Now his mom was cleaning along with his part-time maid, trying to get his place perfect. As soon as he told his mom what he was doing with Curtis, she immediately flew in to action, coming to his aid as always. His mom adored Curtis. Every time Green took him over to her house for dinner or to help with some project around the house, she’d cooed over his innocent baby blue eyes, his cute boyish charm, his maturity, and most of all: his pretty face, surrounded by soft blonde hair.
His mom texted him back saying that they were almost done and she was getting ready to go grocery shopping. He let out a small exhale before turning his attention to Vicki. She was at the conference table going through all of Curtis’ records and papers. She’d been in contact with the funeral home, making all the arrangements according to his mom’s specifications. When Curtis came home, he’d be able to grieve for his parent like a child should. He kissed her on her cheek after getting that update and told her he was on his way to see Curtis. She cupped her hand over the phone’s mouth piece and whispered to him. “Okay. Tell him I love him.”
He waved his hand in acknowledgement. He grabbed his keys and sunglasses; getting ready to leave when Day called out to him, stopping him before he could get to the door.
“Okay. Good news is we got a judge. I’d spoke with Judge Klipson’s clerk early this morning, filling her in on the situation. She just called back and said the judge would see them in chambers and sign off on the temporary order if DHS and the Guardian were in agreement on the placement.” Day smiled broadly.
Green really breathed a sigh of relief now. Ruxs grabbed him and hugged him tightly. “I told you he was coming home,” he whispered in his ear, kissing his cheek tenderly.
“Day, man. Thank you so much.” Green went to hug Day. “So what time do we head over to the courthouse, because I wanted to go see Curtis soon.”
“That’s the thing.” Day huffed and Green’s stomach fluttered with nerves. “The judge is out today. Judge Klipson won’t be able to see us until eight tomorrow morning.”
“Fuck!” Green yelled. Startling several people. “I promised him. Come on, Day is there no one that can see us today? No one?”
Ruxs put his hands on Green’s shoulders, rubbing at the tension but he aggressively knocked Ruxs’ hands off him.
Day put his hands up trying to calm him down. “You know I’ve been on that phone for the last four hours, scrounging us up a judge. There is no one that can see us today. The dockets are flooded in J&DR, you know that. Eight a.m. is not bad. I know you promised him, and you are following through on that promise. You told him you’d get him out fast, and you are.”
Green growled, balling his hands into fist like he was ready to punch something. Ruxs turned him around to face him.
“Get your ass together. We need to go see Curtis now and you can’t see him if you’re acting like a fuckin’ lunatic. If you’re panicking, he’ll panic.” Green took a few deep breaths, knowing his partner was right. He wasn’t seeing logic. Day had worked a miracle as always. Getting the paperwork pushed through all the red tape. Getting them in front of a judge within twenty-four hours was spectacular and Green had practically ripped his head off saying it wasn’t good enough.
He dug his hands into his tired eyes. Speaking softly, “I’m sorry lieutenant. Sorry for acting like an ass. I really appreciate all your hard work. You came through like you always do, man. Forgive me. I’m just —”
“Hey. We’re all in this together. We’re all feeling the pain with Curtis not being here. But we also know you’re feeling it the worst.” Day gave him a one-armed hug. “Now go on and see him. Tell him he’ll be home tomorrow. Say it with confidence.”
God stood and came over to him. “Shelia said you have a mandatory home visit scheduled at two today and one scheduled at seven tomorrow.”
“Morning,” Green and Ruxs both said in unison.
God looked towards Shelia and the Guardian Ad Litem as they packed up their things to leave. “No. Um. Tomorrow evening. A social worker will come and sit for a meeting with you and Curtis.”
“Oh fuck,” Green groaned. He poised like he was going to ask Shelia a question but God put up his hand to stop him.
“Don’t. Don’t even think about canceling or trying to reschedule it, it’ll seem like you’re putting your job over Curtis,” God whispered the best he could.
“I can’t miss the fuckin’ bust man. We’ve been working on this case to take Chainz down for years. Besides, the captain’ll have my ass,” Green said, stressing the last part.