A Birth day

Jessie watched as Edwrad gathered all the things they would need for their return just as Jack ran over with a bag " Here Jess sensed you could use these, there still good our boys don't wear them" he said then smiled to the couple that was with the children it was now he spoke to them "Buna numele meu este Jack" he said in almost fluent Romanian as he walked over and helped the children take out their toys.

"huh, Jack is full of surprises," Jessie said as he walked over to Edward " im good and I think you got everything." he said taking Edwards arm as he waited to return "We should get back quickly no telling what might be happening," he said to him.

"Thank you, Jack. Calm, Jessie," Edward said. "I'm not concerned about Angus and Anise. And it's daylight. They're not going to run into a werewolf in the daylight. Besides, they're very capable, but I would like to see if we can find this kid before dark. Right now, they're not looking for a werewolf. They're looking for a frightened, naked kid. Still, let's make what time we have count."

They ported back, and Edward went around the house to the back. He started to follow the tracks back into the woods and it didn't take him long to come to the same conclusion Angus had. The beast had panicked last night, and likely, the child was still panicky today. He could see the same tracks running around in a chaotic, unorganized panic all over the woods. Clearly the child was lost or disoriented.

"If I were in that situation," Anise told Angus softly, "I'd be hiding right now. I'd be naked and hungry and cold. And out of my mind."

"Yeah," Angus said. "You're right. He's hiding, but I don't think he's far."

"No. He can't be," she agreed.

"Anise, you're a seer. Can you see anything?" he asked her.

"I don't know, but I can try."

Jessie looked at Edward and took a calming deep breath in and nodded to him. " yeah your right, Ithink Im more scared for the kid than Angus and Anise" he said now looking around as they appeared by the house again. Walking with Edward he once again walked in the direction Angus and he had gone earlier with Edward. " makes you think where a small boy whose scared out of his mind would hide, a cave a small hole in a tree or a large fox hole" he suggested as he walked with Edward towards where he could hear Anise and Angus talking. He could hear the woods quiet and still not even a bird was singing even though it was daylight. He took a long deep breath in and caught a slight scent on the air. " strange I smell salt." he said looking to Edward.

"Sweat," Anise said. "I smelled it too. He's been through here. I can feel him now. God, he's scared." Angus was listening but he was looking close to the ground, looking at some of the trampled bracken and weeds and grass. He saw a little flash of yellow, and he crouched and looked under a clump of weeds and found the last little bit of a child's colorful sock. It was soaking wet with sweat, and it was filthy dirty. Angus knew the boy was here. He had been here, and he was still here.

"Buna?" he called. "Salut?" They were informal forms of hello in Romanian. "Noi suntem prieteni! Nu vă vom răni! Am venit să ajutăm!" Anise was listening as Angus called in Romanian to the child and said they were friends and weren't there to hurt the child. She didn't understand Romanian, but she could feel the genuineness in the tone of Angus voice. Then, she felt a strong surge of emotion--a little boy's grief and loss, and she took off silently on her own through the weeds on her left. She stopped and listened again, and she looked at Angus, who had been watching her. She crouched on the ground, and she looked deep into a small hollow log. She motioned to Angus. Angus and Edward crept up carefully, and she looked up at Angus.

"He's in here, but none of us are small enough to fit in there. We're going to have to lure him out," she said. Angus got down on the ground and laid on his stomach, ignoring his arm and his shoulder.

"Alo," Angus said softly and slowly, with a friendly smile. Edward handed Angus the sandwich, and Angus handed it into the log. The boy took it and ate it ravenously while Angus reassured him that they were friends and that they knew about what happened to him last night and that they'd come to help. Angus handed the boy one cookie and the juice box. The boy ate so fast that he let out a huge belch. Angus smiled. He asked the boy what his name was.

"Cristofor," the little voice said in a trembling voice. "Cris."

"Eu sunt Angus," Angus smiled. He told Cris that he had five children of his own, and he asked Cris how old he was.

"Sapte," the boy said.

"He's seven," Angus told them. "His name is the Romanian form of Christopher. They call him Cris." He asked the boy where his mama and papa were, and the boy started to cry. Angus spoke soothingly to him, and Cris told him, in stumbling and broken sentences, that they sent him out to play one day and when he got home, they were gone--just gone. And they never came back. He said they were afraid of him. Angus could not imagine leaving any of his children. Cris didn't know how long they had been gone but it had been a long time, he said. It took Angus a long, long time, but he finally coaxed the lad out of the log.

He was small for seven. To Angus, he looked far more like five than seven. He was shorter than he should have been and thin. And he was filthy, filthy dirty, with long, scraggly, matted hair. And he smelled really bad. This boy had been on his own for a very long time. The boy asked him if there was more food.

"You want more?" Angus asked him in Romanian. The boy nodded. "Ok. Come with me. I'll fix something."

"Now, what?" Anise asked Angus.

"Let's get him back to Sergio's and get him cleaned up and into some clothes," Angus said.

Jessie had heard Anise and nodded " definatly" he said and follwoed th scent to where Anise crouched he too went low so not to apear intimidating. As he watched Angus he felt in his pocket passing him a chocolate bar he had "here" he said holding it out to him " kids love chocolate" he said with a chuckle as he gave it to him. Jessis saw the young boy move gardedly from the small hole he was hiding in, he took off his jacket and held it to Angus " wrap him in this, my scent being what I am might comfort him" he smiled to the boy motioning for him to wear it even though it was way too big for the boy.

Jessie touched his chest as he spoke one word " Jessie" he said smiling but not showing any teeth knowing it might scare him.

Angus wrapped the boy in Jessie's jacket. He took off his sling and picked up the boy, trying to support the boy's weight as much as he could on his good shoulder.

"Why don't you let me?" Edward said. "That has to hurt."

"It does," Angus said. Edward took Cris from Angus, and they carried him towards Sergio's. The boy became upset and fearful as they got close to Sergio's, and Edward spoke softly to him to reassure him that the house was empty. They took the boy inside, and Edward took the boy straight into the bathroom for a bath and a shampoo.

Angus headed into the kitchen and he put a very simple meal of scrambled eggs and toast for the boy, knowing that as hungry as Cris had been, he surely wasn't going to be able to hold much more in his stomach. He did know that hot food would surely taste better to him, and he made a mug of hot cocoa for him.

He looked like a completely different boy when Edward emerged with him after a bath and a shampoo and some clean clothes. Edward put the boy at the table, and Angus put the little plate and the mug of cocoa in front of him, and to Angus's surprise, the boy ate it all and drank the cocoa, finally getting full when he was not quite finished with the cocoa. Now with warm clothes and a full stomach, Cris was starting to get very sleepy.

"I'll go see the local authorities and see what they can tell me about Cris's family," Edward said quietly. "The boy is completely knackered. Looks like he's been on his own for a long time. He needs a good sleep. I'll be back as soon as I can. You'd better stay here because someone needs to be here that speaks Romanian just in case, Angus."

"Agreed," Angus said. Edward left, and Anise set about doing the washing up. Angus took Cris into the living room and sat down in a rocking chair, with Cris on his lap. It wasn't more than a moment before the boy fell into a deep sleep cuddled into Angus.

"You know, if they can't find his family, we're going to have to take him with us," Angus told Jessie. "We can't leave him. Not sure what we're gonna do with him, but we can't leave him."

Jessie had watched the boy as Edward had taken him to be washed and dressed in clean clothes. Seeing him return Jessie smiled to him and watched him eat all that Angus had placed in front of him . Hearing Angus say they had to stay with him he nodded " agreed, he shouldn't be left alone." he said and sat next to the boy as he saw him finish his drink of coco. " I'll stay with you, maybe you can teach me a few words to say to him" Jessie said wanting to learn a littel at least so he could comunicate with Cris.

Seeing Cris become sleepy he offered his shoulder for him to rest on and the boy lent against him as he drifted off to sleep. Jessie reatched out for his jacket and placed it ver the boy like a blanket. " who ever turned him ment for him to die, no one this young servives the turning." he said softly now with Cris's head resting on his lap as he slept.

"You're very likely right that they probably believe him to be dead," Angus said, "but Robert's brother was actually younger than this when he was turned. Remus was most likely blessed that he was so well loved by his parents. I'm sure that isn't the norm."

"It isn't," Anise said. "A lot of our cubs are turned early like that, but the pack is well equipped to deal with it. It's seen just as a way of life for us. With a human family, though? No, the survival rate isn't at all good."

"He feels frail to me," Angus said. "I don't know if he'd have survived much longer if we hadn't found him. I guess I'm presuming it was Cris who attacked Sergio's boy, but if it was, we'd best not tell Sergio that we brought him here to care for him. And we probably should keep Cris separated from Sergio and Ana until they have dealt with their own trauma. They're strong people, but a parent's need to protect is such a powerful thing that we might need to give them a day or so to get their boy out of crisis before we try to explain all this."

"We need to get some wolfsbane into his system then," Anise said.

"Agreed," Angus said. "I just wanted him to have some food and to let his stomach settle. Since its' been awhile since he's eaten, I didn't want the wolfsbane to make him sick enough to lose what food he just got."

"Understandable," Anise nodded. "It does taste horrendous, that's for sure."

It was about thirty minutes but Edward returned, and he didn't not look like he had good news.

"What's wrong?" Angus asked.

"Well, its worse than we thought. The authorities believe Cris was turned awhile back by that rogue werewolf that Jessie and Anise and I helped Sergio and Ana capture a month or so ago. Apparently, at the first full moon that Cris experienced, he turned, and he attacked his own family. They ran screaming from the house and never returned. They reported Cris's new werewolf status to the authorities, and the authorities have been hunting Cris since--to eliminate him."

"Oh, no," Angus said. "So what do we do? How did you leave it with them?"

"I lied. I told them when we found Cris he was dead, and we disposed of the body. I certainly wasn't going to let them have him."

"I don't know if I'm relieved or not. So--now we have kid that doesn't exist, with no past and no future."

"Well, Robert has certainly helped kids get completely new identities before. That's not a problem. The problem is not knowing what to do with him," Edward said. Angus wasn't particularly feeling like they could take on one more kid right now. Not with Ruby's problems. Angus looked at Jessie.

"You wanna be a dad, Jessie?" Angus asked him. "If not, we can ask the pack if they want to take him. Right now, that's about all I see."

"Well, that's the obvious ideas. I considered Jack and Jess. I considered Evan too, but I don't know if Evan and Tara are ready for that. Would they? Maybe," Edward said.

Jessie had heard Edward as he returned and frowned they wanted to kill Cris. he looked down at the boy laid sleeping and gently brushed his hand over his head. Looking up he looked at Angus " No, I'll take him" he said in answer to Angus asking if he wanted to be a dad" You will understand that there was no other choice, no one is harming this boy while he's under our care." he said looking at Cris then looked at Edwrad "So how do we do this?" he asked " we'll have to get papers for him and well keep Chris since that's a name he's use to." he said and looked at Anise then to Angus " I'll have to learn Romanian and he will have to learn English too, but being bylingual isn't bad" All the time he was talking his hand never left the boys shoulder letting him sleep.

"And now you get into what some of my primary job tasks were with the Paris organization until I started to work at the estate," Angus told Jessie. "No one is even considering letting Cris come to harm. That was never an option. We don't have any objection to you taking him, but don't let yourself think you have to. It isn't the only option. If you and Yulong want him, then I'm sure it'll be just fine, but don't feel that you're obligated to take him. We could as Jack, or Evan or Fenrir. Do you want to place a floo call to Yulong first? Is that maybe something you should do just as a courtesy?

Y"ou understand, don't you," Angus continued, "there are no papers for him right now, except the death certificate that the authorities are no doubt doing right now. Cris does not exist anymore. We'll have to get Robert to change his name and create paperwork for him, just like we do for every kid we recover in Paris that we find we can't return. The paperwork isn't a problem. The organization does that all the time. Forget that piece. It isn't important. Be prepared that Robert will firmly tell you that you don't want to keep the Cris part of his name either. It'll be far safer for him if you don't. You do not need him revealing his real name to anyone. Keeping any portion of his old name could put him in danger. And he'll need to learn English as his primary language. He can keep Romanian as a secondary, but not his primary. He's going to have to look and sound and act British to keep him safe. And, for a little, he's going to have to probably be under Robert's medical care until his health improves."