Misjudged Crimes

Characters: Nat, Dan, Jo, Fritz and Tommy

Time-line: After they get the letter of confession from Jack.

Summary: What if Nat had a stronger reaction to being accused of stealing when the truth came out after Dan got his anger out of him and ran away, will they be able to find him or will he come back on his own.

Disclaimers: I don't own Little Men, the story belonge to me, everything else belonge to Louisa May Alcott.

Warning: 'I'm basing this story off what happened at the point they got the truth in the movie, and making his reaction stronger than his just forgiving them for accusing him of theft, so this is going to show the parts of his personality that were hidden away after the argument with Dan and being accused yet again of something he wouldn't do, while Dan's personality has taken on the older brother edge and Nan has unofficially become his girlfriend.

Also this shows how he saw Jo and Fritz and what he was too afraid to say, and their decision to keep them both as adoptive sons before the holidays came and her brother-in-law died, so this is going to show what happened between those points and how the boys had found a new home from that point.

Chapter 1: The Truth Comes Out

Everyone was in shock from what they just heard from their headmaster, Frederick, Fritz, Bhear, because they finally got the truth that one of their own had framed a fellow friend and class-mate of stealing, while Nat Blake felt his feelings shift from anger to pain as he thought to himself, 'This is like losing papa, I lost my parents, my best friend takes off on me, and I get in trouble for something I never would have done and now this, I can't take this any more. He's right, they don't understand us, and I'm not staying where someone who is quick to judge tries to put the blame on me for something I would never do.' he thought as he watched his brother get his anger out of him in the only he could then and they headed back to the house.

That night after everyone was a sleep, he packed a small bag, wrote a letter to his best friend and sat it at the end of the bed and quietly left the room he shared with the other boys and went out through the front door, as he got to the gates he looked at the house one last time and thought over where he wanted to go, before heading in that direction.

The next morning Dan woke up to find his friends' bed empty and then looked at the foot of his and saw a letter sitting there and felt fear take hold. 'Oh no, he didn't, friend please, you didn't leave us, where ever you went to I'll find you brother, I swear I'll find you.' he thought to himself as he quickly grabbed his nightgown, and cane and left the room and headed downstairs to find his headmaster and adoptive mother and found them both in the Bhears study. "Papa Bhear, Nat is gone, and I found this sitting on my bed when I woke up this morning." Dan said and Fritz stood up at that and moved over to him to read the letter his apprentice wrote and felt fear take hold at what it said.

"Fritz, what does it say?" Jo asked him and he read it out loud. "After being accused of something I would not do, I've decided to leave this place I once called home, Dan has found where he needs to be, but this only made it more clear that you accepted his choice of lying as I once did after breaking Tommys eggs not long after my arrival and the stories I told of us as a duo before you reprimanded me for that, you will not see me again from now on. Take care of my brother for me. Nat." he read and they exchanged concerned looks at that letter.

"We have got to find him Fritz." she said and he nodded as Dan thought it over before he realized where his brother would have gone. " Mama Bhear, where did you find us before you took us in?" he asked and she looked at him. "John found both of you at the market place in Boston, why do you ask?" she asked and he explained his thoughts on the subject. "I think he went back, but in this weather he could get sick and if he wound up with same injury I did, he won't get far, aside from that there are men who take urchin boys in and turn them into criminels, Nat's pain is focused on the loss of his father and your not trusting him, and both together could turn him into criminal, we have to get him back, before he comes across the man who started this or those parasites do something." he said and they both nodded.

"Alright, Dan I want you to wake the others up, we're calling a meeting and letting them know about this, Jo send a message to the Brooks and the Lawrence's, we need to get the entire family involved to find him." Fritz said and they both nodded as Dan headed upstairs to wake everyone up and they all came down stairs. "What is it Aunt Jo?" her niece, Daisy, asked and she went into that. "Due to the amount of mistrust and accusations going on in this house, Nat has ran away and left a letter and we need to find him and fast." she said and Nan answered that. "Mama Bhear, may I take a look at it?" she asked and Jo nodded.

As she read through it, Demi, Daisy and Emil crowded around her to read it as well, and felt their anger rising, "I can't believe this, why would he do that?" Demi asked and she sighed, already knowing the reason her friend left, and why she never left his side since she met him. "What did you all consider him when he got accused last week, before Jack admitted it?" she asked him and he immediately what she was saying. "We were acting like he had just arrived and Dan's arrival brought back the prejudice of life outside our own square." he said and she nodded.

"You and the others had a place to belong, he didn't and when he thought he found it, you turn on him. The truth is, by acting the way you did you brought back the pain of his father's death and everything he once had before he came here, he told me his mother passed when he was seven, and he only had his father with him, till he found Dan and then barely six months before he got here, his father got sick and died, leaving him an orphan."

"After your father offered him a chance to come here, he thought he found a new home and family and was beginning to adjust, and was starting to think of Mama and Papa Bhear as adoptive parents, and you all as brothers and sisters, till Jack destroyed that by stealing Tommys money, and in doing so caused you to turn against him." she said and the six boys exchanged looks of shock as she looked at Tommy with a very stern look on her face.

"Did he tell you that Nan?" Daisy asked and she shook her head. "No he didn't, but he didn't need to, out of the entire group, there are only two people who understand him in that way." she said and Emil asked the next one. "Who exactly?" he asked her and Dan answered that.

"Nan and me, Nan what was your background before we found each other?" he asked and she went into that. "My father passed away six months ago, and my mother wanted me to come here, so I could prepare for life when the time came, he didn't have to tell me what he was feeling about his parents I can understand what he's feeling, because I felt the same after my father passed. What about you?" she asked and he answered that gently.

"My parents died in a fire when I was ten and I was living as a street urchin for two years when I found him, I know what he's feeling, because it felt like someone stabbed me in the heart when his father died, because he took me in, and we were on our own after that looking for a place to start over and finally found it here, before things started getting out of control." he said and she nodded as Jo felt her heart turn to ice at that information. 'Oh my, it's no wonder they connected so fast, they all share the same parental background, I'm not letting my boys go, I'm going to get my son back.' she thought as Fritz thought the same thing.

"This is the reason you were scared to let us in Dan?" she asked and he nodded. "Yes and it's the same for him now, he was just beginning to adjust and see you as his parents before Jack caused this and Tommy made it worse, by getting you to think he'd do that. The truth is out of the two of us, he'd never steal from anyone and the day we got separated, I was the one who took that man's money, if it hadn't been for that he wouldn't have healed so fast when you took us in and unofficially adopted us." he said and they both nodded as they got it.

"Nat left us, because of Tommys accusations and everyone's suspicions of him being the thief, whose fault is this really, he said repeatedly he was not the thief and no one believed him, Dan stood up for him and you accepted that, before Jack left yesterday and now the pain and anger of this has resulted in his leaving." Nan said angrily and they nodded.

"Tommy, this is your fault, if you had just stopped jumping ahead and jumping to conclusions he wouldn't have done this." Demi added and he looked at him. "Out of everyone, he was the only one who knew where I hid my case." he said and Dan turned to him at that. "I did as well, and yet you accused the person who was your partner of being a thief, as I said the night before Jack left, I was also a street urchin with a penchant for stealing and he grew up with a father who loved him. Prior to his arrival I was the one who stole that man's money, before Demi and Daisys father offered him a chance for a new life and family."

"You knew my background when I got here before I reformed and he had been here longer than I have and he was beginning to feel like he'd found a home, before you accused him of thievery and, in doing so, turned the entire household against him, before I stood up for him and Jack admitted it, and now this pain and anger could turn him into a criminal and possibly kill him if he gets sick in this weather. I'm not losing my brother, because of your mistakes, when we find him, you're staying away from him, understand." Dan said to him sternly and Franz quickly ended the fight. "Alright that's enough boys, we need to focus." he said gently.

"Alright, it's fifty miles from here to Boston, and if he got tired he could have fallen asleep in a barn or shed, but with the weather like it is, he'd have to light a fire to keep warm, so we better search the area around the property and then expand it further as time goes on." Dan said and he nodded in agreement to that as Fritz took over. "Alright, Dan you know him best, what direction would he go if he left Plumfield?" he asked and he thought about it.

"Northeast, he's taking the route I took to get here, and is following the river to do it, if we head in that direction we could find him." Dan said and he nodded as he looked at the boys. "Nan, Daisy, boys I want you to search that area, Dan are you up to this, you're still mending?" he asked and Dan nodded in answer to that. " Yes Papa Bhear, I am, I'm doing whatever is needed to get my brother back." he said and they nodded gently to that.

"Alright let's get to it, Nan you're with Dan, Daisy you are with your brother and boys you're pairing off and stick together, the last thing we need is another sprained ankle or worse here, Silas, I want you to search the woods, because he could have gone in that direction and there are a bunch of wild wolves out there, and he could be in trouble." he said and they all nodded as they quickly got ready to do a search for their missing friend, brother and son.

"Hold on baby, I'm coming." Jo thought to herself as she looked at Dan who had the same look on his face. "Don't worry brother, we'll fix this, I'm bringing you home." he thought to himself as he nodded to his adopted sister who had the same look and they left and started the search for the missing member of their family.