Round One - The Lairds

ROUND ONE - LAIRD FAMILY
Brady - Knowledge
Orlando - Child
Declan - Toddler


When Olando’s mom first told him that she was sending him to live with the Larid's, he had mixed feelings. On one hand, He’d miss his mom, but on the other, it‘d be nice to not live on skid row anymore. Soon he settled into family life, but then a mysterious illness ravaged the town and soon after Brady’s wife, Aurora left him. Orlando felt like the odd one out and didn‘t know what was going to happen, so he was relieved when Brady offered to take him with him when he moved to Aspen Lake.

Orlando was happy at first. He liked the new house, and the big pond he could fish in. But as the days turned into weeks he began to notice a difference in the home. Brady spent all his time with his new baby son, and barely seemed to notice him. Orlando tried to hide his loneliness by making as many friends as he could with the new locals, but he couldn’t help feeling like something was missing. He missed being part of a family.








Brady noticed that Orlando was becoming withdrawn, but figured it was just how he was coping with all the changes.. The truth was though, Brady just didn’t want to deal with it. His heart was still mending from all the loses that he had endured. It seemed like the only thing that kept him sane was his little boy Declan, who had grown into a playful and sweet toddler (note: He’s maxed out on playful and nice)





One day, Brady went in to call Orlando for breakfast. The boy was on the phone with another new friend he had made. Brady was about to knock when he realized that Orlando was talking about him. He debated quickly about the morality of eavesdropping, but gave in. “So what if your dad grounded you?“ Orlando was saying to his friend, “At least you have a dad. I don’t have any family. I don’t even think Brady really likes me that much. I’m not his kid, Declan is. I’ll probably be kicked out as soon as I’m eighteen.” There was a pause as his friend spoke, and then Orlando replied, “There’s no place to go if I leave now. I mean, at least I have food and a place to sleep. I didn’t even have that when I was with my mom” Brady backed away slowly so Orlando wouldn’t know he was there and went down to breakfast with much to think about





Orlando grew so frustrated with being ignored by Brady that he tried to get his attention with an honors report card. He had worked so hard for it and couldn’t wait to show Brady. He rushed up to him after school to show him, but barely even got an acknowledgement from Brady. He was hurt and disappointed but tried to bravely hide it. What he didn’t know was that Brady had just lost his job.




Brady spent a very sleepless night that night. He kept going over all of troubles: single father, troubled adopted son, no money coming in…. He tossed and turned and finally gave up and got out of bed. He went down and worked in his garden, something that had always managed to relax him. As he worked on the fruit trees he mulled over his situation again. He realized that actually the job had mostly been a strain for him. Identifying soil was not the most exciting job. What he enjoyed most was his farm and spending time with his kids, and yes, realized, he did means *kids*. Orlando was just as much his as Delcan was. When he was finished with the garden, he had a plan.










He made two quick phonecalls. One to the real estate office to buy a cheap piece of land. He was going to open up his own market for all the produce that he grew. The next was to the local puppy breeder. A surprise present for Orlando. Orlando was thrilled when he got home and found the puppy. “Is it ours? For real?” he asked. “Its *yours*,“ Brady answered, “And yes, for real. I also wanted to ask you something.” Orlando held the puppy close and waited. “What do you think of adoption?” Brady asked. Orlando swallowed in fear, “You mean, you’re putting up for adoption? But what’d I do!” “No, No. I want to adopt you. Myself.” “But….why would you want me? I’m just some kid from the slums.” “yeah, but you’re my kid from the slums.” So that afternoon Brady started the adoption proceedings.






The adoption proceedings took some tiem since they had to track down Orlando’s mother. As they waited both boys had their birthdays. (note: Orlando rolled "romance" aspiration and wants to be a Rock God. Hate the aspiration but like the LTW)






And then Brady received the news that the adoption had gone through. Orlando was officially his! They were now a family, the real family Orlando had longed for.