+A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Twelve. After the Fire

For three days, momma and the kids wandered around the house in a daze. The director was taking care of things with the Fire Marshall and the police who came by to talk about the fire and according to the Marshall, the wiring was a little too old for the high tech gadgets in the basement. The wires got too hot and created sparks which created a fire in to the walls. Momma did not want to go and see the building and see if anything was salvageable; in her mind there would be nothing and she didn't want to see the destruction at this time.

The director had kept one outfit of clothes at the house for the kids when they had moved into the house, so there was clothing for them since they came in their winter sleepers. She called the local grocery store to have food and things like diapers, baby wipes, pull-ups and other things delivered later that day.

For the days are quiet and momma sits usually with one of the children on her lap, while the others find things to do and play with. Momma tries to spend personal time with each of the children and on the fourth morning, Jennifer comes and talks with momma who currently is just sitting in the rocking chair reading a book to Emily who was sitting on her lap.

"Momma?"

"Yes, sweetie."

"I am sorry to bother you while you are spending personal time with Emily but we need to do something."

"What do you mean?"

"We can't keep wearing the same clothes every day and we need to do something about where we are going to live. I mean grandpa can't keep us here forever."

"What would you suggest darling?"

"I don't know maybe we could go shopping for some clothes, games and toys and stuff."

"Clothes, games and toys and stuff, that's all we should shop for?"

"That's all I can think of right now."

"Do you want to go today?"

"Can we?"

"Gather the troops and get your coats on." The girl goes running out of the room and starts to find the others in the house. Emily climbs down from momma's lap and goes to the hall to put her coat on. Fifteen minutes later, momma enters the hall and sees eight people waiting for her; Penelope had been home that day since she also only has one outfit to wear. The group gets into the van that grandpa has there for them to use and momma heads to the Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax, Virginia, after stopping in a store to buy a four wheel shopping cart. The mall has many small stores but also some main department stores such as JC Penney, Sears and Macys. Momma wanted to go to a place that she knew would have clothes and things for all her children.

When they arrive an hour later at the mall, mamma tells her older children that if they wanted to they could go shopping in pairs to find their own clothes and things. However, to think about what they were buying, the thing to remember is 'would momma like and would she allow me to wear it?' Momma is conservative and dresses her children in that way. Penelope and Jennifer go together to search for clothes for the two of them. Sean and David go together as well, knowing that momma will probably have to approve of what they buy before they leave the mall. She gave them each a list of what to look for and what they are allowed to purchase (dress, skirt, pants, jeans, sweaters, t-shirts, tops, blouses, underwear, socks, shoes and other accessories). The others go with her to the information kiosk and then they go to the stroller rental area to pick up a stroller for Aaron. Who once again complains about it but accepts that momma wants to have her hands available and not be carrying him all day. Yes, he can walk but momma doesn't want him to do so in a place with a lot of other people around. It will be problematic enough keeping the young ones close.

Derek pushes the shopping cart and they begin to go to different stores and look at clothes and other things. In the Gap store momma buys another child carrier so that she can carry Aaron on her body and then puts a tiring Spencer into the stroller. At noon, the boys and girls meet momma in the food court and they all select different foods. Momma checks out the purchases that her children have made and approves of them. It seems they are still thinking with their adult personas and choosing items for work as well as play. After eating lunch, Momma has Sean and Penelope take the first set of bags to the van and come back in where the family splits again and continue to shop for more clothes and other things that will help them while they recover from the fire.

Aaron falls asleep in his carrier and Spencer falls asleep in the stroller. While these two take naps, momma takes Emily and the girls shopping while Derek gets to go with David and Sean to play games and shop for some boys toys. Momma and the girls looks for dresses and dolls and other things that girls like.

When Aaron wakes up, he squirms in momma's arms and asks, "Can I get down and walk a while Becca? I will not run away and go far from you. Please." He looks at her with a sweet angelic face but she is not fooled. She does however allow him to do so because it would be good for him to run around for awhile. Spencer also wakes and gets out of the stroller to walk around and look at things while Emily gets in and rests her tired legs. Momma and the little boys and her girls pass by the toy store with a bunch of walking little animals and flipping dogs and cars in front to entice. Aaron goes running over and starts to play with the toys, Spencer following with momma and the girls watching and traipsing behind. The girls go the store and start to find toys to buy and take home.

They got legos, barbies, cars, trucks, dolls, art works, dress-up and all sorts of things. The boys actually join them there and it almost seems that they are going to buy the store out. Momma does make some limits however.

It is getting to be late afternoon when the family leaves the mall to head home with their purchases. After loading the family into the van, Penelope drives them out of the mall with momma in the front passenger seat and the kids buckled into their seats.

Dave asks, "What are we having for dinner?"

"Can you wait until we get home?"

"Do I have to?" The people in the van explode into laughs at that remark.

Momma smiles and says, "If I see a place that I want to eat at, we'll stop. I don't want any fast food tonight. I would like a good steak."

Soon they do stop at an Applebee's restaurant where momma gets her steak and each of the children get chicken fingers, pasta, sliders or a steak for themselves. Momma did not order anything for Aaron, instead she fed him some of the onion rings appetizers and very finely cut up pieces of her steak for him as well as some of her sides. He got plenty to eat from her and the others plates without spending $10.00 on a separate meal for him. Spencer had chicken sliders with some of momma's onion rings. Emily shared the sliders with Spencer and Derek got chicken fingers with French fries. David split a steak with Sean while Jennifer got an oriental salad. Penelope bought a pasta dish with shrimp. After eating, they got back in the van and headed back to grandpa's house. On the way there, a several closed their eyes and went to sleep in the van.

Thank you for your opinions of who should remain a child. Keep reading over the next chapters and you may change your minds. Most of you want Spencer to stay a child. We will see, The decision will be made many chapters from now. I hope you will like what happens next to our family and how will they remain a family.

I love your reviews and enjoy writing about a great group of people.