Chapter 7: Family Happenings

Mortimer and Bella were beyond nervous bringing little Alexander home from the hospital.  He may have grown while he was in the NICU but he was still such a little thing.  Mortimer moved the crib into the master suite even though the nursery had been completed for months.  They were just too nervous leaving Alexander in a room while he was on the breathing machine.  Mortimer took some time off to let Bella get back to work and to keep an eye on the baby; he just didn't trust a babysitter with him.

Alexander's early arrival really set Bella back in the diner.  Her absence allowed for a couple of her co-workers to get the promotion she was vying for.  Bella had her moments in the hospital when she cried to herself while her baby boy was sleeping and the nurses were on their rounds elsewhere.  She devoted her time to helping Alexander get stronger and felt guilty anytime a thought of her life or the diner crossed her mind.  Mortimer somehow read her mind and took control once they had Alexander home.  It was nice to be back at the diner but the work seemed more difficult; the atmosphere more ruthless.  Bella had been working so hard she didn't even realize it was her birthday.  Gunther wished her a happy birthday as he was leaving for the evening and she arrived home from work.  Bella tried not to let it get her down but she was a full adult now and she wasn't where she thought she would be in her career.

Mortimer had gotten her a beautiful necklace for her birthday and Cassandra and Alexander made her a wonderful picture with their hand prints and foot prints.  They had made her day special even though she had completely forgot.  A couple weeks later Bella treated herself by renewing her gym membership.  Two children later Bella knew she wasn't going to be the skinniest thing in town.  She didn't really want to be either.  She was really starting to embrace her curves.  Her figure was something to celebrate.  Working out was less about competing with a hot, young thing and more about something she could do on her own to let her head clear and focus.

Gunther decided to use the change in the household to take Cassandra under his wing.  Mortimer spent most of his time with Alexander and was planning on returning to the lab soon.  Bella was busy rebuilding her career.  They both were wonderful parents to Cassandra still, but she was left to her own devises at times.  Gunther found his granddaughter in the dining room one Saturday after breakfast.

"Good morning my little Cassie.  What are you planning today?" he inquired.

"Oh, I don't really know Grandpapa.  Maybe paint."

"Would you like to spend sometime with your old Grandpapa today?  I could tell you some stories about the town."

"Sure.  Can I still paint?"

"Yes dear one, you can paint.  Did you know that our family owns part of Doo Peas?

Cassandra was astonished, "We own the news?"

Gunther chuckled, "We have a say in how it works, Cassie, but we are interested in the business of it all.  I'll show you on the computer as soon as your homework is finished."

Cassandra went straight for her homework.  She knew her grandpapa was an important man, but she didn't know they owned stuff.  Cassandra tried to focus on her homework, but her imagination was making it difficult.  Her grandpapa could help her get on TV.  If they owned the news then she would have to be allowed to be on the TV as a star news anchor.  It was the hardest thing she had to do in her life but she finished her homework in record time.  Hanging out with Grandpapa was a lot more boring than she thought it was going to be.  He talked about having to share Doo Peas with the Landgraabs and profit margarine and share placeholders.  Cassandra thought she was going to get away to paint after he was done talking about business, but he started talking about the cemetery.  They didn't own that place but they were responsible for taking care of it.  No wonder some kids called them the family of death.  Grandpapa finally stopped talking and Cassandra bolted up the stairs to her easel.

Mortimer didn't know what his father was thinking trying to get Cassandra to understand or be interested in business.  Nothing could be more boring to the child.  Heaven knows he has sat through that several times.  Even overhearing the conversation bored him to tears and he was a grow adult.  Mortimer couldn't complain though, Cassandra wasn't being ignored while the baby received much of the attention.  He was actually surprised that she took it all so well.

Grandpapa told her that she could grow up and have everything she ever wanted, it was just going to take some work.  Cassandra started by doing her homework and getting on the honor roll; just like Grandpapa said.  Then she signed up for the Citizenship Now kids program after school; just like Grandpapa said.  Cassandra thought the stuff she got to do was pretty fun.  They went on tours, pretended to be lawyers and judges, pretended to write laws as if they were Leaders of the Free World.  The rest of her classmates were really excited because at the end of the session they were going to meet the Leader of the Free World.  That didn't matter so much to Cassandra; she lived with him.

After Cassandra finished the Citizenship Now program she was signed up for the Junior Achievement program at Doo Peas.  She was kind of hoping that she would be able to hang out with a couple of friends but heading to the office kept her busy.  She did have to admit that this was a little more fun.  One of the best projects was planning a city and building a small model.  The mentor told her that her model was one of the best because it was in her blood.  Cassandra didn't exactly know what blood had to do with building a city and she didn't want to know either.  The second favorite activity was running a business.  Cassandra chose the Cemetery.  The other students sniggered under their breath.  She rolled her eyes and ignored them.  Her family already took care of the place so they might as well make some money while they were at it.

Cassandra like to take the long way home after Junior Achievement especially when the butterfly gardens were in bloom.  She knew it worried her parents when she came home a little later than usual, but she couldn't help trying to catch the butterflies.  Her dad may get a little mad, but he would also give her a little money for finding certain butterflies.  Cassandra always forgot about being home if she thought she could find a rare species.  Sometimes she would wear her bubble gum pop lip gloss and the butterflies would practically swarm.

Alexander eventually did not need the respirator at night.  Mortimer and Bella still did not want to move him out of their room, but he was making progress every day.  Alexander went to the doctor every other month rather than at milestones because he was a preemie.  It was at his eight month check-up that his development matched his chronological age.  The doctor did caution that it could take up to his second birthday.  After Alexander figured out how to sit up on his own rolling over and crawling soon followed.  Next thing they knew he was pulling himself to a stand and easily eating finger foods.  Now it was Alexander's first birthday, one they could feel that Alexander was actually becoming a toddler.

  Bella was amazed at how different her two children could be.  She read all about it in books and magazines but she didn't really believe until now.  Alexander was like Cassandra in which he never wanted to be put down.  That's where the likeness stopped, though.  They soon discovered that Alexander was a calm toddler.  He was also extremely inquisitive and curious.  Whereas they moved Cassandra out of their room as soon as possible, Alexander's crib was still there.  He slept through the night and was so cuddly when he woke up.  If there wasn't a smile on his face, he would have a look of concentration.  Either way it was cute.

Since Alexander was getting bigger, Mortimer and Bella were talking about moving him out of their bedroom.  Cassandra was guessing that she would get stuck with him.  She did not want that to happen.  Cassandra sat down with her dad for dinner one night.
"You know Dad, now that I'm older I deserve my own bedroom"
Mortimer was slightly confused.  "You have your own room Cassandra."
"I have a baby room and you are going to put Alexander in there."
"Cassandra we are only talking about what to do with your brother.  No one said he was going into your room."
"I want a new room anyway.  Then Alexander can have the old one."  Cassandra was not going to give this up.
"I don't know what you have in mind Cassandra.  All the bedrooms are being used,"  Mortimer explained.
"I want the attic.  You can finish it up and it will be a bedroom,"  Cassandra countered.
"Well your mother and I will have to talk about it.  For now you have your current bedroom."

Much to Cassandra's dismay, her parents moved Alexander's crib into her room.  She argued and wailed, but nothing worked.  Mortimer explained that work was much too busy right then to remodel the attic.  She would have to deal with the situation for the time being.  Alexander still insisted on being carried everywhere even though they knew he had the capability to walk.  Bella was swamped at the diner and even though the laboratory was making strides with the experiments, management was a mess.  A recent resignation left Mortimer to deal with the nightmare of it all.

One of the perks of his new job was the company car and driver.  If he got called in to the lab the car would already be waiting for him.  It was nice, but something he wasn't used to.  His father had used limo services for years.  Mortimer had rather driven himself around.  He unconventionally sat in the front seat of the car and noticed that he made his driver a little uncomfortable.  He could have sat in the back but he rather build up a professional relationship with the driver.  He didn't feel as if she were beneath him in status.

All the chaos had finally come to a head and the lab exploded in a frenzy.  The personnel scrambled from the building as a fire swept through a few of the laboratories.  Thankfully, there were no fatalities.  Mortimer and a couple of his associates did need to be checked out at the hospital for smoke inhalation before being sent home.  While the others were evacuating Mortimer and a couple other scientist attempted to save as much work as they could.  They managed to save most of the work but they couldn't get everything.  The fire set their progress back by a couple of months.

In the meantime, when Mortimer and Bella managed to snag some calm moments, home life was great.  Little Alexander was growing so well no one could even tell that he was born a preemie.  His pediatrician was amazed.  Alexander was a happy-go-lucky toddler.  He was picking up new skills every day, he enjoyed being played with, and feeding time was easy.  Alexander developed quite the taste for food and often begged Bella to put him in the highchair.

Bella used this opportunity to try out some new recipes.  She needed an edge to get the next promotion, which she and a couple of co-workers were vying for.  Bella noticed the kids menu at the diner hadn't been touched in years and most children didn't enjoy eating there.  With Alexander as her taste-tester Bella set out to create some new dishes that would knock the socks off the kids that were dining with their parents.  Alexander's favorite seemed to be the breakfast dish Bananas Foster Oatmeal.  Bella knew this was the dish she was going to present to her chef, along with a draft of a new children's menu.

Alexander picked up talking almost immediately.  At first he babbled incessantly, then  his vocabulary exploded.  Soon after they couldn't get him to keep quiet.  First it was a couple words at a time.  Then he was speaking in small, three-word sentences.  Suddenly, Mortimer and Bella noticed that he was asking full questions.  They could hardly believe it.  What was more amazing was that Alexander seemed to understand the actual answer and he could also tell when they were giving fluff information.

Cassandra couldn't believe that her parents actually moved her baby brother into her room.  And to make matters worse they said she was going to have to wait before the attic could be her new room.  When her parents weren't looking she convinced the maid to move her easel up there.  She may have to sleep in her bed but they weren't going to force her to play in there while her brother was awake.  She could hardly stand the sound of him banging his toys around and she wasn't even allowed to paint because Alexander could get into them.

Alexander may have annoyed Cassandra, but he was amazing his parents.  They noticed how quickly he picked up on his puzzle toy.  It wasn't long before he had the thing mastered.  Yet he would still sit with the puzzle for hours slipping the blocks through the holes they belong to.  Sometimes he became so focused that Bella or Mortimer had to pry him away to feed him.  Then Alexander started separating the blocks by the colors; sorting them into perfect little rows.

Mortimer was nostalgic for when his children were smaller.  They seemed to grow too fast on any given day.  He and Bella had already considered their family complete;  they gave their first child a sibling.  Yet, Mortimer didn't feel that should be the end of it.  He wanted to fill Goth Manor with the laughs of children and the memories of a large, happy family.  He knew Bella wouldn't want to have more children since her pregnancy with Cassandra was physically a struggle and her labor with Alexander put her at risk for losing a baby in the future.

Mortimer enjoyed his time at home with his children.  Cassandra's attitude had been foul since they moved the crib into her room, but she would get what she wanted eventually.  She just didn't know that.  Mortimer was enjoying his parental duties with Alexander, since he didn't have to work so hard to get Alexander to cooperate.  Alexander was too eager to learn, which was often cause for more mess than necessary.  Mortimer knew it was time to add to the family.  He had the perfect idea but he just needed Bella to be on board.

Mortimer approached Bella one weekend morning, "Bells, I think we should have more children."

"Are you serious?" she asked with doubt.  "Mortimer are you crazy?"

"Hear me out Bella..."

"Mortimer, we have two wonderful children," Bella interrupted. "They keep us very busy and our jobs are just as demanding as ever."

"I think we should adopt."  Mortimer threw the idea out there while Bella took a breath.  She stood there in stunned silence.  Mortimer wasn't asking her to be pregnant again.

"Well, it sounds like this has been on your mind awhile," Bella said. "Let's hear it then."

"There is a toddler who comes to the lab once a week," Mortimer began. "She lives in foster care and has no known parents.  She was left at the hospital as a baby because she was very sick.  Everyone's best guess is that they left her there because they couldn't afford the medical bills.  The doctors could not stop her disease from damaging her DNA and the lab was working on genetic alterations at the time.  Her cure was the first success.  Then she surpassed expectations.  It has become apparent that a side effect is a hyper-athleticism.  Her experiment is complete; with a doctor's care she just needs her medication once a day.  All that is left is to find her a home."  Bella took the whole story in.  She didn't ask for many details about her husbands job but the pride she felt was bursting at the seam.

"You would like that home to be ours?"  Bella asked.  Mortimer could only nod.  "Then let's bring our daughter home to meet her sister and brother," Bella said as a smile spread across her face.  Mortimer reached over and pulled his wife into an excited kiss.

Later that afternoon Mortimer was fielding calls between their lawyer and a social worker.  Normally adoptions would take some time, but Mortimer's personal investment in the case expedited matters.  Their lawyer had the papers in front of a judge before the day was done.  The social worker agreed to the rush since the toddler already knew and was familiar with Mortimer.  He and Bella had the weekend to prepare for their new arrival.  On Monday morning they would be welcoming a new toddler into the family.