Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2008 00:29:16 -0700 (PDT) From: B J Subject: Beginnings - When You Least Expect It Chapter 8 This story is a work of fiction... Any similarities to people living or dead is purely coincidental... If it's illegal for you to read stories like this in your area... Or if you're not old enough to read... Please don't... Or at least don't get caught... Enjoy! When You Least Expect It By: B J Chapter 8 We were headed back to Vegas with more stuff than we left with. DJ had all kinds of different hats with mouse ears, a pair of Mickey Mouse gloves and shoes. Jeff couldn't resist the shoes and wanted a pair as well so I bought a pair for him. We bought shirts for DJ, Gabby, Marco, and some of his friends from all the places we went to. It was five o'clock in the afternoon by the time we got back to Vegas. Lupe called to tell us not to worry about dinner. After getting off the phone with Lupe, I made a call. "Hey DJ," Marco said excitedly. "Hey CJ, hey Jeff," "Hi Marco," we all said. "Mom's got dinner going." He said following us into the condo. Jeff turned off the alarm as we carried our bags in. "CJ and I will carry the rest of the bags in before we come over. DJ, why don't you and Marco take these packages over to everybody," Jeff said. "Okay," DJ said. The two carried the three bags over to the Montez's as Jeff and I continued to unload the 4-Runner. We left the suitcases in the living room so I could do laundry later. Jeff and I walked hand in hand over to the next condo. "Knock, knock." I said as I opened the door. "Hey CJ, hey Jeff," Lupe said as she hugged us. "Welcome back, you three look so tanned. How was it?" "It was a lot of fun." I smiled. "We'll go down again before DJ goes home and maybe we can take the kids with us." "If it's not a problem, I think the kids would love it." She said. "Of course it's not a problem." I said. "I'll have my own little vacation." Lupe grinned. Jeff and I laughed. "You've got the weekends off right?" Jeff asked her. "Oh yes! I love having my weekends off." She laughed. "Good! We're taking the kids for the weekend and you're going to pamper yourself next weekend." I said. "What?" Lupe said. I handed her the sheet of paper with the confirmation number. "You and a friend have a weekend spa package. Everything's paid for, including your meals. You and your friend can spoil yourselves and relax." I said. Tears appeared in her eyes. "You really didn't have to do this," She said. "I know." I said. "You don't have anyone to spoil you and you're not spoiling yourself so we figured we'd help." She hugged Jeff tightly and then did the same to me. "What's wrong Mom?" Gabby asked. Lupe laughed. "Nothing's wrong sweetie, CJ and Jeff have decided to watch you and Marco next weekend. They got me a spa package in Mesquite." She told her daughter. "Cool!" Gabby said. "You deserve it Mama," After a dinner of enchiladas and fajitas we left with Marco in tow so he could sleep over. Jeff put the leftover snacks into the pantry as I started on the laundry. The boys played video games as we put everything away. Michael stopped by during the evening as we sat around relaxing. "Welcome home bitches!" He said as he hugged me. "Language," DJ and Jeff said. "Language," Michael mimicked. Everyone laughed. "So, what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?" Jeff asked standing up to hug Michael. "Well, I did some homework. You know that empty space they have down in The Fruit Loop, where Hamburger Mary's used to be? What do you think about us leasing it or buying it?" He said. "Let's go talk this over in the dining room. Do you want some wine?" I said. "That would be fabulous," Michael said following me. I handed two wine glasses to Michael as I grabbed a bottle of wine from the fridge. He pulled a tablet and his laptop out of his satchel and we started talking about opening our own restaurant. "So, I called the leasing agent, we could either lease the space or purchase it. I went down there and looked at the space. It's a nice sized space and of course there's a bar." He said. I looked at his laptop and the pictures that he pulled up. "That is a great space. A lot of things we could do with it." I said. "Would we do an upscale restaurant?" Michael asked. "I wouldn't." I said. "We should just keep it simple for now." "Good idea!" He said. We continued to talk and work out a plan of action as we drank our wine. "Let's go find a lawyer and have a corporation drawn up." I said. Jeff walked into the dining room and kissed the top of my head. "What are you two working on?" He asked. "Trying to start a restaurant," Michael said. "If you two need a loan I can get in contact with our small business development department." Jeff said. "Please do! We can meet with them whenever." Michael said excitedly. Jeff smiled and nodded as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. "Do you know any good lawyers that can draw up corporation papers?" I asked. "Let me ask a couple of clients." He said. I smiled. The next Friday we saw Lupe and her friend Magdalena off as they headed to Mesquite for their weekend at the Casablanca Hotel and Spa. "What do you guys want for dinner kids?" I asked. "Pizza," The three of them said. I laughed and called the pizza place. Jeff came home as I was on the phone ordering. "Hi baby," Jeff said softly kissing my cheek. "Okay, thanks!" I said as I pulled out some cash from my wallet. I kissed Jeff on the lips. "Hi sweetie, how was your day?" "It was good." Jeff replied. "Michael's coming over tonight." I said. "Good. I've got some news on the lawyer. One of my clients will be coming over tonight as well. Frank Carson said he wants to meet with the two of you." He said. "I'm not cooking tonight. I ordered pizza." I said. "Babe that's fine. There's beer and wine so it'll be okay." Jeff smiled. "I'm so excited. We've got the ball rolling for starting our own restaurant. I got a call from a Greg Jensen in the Small Business Development department and they're interested in seeing our proposals." Michael said. "I'll draw the papers up for The MesNor Corporation and you two can take everything down and meet with Greg Jensen. I think you two have some great ideas and will do really well." Frank said. "Thanks Frank," I said. Michael and Frank left after we talked for another hour. Saturday we took the kids to Circus Circus and then had dinner at Makino's. Sunday night Lupe came home and looked well rested. "You look like you enjoyed yourself." I grinned. She laughed. "I had a great time. The spa was great. I'm so relaxed and unwound." Lupe said. "Thank you guys for spoiling me." "Anytime Lupe, you deserve it." Jeff said hugging her. "How were the kids?" She asked. "They were great!" I said. "It was a lot of fun having them here with us." Lupe and the kids left after dinner. "So, tomorrow Gabby starts watching me?" DJ asked. "Yep and I expect you to listen to her." I said. "I will." He said. By the end of July Michael and I were busy working on our restaurant. Our loan had gone through without any problems. The remodeling of the restaurant was slowly taking off. I walked around the restaurant with Ken, the contractor and Michael. "With the bathroom, I want more stalls and urinals for the men's room and more stalls for the women's, as well as a couple more sinks in both restrooms." I said. Ken nodded and took notes. "Did you want to make any changes to the bar area?" Ken asked. "No, the bar is fine but the area around it I think would be nice with some booths." I said as we walked through the bar area to the dining room. "Now, in here we can do round booths in the corner and then booths to sit four along the windows." We continued our walk through of the entire restaurant, including the kitchen. Michael and I both went over what we wanted in the kitchen. "I'll get the plans drawn up and get the back wall knocked down so that way we can get both places hooked together and move those bathrooms." Ken said. "Sounds great Ken, we're going to go appliance shopping." Michael said. "You guys go ahead and do that. Let me know where you guys go so I can get someone in there and measure the equipment you're looking at putting in." Ken said. Michael and I made a list of everything we looked at and liked. We stopped to check out pots, pans, utensils, flatware, glassware, dinnerware, and other stuff we needed for the restaurant. "This is a lot of work." Michael whined. I laughed. "Did you expect it to be easy?" I asked. "Shut the fuck up bitch! You know what I mean." He said. We laughed and continued to shop and look around. We drove over to the Boulevard Mall and had lunch before we shopped. As we walked toward the food court a young boy, no older than twelve bumped into us. "Hey!" I said grabbing his arm that held my wallet. "You little pick pocket." "I'm sorry mister," the boy said. "It's just that I was hungry. I haven't eaten in awhile." "Where are your parents?" I asked. "I don't have any," He answered. "Where do you live?" Michael asked. "Everywhere," He replied. I looked at Michael as I grabbed my wallet back. Michael shrugged. "You look like you need a hot shower kid," Michael said. We both looked over the boy in front of us. "That clothes look like you've been wearing it for a few days." I said. The boy looked down at his feet and blushed. "Do you have other clothes?" I asked. "No," he said softly. "What's your name?" I asked. "Marcus." He said. "Well, come on Marcus. We're going to get something to eat and then do some shopping." I said. Michael grinned. "And Uncle Michael will help spoil you." Michael said. "How old are you?" I asked Marcus. "Eleven," he answered. How in the world has an eleven year old been surviving on the street? And how could the authorities just let this happen? I had a lot of questions. We walked into the food court and looked around. We all decided to do Chinese food and ordered our plates. As we were sitting down to eat Jeff called. I got up so I could talk to him. "I think we might have another guest staying with us for a little while sweetie." I said. `Okay, I'll be home early and I'll get the spare room set up.' He said. I told him about Marcus being eleven and that he tried to pick my pocket. He said that he'd call Child Protection Services. I agreed. Michael and Marcus were laughing when I got back. "You're a smart kid." Michael said. "I've been spending a lot of time at the library." Marcus said. "Where's your parents?" Michael asked. "I don't know. My mom left me at Safe Nest and never came back." He answered. "Are you in a foster home?" I asked sitting down. "I was supposed to be. But, I don't want to go back." He said and looked down. "Mr. Terry has been abusing me. Not just me the other kids too." "Where is Mrs. Terry?" Michael asked. "She's out playing bingo and whatever else." Marcus answered. My anger rose. "How long have you been on the streets?" I asked. "Four months," "And they haven't been looking for you?" Michael asked. "I don't know." Marcus said. "Well, let's finish eating and then we'll get you some clothes." I said. "How long have you been picking pockets?" "That was my first try. I've never done it before." He said bashfully. "You're not very good at it." I said with a smile. Marcus blushed. Michael laughed. After eating we headed for some of the department stores. "What is your full name Marcus?" Michael asked. "Marcus James Daniels." He answered. "I'm taking you home with me. You'll be able to shower and sleep in a comfortable bed and meet my baby brother and boyfriend." I said. Marcus nodded. "We'll have to call Child Protection Services to let them know you're okay." "I don't want to go back to the Terry's. I will run away again if I'm sent back there." Marcus said defiantly. "We'll see if we can work on something else." I said. With a lot of bags in tow we left and headed home after dropping Michael off at his car. Jeff was already home when Marcus and I got there. "Hey baby," Jeff said kissing me. "Hi sweetie, where's DJ?" I said returning the kiss. "I sent him over to Lupe's." Jeff said. "Hi Marcus, I'm Jeff." "Hi Jeff," he said softly shaking Jeff's outstretched hand. "I got in touch with a Gavin Rothschild at CPS. He'll be by in a few minutes." Jeff said. I nodded as the doorbell rang. Jeff walked over to answer the door. "Mr. Marshall?" Someone asked. "You must be Mr. Rothschild," Jeff said. "Yes," Mr. Rothschild said. They shook hands and Jeff invited him in. "This is my boyfriend Colin James. CJ, this is Gavin Rothschild with Child Protection Services." Jeff said. I shook the older man's hand. "This is Marcus Daniels." I said. "Hello Marcus," Mr. Rothschild said. Marcus shook his hand. "I'm the manager of Child Protection Services. I was working later and took the call. I don't normally come out to meet with our cases. I get involved when a child has run away but I haven't been notified of any runaways in six months." I had Marcus tell his story and went over what he told me. Mr. Rothschild was surprised. He pulled out his laptop and opened files. "As far as Marcus is concerned he's still in the Terry's home. He hasn't been reported missing." Mr. Rothschild said. "That's a little disconcerting." I said. "Yes, it is." He said. "Please Mr. Rothschild I don't want to go back there." Marcus said with tears in his eyes. "If you need a home for him to stay in, he can stay here." Jeff said. "We've got a room ready for him." I said. Mr. Rothschild smiled. "I don't want him in that home either and I'd like to start an investigation into this." He said. "Are you two looking into becoming foster parents?" "We've talked about wanting kids and eventually adopting." Jeff said. "Well, why don't we fill out some paperwork, I'll call a close friend of mine who happens to be a judge and let him know what's going on and get this paperwork filed immediately." Mr. Rothschild said. Jeff and I filled out the paperwork that Mr. Rothschild handed us. I excused myself to put Marcus' new clothes in the washer. Once we finished all the paperwork the clothes were done and I put them into the dryer as I sent Marcus to shower. "Marcus why don't you get out of those dirty clothes and go shower, your clothes should be done drying in a little bit." I said. Jeff and Mr. Rothschild continued to talk as I started dinner. I pulled Marcus' dry clothes from the dryer and took it to his room. "Hi," Marcus said walking into the room. "Hey kiddo, I've got your clothes put away. Go ahead and pick something out. Dinner should be ready in a little bit and DJ should be back soon." I said. "Okay CJ," Marcus said. As I walked back to the living room DJ ran into the condo. "What's for dinner Ceej?" he asked hugging my leg. "I'm making some fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and chocolate pudding for dessert." I answered. Marcus came walking out of his room fully dressed. I introduced the two boys to each other. DJ took him into the living room and turned on the video game. The two played video games as I worked on dinner and Jeff and Mr. Rothschild talked. The five of us sat down for dinner and talked about other things. "If you are allowed to stay with us kiddo, you're going to have to go back to school." I said. Marcus nodded. After dinner Mr. Rothschild left with our paperwork. The four of us spent a quiet evening watching movies. To be continued... Hope you all enjoyed the latest chapter... Let me know what you think at scroo_yoo89081@yahoo.com I want to say thank you to sweetpea for reading over the latest chapter and letting me know what was wrong. :) Take care B J