The Traveler's Baby

[Ishigreensa]

Thirty-five year old Jim Bouen was driving on evening, traveling from hsi old place in California all the way to Iowa.  He had a job lined up in Davenport, but he was not in a hurry.  He had more than a month to get there and still get the job, so he planned on taking it easy.  The interviews, paperwork, and everything was already done.  He just had to start in thirty days when the new company would actually open.  Yep, he was getting in on the ground floor as a top manager, so things were really looking up.

Jim was driving in his Ford Ranger Ton and a half truck through Arizona, when something happened that he had not planned on.

Jim had wanted a girlfriend, a wife, and children at one time, but that dream was now behind him.  He didn't think he had the patience for women and their head games, so he gave up dating and trying to have his own family, though he sometimes still dreamed of having his own kids.  He knew that the chances of getting to adopt a kid when he was single was quite small, and so all he had were his dreams, right?

Well, one evening, fate planned something that was going to change his and maybe a young girl's fortune for the years to come....

[Ishigreensa]

After a ten or twenty minutes had passed, it was obvious that no one else was going to make it out of the inferno, and because they lived so far from town, it would be a while still before the fire trucks arrived to put out the flames.

Jim saw some smoke rising in the sky in the distance, but didn't think too much about it even as he was approaching the smoke.

[Ishigreensa]

The City was so far away, that she would be exhausted before she got anywhere, however, Jim had just pulled up along where the smoke was thickest in the field, when he saw a young person, seemingly out of breath, still trying to press down the highway towards the city.

He pulled over and beeped the horn so she would know he stopped wondering if he could be of any help to her.

[Ishigreensa]

Jim nodded and motioned for her to get in the car.

"The city is kind of far away, but I'll call the fire department and we can go to your house and see if anyone else made it out yet, honey."

He waited to see if she would get in.

[Ishigreensa]

Jim asked her directions because he wasn't sure which gated off road he should turn at, but eventually, they got to her house that was so engulfed, that he knew no one could be alive in that inferno if they were still in the house.

He got out of the car, and while calling for help, started to look around for anyone that might have escaped.  He didn't see any signs that anyone had.

[Ishigreensa]

When Jim noticed her running towards the house, he ran after her and caught hold of her.

"Baby, shush," he said trying to rock the little girl as he tried to hold her back from going into the house.  "I'm sorry.  No one got out, it's too dangerous to go in, sweetie."

He kept a firm hold of her harms, and eventually pulled her to the ground so he could sit her in his lap or next to him allowing him to hold her arms and her legs so she couldn't endanger her life in a bid to try to join her family.

"I know, I know," he whispered trying to be soothing while he kept a firm hold on her anyway he could.

[Ishigreensa]

Jim felt her peeing through her pants, but he just kept holding her.  He didn't think she needed to worry about peeing herself at the moment because she was stressed enough about losing her family and everything she had.  what was more, she had no clothes to change into at the moment anyway since her clothes were all burning in the house.

The fire engines eventually came while he was holding her.

Some time later, after the ambulance looked at her and made sure she was not burned, the question came up about where she would go.

Jim convinced them that he could take her with him, and he would register with the state as an orphan.  He hoped that in the mean time, while she was with him, he would be able to take care of her and help her deal with the loss, and maybe, somehow, this might be an answer to his dream of having his own child.  It was a terrible way to have his prayer answered, to leave a little girl stranded with her family dead, but still, maybe they could be good for one another in the end....

[Ishigreensa]

Jim hugged her for a while and kept rocking her after the paramedics were done checking her out, and then he eventually got her into his car.  The paramedics gave him a release to take the girl, and he started to drive back out to the highway.

He looked over at her and rested a palm on the girls wet lap.

"Baby," he whispered to her.  "I know this is hard.  You can take as long as you need to process everything, and I'm here when you are ready to talk, sweetie."

[Ishigreensa]

Jim frowned and rubbed her lap.

"Honey, your family is still with you, in your heart," he said.  "As long as you remember them, they are still with you.  I know this is not going to be easy, but talking can make it bareable."

He moved to take one of her hands.

"For now, honey, how about you just try to rest for a while?"

[Ishigreensa]

Jim frowned.

"What a thing to have happen on your birthday," he whispered.  "Tell you what, why don't we get a motel room tonight, and tomorrow, we can go check on your puppy, and then I'll take you with me and register you as an orphan where I live.  If all goes well, they'll let you stay with me."

He smiled at her.

"I know you don't know me, but at least if you stay with me, I'll be sensitive to your needs.  When someone loses everything they had all at once, and especially a young person loses her parents in a tragedy, the best thing for them, is having someone nearby that at least understands what happened."

He lowered his hand to pat her wet lap again.

"Before we go to a motel though, how about we get you some clean clothes?" he asked her.

[Ishigreensa]

(You already said they took the dog to the vet, in the previous post.   That's why I said they could stay at a motel and get the dog in the morning.)

[Ishigreensa]

Jim shook his head and took her arm, and he looked into her eyes.

"Honey, I thought you said your puppy went to the vet.  Let's go get you some rest, baby."

He started to try to help the little girl up.  In his eyes, she was a little girl, even if she was a young teenager.

[Ishigreensa]

Jim sighed and picked her up and carried her to his car.  There was no reasoning with her at the moment.  She was too upset and the tramatic experience too memorable where they were.

He struggled with her until he got her into the backseat of his Nissan Stanza, and put the child locks on to make it harder for her to get out once he closed the door.

He got in the front, and then he looked back at her.

"Honey, I know things are rough right now.  I think you should just go to sleep, if you can, baby."

[Ishigreensa]

Jim shook his head.  There was definitely no reasoning with her at the moment.

He turned on some soothing music, and then he started to drive.

"We'll talk about things in a bit after you slept some," he told her.

[Ishigreensa]

Jim took her to a motel, and after checking in, he carefully got her out of the car and brought her in to the room putting her on the bed.  The poor little girl's pants were soaked, so he took them off of her along with her wet panties, and he covered her up in the bed.  He then took her dirty clothes to the laundry facility in the motel and put them in the wash.

By the time she woke up again, he had her clean undies and pants hanging over a chair not far from her, and he was watching TV in the room.

He kept looking over at her from time to time to make sure she was okay, and to catch her as soon as she woke up so he could be there for her.  She would likely be really upset, still, and needed to know someone cared whether she lived or died.  She obviously wouldn't change her mind about dying until he had a chance to talk sense to her and get through to her that her family wouldn't have wanted that.

[Ishigreensa]

Jim saw the little girl kick the blankets off herself in a hurry.  Who knows how long she had been holding it.  She started towards the bathroom, but before she got very far, he saw poop starting to slide out of her, and before she was even halfway to the bathroom, it fell landing partly on her leg and then hitting the floor.  The poor girl squatted down crying and shaking as though she was scared.  As she was crying and shaking, more poop oozed out just under where she squatted.

He got up and walked over where the little girl was pooping on the floor, and he put an arm around her.

"It's okay, honey.  It's okay.  No one's mad at you.  It was an accident.  Can I help you into the bathroom to help you get cleaned off?"

He started to try to help her up.

[Ishigreensa]

Jim helped her into the bathroom to sit on the toilet so she could wipe.

"Well, you just said it never happened before, honey.  We won't worry about you pooping your panties unless it actually happens, sweetheart."

He then started to help her because she was shaking so much from being scared about pooping herself, and probably from the trauma of losing her family, so he didn't really trust her to get herself clean enough.  Then he helped her up and put her in the bath tub.

"I'm going to give you a bath, honey.  I know a fourteen year old probably takes showers most of the time, but I don't think it's a good idea for you to shower at this time.  You might slip and fall because of how upset you are causing you to not be very sturdy at the moment, honey."

[Ishigreensa]

"A diaper would help if you were doing this all the time, young lady.  But you said this was the first time.  Diapers are expensive, so buying them unnecessarily and putting them on you would not help either of us, sweetie.  Trust me, I won't mind if I have to change one or two pair of panties if this happens again, and if it happens again, then I'll consider seriously getting you diapers, but I don't want you to feel like you are trapped in a diaper just over a couple of accidents.  You had a traumatic experience honey, and so it's reasonable that you had an accident."

He was now gently washing her with a wash cloth.

"I'd let you do the washing, baby, you're still shook up.  I think it might be best if you let me do it this one time if that's okay with you."

He smiled at her looking into her cute eyes.

"So, what is your name, baby?"

[Ishigreensa]

Jim reached in and patted her shoulder.

"It's okay, Gracie.  I'm called Jim, and as long as you let me, I'll take care of you.  That's what your parents and family would have wanted.  You don't want them to be cheated in death as they were in life, do you?"

He smiled at her, but the smile was small and meant to be an understanding one rather than a happy one.

[Ishigreensa]

Jim nodded agreeing with her.

"Of course they went to meet God," he said trying not to upset her with any difference of beliefs.  "But for you to join them, you have to be brave and live as God had intended you to so you can return with honor, right?"

He used a clean cloth and dabbed it in water and then on her lip.

"Don't bite your lip so hard, sweetie."

[Ishigreensa]

"Well, I'm pretty sure a weapon in hand doesn't mean taking your own life, sweetheart, or dying on purpose.  It means what you said.  Protecting someone.  It can also mean living like you would protect someone if you could, and to live long enough to be needed rather than looking for the fastest course to death, sweetheart."

He didn't believe in Valhalla, nor did he think she really did.  He thought she was using that logic in her confused mind to make an excuse to put herself in harms way on purpose and to make herself believe that committing suicide is what God wanted from her.

[Ishigreensa]

Jim felt her stomach as lightly and as carefully as he could so as not to scare her.  The paramedics had said she was okay when they let him take her, so he didn't think anything should be broken or whatnot, but he still decided to check just in case.

Jim helped his little charge out of the bath and wrappped a towel around her, and then drying her as they went, he led her back to the bed to relax.

To make her more decent, he put her panties and her undershirt back on her, being as gentle as he could.

"You need a little more sleep," he told her.  "In the morning, if you are still hurting, we'll check by the hospital again before we get your puppy, okay?"

[Ishigreensa]

Jim was going to respond, but she fell asleep.

He decided to leave it unanswered, and hoped she'd sleep the night.  He would get the puppy in the morning because he was sure the puppy would be more comfortable at the animal shelter than in the car where he'd have to keep it due to the motel's policy that animals stay outside as a general rule.  Exceptions were for people that really needed a service animal, and he was sure the motel would argue that she didn't need her puppy.

In the night, with all the stress and whatnot, he wouldn't be surprised if his little traveler woke up all wet from peeing in her sleep.  He sort of banked on it, and thought about what he'd do to get her out of the wet panties and into her clean jeans.  Maybe he could fold a towel or two against her inside her pants until he had a chance to get her some more clothes.  She would need them anyway, eventually.

[Ishigreensa]

Jim came over, and saw that it looked like she was still sleeping and unaware of all the noises she was making.

He started to sit with her when he felt her bed was wet.

He pulled the blankets off of her, and then pulled her towards him to get ready to take off her soaked panties and undershirt.  She couldn't sleep in that.  

He started with trying to gently take off her undershirt while rubbing her back and trying to sooth her.

"It's okay," he whispered to her.  "It's okay, baby.  You're safe now."

[Ishigreensa]

Jim held her for a moment when he realized she was peeing some more, and he rocked her and kept quietly whispering.

"It's alright, honey.  You're safe."

He waited until her cries died down, and then he continued to change her using a towel like a diaper to get her comfortable again.  Once she was dry and somewhat diapered, he put her in the clean bed next to himself, and he settled next to her in his underwear so she wouldn't pee up his clothes, but wrapped a separate blanket around himself so he was more or less decent next to her, and then he tried to sooth her back to sleep.