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 Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 2:15 pm
Lori swiveled to his computer to type the man's name into the database. His file came up, listing his species as one of the top lines of information. Well, the baby probably wasn't actually a demon, then.
"Well, Sir, we do genetic testing to see the probability of those sorts of things. Had you called us beforehand we may have been able to help. As it is, human and changeling DNA are quite similar, and the latter is most often dominant. Is it safe to assume that your wife doesn't know about your status?" He stuck the back of his pen in his teeth, and then scrawled down 'Daniel Hadley,' double-checked the computer, and added his wife's name.
"We can come get it, but you need to be absolutely certain that you aren't interested in keeping the child." Humans were resilient. Fear of her killing the child was probably not the main reason he didn't want the baby around. "Considering the circumstances, we may have to perform some drastic procedures, and returning the child to you might be more trouble than removing it in the first place. We also offer therapy to families in your circumstance and many services to support and ease the burden of entity status." It was sometimes their job, but the FBPI didn't want to remove children from natural homes without good reason any more than the rest of the government.
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 2:22 pm
"I didn't know the baby wouldn't be human!" Daniel angrily hissed into the phone. He wouldn't have allowed that to happen, otherwise. No child deserved that, not knowing their own species. Having their own parents resent them.
"We can't," he said, then. He'd never wanted a baby. Not after how he'd grown up. "We... I can't--" he hesitated, shaking his head. "We can't raise a child like him," he said. "He's better off with a family who understands him."
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 2:52 pm
"Alright, Sir. Stay on the line with me while I dispatch our agents. Where are you, exactly? In a hospital, a building, a car? Are there many people around?" Whether they ended up deciding to sign the baby away or not, they had to neutralize the situation. Women screaming that their babies were demons didn't often go over well. They only had so long before they started drawing attention, and it could be some pretty terrible attention.
Lori took up a second line while he searched for the GPS of the calling phone on his computer.
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 3:03 pm
"In our car. We were headed to the hospital but the labor went so fast..." Because the baby was so tiny. "Just one. He stopped to help us. I didn't know." He hesitated, looking around. "I thought the baby would be human. I..." he broke off.
"Just come as soon as you can. Please."
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 3:40 pm
Lori called up the local station.
"This is Agent Yraudhen at HQ. We have an entity birth in a public area, within vehicle, human mother in extreme distress, child is said to have transformed into a snake. At least one non-family civilian present. Father has not informed mother of entity status, so alert agents to use discretion. Scene must be closed as quickly as possible." He related the coordinates then.
A male voice returned over the phone: "Copy, Agent Yraudhen. Will dispatch agents momentarily to control situation."
"Be warned that attention may be drawn to the family. There's a lot of screaming."
"Yes, Sir."
Lori's attention turned back to Daniel. "Mister Hadley, we're going to have agents there as quickly as possible. You're going to have to do your best to keep your wife calm and keep the other person you mentioned with you. We have to be very cautious that this doesn't spread."
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 4:23 pm
Daniel nodded. "He's still here. We're trying to keep her as calm as possible, but as you might imagine. It's a bit of a task." His lips lifted in a slight smile. This was terrible... His wife was in hysterics, but somehow it was sort of funny, too...
But then there was a scream that wasn't his wife. The baby had taken on human form, was in obvious distress. "Talk later," he promised Lori, tucking his phone into his pocket and going to gather the infant. He took one of the blankets they'd prepared to take the baby home in and wrapped it around him. "I hope they get here soon."
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 4:39 pm
Lori looked at the phone incredulously. 'Talk later?' This was one hell of a guy, obviously. He got over it quickly, though, hung up, and got up to get s**t done. His first motion was to call Toby from his cell.
The first agents to arrive flashed their badges and contained the scene, which mostly involved traumatizing the random civilian and the human woman who had just given birth. The stranger was shuffled into their car and the unhappy couple back into their own to move off of the street and into a more private area. Then it was just a matter of waiting.
Four other agents arrived then to talk to and dismiss the first two. One was the representative from Childcare Services, then Lori who had spoken to the father first, and Toby for his status as head agent. His partner of course tagged along as well.
Cinda had taken the newborn and begun to try and soothe him. "Ma'am," she asked the mother, "Would you be interested in breastfeeding or would you prefer we bottle-feed him?"
Toby had gone to speak with the innocent passer-by to see what he had seen and what he understood and gather information.
Lori stepped aside with Daniel. "Alright. I'm going to have to ask again if you're sure you want to surrender the child. We're going to need your wife's signature as well." Somehow it didn't seem like that would be too hard, but now that the baby was a baby, one never knew.
Dari meanwhile was standing guard.
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 4:58 pm
Cinda's words might of been thought of as kind by anyone else, but the mother physically recoiled. "Please, no, keep him away from me!" Her eyes were wide with fear. "What is he? A demon?"
The passerby was so confused. "I don't know." He insisted. "I might be hallucinating, I swear, that baby... he was a snake five minutes ago."
Daniel looked to Lori and sighed. "I told you, we can't raise him," he said. She's afraid of him. She'll resent him. She always will. It's better this way. Just find someone who'll take care of him and understand him."
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 5:06 pm
Cinda just smiled. What in the world was she supposed to say? She couldn't out the woman's husband, and the child wasn't definitely not a demon either. "Whatever you say, Ma'am." She left the car to retrieve the bottle from the cooler at the back of the agents' van. What a shame.
"A snake, Sir?" Toby asked, "I'm going to need to see your license, or a state ID if you haven't got one."
"I want you to know that we don't have any changelings currently available as adoptive parents," Lori said, and then started pulling paper from the folder under his arm. "If you're absolutely sure, we're going to need your signature on a few forms, and your wife's as well. I suggest you read the contract over before you sign."
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 5:22 pm
Once the baby was out of sight, even momentarily, the woman visibly relaxed. They didn't seem to believe her about the snake thing, Cinda was holding him so calmly.
"I know it sounds crazy." He scratched his head and pulled out his wallet, offering his license to Toby. Richard, thirty eight, and perfectly legal!
"No changelings?" That did get Daniel to hesitate. "I just don't want him to end up like me," he said. "And he'd have to, with us." He frowned in concern. "It can't happen." He watched Lori as he took out the forms.
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 5:34 pm
Toby took the ID and copied down the information before he continued his questioning.
"Like you, Sir?" Lori asked. Giving up his child in an alleyway, or something else? He offered out the forms that needed signing. They detailed the complexities of signing your child over to the FBPI, of the difficulties in future contact, of nondisclosure, and everything else an entity would have to deal with in these types of situations.
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 6:31 pm
A baby at HQ wasn't rare, but usually the parents were around as well. There was less hubbub when legal guardians were involved. This little one, though, he didn't have anyone.
He had gone to be checked-out by a doctor first, then taken by one of the nurses into a seldom-used nursery. He would be monitored by camera and by an employee at all times considering his species, but he was fundamentally alone. By now, though, he had had several visitors. The poor little guy was like an exhibit, but at least the people who visited gave him attention.
There had been a lot of paperwork to fill out regarding the excursion into the city and the use of a memory flash, but breaks had to be taken. When Toby's wrist started aching, he went to get Maia.
"Have you heard?" he asked.
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 8:31 pm
Maia looked up from her desk, and flashed Toby a smile. "Heard what?" She asked. She stood and went over to him. "You look tired," she observed. "What's happened?" She'd noticed Toby hadn't been in his office--and of course Dari went wherever Toby did.
"Where were you guys?" A local mission, maybe?
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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:24 pm
Toby knew that Maia wasn't the gossiping type, but had the news really not reached her? Maybe the department had been busy, or was too far from the agents? Well, either way, here it was. He could be the one to set it into motion no problem. He just wanted Maia to get to see the baby first.
"We had an emergency in town. There's something I want you to see. We picked up a little guy." He was being intentionally vague.
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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 3:10 pm
"An emergency?" Maia frowned in concern. And locally? She didn't like to think about that. Something to see? Toby was being vague. Had they found a Sprite? A creature? Hmm. She took his hand. "Alright," she agreed.
"Is this what Lori's been nerding about?" She asked. She was teasing; she still remembered when Lori had done the same, concerning her!
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