Day 2

Family

"Was it like Jungle Book? Were you raised by wolves?" The questions seem to come from nowhere. In total fairness though he hadn't been listening as closely as he should have been as the ten year old spoke.

"What?" Gar Logan asked, looking up from the over cooked pasta, still trying to determine if it was salvageable.

"Raven said you grew up in Africa." Raven, who had ruined the noodles in the first place didn't look up from the kitchen table where she was checking over Timmy's vocabulary words for the week.

"I did."

"So? Was it? Were you?" Melvin looked up at him expectantly and he shook his head.

"No, I wasn't raised by wolves." He couldn't help but chuckle at the idea.

"A bear and panther, then?" She smiled brightly, hopefully. "I got assigned Africa to write a report about."

"Oh," he nodded, dumping the pasta into the trashcan. He would start from scratch. "Firstly, Jungle Book happened in India, not Africa. Secondly, my parents raised me while I was living in Africa."

"Nana and Gramps?" Blue eyes squinted up at him in doubt before trailing to where the empath still sat with Timmy, as if waiting for the woman to call Gar out on the story he was telling.

"No," he told her, smiling wistfully. Melvin still called he and Raven by name, but somehow Steve and Rita had instantly become the girl's grandparents. "Nana and Gramps adopted me. Just like how me and Rae adopted you."

"Everyone knows that," Timmy teased, glaring at his sister from his seat at the table and Melvin stuck her tongue out at him.

"Everyone knows you pee the . . ."

"Enough," Raven said in warning, pushing the sheet of paper back in front of the boy. "Don't pick on each other."

"Mama, she was the meanie! I just . . ."

"Focus on your work. These three are misspelled." The empath pointed to indicate which words on his paper needed fixing. The boy grumbled under his breath momentarily, but went back to work.

"The part of Africa I lived in was beautiful. Our house was on the boarder of the Lake Manyara National Park."

"Did it have a swing set?" Timmy asked, having looked up from his homework yet again.

"No, it wasn't that kind of park. It was a safe place for animals to live."

"What kind?" Melvin asked, scribbling furiously on her piece of paper.

"Lots of different kinds. Lions, hippos, impalas, elephants . . . lots and lots of animals."

"Were you ever afraid of the animals?"

"Not usually. It's not like they came all that close. They usually kept their distance."

"But you actually saw them, right? You saw real lions? That weren't in a zoo?" Melvin paused in her writing, looking up at him with awe.

"I did. On many occasions."

"Wow! It sounds so cool."

"It really was."

"Why don't you still live there?"

"Done!" Timmy suddenly shouted triumphantly. "Can I go play now?"

"Hold on," Raven muttered, looking over his paper a second time. "Very good, Timmy. You can play but dinner will be ready soon."

"Thank you!" He shoved away from the table and dashed out the back door. The boy's outburst hadn't distracted Melvin in the slightest, her eyes still questioning and upon Gar as he diligently stirred the second attempt noodles.

"Well . . . I couldn't be here with you and your brothers if I still lived there, could I?"

"I guess not." She mulled this over for a moment, rolling her pencil across the countertop. "Do . . . do your real parents still live there? In Africa?"

"No, they died when I was a little boy, Sweetie."

"Oh." She didn't seem to know what to say for a moment, her lips twisting as if fighting for the right words. Raven migrated into the kitchen silently, her hand squeezing lightly at Gar's arm for a moment. She was not often overtly affectionate, but she was clearly offering support during the suddenly difficult conversation. "They probably loved you a lot." Melvin finally muttered, her eyes still on her paper.

"Yes," he agreed simply.

"My parents . . . real parents. They aren't dead, are they?" The girl knew the answer to the question and there was no point lying.

"No, your biological parents aren't dead, Mellie." Garfield pulled the pot off the glowing stove eye, setting it aside before he bent down and picked the girl up, sitting her on the countertop so they were eye level.

"They didn't want me. Not after I got . . . weird. Not after I made Bobby up and stuff started to happen."

"Listen, sometimes grown-ups get scared. They do dumb things because . . . because they don't know what to do. That isn't your fault. You aren't weird, Melvin. You are very special and I'm very, very lucky that I met you. You're my daughter and I love you. I love you and no matter what, that isn't ever going to change."

"Yeah?" she asked shakily, her eyes brimmed with tears.

"Yeah, I promise. We're a family. We'll always and forever be a family." He smiled at her, gently soothing his fingers over her long, blonde hair. Melvin nodded, blinking away her tears. She smiled, her shoulders visibly relaxing.

"Can I go outside and play before dinner? The paper isn't due until Friday."

"Sure," Raven told her with a soft smile and the girl jumped down from the counter, rushing out to join Timmy. There was a long moment of silence, Gar moving to finish the spaghetti as Raven began their salad.

"That was hard," the changeling told her with a nervous chuckle.

"I know. The boys don't remember their parents at all. It's almost like they never even existed."

"As far as they're concerned they don't. We're all they're ever going to know. It doesn't mean they won't ever have questions, still . . . it makes it easier."

"Yeah," she nodded, sighing softly as she cut tomatoes. Green arms wrapped around her waist a moment later, his warm cheek rubbing lightly against her own.

"Thank you," he breathed against her ear.

"For what?"

"For all of this. For this life. That first time you asked me if I wanted to go with you to the monastery to visit, if I had said no . . ."

"You didn't say no."

"I could have."

"But you didn't, Gar." She sat her knife aside, stroking at his forearm. "I should be the one thanking you. I never could have adopted the kids without you."

"You can do anything you set your mind to, Rae. It would have been a heck of a lot harder, but you and these kids . . . that was always meant to be."

"Ummm, maybe."

"Most definitely, Mama." She rolled her eyes and jabbed him lightly with her elbow.

"Dinner will never be ready at this rate," she chided lightly, pointing to his pot of spaghetti. She picked her knife up once more, going back to work. "This family . . . all of us . . . that was always meant to be."

"Yeah, you think?"

"Oh, most definitely, Papa."