Chapter 54

Thanks for hanging in there with me and this story. Now that school has started and I seem to do as much homework as my daughter, it's hard to find a ton of time to write! Please, let me know what you think. As usual, no copy write infringement intended. We writers do this for fun, and the excitement of hearing from our readers!

Sue's last week at the Bureau had been busy. She had agreed to stay on as a consultant, to help with an occasional case where her expertise for reading lips would come in handy. She had packed up her desk, emptied all her personal belongings, and made her way to the front desk where she handed the security guard her ID badge and reluctantly unclipped Levi's. Tears filled her eyes as she walked out of the front of the building for the last time. All of her friends walked with her. They were going to celebrate the beginning of this chapter of her life.

During dinner, Jack's cell phone rang. He took the call, which struck Sue as odd.

"Everything OK?" She asked when he returned to the table.

He nodded, but she wasn't convinced. When she noticed D get up and take Donna by the hand to lead her out to the dance floor, Sue asked Lucy if there was slow music playing. Lucy nodded with a wide smile. Sue approached her fiancé, put out her hand, and asked if he would like to dance.

Jack smiled and took her hand, letting her lead him to a spot on the floor. He instantly scooped her into his arms and began to sway to the beat of the music. Without thought, he leaned down and softly kissed her. They both smiled into the kiss while the entire team watched.

"What was the call?" She asked.

"Your approval for foster care." He said.

"My what?!" She asked excitedly.

"You know what I said." He smiled. "You've been approved to be a foster parent."

"Wow." Sue said, the reality of it sinking in. "Now what?"

"Now, you need to get in touch with Anita and find out when you can move in. I think it'll go over without an issue if you're in there already before you ask for custody." Jack said.

"Wow!" She said again.

"You've been studying the dictionary?" Jack teased. "Your vocabulary is impressive."

"Ha! Funny." She laughed. "It's just so real now. We've been tossing ideas around, and talking about this possibility for so long, and now, it's our reality."

"Yep." Jack said kissing her again. "Text Anita now, see if she's awake still."

"Jack, it's only 9:30. She's working, she's awake." Sue reassured.

"OK. Didn't realize." He said.

Sue made her way back to the table, and texted Anita asking to stop by and see her. "OK" was the text she received back. After dinner was done, everyone parted ways, all stopping to wish Sue well, and hugging her as they left. Jack grabbed a to go dinner for Anita, and they headed to the laundry.

"Hey. What's up?" Anita asked as she looked up from her books. "Oh, hey Jack."

"Hi Anita." Jack answered.

"Hi. I have some news." Sue said excitedly.

"What is it?" Anita asked.

"My foster parent approval came through." Sue said.

"It did? What's that mean now though?" She asked.

"It means that I can move in with you and your family, and we can apply for foster custody of you until your dad can." Sue explained.

"But..." She began.

"But nothing Anita. We talked about this. I don't want you being alone any more. Your dad doesn't either." Sue said.

"I know, but what if the courts go against us?" She asked.

"They probably won't." Jack reassured her.

"But you can't guarantee it." She said.

"No." Jack answered.

"Then I don't want to do it. Why can you just live with us until I'm eighteen and I can apply for custody of the little ones? Can't we do that?" She asked, nearly begging.

"We could, but your dad wouldn't have a chance to get you guys. And, if Sue isn't your foster mother, and you're waiting all those months and your dad tries to get you, it could cause the entire family to be put into the system. I just don't want to risk that." Jack said.

"I know what you're saying, but I don't want to risk losing my family. My brothers and sisters are all I have that mean anything to me, do you get that?" Anita asked. Both Sue and Jack looked at her understanding she was caught between a rock and a hard place.

Sue wrapped her in a tight hug, just holding her close. Sue could understand being so scared to lose everything. After a few minutes Anita pulled back from Sue, and wiped her eyes.

"OK… when can you move in? If you're here, at least maybe my dad will have a good shot. If not, at least I know you'll be here for us, and won't break us up. Right? You won't break us up, will you?" Anita asked, suddenly realizing she hadn't asked that before.

"No, I won't separate you. You're a family, and you belong together. That's why I'm doing this. I'm not going anywhere either. I will be here for you, and the other kids, for as long as you need me. I know you haven't had anyone in your corner for a long time, but you do now. You have me and Jack, and your dad." Sue said.

"Thanks." Anita said.

"I think we can move some of my stuff in this weekend. I want to have a sit down with all of the kids and have a conversation about what's going to happen. They need to know. Everything." Sue said to Anita.

"I want to tell them about our dad. They deserve to hear it from me." Anita said. "Can you stay Sue?"

"Sure." Sue said.

"Wait. Where are you going to sleep?" She asked.

"Your mother's room. If you can find some time before the weekend, we'll clean it out, repaint the walls, and redecorate the room so it's bright and new. If your dad gets custody, he can move in there." Sue explained. Both Jack and Anita turned quickly and stared at her. "What?"

"I certainly hope you mean you and Jack will be moving OUT before my dad moves in… because if not, it's going to be a very crowded bed!" Anita laughed.

Sue quickly covered her mouth and blushed deeply. All three shared a hearty laugh.

Jack leaned into Sue and mouthed "I'm not willing to share you- ever!" He smirked raising his eye brow, making Sue blush deeper. Anita laughed at her for the shades of color she was turning.

The following morning they went to Anita's house.

Sue and Jack sat at the entrance to the living room as Anita sat the kids down.

"What's going on Neet?" Vinnie asked.

"I wanted to talk to everyone, together. There are some things going on that you all need to know about." She began.

After an hour of explaining the changes from Sue moving in to their father being back in the picture and trying to regain custody of them, Anita was visibly exhausted.

"Are you friggen nuts?" Vinnie yelled. "No! No way!" He said slamming his fist against the wall.

"Vinnie calm down. This is what's happening. Just deal with that." Anita said.

"No!" He turned to Sue "Listen, I know you think you're helping. And it's great that my sister has a friend, a positive female role model and all that, but let's be honest here… you're clueless about this family, and it's none of your damn business!" Vinnie spat as he clinched his teeth together.

"I know you're angry, but I can't read your lips if you're clinching your teeth like that." Sue turned to Jack who was trying to summarize what was said.

"Everything was fine before you stuck your nose into our lives and screwed everything up!" He yelled clearly.

"Vinnie!" Anita yelled. "That's enough!"

Lanie and Lizzie were getting scared by all the yelling, so Jack took them for a walk around the block to look for the ice cream man.

"You going to be OK?" He asked before he left.

"Yeah, go. I'll be fine." Sue reassured him.

"Vinnie I understand you're angry, but this is for the best." Sue said to him.

"Can I say something?" Jacob asked.

"What?" Anita asked.

"Is this guy really our dad? Does he want us?" He paused. Anita went to where he sat on the chair in the living room and wrapped him in a hug.

"Yes, he does." She answered.

"I don't know about you guys, but I really miss daddy. I've had dreams where we were playing catch in the front yard, on the side walk. If he's for real… and I mean, really wants us to be his kids again… I want my dad." He said as tears rolled down his cheeks. "Vinnie, I know you hate him, but maybe what Niti said about mom was true. Maybe she hid the fact that dad just wanted to get a good job to make our lives better and she hated him for it…"

Vinnie pushed past them and walked out the door. Sue shot up from the seat she was in, but Anita grabbed her arm.

"Let him go. He'll come back. Let him cool off some. We can talk to him more then." Anita said. "I think he's more hurt that we didn't include him in the conversations from the beginning. I never gave him an option, never asked his opinion." Anita said.

"He's only fourteen." Sue argued.

"He's more mature than most guys I know five years older." Anita added. Sue shrugged.

Anita wrapped her little brother in a tight hug pushing his hair out of his face, wiping spent tears.

A few minutes passed and Anita got up to check on Vinnie who she could hear kicking the trash cans around the back walk. She began to head for the back door when Jacob walked past her out the door to his big brother. Anita stopped, not following him, but turning back to her spot staring out the window. Sue joined her.

"Hey." Jacob said as he slumped out the door.

"Hey." Vinnie acknowledged.

"I wish I could hear them." Anita said.

"I can." Sue said smiling. She stared at them, watching their conversation, repeating important parts back to Anita.

"Hey, Dave's dad got two extra tickets to the Skins game in a few weeks, he wants to know if you want to go?" Jacob asked.

"Seriously? You're talking about football?" Vinnie chastised him. Jacob shrugged.

"Dude… I don't know about you… maybe it's different because you're an almighty teenager, but this life… it's kinda suckish." Jacob said.

"Suckish?" Vinnie repeated with question.

"Yeah. Don't you wish, just once Nitie didn't go to one of our games? Or school things? My friends- they all have their moms and dads there to support them. Geez man, Jerry's mother got thrown out of the dodge ball practice at the park because she was yelling at the coach!" He said, tears threatening again.

"You want that? You want Nitie to get tossed?" He asked sarcastically.

"No, not Nitie, DAD!" He shouted. "I know you've been the 'man of the house' since mom left, but for me this sucks."

"Language." Vinnie said with a warning voice.

"See! There! I want Dad telling me to watch my mouth, not you! I want YOU teaching me new bad words to say!" He stressed. Vinnie laughed in spite of himself.

"I think you'll be teaching me the new bad words." He teased.

"Yeah, sure, I can do that! But… you can't yell at me for saying them. We're brother's dude, that's never going to change. Listen. Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't want you to be my dad anymore. I want to throw popcorn at you and some girl you're trying to put your arm around while watching a movie- just to piss you off." Jacob said.

"Seriously! Where did you get that mouth?" Vinnie scolded.

"What? It's how kids talk." He said.

"Yeah, kids my age! Not yours…" Then he realized what Jacob was getting at. He let out a loud breath in surrender.

"Alright, fine! Screw it. But! I'm only doing this for you. He screws us…" Vinnie said shaking his head at the thought, his voice cracking just a bit.

"Cool!" Jacob said hugging his big brother tight around the chest. Vinnie shook his head, knowing that his tough guy act was just that, an act. His little brother was just a kid, but he was right, they're shouldn't be in parental rolls at their age.

"I'll be in in a little bit." Vinnie said as he slumped onto the back step.

Sue hurried away from the window pulling Anita with her to the couch. Anita looked at her curiously until she heard the back door open.

"Hey! He's going to go for it! He's OK with Dad moving in with us!" Jacob said.

"Jake… you know, there's no guarantee that Dad will be able to move in with us, right? The courts have to approve that first. Right now, it's Sue." Anita explained.

"Yeah, for now. No offense Sue, I like you, but we want our Dad." He said as he run to his room.

"None taken." Sue said.

"Jacob!" Anita yelled.

"Yeah?" He yelled down.

"Take the girls laundry down for me?" Anita asked.

"Later!" He yelled.

"Wh- Later?" Anita was shocked. Sue laughed.

"Did he say later?" Sue asked. Anita shook her head with her mouth open.

"Now. Please!" She yelled back up the stairs.

"Uggh!" He groaned as he ran down, skipping steps and landing on the living room floor with a crash.

"Jacob!" She yelled. "Don't start!" Anita warned.

"Hey, at least I got them down here." He complained as he took the basket of little girls stuff to the washer.

"Feeling his oats?" Sue asked.

"I hope that's all it is, or he will be making new friends." She said staring him down as he tore back through the living room and up the stairs, slamming his bedroom door. "Good luck! This weekend, this is alllll yours!" She laughed. Sue grimaced.