A/N Shout out to my trusty betas Sassy, Onxy, Michelle and Cybrokat. Sorry it's been so long. Promise to do better. Thanks for hanging in there with me.
He arrived in the United States with an Ethiopian caregiver that Sara would never see. Years later, she sent her cards for her birthday. If the situation were different, she and Grissom would have been required to pick the baby up in Ethiopia or at the very least New York or LA. As it was, the Grissoms were only set to be part of temporary care so the agency would tack on the cost to the adoptive parent's expenses.
Sara and Hope were waiting on him to arrive, chatting chirpily and working on the last touches of his bedroom. The walls were a pale blue with ships all over it. Fitting for a boy who had lived near the sea.
"Did we win a contest?" Hope wanted to know. She had wanted to go with her father to the rendezvous point, but Sara thought the child's hyperactivity might be too much for the boy.
"Why did you ask if we won a contest?" Sara said, handing a pillow to her daughter to fluff.
"Cause we get Dawit."
Sara smiled. "Well, I guess we did. You know, I was like him once."
"You lived in Ethiopia!"
"No. I had to go live with temporary parents."
"You did? Where was Grammy?"
"Well, she was sick and your grandfather had just died so I had to go and live with the Portman's. But I wasn't a baby. I was older than you." It had taken Sara years to remember the couple's names. It had come to her just this morning.
"Were they nice?"
Sara stopped what she was doing and cocked her head bit. "As a matter of fact they were. It was still hard. But they were good people."
"Why don't we send them pictures and call them on the phone like Grammy?"
"Well-I don't have a good answer for that. I think they would like to see a picture of you."
"Cool."
"Is the baby going to look like Kramer and the boys?" Hope wanted to know.
"Hmmmm. I don't know. He'll be brown like them and Aunt Dana."
"I wish I was brown," Hope sighed melodramatically.
"Then who would look like me? Wilson's not brown. Aunt Marnie isn't brown."
"Wilson's a baby," Hope said reasonably.
"Well, I think Grammy is very proud that you look almost exactly like her."
Gap toothed grin now. "I like my hair," the girl admitted.
"I do too. Although I must admit I thought it was going to be darker, like me and your dad's."
"My other brother's hair will be dark." Hope said pointing to Sara's blossoming stomach.
"Maybe. Anything could happen. Could look just like Grammy or like Grandma Maria. Her hair was mostly red."
They were silence for a minute, each lost in their thoughts. "What if the baby in your tummy is brown, like Daddy?"
"Well then, us pale faces girls will have to stick together."
"Yeah."
Just then a too loud voice coursed through the intercom. "This is Papa Bear looking for Mama Bear and Goldilocks. We have Baby Bear. I repeat, we have Baby Bear."
Before he finished the transmission, Sara and Hope were thundering down the hall.
OOOOOOOOO
Dawit did not like Sara. He liked Grissom and adored Hope. But he hated Sara. He hated for her to look at him, or touch him, or even be in the same room with him. After a week of maternal rejection, Sara succumbed to a bad cold. The stress on her marriage and an otherwise delightful child rejecting her over and over again was too much for Sara. She took to her bed where she lay watching Court TV and eating cereal.
Gil let her be for three days, finally insisting that she see her doctor. He sent her home with the only cold remedy he would prescribe to his prenatal patients and directions to Grissom that he should keep doing what he was doing. Don't smother her. Make sure she ate. Cereal was fairly sound nutritionally. If it lasted more than ten days they would reassess.
He dug out Hope's old baby backpack and hoisted the boy over one shoulder into place. The boy arrived a pound heavier than when they found him next to his dead mother, patiently waiting for the young widow to wake up.
After a week with the Grissom's, he was up two pounds.
He loved sweets and vegetables, like Sara. He was just as happy to crunch on a carrot as he was a Twinkie. He idolized Hope, more for her funny colored hair than her willingness to do anything just to make him laugh. They were taking a walk because Grissom needed to think and because the boy loved any outing that involved sunshine and butterflies.
He was exhausted. Hope was manically nervous because of Sara's illness. The boy was sweet, but still very needy. He clung to Grissom. Sure that he was a male wimp, he had stuck it out three days longer than he ever thought was possible. If school wasn't out, he'd be sunk.
Rounding the block for the third time, his house came into view and he wondered if he had left Sara alone too long. He decided that he had and walked up the walk and back into the house. He announced their return in a loud voice that cause Dawit to jump first, then laugh, legs and arms pummeling Grissom's back.
He needed help. Only a fool didn't ask for help when he needed it. Time for an SOS. They'd do it for the kids. Hate him all they wanted, but the kids they'd fold for.
OOOOOOOO
Sara woke with a start. She smacked dry lips and squinted surprisingly clear eyes.
"Cath?"
"Yep."
"What are you doing here."
"Your husband called in reinforcements. Sit up."
Sara did as she was instructed.
"When was the last time you took a shower?"
Sara shrugged.
"Well that's never good. How're you feeling?"
"Actually, a little better. Not as achy."
"Goody." Catherine pulled a strip from Sara's forehead.
"No temp. We're cooking with gas."
"Where are the kids?" Sara asked.
"Well, there is the ever present kid. He's right here." Catherine patted Sara's stomach.
Sara leaned against the headboard as Catherine pressed a glass of ice water into Sara's hand.
"Goldilocks and Baby Bear are zonked. They were bamboozling your husband. No naps. I don't care how old they are. In the summer, everyone naps."
"You gave them Benadryl, didn't you?"
"Duh. And I would do it again. I needed everyone to be quiet for a bit. I needed to get my bearings straight. And it's allergy season, so I didn't feel nearly as guilty."
Sara smiled. "Where's Kramer?"
"Hovering over them, willing them to get up so she can play. She seems to think that the baby fairies dropped off Dawit at the wrong house."
"Oh God, I am the worst mother ever."
"Please. He's fine. He hates me, though."
"He does?" Sara voice was laced with hope.
"Yep. Hates Dana, too. A little less, but basically, the same hate."
"He misses his mom. He's afraid to get attached."
"Well, I don't care. I have worn down tougher men than he. None as cute, but certainly tougher."
Cath pulled the covers away from Sara's frame. "Okay, so here we go. You in the shower. Me calling for Indian food."
OOOOOOOOO
Dawit did not like the strange people in his new house. There was a thin girl that looked like the woman that lived across the road from his house by the sea. She seemed to like anything that had to do with balls and running about. She seemed particularly besotted with a tall fellow, Brawny James something or other.
There was a brown lady, but she wore sparkly things instead of seashells. He was not interested in ladies of any kind. Regular colored hair or not. Regular colored or the color of sand. Ladies went to sleep and never woke up. He had learned his lesson.
He slipped from the chaotic room in search for the man with the cloud colored hair. He was big and wasn't a lady. He pushed the door open to find the skinny fat lady across a bed, chomping on something red looking. He liked the food in the white boxes. It reminded him of food from home.
Making a sound that stood for god knows what, he called out for the man. He could just see the man's chest rising and falling beside the woman.
Sara contemplated Dawit for several seconds as she watched him make a decision.
"He's asleep, kid. I'm all you got, or you can go deal with Catherine or Dana. The thin pale lady is probably your best option right now. I know that prospect must frighten you. It certainly scares the fill in the blank out of me."
He scooted towards her, one millimeter at time, determined that he would get to his friend.
Sara kept talking and eating. "I know he takes you on walks in the cool backpack and he talks to you in that nice, soft voice. You are just like him. He doesn't like noise either. He just sort of puts up with the rest of us."
The boy watched her lips move. "But you're kind of like me, too. Not much for meat. We both love him."
Grissom was stirring now. Sara willed him to be still a bit longer. "This food remind you of home? All the vegetables and flat bread."
She pushed the beige disk towards him. "This is kind of spicy, but I bet you can handle it."
He took the bread. Sara had dipped a bit of sauce on it and he sucked it off, watching her with black eyes.
"You are quite a looker," Sara said airily.
"When you get older, the girls are going to chase after you. Don't be like my husband. Try not to run too hard, 'k?"
He was standing by the bed now, taking small, gummy bites of the beige disk.
"So I'm thinking that we make a deal. I know what you're thinking You're not getting involved with the likes of me. That's why my husband wouldn't go out with me. Because some bimbo hurt him while he was in college. But you know what? Your mother didn't leave you on purpose. She probably hung on as long as she could to make sure you were safe and strong enough."
"I know her name. Olivia. It's a beautiful name and I am not trying to replace her. But I'm a pretty good mother and if you would give me a chance until we can find you a permanent home, I promise I won't disappear on you. I will come to see you and go to all your soccer games."
He peered into Sara's plate.
"Truth is, kid, this has been a not so great couple of months and I just can't deal with any bad mojo or negativity. AND I am very positive that your mother wouldn't want you to behave like this. So can we at least call it a truce? We won't have to deal with one another too much longer."
OOOOOOOOO
Gill eased from the bed. He inhaled a breath of spices and children smells. How long had he been out? He squinted at the clocked. Two am. He had slept for nearly 12 hours.
"Sorry," he said to a sleeping Sara. "Honey, I'm sorry about everything. I couldn't even deal with running the house for little bit."
Time to get himself together. He was a father and a husband and a friend. Those jobs were not particularly easy but they were his and he was proud to have them.
It was chilly. His search for the kids was short lived as they were cuddled together on the love seat that sat in one corner of the room.
"Stowaways," he mumbled. Picking Hope first then Dawit he placed them next to Sara and pulled a gigantic ancient quilt of unknown origins over the motley crew.
"I am going to do better guys. The old man is going to do much better."