Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in Adoption of an Orphan

OOC: So this is totally one of the most amazing things I’ve co-written so far. Brian (our brilliant DaiMon Lazol) has a character on Ark Angel who wanted to adopt a child. So therefore enter Zanya and the orphanage on Delotha. Here is that story:
IC:

(snip)

Knock, knock, knock. “We’re up Ms Karra!” Vedi yelled through the door. Well he was, Neltus had stayed up late finishing their robot. He got up and walked over to Neltus’ bed and shook him. “Hey sleepy head, time to get up.” Neltus groaned and rolled over pulling the blanket over his head. “Ugh…..” Vedi laughed and jumped onto Neltus’ bed and bounced, “Get up sleepy head! I’ll go get Mecona!” Neltus threw the blanket off and jumped up. “NO! She always gets my stomach!” Vedi laughed and walked out the door, already dressed for school. A few minutes later Karra came into the room. “Neltus, you aren’t going to school today.” Neltus was confused, “I’m not sick. I was only joking with Vedi about Mecona. That’s all. I’m okay Ms Karra.” Karra walked over and sat down on his bed. “No Neltus. Today is a very important day for you.” Karra felt a little sad to Neltus and he was confused because she was smiling. The feeling was called ‘bittersweet’ but Neltus wasn’t familiar with that feeling and didn’t understand it. She stood suddenly pulling Neltus into a huge hug. “The judge is coming today. Our subspace com is on the fritz again and we have no ability to do video comms, so the judge arrives today to talk to you about Tabris adopting you.”

This was a hard situation for Karra. Zanya had brought Neltus here so long ago. 8 years. He was barely 4 months old when Zanya had walked into the village, the small bundle tightly strapped to her chest. He had been severely malnutritioned and so tiny. Zanya never explained how or where she found the children. She brought what information she could find and then once they arrived she and Karra would do the rest. The only information Zanya had found was Neltus Omad’s name, his parents names, and birthdate. That was all that was left of the records in his village. Zanya had taken a DNA sample and the Federation had run the results to see if he had family anywhere in the known vastness of space. None was ever found. Karra had nursed him back to health, building on the work that Zanya had done to save his life. He’d been late to get his grown spurts, and those early months and years, Karra had worried non-stop about the small little boy. Now Neltus was healthy, needing vitamin and mineral supplements on occasion, but he was smart, determined, and a caring young man. And today the Federation judge was arriving to talk to Neltus about what he wanted. Of course the judge had to approve, but Karra’s heart was over full with the idea that Neltus had found his family and it was also breaking because she was losing one of her littles.

Neltus bounced around the house for the first half of the morning. Karra kept him busy helping watch the youngest children during the early morning. The judge arrived and Karra was relieved to see that the woman was very grandmotherly looking. “Ah, Ms Karra. Thank you for having me here. I don’t like interviewing children over letters. I like to have a conversation with them and get to know them at least a little in the short time I get with them.” Karra smiled. She liked this woman and she set her up in the back sitting room, and then she went to get Neltus.

Neltus walked in with Karra looking at the floor and shifting from foot to foot. “Hi Neltus. I’m Judge Arroz. I’d like to talk to you about Mr Tabris Asam.” Neltus looked up grinning and squeezed Karra’s hand. “He’s going to adopt me and I’m going to go live with him, he’s going to be my dad!” Neltus’ eyes got big and then flushed in embarrassment, “I mean, if you say he can.” Judge Arroz just smiled. She had Neltus sit down with her, and Karra wandered in and out the whole time. She wanted to be there for Neltus but she also had the littles to watch. Arroz stayed until lunch. Then, Neltus went back to school early to catch up on what he missed that morning.

Judge Arroz had Vedi, Mecona, and Julin come into the room with her. She gave Karra a knowing smile. “I understand that the three of you are Neltus’ best friends.” They all nodded. Mecona and Julin were interested in all her PaDDs and materials and she let them play and draw on them. Vedi was suspicious until she asked her next question. “What do you think of Mr Asam?” Vedi understood. She wanted their opinion before she approved Neltus’ adoption. “I like him. He’s really good for Neltus. He’s patient and listens, even when Neltus is crying and being unreasonable. And he’s super patient. He helped me and Neltus with a project we’re doing for school. Julin and Mecona like him. He helped me and Neltus watch them in the evenings. He promised to let Neltus come visit us.” He wasn’t being heavy handed in his praise, he liked Mr Tabris and wanted Neltus to get adopted. Arroz nodded, “What about you Julin.” She had a picture of Tabris on her PaDD and pointed to it. “ABIS!” I wove Abis! He makes my robot talk.” And Julin runs off to get his toy robot and shows Arroz how Tabris makes it do silly things. She turned to Mecona, “What do you think little lady?” Mecona looked at the picture. “He’s a good daddy. I want him too.”

Arroz spent the afternoon with Karra going over all the paperwork Karra had collected over the months on Tabris. “Well he’s certainly made an impression on Neltus. What do you think, Ms Karra?” Karra smiled, “I have no reservations Judge. Tabris has been wonderful. He writes every day, he’s spent every single minute of his two visits with Neltus and they’ve even had to work through some rough patches. Growing pains of becoming parent and child, and they weathered it like champs. I’m very happy for Neltus and Mr. Asam. Neltus already calls him Dad and can’t wait to be with him.” Arroz nodded. “I still have to talk to Mr Asam and go over the home visit paperwork. I will be video comming with him. You’ll have my decision soon.” Karra smiled, “It’s close to the holiday. It’d be a nice surprise for Santa to bring.”
Karra, Tabris, Neltus

Tabris received a summons in the morning following the meeting that Neltus had with the judge. He knew this was coming and he was totally prepared! Well, as prepared as one might expect a nervous father of 4 to be. He knew it was likely that he was going to be a father of 1, but there was always the possibility. The judge looked primm and proper sitting behind her desk as a small smile appeared at the corner of her lips. She had already heard plenty about him from multiple sources, but she was a professional and she needed to make her own judgments based on that, but also what the interview was about to reveal. He was nervous when she started speaking, “Hello Mr. Asam, I’m Judge Arroz and I am reviewing your case for adoption, how are you today?” Tabris shifted as he said, “Please your honor, call me Tabris. To be honest your honor I’m a bit nervous but I hope that doesn’t affect anything….” The judge chuckled and said, “Tabris I wouldn’t expect any different from a new parent.” The two chatted a while regarding his position within Starfleet, any previous experience with kids and any problems or ghosts that would come from his past to hunt him. Turns out that besides a few run-ins with the Cardassians during the occupation and a rather peeved minor house on Qo’nos a few hundred years ago Tabris was fairly boring when it came to legal concerns.

Tabris discussed what it would be like onboard a ship for a child, and while the judge well knew what it would be like she always liked to hear it from the potential parent’s mouth. Tabris explained the virtues of the Ark Angel and discussed the great advantages for a kid when he stopped and said. “Um. Judge Arroz, I wanted to ask you permission for something.” She looked a little confused and said, “Of course Tabris, what is it?” Tabris cleared his throat and Arroz was worried he was getting cold feet when he said, “So Neltus has this roommate Vedi and Vedi has 2 younger siblings, problem is that they are mixed heritage and don’t want to be split up but Vedi has confided in me that he’s willing to do that so the little ones get adopted but…” Tabris took a sip of water before saying, “I want to adopt all 4 of them. Neltus, Vedi, Mecona, and Julin.” Judge Arroz looked shocked, not something she did with regularity mind you but this was a good thing. She smiled and said, “Tabris, I will need to discuss this with House Mother Karra, but you should know that I did interview all three of them regarding you and Neltus? They all had glowing praise and the younger two expressed wishes of your parentage.” Nodding, Tabris said that he understood well what she meant and said, “If that’s the case Judge Arroz, I have recorded a message for them explaining it. I will send it to you and my request is that if you and Karra approve their adoption, can you let them watch it? Otherwise if you two believe that it is not in their best interest then I ask that you just let me know.” The judge simply nodded and replied, “Of course.”

The afternoon after Tabris’s meeting Karra would find a request for a conference from Judge Arroz. She had heard this before and her heart sank. Usually something troubling came up in the background checks and the adoption had to be canceled at such a late stage. By this point the kids had already gotten attached to their prospective parent and it was a heart shattering exercise in disappointment. She took a moment before steeling herself for the meeting to come. Hitting the button on her desk computer the smiling face of Judge Arroz appeared and said, “Good evening Karra, sorry to reach you at this late of an hour, do you have a moment to chat?” Karra took a gulp but had been through this before. She knew how to maintain a professional demeanor even if she was hurting on the inside when she said, “Oh it’s no problem at all Judge, what can I do for you?” Arroz said, “I’m sure you think you know why I’m calling Karra but believe it or not I have a good reason for bothering you so soon after Mr. Asam’s interview.” Karra was now intrigued and said, “Oh? What might that be? Usually when I’m called so soon after interviews I’m… well… prepared for a hard conversation later.” Arroz’s grin went from that of a calculated diplomat to that of joy when she said, “Mr. Asam posed a suggestion that he wanted you and I to discuss. He wants to not only adopt Neltus, but he wants his ‘siblings’ to join him.” Karra started to say, “But he doesn’t have…..wait… Vedi?” Arroz nodded and said, “Vedi, Mecona, and Julin. He wants to keep the family whole.” Karra nodded and smiled, their conversation continuing into the night.
Tabris, Karra, Neltus