Standing vigil over a sick child was a new and unwelcome adventure for Kermit Griffin. He had waited in hospitals before. Pacing and plotting revenge for fallen comrades. People he cared for deeply. Some survived. Too many did not.
This was different.
The hours passed without notice as Kermit waited and watched beside Karen Simms. The impotence he felt was overpowering. None of his covert skills of death were of use here. Those could be given easly from years of reflex. More delicate skills were required here. Skills he wasn't certain he had ever exercised.
Watching Karen bend over this child, watching her whisper into the baby's ear and gently comfort the fretful cries, he felt the power of the moment. They had been through different many a difficult crisis together. Some where she had leaned on him. Some where she had forced him to accept her back up.
They were a team, now. Both trying to comfort each other as well as Carol Anne. Together. Odd and easy at the same time.
"Thank you." Karen whispered into his thoughts, eyes not leaving the small hand she held so as not to embarrass him with her gratitude. She had to let him know what this meant. After years of denying the need for anyone, she admitted it now. She needed him. Even if it was never the other way around.
"You don't have to thank me." He too remained focused on Carol Anne, who was finally resting peacefully. "You thank someone for doing something they don't have to do. I have to do this. I want to do this."
"I'm glad." Even in the midst of this trauma, she managed to file away the happiness his response invoked. He was there not only from kindness but from his own need as well. Good information. She needed this confirmation. Especially today.
"Good news!" Dr. Riley surprised both of them with her stage whisper over their huddled shoulders. As they turned to pounce on the lifeline she threw, the good doctor beamed back at them. "The blood gases we took a few minutes ago show a marked improvement. Her temp's going down and it looks like the medications are controlling her wheezing."
Breathing a sigh of relief that she prayed wasn't premature, Karen asked, "So she's going to be all right? She's out of danger?"
"If this improvement continues, and I believe it will, she should be fine in a few days." The doctor tactfully turned away from the couple as they embraced in relief. "I have some work to do here with her, a few more tests, why don't you two go take a break." Butting in past her professional obligations into personal obligations to her patient's family, she added, "Karen, that boy, your son has been out there driving me nuts for information. Why don't you go tell him the news?"
Todd. Her own angry words came flooding back in a blinding flash of shame. How is it that he could still be here after she had ripped him in two in that hospital corridor? Karen closed her eyes, dreading the battle that was surely waiting for her. *You feel this old and you want to take on an infant,* she wondered silently.
Reading the new burden she shouldered, Kermit supplied one strong arm as support. Pulling back a few errant strands of her hair from Karen's face, he offered, "I'll get the coffee. You deal with your son."
Accepting the support, she moaned, "I'm afraid I set a blow torch to that particular bridge, Detective."
"So, you'll try swimming."
Laughing, more from exhaustion than from Kermit's attempt at humor, she replied, "Always have an answer, don't you?"
"Just earning my keep, ma'am. Black with two sugars, right?" At her nod the ex-mercenary, peeled off his protective gear and lifted the corner of his mouth in the crooked grin he saved for special persons. Reaching into his pocket, the man pulled out a black leather wallet and tossed it to the captain. "Almost forgot about this. I think your kid misplaced it. You know how forgetful teenagers can be." At her knowing expression, he turned and slouched down the hall. Leaving the dirty work to the players involved.
Karen, making cursory attempts at reconstructing her appearance, made her way around the corner to the waiting area. Her son sat slumped in the nonexistent comfort of a plastic chair. She recognized that brooding look. She had seen it in the mirror often enough.
"Someone found your wallet," she announced, trying not to startle him. *Yeah, found it in your pocket.* Karen couldn't help but feel the urge to smile at Kermit picking Todd's pocket to give her one more chance. To give BOTH of them one more chance.
At the sight of his mother, the boy instantly straightened. Accepting the wallet, he hoarsely offered his gratitude. "Thanks." With a quiet tone befitting the surroundings, Todd asked, "Has there been any change?"
Sitting down cautiously, Karen answered, "Yes. She's better. Still very weak but the doctor thinks she'll be fine."
"That's good." He truly meant it.
"Todd, I'm sorry--"
"Don't be," he interrupted. "I deserved it."
"Yes you did," she agreed, with a slight smile, "but not in public and not with such venom. That's not my style."
After another tense silence, Todd began the lines he'd rehearsed for the past hour. "Mom...I'd be lying if I said it doesn't hurt. I don't really think you set out to hurt me by backing away but it did. Does. Maybe one day, I won't think about it so much." Looking deeply into his mother's bright blue eyes, he made his request. Out in the open for the first time. "What I do know is that I want us to have something between us. Starting now. Another chance for us to be a family. Can we do that?"
Marveling at the man he was becoming, honest about his hurt but trying to move around it, Karen took her son's hand. "You bet we can." Almost dreading the answer, she asked, "Does that include Carol Anne?"
Smirking, the young man slipped one pink bubble-gum cigar from his pocket. Handing it to his weary mother, he chimed, "Congratulations, Captain. It's a girl."
This time, she didn't hesitate. Without waiting for him to come to her, Karen pulled him into a firm embrace. "Thank you, son. Thank you so much."
Living in the moment, not the past or future, Todd enjoyed his place in her life as they hugged. Taking advantage of the moment, he pried, "Where does that guy fit into the picture?"
Patting him on the back and laughing in her own inability to answer the question, she said, "We'll paint in that section later, kid."
****************
Even as holiday mayhem geared up into a parade throughout the 101st precinct, traffic was winding down on Christmas Eve in the halls of the local courthouse. At four o'clock in the afternoon, the legal population was down to a trickle as the wheels of justice were grinding to a standstill for the coming holiday.
Into the eerie calm, pounded one lone man in a black leather coat and dark green sunglasses. *The one day when I give a damn about being on time.....* Kermit Griffin hurried through the echoing halls, only encountering a handful of people sprinting by with the remnants of various Christmas celebrations fluttering around them. Scanning the numbers, he finally breathed a sigh of relief as he reached his destination.
Unceremoniously shoving the heavy wooden door open, he plunged into the startled assembly. Drawing all eyes in the room and one welcoming smile.
Quickly taking what had become his place at Karen Simms's side, the detective quietly accepted the slim arm that reached out to embrace him. "Next time, I'll leave a trail of bread crumbs for you, detective," Karen whispered into his ear.
Grunting a small laugh, the man replied, "I prefer something sweeter than that, Captain. How bout you, sweetcakes?" Reaching out to tickle Carol Anne's chin, he received a giggle in reply.
******
Having just turned one year old, this throw away baby bore little resemblance to the shivering infant Karen Simms had drawn from a heap of freezing garbage one year ago. Bright, blonde, and happy, the little girl babbled in her foster mother's arms. The bouts with illness had continued but gradually lessened over the course of the year. Though progressing a bit slowly in comparison to her peers, Carol Anne was an active toddler. Just beginning to cruise her way around the furniture and quick to explore.
Today, she would become Carol Anne Simms on paper as well as in spirit.
Judge Angela Rayborn smiled warmly as she convened the small gathering of a social worker, Karen's attorney, and the prospective family before her. "Well, now that all the interested parties have arrived, let's get down to business."
Karen nervously gathered Carol Anne, dressed in her red velvet dress and black patent Mary Janes, more closely into her arms. *This is just a formality.* Karen kept reminding herself in vain. There were fire trucks racing around in her stomach. One person, the woman wearing a black robe before them, could deny her petition to build this family. Holding the fate of daughter and prospective mother at the end of her pen.
Then, that warm hand took her own and the truck stopped rolling.
"I've reviewed all of the documentation provided by Child Protective Services, Captain Simms and it seems you have been thoroughly examined by the officers of the court."
"Intimately, your honor." Karen winced at her words. *Too forward! Keep your mouth shut, Karen!* Barely stifling the urge to elbow Kermit for laughing at her own joke, she clamped her mouth shut.
The judge smiled slightly at the tension of the prospective mother making her petition. "Everything seems fine. Finances, family history, all in order." Looking up from the paperwork, she addressed the social worker assigned to the case. "Mrs. Davis, what is your evaluation of the home environment?"
The portly woman who had shown up unannounced to carefully inspect every aspect of Karen Simms' life, gave a confident wink at the nervous petitioner and supplied the report. "Your honor, Carol Anne has been under Captain Simms care since becoming a ward of the state. I've found her home and care to be exemplary. In her custody, the child has improved physically and exhibits all the appropriate emotional development. Karen has provided a safe, loving environment complete with a large support system of friends and family to help in the rearing of this child."
"That sounds like a ringing endorsement," the judge confirmed, making notes on a legal pad. "And the birth parents?"
"Not a clue, your honor," the social worker noted. "Though there were exhaustive attempts to find the child's parents or relatives, no one has ever come to claim her. Because of the abandonment and lack of attempts at contact by the child's natural parents, Child Protective Services recommends that their parental rights be severed, making Carol Anne eligible for adoption."
Karen swallowed the lump in her thought as each detail of the past years process was reviewed. The endless paperwork. Explaining each minute twist of her life and detailing her intentions. Obsessing over each word and examining any incorrect inference the social worker could have drawn.
For what seemed like eternity, the judge flipped through page after page of documentation. Ticking over one year of this woman's life and the life of the child she sought out with a determination unmatched. Sliding her reading glasses down onto the desk, the woman, addressed her petitioners calmly.
"Over the course of my career, I've seen many petitions for adoption cross my desk. Most were from couples who had tried for years to have a conceive without success and resorted to adoption after that failure." Her expression remained serious. "But here, I don't see this as a 'second best' way for you to have a family. Is that correct, Captain Simms?"
"It's a surprise gift, your honor," Karen explained, calmed with the conviction of her choice. "Something I never expected and feel blessed beyond words to have found."
"That's good to hear," the judge nodded in satisfaction. "According to the law, adoption is a legal proceeding where one person or persons takes another into the relationship of child. That person acquires the rights and incurs the responsibilities of parent, in relation to that child." Closing the folder of paperwork, the woman asked, "Are you ready to assume that responsibility? To consider this child as a full member of your family?"
"Oh yes I am, your honor." Karen snuggled the little girl in her arms. The demonstration bringing tears to her eyes.
"Me too, your honor," came a booming reply from the back of the room. Todd Simms stood stern and straight, filling the doorway with broad shoulders. All eyes turned toward the formal young man with short cropped blonde hair and spotless demeanor.
"I assume you are," the judge quickly flipped open her fact sheets, "Todd Simms?"
"Yes, ma'am," he confirmed, walking confidently forward, to take a seat behind his mother. "I apologize, but my flight was late because of the snow."
Karen couldn't come up with the words to express the heart twisting grasp the sight of him inspired. One tender touch of his hand on her shoulder said it all. The past year had been strained. Todd bumping lightly back and forth into her life at his own pace. A much better approach than the forced acceptance they had tried to employee at first.
Kermit tipped his shades and smiled at the boy who still regarded him gruffly. Todd felt obliged to treat him as an adversary and the detective allowed the protective examinations the boy granted him as his mother's suitor. All very civil, but with a great deal of male posturing.
"Well, now that the family's all here," the judge allowed herself a slight smirk, "we can continue." The smirk grew into a warm smile. "It's not generally appealing to me to work on Christmas Eve, but in this case, what better night could we choose to a make family? One year ago, someone relinquished this baby and now, I see a warm, loving circle of family to accept her. All getting a second chance at family."
Family. Karen felt the word ring sweet and clear through the room. Her son at her back. A little girl who called her "Mommy" wiggling in her lap. And a man at her side who could weather it all without one wrinkle.
The judge looked down at the papers and began to sign with a flourish. "By signing the Order of Adoption, the relationship of Karen Simms as parent and Carol Anne Simms as child will become final. A new birth certificate will be issued and the original sealed."
As the entire group stood in concert with the judge, Karen accepted her copies of the documents. "Merry Christmas, Captain. She's all yours."
"Merry Christmas, your honor," she whispered through the choke of emotion. Drowning in the relief and the feel of two tiny arms squeezing around her neck, she felt freer than ever before. "Merry Christmas, indeed!"
*******
Norman Rockwell would have found the three of them unlikely subjects for artwork. Kermit Griffin, in typical austere garb and glasses, sat on the sofa sipping an eggnog. The police captain and new mother, relaxed under his arm. Both focused on the picture of innocence on the floor in front of them.
Carol Anne babbled beneath the Christmas tree, enjoying the two presents she'd been allowed to open early. Bathed in torn paper and scattered ribbon, the little girl couldn't decide whether to play with the boxes or the toys. At the moment, she was digging, bottom up, in a box full of tissue and emitting an echoing giggle.
"Would you like your present now?" Karen asked, never taking her eyes from her daughter. Her daughter. The child she could claim freely as her own with no qualifiers or temporary arrangements.
"Is it appropriate for mixed company?" he teased, grinning as Karen rolled her eyes in mock disgust.
"Yes, detective, it is," she groaned happily. With Todd asleep upstairs, the evening would definitely chaste. "But first, you have to answer a question for me."
"I've been trained to withstand interrogation."
"It's obvious to me that you have adjusted you usual Yuletide schedule."
"Yes."
"Where did you formerly spend your Christmas holidays, Detective?" She knew that the question was cloaked in mystery. Bets were taken each year as to what third world skirmish Kermit Griffin was involved in over the holidays. He came and went wordlessly and let the inquiries roll off like water.
Peeling off his glasses, he let a wry grin wriggled over his features. He enjoyed the cryptic detours he threw each year to confuse the masses. Mystiques were hard won and his was no exception. The masses could continue to wonder, but he elected to open his circle to include Karen.
"You'll be shocked," he gave her elegant fingers a gentle caress within his own.
"No I won't." The suspense was maddening.
"You'll find it quite unbelievable."
"If you say it, I'll believe it."
"All right," he said seriously. Pouring his deep brown gaze down into the panting anticipation of his captain and newly accepted lover, he spoke quietly. "I play Santa every Christmas Eve at the University Hospital Children's Cancer Unit then I go to Marilyn's for dinner."
The mind-boggling image left her dazed. Santa? No way! "You're right, I don't believe it."
"I told you."
"Santa? Belly like a bowl full of jelly? The red suit?"
"In my trunk."
"That's why you were late this afternoon?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Say it," she ordered, leaning back to observe behind folded arms.
"Ho-Ho-Ho!" He let his voice boom out over the room. Carol Anne jerked herself free from the tangle of toy and wrapping to pounce toward the sound. Drawing the child up to sit on his lap, Kermit raised a confident eyebrow. "You see? I'm good."
The laughter bubbled up through her throat and rang out through the room. "Outstanding! The most well armed Santa Claus in the world and he's here with us, Carol Anne!" Carol's giggling joined in with her mother's. "I suppose we don't have to worry about all the gifts arriving safely."
"Courting the big red guy has it's advantages." Blaisdell had blackmailed him into the gig years ago and he'd been hooked ever since. It took so little effort to make those children happy. They didn't want anything but his time. It was easy and anonymous and one of the high points of his year. But he was greedy with his pleasure and never felt the need to share it. Until now.
"So why didn't you want to go to Marilyn's this year?" She all ready knew the answer. It was painted in bright red twinkling lights for her to read. But she wanted to hear the words.
Popping the glasses back in place, he explained through the reflection of the sparkling Christmas tree. "I love Marilyn and her children. They include 'weird Uncle Kermit' as if I belong there. But it's as a guest. Now," he gave Karen's hand an explanatory squeeze, "I have my own family."
Family. It implied so much. For a moment, Karen allowed them both the sanctuary of silence. Family. She and Carol Anne and Todd were family. She was letting Kermit decided what he was. Family. Looking into his deep green shield. Watching him hold her daughter in a perfect fit on his lap. Family. "Kermit..."
"Where's my present?" He was enjoying the awkward silence. Throwing the world off balance was his specialty. Even if it was done by creaking open the hinges of his soul.
Reaching down into her pocket, Karen withdrew her addition to the festivities. One bright red ribbon dangling two silver keys.
Both reaching the same goal on the same evening. Reaching out to find open arms. Catching the keys as they clinked into his palm, Kermit asked, "Keys to your heart?"
"And the front door, Detective," she smirked. "Can't have you picking the lock, now can we?"
"Karen Simms," he crooned her name through a smile, "you have always been blessed with exquisite timing." Without moving Carol Anne from his lap, he withdrew one small black velvet box from his coat pocket. Flipping open the lid, he revealed two rings. One etched gold band sized for a miniature hand. The other, an elegant row of diamonds for a more mature finger.
Time screeched to a halt as Karen Simms was stunned into silence. The last thing she expected to see was a ring. The very last thing.
"I thought since you two were a package......." The ambush had been a success. He had made her blush. The unflappable professional police officer was effectively rattled. A feat that should warrant historical recognition. At least, in the ex-mercenary's mind.
"YES!" The word blurted out without ceremony from her dry mouth. If the day had ever come to throw out hesitation, this was it. No thought necessary.
"I did have a speech prepared," he complained through a smile.
"I said, yes!"
"Very romantic. I was going to--"
"I don't doubt it. The answer is still yes!"
"--quote Shakespeare."
"I'm sure. YES!"
"You would have been impressed."
Karen, who had already taken possession of her ring and planted it on her finger, slid over to wrap her arms around his neck. "For someone who has a great economy of words, you pick odd times to talk too much."
"Oh yeah..." he groaned as the woman buried his mouth under hers.
The End
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