Chapter Text
Year: 2000
Ghost hunter Maddie Fenton buckled her four-year-old daughter in her booster seat, handing her her Bearbert Einstein. Her daughter looked up at her with eagerness twinkling in her eyes. "I'm going to have a baby brother, Mommy?"
Maddie nodded. She heard a door close and turned to see her husband of six years, Jack Fenton, closing the door to their home. Fentonworks was still in the production stage, the Op-Center on the roof not quite done yet, but it still gave Maddie a warm feeling of pride. They had come a long way since college...
"Mommy?"
"Yes, sweetie?" Maddie answered to her daughter, adjusting the girl's backpack - full of colouring books and workbooks that the preschool teacher had given them - on the floor.
"Why Wisconsin? My baby brother should be here." After the family had been approved from their home study, they had waited with a nervous happiness. They would be able to adopt a child. So many profiles had been read, many children older than Jazz, which is not what they were looking for exactly.
Then the letter from… Whoever the sender was, they never left a name.
Maddie... my dear Maddie.
This little boy that I have, I can't take care of him anymore. Please... Please take care of him.
- D.
The envelope that contained the small letter also contained a birth certificate, a form that listed the boy as the godchild of Jack and Madeline Fenton, and medical forms. When contacting the agency in Madison, Wisconsin, they said that because they were listed as the boy's godparents, they could take him home after spending some time with him and filling out all of the paper work. They also had copies of the forms, which made the adoption progress much easier.
Almost too easy.
Also in the envelope, a photo of the little boy that they were to be adopting. He had white skin, almost like alabaster, and ebony black hair. His eyes, bright blue, like the sky or the ocean, haunted her most. They reminded her of things that she’d rather forget.
“He’s a really cute kid, Mads.” She looked over at her husband and then gripped her seat as he turned a bit sharply, Jazz whining a bit in the back seat as she was tilted into a slightly uncomfortable position against the door of the RV.
“Are you okay, Princess?” Jack asked, turning off of the highway and onto the ramp, not too much further from the city of Madison. Jazz, assuring her father that she was fine, began to tell her parents about all of the things that she would do with her new baby brother, like watching movies and playing with her dolls. Tea parties would be fun, Maddie making them cookies that they could have with iced tea or milk.
“We still don’t know if your brother will like all of those things, Jazz.”
“I know, but we can try it. He might like things that he can show me and I’ll like them, too.” Maddie smiled. Her daughter was always so considerate towards others, and she was always trying new things when it would make others happy. Such a good girl.
She’d be a wonderful sister.
Walking into the Adoption Agency, Jazz pouted as the woman at the desk tried to talk to her like a little baby. She was four years old, but that didn’t mean that she would content herself with a stupid lollipop and a colouring sheet.
“Can I meet my baby brother yet?” She felt her mother pat her head.
“Your parents have to meet him on their own first; okay, Jasmine?” The secretary took the redhead’s hand and led her to the lobby, inviting her to try reading some magazines if she didn’t want to colour.
The social worker leading the child’s case led Maddie and Jack down a hallway to meet their god-son… their adopted son.
She opened a door, the third on the left, and greeted the child. Well, the Fentons could only assume that they were greeting him; it was another language, Asian-sounding.
The little boy looked up at the woman that greeted him and spoke in like tongue. He was looking up at her with a warm look in his eyes, bright blue like the sky.
“Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, this is Danny Martin.” She turned to look down at the little boy and another woman that stood by him who spoke soft, Asian words to the child, most likely introducing them to him.
Danny stood up and then Maddie took note of what he was wearing. He was wearing a little blue dress, a dark navy blue faux velvet with a silver design on it, the shimmering thread in the form of a butterfly on the bodice of the outfit. Why on Earth he wore that outfit, Maddie had no clue, but the child did not seem to mind at all. In fact, Danny grabbed the skirt of his dress and shook it a little, perhaps to shake away any dust or fuzz that could have caught onto the fabric.
He walked up to the both of them and bowed. He said something that could only be interpreted as some kind of greeting.
Jack bent down, so that he was on his knees, and bowed to Danny. “Hi, Danny. I’m Jack.”
Danny straightened himself to look at the tall man. “Jack? Hello, Jack. I’m Danny.”
Maddie let out a sigh that she hadn’t been conscious of holding. She was so worried that now she wouldn’t be able to talk to her son… Strange… The thought was so natural, it was nice.
“You speak English, Danny?” He nodded to her question. “What else do you speak?”
Danny spoke softly. He turned to the translator, not certain of the words in English.
“His mother taught him Japanese and Russian.” Maddie patted the black-haired child on the head while the social servant continued. “What he first said to you was a request for you two to take care of him.”
Danny smiled and giggled as Jack picked him up, holding him close. He hugged the man, happy that somebody was finally hugging him. No one really hugged him here.
“Of course, we’ll take care of him.” Maddie reached for Danny and the boy was placed into her arms by her husband. “We’ll take care of you, sweetie… Danny.”
Danny smiled. “Thank you, Maddie.”
She shivered a bit, as a memory pushed against her consciousness.
“Thank you, Maddie…”