Saving an Angel

by Jason Finigan

This story is set in an alternate reality, and assumes the technology and capabilities of this reality's 23rd century are present in modern-day society.

Portions of this story contain copyrighted characters from other authors. Fictional organizations, situations, and characters from "Out of the Past" are copyright © by Dark Star and are used with permission. Clan Short is copyright © 2004-2008 CSU Productions; all rights reserved

This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. This story may contain scenes which involve sexual situations between young males. If this type of material is offensive to you, or it is not legal for you to be reading this type of material, please do not read any further. This story is copyright © 2007-2008 by Jason Finigan, all rights reserved. Please do not copy this story for distribution or post on any online server without the author's permission. Please send all your comments to: jasonfinigan@yahoo.com.

From the last chapter:

Along the wall, beside the television, was one of the most extensive collections of DVDs I had ever seen. Virtually every popular movie could be found in Ryan's living room.

Walking over to the DVDs, I quickly found a movie in the collection that I wanted to watch, and looked at Ryan questioningly, who simply smiled and nodded his head. After handing over the DVD to Ryan, he put it into the DVD player. He then walked over to the coffee table, picked up the remote and lay down on the couch, motioning for me to join him. Without hesitation, I jumped onto the couch and lay down with him, my small body pressing up against him. Ryan placed his arm around me and turned on the television.

The movie that I had picked was one of my favorite Disney movies, Pirates of the Caribbean, starring Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom. The movie began to play and for the next hour and a half, we watched the movie together. Sometime before the end of the movie, I had fallen asleep in his arms. I felt so comfortable laying there with him. I didn't know what the future would bring, but for now, I was the most content I had been in a long time.

Chapter 2

Waking up; at first I didn't know where I was, or how I got there. I was alone in a bedroom, on a fairly large bed, much larger than the beds I was used to sleeping in. Actually, it reminded me a bit of my mom's bed, only, her bed had white pillows and a nice, light colored comforter. Her room always smelled of vanilla, the same scent as the incense sticks she used to burn all the time. The room I found myself in was a little darker. That might have been because the window blinds were closed, but from what I saw, the room itself was a light tan color with several paintings on the walls featuring old sailing ships, much like the ships that were in pirate movies. Beside the bed was a small table where a lamp and an alarm clock sat. The clock read nine-fifty in the morning, so I knew that I had slept for a long time.

Throwing the covers off of me, and swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I noticed that I was only wearing a long t-shirt. I began to panic as I began to look for my clothes, but they were no where to be found.

The bed stood high off the ground and I jumped off it and ran to the closed door and opened it. In the hallway, I literally ran into Ryan, and fell back onto my bum.

"Whoa there, Bud!" he said, helping me up from the floor.

"Where's my clothes?" I asked him.

"They're in the wash. I was hoping they would have been done by the time you woke up, but the dryer isn't done yet. I didn't mean to frighten you."

"Oh," I said, instantly relieved. "Umm, how did I end up in the bed?"

"I carried you there shortly after you fell asleep during the movie. You definitely needed some rest, so I got you undressed, and gave you one of my t-shirts to wear. Then I tucked you in to let you sleep," he said.

"But if this is your bed, where did you sleep?" I asked him.

"On the couch," he replied simply.

At that moment my stomach announced that it was empty with a low rumble. "I'm hungry," I told him unnecessarily. "But I need to go to the bathroom."

"You go right ahead, the bathroom's just over there," he said, pointing down the hall. "While you're doing that, I have breakfast almost ready. I'm making bacon and eggs, fried potatoes, and toast."

"Do you have raspberry jam? I love jam on my toast."

"Yes I have jam," he said, laughing again. "Now scoot, go take care of your business and meet me in the kitchen when you're done. You might as well take a shower while you're in there. There's a towel on the rack beside the sink," he told me, lightly swatting my bum. I took off down the hall towards the bathroom giggling.

Finishing in the bathroom, I walked into the kitchen, the smell of bacon and eggs cooking in a frying pan assaulting my nose with their pleasant aroma. This of course caused my stomach to growl again. I don't know whether it was my stomach, or if he just turned at the right moment, but he saw he standing there, admiring the smells, and smiled at me.

"Well, hop into the chair, Kyle. Breakfast's almost done. There's some orange juice on the table, and you can help yourself," he said, turning back to the food cooking on the stove.

I went to the table and sat down on the same chair I had the last time. An empty glass was in front of me, as was an empty plate, and a fork, and a knife. In the middle of the table were the orange juice container, and a jar of raspberry jam. Picking up the orange juice, I opened it, and carefully poured some into my glass, almost filling it to the rim.

Placing the juice container back onto the table, I picked up my glass and drank some of the juice. Of all the juices that my mom had ever given me, orange juice was my favorite. I think Ryan noticed this because I saw him standing there smiling at me.

"I see you really like orange juice," he said.

"Oh yeah, I do!" I said, wiping the back of my hand across my mouth.

"Use the napkin beside you for that Kyle," he told me.

"Oh, sorry," I said apologetically.

"It's okay, Kyle. You'll get the hang of things eventually," he said.

"What's going to happen to me?" I asked.

"Honestly, I don't know."

"Can't I stay with you?" I asked him, my eyes starting to get wet with tears as the fear of having to go back to the group home threatened to overwhelm me.

"I'm not sure that will be possible. There's probably someone who cares about you looking for you right now," he said.

"Just the group home, but I'm not going there, you can't make me," I said defiantly.

"Whoa, calm down there, Kyle. I'm not going to make you go anywhere you don't want to go. Is that where you were living before I found you? In a group home?"

"Yeah," I answered. "But I'm not going back there, I hate it there. I want it to be like it used to be with my mom."

"Where is your mom?" he asked me, kneeling down beside me where I sat.

"She's dead," I told him. Tears suddenly filled my eyes and ran down my cheaks.

"I'm so sorry, Kyle," he said, wrapping his arms around me in a hug. After a while he let me go, but he stayed with me. "You have anyone else that can look after you?" I shook my head.

Ryan didn't say much for a while after that. It was obvious that he was thinking about something, but what I couldn't know. All I could do was hope that he wouldn't try to take me back to that home again. Even though he said he wouldn't, I didn't think he would have any other choice.

"Kyle, I don't know if it's possible, but if it is, would you want to live with me?" he asked me finally. As soon as he asked me that, my head jerked up to look at him.

"You mean that?" I asked him hopefully. "You would let me stay with you? But what if the the people from the home come looking for me?"

"I'm going to tell you something. Last night I did a whole lot of thinking. I must have stood in the doorway watching you sleep for a good hour or so. There's no way I can explain this any better, but having you here with me feels so right. It was almost as if you were meant to be here. In the short time that we've been together, I've grown very fond of you. I care about you, and I want you to feel safe and loved. Just like you deserve. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, if it was possible, I want you to stay with me. I know I'm not your dad, but I would very much like the chance to raise you like you were my son. Maybe even adopt you if it is possible."

"You... you'd adopt me? You'd want to be my father?"

"Yes I do, Kyle," he told me.

"But the home..." I started.

"Would not be able to a thing about it, because we'd be a family."

The words Ryan spoke to me were the words I had dreamed about hearing since I moved into the home. What I wanted, what I needed was someone to take care of me. Someone who'd love me, the kinds of things that my mom used to do with me. Mom wasn't coming back, but here was this man telling me he wanted to be my father. The tears rolled freely down my cheeks. Not tears of sadness, or dispair, but tears of relief and joy. I don't even remember getting out of the chair, but I quickly found myself standing in front of Ryan, hugging him, and crying, totally, and completely happy for the first time since mom died.

A single word escaped my lips as we hugged. Almost in a whisper, I said, "Daddy." Ryan must have heard it because as soon as the word left my mouth, I could feel his arms squeeze me tighter, but only just slightly, as if he was scared that if he held onto me any tighter it'd hurt me.

I don't know how long we ended up staying like that, but eventually we let each other go. When I looked up at his face, I could see that it was wet from his own tears. He'd been crying himself, but I didn't know why.

"Kyle, you have no idea how long I've waited to hear someone say that word to me," he told me.

"I've always wanted a dad," I told him.

Wiping the tears from his face, Ryan suddenly got all serious on me.

"There's something I need to tell you about me though, Kyle. And it might change your mind about wanting me for a father."

"Why? You're nice to me, not like those others in the group home, especially not..."

"Not who?" he asked me.

"Never mind, it's not important. I just want to stay with you," I pleaded with him.

"Kyle, do you know what it means when someone is gay?"

"No," I answered honestly. "I meain, I hear some of the kids at school use that word, but I thought it just meant that someone was stupid or something. I don't think you're stupid."

"Thank you, Kyle. I'm glad you think so," Ryan said, chuckling slightly as if I said something funny. "No, being gay means that a guy will fall in love with another guy instead of with a girl."

"You mean, you fall in love with guys?" I asked him.

"Yes I do. I wanted you to know, because if we were to live together, I don't want to hide anything from you."

"Um, are you falling in love with me?" I asked him, both curious and a little afraid. After what Gary did to me, I didn't want to be in that kind of situation again.

"No, I'm not falling in love with you Kyle. Understand that I do love you, but I love you as a father would love his son."

"I love you so much, Dad," I said, wrapping my arms around him once more, the relief I felt evident in my voice.

"I never thought in my life I would have a son. I promise you, Kyle, I'll do everything I can to try and adopt you, and then I can legally be your dad."

If it wasn't for my stomach once again growling, I think I would have wanted to stay like that forever. I let him go and sat back down on the chair. Ryan had turned off the stove, so the food didn't burn while we were talking. He turned the stove back on to make sure the food was still hot, and put some bread into the toaster.

"All right," he said taking the frying pan off the stove and walking to the table towards me. "Here you go, I hope you like it."

I don't think there was any doubt at all whether I liked the food Ryan served me. The second he finished putting the eggs, and bacon, and fried potatoes on my plate, I picked up the bottle of ketchup that was on the table and squirted some onto my plate. Then I started to devour everything that was on my plate, occasionally coating each bite in the ketchup. As I was eating, Ryan had finished making the toast, put them on a plate, and placed it on the table in front of me.

"I think I'm going to change your name," he laughed.

"What do you mean?" I asked him after I finished swallowing the bite I had taken.

"Your name should be Hoover, not Kyle," and both of us laughed at that comment.

"I was hungry!" I exclaimed.

"You were hungry? Does that mean you don't have any room for toast then?" he asked mischievously.

"Oh yeah, I love toast!" I said excitedly.

For the next half hour Ryan and I ate breakfast together. He told me that he normally didn't cook, but with me here, that'd probably be changing. In fact, he told me a great number of things about himself, things that happened in his life. I didn't understand a lot of it, but I listened to everything he said.

"Well, Kyle, I think the first thing that needs to be done is to contact the CAS."

"NO!" I yelled. "They'll put me back in that group home!"

"I promise you, I'll do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen Kyle. Trust me. Can you tell me what happened to you at the home? If you did it'd be easier to make sure you didn't have to go back there," he told me gently. I knew he was right, but at the same time I was really scared. I mean, what if I told him and he was so disgusted he didn't want to be around me any more? I wouldn't blame him in the least, not after what Gary made me do. If I told him, he might want to send me away, and then I'd be alone again. I didn't want to be alone anymore.

"I can't," I said simply, refusing to look at him. I couldn't look at him.

"Son," he said softly, which made me look back up at him. "I promise you, there's nothing you could tell me that would ever change how I feel about you. Whatever happened, I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure it never happens again. Please, Son," he pleaded with me.

"He hurt me," I said finally, deciding that if Ryan was going to make sure I wouldn't have to go into that home again, he had to know what happened to me there. I was still scared, but Ryan's words helped me see that he wouldn't let anything happen to me. It wasn't so much what he said, but how he said it. I just knew that he'd protect me.

"Who hurt you? Was it another boy in the home, or someone else?"

"Another boy. He's older than me."

"Did he beat you up?" Ryan asked me gently.

"No," I said, tears once more forming in my eyes. "He made me do things with him."

"Kyle, I want you to listen to me carefully, okay?" he said, to which I nodded my head. It was difficult to speak.

"Did he make you touch his privates?" he asked me. Again I nodded my head, and by now I had begun to openly cry.

"Did he touch your privates?" he asked me patiently. He knew this was difficult for me, and was trying to be as easy on me as he could.

"Yes," I said.

"Can you show me where he touched you?"

"Here, and here," I said, pointing to both my bum and where my pee pee was.

"I'm so sorry, Son," he said, gathering me up into another hug. I cried openly into his chest. Him holding me right then was just what I needed. Instead of the not wanting to have nothing to do with me, he showed me that he still wanted me, and that he cared about me. I knew he did before, but now I knew that nothing I told him would ever change the fact that he sees me as his son.

Finally he let me go, his hands resting on my shoulders as he looked into my eyes. "It's not your fault, honey," he told me as I wiped away my tears. "Did you know this boy?"

"Yeah. It was Gary, but there were some other boys with him. They all used to pick on the younger boys."

"How old was Gary and his friends?" he asked me.

"I dunno, maybe fourteen?" I said.

"Kyle, can you tell me exactly what Gary and his friends did to you?" Taking a deep breath, I began to tell Ryan what happened to me the day I left the home."

"I was supposed to be playing a game of basketball with my friend Greg, who shared a room with me, but I had to go to the bathroom badly. I was just finishing up in the bathroom when Gary and his friends came in. He had this really scary look on his face. His friends grabbed me, and Gary undid his pants and took out his pee pee. He put it in my mouth and he told me if I bit it he would kill me. All his friends were laughing at what was happening, and I was so scared and was crying. Then he had his friends take off my pants and underwear, and they made me go on my hands and knees. Then he did something with my bum, and it hurt so much. After they were done, they left me on the floor of the bathroom, naked, and they were laughing as they left," I finished. Ryan was just sitting there, the look on his face almost unreadable.

"I am so sorry, Kyle. No one should ever have to go through that. I have a good idea what he did to you, and it's a good thing that Gary isn't standing here right now, or I don't know what I'd do. I want you to remember that it wasn't your fault though, Kyle. Okay? There was nothing you could have done."

"It was though!" I cried. "I should have been able to stop him, or something. But I was too scared! I should have been able to do something. If I hadn't been in the bathroom..."

"You would have what? Peed your pants? there's no way you could have known that Gary and his friends would have done that to you. What they did was wrong. You didn't do anything wrong. I promise you this. I'm going to help you with this, and you won't ever have to go back to that place ever again. Whatever it takes, you're going to live with me from now on."

"You promise? You still want to be my dad?" I asked him.

"Yes I do, Son. I need to know a little bit more though," Ryan said.

"Okay."

"Do you know the name of the group home?"

"No," I said.

"Was it a group home for boys only, or were there girls there too?" he asked.

"Just boys. There were some older women there, like the one who ran the place. I didn't like her much. She acted as if she never had any time for us, telling us to go to our floor monitors."

"So there was an adult who looked after the boys on each floor then?"

"Yeah, I guess so. At least there was on my floor. Her name was Mrs. Beverly. She was an older lady, but most of the boys on my floor got along with her. She always made time to talk to us and make sure we were okay."

"But you didn't tell her what happened to you," Ryan said.

"No, I just wanted to get out of there. If I told her, and Gary and his friends found out, they might have hurt me more," I said.

"Okay, Kyle, I understand. "Now, when you said, older, how old do you think Mrs. Beverly was?" he asked me.

"I don't know," I said shrugging my shoulders. "Older than fifty at least. She had gray hair and her skin was a little wrinkly."

"Thanks, Kyle. I know that was really difficult for you. Are you going to be okay if I make a phone call."

"Who are you going to call?" I asked him.

"The CAS," he replied.

"But, they were the ones that put me in the group home," I told him.

"I know, Kyle. But they need to be told that you are safe, and if I am going to adopt you, I'd have to talk to them anyways. Can you can remember the name of the case worker who put you in the home?"

"Yeah, his name was Tom. I don't know his last name though."

"That's okay, Son," he told me. "You'll be okay if I make the call then?" he asked, and waited until I nodded my head to let him know that I was okay. Walking over to the phone that was hanging on the wall, he picked up the handset, and dialed a number.

"Yes, my name is Ryan Hunter... Yes, I'll hold," Ryan looked at me and smiled. "Yes I'm still here. I need to speak to a case worker by the name of Tom. I don not have a last name... Hello Mr Garreth? Yes, my name is Ryan Hunter. I'm calling you because I was told that you were the case worker for a young boy by the name of Kyle... Yes, he's here. Could you meet me at my residence so that we can discuss his situation? I see... in a couple hours? That won't be a problem. My address is 4215 Lakeshore Road West... Yes sir, in Burlington... Thank you, I'll be here," Ryan finished, and hung up the phone.

"You talked to Tom?" I asked.

"Yes, and his last name is Garreth. Make sure you refer to him as Mr. Garreth when he gets here. I'm certain that he will want to talk to you as well."

"Okay," I said. "Is he going to make me leave?"

"No, I'm not going to let him take you back. Now, he's going to be here in a couple hours. While we're waiting for him to get here, why don't we go out and get you some proper clothes. Those clothes you had are just too worn out. You will have to wear them to the store, but once we get you some new ones, we can toss your old ones out."

"You're going to buy me new clothes?" I asked him excitedly.

"Yep, that I am. Unless you want to go around wearing those old clothes all the time."

"No way!" I exclaimed. "I love you, Dad!"

"I love you too, Son," he said. "Now, let's get to the dryer so you can get dressed."

The washing and machine and dryer were in the basement. Actually they looked somewhat similar to the ones my mom used to have. Ryan approached the dryer which wasn't running any more, opened the door, reached in and grabbed the clothes that were inside. Ryan was right. My old clothes were very worn. They're weren't that old really, as Melissa had given them to me, but after living on the streets for the time I had, they looked as though I'd worn them for years.

"Okay, Son, you go over there to the bathroom, and I'll wait here while you get dressed," he said, handing me my clothes and pointing to the small bathroom that was across the laundry area.

"Okay, Dad," I said, and went into the bathroom with my clothes and closed the door. It only took me a few minutes to put them back on, and when I came out, Ryan was standing there by the washing machine.

"All set to go, Bud?" he asked me.

"Yeah, Dad. They're still very warm." I replied.

"I'm sure they are, Son. " we went back up the stairs but before we went to the back door where our shoes were, he went into the kitchen grabbed his wallet that was on the counter, and his keys which he had put on a key rack.

"Okay, let's grab our shoes and put them on at the front door," he said. I picked up my shoes and followed him to the front door. Putting down his shoes, he began to put them on his feet, and I did the same with mine. One last glance at each other, we smiled, and he opened the door, letting me leave first. He closed the door behind us and locked it up.

The front of his house was just as impressive as the back. It had a double garage with a fairly large driveway. In the center, between the two garage doors, was a basketball hoop. I loved playing basketball and I hoped that he and I would get a chance to play some basketball soon. His front lawn was immaculately cut, and looked very healthy. In the driveway, he had a rather sleek looking car. It was much different from the cars I normally see.

"What kind of car is that?" I asked him. "I've never seen one like that before."

"That, Kyle, is an electric car," he replied, opening the driver's side door.

"Oh wow. You mean you don't need to use gas?"

"Nope, the car runs entirely on batteries which powers a big electric motor."

"Cool!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, I think it is," he chuckled.

Walking around to the other side, I opened up the front passenger side door, and climbed inside.

"Make sure you buckle up, Son," he told me, which I did, pulling the seatbelt over my chest and down to the clip beside my hip.

The car silently rolled down the driveway, passed the open gate at the entrance, and out onto the street.

"Where're we going?" I asked Ryan.

"Well, we don't have much time before Mr. Garreth gets here, so I thought we'd just go to Zellers to pick up something simple. Later on, we can go to Sears to get some more decent clothes."

"Cool, my mom used to get all my clothes at Zellers anyway," I told him.

"Well, I usually don't like to dress in clothes that are fancy, but I prefer to get something with a little bit more quality than what Zellers has. I'm sure your mother did the best she could with what she had. You should be proud of her," he said.

"I am. I loved her," I said softly.

The rest of the drive to Zellers was spent in silence. When we finally arrived, we got out of the car and Ryan activated the alarm system.

"Do you want to visit the place where they buried your mom some day?" he asked me as we were walking towards the plaza.

"Yeah, I do, can we go today?" I asked hopefully.

"I don't see why not, I'll find out from Mr. Garreth where she was buried. He should know since he's the worker who handles your case."

"Thanks, Dad," I said.

"Don't mention it. Now, let's get in here and find some clothes for you."

We must have spent an hour going through the whole Kids clothing section. Both of us had fun trying to out do the other in picking out really outlandish styles. In the end, I ended up with about five pairs of pants, five shorts, lots of socks and underwear, and a good selection of shirts and sweaters. Not that I'd be wearing sweaters any time soon. Ryan also picked up for me several different bathing suits for when we go swimming.

When we brought everything to the front counter, and the clerk was scanning all the clothes, I kept looking at the amount as it was added up, and my eyes almost left their sockets when they saw the final price. In total, Ryan spent over three hundred dollars just on my clothes. I looked up at him, my mouth wide open.

"But, Dad, that's too much!" I said.

"It's okay, Son. We needed to get you new clothes, and I want to make sure you have enough."

"Okay, Dad, I'm just not used to someone spending this much on me," I told him honestly.

"I know ,Son, but don't worry about it, I'm not going broke yet," he laughed. I shrugged my shoulders, and watched as the clerk continued to put the clothes into plastic bags. When he was done, I started to grab as many as I could carry, Ryan took the rest, and we left the store.

"We'd better hurry, Son," he said looking at his watch." Mr. Garreth will be at the house in an hour and I want us to get everything settled, and all this stuff packed away in the spare bedroom."

"There's a spare bedroom?" I asked him.

"Yes there is."

"But why did you put me in your bed yesterday?"

"Because nothing was made in the spare bedroom. I have to put the bed together and the rest of the furniture. They're all from Ikea, so everything needs to be assembled. I just never bothered to put anything together as I haven't had many guests over," he replied.

"Oh." We climbed back into the car, and headed back to the house.

The drive back was as uneventful as the drive to the mall. When we got to the house though, it was a different story all together. In the driveway sat two cars, one was a police cruiser, and the other was an older model car that looked like it had seen better days. Ryan parked the car behind the beat up car, and got out. Standing at the doorway to the home, were two men in business suits, one of whom I recognized right away was Tom.

Ryan was not happy at all, I could tell, and he did little to hide that fact from the two people that were now walking towards him.

"Mr. Hunter?" the man I recognized as Tom inquired, offering his hand.

"Yes, I'm Ryan Hunter," Ryan answered, pointedly ignoring the outstretched hand. "Would you mind telling me who you are and what you are doing on my property?" he asked.

"I'm Tom Garreth. I'm with the CAS. You contacted me earlier," he answered, lowering his hand to his side.

"Yes, I did. However I seem to recall that you said wouldn't be here until one in the afternoon. It's just a little past noon now. Would you mind explaining why you are here so early, and why there is an officer here as well?"

"To put it quite simply, I was able to reschedule a few things, and the officer is here because of what happened at the group home," he said looking at me. "Hello Kyle, how are you doing?"

"Fine," I replied, hugging closer to Ryan.

"Well since you are here now, shall we go inside so we can discuss things in private?" Ryan suggested.

"By all means, let's," Tom said.

Ryan helped me get the bags from the trunk of the car, and together we brought them inside. I held Ryan's hand the whole time, and refused to let go, even when Tom tried to get my attention.

Once inside, Ryan had the officer and Tom sit in the living room. I went to put my clothes into the spare bedroom, which wasn't too hard to find since it was right across the hall from Ryan's room, and it was the only room filled with large boxes. When I returned to the living room, Ryan was serving coffee to the officer and Tom. I sat down on the couch across from Tom, feeling uncomfortable because Tom kept looking at me. Once Ryan had finished pouring himself a cup, he went back into the kitchen and came back with a can of coke for me, which I accepted gladly.

"Well, now that we're all sitting here, I'm going to tell you what we're going to do," Tom started.

"Hold up one minute there," Ryan said, raising his hand to stop Tom from saying more. "I think first of all what you need to do is state your position with regards to Kyle's current status. He has indicated to me that he ran away from the group home, and I think for good reason, and he refuses to go back there, which I don't blame him for in the least."

"The situation at the group home has been resolved, and as the home is listed as Kyle's legal guardians, he has to go back," Tom said.

"Unacceptable," Ryan stated flatly.

"Excuse me?" Tom queried, perplexed by Ryan's refusal.

"You heard me. If Kyle does not wish to return to that group home, then it would be in his best interest to find an alternative accommodation for him. You are here to do what is in his best interest are you not?" Ryan asked Tom.

"Well, yes, of course. But we have dealt with the reason he ran away in the first place."

"Is that a fact?" Ryan asked. "And what exactly do you know of the reason Kyle ran away?"

"I pretty much know everything that happened the day Kyle ran away from the home. Some of the older boys told me that they saw Kyle get into a fight with another resident, and then later on saw him packing up his bags and trying to sneak out of the home. After questioning some of the other children who resided on the same floor as Kyle to try and find out who he had gotten into a fight with, we learned that these same older boys have been responsible for a number bullying incidents which began pretty much since the time they had arrived. One of the younger boys pointed to a boy named Gary as being the leader of these bullies.

"Gary and his friends have been dealt with I can assure you. From what I've been told, Gary and his friends have received a month of strict curfew, and they are being monitor closely by the staff. Now, since Kyle has been found, we would like to know more about what happened that caused him to leave the group home, and if he was being picked on, why he didn't think he could go to the staff."

"I see," Ryan said. "Seems to me that both the group home's administration, and the CAS have really dropped the ball on this one, and the fact that your own investigation produced so little results is a testament to the lack of responsibility that the CAS and the group home have demonstrated with regards to the children living at that home."

"Now wait one damn minute!" Tom almost shouted, standing up from his seat.

"Excuse me, there is a child in this room, and you will watch your language around him," Ryan ordered Tom. Tom glared at Ryan for a second before sitting back down.

"You're right. I apologize for my use of language."

"In the one day that I have known Kyle, I have found him to be a very intelligent and honest person. He has told me what happened in that group home the day he left, and I am in full agreement with his decision to leave it, even though I wish he would have been able to go to the staff for help. But, the fact is, that he didn't and chose to leave the home for his own protection. To me, that speaks very highly of his ability to take care of himself," Ryan stated.

His little speech made me blush with pride, and I was smiling. I knew that Ryan loved me, but no one besides my mom had thought so highly of me.

"And what then do you suggest?" Tom inquired.

"Quite simply, if Kyle refuses to return to the group home, which I know he will, then I am prepared to start the process of adopting Kyle, and raising him myself," Ryan said.

Looks like Ryan has made his decision to adopt Kyle. Of course, how many of you out there thought that he wouldn't want to? Keep on sending me those comments. You can reach me at: jasonfinigan@yahoo.com. You can also visit my site at: www.jasonfinigan.net