A/N: I recommend putting on the song, "Prairie Town" by The Wailin' Jennys.
"Alfred."
The man peered at him coolly over his glasses.
"Alfred."
He seemed to grab the blond's attention that time. "Yeah... Yeah?"
"Don't hear me wrong. I'm not telling you to run away. If you're going to take my advice, then you need to do this correctly."
"Mm-hmm."
"Alfred, I mean it. You must tell your parents."
Alfred shifted in his seat, coming back from his mind's eye to try to take in what his therapist had told him. "I don't know if I can do that. My 'rents don't even know I come to see you, you know?"
Sighing, the man across from him removed his glasses, searching momentarily for a safe place to set them down before clasping his hands in his lap. "Yes, Alfred, I do know. But that isn't a reason to drop everything and leave in the night like a fugitive."
Still, Alfred Jones, tired and downtrodden as he was, he felt something, a hoping, a longing, a small fluttering thing, brush its feathers against his chest. There was a way out.
Finally, after all that had happened, there was way out.
A/N: This story... it means a lot to me. It's hard to explain why, but it really hits close to home, and the day that the idea settled in for a nice long cup of coffee was the day that I realized something about our beloved Alfred Jones. There is more to him, and I think it's time to give him the opportunity to be something else. I hope you'll like this.
