Time went by both slowly and fast over the next few years for the Gages. Their crops grew tall while the garden grew to be very bountiful. Even their livestock expanded as well as the chickens. And much to their surprise that their female horse had a foal. Everything seemed to be growing even Nico, who grew more and more each day. Until he grew strong enough to crawl all over the house. What he like to do the most is crawl through the garden as his mother worked in it. Which brought tears of joy to her eyes. Nicole and Coster begun fear as he started to crawl, that he would be an outcast, a loner with no one to talk too. This they did not want. Doing what they could for a time, in the end Nicole thought it best to give him a companion - a black Labrador puppy. The two bonded rather quickly even sleeping in his crib together. This friendship was to last twenty years far longer than any human one.

As the summer turned to fall and back to winter Nico grew strong enough to begin to walk, right toward his mother’s arms as his father looked on with pride and joy. This little boy they found, who was once so weak and struggling to live, now was strong like other kids his age. When December came around Nicole decorated their home for Christmas with a small pine tree covered in candles and popcorn strung around it but also for Nico’s one year birthday.  Many showed up on Christmas from the Walsh’s to Sarah and her family, but the most surprising guest was the sheriff, Jason Lincoln. 

At first Coster feared that he would take their child from them but all he did was open his jacket and took a gift out for Nico. Speaking of how he’s known since they first came here, because he saw the Scully’s leave with only two babies not the three, he had seen a few days after they were born. Sheriff Lincoln gave them the greatest compliment anyone could ever receive - that it was they deserved to raise Nico as their own. In his heart this child was waiting for them since the day he was conceived. After that day the sheriff had become a very dear friend who dropped in to see them every now and then. He would often bring them supplies when the tension got heated in the town between the white settlers and freed slaves. With each passing year he saw Nico growing into a fine young man.

Unlike most kids Nico had a happy childhood because he was able to have both of his parent’s love. Loving them both equally, however he was more drawn to his mother. Never once did he see the difference in their skin color, all he saw was his mother and father. Though when strangers passed by, he was forced to hide, in order to protect him from their misunderstanding and hate. Each and every day he would run and play with his dog, a black labrador that he called “Blackie” as his mother watched from their porch. While his father would watch from the fields and the barnyard. Never once did they raise their hand upon him choosing instead to just talk. This worked for them because as former slaves they detested violence. Each day they would work till midday taking the rest of the time to play with Nico and teach him everything from reading, writing to arithmetic. Never once did they show him how to use a weapon or how to fight. Not until he was ready and could understand what it meant to fight.

On his tenth birthday the Gage’s world changed because Nico asked the one question his parents had long waited for “Why don’t I look like you?” Nico had brownish blond hair, green eyes and a lightly tanned skin. While his parents had black and grey hair, brown eyes and skin. When asked why he wanted to know, all he could say was that a boy told him that he was a dirty white thing pretending to be black. This angered both of his parents greatly but none more so for Coster because he knew who the boy was. The only boy who knew them was Sarah’s son Liam. Storming out of their home he got on his horse and rode to Sarah’s house where he confronted not only Sarah but Liam as well. Ending their friendship that very day much to both his and Sarah regrets, on the other hand Liam was quite pleased with himself. Both Coster and Sarah saw this look in Liam’s eyes, not wanting to look at the boy another moment he quickly turned to leave returning to his family.

Two days later Liam would leave his home at the request of his mother. But it was too late to repair their relationship for the damage was done. Liam would drift for several years until finding his calling which was scouting for the soldiers. Forgotten by both his family and the Gages.

Because of this one boy Nicole had to tell Nico the truth, something she had wished would never come to pass. Telling him of how his birth parents left him to die not even giving him a proper name. How his father found him like he was waiting for them and how they were waiting all their life for a boy like him. Stroking his cheek Nicole told him that love was not decided by the color of their skin but by love itself. As tears fell from his eyes Nico asked if she would ever leave him like the other ones did. This brought tears to her eyes as it did to Nico’s.

Holding him in her arms close to her heart whispering softly to him “I will never leave you, my Nico. I promise you this, you are my heart and soul. My reason for living. I love you as does your father. Before we found you our lives were incomplete, when we found you, our lives were completed. I will always be your mother, my son and when my time and your fathers come just look to the stars and your heart. For we will be looking down upon you watching over you as you live your life. Guiding you through your life’s journey and when you feel lost or alone. Hold your hand to your chest to feel your heartbeat as it is my heart too.” These words brought comfort and love back to his broken heart.

“I love you momma.” he cried out as she held him. They stayed like this until Nico cried himself to sleep in his mother’s arms.

When Coster returned and entered the house he saw Nicole stroking their son’s hair as he slept in her arms. Nicole looked up and smiled at her husband telling him with no words that everything will be okay. Not wanting to let go of all he wanted to tell his son Coster went over to their writing desk and sat down writing a letter to him. In this letter he told Nico everything he wanted to say but he also wrote about what he had found out about his birth parents. If he should every wanted to know about them or to look them up. Something Nicole never knew he did. He put the letter away in a box until Nico was ready to read it when he became a man at eighteen, should he even want to read it.

Over the next few days everything went back to normal for the Gages. Nico continued to grow, not just in body and mind but in loneliness. For without the friendship of Sarah and her daughter, Nico had no one to talk too beside his parents. He would never speak of it to anyone except for Blackie. After a time, he grew used to this life, accepting it for what it was because he realized why it had to be this way. In this loneliness Nico grew closer to his parents and the knowledge that they passed on to him. When he turned sixteen, his father began to show him how to fight and protect himself and his family. Coster did this against the wishes of Nicole, but he felt an oncoming storm, not of weather but men and the hate that follows them. Though he detested guns Coster showed Nico how to shoot but only to defend himself and to protect the weak who couldn’t fight back. Teaching him also that shooting was for hunting but never to kill another person.