As the watch on his wrist turned from 6.59 to 7pm, Clay anxiously glanced from it to the front door and then to the storage room nursery. With the help of a few tulle curtains, cute posters, a rug and some fairy lights, Stella and the wife's of Bravo 1 and 2, had managed to turn it into a somewhat cozy room that would do until they'd gotten to know the little girl and her preferences to colors and toys.

"Clay, babe, you can sit down, you know? She's not gonna get here any faster just because you walk back and forth." Stella said, as she looked up from the papers she was trying to grade.

"How are you so calm?" Clay asked as he made his way over to the armchair and sat down, only for his right leg to start bouncing, nerves showing in whatever way they could.

Stella sighed as she put down the pen she had been holding and focused her attention on her boyfriend. "Because one of us has to be. I know nothing about toddlers, but even I know that kids feed off your emotions and that's why I'm trying to just go on as usual."

Clay muttered to himself and continued to bounce his leg and just as Stella was about to tell him to stop there was a knock on the door, making Clay pretty much bounce up from sitting to standing in one go.

As they looked at each other, not sure what to do, a few seconds turned into a few moments and then there was another knock which managed to shake Clay back to reality.

After taking a deep, fortifying, breath he took the 3 steps that separated him from his front door and after shaking out his hands he turned the knob and pulled the door open to find two women, both looking to be in their late 40s, with one of them holding a little girl who seemed to be sleeping against her shoulder.

"Mr. Spenser?" The woman holding the girl asked, moving one of her hands out to shake his.

"That's me." Clay said shakily and accepted her and for a quick shake.

"I'm Margerie Ross, this is my colleague Amy Jackson and this," she said as she ran a hand over the sleeping girls back, "is Katie."

Clay just stared at the back of the little girl for a moment and then he quickly moved out of the doorway.

"Please, come inside, I'm sure you're all tired after that long drive." he said and gestured for them to enter the apartment.
As the two women and the little girl entered, Stella moved from the couch where she had gathered up her papers and when Clay shut the door behind their guests she moved to stand next to him.

"Oh, Ms. Ross, Ms. Jackson, this is my girlfriend Stella. Stella, this is Margerie Ross and Amy Jackson."

The three of them shook hands and then Clay pointed at the now empty couch.

"Please, sit down. Or would you like to put her down in her bed? I don't know…"

"Thank you, the couch will work just fine for now. We don't want Katie to wake up totally alone in a new room so let's all sit down and see if she'll wake up." Amy said with a gentle smile at the slightly frazzled man.

As they sat down, the two social workers on the couch, Stella in the armchair and Clay on the matching ottoman, Margerie moved the little girl so that Clay could see her face for the first time and as he laid his eyes on her, his world stopped.

Katie's blond hair was pulled back from her face with a bow, her long dark lashes were fanned out against her cheeks and her little nose wrinkled in her sleep as she sucked on her pacifier. She looked like a doll and Clay knew at that moment that he would do whatever it took for her to feel safe and secure, and he would love her until his last breath.

"So," Amy said as she pulled out a file full of papers from her bag, "let's get started on the paperwork while we wait for the little miss to wake up."

Clay glanced from the papers to the sleeping child and back again. He would've preferred to just sit and watch the girl until she woke up but if there was one thing the military had taught him, it was that paperwork was necessary for everything, so with a nod he grabbed the pen Stella had left on the living room table and got ready to sign a million and two documents.

"...and are you both permanent residents here?"

Clay looked up from the form he was filling out and glanced at Stella in his periphery before shaking his head.

"No, this is my apartment, Stella shares one with a friend closer to the college campus."

Amy nodded her head and jotted something down on the paper in front of her.
"But I do stay here a couple of days a week at least." Stella added, not sure if it was relevant or not.

"That's just fine, we just need to know who lives here permanently. I assume you'll be the only guardian on paper, correct?" Margerie asked Clay as she signed a form and put it back in the folder.

"Yes." Clay answered and continued with his form.

Stella swallowed back the lump that wanted to form in her throat again as she listened to how surely her boyfriend answered the questions and she wondered to herself what role she would have in this arrangement. Sure she was Clay's girlfriend but what would she be to Katie? Did Clay even want her to take a supporting role in the girl's life? There were so many things they should've talked about before Katie's arrival but here they were, playing it by ear and she once again wondered how they would manage this with both of them having jobs that took up a lot of their time.

"...and if we need to reach you on the job, who should we contact?" Amy asked.

"I guess that depends on why I'm unreachable. My team boss Jason Hayes, our Lt. Commander Eric Blackburn or our CO, Captain Harrington, it all depends."

The woman nodded and wrote down their names and then their contact details as Clay read them out from his phone.

"Good, if you just sign this we should be finished." she finally said and handed the last form over to him to sign.

Just as Clay put his signature on the dotted line a soft cry came from Margerie's arms and when he looked up Katie had pulled her pacifier out and was now wildly looking around the room as big tears rolled down her face and sobs wracked her little body.

"It's okay, Katie, you're okay…" Margerie hushed softly and gently rocked the girl in her lap as she ran a hand up and down her back.

When Katie realized that she did know the woman who was holding her she gradually calmed and when Clay offered her a sippy cup with water she slowly accepted it.

"'hank ou" she whispered and when Clay met her baby blues he was sure his heart grew two sizes.

"You're very welcome, Katie." he answered with a soft smile and then sat back down on the ottoman.

The four adults watched on as the child drank from the cup and when she held it out to Margerie, she put it down on the table and then lifted Katie from her lap so that she was sitting by herself on the couch.

"Katie," she began, "do you remember that Ms. Amy and I picked you up earlier?"

Katie nodded her head but didn't look at her social worker, instead her eyes examined every inch of the room and the people in it.

"Good, do you remember where I said we were going?"

This time Katie shook her head ferociously and started playing with the pacifier she was still holding onto.

"Well, I told you that we were going on a little drive with the car to go visit you brother."

Katie's eyes widened and her gaze finally focused on Margerie. Margerie looked from the girl to Clay and then back again and smiled softly at the stunned girl sitting before here.

"This," she said and turned her body so that Katie could see Clay clearly, "is you big brother, Clay."