I'll be in New York this weekend so I had rushed to get this up now. Also thanks to Special Agent Ali for giving me the idea to add the nickname Binky in there. Lassie following Hank around is how i imagine he gets the nickname. Though I want to make this a bit longer then just 3-4 chapters so any ideas on what to do with this story are accepted.

Sooner or later i'll update my other story. Fornow, enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 2 -

Carlton awoke the following morning to see his mom being the one who was waking him up. Which he was thankful for.

"Come on, sleepyhead." Mona smiled. "Time for school."

"Morning." Carlton yawned as he slowly sat up.

"Morning to you too." Mona said. "I'll go get started on your breakfast. Get dressed."

"Okay." He nodded as she left.

Once he was changed, he made sure he had everything in his book bag then walked out of the bedroom. In the kitchen, he saw breakfast was ready and his mom by the door.

"Your dad already left. I'll see you when I get home." Mona said putting her shoes on.

"Have a good day." Carlton said as he sat down and ate.

"You too, sweetie." Mona said then walked out of the door.

After he finished eating, he cleaned his plate in the sink then put some snacks including his lunch for that day in his book bag.

"Hopefully this works." Carlton said quietly as he walked out of the door.

When he reached the stop sign where he catches the bus, the other kids there didn't bother stopping him and asking why he had walked past it and continued on down the road.

Being as smart as he is, Carlton knew he wasn't very popular for one reason or another. So he figured that's why none of them stopped him.

- Three Hours Later -

To Carlton, since he was still a kid, he thought it was longer then three hours but that is how long he's been walking for and he has no idea where he is heading.

He's never been in the area he's currently at before, so he only hoped it would be safe. And not as dangerous as his imagination is letting on.

Carlton decided to stop and take a water bottle out of his book bag and got a drank. He then took some crackers out and sat down at the side of the road and had a small snack break.

Then, in the distance, he saw a sign. Running up to it, he saw it said,

'Old Sonora' on it. He's heard of it but never been there before.

"Wow! I must've walked really far to be out here!" Carlton said surprised at himself at how far he had walked on his own. "Maybe I can stay there?"

Carlton looked up to the sky and saw the once warm, sunny day was slowly turning dark and was going to rain at some point.

"Hopefully." Carlton gulped because he was afraid of storms.

At first he never was. But one night, he was alone with his dad and it was storming very badly. His mom hadn't came home yet and he was scared and worried she had gotten into an accident.

- Flashback -

Carlton was almost 5 at the time and was playing in his living room as his dad watched TV. Jacob wasn't very abusive at the time but gradually did as the few years went by.

Suddenly a loud thunder rung in the night sky and Carlton could see lightening coming through the blinds of the windows.

He stopped playing for a minute and looked to the front door.

It had been storming all day and worst then what Carlton had ever witnessed. His dad was here, sure. But he was definitely worried about his mommy. So then he turned to his dad.

"Dad?" Carlton said.

"What?" Jacob said already sounding annoyed.

"When is mommy coming home?" Carlton said as he heard more thunder.

"She'll be home soon." Jacob said as he read through the newspaper.

"Okay…but when will Mommy be home?"

"Soon." He said again, still annoyed.

"Okay…" Carlton said as he let out a whimper when thunder roared through the sky.

"Dammit, son! You are almost 5 years old! Stop calling her 'mommy' and stop being so afraid of storms!" Jacob said looking up to him when he heard his son's whimper.

"I-I I'm sorry, daddy…" Carlton said with another whimper.

"Shut up and keep playing. It'll get your mind off of the storm and give me some peace." Jacob rolled his eyes.

Carlton did as his dad said and went back to playing. Hoping his mom would be home soon. And didn't get into a car accident or anything bad that would kill her.

About 10 minutes later, there was still no sign of Mona Lassiter and Carlton was beyond worried now. But he didn't want to bother his dad again and make him angry.

To his relief, Mona walked through the door. Soaked and wet but okay.

"Mom!" Carlton said running up to her.

"Hey, sweetie." Mona said hugging him.

"I-I-" Carlton was cut off.

"He didn't think you'll make it home safely." Jacob yelled from the living room as Mona shut the door.

"It's okay, booker." Mona said calling him by his nickname since he loved playing and fake arresting people.

Carlton nodded but didn't let go. Afraid that she would die if he did…

- Present Day -

Carlton walked into Old Sonora with his book bag on his back again.

As he walked through, everyone there, whether they were tourists or workers, stared at him. Wondering why a little boy his age was walking alone especially when he should be in school.

Then the 'Sheriff' Hank walked up to him.

"Hey, kid." Hank said as nicely as he could without scaring him.

Carlton stopped and looked up to him. And when he looked up that's when Hank noticed his black and blue cheek.

"What's your name?" Hank decided to ask first. "I'm Hank Mandel, the sheriff around here."

Carlton continued to stare at him and was surprised that the 'sheriff' was talking to him. But even then, he knew not to talk to strangers.

"Cat got your tongue?" Hank asked with a chuckle. "Well, then, shouldn't you be in school?"

This time, Carlton nodded.

"Then why are you alone?" Hank asked which resulted in Carlton going back to staring at him.

Hank sighed, knowing he wasn't going anywhere with the kid.

"Okay, how about this, you follow me around Old Sonora. Help out even, so I can show you I'm not going to hurt you. Okay?" Hank asked.

Hesitantly, Carlton nodded his head again.

"Alright, come on." Hank said leading him to the main area of Old Sonora.

Hank had decided not to talk about the bruise, not yet at least. He wondered if the kid would get upset talking about it so that's why he decided to leave it alone for now.

"Well, this is where I stay." Hank said showing Carlton the Sheriff's building.

Carlton looked up to it in awe when he heard gunshots near the saloon. He then looked up to Hank.

"Dammit." Hank muttered when he noticed Carlton jumped.

"Sheriff." Stinky Pete said showing himself.

"Drop your weapon and come peacefully." Hank said to him.

"Well, Sheriff, I'm not exactly a peaceful man." Stinky Pete replied.

In a dramatic way, they both reached for their guns. But Hank got his first and shot him with a fake bullet. The tourists around clapped for him as he put his gun back into it's holster.

Carlton then realized it was fake when he saw everyone that was clapping.

"Don't worry." Hank said. "It's just…a game."

Carlton nodded when he knew he was right about it being fake.

But continued to say nothing.

And that entire day he said nothing to Hank or anybody. With the way he was helping and following Hank around, like how he was asked, Hank noticed he was like a binky.

Always there with him and actually like a companion to him too. Hank then decided to give him that as a nickname.

"Since I'm sure you still don't want to tell me your name." Hank said as he and Carlton sat in the saloon.

Carlton looked to him, curious to know where he was heading.

"How about I call you Binky?" Hank asked.

For once in a long time, Carlton smiled.

"Well, I guess you like it." Hank chuckled then realized that Carlton still needed to go home. "Seriously though, Binky, you need to go home sooner or later, where do you live?"

"…Santa Barbara." Carlton finally spoke up.

"Why are you here?" Hank said happy that he was finally talking.

"I ran away to make my parents happy. Can I stay with you?" Carlton asked.

"For now, yes. You'll have to go home sooner or later and when you do, I'll see if you can get dropped off here every weekend." Hank said.

Though he really didn't want to go home, Carlton would be happy with coming every weekend.

"Okay…" Carlton nodded sadly.

"Sorry, Binky." Hank said rubbing his back.

Thanks for reading and reviewing!