Undercover Family
I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story.
I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.
Chapter 11.
He stood there waiting with his attorney for the judge to give his sentence on the conviction of the fight that he was involved in at the Clover Bar and Grill in Waukegan Illinois. He has been convicted of battery.
Judge orders him to serve 150 days at the county jail, to begin serving immediately. He is taken away.
Another week goes by.
The family has been enjoying each other's company and doing well in their roles. Going to school and getting to know the children, in fact making friends as a child with them. Aaron is no longer teething and is feeling like his old self. He and momma have interviewed and met with many of the families of the missing children and although they have gotten some information; it seems most of it really doesn't in creating a profile of the kidnapper. He has actually met Agent Bob Carlyle of the local FBI office to share information with them, but they have much of the same information that had been found. Hotch told him of what his impressions of the families and the victims and this was included in the profile. Hotch went to the office and a profile was made, that it is a white male, in his twenties to forties, looks normal with no distinguishing marks and probably has lived in the area most or all of his life. That is all they have for now, but it is a beginning.
At home, they are also doing well, even though they don't have to really act like children at home, they do try to maintain their roles. After the second week of living there, it seems that the boys were keeping secrets.
Momma doesn't often go upstairs unless it is necessary, she asks the kids to bring down their dirty clothes and has them change the sheets on their beds once a week. But at the end of the second week, it seems that there are more sheets than there should be. Why? On that third Monday morning after taking the kids to school and Penelope has gone to work at the ice cream parlor, she goes home. Usually, she and Aaron would normally be meeting with the other women and visiting, but today she let them know that she won't be able to come today. She heads upstairs to check the beds of her children. First in Penelope's room, everything is fine and she leaves clean sheets on the twin-size bed for her to make the bed when she gets home. The girls' room had a full size bed and it was looking good on both sides of the bed. Momma puts a clean sheet on and makes the bed. In the boys' room, she checks out David's bed first, remember they have bunk beds and David is on top. The twin size mattress looks good to her and she puts a clean sheet on and makes the bed. Below David is an empty twin size bed, so she goes over to the top bunk of the other bunk bed. This is where Derek sleeps and his twin size mattress also looks good to her. She puts a clean sheet on and makes the bed. The bottom bunk bed is used by Spencer and she pulls the blanket off of the mattress and notices that this bed is not so good. It seems that Spencer has a little problem once in a while, it doesn't look like it's an every night problem, but it definitely looks like he has been wetting the bed. What she wonders is if the other boys knew about it?
That early morning at about 5 am, Spencer wakes up and realizes that he has once again wet the bed. He gets up and changes his pajamas and goes to lie on the other bed. David sleeps lightly and hears him get up and move. He jumps down and tucks Spencer in the bed.
"You did it again, kid."
"Yeah, I don't know why I keep wetting the bed; I didn't before I came here."
"Well, maybe it has to do with the fact that you're four-years-old in the illusion and you're just feeling a little needy and young. Your bladder might just be a little too small for you to last the night through. I'm going to go change the sheets, you get some more sleep."
"Thank you David, for your understanding. Maybe we should tell mommy about the problem?"
"I don't know how she would handle it; she might even put you in diapers at night like Aaron."
"Yeah, but I don't know, that might be better than waking up on cold, wet sheets. I might actually get a full night's sleep and not need such a long nap later in the day." David chuckles at that.
"If you want to tell momma, you can, but I will be here to help you if you need me."
"Thanks Dave, good night." David goes and removes the sheet from Spencer's bed and remakes the bed. After which he returns to his own bed and goes back to sleep for a few more hours.
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That morning, as momma sees the wet bed, she's not certain how she should handle the situation. She didn't expect that she would have a bed wetter. She will have to talk to him about the situation. She cleans the mattress as best she could and then remade the bed. She then made the supposedly unused bed.
Returning downstairs, she changes the clothes in the washer to the dryer and started another load. She then started to dust and would vacuum the carpet before gathering Aaron up and going to pick up Spencer and Emily from school. Instead of going straight home, she decides to treat the young ones to lunch at the local McDonalds. She gets two regular happy meals, one with chicken nuggets and one with a cheeseburger, each will have apple dippers, milk and she asks if they could put a different happy meal toy in each. She also orders a toddler happy meal with chicken nuggets, apple dippers, milk and a toddler toy, which are made for those under three. Putting Aaron in the high chair, she sets the kids in the booth and gives each their meal. Momma ate her big Mac and walnut salad while watching the kids eat and then play with their toys. After lunch, she takes them to the park and lets them play on the swings, merry go round and slide. Although, it wasn't too long before there was three tired bodies ready for naps. Taking the kids home, she puts them down in their regular spots and then goes to relax some in the living room. After an hour, Emily wakes up and goes to play on the porch; she does this so that the others are not wakened by her play. Spencer wakes up shortly after and was on his way to play when mommy stopped him.
"Spencer, we need to talk."
"Did I do something wrong, mommy?"
"Not in the way that you may think, why didn't you tell me about wetting the bed?"
"I'm sorry; I was ashamed about it and not certain what you would do."
"What did you think that I would do?"
"Make me like Aaron and put me in a diaper." She smiles at this, while he keeps his eyes on the floor, still feeling embarrassed and ashamed that it is happening and he has to tell her about it.
"Who has been helping you?"
"What makes you think that someone has been helping me?"
"Because I don't think you would have not told me earlier, unless someone was helping you clean up and keep it together."
"David. Please don't punish him; he was just being a good brother."
"I have no intention of punishing anyone and you are right. He was being a good big brother. But, we can't have mattresses that are being peed on. What would you like to do about it?"
"I don't know what I want to do about it; however, I do know that I don't want to wear a diaper." She once again smiles at him.
"I promise, I will not put you in a diaper, but what do you say to disposable training pants at night."
"Disposable training pants?"
"Well, the brand name would be like good nights or pull-ups. How does that sound to you? If you wake up dry then they can be reused during the next night. You won't have to wear them during the day and they won't be put on until just before bed. If you do wet, well then the mattress will be dry and you probably won't wake up until I wake you up in the morning. I do want you to stay in your own bed."
"You won't put me in the crib upstairs." She smiles again.
"Not at all, the crib upstairs will be Aarons eventually. Does this sound like a good deal for you? What we could do is try it for a week and then we can talk about the situation."
Pensively he nods his head saying, "Let's try it for a week."
"Go play." He runs outside and gets in the sandbox to play with the Tonka trucks.
Aaron wakes up and lets momma know, she gets him out of the crib, changes him and puts him down and he runs to play on the porch with Spencer and Emily. He only sees Emily and asks, "Where is Spencer?"
"I think he went outside to play."
"Don't you want to play outside?"
"We played outside earlier; I want to play with my dolls."
"I'm going to play outside." He turns and runs down the porch to go into the house.
"Tell mommy."
"MOMMY!"
"What is it Aaron?"
"Can I play outside with Spencer?"
"Yes, you may, be careful going down the steps."
"I will." He runs out to the back porch and sees the five steps going down. He has never tried to walk down the steps by himself since he got little. They seem to be gigantic, but he tries to take a single step down and then stops, it's real scary. To make it less scary, he actually gets down on his hands and knees and crawls down the steps. When he gets down there, he feels proud of himself. He looks around and sees Spencer in the sand box. He toddles over there and asks, "Can I join you?"
Spencer looks up and says, "Sure."
A few minutes later, momma checks out the back door and sees her boys playing. She heads to the front porch and sees her little girl having fun. Going to the kitchen, momma decides that her children deserve a special treat for snack time and begins to make chocolate chip cookies, some with peanut butter and some without. Soon there is a wonderful smell of cookies baking. Shortly before 4, three tired bodies come walking in the front door. JJ and David pick up Derek at school and they all walk home together, with six other kids who live within a block of the house. Momma has a snack of warm cookies and cold milk ready for them. She calls in the boys from the back and Emily from the porch. The other kids from the neighborhood are often invited in to partake of the snack. Their parents are actually quite pleased that they have a place to go to, since they are not usually home when the children get off school. The house becomes a place of play for the kids in the neighborhood.
Momma asks David, "Could you get Aaron from the back yard, I'm not sure he'll be able to climb the steps by himself?" David heads out to the back yard and it seems momma was right. Aaron just keeps looking at the steps with a look of consternation in trying to figure out a way of getting up. David walks down and lifts Aaron up, looks him in the eye and says, "You need a lift?"
Aaron smiles and says, "Please." The two head up the stairs and into the house for a good snack.
Later that night, momma talks with David about Spencer.
"David, I appreciate that you want to help and protect Spencer, it makes you a good brother. But I should have been told about his problem in bed."
"What problem would that be?"
"Don't be facetious. You know the problem that I am talking about. Why would you think that I would punish or hurt Spencer because of it?"
"Spencer is sensitive and I think that it just would bother him if you babied him because of it. He gets protected enough by the team without needlessly being so."
"I agree and I would not do that. Spencer and I have talked and he has agreed to try out disposable underwear like pull ups, only at night and he will put them on just before bed. I would like you to help him out and see how it works. He has agreed to try them for one week and we will work it from there. If he wakes up wet then I want to help him clean up and if he wakes up dry, then please just help take them off for reuse. He doesn't need to wear them during the day. He does a good job then. Can you work with this?"
"I think I misjudged you a little, but yeah that's doable. I'm sorry I didn't trust you enough that you would keep his ego up."
"David, I am not here to embarrass or humiliate any of you."
"I'm beginning to see that."
"Good, then go get yourself and the boys ready for bed."
"Yes, momma."