Mari & Ilna: What can I say? I'm enjoying this adventure every bit as much as I was on day one. Maybe more.

REAL Worlders-thanks for all the enthusiastic support. You guys are the best!

Thank you soooooooooooooooooooo much to Mari & Ilna for covering for me during my battle with covid. Stay home, folks. That stuff is no joke. I always wear a mask, restrict my trips to those that are absolutely necessary, and practically bathe in Purell and I still got it. Be careful out there.

Gotcha Day (1/1)

"Uncle Steve, it's still raining," Joanie reported as he entered the kitchen and found her staring forlornly out the kitchen door as rain pelted the deck.

"Still wain-ing," Angie confirmed from her spot beside her cousin.

Mary, Aaron, Joan, and Deb had arrived an hour earlier and the kids had been itching to get outside and have some fun ever since. The weather, however, was not cooperating. In fact, the forecast called for an all-day rain.

"Looks like no beach time this morning," Steve told them. "We'll have to find something else to do."

"There are plenty of ways to have fun in the house," Mary said as she helped Catherine put the leftovers from their arrival brunch into the refrigerator.

"Maybe we can play a game," Aaron suggested.

"I can teach you a new song," Deb offered.

"We were gonna practice our cartwheels in the sand so it wouldn't hurt so much if we fall," Joan said, unable to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

"Angie do cawt-wheels!" the toddler said, thrusting her arms in the air before her mother reminded her that wasn't a kitchen activity.

"There'll be plenty of time for that once the rain stops," Catherine promised. "Pick something else to do until then."

"I have an idea," DJ said from his spot beside Aunt Deb at the table. "We could watch the videos from when we celebrated my Gotcha Day."

Angie threw her arms in the air. "Happy Go-cha Day!"

"Oh YAY!" Joan squealed happily. "We saw a few of the pictures Aunt Catherine sent but I didn't know there are videos!"

"There are!" DJ said happily. "Grandma and Grandpa took most of them. Do you wanna see?"

DJ jumped down from his chair and the three children joined hands and headed for the living room. As they exited the kitchen Joan called "Let's go!" over her shoulder to the adults.

Mary chuckled. "And just like that she forgets all about the cartwheels."

Once everyone was seated in the living room Catherine hooked her phone up to the television and pressed play.

The first video began with a giggling Angie creeping not so stealthily across DJ's room while the seven-year-old laid in his bed feigning sleep. His tightly squeezed closed eyes and barely concealed smile didn't fool his parents but they were enough to convince Angie who made it all the way to his bedside before yelling "Su-pwise! Happy Go-cha Day!" and jumping up beside him.

He opened his eyes and looked around at all the balloons and streamers decorating his room.

"Happy Gotcha Day!" Steve and Catherine said as Joseph stood behind them, next to Elizabeth, capturing everything on video.

"Su-pwise!" Angie said again as she hurled herself at him for a hug.

"Thanks!" he said. "I can't believe you decorated my room again. It looks so awesome!"

"Aw da balloons!" Angie said. "Cawe-ful. Dey pop."

"She learned that from experience," Steve told DJ.

"Time for a special breakfast," Catherine said as she snagged Angie right before she tried to catapult off DJ's bed to reach the balloons that had floated up to the ceiling.

"Pa-cakes with 'pinkles!" the toddler cheered.

DJ bit his lip.

"What's wrong?" Catherine asked.

"Nuthin," DJ said. "I was just kind of thinking I was in the mood for omelettes today. Daddy let me help flip the eggs last time and it was so fun."

"It's your special day," Steve told him. "If you want omelettes that's what we'll have."

"Is that ok with you, Angie?" DJ asked his sister. "If we have omelettes instead of pancakes?"

"With 'pinkles?" the toddler asked hopefully.

"Why not?" Catherine chuckled. "It's Gotcha Day. A definite sprinkle worthy occasion."

Catherine couldn't help but smile as the video cut to DJ standing on a stool beside Steve at the island, smiling brightly as they prepped ingredients for omelettes. She was instantly transported to the day a year earlier when she walked into a crime scene and saw a clearly traumatized DJ clinging to Steve's leg.

At the time she had no idea what was going on, or what was to come, but she would never forget the look in the big brown eyes that met hers across the room. She'd seen that look more times than she cared to count. On deployments all over the world. It was the look of profound relief. Of newfound safety. Of renewed hope.

They'd all come so far in the last year. The decision to make DJ part of their family had been an easy one but that didn't mean it hadn't taken work. DJ still met with a counselor regularly who was helping him process everything that had happened to him before he came to live with Steve and Catherine. He'd made tremendous strides and within the last few weeks the therapist had offered her opinion that he wouldn't need regular sessions for much longer. She was pleased with his progress alone as well as their progress as a family. With lots of patience and love DJ had been able to put aside the adult type worries that had filled his early years and become a happy, well-adjusted child.

Catherine wiped a tear away as the video continued. Two sets of eyes that she had seen too much pain and sadness in in the past now exuded nothing but love and happiness.

One night, shortly after he arrived, DJ had a particularly bad dream. He broke down in wracking sobs and admitted how scared he'd been in those final few days alone in his aunt and uncle's house. How he'd been paralyzed with fear. Steve pulled the young boy into his lap and talked about his own fear when he was sent away by his father. His feeling of abandonment. His panic at not knowing what was going to happen next.

The realization that Steve knew how he felt, that he wasn't alone, had allowed DJ to settle down between the two of them in their bed and go back to sleep. Later on, when DJ was asleep, Steve had confided to her that while he would never be happy about the pain he'd gone through, if it allowed him to reach DJ and help the young boy feel less alone, it had all been worth it.

It had been in that moment that Catherine knew she had to do whatever it took to make DJ a part of their family.

She was broken out her reverie as DJ said, "Then we went for a hike. We took Cammie but we didn't think Pumpkin would have a good time so we left her at home."

The orange kitten slept happily in Angie's lap; unaware she had become the topic of conversation.

"Angie and me gave her some extra attention and a few treats and I think she understood why she couldn't go and Cammie could," DJ said seriously.

Steve shook his head at the idea of clearing their outing with the cat but Catherine poked him playfully in the ribs and whispered, "Remember, you're the one that suggested leaving the television on for her so she wouldn't be bored."

"Watew-fall!" Angie squealed as the video continued.

"We saw the waterfall," DJ reported happily. "It's one of our favorite places to hike. We wanted to go swimming but there was a snake lying by the edge of the water and Cammie wouldn't let us get close. She kept pushing us back."

"That's a good girl," Catherine cooed as Cammie thumped her tail happily.

"She wouldn't have had to push me back," Mary snorted. "I'd have been running for the car the minute I saw it."

"Me and Mama are afraid of snakes," Joan said as her whole body shuddered.

"It was harmless," Steve assured them. "I relocated it to a sunny rock a little farther away and everything was fine."

"I pet-ed da snake." Angie giggled.

Aaron leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Why am I not the least bit surprised?"

As Steve watched Catherine effortlessly lay out the Gotcha Day picnic lunch on the video while answering calls from both kids to 'Look at me, Mommy!' his mind was transported back to a night not long after DJ's arrival when the young boy came to their room sobbing after a bad dream.

It was the first time since he'd come to live with them that DJ had opened up about the days he spent alone after his aunt and uncle fled. Initially nothing seemed to calm him. The more the young boy talked the more Steve connected with his feelings on a visceral level. When he looked at Catherine he saw the same patience, love, and understanding that had pulled him back from the brink so many times when his own bad memories threatened. He knew that DJ was operating on pure fear. He'd been there. But Catherine's love had taught him a better way to deal with his feelings.

He gained strength from her look of encouragement as he pulled DJ into his lap and began to share his own feelings of fear. As he talked Catherine rubbed his forearm supportively with one hand while stroking DJ's back with the other. In that moment Steve had an overwhelming feeling that DJ belonged with their family. He knew firsthand the transformative power of Catherine's love and he wanted this young boy with whom he shared an unfortunate bonding of pain to get a chance to experience it for himself.

As his mind drifted back to the present he saw that the scene had shifted to their big Gotcha Day party attended by all their family and friends. Kaitlyn had not only baked cupcakes for the party but also extras DJ could take to school the next day to celebrate his big day with his class.

When Catherine had asked him what he wanted to eat he'd answered without hesitation. Chicken and french fries. The same thing they had on his first night there.

As the video played scenes of Joseph asking each of the guests for their favorite memory of DJ from the previous year the young boy stood up from his seat on the floor and snuggled in between Steve and Catherine on the couch.

He remembered every detail of the first night he spent in his new house. Everyone was nice and no one yelled and they told him he could eat as much as he wanted and Angie shared her blocks with him and it all felt so different … so good … but he was afraid that either he was dreaming or the woman with the clipboard would come and tell him he had to go back to his aunt and uncle's house.

He didn't want to let himself believe this feeling could last because he was so afraid of being disappointed.

That night when it was time for bed he was afraid of being left alone. Afraid that if he let the nice people out of his sight they'd disappear.

He didn't want to tell them that.

One thing he'd learned in his life was that no adults wanted to hear about things he wanted or things he was scared of. So he laid there in bed determined to be brave.

But then something amazing happened.

As the video continued he reached up and absent-mindedly began to play with the ends of Catherine's hair.

Steve and Catherine knew he was scared without him having to say a word. And they decided to do a campout in the living room so he didn't have to be alone. It was the first time in his life he ever remembered something that good happening to him.

When he woke up in the morning they were still there.

And then one day they asked him if he wanted to live with them forever and be part of their family and he couldn't find the words to tell them he felt like he already was and he remembered crying and hugging them and then Estella coming over and telling him he could stay forever.

Sometimes he still remembered his life before he became part of his new family. But not nearly as often as he used to. He hoped they'd always celebrate Gotcha Day because even though Official Day is important, November 15th would always be the day his life changed for the better.

"After everyone left from the party we had a campout in the living room just like we did on the first Gotcha Day," DJ said happily.

"I love that movie," Joan sighed as the video ended. "Let's watch it again!"

"Really?" DJ was thrilled Joan liked his movie so much. "Can we, Mommy?"

"Of course." Catherine smiled.

"Hab cook-ies?" Angie asked.

"Why not?" Catherine said. "Even watching movies of Gotcha Day is a celebration."

THE END

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