Hi all, here's another chapter, hope you enjoy and I will be on vacation will try to post but it depends on my spotty internet. Like before all errors are mine and I am only borrowing characters from my fav 80's show.

Chapter 72

We huddle with our family and make our plan.

CJ and I would be heading downstairs to take care of our little man. Carol would come along to check his chart with Dr. Randall as her escort, he wanted her opinion on his care.

Maureen and Will would iron out the background paperwork and were talking to those that would be their contacts and asking questions.

The higher administrators Mr. Carver included said they would meet us downstairs at the NICU, they would be informing the staff that we would be granted access if Jake responded to our help.

Luca was already outside at the nurse's station calling his office to ensure the staff would be ready for us for everyone's life scan.

CJ nods and is about to walk around me to get to the door when the Child Advocate Ms. Bloom comes next to us.

"This came out better than I thought it would. You must have guardian angels around you, I thought for sure Mr. Carver would have talked my bosses out of letting you help. I had it all detailed and laid out to them before he came in here and started to give reasons why you two should not be granted permission to assist with Jake. He swayed them to vote against you. I knew he had some type of agenda and like my momma always said give someone enough rope they usually hang themselves. I am happy have been assigned to you and I will be honest I am going to be tough on you they cannot see that I am favoring you in any way we will do everything by the book. So why are you two still here I thought you would be running down the stairs to get to your little guy."

I step forward and give her a hug, "Thank you Ms. Bloom, we will do everything you ask we want what is best for him and we cannot wait to go downstairs and hope he forgives us for leaving him alone for so long. He must be starving and cranky, but all CJ got to do is sing to him and let him lay on her chest and everything will be right as rain. So, are you coming also?"

I let her go and she is blushing, "please call me Evelyn and I know you will do an excellent job both of you and your extended family. I am so glad I had the good sense of having the case workers do your background check yesterday all I had to do was talk to one of my co-workers and they all showed up and got it done in no time. It takes about 1 week but Ms. Parson's was mostly done just some updates and yours had 5 people working on it and it was done late last night but no one complain, and they asked me to pass a message to you that they are all pulling for you and if you need references or any other assistance you had better ask or else."

To know that those ladies came in on their own time was unbelievable and would not be forgotten.

"I asked you before to call me Houston all my friends do and she's CJ and since we will be spending lots of time together, it is appropriate. You know everyone but this guy here. Evelyn this is Devin or Popeye he will answer to either one."

CJ stepped up and gave her a hugged and kept thanking her for her help. Popeye gave her a smile and said she could call him Devin. And took her hand and pulled her in for a hug also. If he wanted to charm her, he had my blessing it would keep him away from CJ. Devin started to ask her questions on what would be needed and gave her one of Luca's business cards and stated he was a silent partner in the business and if she had any questions to feel free to call him anytime.

I take CJ's hand and we walk out; Popeye follows with Evelyn asking her questions about how long she has been a case worker. Behind us Cappy and Flynn follow.

We get in the elevator as does Mr. Carver. Evelyn is trying to figure out who they are.

"Ah Evelyn this is Cappy and Flynn they are with me sorry should have introduce them." Popeye informs her.

She smiles and they shake her hand and avoid Mr. Carver he is trying to talk to Evelyn, but each time Popeye cuts him off. I look down not wanting to show that I am incredibly pleased that he is making him uncomfortable and squirm.

The doors open and CJ sprints out not waiting for me as she turns the corner, we hear him. He is crying and it is loud. It pierces my heart and I try to keep my cool. CJ stops and turns around. I could see her wavering and I hurry up and put my arm around her waist.

"Do you hear him? How long has he been crying why isn't anyone helping him?"

I look down at her tears are starting to fall and I look behind us and they are all watching.

I put my arm around her and guide her to the door. "CJ, you need to calm down they are watching us if you fall apart now it will not be good, come on darling let's go or boy needs us."

She wipes her cheeks and takes my hand we are about to knock when the door opens, and someone walks out. We go in and the crying is louder. Its non-stop and I see everyone going about their business. I look around and I cannot find him just hear him.

I look at CJ she is panicking, "Houston where is…"

We look to the end of the NICU and there is a divider, and we know it is where they placed him. We move towards the divider and a nurse stops us.

"Excuse me who are you and that area is off limits do you have a child here? I do not see an ID card or bracelet. Millie call security."

She was not a friendly person, she looked like she should have retired years ago and was not a happy camper, this is what Emma was talking about them not having the right staff for the NICU. I smiled and was about to give her my best smile and charm her like my life depended on it.

"Well darling I believe that a Mr. Carver should have given us the green light to help that little man behind you. Jacob William, we call him Jake. The name is Matt Houston, and this is CJ Parson's we are here to hopefully stop him from disturbing everyone in here you see we have the magic touch, and we will be more than happy to take his care off your hands we will not mind at all right CJ?"

She looked at both of us, "So your last name is Houston and yours is Parson's so not married, hmmm."

She started to smile, and I gave her my best smile and stepped forward. "So, like I said pretty lady we have permission to be here so can you tell Millie not to call security please?"

I could feel CJ wanting to say something, but I put my hand on her lower back she looked up at me and I winked at her. She shook her head and started towards Jake leaving me and nurse Ratchet behind.

A young nurse came up to us, "Ma'am we did get a call from the administration they have permission to assist with the care if you look out the window, they are there looking in. I am all for you two getting that little angel to stop crying he has been crying for so long you would think he would have been hoarse by now."

Nurse Ratchet spun around and pointed at the nurse, "He is a ward of the state, and will be transported to a facility as soon as he is stable, we are short staff, and we do not go around coddling one just because he is louder than the others. Mr. Houston, we did get a call and orders from Mr. Carver he did not respond to you that you are to be escorted out and never to set foot in the hospital, so he is all yours."

Well so much for charm, I nodded at her and thank the other nurse and walked over to CJ. Jake did not stop crying I could hear her talking to him.

"Jake please we are here baby, we are sorry that we didn't come back, you don't know what's been happening and we are going to tell you all about it but first you need to stop crying it's not good for you and next you need to eat please sweetie you have to believe us we didn't want to stay away then made us."

He continued to cry. CJ started herself I put my arm around her and whispered into her ear. "Go gown up I need to have a man to man talk to with him and set him straight I can't have you crying anymore we need to get our act together and you crying is not going to help let's get him comfy and then maybe a change of diaper is needed, a bath and then sleep come on CJ I need my partner now more than ever, I can't do this on my own. Lean on me babe."

She looked at me, "you've never called me that, I like it."

I cupped her cheek and kissed her, "So that is my name for you, Babe. Look at you, you are a total babe and the only babe in my heart, the name was meant for you."

She laughed; Jake stopped mid cry and opened his eyes. We held our breath, he started to squirm but continued to cry letting everyone know he was not a happy camper.

" Go change."

She hurried to the bathroom, and I came close to Jake.

"Hello pardner it is me Houston and I know you are not too happy with us. We did not leave you Jake, you got to believe us. I am so sorry that we could not take care of you, but things got a little hairy for us and the only one that lost out was you. I know Emma and Roxy were not here to take our place, but they got into some trouble too, they are not happy they got taken away from you either."

He started to focus on me and started to hiccup and grumble like he was giving me a piece of his mind he started to look around and started to cry again.

It is getting serious, you need to forgive us and let us help and by helping you need to stop this crying, we heard you cried yourself to sleep and did not eat at all yesterday. We made a pact I was going to take care of CJ while you were in here getting better. It has been an uphill battle and buddy she has been through the ringer. You would have been proud of her. She takes protecting her family to the next level and you are part of that protection."

Jake's crying started to lower in volume and his eyes opened again and looked at me. The face he gave me pierced my heart. I could have sworn he was saying you left me and where is my other person. I started to caress the side of his head and he sniffled and started to cry again

"Jake, I finally told her what I should have told her years ago she is the light in my life and makes me want to be a better man. You figured that out in hours. It took me years so that makes you a better man than me already. So, my fate is in your tiny hands. If you do not respond to us taking care of you, they will stop us from coming they have given us one chance, right now and their watching. If they take you away from us CJ will never forgive me, and I would lose the two best thing in my life."

I kept caressing his head and started to move closer to me, I felt a hand on my lower back, and she placed her hand over mine on Jake's head. He opened his eyes and stopped crying he looked at us and started to grumble and whimper.

"We are here Jake, I promise we will never ever, ever leave you again. I hope Houston convinced you to help us help you get out of this place or while you are still here, we can help with your care. Baby you do not know how many people are on our side. But there are those that do not want what is best for you and want to keep us away. We will not let them, it is up to you little man. I understand you are mad we said we would be back it just took a little longer than we wanted it to. Jake you are a part of me I cannot explain it since I found you, my world has been turned upside down but in a good way."

She looks up, "It is like everything I have ever wanted is within my grasp and I am not letting go. Whether you like it or not you are stuck with us. We love you little man."

"How touching, I for one am happy you got him to stop now let's see how he does with eating he needs to finish this bottle, or I am going to have security escort you out."

Nurse Ratchet handed me the bottle, I looked at CJ and remembered our plan.

"I think we will hold off on that he looks tired, and I think we need to bond with him."

She smirked.

"Is there any way we can take him a bath and change his gown; you might have overlooked doing that yesterday. We have been taught how to do this, and your help will be greatly appreciated."

Before she could respond Evelyn did.

"Nurse, can you assist Mr. Houston with this request? Mr. Jake looks like he could use a bath and some bonding time with his team"

She looked behind us and we all looked over to see Mr. Carver nod his head. They were all against us, but we would kill them with kindness, anything to get out little man out of this and to restore his faith in us.

The Nurse walked away to get the tub. Jake was looking up at us his little face was swollen from all the crying he had done.

CJ started to sing softly you are my sunshine and he started to take calming breaths and move closer to our hands that had not left his head. CJ placed her other hand on his chest and before she could he grabbed her hand with his.

"That's right little man we are here, and we won't let go."

The tub was brought to us, and I went to fill it and the younger nurse came and gave us the blankets to swaddle him in.

"Ah nurse what about his incision do we need to keep it dry?"

Her eyes widen and she nodded quickly before Nurse Ratchet came over.

"I thought you said you knew what to do Mr. Houston?"

CJ stopped and looked at me. I knew they wanted us to fail but to put Jake in danger like this.

"Is there a problem nurse…"

We looked up to see Carol and Dr. Randall and Carol look like she was ready for battle.

"My name is Sheila Spring, and I was under the impression that they had been trained on how to care for the child I was just asking him a question."

Carol came close to Jake and smiled and touched his belly with her hand.

"He just had surgery were you not going to instruct them that a bath would not be a good idea due to his incision? Or did you just forget?"

She did not answer, and Dr. Randall pulled her over to the nurse station to talk to her regarding patient care.

"Thought you might need my help, he is going to need sponge baths she should have said something, and Dr. Randall was not too happy about it I'm sure he's reading her the riot act, Mr. Carver may be the spoke person for the hospital, but this is Dr. Randall's domain, and he will drop the hammer trust me."

Dr. Randal came back with the younger nurse, "This is Ella she's new and she will be helping you two with Jake's care until I get Emma and Roxy back which should be sooner than later."

They wanted to examine Jake and he started to cry when I moved away.

"Sis, I think you better stick around and talk to your guy here. Hey Jake, I am Aunt Carol, and we need to get you better, okay? So, you need to let me, and Dr. Randal look you over and then I promise you will have your team's attention okay deal my favorite nephew."

He stopped crying and looked at Carol. She started to whisper to him, and he perked up and let CJ let go of his hand without a fuss.

When they were done Nurse Ella showed us how to give Jake a sponge bath. While CJ finished drying Jake, I came next to Carol and asked what she had whispered to Jake to make him let CJ go.

"I said he had nothing to worry about that he had the best mommy and daddy in the world and even though they might be temporary he had us for life that his new family would never leave him ever again"

Evelyn came next to us and shook her head. "I swear if I were not here to witness, I would not believe it. I am sure they will not have a reason you two could not help with his care you made believers of me, and my bosses so keep it up and we can get all this red tape down to the minimum. I need to go file my report and start the background checks on all of Jake's new family, so I need to set a meeting up with all of you how about today at 2."

I gave her my address to the beach house and made a mental note to ensure that the bug sweeping was done before she showed up. That was another obstacle we would have to face.

I walked over to CJ Jake had his new gown on CJ handed him to me while she got comfortable in a rocking chair.

"My mom had a chair like this that my father had made for her when they found out they were going to be parents I remember it had roses etched on top and butterflies. She used to rock me in it every day and when I got older, she left it in my room, and I would sit in it and rock my dolls. When mom passed away and I moved in with my aunt and uncle I never saw the chair again, they gave it away. I do not know why that memory just popped in my mind."

I kissed her cheek and handed Jake over to her. He was ready for his bottle and sleep. Ella handed me the bottle.

"Not all of us are against you here we are all pulling for both of you and Jake."

I smiled and squeezed her arm and gave CJ Jake's bottle. She looked at me and I whispered another team Jake member.

She smiled and started to feed Jake.

I looked behind me and saw everyone had left except for our Family I pointed it out to CJ, and she stood up and walked over to the window.

"Hey Jake, your family is here and remember like us, they will never leave you alone you are part of us now and forever."

I stood next to her as she positioned him so everyone could see him, he stopped eating looked at them and then to us and I could have sworn he smiled. CJ back to the rocking chair and sat down with Jake she started to sing over the rainbow and I got close to his ear and put my hand to his back and whispered, "Get some sleep little man we will be here when you wake your job is to get better so we can get you out of here. We will not leave you Jake and that is a promise."

I walked out and Luca and Popeye came up to me. "So, Cowboy do you want the good news or the bad?"

"The bad."

"We need to get back to the bar, someone broke in and left another message for beautiful, this guy is a dead man, oh and the good we might have a lead on Jake's mom."

I looked back at CJ through the glass. She was singing to Jake, and he was sleeping. Now that we had gotten him back would we lose him again.