about Foster, so Daniel made a phone call and put it on speaker. Andrea picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Andrea, it's me, Daniel."

"Hi! Foster's getting a little wound up. He says he's hungry. What does he eat again?"

"If there's any spare batteries in the fridge, he'll eat those. But the main meals are bullets and farm tools. Anyway, that's not why I called."

"Oh? What's wrong?"

"We're stuck in traffic. We might be here for a long time. Do you have to work or anything?"

"Not until six in the morning. And don't worry, I'll take care of him.

"Is that Dad on the phone? Lemme talk to him!" Foster grabbed the phone. "Hi, Dad!"

"Hey, buddy! You holding up okay?"

"We let the dogs in; it started snowing in there. There's a hole about the size of Henry's big head in the roof."

"You're on speaker, Foster," Henry said in the passenger seat.

"Oh. My bad. Sorry about the big head crack. When are you guys coming home?"

"Late. Very late," Daniel answered. "There was an accident on Greene's. We could be here for hours."

"I'll be fine."

"Good. Put Andrea back on."

Rustling was heard on the phone and a faint "For you!" by Foster as he gave the phone back to the policewoman.

"Yeah?"

"If we don't get back soon, he goes to bed at eight. Books back on the shelf and Discovery and the History Channel off. Okay?"

"Got it! See you guys later."

"BYE, ANDREA!" came the chorus of the Dawsons as Daniel turned it off. There was a long silence until a static sound came from Andrew's walkie-talkie.

"Andrew, shut it off."

"Hold on." Andrew put his ear near the device and Mary looked at him curiously. "I can hear something. Mary, listen." He handed his speakerphone to her and she put her ear towards it.

"There's someone talking!" she said.

"Probably just someone else with a talkie on the same channel," Henry said, being logical.

"But it doesn't sound like a person."

"Give me that." Andrew took it back and held it in his hand. He stood still for a few minutes with Daniel an Henry looking at him from the front. "There's two talking. Here, listen." He turned up the volume and the droning increased. There were a few sonic whines and groans and a couple of clicking sounds thrown in there. "Hear it? Voices."

"Not human," Mary whimpered.

"I don't even think it's organic," Andrew sighed.

"It's probably picking up something," Daniel said.

"Yeah, an alien signal!"

"That can't be an alien," Henry argued.

"But what about the time where we thought and alien was in our barn and turned out to be Foster? This could be his parents looking for him!"

"Andrew!" Daniel interrupted. "That thing is just picking up a cell phone or something. It's just noise."

"It's voices!"

"Andrew, don't argue with me! Just turn it off."

"No." He kept his gaze on his father and let the static continue. There was only one word clear; prime. "Listen. You know how someone with a different language still pronounce our names the same way as we do? Someone who goes by Prime is looking for Foster--"

"Andrew--"

"And he's coming to get him back!"

"Andrew--"

"He'll be back with his family!"

"ANDREW!" Daniel shouted. The brown-haired boy kept still and his father lowered his voice. "Turn off the walkie-talkie."

Andrew did as he was told and shut it off. The static stopped so quickly that it hurt his ears to hear the silence.

"How about some music?" Henry said, reaching for the radio.

* * *

It was ten twenty at night when they came back home and Andrea was sitting on the couch, watching the news. There seemed to be the same kind of thing happening to others' cell phones, baby monitors and several other kinds of devices that where picking up the same static Andrew received.

"He's up in his bed. I checked to see if he was still sneaking a peek at his books," Andrea reported. A few times, Henry had gone up to find the room light off but Foster's glowing eyes wide open, reading a book. "He's a really good kid."

"He's not mine," Daniel answered.

"But you gave him a chance to live. You could've called the cops yourselves and been done with him." There was a small silence and Daniel sighed.

"You're right," he said. "Thanks for taking care of him."

"Well, I hope to do it again sometime," she smiled. She gave him a pat on the shoulder and stepped out. "Oh, and Henry? I gave you a little something for your birthday tomorrow. Good bye!"

"Thanks, Andrea!" Henry called as she walked out. He looked at the wrapped box on the dinner table. He decided to leave it there for tomorrow and walked up the steps, having Mary and Andrew follow him to their own rooms. Mary sneaked by them and quietly walked into foster's room. He was sleeping, making a few whirring noises as he slept. The girl leaned over the bed and sat down on the edge. It woke him up and she looked at his blue and tired optics.

"Mimi?" he groaned.

"Sorry to wake you up," she said. The bottom of his eyes curved to indicate he was smiling.

"You made it home!" he sad softly.

"Yeah, and there's something I need to tell you…On the way here, Andrew picked up something on his walkie-talkie. He said it could be your real parents."

Foster's eyes became wide and he sat up in his bed.

"Really?" he said, becoming more interested.

"Some other people have gotten the same thing. Andrew heard a word in there and said someone named Prime was involved. Sound familiar?"

"I've been on Earth since I could remember and that's not a long time," Foster answered softly. "If this 'Prime' is my dad, I want to know why he threw me away like this. Why didn't he keep me?" He stopped for a bit. "Well, I'm sort of glad he left me."

"Why?"

"If he didn't leave me, I wouldn't have met you guys," he smiled. Mary giggled and smiled back. She put his arms around his neck and he wrapped his around her back.

"Thanks, Foster," she said. "For everything."

"You're welcome…(sniff)"

Mary pulled herself back. Foster took one of his hands and wiped his face.

"Are you crying?" she said.

"I'm not sure," he said shakily. "I'm a machine, I'm not supposed to produce tears; I don't have tear ducts. But why am I, in a way? I thought humans did that when they were sad."

"You only read part of that. Humans cry when they're happy, too."

"How am I supposed to tell the difference?"

"You'll just know." She gave him a kiss on his forehead. "Good night, bro."

"'Night, Mimi."

* * *

In the morning, Foster woke up early to finish the rest of his present. Daniel went to go pick up the cake, leaving Henry alone with the kids. Foster walked off to the barn and Bud was the next to help test the baseball.

"Test number fifty-seven," he recited. "Pull!" He threw the baseball and the dog pressed the base button. The balls swerved a bit and the bat hit it dead center, letting it fly back towards the ceiling behind Foster and almost hit Jackson in the head. The horse reared up at the sudden movement. The green robot took hold of the brown horse's rope and held him still.

"It works!" he cheered. He got a steel bat and replaced it with the wooden one on the stimulated arm. "Now, let's see if it locks onto more than one bat." He picked up the baseball and told Bud to get ready. "Test number fifty-seven point five. Pull!" He threw the ball, the dog pressed the button, and the ball was knocked out of the roof. Foster used his telekinesis to bring it back and it came through the wall, causing another hole.

"I guess I'm fixing those," he said. He held the ball up. "Well, I'll do that after Uncle Henry's birthday. He's gonna love this!" Bud and Ken ran up to him and sniffed him. "Oh, right." He pulled out two dog biscuits from subspace and gave each to the dogs. They looked back at him for more. "After your dinners, okay? I gotta get back to the house." The dogs started whining. "Ah, suck it up. You guys are tough! You can't get spoiled." The dogs nudged him again. "Or maybe you can…"

He heard a car pull up in the snow-covered driveway and ran out of the barn. Daniel was grabbing a cake out of the backseat.

"Lemme help!" the robot said. He took the cake from his dad's hands and walked inside with him.

"I'm home!" Daniel said. Henry ran up, seeing his cake.

"Whoa, vanilla icing?" he said.

"With a chocolate center," Daniel smiled.

"Thanks, bro!" He gave him a man-hug and took the cake from Foster's hands to put it on the dinner table.

After a few hours, Foster came in, giving a single note and Henry already knew what was coming.

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!" Mary, Andrew, Daniel and Foster singing. "Happy birthday, dear Daniel. Happy birthday toooooo…"

"Youuuuu!" Foster sang, making the note sharper, but it was perfect even so. Henry clapped and laughed at their performance.

"And we hope you never change!" Mary said, hugging her uncle. Henry gave a little "aww" and hugged her back.

"Thanks, guys," he said. "Andrew, Foster, get in here." Foster ran up and sat on Henry's leg to give him a hug. "Andrew?"

"Pass."

"Andrew," the chorus of three whined.

Andrew scoffed and hugged his uncle. "Better?"

"Yep! You're good." The three kids let go of him and ran to the presents they had for him. "Oh, they're for me?" he said in a playfully sarcastic tone. "I never would've guessed." Mary was the first to give a present. He ripped it open and found an empty photo album. He thanked his niece and gave her another hug. Henry opened Andrew's next and got a baseball bat signed by Babe Ruth.

"How in heck did you get this?!" he said.

"My friend's dad," Andrew smiled. "He didn't want it anymore; he has a baseball version."

He gave his uncle a hug and let him open the next present by Daniel. It was set of power tools that he could use to fix up the car in the backyard. Henry's car broke down some years ago and didn't bother to tend to it. Then came Foster's present. The green robot held a small wrapped ball to him and Henry studied it.

"Aw, come on, we're not saving the paper. Just rip it up!" the robot shouted excitedly. Henry laughed and followed the order. He tore open the paper and found the ball.

"A baseball?" he said.

"A pimped out baseball."

"How's it pimped out?"

"Come outside and I'll show you. Bring the bat!" He led them outside after they got their coats on. Henry held his bat ready in hand and Foster stood several feet away.

"No matter what happens, swing!" Foster yelled. Henry nodded and held the bat ready with his arms in the right position as well as his feet. Foster threw ball and Henry saw how clearly that ball would miss. Then he saw it curve and had no choice but to swing. The ball cracked against the bat and was sent into the air. Foster shot up in the air and caught it.

"That thing is pimped out," Henry gasped. "It's a rigged ball!"

"Exactly!" Foster said, coming back.

"But…How--how did you do it?"

"The hardest part was cutting it open…with a butter knife! It's fitted in with a navigation system so it can lock onto any bat it's thrown at."

"That's amazing! We won't use it for a real game, right?"

"No, that'd be cheating. It stays at home and only home."

"Great. Just making sure."

"Did you open Andrea's present yet?"

"Snap!" Henry ran back inside to tear open his final gift.

xXx

Author's Note: A) Yes, Foster speaks dog. B) Coolest present ever! C) the radio is what you think...and D) Andrea's present is a cliff hanger.