The Immortal and the Baker 4: The Orphan

"Can I help you young man?" Shonda asked, as a boy no more than five or so wandered into her antique store. "Where are your parents?"

The boy didn't respond just stood there looking at all the things for sale seeming intrigued at all the antiques.

Shonda's first thought was that this young man was way too young to be wandering around without parental supervision. Her second thought, as she studied him closely was to think that he might've been living on the street as his clothes were too small for him and also had rips in several places. Either his guardians didn't care about how he was dressed or if he ate as he looked as if he'd been living hand to mouth for awhile or he didn't have a guardian. He was unhealthily thin. That child services hadn't scooped him up was a miracle, though Shonda knew that they didn't catch every child that was living on the street. There were a number of reasons for this like the neighbors didn't pay attention and report bad parents to the authorities just as an example. The child could also be running away from an abusive situation. A child could also run away from a bad foster parents or just disappear onto the street when their parents died and no one realized it for few days.

Shonda noticed the lad blink in the low lights of her display cases and overhead lights. It was as if he was confused as to where he was.

"What's your name young fella?" Shonda asked in a gentle voice.

"Ciaran," the boy answered.

"That's a nice strong name for a little boy," Shonda said. "Would you like something to eat Ciaran?"

The boy stomach grumbled right on cue and Shonda laughed. Shonda's laugh though was lighthearted and filled with amusement, not derogatory, which caused the boy to stare at her in amazement. It was as if he had never heard anyone laugh in a lighthearted manner before.

"Well, I can tell you're hungry young sir. What would you like to eat?"

The boy shrugged and continued to look at everything on display seemingly fascinated with the items for sell.

"How about pizza?" Shonda suggested and the boy's face lit up at that.

Shonda figured that she had better get an all meat pizza until she knew more as most children didn't like vegetables. Her own had certainly been that way at Ciaran's supposed age.

Shonda made the call and then called Jazz her best friend to let her know the situation. Finally, she called her husband Aaron and explained what was going on.

"Food is coming," Shonda told the boy noticing that he could seriously use a bath, as he was filthy and his hair, which probably would've been brown looked black due to the dirt in it. He also stunk as if he hadn't seen water in a long time. What this told Shonda was that he likely didn't have any type of guardian and that his parents were likely dead. "I'm Shonda Hotchner. I own this antique store."

The boy didn't seem to be paying attention and simply wandered around the store looking at all the items on display. He seemed to know not to touch anything because Shonda didn't have to warn him. She wouldn't want Ciaran to get hurt by touching something sharp that could cut him as she had daggers and even a few swords on display. Ciaran wasn't immortal like she and her family was so he wouldn't heal instantly from cutting himself. Shonda kept an eye on the boy as she got busy behind the counter and it wasn't long until the pizza was delivered.

The smell of the food seemed to entice the boy to come closer and Shonda who had paper plates stored in the back opened the box and put a small slice on the plate before handing it to him.

The way the boy gobbled it down told Shonda he must've been starving. "Don't choke. Slow down," Shonda said.

The boy obeyed still not saying a word and when he was done with his slice crust and all he looked up at her with his big brown eyes pleading for more.

"Another slice?" Shonda rhetorically asked the boy and Ciaran nodded eagerly.

Shonda put another small slice on the boy's plate and he ate it at rapid speed. He seemed to fear that the slice might be snatched from him if he didn't eat it as rapidly as possible.

Shonda enjoyed her own slice, even as she watched the boy eat. The boy looked hopeful eyeing the pizza box Shonda noticed once his second slice was gone but she shook her head. "I don't want you throwing it back up. You'll have to wait until that settles. If you're still hungry in an hour maybe, I'll get you some ice cream."

Ciaran perked up at that and started sucking his thumb. Soon his eyes were drooping and he was falling asleep on his feet so Shonda gently guided him into the back room where she had a comfortable couch.

The back room was filled with boxes as it was her storage room for her shop, but she also liked to take a nap sometimes when they weren't busy, which was why the couch was there.

Once she had him settled she heard the jangle of the door bell and she went to see it was.

"Jazz," Shonda said in surprised. "I didn't expect you to come. I know you're really busy this time of day at the bakery."

School was out for the day so that meant her friend's bakery would be hopping with students and their parents. The bakery was centrally located not too far from several different schools.

"The staff can handle it," Jazz replied easily. "I just had to see this boy for myself."

"His name is Ciaran. I did manage to get that out of him that he hasn't said much else," Shonda said.

"You said it look like he been living on the street," Jazz said and Shonda nodded.

"It does. It's either that or his guardians don't care that his clothes are much too small for him or that he's dirty. I'm talking absolutely filthy. His hair needs a good wash and a lot of shampoo. His pants are much too short for him. Looks like he's had a growth spurt so his pants now look like shorts. His shirt has several rips in it and it looks much too big for his thin frame. He also needs a haircut as his hair is quite long. He also smells, which tells me he definitely hasn't had a bath in a long time."

"Sounds like he's been on the street for several months at least," Jazz sympathized.

"And winter is coming and what he's wearing isn't going to keep him warm," Shonda added.

"So I assume you didn't get a last name," Jazz asked and Shonda shook her head.

"I barely got his first," Shonda said. "I fed him pizza for lunch and there's still plenty left in the back if you want a slice. I wouldn't let him have more than two slices, as I didn't want him throwing up, because he's not used to eating, small slices."

"That was probably smart," Jazz said. "I brought dessert just in case he is hungry again. So where is he?"

"He's sleeping on the couch in the stockroom, as he was falling asleep on his feet after that pizza. Want to see?" Shonda asked her friend.

Jazz nodded and Shonda led the way to where Ciaran was sleeping.

Shonda placed a finger to her lips to indicate quiet as she didn't want to wake the boy.

"He probably needs all the sleep he can get, if as we suspect he's been living on the street," Shonda said softly.

"If you cleaned him up and dressed him in proper clothes he'd be adorable," Jazz said as soon as she and Shonda were back in the main part of the store leaving the boy to sleep.

"Yes, he would be," Shonda agreed.

"So what are you gonna do with him?" Jazz asked.

"Well, first I'm going to try to find out his last name and then try to find his parents and see what the situation is. As far as I know, if his parents are alive, they haven't been looking for their son," Shonda said.

"His parents could be dead, as I can't see any loving parent just leaving someone so young to his own devices."

"He could've been in foster care and ran away from a bad placement," Shonda said. "We both know that there are plenty of bad foster parents in the world."

"Yes, we do," Jazz agreed grimacing at remembering that. "CPS could be looking for him for all we know."

"Let's hope not, because they would just probably take him back to the situation he just escaped from. There's a possibility that his parents disappeared or died leaving him behind and nobody realized it for a few days."

"By which time he would've been gone and in hiding," Jazz said.

"That's pretty smart for a young boy, as he doesn't look more than five or six," Shonda said.

"We both know a lot of kids are smarter than they're given credit for," Jazz said. "We have our own to prove that, as you know how intelligent they are.

"True that," Shonda agreed. "I think I'm going to ask Aaron if we can take him in, but only if nobody is looking for him. Put some meat on his bones wash and cut his hair, perhaps some contacts to change the color and he'll look totally different."

"I would leave his hair that length perhaps shorten it a little, trim the dead ends. I'm sure there are pictures of him with short hair. The long hair totally changes the shape of his face so that the similarities are less obvious," Jazz suggested.

"Are we really talking about breaking the law," Shonda asked with a raised eyebrow. Her tone of voice was neutral. She then broke out in a grin, which Jazz returned. It wasn't like they never broken the law before as they done that every time they updated their history and changed their Social Security numbers so that they could live in this very high tech society. They knew some excellent hackers that knew what they were doing. Such hackers cost a great deal of money not just to change their data but for their discretion. That was to be expected though, as it was not like changing your data wasn't illegal and those hackers had to be really careful not to get caught by government agencies like the FBI.

"It depends on what we can find out about him," Jazz shrugged. "If we're getting him out of a bad situation then yes, that's what I'm suggesting we'll just have to see what that situation is first. It's not like we don't break the law every day simply because we're immortal. You know what we have to do to stay under the radar."

"True. Something I promise you I don't feel guilty about," Shonda agreed. "I know it's against the law to change your identity and history illegally, but we're not hurting anyone. I need to talk to Aaron first though and you need to talk to Dave."

"It has to be a family decision," Jazz agreed. "As taking him in could endanger all of us. It all depends on the number of factors you know that."

"I already called Aaron and told him a little bit about the situation. I didn't want to say too much in front of Ciaran. " Shonda said. "Aaron will come if I need him to. I just need to catch him up. I would never endanger the family so if we can't take the boy in then I'll be upset but I would never endanger the rest of us,"

"You call Aaron, catch him up and I'll call, Dave," Jazz said, "and tell him what's going on."

The two friends separated temporarily and Shonda put the closed sign on the door and locked it, turning off the lights in the shop. She had a feeling she was going to be closed for the rest of the day and that was OK with her, as she didn't necessarily need the money.

~~~Aaron and Shonda~~~

"So what do you want to do about Ciaran?" Dave asked.

It was just over half an hour later and both Dave and Aaron had arrived at basically the same time once they'd been apprised of the situation.

"Well, it depends on what we can find out about him," Shonda explained. "I would never think about putting the family in danger considering what we are, but Ciaran obviously needs someone."

Both men had seen the boy sleeping peacefully on the couch though that probably wouldn't last much longer considering it had been a couple of hours and that was a long time for a nap. On the other hand, they doubted that he had been sleeping very well if he'd really been on the street, as he'd have to keep one eye open at all times in case trouble came calling.

"Shonda and I were just discussing the possibilities before you arrived," Jazz said.

"Like he could've been in a bad foster home," Aaron said.

"Or something happened to his parents and nobody realized it for a few days," Shonda added.

"By which time, he could've been in hiding," Jazz said.

"He'd likely heard rumors about how bad foster care can be and thought he would be better off on his own," Dave said. "After all, just because he's young doesn't mean he has no understanding of what could happen to him if his parents really are dead or even just missing."

"He could be like Spencer and be really super intelligent," Jazz added. "More so than is average."

"You know the proper thing to do is to contact child services," Dave said not sounding enthusiastic about the idea.

"It might be proper, but he'd only run away again, even if he was put with someone else," Shonda said, "or at least that's the likely possibility. We'd never find him if he went back to the street, as we can't check every abandoned building, even within a few miles."

"I agree with that, as there are too many abandon buildings just in this area to count," Aaron said.

"Also, if we did that he would never trust us not to turn him over to child services or even someone without his best interest in mind," Shonda said. "He trusts me at least a little, because I fed him and just didn't chase him out of my store."

"So why do you think he just appeared in your store?" Dave asked Shonda.

"I don't know," Shonda said clearly thinking about it. "He could've been drawn to all the unique objects I sell or he could've been drawn to the low lighting."

"Maybe he was thinking he could steal some of the smaller items to sell," Jazz added.

"That's certainly a possibility," Shonda agreed. "I don't believe that's the answer, but it's still a possibility. He is only five or six and if he was here to steal it's likely he would've been caught. Even if he managed to steal something he likely wouldn't know how to sell it. Even if he found a buyer that buyer could snap him up in an instant and get him into a situation like selling him into slave labor or worse."

"Maybe he somehow sensed that you could help him," Aaron said. "That you are a good person and wouldn't just ignore him or chase him away like so many people would. Most people would see his to small clothes and how filthy he was and shoo him away or at most call child services."

"I suppose that's possible. He could be magical and so was drawn to me, because I'm also magical," Shonda said. "If that's the case we can't let him go back into foster care, as most foster parents wouldn't know how to handle bouts of accidental magic or even know that that magic exists."

"They might even consider him demon possessed and try to kill him," Jazz added.

Both Dave and Aaron knew what accidental magic was as they had experienced it with their own children multiple times over the centuries.

"We can take him home for tonight at least," Aaron decided. "Give him a bath and some fresh clothes."

"It's a good thing some of our children are about his size, though they'll be a bit big on him. We can worry about buying him new clothes later," Shonda said.

"I'm hungry," came a small voice and everybody turned to see Ciaran standing at the entrance of the stockroom.

"Well, I did promise you ice cream, young man," Shonda said, "and since you didn't throw up the pizza I intend to fulfill that promise."

"He should have a proper dinner first," Dave said and Ciaran looked at him as if trying to judge if he was trouble.

"I think introductions are in order," Shonda said. "This is my husband Aaron Hotchner."

Shonda pointed out Aaron who greeted the boy in a gentle tone. "It's very nice to meet you young man," Aaron said crouching down so he was closer to the boy's height. "Shonda has told me all about you."

"And this is two of my good friends, Dave and Jazz Rossi," Shonda added was Aaron had stood up.

The boy still seemed rather wary but he came a little closer.

"How about you coming home with us young man?" Shonda asked Ciaran. "You'll get you your ice cream after you've had a proper dinner."

The boy's face lit up at the promise of ice cream, which was not unusual in someone his age.

"I believe there's a brand new container of chocolate chunk in the freezer at home. The real deal of course, none of that fake ice cream, which isn't even half as good," Dave said amused. "It's Jazz's current favorite."

Since Ciaran's face lit up at that Dave and Jazz promised to retrieve the ice cream and meet the Hotchners at their home in half an hour

~~~Aaron and Shonda~~~

An hour later, Ciaran was sleeping in the guestroom and the four friends were gathered in the den to talk.

"I'll see what I can find out about Ciaran's situation," Aaron said.

"I can also make some discrete inquiries," Dave agreed soberly.

"Considering he was apparently living on the street I think we should take him in," Shonda said. "That boy needs a lot of love and attention and not be put back in a situation he likely just escaped from."

"The explanation could be something perfectly innocent," Aaron reminded his wife. "His parents could've died for instance and nobody realized it for few days.

"We could have another Spencer situation on our hands," Shonda shot back. "Where one of the parents died and the other one just ignored their sons needs."

Everybody in the room winced at being reminded of how tough Spencer's childhood had been after his mother's death when he was only 10. The fact that Spencer would never be able to forget any of his childhood because of his perfect memory was also sad. That Spencer had turned out more than decently was a miracle at least in the four immortals opinions. Of course, Spencer was more than intelligent enough to turn out the exact opposite of his father who had been just an unhappy individual and hadn't valued family like he should before he'd died a long time ago. Spencer had said that his father had resented having such an intelligent son, which was a ridiculous reason to hate your own child, but then people didn't need a reason to hate or resent someone, even their own children. Unfortunately, it wasn't unusual for someone to at least resent their own child for various reasons though that attitude seemed to be more prevalent in men.

"That's more than possible actually," Dave said thoughtfully. "There are plenty of bad parents in the world that don't give a damn about their children as William Reid can't be the only bad seed amongst the humans. There are plenty of humans that didn't value their family and only made friends because they are useful, not because they feel any true friendship."

"We'll take him in," Aaron decided, "at least until we know his situation. If child protection services is looking for him though..."

"He could be taken away from us," Jazz said, "if somebody recognizes him."

"But how likely is it that someone connected to CPS will recognize him?" Shonda asked.

"It's possible at least one of his parents is looking for him though," Dave pointed out.

"How likely is that? I mean no loving parent would let their child go round in clothes that were way too small for him and get so filthy dirty and stinky. He looked like he hadn't seen soap and water in months."

"I agree with Shonda on this, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone," Jazz added. "Also, it looked like he hasn't been eating well in a long time, as he practically has bones sticking out of his skin. He is unhealthily thin. His immune system is bound to be compromised considering his condition and he's lucky he hasn't come down with some kind of sickness and not just a cold. If he's been living on the street that means he's been out in all weather, rain, cold, heat, maybe even snow and sleet depending on how long he's been living without shelter and decent food. Even if he found someplace to live, it's not like it would be heated or have air conditioning because it's likely some abandoned building. Also, eating out of trashcans is not exactly very healthy and could make him sick with at least food poisoning because the food is spoiled. He's too young to have a job that brings him enough to at least eat."

"That's true," Aaron said. "No responsible adult is going to hire him for any type of job as young as he appears to be."

"Except those with bad intentions," Dave added when Aaron didn't continue.

"Someone like a procurer could snatch him up and where they'd be able to sell him into slavery or put him in one of those houses where women would rape him..." Jazz said shuddering at that possibility. Being raped, especially multiple times, was every woman's worst fear or at least it should be if she was at all intelligent. "None of us are naïve and we know that there are plenty of people out there in the world like that. As young as he is he wouldn't be able to protect himself unless he was lucky. If he does have magic it would likely react to protect him, but there's no guarantees that he does. He's probably just a regular human boy who's been through something traumatic."

"We'll figure it out," Aaron said, "but later. It's getting late and all of us need to get some sleep as I'm sure Ciaran will be a bright and early."

"We might want to think about changing his name at least until we're sure no one's looking for him as Ciaran is very unusual, especially in this day and age," Jazz commented.

"That's a really good idea, but we can worry about it tomorrow," Shonda said.

Dave and Jazz said good night to their friends and headed home for the night. They would meet up again the next day to discuss things farther.

~~~Aaron and Shonda~~~