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 13.
It is the first week of July and momma decides to take the children to Chicago for the Taste of Chicago celebration. They would spend one day at the taste and then maybe spend a day at the aquarium and the children's museum at the navy pier. She is getting them ready by packing a large suitcase that holds most of the clothes for her and the three littlest ones. Each of the others would have a carry on suitcase for their own clothes. Momma also makes sure that she has a cooler to take to the taste and a diaper bag to carry for everyday. Although, Aaron tried to convince not to bring it, she is bringing the double stroller. The one that was supposedly bought when she supposedly had David and there were two babies in the house. In the history of the family, every child except Penelope has been in the stroller. She has made a reservation at the Omni Chicago Hotel in downtown Chicago for July 1st through the 6th. She has them ready to travel and heads to the Metra station at 4:00 pm to take the 4:35 train to Chicago. The three youngest get to ride fee, the next three get to ride at half-price and Penelope and momma pay full price to Chicago, It is a very reasonable cost to get there. This is the first non-subway train ride for our agents, hopefully they will enjoy. When they get on the train, most of the kids want to go up the stairs to the upper level of chairs, momma allows them to do so, however she warns them that if there is any problems they will be coming down to the lower level. She creates a double seat spot for her and Aaron, who was not allowed upstairs. The rule is if you can't walk up there by yourself, you can't go and he is still having trouble walking up steps. Momma sits on the opposite side so that she can look up and watch her children enjoy going past the scenery elevated. They do enjoy it and in just under two hours they arrive at Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago. She collects them in a cab to the hotel on North Michigan Ave. They check in about 7:00 and of course, are hungry. Momma has room service send up some good comfort food, which is gobbled down as fast as it comes. After dinner, the children are put to bed while Aaron has his night time bottle. The room has two queen size beds and a rolling bed and crib were brought in like the hotel room in Rockford they sleep in the beds in the same way, the girls in one bed and the boys in the other bed. Aaron in the crib and momma sleeps on the rollaway.
Early the next morning, the kids are bouncing around the room getting dressed and excited to do whatever activities that momma has set up for them. Today is the Navy Pier at Grand Avenue. They go to have breakfast downstairs at the 676 restaurant and momma brings the stroller, with the diaper bag and a backpack of supplies, the family heads out. They take the number 66 bus to the Navy Pier; it is not a far distance. Momma had bought cta bus passes at the train station so that they could get the best price and not have to worry about having cash or change. The Navy Pier has a lot to entice the public, including a large Ferris wheel, carousel, funhouse maze, ships set up to take tours of the lake, the children's museum and a slew of other great family fun things to do and buy.
The first thing that our family does is get ride tickets to go on the Ferris wheel, which is 150 feet tall, while the older children ride, momma puts the younger children on the kiddie train express which is designed for the younger child. After the rides, they all get on the musical carousel and go round and round. By this time however, it is getting very close to 1:00 and they haven't had lunch yet, so they go into the building and get a lunch at the Billy Goat Tavern restaurant. After lunch, momma puts Aaron and Spencer into the stroller to take a nap while at 2:00 the others go to Cirque Shanghai. Both the boys did not like this, they wanted to go the cirque too, however, momma wasn't going to let them, because she knows that they needed their rest in order to be awake for the other things to do in the later afternoon. She would rather they were rested than tired and cranky, which they were already exhibiting symptoms of being. She sat in a relatively quiet place outside rocking the stroller while they slept and the others enjoyed the performers. When the performance was over shortly after 3:00, they found momma, Spencer had awakened but Aaron was still sleeping.
The family went to the funhouse maze next, although, it was not recommended for children under five, they brought Spencer in anyway because we know that he is really an adult. By the time that they got out of the maze, Aaron was awake. He was not happy that he slept through it. To appease him, they go on the swings and then went to the build a bear store, where everyone created their own stuffed animal. JJ decided on making a camel with a cute soccer outfit, David made a monkey and put a golf costume on him, Derek went for the traditional bear with a Harley Davidson top, hat, and black pants costume, Emily made a rabbit with long white ears and a ballerina costume, Spencer wanted a frog and dressed him up in a tuxedo with a magic hat costume and Aaron made a brown sugar puppy dog with a tie and suit. Penelope decided to make a hello kitty and dressed it as French chef.
Teasingly, Derek picked up an accessory of a pair of diapers and suggested that Aaron put it on his dog under his suit.
He replies "why don't we just put them on you?"
I don't think they would fit. Smiling at Aaron, which he would stop very quickly when momma says, "That can be arranged." Everyone laughed at this as they left the store.
They stop and get a bite at McDonalds where momma gets 3 regular happy meals, two big kid happy meals and one toddler happy meal, Penelope got chicken nuggets and fries, while momma had a big Mac. After dinner they go up to the Children's museum, which is free from 5pm to 8 pm on Thursday. For the next several hours, the children went from one exhibit and discovery center to another. It wasn't easy to keep track of them all because it seems that they all wanted to go to different places. But Penelope and Momma did their best to do so, they weren't really worried about any of them getting lost or leaving the area. However, it is best to look like a conscientious parent keeping track of them. Remember sometimes appearances mean everything. When the museum closed at 8pm, this tired family started to head back to their hotel room. Spencer and Aaron were happy now that momma had brought the stroller, they didn't have to walk back. Momma gave Aaron his night time bottle while he sat in the stroller and he took it willingly. It didn't take long for it to gone. In fact both boys were asleep before the bus got them halfway back to the hotel, which isn't that far away. Emily and Derek fell asleep on the bus and had to be awakened to get off. It was close to 8:50pm when eight tired people entered the hotel room. Aaron was dressed in a sleeper and put in his crib. Spencer was put in his pull-ups and then pajamas and placed in the middle of the boys' bed. Emily was helped into her sleep shirt and placed in the middle of the girls' bed. Derek put some pajama shorts on and crawled into bed while David followed soon after. JJ put on a sleep shirt and was asleep the minute her head hit the pillow. Penelope went to take a shower first and then went to bed. Momma looked at all her tired children and felt good. She expected tomorrow would be just as tiring and busy.
A few notes to clarify the last chapter.
Thank you to namanKAL for the idea of Spencer wetting the bed.
The reason Bob could see Aaron as an adult, is because at that moment he was one. Momma carries a device that looks like a PDA which actually controls the devices; she can change the ages of her children anytime she wants to. Remember she is trying to help them maintain their adultness as well as their childness. As for her being able to give them up, let us remember who is actually in control.
Remember, the unsub might not be able to steal anymore, but who says that he/she was the one caring for them.