Nick's POV
I wanted to know more about Clark's mom and what has happened to him. I mean this whole situation is just very odd. I mean, he basically doesn't exist because he doesn't seem to have any records. I managed to find his birth certificate, but finding that was like hacking into protected files; it was very difficult.
At least I found out what Clark's birthday was; November 23rd. But the odd thing with the birth certificate was that Clark's father was not listed. Just his mother Lila. But no father.
And that seemed to really be the only thing I could find on Clark.
When I got home, I decided to research his mother. Maybe I could find something there. But she seemed to be a mystery too. It kept leading me to people on Facebook with the same name.
It's like Clark barley exist other than his birth.
Birth. That's it. On his birth certificate, his mother was listed as Valerie L. Richards. I guess that Lila was her maiden name and she must have changed it sometime after Clark's birth.
I typed her name in and then a got a bunch of results. I might have found something.
Clark's POV
I walked with Janie out of the school and when I saw Jeff, said goodbye and then ran over to him and held onto him. I was happy to see him. He really did come for me.
"Hey buddy." Jeff says and then picks me up. "Did you have a good day?" I nodded. "I knew you would. Now let's go home. I wonder what Nick is making us tonight." Jeff says as he opens the car door and puts me down so I can get in.
"Can I come back tomorrow?" I ask once Jeff and I are in the car.
"Yes." Jeff says and I grin. I get to come back and play with Janie again.
Nick's POV
I am looking at the results I found on Clark's mother and what I found was- I didn't even know how to describe it. Then I heard the door being unlocked and closed the stuff I was looking at. They didn't need to see that, Jeff could see later when we were alone.
Jeff and Clark came into the room and smiled as I got up and went over to them. I gave Jeff a kiss on the cheek. "How was work darling?" I asked him.
"Gave a pop quiz because my kids weren't paying attention when we were going over notes. Only two people managed to get more than four questions right." Jeff says. I shook my head, but hopefully his kids learned. "I won't put them in the grading system this time, as long as they learned from this."
I laughed a bit and then looked down at Clark. I picked him up and ruffled his hair. "And how was your first day of school?" I asked him. "Are you friends with the entire school yet?"
"I could see he made a special friend." Jeff whispers. "Tell him."
"Her name is Janie."
"Ooo, a girl. Is she pretty?" Nick says. He could hear the wedding bells already.
"She's nice." Clark says, I guess he didn't feel comfortable answering that. "I sat with her and Danny at lunch and played with them at recess. And we played this math game and I got the answer right first and got a piece of chocolate."
"That's great!" I praised.
"I knew you would have fun." Jeff says and then goes upstairs to get changed.
"How about I get you a snack to eat before dinner?" I asked Clark and he nodded, he was always hungry and I didn't think a small snack would hurt before dinner. I put him down and we go into the kitchen and give a mango, cut up into pieces and put it on the table in front of him.
I then started to cut up some vegetables on the counter and Jeff came down a few moments later. I smiled as he came over to me, but I focused on where the knife was going so I didn't cut my fingers off.
"So what's on the menu for tonight?" Jeff asks.
"Carrots, beef and mashed potatoes." I say as I finish cutting up the carrots and then glance over at Clark, who seemed to look upset. I stopped cutting and went over to him. "Hey, what's the matter?"
"I don't wanna eat anymore." Clark says. I see that there were four pieces of mango left, he only ate three. This was strange; usually he eats just about everything I put on his plate.
"Why not? I thought you were hungry."
"I am." Clark says and I sighed. Was this where he wanted a cookie instead of something healthy? Well I guess all kids could go through that.
"Clark, I already cut this up for you." I started to say and then he looked up at me with those pleading eyes, he really didn't want the mango. "Clark, I'm not going to give you something else."
"But—But it makes my throat hurt." Clark says—wait what?
"What do you mean? Has it been hurting all day?" I ask, was Clark coming down with something? I feel his forehead and he didn't have a fever.
"No, this made it hurt. It always makes it hurt." Clark says. I then turned back to Jeff. "Get me a flashlight." I say and then take Clark into the living room, having him lay down on the sofa.
Jeff's POV
I get Nick the flashlight and stand beside him. I didn't know what was going on, but something was wrong with Clark and I was worried. "What's going on?" I asked.
"I don't know, but I have an idea." Nick says. "Clark, I need you to open your mouth for me, buddy." Nick says gently and Clark sits up quickly and shakes his head. I could tell by the look on Clark's face that he was scared. I would be too, his throat was just suddenly hurting and now someone wanted to look in his mouth. He would not be okay with it.
"Clark, I really need to see—" Nick started to say, but Clark shook his head quickly. "Clark—"
"Nick, he's scared and confused." I say.
"Clark, I just want to see why your throat's hurting you. I am not going to hurt you. I'm just going to look in your mouth with a light, that's all." Nick says, more gently. "How about if you sit on Jeff's lap?" Nick asks. I remembered how holding Clark helped him calm down when Nick cleaned his cut. He probably was thinking if I held him again, maybe it'd make him feel better.
"Come here buddy." I said and picked Clark up and then placed him in my lap once I sat down on the couch. "Now can you let him see? He wants to make it better?" I wrapped my arms around Clark and then he opened his mouth. I watched as Nick turned on the flashlight and looked in his mouth.
"How does it look?" I asked.
"As I thought it would." Nick says and turns off the flashlight. "He's allergic to the mango. That's why his throat is hurting. It's not severe as it could be, but I guess that could be a good thing." Nick says and then comes back with some kind of liquid.
"Clark, this will help with your throat." Nick says and pours some into a cup. "I promise it'll make you feel better." Nick says, I guess he knew Clark didn't want to take that. I wouldn't have wanted to take that. But Clark took the cup and swallowed the liquid.
I held Clark in my arms after Nick took the bottle back into the kitchen and probably finished making dinner. I rubbed Clark's back and then eventually Nick came back into the room, and then Clark looked up at him.
"Does your throat feel any better buddy?" Nick asks and Clark nods. I grinned, at least that stuff helped.
"I don't have to finish the mango, do I?" Clark asks.
"Of course not—actually I don't want you eating those since you're allergic to them." Nick says.
"Do I still get dinner?" Clark asks.
"Of course, why would you think you wouldn't get dinner?" Nick asks, I was curious myself.
"Because I didn't eat all the mango."
"Oh sweetie, I thought you just wanted something else because you were being picky. I'm not going to force you or deny you food since you don't want to eat something that makes you feel bad. You shouldn't have mangos since you are allergic to them." Nick says and I look and see that Clark's spirits are brightened.
"Now, how about I order us some pizza?" Nick asks, probably thought Clark might like it after what just happened. And Nick didn't really like cooking all that much either.
Clark nods happily. "Can we get pepperoni and black olives?" Clark asks and I look at Nick with a smirk. He sighs and nods.
"This is why I like you. You like good pizza toppings." I joked and then ruffled Clark's hair. Then I look at Clark and he seems upset. "Hey, what's the matter? Is your throat hurting again or something?"
"What if I didn't like olives?" Clark questioned.
"Uhh, I'm sure Nick would like to talk to you about how disgusting he thinks they are." I say. "But, hey tell me what's wrong."
"You said you like me because I like them. You wouldn't like me if I didn't?" Clark states and I frown.
"No, no, that was a joke. I'd like you no matter what you liked." I say and wrap my arms back around him and hold Clark close.
"Does Nick like me even though I like them and he doesn't?" Clark then asks.
"Of course he does." I say and then look up at Nick when he comes back in. I wonder if he heard what Clark just says.
"Clark, we like you for you. Not just because you like or don't like something we like or don't like." Nick says. "We just like you and I promise you, nothing will change that."
"Promise?" Clark asks.
"Promise." Nick and I say in unison and then we both hug him.
Nick's POV
I had put Clark to bed and then went on the computer and then soon after that, Jeff came down and found me. I turned to him and I knew what was on his mind.
"What Clark said earlier was bothering you, isn't?" I questioned. "Jeff it wasn't your fault. Parents joke like that all the time, how were you supposed to know that he would take it seriously?"
"That's not what bothers me. What bothers me is that he thought we only like him for a like or dislike or whatever." Jeff says. "And don't you notice how he always did what he was told when he was told and all that. It's like he is afraid of doing something wrong. As if we won't like him anymore if he does something wrong."
"I did notice that." I say, which is why I wanted to look more into him. See if I could find anything. Even foster kids, don't typically have Clark's type of behavior. And some typically have the complete opposite behavior. "Listen, I was trying to find more about his mom—"
"There's basically nothing." Jeff states.
"Yes, but after a lot of searching I managed to find Clark's birth certificate." I started to say, but then Jeff cut in.
"Really? When's his birthday?"
"November 23rd, but that's not where I was going—"
"Sorry."
"—anyways, on his birth certificate, his mother is listed as Valerie Richards." I say and watched Jeff's facial expression to see if he was catching on. "Anyways, sometimes after Clark's birth, she must have changed her name. Then I searched her name and I found a bunch of things."
"Like what?"
"Well for one thing, she has two DUI's. And there was something about her getting involved with a couple of fugitives."
"What—"
"Drug dealers mostly, but one of them was also a sexual predator."
"She has a child and was having relations with—"
"I'm guessing she just stayed with them so she could get money to live off." I say. "And from what I can see, she was a prostitute…" That wasn't uncommon. And I guess that was why Clark was familiar with being left alone for a while. It was a norm for him while living with his mom. And maybe since there wasn't too much money, she would just give Clark something small to eat and if he didn't eat it, he wouldn't eat. Maybe he's had that experience with the mango before but his mother didn't care if he was allergic. I guess she didn't even think about taking him to a doctor.
"I guess this also explains why Clark barley has any records. She lays low and Clark has no records besides his birth." Jeff says. "How could anyone—"
"I don't know Jeff—anyways, I guess this might explain Clark's behavior." Nick says and he knew there was probably more to it than what he could find and only Clark could have experienced, but he doubted he would want to talk about it. "Anyways, we better get some rest. Melinda is going to come by tomorrow isn't she?"
"I thought that wasn't for a couple of days." Jeff said.
"It was, but she rescheduled for tomorrow because something else has come up." I say. I really hoped tomorrow went well.
"Do you think it'll go okay?" Jeff asks, nervously.
"I hope so." I say as I wrap my arms around him. "You love him, don't you?" I questioned, I could see how happy Jeff seemed to be with Clark. And Jeff just seemed to be a natural dad. And since Clark started staying with us, life had seemed to be better. And from what I could see, Clark liked it here; hopefully.
"Of course I do. I think I started on the first day." Jeff says and I smile.
"Me too." I say. "But it's all up to Clark. He has to want to stay here." I just really hope that I'm right about Clark seeming to like it here. And liking us. I loved him and even though it hasn't been long, Jeff and I love him like he is our own. It hasn't been a week and I can't imagine what it would be like to lose him. We love Clark and really hope he wants to stay here as much as we want him to.
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