Chapter Seven
Five minutes had passed by and nobody haven't even said a word yet. Not even Sara who started it all. The weird, 'god it is quiet' silence. To stop it, one of the agents had to make a plan so somebody can explain why this had happened but it didn't start quickly. During the silence, Elena walked over to Sam, put her mouth on Sam's right ear and asked her, "is that little girl Katie was talking about at lunch?" Without saying a single word, Samantha nodded 'yes'. Elena saw the nod and answered back while looking at little Sara, "well. She's adorable."
Danny and Vivian heard the two women talking and ran over to them to make a plan so Katie can explain to Martin why this had happened afterward. After a minute of brainstorming with the three women in his life, Danny had an idea. To tell them about it, Danny told them that he had a plan. "What is it?" asked Viv. With a smile on his face, Danny said to them, "Well. Since Katie is somehow connected to Martin's daughter, I think that Martin and Katie better talk it out while we can distracted Sara with something. What do you think?" After a few seconds of thinking, all of them said to Danny that is a great idea and they should do it before Jack come and noticing it later.
To start their plan, the four of them turned to Martin and Katie to see what they are doing. From the look of it, those three had moved around a little. Martin was sitting at his desk chair, listening to Sara who was talking with a big smile on her face on the desk. The agents saw Martin nodding and figured out that Sara had calmed Martin down. Ten feet away was Katie who kinda doing some desk work but really looking at Martin and Katie and was smiling at them. They guessed that she is happy to see the little girl again after a long time apart. From the look of it, it seem good but there still is no explanation.
To get the plan going on, Danny told the girls that he is going to walk over to Martin and forced him to talk to Katie while one of them do the same thing to Katie. Sam told them that she is going to talk to Katie since she knew it better than Elena and Vivian. Elena and Viv agreed to that and had to be watch women in case Jack come along and they had to explain it to him. After they got their positions, Danny go to Martin and Samantha go to Katie to get them to explain it.
When Danny got over to Martin, Sara turned around and with a cute smile on her little face, Sara said to Danny, "Uncle Danny." In return, Danny gave her a hug and said back, "Hola, Caramelo ." Not knowing what Danny is talking about, Sara gave him a hug back. After hugging each other, Danny turned around to Martin and asked them what they are talking about. While looking at Sara, Martin told his best friend about what Sara told him about her first day at daycare that Sara made a drawing for him but she left it there because it was not finished. Danny turned to Sara and asked her if it was done tomorrow, can she show it to Daddy and Uncle Danny then? Sara smiled at them while holding a stuffed lamb in her arms and said to the both of them, "sure."
Danny smiled back and asked her something else. "What is it?" asked Sara. Danny got closer to her and told her that he want to talk to her Daddy about something that Sara don't want to hear. Martin heard that and gave Danny a 'why?' face but Danny ignored that and told Sara to walk over to his friends Elena and Vivian so she could be with them while he and Martin talk. Right away, Sara got down and ran over to Elena and Vivian who is waiting for her at their desks.
Once Sara got comfortable with Elena and Vivian, Martin turned to Danny and asked him, "Why you did that for? I just getting know Sara." while crossing his arms. Danny saw those arms and said to him loudly, "Jesus, Martin. You spent many months getting to know her already and now you wanted more?" "Yeah. There are new things I didn't know about my daughter that might come out everyday."said Martin back. Danny got closer to Martin and told him that he had the rest of life to learn new things but there is only one chance to explain it all. "What? From Katie?" asked Martin who is looking at the woman who is talking to Samantha. Danny saw Martin looking at the two beautiful women and said back, "yeah."
A few seconds later, Martin turned around to Danny and said to him with a worried look on his face, "You know what? When I first saw Sara running toward Katie, the only thing that came to my mind is Sara brings happiness to everybody she met. She made me happy after I got out of using drugs and there are more good moments coming toward us and from what I just saw earlier, I know that Katie is always smiling but from the way she saw her, I can see the life in her blue eyes like Katie is happy to see her after I don't know how many years? Like Sara is an angel or something who want to see people being happy." After hearing that, Danny is proud of the speech Martin gave but he could even prouder that Martin go to Katie and talk about it. To do that, Danny asked Martin that he could visit Katie so she can explain why Sara went toward her. After thinking about it for a minute, Martin smiled at his great best friend and told him, "sure. I can talk to her about it." Before he knew it, Martin got up from his chair and walked toward Katie to talk it out. After seeing that, Danny said to himself, "Danny Taylor. You did it again." and went back to his own desk to be with Fitzy's daughter and the rest of the team.
The moment he came to Katie's desk, Sam saw him and said to Katie, "you can tell me what happened later." and left. After seeing that, he turned to Katie who explained to him with that great smile on her face, "Sam want to come over to my place later tonight." Knowing that she and Sam are good friends, Martin said to her, "oh." while sitting down on the chair that Samantha sat on. After getting comfortable in the spare chair, Martin stared at Katie's face and asked her, "well. Is there anything you want to explain?" Katie got closer to Martin and answered back, "Well, Martin. There are couple things that I knew about Sara." Wanting to know more, Martin asked his colleague, "what is it then?"
Katie got a little closer toward Martin and told him the story that made her Sara's guardian:
--
July 4, 2005
Belton, Texas
It was the Fourth of July. After spending time with her family after Ellie's death for months, Katie realized something about her family. Her huge family is crazy. Everybody from her Nana to her siblings to her nieces and nephews is driving her bonkers. After a family dinner at her Nana's house, Katie needed to be somewhere that is not surrounded by the Carter family. Somewhere that is in the state. Then Katie got an idea. She could spent America's birthday with Jim and his family in Belton which is a small town near a lake a hour and a half south of Dallas. Even through they both came from huge families, his is much quieter. To do it, Katie went into the backyard, took her cell out, dialed his number, and put it to her ear and lips. Once Jim answered his cell by saying "hello.", the only words coming out of Katie's mouth is this: "Can I spent the Fourth of July with you?"
That Katie is at right now, spending the holiday with Jim, his mom Laura, his stepfather Bill, his only brother Tom, his five stepsisters Maggie, Megan, Jennifer, Haley, and Mayle, his only sister Beth, his many nieces and nephews and of course, Sara. After eating burgers and hot dogs on the long picnic table, the whole family cleaned everything up and went back outside to watch the fireworks.
While everybody else was laying on blankets or sitting on beach chairs, Katie, Jim, and Sara shared a hammock between two huge oak trees. While two years old Sara was napping between them, Katie and Jim watched the many fireworks coming out of the lake. During the show, Jim asked Katie something. "Sure, Jim. What is it?"asked Katie who is looking at the latest display of fireworks. Jim turned around to her and asked her in a deep Texan accent, "I'm going to Iraq." After hearing that answer, Katie got up, turned to the Marine, and said to him, "What? When are you leaving?" "Two weeks from now." answered Jim. "Two weeks!!" yelled Katie. Jim told her to calm down or Sara might wake up. "Oh. Sorry, Pumpkin." said Katie while staring at Sara who is still napping.
After seeing that, Jim asked her something else. "Katie. Can I ask you something?"asked Jim. "Sure. What is it?" asked Katie. Jim put his arm to Katie's and begin rubbing it. Katie saw it and knew it away that it involved her. "Katie. Since hearing on the news that the war is getting worse, I am thinking that if I die, I want you to take care of Sara." Katie was shocked when she heard this. Jim think that she could take care of his baby girl? Did James Matthew Foster got hit by a baseball again? If he did, well that person did a good job.
After her own baby girl had died in her arms last February, Katie think that she is useless. She just lost her baby then her boyfriend of a year and a half weeks later. Katie is so miserable, she nearly got depression. Months later, after taking advice from her favorite teacher, Katie was back on her feet. A lot of people had supported her like her family and friends. Jim helped her by visiting her in Dallas with Sara in his arms every single day. Sara is always smiling every time and that gave Katie hope that she can move on. Sara Elizabeth Foster is her little angel.
When she thought of that, Katie looked down on Sara who was still sleeping. After seeing her beautiful face, Katie realized that she could take care of Sara no matter what. To give Jim her answer, Katie looked up and with a smile on her face, she said, "sure." Jim was so happy when he heard that. He always knew that Katie could be a great mother. Right away, Jim got up from the hammock and told her that tomorrow, he will call his lawyer and tell him to put Katie Carter as Sara's guardian on his will. Katie smiled at that and gave Jim a kiss on the cheek. Jim blushed when she did that and Katie started to giggle.
After all of that, Jim noticed that Sara is fully sleeping and he better put her into her bed. When he put his daughter into his arms, Jim got out of the hammock and begin to walk back to the house, he heard a voice. "Jim. Wait!!"said the voice. Jim turned around and saw Katie running toward them. When Katie finally stopped, Jim smiled at her and told her what did she want now? With a smile on her face and her blue eyes shining like the stars that are recently out, she told him that he better do that before he get shot down by al - Qaeda then no one could not take care of Sara. Jim smiled at that and said to her, "fine." and walked back into the house. After Jim got into the house, Katie smiled at herself and walked back to the hammock to finish watching the fireworks alone until Jim comes back so they can do that together.
--
After Martin heard that story, he asked Katie why that didn't happened. It sounded like Jim is a very smart man but he ended forgetting to put Katie as Sara's guardian. Katie just shrugged and said to Martin, "I don't know what had happened. Jim told me before he left for Iraq that was all set but when he died, it like it didn't existed. Because of that, Sara just went into the system. Do you understood any of it, Martin?" With that cute smile of his, Martin said to her, "I understood everything you just said." In return, Katie smiled back and said to him, "Great."
After smiling about each other and talking about other things, Sara ran over to Katie's desk and gently tapped her Auntie's arm. Katie felt that tap and looked down at Sara who is sweetly waiting for Katie to take a look at her. With a smile on her face, Sara asked Katie, "do you miss me?" In a smile in return, Katie told her yes. Sara smiled at again and ran to Martin.
The minute after she ran to him, her father put her on his lap and Sara started whispering something to Martin. Katie couldn't hear a single thing since the whispering was so tiny. After Sara was done whispering and started playing with the stuffed lamb, Martin started to laugh a little. Wanting to know what the little girl had just to her dad, Katie asked Martin why he is laughing. Martin answered Katie's answer by telling her that Sara just asked Martin that they could go to Katie's place this week just to spend time with her to catch up. Thinking that could be a great idea, Katie looked at Sara to tell her that is great thing. Sara said "yay" to that and ran over to hug her Auntie Katie. Katie hug her back and smiled at that.
Five minutes later, everybody went back to desk work while Sara was drawing pictures on some old papers with crayons. When it was six in the evening, Martin and Sara are getting ready to go home for the day. Knowing that Martin wasn't finished with the desk work and wanting to help out, Katie got up and stopped the Fitzgeralds from going nowhere. Wanting to know why Katie did that, Martin asked her that. In return, Katie told him that she is staying late tonight and since she was done with hers, she can do his. With a smile on his handsome face, Martin said "sure, no problem." Katie thanked him for it and out of nowhere, Sara waved her hand and said to her, "Bye, Auntie Katie. It is good to see you again." Martin smiled at that when Katie waved back and said back, "it is good to see you, Sara."
A minute later, Martin and Sara had left the Missing Persons Office and Katie went over to Martin's desk to grab his box of desk work. While working on his, Katie was thinking about what had happened that day and said to herself, "this is much better than I expected."
