A/N: All of a sudden, Duke Mitchell liked Flamingos, according to his son. **shrug**
Week 5 - UDC 1
21. smell
She'd heard him say it and didn't need to look over at Juliana to know she was upset by what Pete had said. Raising her head, she watched as the boys and Lieutenant Carpenter tossed the ball around in a pattern, and caught Eugene's eye when he checked on them. Lillian could understand where the misunderstanding had come from, and even the reasoning, but...
"Mom?"
Lillian blinked, remembering her daughter at her side, and reached over to hug her closer. She took a moment to sniff at her hair, the scent of shampoo lingering. She wanted to make a scene, to fix this so a little boy wasn't afraid of losing everything all over again. "Draw seven over twelve, hmmm?"
22. sound
"Pete?"
He blinked and forced himself to look at Juliana, at her and not beyond her. "What?"
"It's not as simple as that," Juliana said after a moment.
"As simple as what?"
"As it being three more weeks that you're with us, Pete, because it's going to be longer. That man over there? He wasn't angry with you, but at what he saw and heard and it came across badly." She glanced toward the lawn, shook her head. "I was going to let it be a surprise, but we've had enough of those for now."
Harmon grabbed at him and Pete let him play with his hand. Were Nicky and Maggie this big, or bigger? "Surprises aren't all bad."
"No, but this... you should not have been told that way, not while you were upset."
23. touch
With Pete distracted by Harmon playing with his hand, Juliana shifted her gaze to Lillian, who simply nodded in response to her silent question. It was amazing what the power of a hug could do sometimes, combined with fractions. "Favorite animal, Pete?"
"Elephants."
"Second favorite?"
"Flamingos."
That drew her gaze back to him and he shrugged. "Oh really?"
Pete sighed. "Dad liked 'em. Said they were goofy-looking, but familial, that they formed colonies and to see them in flight was... mag-ja-something."
"Majestic?" It was odd, finding out that Duke Mitchell had liked Flamingos, but everyone had their quirks... usually the quirks didn't come with a side of having been declared MIA under suspicious circumstances that might have included going AWOL with an aircraft.
Pete nodded. "That one."
24. taste
Later, after they'd gotten everyone off to bed, Juliana regarded her husband seriously as he pulled down the sheets. "You're an idiot."
Will froze. "I think we established that already, Jules."
"...and I considered making you sleep on the couch." He looked over at her, frowning.
"All right. WHY were you considering that?"
Juliana motioned to their closed bedroom door. "Our foster son? The one you don't think it's fair to either of us to keep? He's been terrified that we're going to just drop him off at social services without so much as a by-your-leave when you deploy."
Slowly, Will sank down onto the bed. "Terrified?"
"Yes, Will." She moved to sit next to him, took a deep breath and let it out. "And I will be talking to Alan tomorrow about getting special permission for Pete to do courses at TCJC. If school is helping him keep his head above water, we might as well do something about it that caters to him."
Will nodded. "Jules?"
"Hmmm?"
"Should I go make up the couch?"
25. sight
Breakfast in the Carpenter household was usually noisy, and this morning was no exception, Juliana observed. She wanted to do more, but Isaac and Will had made her sit down, and Pete was staring at her blankly when he thought she didn't notice. She reached over and pointed to the banana beside his cereal bowl, and he frowned before picking it up and peeling it.
From her other side, James tugged on her sleeve and she looked at him, then beyond him to Eddy and Colten, smiling. "Now, I know you don't need me to peel that, James."
"Missed you," James told her sincerely and Juliana nodded in ackwoledgement. "It was scary, Mom."
"Well, I'm here now, and it scared me, too." She leaned closer to him. "Less fighting, you hear?"
James glanced around her, then frowned. "You said to make him feel like one of us."
"Did you?" She waited until James responded by shaking his head once. "At least you know that."