Part 8 – Life turned

Weeks passed and life settled down to a pleasant routine. After some initial reluctance, Charlie was talked into the bedroom swap. It was weird for about a week then it was like it had always been that way. Charlie and Colby sincerely appreciated the king-sized bed and private bathroom, even if they still had to go down the hall to use a tub. Alan busied himself with plans for the staircase. Nena decided she wanted to stay in the guest bedroom, formerly Don's bedroom, and picked out some funky flowers to stick on the walls.

Don and Will regularly took their turns, together or separately, being in charge of watching Nena. She began calling Don and Will by the names Uncle Don and Uncle Will. Rather, she said 'Unka Don' and 'Unka Wiw', which set Charlie off on another phonological lecture that everyone but Will ignored.

Monster came over to the house regularly, but not all the time. Don and Will's place wasn't exactly on the way from work to the house. Nena always looked for Monster first, but was happy enough to see just Don or Will. Will was gone for a week on a scary undercover job and Nena was as anxious as anyone for Will's safety until he returned.

Nena was mostly a sunny, happy little girl but she had her moments of storminess. She pushed her limits with each person, to see what she could get away with, but eventually came to an understanding of each of the adults who were her regular caretakers. She was known, though, to take advantage of Charlie's absentmindness to get two desserts or an absurdly late bedtime.

Nena's worst trait was that she could be clingy, especially when Colby was trying to leave for work. She would manufacture emergencies to stop Colby from getting out the door. Colby continued to show natural talent for fatherhood and developed a routine that would give Nena what he called her "Daddy, Daddy!" moments and still get him to work on time.

One day the whole family went to the beach. Nena even tried to bring Monster but Colby explained that cats don't like sand. Five adult men and one little girl caused a few raised eyebrows, but they were getting used to that. Charlie got caught up in creating an elaborate sandcastle, complete with flying buttresses. Meanwhile, Alan snoozed in the sun, and Will and Colby joined a beach volleyball game. Don and Nena played in the waves, collected shells, and made a sandcastle with two buckets of sand and some seaweed.

One hot afternoon, Nena and Colby chased each other around the yard with water guns, Nena shrieking all the while. Alan complained about the wet mess in his kitchen but no one believed his fuss.

Nena showed interest in the piano and Don began giving her lessons. Nena continued to excel in reading, and Colby suspected that she would have learned to read with or without Jenny's encouragement. Colby started to seriously investigate local kindergartens and got her on his health care plan with the FBI.

Will and Colby discovered a mutual love for a wide range of sports. Often Don, and on the rare occasion Charlie, joined them for everything from street hockey to water polo. Sometimes David and Megan joined them as well. All six of them went parachuting with one of Colby's army buddies and Will was the only one that threw up. Will and Colby even played as a team in a local beach volleyball tournament and were proud of their "not quite last" placement.

In fact, things went so well that it was easy to forget that it couldn't last forever.


Over seven weeks after Nena had come into his life, Charlie was in the middle of some beautifully flowing work on Cognitive Emergence when the doorbell rang. He stopped, his chalk held up mid-equation, and waited for someone else to answer the door. Knocking followed the doorbell and Charlie remembered that he was the only person home to answer the door. That's what I get for working in the solarium instead of the garage, no matter how lovely the sun is.

He sighed and set down his chalk. Absently wiping the chalk from his hands onto his pants, he concentrating on keeping the math active in his mind so he could get back to it as soon as he dealt with the delivery driver or whatever.

He opened the door, a ready 'thank-you goodbye' on his lips, and was brought up short.

A blond, tanned woman stood in the doorway, clutching a piece of paper. A dark green SUV was parked in the driveway behind her. Charlie suddenly recognized the paper and the woman. It was the note that Colby had left on the door of his old apartment in case Jenny came back without calling … and this woman was Jenny, Nena's mother.

Colby was at work, and Nena and Alan had gone down the park for one of her regular visits to Mr. Frogtree. Charlie blinked, frantically trying to clear his mind from the grip of numbers. The woman stared at him.

Charlie cleared his throat. "Hi. You must be Jenny." He held out his hand. "I'm Charlie."

Jenny eyed him and gingerly shook his hand. "Where's Nena?"

"She's at the park," Charlie said. "Would you like to come in?"

"At the park, with Colby?"

"No, no. She's with my dad."

"And … who are you again?"

"I'm, umm, Charlie," Charlie rubbed his hands together nervously. "I'm Colby's boyfriend."

Jenny looked confused, then her face went red. "What the hell?"

"C-Colby's at work, why don't I call him?"

"No," Jenny's eyes narrowed. "You're going to tell me where my daughter is before I call the police."

"She-she's at the park with my dad," Charlie stammered. "It's just down the street."

"Show me," she snapped.

Charlie swallowed. He had a full and sudden image of them going to the park, her grabbing Nena, and them never seeing Nena again. Colby would never forgive him. His dad would never forgive him. He would never forgive himself. He backpedaled desperately. "Why don't I just call Colby and you and he can talk and—" He picked up his cell phone.

"Listen to me, you little fag," Jenny said harshly. "You have two seconds to show me where Nena is or I will call the police and report kidnapping and sexual assault and whatever else I can come up with."

"FBI handles kidnappings," Charlie said weakly and pressed One on his speed dial. He pressed the phone to his ear and backed behind the couch. "Pick up, pick up," he muttered. It went to Colby's voicemail and Charlie's stomach clenched. Jenny was advancing on him, her hands fists at her sides, her face dark red.

Charlie quickly hung up and pressed speed dial Two.

"Charlie, what is it?" Don said impatiently. "We're in the middle of—"

"Jenny's here," Charlie interrupted. "She's at the house and she's really mad and Nena and dad are at the park and she's gonna call the police and take Nena away and I'll never see her again and she called me a fag."

Don made a harsh inarticulate sound then said, "Stay there, Charlie. Don't do anything. Do not tell her where Nena is."

"But—"

"Is that Colby?" Jenny snapped. "Tell that sick bastard I wanna talk to him!"

"I am going to call the police myself and get a squad car out there," Don said.

"But—" Charlie said.

"Tell him I want my daughter right now or I will rip out his pretty boy's spleen!"

"Hang tight, Charlie," Don said. "We're on our way. I'll get a squad car there in five minutes. We'll be there in twenty."

Don hung up and Charlie stared at the phone. He looked at Jenny. "C-Can I get you s-some coffee?"

"What?" Jenny yelled. "You sure as hell can't get me a cup of coffee. Where the fuck is Nena?"

Charlie paled, remembering all the stories of mother animals defending their young. "O-orange juice?"

Jenny growled and advanced on him. Charlie did the only thing he could think of. He turned and ran.