Bondings in Life - an In Death series fanfic (J.D. Robb)

Bullpen's Moments (EDD)

“Granda, what’s a tooth fairy?”, I asked him as I rushed into his bullpen. Like Ma, Granda’s office has a mountain of paper files on the table but with computer chips and electronic boards.

“Tooth Fairy is someone who visits kids who had their loose tooth removed. If you place your baby tooth beneath your pillow when you sleep, the fairy will exchange it for a tooth fee. Like money.”

“So it’s real then?”

“Ah..”, he trailed off. “Why don't you ask your mom?"

“But Ma said she didn’t know.”

Granda was saying something but I didn’t pay attention and roamed around. Then I found candied almonds in his drawer. It was tightly packed and I couldn’t tear it, so I waved it to Granda.

“Can I have this?” I asked.

“Did the dentist tell you to eat soft foods only? You can’t chew that yet.”

“But it looks tasty. Can I have one? Please? Please?”, I nagged incessantly until he finally opened the contents. I immediately swallowed a piece, and all of a sudden, a sharp sting hit me.

Granda paled. “Didn’t I tell you not to chew it? It’ll open your wounds and your Ma will get mad at me.”

“Granda, it hurts.”, I cried.

“Boys don’t cry, so don’t you ever shed a tear, okay? If you continue to think about that pain, it’ll hurt more, and tooth fairies won’t like that.”

“But my tooth – ”

Granda helped me spit out the almond. “Don’t think about your tooth anymore, because Granda will be your tooth fairy.”, he said as he soothed me, “And since you’re brave enough not to cry, you’ll have a tooth fee.”

Ma arrived moments later to fetch me, but she has something to discuss with Granda, so Uncle McNab used it as an excuse to drag me outside and play with some of his toys.

“Granda’s the best tooth fairy in the world!”, I told him.

“And why is that?”

“He gave me five as my tooth fee – higher than Aunt Peabody!”

“Well then, how about this.”, Uncle Mcnab pulled some credits in his pocket, “If I give you seven as your tooth fee, who will be the best of all?”

Afterward, Callendar called and secretly gave me a double to become my ‘best Tooth Fairy’ then Paul a twenty to steal the title, that almost everybody in EDD became my tooth fairies. Ma misinterpreted the commotion, so she scolded Uncle who was innocent about the bids.

Ma and I returned to her office. She was in the office bathroom when Uncle Webster entered.

“Whoa, I never though Roarke’s junior is visiting Mommy.”

“My name’s not Junior.”, I frowned. Why didn’t they call me by my first name?

He only chuckled and sat beside me. When he asked about Ma's whereabouts, I immediately pointed the bathroom.

“Hey, can I have your Mommy for a while? Or if you don’t want to, I’ll bring her to Olympus with Aunt Darcia.”

That sounds so wrong, so wrong that I got scared. I don’t want Ma to go with anybody and leave. So I went to the bathroom – almost ran with Ma – and immediately hugged her.

“Ma is mine!”, I said as I glared accusingly at Uncle Webster. “Ma’s mine!”

“God Dallas, your kid might have gotten your temperament, but he has his father’s possessiveness.”, he said between laughs. “I kinda like to tease them both.”