Chapter 24
The boys attended Holy Thursday service. Aaron and the team were out on a case. They were there Good Friday as well. No one thought any different about the situation. Yet, when just the two of them walked in together Easter Sunday morning for 8 am church, their friends there took notice. Gary and Brenda were the first to get to them at the table while the boys sat down to eat the Easter breakfast the church provided after the service. Their daughter Gretchen and her husband and their two young children were with them.
"Is your dad still out on a case," Gary questioned.
"Yeah; he doesn't know when they're going to get home."
"What are you doing for Easter dinner Zach?" Brenda asked.
"Grandma invited us down there but they're not eating until four and I have practice at 6:30. We've got a big game tomorrow night. And we can't get down there and back in time. I'll just get something together for us."
"We're eating at three. Would that work for you?" Brenda smiled.
"We don't want to invade your family time."
"Zach, I've got plenty and the Hotchner's are a part of that family."
Gretchen smiled. "Andrew will have someone to play with." The nearly three year old in her arms smiled as well.
Zach gave them a small smile. "You sure you don't mind?"
"We wouldn't have asked if we did," Gary smiled, rubbing Zach's shoulder.
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Zach held a sleepy Jack in his arms as Gary answered the door to their home. "I was just about to worry you got lost," he quietly said.
"No, with the Easter bunny before church, he crashed about 11. I had to wake him up to come here and he fell asleep again in his car seat. Thanks again for the invite; we really appreciate it." Zach pulled off Jack's shoes will he slipped out of his own.
The boys were dressed in jeans and wearing the polo shirts from their mother's wake. Brenda noted that Zach was filling his out a lot more than from that horrible time. He crouched down to set Jack on his feet to get him to wake up. Jack whispered something in his ear.
"Umm, Jack I'm pretty sure they have a bathroom here. All you have to do is ask," he smiled. Gary held out his hand to Jack and led him to the hallway.
"It's on the left Jack. Just walk down there and you'll see it." Jack took off. Zach walked in and greeted Brenda, Gretchen, and Mike her husband. Their five month old daughter happily bounced in a chair made for infants to do exactly that. Eileen, Gary's mother that had made the delicious soup that Brenda and Gary had dropped off at the apartment after Haley was killed was there as well. Zach gave her a big hug. Eileen loved that the boys called her grandma.
She smiled as she pulled away. "You keep growing Zach and your dad will have to buy a bigger house." The Hotchner's hosted the entire church coffee klatch group for brunch after church one Sunday, just after the holidays.
"I think I've got plenty of room Grandma," he smiled.
"Zach," Jack bellowed. Zach took off down the hall and they both returned a few minutes later.
"Everything all right?" Brenda asked with concern.
Jack shook his head. "I just couldn't reach the sink to wash my hands," he smiled. "Brenda, I know it's close to dinner, but can I have a little juice please?"
"Sure Jack," she said as she was mashing potatoes. "Gretchen can get you some."
"Just a little please Gretchen," Zach said.
As Gretchen handed Jack the glass of juice and he thanked her, Zach's cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and smiled. "Hi dad."
"Hey Zach, what's up?"
"We're at Brenda and Gary's getting ready to eat Easter dinner." He could hear his dad smiling over the phone.
"And you don't have to cook."
"No I don't have to cook and I know it's going to be way better than what I would have thrown together," he smiled.
Jack stopped drinking his juice long enough to chime in, "You're a good cook Zach." Brenda just smiled at him.
"How's it going dad?"
"We're starting to make some headway. Dave thinks we're getting close."
"Just get the monster dad; we're fine." Zach filled him on the rest of their plans for the day.
"Son, I know we talked before Christmas about the significance of Easter. I just wish….."
Zach interrupted his dad. "I remember dad. But I'm OK. Yeah, I wish you were here to be with us, but I'm really OK. Dad, please, trust me. Pastor's sermon was phenomenal as usual and I'm OK." Gary, Brenda and Eileen shared glances.
"Zach, can you put me on speaker phone."
"Go dad."
"Hi daddy! The Easter bunny brought me three new cars! And a basket of candy!"
"That's great buddy. Just don't eat all the candy at once."
"Zach's keeping an eye on that daddy."
"Good. Brenda, Gary, thank you so much."
"No worries Aaron," Gary said, "we're happy to have them. I agree with Zach. Just get the monster. Your sons and your friends got the fort."
"Thank you. Please just know it's very much appreciated." They all talked a bit more and then Aaron hurriedly said, "I gotta run. Thank you all. Love ya sons." And he was gone.
They all enjoyed the traditional Easter dinner, with Zach making himself quite at home. No one blinked, having spent time around growing boys before. Afterwards, Zach helped clear the table while Jack and Andrew speed off to play with their cars. Zach had brought Jack's backpack with his favorite cars.
Gary and Zach sat down to watch the rest of the Nats game while the boys happily played. After the game was over and the ladies were done with the dishes the five adults and Zach sat down at the table and played cribbage.
Zach looked at his watch. It was a little after five fifteen. He looked at Brenda. "I'm sorry, but we have to head out. We've got to get back home, let Mudg out and feed him and get changed."
"You have a dog now?"
Zach shook his head. "He's Uncle Dave's. Jack and I take care of him when the team is out," he smiled. They said their thank you's as Brenda went into the kitchen and then came back out.
She held out to Zach a paper grocery bag. "In the bottom is a Tupperware with dessert that you and Jack can have when you get home. Just bring it back to me in church next Sunday. On top of that is some of the ham and buns, so you can make sandwiches for the bus ride tomorrow to the game." Zach had told them earlier that the game was an hour bus ride one way. "I also put in some Rice Krispy bars that I made for Andrew yesterday that you boys can have as well."
Zach just shook his head and gave her a big hug. They said their heartfelt thanks again, along with their good-byes. Gary grabbed the grocery bag. "You take care of the squirt, I'll take this." He helped them get loaded up into the truck. Jack waved madly from his car seat and Zach added his own wave as they pulled out of the driveway.
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As the school bus tooled its way towards Winchester, Jack devoured a box of animal crackers and had a juice box. Zach, sitting next to him, was listening to his iPod, a pre-game ritual. He didn't like to eat before a game but had a few Jack's crackers that he offered. Coach Bock had very strict rules about behavior on the bus before a game. They were to be quiet and heads down on getting ready.
After he finished, Jack crawled up into Zach's lap and took a power nap. Pete, sitting across from the both of them, listening to his own tunes, just smiled.
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The game against Winchester was a huge one. They were the defending state champions in the Cardinals' division. And they were a team that matched the currently undefeated Cardinals in personnel. Plus they had a reputation of playing hard-nosed baseball. Some would even call it dirty.
It was a game that played out exactly as people expected. The Eagles were starting their top pitcher, the head coach's son. The Cardinals were answering with their ace, Jake Beckham, the only senior on the young team and team captain.
When Winchester came up to bat in the bottom of the first inning, Jake, or JB, as he was called by the team, walked the first batter. As the batter trotted to first base, JB waved Zach to mound. While he held his glove over his mouth, Zach could see he was smiling. "I've got ya set up. Blow that pain in my ass out of the water." The batter had always been a thorn in JB's side. He was a tough leadoff hitter and had never been thrown out stealing a base in his entire prep career.
The trap set, JB and Zach pulled it off perfectly on the second pitch. As the runner took off for second, the second Zach caught the pitch he sprung from his catcher's crouch and fired a bullet to the Dylan Monroe, the Cardinal second baseman. The play wasn't even close and the base umpire signaled the out.
Coach Mayer, the pitching coach, standing next to Coach Bock in the dugout smiled at him and whipered, "Just like Stan says: he's a damn cobra."
The game was tied 1-1 in the top of the seventh, with the visiting Cardinals batting. Young Javier Rodriquez, their lightning fast centerfielder and lead-off hitter, worked a one-out walk off the big Eagle pitcher. The next batter struck out. Zach came to the plate. Pete was in the on deck circle warming up with Jack positioned at the top step of the dugout behind the fence.
The first pitch the Eagle pitcher threw at Zach, he immediately recognized as a fastball going straight for his head. Zach had accounted for the sole Cardinal run, with a monster shot in the fourth inning. Zach dove into the dirt of the batter's box to get out of the way of the pitch. As he looked up, the pitcher was motioning like "Oops, sorry," at him and the umpire. Yet as Zach started to rise, he saw J-Rod still at first, with the catcher having caught the pitch. It was a called pitch by the coach and Zach's tempered flared.
"Blue; time."
"Time," the umpire shouted. Zach took the time to step out of the batter's box, get himself dusted off and let his temper settle.
Jack, at the top of dugout steps, a few feet away from Pete whispered to him. "He's mad, isn't he?"
Pete looked at him, smiled, and whispered back, "Yeah, just like we want the Cobra to be."
Zach settled back into the batter's box and worked the Eagle pitcher to 2-1 count, fouling off a fastball that he just missed on driving somewhere. But Zach knew the pitcher had a tell when he was going to throw his change-up, having noticed it sitting in the dugout and then seeing it at his last at bat.
The change-up came from a different arm angle. Zach waited on it and drove it not only over the fence in left field but across the road that ran along the backside of the fence. The first bounce landed half-way into the lawn of the residential home across the street.
Pete looked at Jack, smiling broadly. "Now that's a Cobra!"
As Zach rounded third base and got his handshake from Coach Bock, the pitcher glared at him.
As he got into the dugout, Coach Mayer looked at him. "JB's done. Willie is waiting for you. Get warmed up." Pete, trying to giving Zach time to get warmed up to pitch, fouled off six balls before finally flying out to the centerfielder.
Willie was Justin Wilson, only a freshman that was the reserve catcher and took over when Zach went in as reliever. Zach had mentored him from day one of practice, and Willie was turning into a good catcher. Yet, Zach expected him to think like him and call the pitches, watching the batter's tendencies. As they headed out of the bullpen, Willie looked at Zach and gulped.
Zach looked at him. "You'll be fine Willie," he said, clamping his hand on Willie's shoulder. "If not anything, just drop the fingers and I'll shake you off until I get the one I want." They both knew it was crucial that they be on the same page to what pitch was coming.
Willie struggled the first couple of pitches and then settled in. Zach was patient with him. After Zach had struck out the first two batters, the big pitcher for the Eagles, also their best batter, walked towards the batter box. Zach motioned for Willie to come out to the mound for a talk. They both turned their back to home plate, with Zach even putting his glove over his mouth so the coaches in the boxes on the lines couldn't read the conversation.
Pete ambled over to get in on the conversation. It was up to him to set the defense. "Willie, this guy can't hit a curve ball to save his life. And he's going to be looking dead red. First two are curves, one inside, one outside; you choice. When we've got him 0-2, the last call is yours. Just anything but a fastball. I want to screw this SOB into the ground. I owe him." Pete nodded at Willie.
Willie marveled to himself that the first two pitches went exactly like Zach predicted. He smiled to himself behind his catcher's mask and signaled Zach to throw the splitter, a nasty pitch that came in straight like a fastball and then broke hard to the ground as it got to the batter. The two of them had been working on it all spring. Zach threw it perfectly, with the big dude flailing at it and missing it as the ball broke. Willie, prepared for the pitch, caught it just before it hit the dirt and held the ball up in his glove to show the umpire. The blue signaled the final out.
After the team had showed respect to their opponents in shaking their hands, the Cardinals didn't start their celebrating until they were out of Winchester and Coach Bock rose from his front seat on the school bus, standing in the aisle. "Heckuva a game guys; I'm proud of you." The bus erupted.
After the commotion settled down, Zach and Jack dove into the ham sandwiches, apples and chips that Zach had packed. They both had grabbed a bottle of water from the vending machine at the field before getting on the bus. After they polished that off, they enjoyed the bars that Brenda had given them as well.
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Zach pulled the truck into the driveway to see Dave's SUV parked behind their dad's. Jack excitedly said, "They're home!" Zach pulled his truck into the garage and the boys nearly tumbled out. They ran into the house to see their dad and Dave sitting at the lunch counter devouring their own ham sandwiches and having a beer. Brenda had sent that much ham with the boys.
Aaron and Dave smiled proudly as the boys told them about the game, especially the seventh inning, with Jack sitting on his dad's lap, still bubbling with excitement over the big game.
The next home game, Brenda and Gary were there, cheering on Zach. So was the entire BAU team.
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The Cardinals cruised through the rest of the regular season and the playoffs, entering the Virginia State Tournament as the number one ranked team in Division 2 and the only undefeated team in the four team bracket. That made them the number one seed in the state tournament bracket in their division.
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A/N: I know another baseball chapter. What can I say; Zach is a baseball player, its part of the story I want to tell and I'm a huge baseball fan. However, I hope all of you that don't like baseball or understand it, take away from this chapter the friendship and people it is taking to help this family. As a reviewer to one of my other stories pointed out, I'm all about family. ;) Thanks my Dutch Delight!