Just a massive shout out to all that read and review, it spurs me on to no end, so thank you! It seems my muse is at work with this story, and the chapters just keep on rolling out! So here's another...

Part 13

He can hear the plane's engines, so that's good. He still doesn't get how the plane can stay up in the air so high. Fitz explained it all at the airport, but it's too complicated. Something to do with the air being like a cushion for the plane. That's weird, how can something you can't see can be a cushion?

It doesn't matter anyway, all that matters is that Fitz said the plane wouldn't crash and that they would get to the US in good time. He didn't know time could be good or bad. But if it's good, well, it's good.

Right now, he is pretending to be asleep, because he has to think about stuff, and it's easier to do that if your eyes are closed. Before they left, he didn't have time to think about stuff because everything was rush, rush, rush, but now it's quiet on the plane. When Fitz said he could go and live with him in the US, it felt like… it felt like looking at the sea but a million times better. A bit like when you run in a race with the other kids, and you run, and run, and run, and then suddenly you know you can stop, and you don't have to keep running, and it feels so nice. He finds it hard to call Fitz "Dad", but Fitz said that was OK to keep calling him Fitz, that the important thing was to be together as a family, not names.

Fitz said they would live the two of them, in his house, in Washington. He knows about Washington because Olivia sent him some cards and photos. It's a big city but it's not too far from the coast, so that's good. He's going to get his own bedroom. That's exciting and scary too. It's exciting because he'll have plenty of space for his stuff and his drawings and crayons. But it's scary, because when he wakes up at night with the nightmares he'll be all alone. But Fitz said his bedroom would be close, and he would hear him if that happens, and he'll come straight away. So, he felt better. Also, Fitz said that he could choose the colour for the walls and stuff. Well, that's easy, it'll be blue, like the sea.

Olivia's dad is picking them up from the airport and driving them to Fitz's home. His name is Eli. Maybe he'll be able to talk to Eli about Olivia, because he can't talk to Fitz about her, and he misses her, and he needs to talk about her. When he asked Abby yesterday whether Olivia would be at the airport too, she sort of stroked his head, and told her that Olivia was away in Canada for a month, and he was really, really upset. A month. And it's a long month, today is the first of May, he counted the days, 31 days. If it'd been February it would've been 28 days, but May is 31 days. So, all he can do is wait, and keep counting. He's made sure he's packed his big calendar. And his crayons, and his drawings.

Fitz said that when they live in Washington, he'll be able to talk to someone about his drawings, and the nightmares. Not a doctor, so that's good, but just someone to talk to. Mostly he doesn't want to talk about it, because it's so horrible and scary. But sometimes, he wants to, but he can't, because if he talks to Fitz about it, it'll make him sad. And, OK, he knows Fitz loves him, but some of the stuff that happened in the camp, he feels so ashamed of it that he's scared that if Fitz knows, he won't love him as much. Well, he knows with his head that that's not true, but he doesn't know it with his tummy. And that's scary. So maybe it'll be good to talk to this woman about that stuff.

Suddenly, Fitz wakes him up, well not really because he's not really asleep, but Fitz doesn't know that (actually, Fitz does know it, but if Zach needs to pretend to be asleep, he'll let him be), and they have to leave the plane, and wait for the luggage. He's worried about the luggage, what if the people at the airport, back in Ghana, made a mistake and sent it to the other side of the world… it's funny to think of their bags travelling all around the world, all by themselves, maybe they'll go to Canada, where Olivia is… maybe they'll find Olivia and bring her back really soon… Well, he knows that's a silly idea, but it's a nice idea.

Well, the luggage is just there, so now they're walking out to where lots of people are waiting. It's weird some of them have pieces of paper with names on them like they don't really know who they are waiting for. And then, suddenly, this man kneels in front of him.

"Zach? Hi. I'm Eli."

He doesn't know what to say. It's Olivia's dad. He feels shy, and odd, because it's weird grown-ups having parents. But it's rude not to say or do anything when someone says hello to you. So he smiles.

And Eli is hooked.

-x-

They've been in Washington for 21 days, but they've gone so fast it felt like they left Ghana yesterday. It's been so much fun. He's never seen a house as big as Fitz's house. It's got a big kitchen, and another room where you can eat when there're lots of people, it's called a dining room, and a front room which called front room because it's at the front of the house, and then you go upstairs, and there're a bathroom, and three bedrooms. One bedroom for Fitz, it's big, with a big bed, and lots of room for clothes, and then there's his bedroom. And Josh's bedroom. Fitz didn't open that door when he showed him the whole house. He just said "and that was Josh's bedroom" in a very sad voice so it was best not to ask to take a look.

It's raining a lot, so they can't play in the garden much, but that's OK, because they can read books, and watch movies on the DVD thing, it's this amazing thing where you can spot a bit you really like on the disk and go straight to it, and it all sounds so good.

Last week Eli and Maya came around, (Fitz introduced her as Olivia's mum), he likes them both a lot. They live close by, together, as husband and wife, just like his parents, except, unlike his parents they seem to argue a lot more. But then sometimes they laugh at each other too; even Fitz laughs at them, so he doesn't worry too much. Even if they don't look like they have lamps switched on inside them, he can tell they really do care about each other.

Anyway, so they came last week, for a painting party, to help him and Fitz paint his room all blue. It was so much fun, Fitz's hair was full of bits of paint, and he couldn't stop laughing. Whereas Eli doesn't have much hair, so it was OK, but he got a bit on his nose, it made him look like an Indian like in the western they saw on the telly with this big American actor, John something. And then they had a take away, it's when you phone a place and tell them what you want to eat and they bring it over to you so you don't have to cook or go out if you're really tired. And now he's got a blue bedroom like the sea, with a white bed, and a cupboard where he can fold his clothes neatly.

It always makes Fitz chuckle, how neatly he folds his clothes, but it's important, it's what his mum told him to do, he can remember that. Fitz said that of course it's important, that he is just teasing him. Teasing is neat, it's like, you make fun of someone but not because you don't like them, or you think they're stupid, but because you love them. So now he teases Fitz sometimes, when he cooks. He loves watching Fitz cook, he pulls the stuff out from cupboards without even looking, and he doesn't even measure things out… but he teases Fitz because Fitz always talks to himself when he cooks, always, and that makes him laugh.

Fitz said he would start school next week, its only a few blocks away. It's exciting, but scary too, because he loves school but he's nervous that the other kids won't like him, and they all know each other, but he doesn't know them. Fitz said it'd be OK, but that he must tell him if it's really hard.

He's started seeing this woman about the drawings and the nightmares. He has to go two times a week, and it's so hard, it makes him cry a lot, but afterwards Fitz takes him to a nice place where he can have an ice cream and sit there and look at the people in the street. It's not as good as looking at the sea, but it's nice too.

Fitz said he would start working at the hospital again soon, and that sometimes Eli or Maya would pick him up from school, so he started spending time with them already. Which is nice, because that way he can talk about Olivia. He wants to know everything about her, so he asks Eli and Maya lots of questions. She looked really nice when she was a kid, they've showed him lots of photos of her. She's still in Canada, but coming back in 9 days. He can't wait.

And he wonders whether Fitz can wait too.