Treading Softly
By Purple Lacey
Part Seven
May 9. 2004 - Sunday
The months that followed were busy ones for Ezra Standish. When he wasn't working, he was planning for the baby's arrival. Ezra had already signed up for a New Parent's course offered at a local community college and was enjoying it immensely. The financial and news magazines that normally adorned his coffee table at home had been replaced with baby care manuals, psychological texts on early childhood development, and baby name books.
The condo's guest room had been stripped of furniture and had slowly been redone as a nursery. The team had offered to come in and give him a hand with it, but he had gently turned them down. Something inside him had needed to prepare this place for his child with his own two hands. His teammates had accepted his refusal with good grace and only minimal teasing.
After reading in one of his textbooks that a child's mind was stimulated by bright colors, Ezra had taken the recommendation to heart when it came time to decorate the nursery. The soft rose paint on the walls had been primed over and painted a brilliant white with accents in bright, primary colors liberally sprinkled around the room and in the framed prints on the walls. One wall had become a mural of balloons and rainbows in a blue sky full of fluffy clouds that were shaped as animals and other objects. He had even painstakingly tacked glow-in-the-dark stars to the ceiling to resemble the night sky over Denver.
Ezra had spent weeks going from one baby shop to another looking for the perfect crib and matching furniture for the baby's room. The curtains, crib set and comforter he had commissioned to be handmade by the wife of his tailor from the fire-retardant, allergy-proof fabric he had special-ordered from Milan.
Finally, Ezra hung the last curtain rod in place and stepped back to inspect the finished room with pride. Everything was as ready as he could make it for the baby that was due to be born next month. He wandered around the room, gently running his hands over the crib, the changing table, and the rocking chair as he took it all in.
He stopped in front of the dresser and pulled open the top drawer to inspect the tiny clothes that were folded neatly there before he closed the drawer and continued his inspection tour. He wound up the teddy bear mobile that hung from one end of the crib and listened as it softly tinkled out 'The Teddy Bears' Picnic'. He stopped again by the soft, plush animals that adorned a shelf near the crib. He picked up the large blue elephant, a gift for the baby from Vin, and turned to sit in the rocking chair that sat by one of the room's windows. Ezra held the toy as he began to rock slowly. His mind filled with the thoughts of the child that would soon be taking the toy's place in his arms and the quiet joy, that had never completely left him since the day he had been told the insemination had been successful, flooded him once again.
“Soon,” he whispered to himself and the little precious one sleeping under his host mother's heart out there somewhere. “We'll be together soon, little one. Until then, be safe.”
777777777777777777
June 17, 2004 - Thursday
Ezra glanced at his watch for the hundredth time that morning and frowned. He was sitting at this desk trying to work on the batch of files Chris had dropped on his desk that morning, but he couldn't seem to concentrate on any of them for longer than ten minutes at a time. It was two days past the due date for his baby's birth and Ezra was going crazy with the wait. It was a good thing the team had been confined to office duties for the week or there was no telling what might have happened with his mind in such turmoil.
AD Travis had been informed of Ezra's good news three months ago, and last week had ordered them onto desk duty until Ezra's baby was born. Being familiar with just how close the team members were, he had known that the team wouldn't be much use in the field while their brother-in-arms was undergoing such a radical lifestyle change as a new baby. Sometimes Travis swore if one of Team Seven bled, then they all did. That unity was usually their greatest strength, but in this case it was also their greatest weakness.
Standish would, like any other new parent-to-be, have been distracted by the impending birth and thus the whole team would have been distracted. That was a dangerous situation for a team to find themselves in while in the field. It could get one or all of them killed. Rather than risk their necks or put an ongoing operation in jeopardy, Travis had chosen to keep them in the office and out of harm's way. It also served to keep Standish where he would be available at a moment's notice once the baby was born.
While Ezra appreciated the consideration behind the man's decision, he really wished he had something better to occupy his mind with than the pile of cold cases that sat in his inbox.
The whole office seemed to tense with expectation as the phone by Ezra's elbow started ringing. The undercover agent was uncharacteristically clumsy in his haste to grab the phone. He wound up juggling the phone receiver from hand to hand for a moment before he managed to get control of it and grasp it firmly.
“Ezra Standish,” he said eagerly. The other agents watched as the man's shoulders slumped in disappointment. “Yes, thank you. I will be sure to see you get a corrected leave form before the day is out,” he said into the phone's receiver quietly then placed it back on the base with exaggerated care.
Disappointed sighs filled the room as the agents returned to their drudgery. Ezra took the time to re-do the leave form that Human Resources had just requested and e-mail it to the waiting clerk before he too returned to his case files.
Forty-five minutes later his phone rang once again, and he jumped to answer it.
“Ezra Standish,” he said and then listened to the caller with a grin full of excitement and delight dawning on his face.
The rest of the agents left their desks to gather around their friend and eavesdropped unashamedly.
“That's wonderful news!” Ezra grabbed a pen and started writing furiously on the blotter of his desk. “Umm hmmm. Yes, I understand. That's a great relief. And the host mother? I'm so glad. Thank you! Thank you so much!”
He hung up the phone and looked up to find his teammates waiting impatiently.
“Well?” Buck asked, “Tell us, Ez!”
If possible the man's grin got even wider as he said, “It's a boy! Seven pounds, fourteen ounces and twenty two inches long. He's healthy, has ten fingers and ten toes, and doing well!”
“Way to go, Ez,” Buck crowed and beat Josiah out for the first bear hug.
The rest of the team closed in around the elated new father and chaos reigned. That was the scene Orrin Travis walked into a few minutes later. He stood silently watching his agents rejoicing over the birth of their teammate's long awaited child and had to smile at the outpouring of heartfelt feelings the agents were showering on the new father. It was good to see them all so happy. So many times in their jobs, a truly happy ending was something that was difficult to find.
Chris was the one to finally notice the AD watching them from the doorway. “Orin, come on in,” he called with a smile. “Our numbers have just increased by one.”
“Congratulations, Standish,” Travis said as he shook the proud father's hand. “It's a proud day.”
“Thank you, sir,” an almost giddy Ezra accepted the man's good wishes. “It's a boy! He's seven pounds, fourteen ounces.”
“Does this boy of yours have a name yet?” the AD asked with an indulgent smile.
“Indeed he does. It is Alexander. Alexander Bucklin,” Ezra gazed with a pleased smile on the astonished countenance of the mustached agent staring back at him with wide eyes.
“You're gonna name him after me, Ez?” Buck asked in amazement, humbled by the honor. “Really?”
“He would have been nothing more than a dream forever out of reach if not for you, Buck. I would be honored if you allowed him to carry your name,” Ezra told him softly.
Moved beyond words, Buck surged toward the new father and gave him another huge hug.
“So when do we get to meet the newest Standish,” Orin asked with a paternal smile as he watched the two agents. Buck finally released Ezra and he turned back to answer the other man's question.
“He must remain in the hospital while the paternity test is done, and be checked over again to make sure he is up to traveling. If nothing happens he should be released the day after tomorrow and be on a plane to me,” Ezra informed them all.
“You don't pick him up from the hospital yourself?” Travis asked curiously.
Ezra shook his head as he said, “No. That's against the rules. It could compromise the host mother's right to remain anonymous. The agency will have a nurse pick up the baby at the hospital and deliver him to me at the airport here. The agency will notify me with the necessary flight information as soon as the baby is released from the hospital and flight arrangements have been made.”
“You couldn't fly to Boulder and pick him up at the Agency?” Nathan asked.
“He is not in Boulder. I know that much because I, too, wanted to explore that option, but the agency quashed it. The director let slip that the host mother lived out of state and had chosen to give birth at an agency-affiliated hospital much closer to her home state.”
“So in less than three days our little one should be here with us!” Josiah intoned. “Joyful news, Brothers. Joyful news!”
“Amen to that, Josiah,” a smiling Nathan seconded and gave the man a high five.
“I can see that not much work is going to be done around here this afternoon,” Travis told Chris who nodded wryly. “Go on, all of you. There's not much sense in you staying around here. Take the rest of the day off, but be back here tomorrow and in good enough shape to work!”
“Yes, SIR!” Buck acknowledged happily and snapped a sharp salute that cracked up his teammates.
Travis laughed. “If only you always followed my orders with so much enthusiasm!” he said, still chuckling as he turned and left.
“You heard the man,” Chris told them. “Get going before he changes his mind.”
The men hurried to shut down computers and put away files before stampeding for the elevator.