I Do Not Own CSI
"I promise to stay hidden," Max said turning around in his bed, agitated and waking Gil in the process.
"I love you, Mommy, I won't break my promise," Max mumbled out, still dreaming.
Gil, realizing what was happening, shook Max's shoulders,
"Max, wake up."
Max still wouldn't come out of his dream.
"Mommy," Max said. He now had tears leaking from his eyes.
"Max, Max wake up," Gil said a little louder, running his hands down his arms causing the boy to stir and open his eyes and freeze in terror.
"Max its ok, I'm not going to hurt you," Gil spoke softly to the small boy.
"Do you remember me? My name is Gil, we met last night," Gil said as the boy slowly came to and nodded his head albeit shakily.
"Where's Lucky," Max asked softly, looking around for his cat.
"He might be using his litter box. I made him a spot in the closet so he could go to the bathroom," Gil said just as the cat came out of the closet and jumped up on the bed, snuggling into Max.
"Are you ok now," Gil asked, knowing the boy may be physically ok but mentally may be another story.
"Can I see my Mommy and Daddy soon," Max asked, petting his cat and making Gil take a deep breath.
"Max, did your mom and dad ever tell you about heaven?"
"It's where the angels live."
"That right, angels live there. But did you know that when someone dies that they go to heaven too," Gil asked as Matthew shook his head indicating that he did not know the last part.
"They do? My Mom and Dad are both there"
"Really?"
"Yep, my dad died when I was a little older than you," Gil eased in, hating the fact that he had to tell Max that his parents had both died.
"Are my Mommy and Daddy in heaven too," Max asked surprising Gil.
"Yes Max, they are. That's why I came and got you last night. Your Mom and Dad had both gone to heaven. They died last night."
"But I don't want them in heaven," Max said with tears in his eyes.
"I know, buddy," Gil said, pulling him close, hugging him tight as Max cried. Gil rubbed his back in small circles and tried to comfort the child in any way he could.
Feeling wetness underneath him Gil looked down and realized the while Max was crying he had wet himself.
"I'm not in trouble, am I," Max said looking down.
"No you're not in trouble. How about we go get cleaned up, ok," Gil said setting Max on the ground.
"Come on, you can have a bath. Do you like baths," Gil asked, opening the door quietly and crossing the hall holding Max's hand.
"Only if they have bubbles"
"Well you're in luck because we always have bubbles here. My kids love them when they have baths," Gil said, catching Sara's eye as he entered the bathroom. Just as he started the bath, Gil heard a knock at the door.
"Gil?"
"Come on in, Honey," Gil said, noticing Max's startled look. As Sara came in the bathroom she smiled softly at Max
"Hi Max," She said softly, bending down to sit on her knees so she was face to face with Max.
"Max this is Sara, my wife," Gil explained to a shy Max as she held out her hand for him to shake. Slowly he reached out his small hand so she could shake.
"Nice to meet you Max," Sara said smiling softly at the boy.
"Who's with the kids," Gil asked shutting off the tap.
"There's more kids," Max asked.
"There is, I have a couple boys and a few girls downstairs that are playing with some toys," Sara said.
"Can I play too?"
"You sure can but I think you need to have a bath first. I think Gil may need one, too! Just look at his hair," She said, causing Max to giggle.
Gil did indeed have some funny bed head going on, flat on one side and standing up on the other.
"Laugh at my expense, that's fine," Gil said smirking.
"Well I'll leave you to boys to have your bath. Once you're done you can have some breakfast and then play," Sara smiled at Max.
"Mom and Jim are downstairs Gil," Sara said, getting up with Gil's help.
"OK, we'll be done soon," Gil replied,
"Are you ready to meet some more people, Max," Gil asked as he put a shirt that was too big for his boys yet but seemed to fit the five year old pretty well.
Max just shrugged his shoulders, unsure.
"I promise they're real nice, and then you can play. I have lots of toy cars and trucks downstairs," Gil said to the boy who looked up with wide eyes.
"When we go downstairs, Sara's mom Laura will be there as well as my friend, Jim", Gil said, leading Max out of the room and downstairs.
"Daddy," Jack said, looking up and seeing his Dad, and running over to him.
"Up," he asked. Instead Gil bent down and hugged his son.
"Max, this is Jack. Jack, this is Max," Gil said, giving introductions to his two and a half year old son.
From the adults' point of view it was a funny sight, each boy, shy, backed to the other side of Gil.
"Hey Max you remember me," Sara said coming over and helping Gil.
"Yes," he said quietly.
"Are you hungry? I made some pancakes if you want to eat," she said to the boy who nodded.
"Well, how about we go into the kitchen and get you some then," Sara said holding out her hand for Max to take to which he did.
"Go say hi to your kids for a few minutes," Sara said as Jack still stood close to Gil.
"Ok, come on Jack let's go see you brother and sisters," Gil said, leading him into the living room.
Seeing Laura and Jim in the kitchen, Max stood still as Sara walked. Realizing that Max wasn't moving Sara stopped and looked at Max who was looking at Jim curiously.
"Hi Max," Jim said with a soft smile, crouching down to the boy's level, making eye contact with him.
"Do you remember me from last night? I was the man outside of the car that Gil had to talk too."
"Yes," Max replied.
"It's nice to see you again. My name is Jim," Jim said, holding out his hand as Max gently shook it.
"Did you have a good sleep Max?" he asked as Sara got Max sat up in a seat at the table.
"I had a bad dream," he said very quietly. You could barely hear him.
"Do you want to tell me about it," Sara asked, sitting beside him.
"I saw the bad man come into the house and Mommy putting me under the sink," he said, remembering his dream and closing his eyes. Seeing this Sara grabbed his hand and squeezed, trying to let Max know he was safe and that he was ok.
"Did the bad men make Mommy and Daddy die," he asked, startling all three adults.
"They did Max, but I promise you that your Mommy and Daddy are in a safe place now when bad men can't hurt them," Sara said feeling her heart break for this little boy.
"I want my Mommy," Max said, starting to cry.
"I know you do Max, but you know what," Sara said as she embraced him.
"Your Mom and Dad will always be here," Sara said, placing a hand on his heart.
"They're always going to be with you Max, no matter what. They will always be in your heart. Whatever you do they will always be with you. Don't forget that," She said brushing his tears out of his eyes
"They will?"
"Yep, whenever you feel sad just remember that even though your Mom and Dad aren't here like Gil or I am, they will always be in your heart," She said just as Gil came in, along with a dog and five kids.
"Is it time to eat yet?"
Clearing everyone's tears Sara replied, "Yes, why don't you get the kids in their chairs and we can start cutting up food." She noticed Hank sniffing aroundMax.
"Max, that's our dog Hank. If you hold your hand out for him to sniff you can pet him," She said, watching as he held out his hand for Hank to sniff and then lick.
"That tickles," he said smiling, looking up at Gil.
"Wait until he kisses your face after breakfast. That really tickles!"
-
Ding Dong Ding Dong
"I'll get it," Sara said, getting up off the couch as Gil played with all the kids. Max was getting aquatinted with all the kids and Hank. Somehow during the process Lucky had gotten out of the bedroom and made her way into the living room only to see Hank. The cat had raised her back and Hank stood his ground, everyone watching as the two circled each other, only for the cat to back down a few minutes later. Circling up on the back of the couch she fell asleep as Hank did the same under the cat.
"Hi, Mrs. Grissom, I presume," the woman said, holding out her hand.
"Yes, and you are?"
"Tracy Hues, CPS worker"
"Ah, Ms. Hues we've been expecting you, come on in," Sara said, placing a hand on her stomach and escorting the woman into the living room to see Max playing with Jack and Wyatt.
"Hi Ms. Hues" Gil said, getting up and motioning for them to go into the other room.
"Max we're just going over here to talk, ok," Gil said to Max who nodded.
Sitting down at the table the social worker started,
"We still haven't been able to locate any family for Max. If you two are not comfortable keeping him we can find a place for him to stay."
"Sara and I discussed the situation this morning and agreed that Max can stay with us until his family is located," Gil answered.
"I was in the system when I was a kid, Ms. Hues. I know what it's like and if we can help prevent Max from having to switch from group home to group home and foster homes, we'll do it."
"Are you two sure of this? I mean by the looks of things you already have a lot to deal with. Are you sure you want to add a child, that will most likely have some sort of PTSD disorder, staying with you?" She said bluntly, making sure they realize what there getting themselves into.
"I have gone through the disorder twice, once when I was 11 and again a little over four years ago. I can assure you, though, I have dealt with the disorder and being that both Gil and I have dealt with it first hand we know what to expect." Sara said calmly.
"Max already woke up this morning in a nightmare, and he later talked about it with Sara. We know he suffered through something that children should never be exposed to but we will help him as best we can," Gil added.
"Well that's good then," she said, opening her folder with paperwork.
"If he is going to be staying with you for the next while, I need you to fill out some paperwork for me. By law, you have to be registered foster parents to keep him. Right now I'm turning a blind eye because Max is doing ok here but we still need to do the paperwork. I would like some contact information for references and your job history. All family background has to be included, as well as why you were in the system, Mrs. Grissom."
"Anything else," Sara asked.
"If you could get some people to give you letters of accreditation as well that would be a bonus."
"We could get Catherine, Jim, the guys, lab techs, Mona next door," Sara said listing off.
"How many do we need?" Gil asked
"At least three is always good but if you can get more its makes you look even better."
"I can make some calls this afternoon."
"Other than that, I just want to have a look around the house and watch Max interact with your kids as well as you," she said.
"Not a problem," Sara said looking up from her paperwork.
Two hours later the social worker was leaving, telling them that she would be back in a couple days to check up.
"I'm glad she's gone, I felt like I was under a microscope," Gil sighed.
"Don't like being on that side honey, being watched intensely?"
"No, I prefer to be the one who watches." Gil said as they made there way back into the living room, to find two sleeping babies, three babies about to drop and one five year old who was yawning.
"Why don't we go have a nap," Gil suggested.
"Are you tired Max?" Sara asked.
"A little"
"How about a nap? I know I'm tired," Sara said yawning.
"Where do I get to sleep?"
"Remember where you woke up this morning? That can be your room. If you want, Hank and Lucky can both stay with you and keep you safe," Gil said.
"Really, Hank can stay with me?"
"Yeah, I think he wants to be with you tonight anyways," Sara said as she picked up Gracie and Gil took Isabelle.
"Come on you three, nap time," Gil said to his three kids, watching as they got up and went into the other room not wanting a nap.
"Come on, let's get these three into bed and then we'll tackle the other three," Sara said, holding her hand out for Max to take, which he did.
After getting Max and the girls into bed and then going to find the triplets in the kitchen and getting them into bed, Sara and Gil collapsed into there own bed. Gil spooned up behind her and put his hand on her stomach, feeling the baby move.
"Gil, what happens if they don't find any family," Sara asked tiredly.
"I don't know. What do you want to do Sara?"
"I don't know either. If we were to take him in, we would have seven kids. Gil, that's a lot of kids to handle by myself. Not that six isn't, but…"
"It's a lot more than we can do, I know. How about we leave the subject alone for today and talk about it later when we're more awake," Gil suggested, burying his head in Sara's neck.
"I can do that
Night, babe."
"'Night, Sara."
There's more with Max to come so stay tuned!
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I wanted to focus on Max a little more and i hope i accomplished that.
I think GIl is being very sweet and understanding and next chapter we'll see the teams reaction to GIl taking in Max. Do they think he's in over his head or did something great?? Stay tuned and you'll find out next chapter
Please leave a review and thank you to all who have been revewing after each chapter, it means a lot, Thank You!!
Katie