138 Sharing

[sylnl]

Word Soap: As The World Keeps Turning
Author: SYLnl
Title:  #138 Sharing
Rating: PG
Summary: “Love only grows by sharing. You can only have more for yourself by giving it away to others.” - Brian Tracy
Big Thanks To: ltklo, for brushing up my grammar

Previously on As The World Keeps Turning: click here for chapters 1 - 137

After the fried chicken had been transformed into a stack of skin and bones and all veggies had found a way to three stomachs, Luke gave Reid a quick glance and after a nod, the blond looked at their son.

“Danny, we’d like to ask you something.”

“Okay. Can I sit with you?”

Luke smiled. “Of course.”

He lifted his son to his lap and gave him a big hug. He positioned Danny in a way so he could see the boy’s face.

“And you remember our deal, right?”

“Say how I feel, not what I think you want to hear,” Danny recited and his fathers smiled.

“Exactly,” Luke stroked the boy’s leg. “Today someone from Child Services came to talk to us and no, there was no bad news.” Luke quickly said and Danny nodded.

“What did she want?”

“It wasn’t Mrs. Smith. It was a man and he told us about a little girl that lost her mom and dad.”

Danny frowned.

“That’s sad.”

“Yeah, it is. She’s in the hospital.”

The frown deepened. “Did somebody hurt her too?”

“Yes, but not like you’ve been hurt.”

“Oh. That’s good.”

“It is.”

“So why did this man want to talk to you?”

“Because they want to give this girl a new home.”

“Here?” Danny looked from Luke to Reid. “You’re gonna replace me with her?”

“No no no,” Luke gave the boy another big hug, “Of course not, silly. We love you, remember?”

“Yeah,” Danny looked shy. “But I don’t understand…”

“They asked us if we wanted to give this girl a home too.”

The boy was back to the frowning.

“Live here? With us? Forever you mean?”

“Yeah. As your sister.”

“What did you tell this man?”

“That we would talk to you about it. How do you feel about that? Having a sister?”

Danny shrugged. “I don’t know. I never had one.” His little fingers made figures on Luke’s arm.

“Does she have to live here?”

Luke smiled at him. “No. They will look for another family if we decide not to do it.”

“But that family wouldn’t be this nice.”

“We don’t know…”

“I know,” Danny sounded sad. “This is a very good home. How old is she?”

“She’s five.”

That made Danny look up.

“I would be like a big brother then. Just like you.”

“That’s right.”

“Does she want a big brother?”

“We don’t know. We haven’t asked her yet.”

“Have you seen her?”

“We have, just for a moment.”

“Did you talk to her?”

“We said a few words, but she didn’t. She hasn’t spoken yet.”

“At all?”

Luke smiled. That had been his question a few hours earlier.

“At all.”

Deep in thought Danny nestled himself to Luke’s chest, but when Reid stood up to make some coffee, the boy sat up straight again and watched his activities.

“What did you think of her, Daddy?”

Reid looked up from the coffee maker and gave his son a quick smile. He remembered his first impression very well.

“She looked lonely.”

“Lonely?” Danny turned to Luke again, “Is she alone in the hospital?”

“No, she’s with seven other children in the room. But she seemed in a world of her own…”

The girl had reminded Luke of Tristan, the son of Dave McTaylor. The man’s voice bridged his memory with his consciousness. ‘Tristan is very introverted. We’re seeing some experts…’

Everything inside him told him that Zoë was indeed a challenging case. But that didn’t scare him off. On the contrary.

“World of her own,” Danny repeated softly, taking a deep breath.

“You know how that feels, don’t you?” Luke guessed and Danny glanced at him.

“Yeah.”

“So, what are you thinking…” Reid placed a small glass of lemonade in front of the boy and a mug of coffee next to it.

“I don’t know,” the boy shrugged. “It could be nice.”

“But?”

“It could also not be nice.” Danny shrugged again.

“Okay, let’s start with the nice things,” Luke encouraged him.

“I would always have someone to play with…” Danny started. “And with us she would be safe. And happy. Like me.”

“True,” Luke nodded, sipping his coffee. “And what could not be nice?”

“Now I have all your attention. All your love.”

“You would still have all our love, Danny. That’s what’s so great about love. It’s not a pie…the parts don’t get smaller if you divide it among many others. If anything, there will be more love to share.”

When the boy frowned, Luke laughed. “Don’t try to understand…it’s magic.”

Looking at Reid, Luke realized his words had confused his man too, so he added: “Love is the only thing in life that grows when you share it.”

“Maybe not the only thing,” Reid’s provocative tone and raised eyebrow made Luke chuckle.

“I stand corrected,” instinctively Luke licked his lips, but then forced himself to break off eye contact with Reid and to focus on the boy on his lap.

“And you’re right about the attention thing, Danny. If we added someone to our family, it would mean less attention for you. From us. But you would get attention from this girl. So you hand in some attention from us, but you gain attention from this new family member.”

Danny nodded.

“Is she nice?”

“Again, we don’t really know,” Luke kissed Danny’s temple. “We know she lived through some scary times and that she needs a new home. That’s about it.”

“You don’t know her name?”

“Yes, I forgot about that, but we do. Her name is Zoë.”

“Zoë,” Danny repeated, sounding absent minded. “Do you have a picture?”

“We do…” Luke looked at Reid, “I left the papers in the hallway. Would you mind…?”

“Nope, I’ll get it.”

“So, tell me what’s on your mind, Danny…” Luke whispered and the boy leaned against his chest.

“I’m scared.”

“Of what?”

“That she won’t like me…”

“What? What’s not to like about you?”

Danny shrugged.

“I know you and Daddy like me, but before you, there were a lot of people that didn’t like me…”

“And now there’s a lot of people that do…it’s not just me and Daddy. It’s Uncle Will, Hallie and Aunt Gwen, GG Emma and Lucinda, Faith, Ethan, Natalie, Aunt Katie and I can go on and on…it a longgggg list…”

Reid returned with the picture and placed it in front of Luke and Danny. His face looked neutral, but Luke could see the emotion in his blue eyes. The small pale face with the red curls and piercing blue eyes and bruising had obviously been difficult to look at for Reid.

Danny picked the photo up and studied it.

“You said she wasn’t hurt like me…but she has bruises too.”

“Child Services isn’t sure, but they think someone threw her on the road. She was found lying beside the road. That would explain the bruising. She also has a broken leg and some broken ribs. But as I said…she hasn’t talked and we don’t know if she can talk...”

“She looks scared,” Danny whispered, his hand softly touching the picture.

“She does,” Luke agreed.

“I think she needs a lot of love.”

Luke nodded. “And patience. And time. And understanding.”

“We can do that, right?” Danny looked Luke in the eye and the blond smiled.

“We can. Question is if we want to…”

“Did you want to…that day I was in the hospital?”

That question threw Luke and automatically he looked at Reid.

“It felt more like a need to,” the doctor replied. “We knew we couldn’t live with ourselves if we let you go with Mrs. Smith and more bad stuff would have happened to you. We needed to know you were safe and taking you home was the only way to guarantee that.”

“Could you live with yourself if anything bad would happen to Zoë?”

Luke and Reid exchanged a telling glance. Precocious, much?

“We cannot take in every child that needs help, Danny.” Reid sounded defensive, but the boy wasn’t impressed.

“This is not every child. This is one little girl.”

The way Danny folded his arms and pulled up his chin, a defiant glance in his eyes, reminded Reid of Luke. All ready to save the world. Determined to rescue who he could.

“So you would be okay with it?” The blue eyes narrowed.

“I would,” Danny nodded without breaking off the eye contact. “She has blue eyes, just like you. I have brown eyes, just like Daddy.”

“And that’s important…” Reid tried to sound teasing, but Luke could hear a hint of sarcasm and it made him bite his lip. But before he could end their discussion, Danny answered.

“It is to me. She belongs here.”

“Okay, you made your point,” Luke rose to his feet, lifting Danny up in the process. “You go up and change into your PJs and we’ll be there soon to tuck you in.”

When he put Danny down, the boy quickly kissed his cheek, moved over to Reid and repeated the gesture. Then he made his way to the stairs. Skipping again.

Reid watched him leave with mixed feelings. He looked up when he felt Luke’s fingers on his cheek.

“Your back isn’t against the wall, Reid. He will still be skipping if we decide against taking her in. We’ll make him understand. You don’t have to fight us on this one. We’re a team. Two yes votes and one no is still no.”

Luke kissed the curls he loved so much and turned on the threshold.

“See you upstairs?”

Reid quickly nodded and gave Luke a loving smile. “Of course. I’ll be there soon. And thanks.”

Luke blew him a kiss and without realizing, Reid’s hand reached across the table and picked up the photo. God, she looked so fragile. She would probably leak a lot. And do all kinds of girly stuff. Being a girl and all. His thumb moved over her cheek.

‘Could you live with yourself if anything bad would happen to Zoë?’

Damn.