Consumed

Liam was surprised by the large numbers of items that were brought over. He couldn't believe that everyone at the station could be so thoughtful. There were several outfits each, including undergarments. There were stuffed animals, dolls, Playdoh, paints, Hot Wheels cars, movies, even a bright red fire engine. Just the thought of so many caring people coming together to help them out, brought new tears to his eyes.

Rick, watching Liam's reaction, said "Hey, we lost a couple of our men in that fire. Keith had been with the fire department for eleven years and Roger had been with us for about six years. They were part of our family. We all figured this would be a good way to pay tribute to their lives, to their sacrifice. Everyone pitched in, even some of the guys from the police station."

Liam was speechless. "I don't know what to say. Thank you just doesn't seem like it's enough."

"Liam, those two kids are now part of our family. No thanks are necessary. Now, let's get all this stuff put away." And with that said, they both started distributing all the items between the rooms.

When the rooms were ready, Liam called his parents and asked them to bring the kids over. Then he called and ordered pizza for everyone.

When his parents arrived, Cassie threw herself into Liam's arms.

"Unca Leem, Unca Leem," Cassie exclaimed excitedly, as she was enveloped in Liam's arms.

"Hey kiddo," he said as he gave her a big smack on the cheek, causing her to giggle. "How ya doin?" He asked.

"Hmmm," was her only reply as she eyed Rick suspiciously over Liam's shoulder.

Christopher was standing with Rebecca and Frank. He didn't look too good. It was obvious that he understood what was going on better than Cassie did. Setting Cassie down, but taking her hand, Liam headed over to where Chris stood.

"Hey Chris, how are you doing?" Liam asked.

"Fine," was the only reply he got, so Liam continued. "I ordered pizza for dinner. Hope you're hungry. I also set up rooms for you and Cassie upstairs at the end of the hall. Why don't you guys go take a look, then wash up for dinner."

Chris took Cassie's hand from Liam and they both headed silently upstairs.

Liam finally turned to Rick and introduced him to his parents. While his parents and Rick were discussing the details of the fire, the doorbell rang. Liam excused himself to pay for the pizza, and then put the pizza and some plates in the dining room.

"Hey, Mom, Dad, Rick, everything's set up in the dining room. Help yourselves. I'm just gonna head upstairs and get the kids."

Once upstairs, Liam found Chris laying down on his bed and Cassie sitting there with him.

"Hey guys, the pizza's here, are you hungry?"

Cassie immediately started hopping up and down and repeating "pizza, pizza, pizza." Chris however, didn't show any enthusiasm at all.

"Chris, aren't you hungry?"

"No, Uncle Liam, I'm just really tired. Can I go to sleep?"

"Sure buddy, no problem. If you wake up and are hungry, just come on downstairs and help yourself. Okay?"

"Okay, thanks Uncle Liam."

With that, Liam picked up Cassie and headed downstairs.

When he got to the living room, Rick was just setting up a couple of phone books on one of the chairs for Cassie. Looking up at Liam, he said, "You'll need to add a booster seat to your list of things for the kids."

Before Liam could respond, Rebecca asked where Chris was.

"He said he was tired, that he just wanted to sleep." Cassie added to that statement with "Crissie sad."

"Yes, sweetie, Crissie sad, but don't worry, he'll be ok." Liam reassured her.

While they ate, they discussed the funeral arrangements. Rebecca had decided that she would go ahead and take care of everything on that end, since Liam was going to have his hands full with the kids.

After dinner, while Cassie was watching one of her new movies, they discussed the issue of school and daycare for the kids. Liam had already decided that he would keep the kids in the same school for as long as possible. Since he was, in effect, a consultant and self-employed, he could adjust his schedule as necessary.

Frank brought up the fact that Julie and Adam had a will in place with the law firm where Adam was a lawyer. It was decided that Frank would contact the law firm and make an appointment to go over the will. Julie's parents had been named as Chris and Cassie's legal guardians if something should happen to them, but if they were not in a position to care for the kids, then guardianship fell to Liam.

Julie and Adam had a pretty sizeable estate, so the kids wouldn't need anything financially.

Finally, around 8 o'clock, they had decided to call it a night. Liam said goodbye to his parents and then turned to Rick.

"Rick, thanks so much for your help today. I don't know that I could have made it through the day without your help."

"I'm glad to have been some help. Let me give you my number, feel free to call me if you need anything. Also, everyone at the station would love to have the kids come by for a tour. I think that Chris would probably love to see the station and maybe go for a ride on one of the trucks. Maybe it would help distract him, even for just a short time." Rick replied.

"Thanks Rick, I don't know what to say, except that we'll definitely take you up on that offer." Liam said, as Rick handed him his business card.

After saying goodbye to Rick, Liam went back into the living room to find that Cassie had fallen asleep on the floor, her movie still playing.

"Guess you've had a pretty tiring day too, little one." He said, turning off the TV and gently picking Cassie up and carrying her to bed.

Later that night, Liam was relaxing on the couch, consumed with grief, tears streaming down his face while he was going through old photo albums of his family. He had lots of pictures of his sister. It was hard to believe that he would never see her again. They had so many memories. Julie had always been so protective of him. He remembered her wedding, remembered when both the kids were born. He was so excited to be an uncle. God, how was he going to manage to raise these kids? He had no idea how to be a father.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the phone ringing. Looking at his watch, he knew it would be Jack.

"Hello?"

"Hey, babe, how are you doing?"

"Jack, oh, it's nice to hear your voice. I'm doing okay. I'm pretty beat though. Listen, we need to talk about something."

"Oh? What's up?" Jack questioned.

"Well, I'm taking the kids. Mom and dad can't really take care of them, so that leaves me. I don't know what else to do, I'm the only one. I went ahead and cleaned up the two extra bedrooms and furnished them today. I really hope this is all okay with you. I really didn't have any other choice." Liam said quickly.

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone and that had Liam really worried.

Finally, Jack answered with, "Liam, I don't know what to say to that. Kids weren't really part of my plan. I like the fact that we're not tied down with anything, that we have the freedom to come and go as we please. I like it being just us. I guess I just need to think about it a little bit."

"That's okay, I understand. This is really sudden and definitely a drastic change. We'll still be able to do things together, just you and I, my parents will be here to help out, so we won't be doing this alone." Liam responded.

"I know, I'll be home on Monday night and we can talk more then. I love you."

"I love you too." Liam said before he hung up the phone.

'Well, I'm not exactly sure if that went well or not,' Liam thought to himself as he proceeded to put away the photo albums and head to bed.

He woke with a start, not sure what woke him, but only that he was certain he heard something. Glancing at the clock, and collapsing back on the bed with a huge sigh. "God, its 4 o'clock in the morning, what now," he grumbled while heading out of the room to check on the kids.

He heard the crying before he even made it out of his room. The crying was followed by someone calling, "Mommy", over and over again. Not frantic, just calling. Obviously, Cassie wanted mommy. She's really too young to comprehend what's happened and that mommy won't be coming back.

Hurrying into Cassie's room, he sat down next to her, hoping to console her.

"Shhhh, sweetie, Uncle Liam is here." He said, while enveloping her in his arms.

She clung to him, while saying, "Want mommy, I want my mommy."

"I know sweetie, but remember that Gammy told you that mommy can't be here?"

This didn't help, she just kept sobbing and asking for her mommy. Liam's heart was broken and he didn't know what to do. "Hey, sweetie, you want to come and sleep with Uncle Liam tonight?" He asked, hoping that would help.

He got a nod of the head, a sniffle, and then an "uh huh" in reply.

Picking her up, he carried her to his bed, where she proceeded to curl up with him and go back to sleep.

Sleep however, eluded Liam. His thoughts swimming with everything that needed to be done, while also wondering how he was going to deal with all of this, wondering what changes his life was going to be forced to take.