Review Replies and Note:

Cheeseisawesome: Thank you and I like your name! Thank you also for the chapter suggestion, you weren't the only one who noticed that and I agree, so it's fixed now.

timcapsule: Thanks for reading it cough cough Finally cough cough. And thanks for the heads up on those problems, I fixed them I think. You may need to reread evil grin. And no, Crackers is not mine, but if he was I'd be happy!

Chapter 6: Preparations

Clocks chimed in cacophony in in the clock room downstairs. The distant noise reached his ears in an echo, drawing him to the surface of sleep like a breath of air. He opened his eye and smiled to himself at his surroundings. The sun streamed in, it was a beautiful day, but he wasn't getting up yet. He rested his head on the pillow, trying to remember the dream he'd been having. It had been a good dream, a great dream in fact, but he couldn't seem to remember it. Only that he'd been on a picnic or maybe at a party with someone. At any rate the feeling was still there and it was wonderful.

With a careful stretch, Wilt emerged from beneath the bed and was hit with the memory of last night. Satin stretched beside him, her voice soft with embarrassment and choked with emotion. A blush rose to his face for no reason he could name. Out of all the people in the house she knew she had come to him. Why? "She knows I help people." He thought, "And besides, we're friends so of course she'd come to one of her friends." His hand rose to his cheek for a moment, then he smiled and shook his head. It had only been a friendly endearment. Satin was a sweet girl, a kind imaginary friend, and a lovely person, which meant a friend was about as much as she would ever be to Wilt. "It's not that I'm not optimistic, it's just . . ." he sighed to himself as he began stretching, " . . . I can't keep thinking that everyone's going to be a Jodee. I can't believe that people will always accept me." A nagging thought flitted through his head, "But Jodee didn't accept you in the end . . . Did she?" Immediately he defended her, "No, it wasn't like that! She had to give me up. It's okay . . . Really . . ." For the first time in years, Wilt felt a lump rising in his throat at the thought of Jodee.

"Buenos dias, Wilt." came a gruff voice from the top bunk, "Doing your morning exercise? Wilt? You are listening?"

"Hmm? What? Oh, I'm sorry Eduardo. I was thinking." Wilt said hastily through his emotions.

"Thinking? About what?" he replied.

"Nothing," Wilt paused, he hated to lie to Eduardo but . . . Some things were best kept to yourself, besides, he didn't want to upset the gentle giant, "Just wondering how today's going to go."

"Si, perhaps today you meet a new family." Eduardo replied, climbing from his bed.

"Can you two keep it down? I'm trying to sllllleeeeep!" came a whine from the bundle on the bottom bunk.

"Coco cococo cococ co!" replied Coco, who was rising from her nest.

"I'm sorry Bloo, but I agree with Coco. We need to get ready for Adopt-A-Thought Saturday, it's hard not to be noisy."

"It certainly wasn't hard for you last night either, was it?" Bloo asked, sitting up.

"What do you mean?" Wilt asked.

"You and Satin talking under the bed at two in the morning." Bloo groaned, falling back onto the pillow with a thump, "Ruining my beauty sleep!"

Wilt found himself on the receiving end of three very curious stares. The room seemed to have gotten warmer.

"Coco co co cococo cococo . . ." Coco said in a very insinuating tone.

"What! No, I don't. Look she just came to talk." Wilt replied, rubbing his stump with his hand.

"Talking? Late at night? Under the bed? Suspiiiiicious . . ." Bloo sang while doing a little shimmy.

"Satin? What she have to talk about?" Eduardo asked.

Wilt felt the heat rise again. He couldn't tell them what was going on with Satin, that was private, she'd be humiliated. With a wave of his hand and an apologetic look he replied, "Look, I'm sorry but I can't talk about it. Satin wouldn't want me to."

"Oh, keeping secrets from your friends now are you? Not telling us anything eh? Planning to murder us in our sleep huh?" Bloo asked, suddenly sounding like an interrogator on Law and Order.

Wilt looked at Bloo as though he'd suddenly acquired and extra head, "What? Bloo, I'm sorry but you're way off base. I'm not hurting anyone and neither is Satin. She just came in to talk."

"Si, Wilt would no hurt us! He's just helping Satin." Eduardo piped up.

"Well, it all looks pretty fishy to me." Bloo announced.

"Hey!" came an indignant voice from the doorway.

"Not you, Scales." Bloo said to the imaginary lagoon monster walking by the door. Scales huffed and walked off in a tiff.

Wilt sighed and headed for the door, "Look, Bloo, I'm sorry but we do not have time for this. I have to go help Frankie in the kitchen."

"Sure, that's what you want me to think!" Bloo cried, "But I know what you're up to, I know the truth!"

Coco, the last one out the door, replied, "Co coco coco cococo coco!"

Bloo watched her leave, slack jawed and finally yelled, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!"

Satin stood in front of her mirror, surveying her reflection. The dress was a simple affair, the blue flowery material clung to her form at the top and flared out around her knees. It was one of the first outfits Natalie had made from her own designs. She'd been so proud of herself for how well it had turned out . . .

Smoothing the front of her dress she grabbed the straw hat she'd left hanging on the corner of the mirror and put it on her head. The blue ribbons hanging from the back swayed lightly with her head as she adjusted her ears so that they came up through the holes in the brim properly. This was her first Adopt-A-Thought Saturday and she was nervous, fidgety even.

"How do I look?" she asked, turning to look at Crackers, who was sitting on the bed, pulling a doll sized T-shirt she'd made for him over his head.

"You look great!" he exclaimed, popping his head through the neck of the shirt and smoothing it down, "You sure you're ready for this? Mr. Herriman lets us skip the first time if you don't feel ready, you know."

Satin sighed and looked down, she had forgotten about today being the appointed Saturday until Crackers had reminded herself this morning. After last night, she wondered if she should go or not. What if she broke down in front of all those people? How would she stand it?

That wasn't the only reason she was nervous either. She recalled last night all too clearly this morning. She'd talked to Wilt about some ugly things inside of her, how would he react today? And that kiss, the look he'd given her had been . . . She didn't know how to explain it. Confused? Appreciative? Loving?

She shook her head, she needed to be clearing her mind instead of filling it with more thoughts to jumble it.

"I'll be alright, Crackers, I need to have some fun anyway." she replied, "Now," scooping him up in her arms she grinned, "We better hurry, we got a party to catch."

Frankie waved as Wilt entered the kitchen.

"Hey, Wilt! You showed up just in time, look, I need you to chop these for me, okay?" she greeted, gesturing to a pile of tomatoes for the hamburgers.

Wilt looked over her. It was only nine and Frankie was already in a state. Her ponytail was frizzed and hung at an odd angle, her clothing was disheveled and her "License to Grill" apron was covered in an assortment of food and condiments. It was the usual state of affairs at Foster's on the monthly adoption run.

"Sure, Frankie. Anything to help." he pulled on the pink apron hanging by the door, the only one in the house that fit him properly, and set to work.

"So, excited?" she asked, forming the hamburger into squishy patties for the afternoon's cook out-picnic.

"Kinda." Wilt replied.

"Nervous?" she said, not even looking up from her work.

Wilt flashed her a smile, "Always."

"Ya' know, I haven't seen much of you lately. I almost never see you hanging out with Bloo and rest." she continued in a cheerful yet curious tone.

"Yeah, I need to tell them I'm sorry for that. I've just been spending a lot of time with Satin lately."

Her voice took on a sly tone as she replied, "Yeah, I noticed."

Wilt sighed and put down his knife, "Not you too! I'm sorry but I don't understand why everyone is getting so worked up about me and Satin."

"Whoa, whoa, Wilt. What's up, buddy? I was just teasing." Frankie exclaimed, turning to look at him.

Wilt's face fell instantly, "Oh, Frankie! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I don't know what's gotten into me lately."

"It's okay Wilt, but what were you talking about 'everyone getting so worked up'? The guys haven't been giving you a hard time have they?" she asked, molding patties while looking over at him.

He picked up the knife and carefully began to slice the tomatoes again, "A little. Bloo was bugging me about last night."

"Last night?" Frankie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. See, Satin had a problem and she couldn't sleep. She came to talk to me about it and we woke Bloo up. This morning he told me he'd overheard me and the others got curious but it's something I know Satin wouldn't want me to just tell everyone about an-"

"Hold up there!" she exclaimed, "Take a breath! Let me get this straight. Satin came to your room last night because she couldn't sleep because she was thinking about a problem. She needed someone to talk to but Bloo thought you were up to something else, right?"

"Exactly." he replied.

"So, why are you letting it bother you so much?"

Wilt pushed the contents of his cutting board onto a platter, "Bloo wants to know what we were talking about."

"Hmm, I gotcha. Bloo can be a bit of a pest about that sort of thing. So were they ribbing you about having a girlfriend?" Frankie asked, a little amused with the idea.

"Yeah." Wilt's voice wavered.

"Why is it really bothering you Wilt?" Frankie pressed, "You've been accused of having a girlfriend before. Remember that Valentines a few years back when everyone thought we were an item? Then we pranked them into thinking we were going to get married? We all got a laugh out of that one, especially grandma, with her whole 'shotgun wedding' routine. Why are you freaking now?"

"Cause I don't think anyone would like me." he replied with a touch of bitterness.

Frankie stared at him in amazement, "You're only about the nicest friend in the entire western hemisphere! Why wouldn't they like you?"

"I don't look right." Wilt said, his voice falling.

"Oh, come on Wilt! No one notices that anymore except a few of the visiting families and you charm them fast enough. Now stop avoiding the point. Why are you really upset?"

Wilt paused, now that Frankie had said it he saw that it didn't make sense. Why was he acting this way? The reason was obvious but he wasn't sure he was ready to commit himself to the idea yet. If he believed it and put thought into it, it would become real and then he would have an even bigger problem on his hands. Should he tell Frankie his worries? She'd always been his friend, ever since he'd first come to Foster's. She'd been his substitute Jodee, high spirited, wiry, and fun. The second red-headed firecracker to come into his life. He'd always had a secret hope that she might one day adopt him to be hers. It was a silly thought now. She was obviously not the five year old he'd first met, the child he'd helped to get ready for school and set off on the bus. But still, the thought was enough to get him started.

"Well," he drew out, trying to fit the emotions to words, "Satin's different. She's like me."

Frankie blinked and looked him up and down, "I don't follow you Wilt."

"She . . . She's had my life." he said carefully, "We weren't thrown away. We were given up but our kids still loved us. She understands me, why I do things. It's like she knows me."

Frankie smiled warmly, "It sounds like you have more than friendship in mind when you think about her Wilt."

Wilt blushed, "I'm not sure. I've never really had this problem before."

"It's hard to tell sometimes how you feel about a person, but listen, don't let me tell you what to do. I couldn't find a decent date if my life depended on it!" Frankie laughed, "Besides, you're the only one who can figure that out."

Wilt bit his lip, looking uncertain, "Should I talk to her?"

"Up to you, my friend." Frankie replied, rinsing her hands, "Up to you."

She walked out, carrying the plate of hamburger patties. Wilt sighed and hurriedly finished cutting up the tomatoes. What was he going to do?

Satin walked out into the yard with Crackers riding on her hat. She was terrified but trying desperately not to show it. Wilt was nowhere in sight, so that was one worry she could put off for awhile. However, families were already showing up to look for friends. That, she couldn't avoid.