Nick's head was spinning as he drove back to his house with Alex in the passenger seat next to him. Alex was looking out his window at the strip, the colors of all the lights dancing around in his brown eyes. Every time Nick glanced over at him, he couldn't help but smile. He didn't know why, but the thought of having a kid didn't scare him. He still realized he had to think about it a lot, although there was little doubt in his mind that Alex would be staying in Las Vegas with him.

"Are you my dad?" Alex asked, cutting the silence.

Nick looked over at him, their brown eyes meeting. "Yeah, I am."

Alex nodded and smiled. "Good. I didn't like my other dads." He said.

"How many did you have?" Nick asked.

"I dunno." Alex shrugged. "Like four. They were all okay I guess. Except Mark. I really don't like him."

Nick picked up on the fear in Alex's voice. "Why? Did he hurt you?"

Alex quickly looked away and shook his head. "No. He was just mean. But so was my mom, so I got used to it."

Before Nick could ask anymore questions, Alex's eyes widened at the sight before him as they pulled into Nick's driveway of his home.

"This is where you live?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. You like it?"

"It's huuuuge. My old house was like...barely half this size. Why is it so big? Do you have more kids?" Alex didn't take his eyes off the white house as he got out of the car and started walking up to the front door next to his dad.

Nick shook his head. "Nope. I have a dog though."

Alex tore his eyes away from the house and looked up at Nick. "Really? I love dogs. My mom wouldn't let me have one though."

Nick opened the front door, letting them both inside. "Well, you do now. Maverick's around here somewhere..." Nick said, looking around for his yellow lab.

"His name's Maverick? That's cool." Alex said approvingly.

Out of nowhere, Maverick came bouding into the room. When he saw Alex, he wagged his tail furiously and ran up to him as fast as he could. When he reached the young kid, he started licking his face. Alex laughed and petted the lab's soft head. When Nick came back into the room, Maverick turned around and ran to him, jumping up and resting his paws on Nick's chest.

"I missed you too Mav." He said and stepped back so the lab went back down on all fours. Nick looked over at Alex, who was wiping his face with his t-shirt to get the dog slobber off of him. He smiled as he asked, "Are you hungry?"

Alex dropped his shirt so it once again hung over his shorts. "Yeah. I haven't eaten since I left. Got anything good to eat?"

Nick thought for a second before remembering the last time he went to the store. That was a few days ago. "Actually, no I don't. But that's why they invented take-out. You like pizza, right?" Alex nodded with a big smile. "Good. I'll order one."

Nick turned to walk into the kitchen to get the phone and was halfway there when he noticed Alex hadn't moved since he had walked into the house. Nick turned back around and motioned to the couch. "You can sit down buddy. Turn the TV on if you want."

Alex accepted the invitation and hopped up on the leather couch and flipped the TV on with the remote he found in between the cushions. Nick could hear the channels changing from the kitchen. He was somewhat surprised when he heard familiar sound of the basketball game come on and stay. He quickly ordered the pizza and some soda before returning to the living room and sitting down next to Alex.

"You like basketball too?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah. It's my favorite sport."

"Who's your favorite team?"

"The Spurs. I bet you like the Mavericks because you named your dog after them."

Hearing his name be said caused the yellow lab to get up from his spot on the floor and walk over to the couch. He jumped up and made himseld comfortable in between Nick and Alex before resting his head in Nick's lap and slowly closing his tired eyes.

"Yeah, you're right. You're a smart kid Alex."

"They moved me up a grade in school because I was bored with all the other kids."

"Really?" Nick was impressed with that.

"Yepp. They're all nine and I'm only eight."

"That's cool. So what did you get for your birthday last month?" Nick asked.

Alex looked over at his dad and frowned slightly in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Your birthday was last month wasn't it?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah. April 23rd."

"What did you get for presents?"

Alex shrugged. "Nothing. I never get anything for my birthday. Why? Do you?"

Nick was in shock with that response. How could a kid not know that you were supposed to get presents on your birthday? Given the way he knew Alex had been treated, he doubted he ever got much of anything. And that made Nick mad and sad at the same time.

"Yeah, I get stuff on my birthday."

"From who?"

"A lot of people I guess. My parents and siblings...Warrick and Catherine..."

"Those are the people I met today right?"

"Yeah. I work with them."

"They were nice. Are you friends with them too or no?" Alex asked.

Nick nodded. "Yeah. Warrick's my best friend and I'm good friends with Catherine too."

"Why didn't they want me to live with you?"

"It's not like that. They just wanna make sure I make the right decision so I don't end up screwing anything up. I tend to do that a lot. But it has nothing to do with you. Don't worry, everything's gonna be fine. I promise."

Alex didn't look like he really bought what Nick was telling him. Nick didn't blame him though. From the way it sounded, Alex didn't exactly have the best home life before he came here. Nick wanted to change all that and try to help him. He knew it was going to be the hardest thing he's ever done, but it was worth a shot.

"Seeing as how you obviously have no clothes or anything with you and didn't get anything for your birthday last month, how about I take you birthday shopping tomorrow? I don't have to work and just got my paycheck two days ago."

Alex smiled. "Okay. That sounds good."

They both turned their attention back to the basketball game and watched it in comfortable silence. They threw out comments here and there on the play of both teams, but other than that didn't talk too much. Alex was paying a lot more attention to the game than Nick was. The older of the two was thinking more about how he was going to make this work out than who was going to stop Tony Parker from driving down the lane on every possession.

Sooner than expected, the door bell rang, announcing the arrival of their pizza. Nick got up from the couch, disturbing the sleeping Maverick in the process. The still sleepy dog slid off the couch and sought out a new place to take another nap. Nick paid for the food and then brought it back into the living room and over to the coffee table where he set it down. He handed Alex a paper plate and a can of soda before getting his own food. They ate in silence for a few minutes before it was broken by the curious eight-year-old.

"Do you know why my mom didn't want me anymore?" Alex asked quietly.

Nick swallowed the bite of his pizza and dropped his eyes from Alex's. "No...I don't know why. But whatever reason it is, it wasn't your fault. You didn't do anything wrong."

"She said I did. And Mark did too. They didn't like me. I tried to stay out of their way and everything...but I guess I was just too much of a pain for them to handle. I promise I won't be like that here though. I'll be good."

"I know you will. Don't worry Alex, everything's gonna be alright."

This time, Alex looked like he truly believed those words for the first time in his life.