A/N: Yes. Week Nine is over now...
Week Nine - UDC 9 - Reunion at the Grocery Store
41. Explosive
In the hours since church that morning, Helen had changed her mind about not being at the store to actually buy anything, which was why she'd sent Nick and Walt off to the meat department and she was standing with Pete in the Soup aisle, watching while he looked up at the cans. Down at the other end of the aisle, the woman and one toddler from the Polaroid picture was watching them with a smile. "What kind of soup do you want?"
It took him a minute and then he reached out for one and handed it to her. "We used to have that one when Dad was on leave."
Helen frowned at the Bean with Bacon soup. "Just when he was on leave?"
"Mom didn't much like it."
"But you do?"
Pete nodded, turned, froze, and then turned back to her with wide eyes. "I... can I go say hi?"
"Go on." Helen put the can of soup in the cart and grabbed five more when he'd turned and started walking really fast. A reminder of his missing parent was a good thing, after all.
42. Speed
She hadn't expected him to be so open or excited to see her, was what came to mind as Chelsea watched him walk swiftly towards her, an expression of mixed emotion on his face. When he got close enough, Pete didn't start with words and instead hugged her. "I'm happy to see you, too. So much."
Pete looked up at her, smiling in a way that went all the way to his green eyes. "Does Nicky still have colic?"
"No, and he's over in the meat department with Noah." She raised her head and nodded to the woman who had to be Mrs. Bradshaw. "Introduce me?"
Pete blinked, then remembered where they were and stopped hugging her. "Oh. Mrs. Bradshaw, this is Chelsea. Chelsea, this is Helen Bradshaw. They were our neighbors."
"Good to meet you," Mrs. Bradshaw said with a responding smile, widening when Maggie laughed at them. "And you, too, little one." She hid, or tried to, behind Chelsea's arm. "Oh. Sorry, didn't mean to scare her."
"No, Maggie's fine. She's just not sure of new people." She smiled when Pete tried playing peek-a-boo with her. "Pete, why don't you go find Noah? He'll be happy to see you, too."
43. Thought
Helen watched Pete actually run this time and shook her head in amusement. "I know he was understating the connection, by the way."
Chelsea sighed. "Well, he's not wrong. Before he lived with us for five months, we were their neighbors. How were your first two days, so far, with him?"
"Actually? Not as bad as it could have been." Helen's attention dropped to Maggie. "How old?"
"The twins will be three in June," Chelsea said after a moment, startled that she'd ask, and then startled again when Helen nodded in understanding.
"Twins and a nine-year-old who had complicated stressors," Helen said slowly. "And the colic he was worried about. That explains so much. I'm sorry."
Chelsea smiled. She could understand, now, why Alan liked them. "How did you end up with him, anyway? Alan didn't tell us much."
"Actually? My son saw him in the cafeteria two weeks ago, got really concerned by what he saw, and offered him half a sandwich," Helen explained, watching her reaction. "He brought him up to me several times after that, and I started making two lunches. I only met him on Friday night, though."
Chelsea tickled Maggie's side playfully as she checked her watch. "That's long enough. Shall we go catch up?"
"We shall."
44. Absorb
It wasn't odd for his father to chat with people at the grocery store, but the red-headed man and his son in the shopping cart had drawn his attention so quickly that Nick was left wondering what it was about these two that would attract his father's attention like that. It wasn't until the man held out his hand to Nick himself that he understood. "I'm Noah. You?"
At his father's nod, Nick returned the gesture. "Nick." He looked questioningly at his father.
"It's why we're here," Walt told him, and was then cut off by a joyful yell as someone short latched onto Noah's waist.
"Noah!"
Noah laughed and picked Pete up with barely any effort. "Hey there! Goodness, how light are you, kid?" Pete, now higher, grabbed onto him again, and Noah shrugged at Nick's open-mouthed reaction. "Used to live with us."
"My Noah."
"Oh yeah? I thought I was Chelsea's Noah?"
"Share?"
Was it Nick's imagination, or did Pete actually sound younger? "So, you'd be THAT Noah."
"And you'd be the kid that Alan Jenkins likes so much," Noah replied with a smile.
"Glad Nicky don't have colic no more," Pete told him, causing Noah to blink in surprise at his wording.
"Dad, is he..."
"Give him a minute," his father cautioned. "It's been three years, after all, and we didn't tell him."
45. Change
Noah stared at Pete, so close in his arms before a tugging at his shirt made him look down at Nicky, watching them with a puzzled frown. "Oh, right. Nick? Say hello to Nicky."
The teenager frowned at him, then offered a finger to Nicky who grinned up at him and pulled him closer. "Hi there. Colic, huh?"
"Was awful," Pete put in, voice less happy.
"Yes," Noah agreed. "Can I put you down now?"
Pete blinked, suddenly realizing that Walt was watching them with raised eyebrows and a slight smile. "Sorry?"
"Don't be," Walt told him, then glanced into the refrigerated case and nodded to himself. He grabbed a plastic bag from the dispenser and put four packages of cube steak into it. "He that light to you, Mr. Finney?"
"For being twelve? Yes."
"That's what I thought. Hard to tell without actually putting him on a scale." Walt turned and put the cube steak in their cart, then regarded Pete seriously as Noah set him down. "If you're hungry, you need to tell us. Doesn't matter if we ate two or three hours ago, your body is trying to tell you things." Noah frowned curiously at him. "Tried saying he wasn't when his stomach was noisy this morning."
"Ah."
Pete looked to Nick, who was playing finger tug-of-war with Nicky. "Okay."
"He's right, you know," Nick told him. "I can't tell you how many times I've been voraciously hungry and gone on a tear, only for Ma to measure me later and find I'd gained an inch. Where is Ma, anyway?"
"In the soup aisle, with Chelsea and Maggie." Pete bounced on his toes, all smiles suddenly. "They have Bean with Bacon!"