Part 14
Aaron let Joanne do most of the talking since at least Zach and Spencer knew her slightly.
Joanne had managed to contact Spencer without the father ever finding out and she had done so, right after the six of them had gotten home from school, before the father got home from work. Spencer who seemed to notice everything had noticed her parked across the street from the house and had told his siblings that he be right back.
Once Spencer had reached her Joanne got out of the car and he had demanded to know why she was watching the house, which Joanne thought was very brave for a seven-year-old talking to a vampire.
Joanne had simply told him that she had been concerned about him and that she'd like for him and his siblings to meet her someplace where they would be comfortable, that she and her husband would like to talk to the six of them.
"Why would you want to do that?" The question came from one of Spencer's sisters, a pretty little girl with blond hair, but there was a sharp intelligence behind her eyes, just like for Spencer and Zach, once Joanne and Aaron had explained why they had wanted to talk.
Joanne and Aaron had since learned that her name was Katie and she was one of only two siblings that had gotten their mother's blonde hair, as the other four had gotten their father's brown.
"Because there's no way you can keep going on like you have," Aaron told to six of them bluntly as they sat under a tree in the park. "You're basically trying to live two lives, go to school, do your homework and then you come home where you're working like dogs. I'm sure you figured out by now that Joanne and I are vampires, and we've done this sort of thing before where we have adopted several children from abusive homes. I come from an abusive home myself and yes, it is possible to hurt a vampire if you know what you're doing, but that was a very long time ago. Let's just say that I have a real pet peeve against parents who aren't doing the job they're supposed to and no, I'm not blaming your mother, because from what Spencer has told my wife she's sick and therefore not responsible. Your father however, is different."
"Your father leaves you basically on your own expecting you to do everything, the laundry, taking care of your mother, the cooking, go to school, do your homework and there're only so many hours in the day," Joanne told them. "Zach's not even fully recovered from being in a coma, which your father refused to accept responsibility for and didn't even come to the hospital to fill out the paperwork or to visit him. I hate to say it, but your mother needs to be an institution where doctors can look after her 24 hours a day and make sure she takes her medication. I know you love her and I don't fault you for that, but she's really sick and there is no way that the six if you can keep looking after her by yourselves."
"Not to mention you'll have several new siblings coming soon and while having a baby is supposed to be a joyous occasion, there's no way that you can look after your new siblings and do everything else as well," Aaron added. "Trust me, that looking after the just one baby takes a lot of work and there's no way you'll be able to go to school, do everything else and look after your new siblings as well."
"You're all going to collapse at some point from lack of sleep and also a lack of proper nutrition," Joanne told them. "I can't see this situation having been going on for more than a few months or it already would have occurred because the mortal body can only take so much before it collapses. I'm guessing it started around the time that your mother found out she was pregnant again, even though it was unplanned for."
"You'd be willing to take in our newborn siblings too?" Spencer asked.
"That's been the plan all along," Aaron told Spencer with a smile. "Joanne and I are used to having a dozen children running around, as usually we have them within just a few months of each other."
"We haven't had any children in awhile mainly because I'm working long hours, as a doctor and we just decided it was good to take a break," Joanne added.
"I for one think that you've been doing very well on your own, but once you're new siblings get here, as my wife says there is no way you'll be on the look after them and do everything else as well. You're already exhausted and once your siblings get here that's only going to get worse, as babies need so many things, time, attention, to be fed at regular intervals, they need their diapers changed and to be given bathes on a regular basis. I know you will try your best, but you really need help. It's amazing to me that you don't even have a housekeeper or a nanny to lighten the load, look after the house and you."
"We did, she quit," said a boy with blond hair like his sister Katie, whose name was Jacob.
"Why did she quit?" Joanne asked.
"Dad, came onto her," Spencer said without blinking an eye. "Dad, is unaware that Jake saw him trying to seduce her and she kept telling him that he was married, that it wasn't in her job description. When dad went to far and tried to grab her and sexually molest her she quit on the spot. Dad kept telling her that he was paying her and he she would do anything he wanted and that included having sex with her employer if he wanted her to. She slapped him silly, so hard that he actually fell, leaving him totally flabbergasted as he certainly didn't expect it. She told him that she quit that he didn't need a job this bad, although she was sorry to leave his children, she wasn't going to stay in an environment where she could be sexually assaulted against her will. She left just a few hours later and dad never bothered to hire anybody else, which is probably just as well."
Aaron and Joanne looked at each other and a silent message seem to pass between them. They didn't doubt Spencer's story at all, because all they had discovered about William Reid over the last couple of weeks supported it.
"Your father sounds like a bastard," Joanne told the six children bluntly.
"I can't disagree," Zach said and the other five nodded. "You're right that we can't go on like we are. I'm so tired now, that I barely have the energy to stay awake in school, much less do everything else."
"You're basically old enough to look after yourselves, but you do need someone to do the laundry, the cooking and the other chores. I don't know what's going to your father's head, but how he can expect you to do it all is absolutely ludicrous. You should be able to concentrate on being children, having fun, getting good grades and so forth," Aaron said. "He might not be physically abusing you, except for when he hit Zach and he ended up in a coma for weeks, but he shouldn't expect you to be housekeeper and students at the same time and once your siblings arrive pretty soon there's no way you'll be able to keep up and your father probably won't hire anybody to look after them."
"After what happened with the last one?" Spencer said snorting in derision. "He's still muttering about medical bills, but considering that he's the one that caused Zach to be in the hospital in the first place the least he could do is pay the bills without muttering about it all the time. No, I don't see anyway that our father is going to hire anyone to help look after our siblings once they get here considering he's such a louse and whoever he did hire would just quit if he tried to rape her anyway so it's just as well."
"You know what your father's doing could be considered abuse, because from what we can find out about him he has plenty of money to hire help, as he does make a good living," Joanne told the six children,
"You've been investigating my family?" asked one of Spencer's sisters whose name was Deann.
"I was worried enough by what Spencer was telling me when we first met in Zach's hospital room that Aaron and I did some investigating and then had my dad who works for the FBI do some," Joanne told the adorable little girl. "My father, David Rossi, was outraged by what he learned, so he had my mother, Penelope, who's an expert on computers looking into it and let's just say that what they're finding does not please them. Dad has considerable influence, so if you want to be adopted by Aaron and I, dad already says that they'll help in anyway he can, as neither one of us wants any of you to be separated from your siblings, as there is no way that most people are going to take in six children plus several newborns. The six of you, plus your younger siblings would be parceled out to different foster homes, as I can't see child care services keeping more than two of you together. Most people except for vampires and some rich mortals don't have the resources to take in more than half a dozen children."
"Even if another shifter family wanted to take you in I doubt very much that they will have the money or the space to take all of you, not even with checks from the government every month," Aaron told the six children. "My wife and I are willing to take you in. We'll hire a nanny, likely several, because we still intend on having some children of our own and we have the space and the money, so it won't cause us any financial hardship. We don't expect you to, do anything except go to school, do your homework and maybe a few chores, since it's supposed to teach responsibility and all that. I have to admit that you are certainly more responsible already then most other children your age, so you don't need chores to teach you responsibility. We certainly won't have you working like you are now and you'll have plenty of time to do what you want and pursue your own interests."
"All of you need to be in a special school, one that is specifically designed for children with above-average intelligence and we'll happily pay any fees required. None of you should be bullied, because you're extremely intelligent, as it isn't something that you asked for, but were born with," Joanne said.
"You need to be around kids that have the same difficulties and interests that you do and not children that are less gifted. Children with more ordinary intelligence feel like you're showing off, even when you're really not and therefore your bullied, probably quite severely, just for being different."
All the children nodded at that.
"It would be so nice to go somewhere where we aren't bullied, just because we were so intelligent and not afraid to show it," Cristobal said wistfully, although she went by Crista just like a siblings went by Zach, Katie and Jake.
"And what do you expect in exchange for this supposed generosity," Spencer asked them bluntly. "People who are being so generous usually expect something in return for that generosity."
"I should've known you'd ask that, as I certainly would that if I was in a similar situation," Aaron chuckled, unoffended. "Really, all we expect is for you to be completely honest with us. We'll know if you're lying or stretching the truth and if you are in any sort of trouble it will just make your punishment worse. Yes, we're vampires and we do drink blood, but we never kill our victims as most of them just believe that they were drunk or mugged if that's what you're concerned about."
"Aaron and I love children, as we've had quite a few ever since we met in St. Louis, nearly 70 years ago and as Aaron told you he comes from an abusive childhood himself, so it makes him furious to see a child in a similar situation. As for me I didn't come from a abusive home and my parents love me and my siblings, but we were taught social responsibility and to help others, especially children that were in trouble. My father is well aware that parents abuse their children all the time and it's always made him furious, just like it makes Aaron and I furious. Now sometimes, there is no way to interfere, which hurts both my parents and the two of us when there's nothing they can do to get a child or children out of an abusive situation, particularly when it's physical abuse and not just neglect. In this case I think that there is something that Aaron and I can do. However, in this situation we're asking if you're willing to be adopted by us, because all of you are more than intelligent enough to understand that your situation cannot go on as it is. Don't think that Aaron and I don't understand that the six of you are near the end of your ropes, particularly when it comes to taking care of yourself and getting enough sleep. If you were vampire children, you'd already be all grown up and you wouldn't require sleep in the first place, but mortals have different requirements from vampires."
"Would you turn us into a vampire ourselves?" Cristobal asked.
"We've done it in the past, but every single child we've ever adopted made the decision for themselves," Aaron told the seven year olds honestly. "Most of them did decide to become vampires and so we were happy to do it once they reached 30, so that they looked similar in age to ourselves, but there have been a few that decided to remain mortal and they were allowed to. I won't claim that we didn't grieve for them once they died, but most of them left many descendants and we try to keep in contact with them, which is easier nowadays than it used to be."
"Why do you not change them until 30?" Spencer asked curiously. "It can't just be so that they look, similar in age to other vampires."
"That's not the only reason, although it is one of them," Joanne said. "Mostly it's because I think that is the appropriate age to turn someone, because it takes awhile for a mortal too mature not only agewise, but also emotionally and mentally. It gives them time to go to college with other children that are their age and to interact with them and perhaps, gain a different perspective. Once you are turned into a vampire whatever age you are changed is the age you remain for the rest of your eternity and trust me, you don't want to look like in 18 or 20 year for the rest of your existence, even if technically, you're much older, as you can be denied many opportunities, because people think you're too young and telling them you're a vampire, therefore much older than you look often doesn't produce positive results."
The six children looked at each other not having thought of that, but it was very true that when others looked at young people they were often discounted.
"Of course, if you happened to get some deadly disease like cancer, we would change you earlier, so long as you agreed, although I would hope you were at least 25 or 26 when and if that occurred," Joanne added.
"What about schizophrenia?" Zach asked shrewdly, but with hope in his eyes.
"I'm not sure if it's safe to turn somebody into a vampire if they have that particular disease, because it's not of the body, but of the mind," Aaron told them as gently as he could. "As far as I know nobody has ever been changed into a vampire that had it and I would hate to experiment on your mother for instance to see if it worked, because then she would never die, unless we killed her by setting her on fire and I wouldn't put anyone through that. Neither Joanne or I could do that to some woman who had no idea what was happening to her, especially since we don't know for sure rather if it would solve your mother's problem."
"If we knew for sure if it would work, then we'd do so, but we don't," Joanne gently added. "If we turned your mother into a vampire she would be stuck like that, which would be a disaster if it didn't correct her problem."
Zach and the others looked disappointed, but nodded in acceptance.
"I know you're disappointed, but sometimes there's truly nothing that can be done," Aaron said still in that gentle, understanding tone of voice.
"We can't do anything about your father's uncaring attitude for instance, no matter how much we might want to, because nothing can change your father from who he is, except the man himself."
"Dad's not interested in changing," Spencer snorted looking resigned. "If he was he would never have left us in this situation we're in."
"Probably not," Joanne agreed, "but while that is nothing we can do to change your father's attitude, there is something we can do for the six of you and your unborn siblings."
"I say we accept their offer," Cristobal said. "We can't keep on going like we have been and you all know that they're right when they said that there is no way that anybody will be willing to take on six children. Even if someone is, there is no way that they'll take on who knows how many newborns. We make sure mom eats, as much as she's capable of, so that our brothers and sisters will at least come out healthy and alive although probably considerably underweight, but we can't keep up with what we've been doing, because eventually it's going to get to be too much. I mean we're seven years old nearly eight true, but still, we're supposed to concentrate on being children, gifted children, but still children. I have nothing against hard work, since we've basically been raising ourselves, since before mom got pregnant again, but without any adult support..."
"I agree with Crista," Zach said. "We can't keep shouldering more responsibility, as we are nearly cracking under the strain of what we do now. Once our siblings are born, and it is probably at least quadruplets as huge as mom is, we just can't take on even more, go to school and do everything we do now. We all know that our father is worthless and refuses to do anything and half the time he doesn't even come home. We love mom and we know that her disease isn't her fault, but the way we've been taking care of her is not going to be enough forever. We simply can't do as much as a real doctor can. She needs to be under 24 hour care, have a real doctor prescribe medicine that will hopefully, bring her back to us. I know none of us like thinking of putting mom in one of those places, but it probably is for the best because we can't keep looking after her. You know how we worry when we have to go to school about what we'll find when we get home."
"Yeah, we're always afraid that we're going to come home and find her dead with slashed wrists or having drowned on the bathtub or that she fell and hit her head like Zach did and any of these things still might happen, which none of us want," Jacob said. "I believe that the Hotchners idea of adopting us really is the best solution, as they've been so nice to us. They could have easily called the authorities or at least child care services when they found out about our situation like most people would have. They are going to do their best to keep us together instead of sending us to separate foster homes, which is very generous of them. They're right when they say that there is almost no chance that one family is going to take in six children who are basically the same age and at least three or four newborns. We all know basically how the system works and that there are no guarantees that we'd end up in decent foster homes, much less several of them."
"Besides, we're sextuplets and we belong together, as we share special connection, because we were all born at the same time," added Spencer. "It's not right to separate those that were born at the same time, even if I know it happens far to often."
"It's not right to separate siblings, period," Katie said.
"Are you sure that you'll be able to adopt us?" Spencer asked Aaron and Joanne and looked slightly worried.
"Yes, Dave, my father, has a lot of pull and so does my mother for that matter," Joanne promised. "We've adopted before, which should be a matter of record, although I admit that was long before computers were as advanced as they are now, as we haven't done it in, probably 30 years."
"But most things are computerized now, old records included, unless of course, they were destroyed, by most likely natural means, whether that's by fire, flood, vermin or mice or just the natural disintegration of paper, as it doesn't last forever, depending on how it's stored," Spencer said.
Aaron's lips twitched at that as he wouldn't think a seven year old would know that, but then he was well aware Spencer and his siblings were unusual, as they we're very intelligent and he had no doubt that Spencer at least read a great deal or had used to before this current situation popped up. Really, he had come to realize that all the Reid children were very intelligent just from how they talked and the many things they knew that most children would have had no idea about at just seven.
Neither Joanne or Aaron were about to mention that if they didn't get their way, Penelope could always hack into child services computer system and change the records and the people involved would never know that she had been there. Unless the childcare worker was extremely prejudiced or stupid or both however, neither Aaron or Joanne felt that would be necessary this time. It was nice to have an excellent hacker in your corner and considering that Penelope had been born back in the late 1900s, where computers had never even been thought of that was pretty amazing. It certainly spoke of the learning capacity of vampires in general to be able to learn how to work new technology and not just the basics, but become expert at them.
"Alright then, we trust you," Spencer told them. "We can't see any reason why you're making this offer just to screw us over. What you said about a rotten childhood rings true for me and I can usually tell when someone's lying to me, although I realize that's not always true for one of your race."
"Besides, you were really kind to me and came to visit me even when you weren't on your rounds, you talked to me, not just to check up on my health, but to see how I was doing generally and that meant a lot to me," Zach added. "You really cared about my welfare and were concerned about my home life. I'm not saying the other doctors and nurses didn't care, but to them I was just a patient."
"You're more than welcome, that's why I became a doctor in the first place," Joanne said with a smile. "I always wanted to be one, but back when I was born they weren't very many female physicians and they certainly weren't as well regarded as the men. A lot of them never married and had families, because it was hard to find a man that respected, what they did and they often wanted them to give it up. Things are different now, but for centuries women didn't have a lot of freedom and it's only really since the 50 and 60 that women have been more respected, which took many centuries to get there."
"Alright then, here's what we want you to do," Aaron said pleased, as he and Joanne begin explaining exactly what they wanted the six children to do.
~~~Runaway Love~~~
"Wow! This place is huge," Katie commented.
Their plan had gone off without too many problems at all. Child services had acted quickly to the call from Spencer who had reported the abuse and how their father was never home and help them look after their siblings which had been born only a couple weeks ago.
The seven year olds had been nice enough to explain that they had been handling their mother who was very ill, going to school, cooking dinner doing the laundry and everything else, as their father was very rarely home. They had managed to get her to eat enough to keep the babies she was carrying healthy, but the strain of basically living two different lives was starting to wear on them.
They had been asked why they hadn't called sooner and Spencer had told them that they didn't want to be separated and put it different foster homes and the childcare workers had certainly understood that. The childcare workers were amazed at all the seven year olds had managed to accomplish on their own before it became too much for them.
They were going to be put in different foster homes before Aaron and Joanne had stepped forward and offered to take them all in including the newborn triplets. The childcare workers, wanted to know who they were and why they were willing to take so many children in, especially since they weren't vampires. Joanne had then explained that she was a doctor and that Zach had been one of her patients. His father had hit him so hard that he had fallen and hit his head against the sharp corner of a wooden table. He had been in a coma for a couple of weeks and Spencer had visited him and had opened up a little about his home life at her gentle probing.
She had been very concerned about all of them and so she and her husband had agreed that they would adopt all six of them, plus their newborn siblings if it became necessary to do so. She and Aaron had the money to support them, the space to raise them and the love to give them. It had also been explained by Aaron that they loved children and they didn't want to see the siblings sent to different homes, which won them several bonus points from most of the childcare workers involved in the case.
The childcare worker in charge was reluctant to agree because Joanne and Aaron were vampires, not because they weren't qualified. He'd had to give in, when Dave and Penelope had stepped forward, as well as several other people who weren't vampires themselves and said that they were good people. A lot of Joanne's coworkers had heard about her and her husband's adoption efforts and so had helped her out by bearing witness that they were good people, as they had done dinner and other activities with the couple in the past. Neither Joanne or Aaron were homebodies and enjoyed eating dinner with some of their friends and associates on occasion. People who accepted them for who they were instead hating them, just for being vampires with no real reason to do so.
The social worker who so disliked vampires had no choice, but to give in, because he knew that the Hotchners had enough money to take him to court for denying them the right to adopt, just because of what they were, if they so desired, not because they didn't meet all the guidelines. They met all the criteria for adoption, money, a more than spacious suburban home and having raised a ton of their own children, even if they didn't have any at present. They had adopted in the past, even if that was 30 years ago and since he didn't want the hassle of having to appear in court, as doing so might even make him lose his job and the fact that he'd likely lose the case anyway it just wasn't worth the time and effort to try to block them. He had no choice, but to approve the adoption, as much as it went against his grain to do so, but he knew he couldn't stand up to two vampires, who had a lot of useful connections that they weren't afraid to use if necessary. Not to mention that neither had ever broken the law that he could find and Dr. Hotchner was an upstanding doctor in pediatrics and had an excellent record for the last 30 years. Unfortunately, all these things counted against him blocking the adoption.
The way that Aaron Hotchner smirked at him made him grind his teeth in frustration and impotent rage, but there was nothing he could do and he knew it.
"Yes, it is, and it's never been completely filled with children, although we've had quite a few at one time," Joanne told them on a tour and then showed them their bedroom. "Aaron and I thought that you might want separate bedrooms, as you can see we have plenty of space so there's no reason for you to share unless you want to."
"Of course, if you still want to share that's okay too, as the rooms are plenty big enough for that," Aaron added. "I suspect that you won't be spending much time in your rooms anyway, except to sleep or if you want some privacy. As you can see we've outfitted them with the newest computer equipment, bed, dresser, chest of drawers, but we'll be happy to add anything you like, change the color of the walls if you want them repainted."
"And what about new siblings?" Spencer asked.
"They'll all share a single bedroom for now, until they're little bigger, the one beside the master bedroom," Joanne told the six of them. "We're in the process of hiring somebody, a nanny to help look after them, so that you can just concentrate on doing your homework and getting good grades in school. Of course, you're welcome to help out looking after them whenever you have free time, but you should also have time to relax and just be children. At the moment your three siblings are still in the hospital because they needed to stay there for awhile, because even though you did a good job of getting your mother to eat enough to keep them alive they're still severely underweight. They're going to be staying in the hospital until they weigh at least 5 pounds apiece and the doctors say they're healthy. That they survived, considering that they were less than 3 pounds apiece, is just a testament to the shifter genes, as it is unlikely that they all would have survived if they had been human or even a magical. A shifters pregnancy is also a whole trimester shorter then a human or a magical, so you definitely did an excellent job in getting your mother to eat enough that your siblings all lived.
"And they'll be okay?" Zach asked, in genuine concern.
"They'll be just fine and they'll be able to leave the hospital soon," Joanne promised. "Perhaps, if a shifter pregnancy was nine months instead of six they might weigh a little bit more than two to just under three pounds apiece. Don't worry, I'm getting progress reports, because the nurses know me. They know that Aaron and I are in the process of adopting them, as well as you and just as soon as they can leave the hospital, we'll bring them home," Joanne promised.
"Well, good," Zach said looking relieved, as did the others.
"What's going to happen to our father?" Cristobal asked.
"Your father's going to prison," Aaron said calmly, but with an inner smirk. "Not only did he neglect you and your basic needs, basically, leaving you to raise yourselves, since your mother was incapable of that, but the police have traced some very serious crimes to him as well and it wasn't to hard once the authorities knew what to look for. You'll likely have to testify to your father's neglect, so we're going to stay in the area until then and until the adoption goes through."
"You were thinking about moving?" asked Jacob in surprise.
"Vampires never stay in one place for more than a few decades," Aaron explained. "I would think you'd want to get out of the same city, where people know what happened to you. People can't help but gossip about such a thing, as unfortunately, it's human nature to just love a good scandal and although we tried to keep it quiet, most the time that's just not possible. Of course, it's not only humans that love to gossip, but shifters, vampires and magicals to, so in other words, everybody. A lot of people are very callous, thoughtless and don't care if their gossiping hurts others and most the time they don't even think about the fact that they should just keep what they know to themselves. Joanne and I just thought that you'd like to move someplace new, away from all the gossip, even if it's not maliciously intended it still hurts that total strangers know about what happened with your father and your mother's illness and how she died after having a c-section. It hurts to see people discuss it, as if it doesn't mean anything as people never think about who they're hurting, even when children are involved."
"None of you need to be hearing that, so you'll be homeschooled until we move someplace new as Aaron and I have done that in the past," Joanne said.
"Yeah, you have to with vampire children, because they grow up so fast," Aaron said. "They learn at an incredible rate and their mental intelligence is leaps and bounds ahead of mortal children, so we should be able to keep the six of you interested and hopefully, you won't be bored like I know you were in public school. We'll teach you all the things that you need to know for college, not just simple math, but calculus and algebra. By the time you're already to go to a special school for gifted children and then college, which will probably be a couple years earlier than your average student, you'll be ready to go to any of the best schools in the country Harvard for example or Stanford or any school that you choose."
"You could even go over to England and go to Oxford if you wanted to," Joanne told six of them with a wink. "For right now you just need to concentrate on recovering from trying to live basically two lives as you had so much that needed to be done, just to keep up that you never had time to get as much sleep as you should have or just be kids. Hell, I'm surprised you didn't collapse from exhaustion much sooner, so there will be no classes for a week or two until I'm sure you've recovered. You need to eat far more for example then you have been able to manage for the last six months, as I'll be surprised if you've had more than one decent meal a day for all that time and for shifters, particularly young ones like yourself, need a great deal of meat to reach your full height and body musculature."
"We know, as mom made sure to tell us this it was when we were 5?" Katie asked trying to remember.
"That's right," Spencer confirmed, since he was the one with the eidetic memory. "We had just turned five when she started to tell us what she knew about the shifter species, things that dad should've taught us, but never bothered."
"Which is another crime to lay your father's door, even if it's not something he can be prosecuted for, which is a shame in my opinion," Aaron told six of them. "In any case, he'll be going to prison for many years, if he manages to survive his stint, maybe, he'll realize that there are lots of things he could've done differently and there are some things like his children that are more important."
"There's no need to sugarcoat it for us," Jacob said, "as we're well aware of that shifters die in prison quite frequently, much more frequently than humans or magicals, because of the fact that they are part animal and if he does good riddance."
"I can't really blame you for feeling like that, considering his neglect," Aaron told Jacob, his tone understanding.
"If we do move someplace else, we'll make sure we bring you back to visit your mother's grave, as frequently as we can," Joanne promised. "Both Aaron and I know that you loved your mother and it wasn't really her fault that your father refused to help her when she got pregnant again. How a father, particularly a shifter, can treat his own family so callously and expect them to do everything is beyond me. I know it happens, but usually there's only one child involved sometimes two not six or more.
"And usually it's not a shifter either," Zach suggested shrewdly.
"No, it's usually a human," Aaron admitted with a little smile, "as most magicals treat their children very well, with love and discipline, although there are those that do abuse them, but it's a smaller percentage. For shifters the percentage of those who abuse their families is smaller still, since you're also dealing with a shifter's animal instincts, which is usually geared towards protecting and loving their pups."
"Your father was an aberration and people like him don't need to marry, but we have no idea what he was like, before you lot came along," Joanne said.
"We also need to clear up your mother's estate, as she made a respectable sum while she was still able to teach, although it isn't much split between the six of you," Aaron said. "You don't need to worry about that though, as we'll take care of all you need and send you to the college of your choice when you're old enough, as you're our children now or will be once the adoption goes through, so all you need to worry about is just being children."
"So we can really design our rooms anyway we want?" asked Deann.
"Yes, we'll repaint or wallpaper or anything you want, as we just bought the basics," Joanne promised.
"A very nice laptop computer is basic?" Spencer asked, astonishment lacing his voice.
"This is a computer age and it'll be easy to do your homework and things if you're not fighting over just one computer," Joanne told them with a wink. "My mother, Penelope, knows all about computers and she gave us advice on what to get for the six of you. She ought to know as she works as the technical analyst for the behavior analysis unit of the FBI, right alongside my father and is very, very good at what she does."
"When your siblings get to the appropriate age they'll be given a laptop of their own, as will any children we have ourselves. Of course, what you're out on your own it will be your responsibility to replace it when you need to, but since we set up healthy trust funds for all our children that won't be a problem," Aaron said.
"We're also connected to the internet, so when you enter high school you'll be able to do research for whatever paper you have to write," Joanne said.
"And it will definitely come in useful when you go off to college," Aaron grinned.
"I think we're ready to go to college now," Zach stated, "and I've read where somebody who was much younger then us went, because he passed high school so early."
"Academically you might be ready to go," Joanne told them, "but the other students will resent you and trust me, that's hard for anybody, much less someone as young as you are. You need time to grow and mature and even if you go at say 14, kids, especially teenagers can be cruel, as you are well aware of."
"We would have to make arrangements to have you taken to college for your classes every day since you wouldn't be able to drive until you are at least 16. We would have to find someone who's willing to take in all six of you and give you room and board at least, but only if you decided to go to same college, instead of different ones. I'm not saying that these problems can't be solved, but still as Joanne said you might be academically ahead, but you don't need to be going to college before you at least 14 or 15. You need to learn how to act around children your own age, even if I know how hard that's going to be with kids who are as intelligent as you are, but you'll have a much easier time getting along with your future coworkers at a job, if you don't show off even if you don't mean to."
"Nobody likes a know-it-all, but this is particularly true of children and teenagers, but a lot of adults don't like showoffs either," Joanne told the six of them. "You don't have to spout off facts unless they are asked for, even if you know them, as that just makes people resent or even hate you, because they see you as a know-it-all who's trying to show up how intelligent they are."
"You don't have to dumb yourselves down, which I know what you're thinking, you just need to let people get to know the real you gradually. Your drive to excel is a good goal, but every young person needs friends and the reason the other kids didn't want to be around you is because not only were you considerably younger than they were, you showed yourself to be way smarter. It was if you were saying 'look I'm way smarter than you are so there,'" Aaron said.
"So we just need to learn not to showoff," Spencer said slowly.
"Once you get to this new school, one that's for children like you that are very intelligent, you will be among other's of your own sort, but still you need to learn to interact with others that are of more normal intelligence, as very few people know how to look beneath the surface and see who you really are on the inside and this is especially true of humans I'm afraid," Joanne said.
"In other words, you need to learn to blend in and not stick out, because you spout off all you know on a particular subject," Aaron said. "Just because you have above-average intelligent does not mean you can't learn to interact smoothly with others."
"Aaron and I will help you of course, we'll be happy to," Joanne said.
"How do we learn something that we've had trouble with ever since we were small?" asked Cristobal.
"Its not that you've been having trouble with it," Joanne told the young girl gently. "You just didn't have any extracurricular activities with others that were similar to yourself. I bet you stuck mostly around home after school, even when your mother was well. There are plenty of clubs, and organizations that cater to every age group and those that cater to children like yourselves, who have more intelligence than your average student. Your parents should have asked you what you were interested in doing for fun and enrolled you or they should've asked you to at least try a program or activity to see if you enjoyed it. That your father in particular, didn't do these things, as your mother took ill, it's a testament to how he didn't really care about you. You likely would have grown up being awkward around other people, other than your siblings and possibly a few people who were just as you were, as that happens far to often with people who have high intelligence."
"In other words, there was a very strong possibility of you never getting married and having a family as the odds would've been extremely slim because you probably wouldn't've had enough confidence to even ask out a girl or a boy as the case might be," Aaron said
"And if we met our mates?" Katie asked.
"If you did, although it would have been slim odds, just like it is for vampires, then that's the only time I can see you possibly having the courage to actually ask them out. Of course, you still might very well ask someone out, but if you acted all nervous the likelihood is that whoever you did would have turned you down, maybe even made fun of you and not in a good way," Joanne said.
"Even if they accepted a date with you, if they saw how nervous and unconfident you were after you had been dating for awhile, then you likely would have broken up after just a few dates. Most people like someone who is confident in themselves, but not arrogant. However, there're all different types of people in the world and some of those who are arrogant in the right way, get a lot of women. Basically, that means they are arrogant about their abilities, or about themselves, but who care about other people. Unfortunately, peoples personalities are many and varied, so it's not always easy to find the person meant for you. "
"All of you will make your mark on the world in time I have no doubt about that at all and if you want to start your own businesses once you're old enough and have the experience and knowledge to make it a success then Aaron and I will help you in any way we can. However, trust me, you'd rather be known for your good deeds and willingness to help others and not for your arrogance or causal disregard for others, as it's a much better legacy to leave your children should you eventually have them," Joanne said.
"If you just want to live quietly with your family, that's okay too, as just because you're extremely intelligent doesn't necessarily mean that you have to make your mark on the world."
"In other words, treat your spouse and children with the same courtesy that you would expect to be treated," Zach said.
"Exactly," Aaron said smiling approvingly. "Yes, Joanne I are mates, but that doesn't mean we haven't had our arguments, particularly when we were first getting to know each other, but I have always treated her with respect and as an equal, so we make decisions together, even though that wasn't common when we met back in the early 1920s, as men were expected to be in charge and women were often treated as second or even third class citizens, particularly among those that were rich, but also among the more common class. It was extremely rare for women to be treated as equals by men back then."
"Women were expected to bear the children and run the home, maybe do some charity work, but that was really about it. There was a time that mortal woman were barely taught to read, as it was considered an unnecessary skill," Joanne said. "Things have changed considerably, since I was born, but still in a lot of ways, by a lot of people women still aren't treated as equals. I know I'm incredibly lucky, to not only have Aaron, but that we met, when I was so young, in mortal years anyway, and that he's always treated me as an equal. We have a very close relationship, because he doesn't treat me like I'm a second or third class citizen, like so many people would. Not everybody is as lucky as I have been, as not only do I have a loving and supportive family, I'm one of the few that's found my mate. A lot of spouses wouldn't put up with me going to college in the 60s to become a doctor and also my long hours. It's not always easy to be married to a doctor who often work shifts back to back, but since I went into pediatrics that doesn't happen so much."
"Why would anybody want to spend so much time away from their mate?" Jacob asked genuinely puzzled.
"Because we can't be together all the time, no matter how close we are," Aaron told the boy gently. "Vampires get bored rather easily, and yes, we spent considerable time together back when our bond was still new. We've been together for nearly 70 years now though and while I miss Joanne while she's at work, she's free to do what she wants with her life, as she can quit at any time. She could retire for decades if she really wanted to and could go back to work at some hospital, once she took the current college courses, as procedures, technology and techniques can change in that amount of time. I've certainly had jobs over the years that I worked for a decade or two before I got bored with it, as I'm centuries older than Joanne is. You have to do something when you live for eternity, in order to stave off boredom."
"It's not necessarily about the money involved, although that is a great added bonus, since vampires, just like mortals, won't work for free, no matter how much money they have, but about doing something they enjoy. I enjoy helping the children to get well, although it can be sad to as some of them die, because they have an incurable disease like cancer and you can't turn the young child into a vampire because if you did they'd never grow up," Joanne said. "So to change the subject, why don't you go look at your rooms and tell us how you want then redecorated and we'll be happy to do so."
"You don't have to give a separate bedrooms as we'll be happy to share one, as it's what we are used to after all," Spencer said.
"If you want to do that that's fine, but why should you have to when we have about 40 empty bedrooms?" Aaron asked them. "I mean you might want to go somewhere for privacy just to have a few minutes to yourself. I know you shared a bedroom in the house in your parents, but you don't have to now."
"Why don't you just try live in separate rooms and if after a month or so you still can't get comfortable, then you can share," Joanne suggested. "Really, you're going to have to get used to having your own room, because once you grow up, you're going to be on your own and not sharing an apartment. You'll still be close, whether or not if you share a bedroom, but I just thought that this might give you a place to go when you want privacy. I doubt you got very much of that living with your parents. You might just find that you like having your own space and Aaron and I will never have enough children at one time to fill up so many bedrooms."
"We'll give it a try," Spencer said glancing in his siblings.
"Excellent," Joanne said pleased.
"I want bookcases in mine as I love to read," Spencer said glancing in the doorway of the bedroom that Joanne showed him, that was large enough for him and his two brothers and yet it was all his.
"We do have a library," Aaron told him and watched as Spencer's eyes widened in astonishment at that.
"You actually have a library?" Spencer breathed. "I've never known a house that had its own library before."
"It came with one and yes, we have bought books to fill it," Joanne told Spencer in an amused tone of voice. She suspected that reading had been one of the few ways that Spencer at least had to escape his situation and made him not think about his sick mother or his neglectful father. "We even have a few children's books for when our own children were young, but they outgrew them awfully fast."
"We outgrew children's books by the time we were three," Deann told them.
"We haven't had much chance to read, in the last year or so," Jacob said wistfully.
"We barely had time to eat or sleep, in six months at least," Cristobal said.
"Yes, Joanne and I are very proud of how responsible you were," Aaron told them. "You did a very good job of looking after your mother and because you did such a good job your siblings are going to grow up instead of being stillborn or dying after they are born, because they're too underweight to live or die because of some other complication. It's a shame that your mother died, because if only she'd had the proper care she likely would've lived, even if that would have been in an institution. I know you did your best and really, you did better than could be expected, considering the odds were stacked against you, so just remember that you did all you could to help your mother as well as yourselves at seven years old and should be proud of your accomplishments."
"Now it's time for dinner and I think that for tonight at least, we'll order pizza," Joanne now.
"Yay!" all six of the children cheered.
"We haven't had pizza in an awfully long time," Deann said.
"So why don't you tell me what you want on your pizza?" asked Aaron, happy to see the sextuplets actually acting like children, because in his opinion they had been acting like miniature adults long enough, even if he could understand why they had been.
Still they weren't like vampire children, who grew up in just seven years and they needed time to just be kids, even if they were very responsible and serious kids.
All the sextuplets started talking about what they wanted on their pizza at the same time and Aaron and Joanne looked at each other, smiling over the children's heads, thinking that they were off to a good start.
~~~Runaway Love~~~