The one chapter where Cody finds a treasure

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  The dinners with Obi-Wan became a regular thing. It wasn't even happening once a week anymore, more like every other day. Sometimes, Obi-Wan came with food in plastic containers. Sometimes he brought ingredients and cooked in Cody's kitchen, engaging the kids in the process.

  Cody valued his friendship with Obi-Wan and the time they got to spend together. Obi-Wan was there whenever Cody needed advice or just to vent. He was there to watch the kids when Cody needed to leave the house. He was there to support Cody after he told the twins the truth about his attraction to men. The twins were angry at first but eventually got used to the idea.

  The kids adored Obi-Wan. He played with them, helped them with homework, answered their curious questions... He even brought small gifts for them sometimes. Cody was almost jealous of how much the kids loved him.

  Cody loved the little moments of peace he got when Obi-Wan was with the kids. He could take a shower without anyone banging on the bathroom door for whatever reason, he could lie down for a few minutes and take a nap or just stare at the ceiling while he ordered his thoughts, he actually even went out with Waxer and Boil once for an evening. To sum it up, Obi-Wan helped a lot.

  At the moment, Cody was sorting through the stuff in the basement. He wanted to start rebuilding the garage into living space as soon as possible. The first step was making space in the basement. Then he could put the things from the garage to the basement. And only then he could start with the building itself.

  He could hear the kids laughing at something. He wondered how Obi-Wan managed to entertain all of them at once. Wooley was too young for most games that the others liked to play and getting the twins and Kix and Jesse to play something together also wasn't easy. Wolffe was out with Tanya - not that he would need babysitting anyway - and they dragged Emerie with them. Fox took Boba and disappeared to his room and no one has heard of him ever since. Cody just hoped that Fox realized Boba, while cute, wasn't a therapeutic animal. Omega was probably asleep or awake in silence.

  Cody opened a box. It was clothes. He put that aside. They desperately needed to get rid of something but clothes wasn't it. Cody couldn't afford to buy new clothes every time the children grew. Sure, he bought each of them a piece of clothing when needed or simply so they had something that suited their needs but most of the kids' wardrobes were hand downs from older brothers. He was going to have to find something else to throw out.

  Like the old table that was too small to fit all of them so Cody disassembled it, packed it into two big boxes and put into the basement. Yes, they could get rid of that. It was probably too old and damaged to be sold but hopefully some charity wa going to take it.

  Then Cody found a smaller box full of shells and pretty stones.

***

  For one time in his life, Cody was actually lucky. He won a pass for a vacation by scanning codes on the milk bottles. He could finally take his brothers for an actual vacation, not just the little trips him and Waxer would take them for on the weekends. This probably wouldn't be much for anyone else but it was a luxury for Cody and his brothers.

  He took them to the big Lake of Coruscant. There were beaches and the lake was so huge it looked almost like a sea. Bly was a good enough swimmer not to drown, Cody was just keeping an eye on him so he didn't swim too far away from the shore. Rex had a float belt on, just in case, and was fooling in the water with Bly. They both went to swimming courses in Little Keldabe. Wolffe fell asleep on the blanket after a tiring swimming lesson with Cody.

  Cody's attention was mainly on Fox. Fox was conflicted, Cody knew. The boy was curious and wanted to see new places and do new things but felt uncomfortable in the new environment at the same time. Cody's previous attempts to get Fox into the water failed, Fox didn't seem to want to leave the blanket at all. But he's been watching Bly and Rex swimming in the water for minutes. Cody took that as a sign that he was interested.

  "Do you want to play in the water like Rex and Bly?" Cody asked. "Fox. Do you wanto go to the water?"

  Fox nodded.

  "Alright, let's try it." Cody held out his hand. Fox took it and let Cody lead him to the lake. Fox halted to a stop right where the water met the shore. Cody took a step into the water. "See? It's okay. It's just water. Like when you are taking a bath, only there is more."

  "A lot more."

  "Yes, a lot more. Come on, Fox! The water won't hurt you."

  "Hold me," Fox demanded.

  "Okay." Cody gripped both of Fox's hands. "See? I'm holding you. It's okay, Fox. Nothing bad is going to happen."

  Fox took a hesitant step forward then quickly backtracked as soon as his feet touched the water. "It's cold."

  "You will get used to it after a moment. I promise. Give it a try, Fox. I promise it's fun."

  Fox didn't look convinced but he stepped forward and didn't run away immediately. He hesitantly followed Cody further into the water but refused to continue once the water touched his waist.

  "You don't want to continue further, Fox?"

  "No."

  "Okay. Do you want to try swimming? Like Rex and Bly?"

  "But you will hold me the entire time. Right?"

  "Of course."

  Fox was still hesitant but in the end, he agreed to try. 

  Cody stretched out his arms in front of Fox. "Now you have to lie on my arms. Just lie on your stomach. Don't worry, I will be holding you."

  It took about three minutes but in the end, Cody coaxed Fox to lie down on Cody's arms. Where all the other children started splashing around, Fox didn't. He gripped Cody's forearm tightly and started demanding that Cody took him out. Apparently, this was too much on him.

  Cody lifted Fox up. "It's okay. You are out."

  "I don't like swimming."

  "That's okay, Fox. We won't be doing it anymore if you don't want to," Cody promised. He set Fox on the ground. 

  "Aww, such a good father." Cody heard a man who was standing nearby say to someone. He really must've gotten good at taking care of children if even strangers thought he was good at parenting.

  Fox looked him dead into the eye. "You are not my father."

  "I know, Fox. I know." Sometimes, Cody wished he was. Even if he wasn't even considered an adult by Coruscanti law yet. He loved his siblings, especially Fox. "Come on, let's go sit on the blanket."

  Fox followed Cody back to their blanket but didn't sit down with Cody. All of sudden, he seemed fascinated with the sand rather than scared of it. Cody watched him as he sat down in the sand. It was certainly going to be a lot of shouting later when Fox found out his swimsuit was full of sand. At least Fox looked happy for now.

  "Cody!" Fox ran back to Cody. "I found you a rock!" he announced proudly as he set a shiny while stone in front of Cody.

  "That's nice of you, Fox. Thank you."

  Fox didn't answer. He just ran off again and after a while, he returned with another stone. And then a shell. Then another one. Then a stone again. And so on. Cody didn't really know why but it was cute. Most of the things Fox did were. Or maybe Cody just loved him too much.

***

  Cody smiled as he looked at the long forgotten treasure. He sure wasn't going to throw that away. He could show it to Fox, maybe long with a picture from their little vacation. There was no way Fox remembered it.

  And now back to sorting through the many boxes in the basement. Cody had to get rid of something.

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