Keeping Katie Ch 4

It was a quiet evening. The pizza disappeared like a whirlwind had blown through the kitchen and both movies were a hit. Don supervised the living room clean up before bedtime while Karen gave Katie a bath and the kids went to bed quietly.

Don lit a fire in the fireplace and the two adults lingered in the living room for awhile before going to bed. About 2 am the phone rang. "Cragen." He said sleepily.

"I'm sorry. I was trying to reach Karen Wesson…." A female voice sounded flustered.

"Just a moment. It's for you." He handed Karen the phone.

"Hello?" Karen asked sleepily.

"Karen, my name is Tolna. I'm from the Mental Health Services. I was told you take in emergency placements until a better sight can be found?"

"I do."

"I have a male that is in need of that service. Can you take him tonight?"

Barry was out for the night so he could have that bed. "Yes."

"I'll have him brought over in about half an hour."

"I'll be ready for him."

She hung up. "What's up?" Don asked.

"Emergency placement. He'll be here in half an hour. I need to get Barrys bed changed."

"I'll help. Does this happen often?"

"In fits and spurts. Especially around the holidays. People just can't control themselves and they remove kids to keep them safe. I had one where they placed four kids with me for the night that ended up to be three days. I spent the whole time pulling them out of the barn. They loved the horses so much and they could be together out there."

"Do you want me to call Charlene?"

"No, I can handle one more for tonight. Go back to sleep if you want to."

"I'm in this with you, love."

They went into the boys bedroom and tried to be quiet while they changed the sheets. Laslo woke up and gazed bleary eyed at them, saw who it was, rolled over and went back to sleep. Don stayed in the kitchen while Karen went out to meet the squad car that brought the new arrival. He didn't think much of it, but when she didn't come right back in he started to get a little worried.

He was going to go out to see what the problem was when she came back in. With a man. A not too well taken care of man, dirty, disoriented and struggling against her restraining arm. "I want to go home." He said loudly.

"Shhh. Keep your voice down." Karen told him.

"What the hell?" Don asked startled.

"I don't know." Karen told him. "I didn't sign up for adults, but the officers had their orders. He's here for tonight. You can plan on me being on the phone first thing in the morning."

"I wanna go home!" the man yelled again.

"Joseph, be quiet." Karen said sharply.

The man was obviously not completely normal. He was trying to get up out of the chair Karen had put him into. Don came around the table and sat down in a chair near him. "Joseph, look at me. My name's Don.

Josephs eyes fixed on Don and he seemed to relax at the look in the captains eyes. "You're okay. No one's going to hurt you."

"Can I please go home?" He pleaded.

Karen put his papers down on the table near Don and went to the refrigerator. She opened the door and withdrew some bottled water and put it down near the man. He grabbed it and she backed away from his frightened look. The man was clearly terrified of her. He opened the bottle and gulped the water down like he'd been walking in the desert.

Don told him soothingly. "Lets get your coat off. Did they bring any of his things?" he asked the now more relaxed man.

"No, that's why I have that extra dresser with clothes in it, but I'm not sure if I have anything that'll fit him."

"We'll find something. Joseph, how about if we take you into the bathroom and get you a nice hot bath." Don coaxed.

Joseph shot straight up in the air. "No Bath! I ain't taking no bath!" he hollered immediately agitated.

"Take it easy. A shower, how about a shower?" Don asked calmly.

Joseph looked at him to see if he was being serious. "O-Okay. I'm dirty." He said.

Don helped him up and guided him toward the bathroom. Joseph paused when Karen came that way as well. "I'm not going if she's going." He said belligerently.

"I'm going to get you some clothes. I won't go into the bathroom with you." Karen said quietly.

He seemed uncertain. "Why don't you go first. We'll follow you." Don suggested.

"Okay." She went ahead and turned into the closet where she kept the extra clothes. Don got Joseph beyond her and into the bathroom. He helped the suddenly exhausted man out of the filthy rags he was wearing. He had a hard time keeping his eyes off the horrible scars, old burns and bruises on the mans torso. And he wasn't as big as the baggy clothes suggested. All his ribs and his backbone stood out.

Dan set the water temperature to warm and boosted the man into the shower. He seemed to come back to life a bit when he washed. Karen poked her head cautiously inside the door. She didn't speak just showed Don the clothes and back out again. He smiled at her and helped Joseph out of the tub. The mans hair was a surprising red when clean. He didn't need help into the sweat clothes she found for him and Don recognized an old pair of boxers he'd seen in the rag box, but they were clean.

His feet were bare, but that would wait until morning. Joseph was yawning when Don took him out of the room and showed him where the bedroom was where he'd be staying. He was barely conscious when Don let him lay down and he went right to sleep.

He crept back out of the room and went out to where Karen was sitting at the kitchen table reading the papers that came with him. "Someone's been using him as whipping boy for a lot of years." He said.

"It says here, he's considered moderately mentally handicapped and he's 31. I thought he was older."

"Until you get those rags off of him he looked it. I'm going to take those things out and put them in the shed. I'll bring home some latex gloves to go through the pockets tomorrow. I can't even consider touching them right now."

"Thank you for taking care of him for me."

"You know I'll do whatever I can. Are you going to be okay with him today?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I'm going to be on the phone very first thing you can bank on that. Let's go back to bed."

"Excellent idea."

They returned to their room and crawled back under the covers. It seemed like only minutes before shrieking and yelling woke them back up. Don was in the girls room first to find Joseph looking frantically for someplace to hide and BB fit to be tied, Katie was making piercing noises and trying to hide behind BB. Don grabbed Joseph by the shoulders and muscled him out of the room. Karen darted in after him and grabbed the girls in her arms as BB talked at her and Katie tried to get her attention to sign to her. "Okay, girls, it's okay. It's okay. He's not here to hurt you. Calm down. It's okay. I'm right here and Don has him. Shhh, it's okay. You're safe."

"Who is he?" BB demanded still shaking.

"His name is Joseph. He was an emergency case last night and he got confused about where he was. Did he hurt either one of you?"

"No, but he shouldn't have been in here."

"I agree. I think it was an accident. Everything's fine now. Let's sit down for a minute."

Keeping an arm around both girls, Karen sat them down on the bed and took a deep sigh.

"Now, I'm going to call the county first thing this morning and find someplace else for him to live. I think there's been a mixup. He's too old to be here, I don't take people that age. You know that BB. Right?"

"He's creepy."

"We'll get it straightened out and everything will be fine. It's early yet. Do you guys want to lay back down for a while or get up and have a nice hot breakfast?"

"I can't sleep." BB said.

Katie nodded vigorously in agreement. "Okay, then. Get dressed and come out when you're ready. I'm going to go see how Dad is doing with our newest arrival."

She left the two girls hurriedly getting dressed and went out to see Don had Joseph sitting on the couch covered up in a blanket. "Morning, Joseph." She said to him.

Joseph blinked owl-eyed at her and didn't respond. "I think he got lost going to the bathroom." Don said. "I don't think he meant to hurt anyone. Are the girls okay?"

"Scared to death, but okay. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm not so sure about our friend Joseph here."

"He looks a lot better this morning. I'm going to make everyone a hot breakfast. Do you like pancakes, Joseph?"

Again the no answer stare. It was unnerving. "Joseph, do you like pancakes?" Don asked again.

"Yes." He replied.

"Why will he answer you and not me?" Karen asked a touch miffed.

"I don't know. Joseph, why won't you talk to Karen?"

Joseph dropped his head and didn't answer. "I need some tea and I'll bet you could use some stand the spoon in the cup coffee you like." She patted Dons knee and went toward the kitchen.

Don joined her a few minutes later. Joseph had laid down sideways and gone back to sleep. Karen handed him a cup of coffee and waited to kiss him until he'd taken a big swallow. "You're going to have the whole squad buzzing today."

"I am?"

"You look like I kept you up all night with monkey sex."

"Well, if they think that….." he grinned at her, drawing her to him in a passionate kiss.

"Eww, get a room!" Laslo said coming out looking still half asleep. "I heard screaming."

"Dead to the world." Karen grinned at the man still holding her in his arms.

"We have a new person here." BB said in disgust when she and Katie joined the group. "He came in to our room this morning. Thanks a lot for protecting us."

"Hey, it's not my job." Laslo shot back offended.

"No harm done. It was an accident." Don intervened. "Karen is going to need your help today while you're home. And tonight we have an appointment. Charlene will need your help too."

"You're going to leave us here with him?" BB nearly freaked out completely.

"Not by yourselves." Don said. "Charlene will be here."

"I want to go with you." she said immediately.

"You can't. This is not that kind of a meeting. I'll talk to Dr. Huang today and see what I can find out. Call me as soon as you know anything from the county, alright?"

"I will. Do you want some breakfast before you leave?"

"I'll get something on the way in. I want to talk to Huang before he gets too busy."

He went into their quarters and put on his suit for the day. He walked back out to the smell of pancakes and bacon cooking. Karen handed him a couple of pieces of toast with bacon between them and a travel mug of coffee. He gave her a look that said he knew she was trying to take care of him. She shrugged and gave him a sheepish look. He smiled and took the food. It was in a styrofoam container. He closed it and left. "Bye, guys. Have a good day at school."

"Bye!" they chorused.

He left the complex, happy to be on the way before the traffic backed up.

Karen fed the kids and got them ready for school before Charlene showed up. "Am I late?" she asked.

"No, we have a new person here and it caused a bit of excitement so we're running really early."

"Ah. Is there something I ought to know?"

"His name is Joseph and he's 31 not 13. He won't talk to me and he walked into the girls room this morning by accident and scared them. As soon as the county offices open I want to know who made this collosal error and how to fix it. Can you keep and eye on things while I'm on the phone?"

"Absolutely. Morning, guys."

While Charlene took care of things, Karen went in to take care her shower and get ready for the day. An unholy racket brought her charging out of the door again. Joseph was shouting and charging around the house. Thankfully the kids had gone to school. "What's going on?" she demanded.

"I don't know. I was cleaning up in the kitchen, he woke up, and went ballistic." Charlene said staring at the bathroom door.

"I thought it was just the one time. I'm sorry. I should have said something. Did he say anything?"

"No just yelling about wanting to go home, then he bolted for the bathroom."

Karen went over and tapped on the door gently. "Joseph? It's Karen, remember from last night?" There was no answer. "Joseph, no one's going to hurt you. Come out, please." no noise. "Joseph, I'm going to open the door. It's okay, it's just me." She opened the door incremently so as not to scare the man.

A loud whomp scared her when a bottle of shampoo hit the door and made the whole door shake. Karen jumped but didn't release the door. She tried to poke her head in to see what was going on. She barely pulled back in time. Joseph hit the door with all his weight and it slammed. It would've painfully slammed her head if she'd been a second slower withdrawing it. The lock slid closed inside.

"That's it. I'm calling them now." Karen said sharply.

"Good idea." Charlene agreed. "I'll just work around here and he can calm down. He can't stay in there forever."

Karen called the county. "This is Karen Wesson, I need to speak to Tolna please."

"This is Tolna."

"Good morning, Tolna. This is Karen Wesson. I need to speak to you about the man you had delivered to my home last night."

"Joseph Dulcat. How is he this morning?"

"He's a man."

"Yes, he is. I don't mind helping out but when can he be moved out of here? He needs to go soon."

"Mrs. Wesson, you signed up for emergency placement and he's been placed with you for a minimum of two weeks."

"It's Miss Wesson and what I signed up for is for children 13 and younger. Not 31."

"I'm looking at the paperwork you filled out and it says 31."

"I'm sorry, but your paperwork is incorrect. I'm not set up for adult clients. There's been a mistake made. How can we straighten it out?"

"You'll have to come in and fill out the correct form and put the correct information in the blanks. It'll take several weeks for it to be straightened out."

"Weeks? No, ma'am, I'm not the one who made this error. You'll have to check with your supervisor. My contract says that I get residents that are under 13. It's probably just a simple clerical error, but he cannot stay with my children. He has to be moved today."

"I can set the paperwork in motion, but by refusing to keep him you are voiding your contract with the state. Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

"Excuse me, young woman, but are you threatening me with the cancellation of my contract? My usual contract is Ms. Walters. Can you check with her?"

"She is no longer with this office. I'm her replacement and I can void your contract as I need to. It is very specific. I'll do what I can, but Joseph Dulcat will be with you for at least two weeks. Call us back if you need anything. Good bye."

Karen stared at the dead phone in her hand. She hung up and dialled back. The phone went to voice mail. "This is Karen Wesson again. I have a problem and it needs to be addressed. Please call me back." She hung up. "Well, it seems the Z team has come to the county. She says he's here for two weeks or she's going to void my contract with the state."

"In the meantime, what are we going to do about this?" Charlene asked.

"He can't stay in there forever." Karen said.

Apparently he thought he could. He didn't come out and it was going on 2:00. Karen admitted defeat and called Don. "Hi, it's me." she said.

Don had been on expecting a call before now. "What did you find out?"

"I've been waiting for the woman to call me back, but she hasn't." she told him everything she knew and he was livid at the bureaucracy.

'So he's been in there all day?"

"Yes, and the kids are due home soon. They'll need to use the bathroom. What am I going to do? We can't just leave him here with Charlene and the kids like this."

"Just relax. I'll think of something. I spoke to Huang this morning and he thinks he knows what the problem is, but he has to see him to be sure. I thought maybe we could invite him over tomorrow to talk to Joseph. Would that be a problem?"

"No. Anything would be appreciated."

"Okay, don't worry. I'll figure out what to do for this evening. I have to go."

"I know. I love you."

"Me, too."

TBC