ATOP Chapter Three

"I never knew one... two year old... could be so... much... work," Ronnie grunted as he lunged sideways into the aisle, this time managing to successfully scoop Benjie up. The little boy squealed in delight and bopped Ronnie on the nose with his teddy bear. 

"Gots me, Daddy!" he giggled, squirming in Ronnie's arms. "Me down now."

"Nope, squirt, you are not getting down again," Ronnie tightened his hold on the wriggling little boy. Aside to Rachel, he added, "Hard to hold on to, isn't he. Too... chubby..." And with that, Benjie succeeded in slipping down and sliding off Ronnie's lap to the floor with a gleeful "wheee!"

"You should try managing him in a crowded ship's cabin for a week," Rachel laughed wearily. "Here, give him to me... Come to Mama, Benjie," she coaxed, reaching down to where Benjie was hiding under the bench. 

"He's stuck, isn't he," Ronnie said dryly. "Operation Remove-The-Child-From-Under-The-Bench to begin presently." 

Benjie poked his head out between Ronnie's feet and cried "Peek-a-boo! Gets me, Daddy!" and promptly disappeared again. Teddy was left behind as Benjie scooted further under the bench and a plump little hand reached out again to drag Teddy in. 

"I don't think I've ever seen him so happy," Rachel murmured, her eyes shining. "You should have heard it... every single day since you left up until the day we got here... he would ask me, 'Daddy comin'?' so hopefully..."

Ronnie didn't answer, being half-submerged beneath the bench himself at that point. Considerable scuffling and shrieks and giggles were heard and in a moment, Ronnie emerged triumphantly, with a very dusty Benjie firmly in tow. 

"There you are, Squirt" Ronnie laughed and plunked the little boy in his lap again. "Here... gimme that..." and managed to confiscate a rather dirty piece of popcorn moments before it disappeared into Benjie's mouth. Not at all perturbed by the loss of his popcorn, Benjie looked up at his daddy with his ever-delighted dimpled smile and then, with a squeak, settled back and hugged Teddy close. 

"He's got me properly worn out, and that's a fact," Ronnie sighed, but he was grinning while he said it. "Just wait till you meet your Uncle Josh," he added to the baby. "You two are gonna get along really well."

"After all the stories I've heard, I don't doubt it," Rachel quirked an eyebrow at Benjie. 

"Isn't fair," Ronnie groaned and, impulsively, squeezed Benjie so tight that the baby squeaked again. 

"What isn't?"

"I lost... six whole months with the both of you..." and suddenly he seemed sad.

"But we're here," Rachel whispered, dropping her head to rest on his shoulder. "And we won't ever be leaving again."

"Thank God," was all Ronnie managed as he disentangled one arm from Benjie to wrap around Rachel's shoulders. "We should be home... soon."

"Home." Rachel's voice trembled as she spoke the fateful word... a word too precious, reflecting a dream too sacred, to be put into any more words at all. Home... something she hadn't known in so terribly long. Something that Benjie had never known. With a muffled sob, she buried her face against Ronnie's shoulder and sat silent in the wonder of a dream coming to life.

"Next stop, Jefferson, Ohio!" the conductor boomed down the aisle of the car. "All passengers for Jefferson, be ready for departure in fifteen minutes! Next stop, Jefferson!"

oOo

The scene at the Jefferson train station that afternoon was one of... shall we say... utter confusion and chaos. Glorious chaos, as Josh was wont to say. And he was the chief instigator thereof. Organization, even if it be organized chaos, was simply too dull and naught else but pure chaos, in all its glory, would do. Rachel was to be broken into the family the hard way, apparently. 

To begin with, Mickey was allowed to run wild. Encouraged by his brother-in-law, who was insistent upon turning cartwheels all over the platform in front of the station. Now the two of them were both turning cartwheels and generally getting the rest into uproar. Emma was furious. In fact, she had disowned Josh entirely. He wasn't concerned by that, particularly owing to the fact that she had disowned him at least twice a week ever since they got back from Europe. A few times had, of course, been more serious than others. For instance, that one shopping trip... but no. It was best to leave the past in the past. 

"TRAIN'S A'COMIN!!!" Mickey hollered suddenly, mid-cartwheel, and was suddenly upright again, jumping up and down at an alarming rate. 

"You'd think he'd stayed at seven, the way he acts," Emma sighed to Katie in resignation. Katie wasn't listening. She hadn't been, for the past several weeks. She persisted in going about with a dreamy, faraway smile on her face which drove Emma half out of her wits. She was now blaming half the chaos on her sister. Because if she had Katie's help, this wouldn't exactly be happening, would it?

Thank goodness Mickey was upright now. Not so with Josh. He was quite literally standing on his head. And he didn't move, not even when the train pulled to a stop in front of the platform. 

The usual general confusion followed, of people getting on the train and off the train and juggling around bags and running to meet people... soldiers were still trickling back home from overseas and there were three getting off today. And in the midst of the hubbub, the Ronnie-and-Rachel welcoming committee heard a delighted laugh, before they even got a chance to see anything, and a voice faintly accented with German saying, "Let me guess. The upside-down one is Josh, isn't it?"

The chaos only got worse. The newcomers were surrounded instantly and poor Ronnie robbed of his newly-acquired family. Josh prevailed in the case of Benjie, and Emma and Katie in the case of Rachel.

"Now, baby," Josh announced in a tone of infinite importance. "This is the way of things. Allow me to explain. Uncle Josh... that's me..." and he gestured to himself grandly. "Uncle Josh is the chief of things around here..." he lowered his voice to a whisper. "Just don't tell your daddy. He thinks he's chief. But this be the truth of the matter..."

"Doss!" Benjie squealed and clapped his hands. And in the next moment, he grabbed a fistful of "Doss's" hair and yanked hard. 

"Okay, okay, I give!" Josh yelped, pulling baby's hands out of his hair. "You win! You're the chief now." 

"Loves Doss," Benjie declared emphatically and planted a big kiss on his uncle's cheek. 

"Well, Scout is completely melted," Emma laughed, glancing in amusement at her husband. "I'll have to come over on my own if I intend to get so much as a good look at your baby! From what I can see, he is adorable."

"He's precious," Rachel smiled and sudden tears filled her eyes. "For so long, he was all that I had. But now..."

"A whole family," Katie stepped in and wrapped her arms around her sister in law. "You belong to us now, and I'm so, so glad Ronnie found you."

Rachel didn't answer. She only sobbed. For weeks she had rehearsed over and over what she would say to Ronnie's family when she met them. She was going to make the perfect impression... proper, polite, friendly... but now... all she wanted to do was throw herself into their arms and weep. The sudden feeling of belonging... of home... of welcome... it rushed over her in great waves and it was... overwhelming. 

"Girls, girls..." Donna interrupted suddenly, laughing as she elbowed past her daughters. "Stop hogging! I want to meet my new daughter." And as Emma and Katie stepped back, Rachel lost even more of her feebly-held composure. She ran to Donna, clinging to her almost desperately, and the mother's heart melted.

"God bless you, Rachel," she murmured, wiping away the girl's tears. "You are so welcome here. God bless you."