A/N - Hi guys! Wow, I did not expect to get any reviews, favourites or follows! My gosh! All the more reason for me to continue! Thanks muchly - more to come, I promise!

J x

"It'll be sad without you, mate," Tom noted as he and Chris were alone together after the others from the leaving party had left. "We won't be able to hang around as much as we used to."

"We'll still be able to hang out together," the younger replied playfully. "We have each others' numbers, right? And I'm not moving out of the city any time soon."

"So what have you got planned?" The older wanted to know. "Or is that something you haven't quite thought about yet?"

He wryly smirked. "You make it sound as though I haven't thought things through enough."

"I'm just worried about you, Chris." Tom placed a hand on his friend's broad shoulder, giving it a gentle yet friendly squeeze. "We've known each other for a long time and…"

"Tom…" Chris flitted his gaze away modestly before realising in a mixture of shock and concern that the older male had baulked from emotion. "Tom, I…don't well up, mate. You'll make me cry."

He gave him another friendly squeeze. "Just…don't do anything stupid – and keep in touch."

"I won't disappear."

Tom softly smiled whilst trying to ignore the commotion going on behind them. He casually looked around for the usual influx of students. There were a few but not enough to create so much noise. His smile faded and he frowned in a mixture of consternation and discontent at the source of the noise.

"Typical Thursday night, I take it," he supposed as he failed to notice his friend's concerned expression.

"You might wanna find that out for yourself."

It was the younger's turn to frown and look in his friend's direction. His eyes widened at the realisation that his own father was in the bar; not only that but he was being incredibly loud and disorderly.
He went over to him and tried to pull him away from the bar. "I think you've had enough now, dad," he pointed out as he tried to escort him to the door. The older turned around to see him.

"Son," he dazedly stated, putting an arm around him. "I saw you with your mates earlier but I didn't wanna interrupt your little party. Why don't we have a drink together? You and me."

"You've had too much." He tried to get him outside. "You should go home." He would've jumped a foot in the air when he threw his arms around him.

"So what was the occasion?" He dazedly wanted to know. "Let me guess. Birthday? Wedding? Ah, no. Couldn't be either of those. It had to have been a leaving party – maybe it just so happened to be yours."

"And so what if it was?" Chris pushed him off him. "Am I not entitled to have a leaving party when I leave? Is there something you have against me for wanting to leave a job I wasn't cut out for?"

"You're going to be sorry you left that place," he sombrely noted. "You'll now go out into the world with nothing. Didn't you even think about that? I don't think that even came into your head."

"How dare you." The younger grasped handfuls of his jacket and pushed him up against the side of the bar. "You know nothing about me."

"And behaviour like this," the older continued wryly, "again something that doesn't even come into your head. You disappoint me, Chris."

On that note he agitatedly released him. "And you disappoint me." He stormed out of the bar with Tom following him out. Stopping around the corner of the building he leaned against the wall, mentally drained from having to deal with him like that. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he jumped a foot in the air before realising who it was. "Tom," he noted, relieved.

"Is everything ok, mate?" He wanted to know. "You kind of stormed out back there."

"I know…I know I did." He drew in a small sigh. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to leave you in there by yourself, but…I had to get out. He was getting to me."

"I know he did and I don't blame you for coming out here, but…does he have a habit of getting to you?"

"Only when he's like that," he matter-of-factly replied.

"Why was he here?"

Chris turned to face him, his big bright blue eyes glistening from within the distant sparkle of the streetlights. "I don't know, Tom," he admitted slowly. "I don't know why he was here tonight."

"You're a good person." The squeeze at his shoulder made him relax and come over all jelly-like. "A lot more than people give you credit for."

The younger moved his gaze to his friend's more deeply set eyes, his bright blue orbs wide and nervous. He felt his breath catch in his throat when Tom placed an index finger under his jaw and tilted his face up to look at him better. Their eyes connected and without realising it they had come closer to each other. "I don't mean to sound prudish, but…"

"Too prudish for a man hug?" The older replied playfully. "I didn't have you down as a prude, Chris."

The shorter of the two nervously drew himself up against Tom, who wrapped his arms around him. He tensed up at the embrace and the unfamiliar feel of another guy's body against his but he relaxed when he felt one of the older's hands on his back and the other on the back of his head. He swallowed hard at feeling his fingers rake through his hair and the first thought that came into his mind was, does Tom…like me? "Tom, I…I like you too, but…you and I…"

"What about you and I?"

"W-we're mates."

"You think that I…" When the younger nodded nervously he gave a small laugh. "I'm sorry, mate, I did find that rather funny."

"So why are we doing this?"

"'Cause I…" Tom pulled himself away to look at him better. "Well, I know the two of us are mates, very good ones – but I see you more than just a mate."

Chris's eyes came over a little darker. "You're making me nervous now."

"I see you as a little brother."

"I guess I should be flattered you say that." He gave a small, relieved sigh.

"So what do you feel like doing now?" The older wanted to know. "I don't know if you feel up to going back in there as your dad may not have left."

"Knowing him he probably hasn't," he bluntly replied. "That's ok. I can go home. It's getting late anyway." His response prompted a frown from Tom.

"You're going home?" He reiterated. "What is this, a curfew?"

He shook his head. "No, not exactly. It's just that I…have other things going on at home at the moment."

The stockier male smirked knowingly. "Oh, I see. Well, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

When Chris got back to his place he was surprised to find the lights had been turned off. Only when he got to the room in which Scout and Liam were sleeping did he realise that they (or rather, just Liam) had stayed there. He frowned. What happened to her?

He then saw her emerge from the bathroom and noticed that a slight pallor had reached her skin. She was quite fair anyway so any other loss of colour was not good. "What happened?" He asked her carefully.

"I didn't feel very well."

He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Were you sick?" She nodded. "Have you eaten?"

"Does it matter?"

"Sort of, when you didn't have a good enough diet to start with," he firmly retorted. "It's too late for you to eat now but I can get you some water if you still feel sick."

She staggered back to her room whilst he set about getting her some water. It was only when she was in under the bed's blankets did she think about explaining to him exactly why she was sick in the first place. Would he understand? She was sure that he wouldn't.

"Now this will help." He gave her the small glass of water, which she thankfully took. He raised an eyebrow in concern at the assumption she had been in bed the whole time he was gone. "So when did you start feeling sick?"

"It didn't start as soon as you left, if that was what you thought."

"I haven't thought anything," he perched next to her on the bed, "but if you've been sick for no reason other than the fact you haven't eaten then I've got a reason to be worried about you."

Scout drew in a small sigh and dropped her gaze from him to the blankets. Since he'd allowed her and her brother to shack up with him she had not kept anything from him so why break the precedent? "I don't want you to think it's nothing or that I'm going crazy."

"I know you've been through a lot – a lot more than a kid your age should – but I could never think you're going crazy." Chris placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. "Scout, in the past I know that the way you behaved was 'cause of how your mum treated you. I understand. And I would understand if you still feel hassled by what went on. That's what trauma does to you. Was that why you were sick?"

"Sort of."

"You only have me to answer to now, no one else." He came closer to her, hoping that the closer he got the keener she felt about making any form of eye contact with him. "The feelings and thoughts that you have are tearing you apart. If you talk about them it might help them to go away."

"It isn't that I don't wanna talk to you about them, but…" She chose to look him in the eye that time. "You might think my reasons are petty."

"No, I wouldn't think that."

She could tell that he wasn't giving up or going anywhere until he got her to open up to him. She knew that she had an obligation to, especially if he had taken on the role as her father – not her proper one but ten times better than the real thing. "Mum has been texting me," she admitted sombrely.

Chris frowned. "I thought you changed your number to stop her from contacting you. Wasn't that what you and the services agreed?" She nodded slowly, knowing that he would not take the news well. "So you gave her your new number, am I right?"

"I had to." She could sense the concern in his voice and the grip on her shoulder tightened a little. "She called me when Liam and I were waiting for you to finish up that day. She sounded…frightened. Upset, I guess is another way of putting it, but she didn't sound with it at all."

"Scout," he started, "whatever went on with your mum that day had nothing to do with you. She's unstable and dare I say it, you probably made things better for her for agreeing to be re-homed. She has to find her own way, not do that with you."

"But I'm worried about her," she dimly pointed out.

"I understand that you're worried about her but she needs help and she can get herself that help if she set her mind to it. You've got to worry about yourself now, that's why you and Liam are here." He sat back a little, coming over a little firmer. "Your mobile, please."

She hesitantly handed it over to him and he deleted her mum's contact and went into the call log to delete her number on that, too.

"Living here with me is where things that happened between you and your mum do not matter. Being in another home gives you a chance to start over. Don't wreck that."

She nodded slowly.

"I don't wanna hear anything more about it," he went on. "Promise me that this doesn't get mentioned again."

"Ok, fine…I promise."

He didn't seem overly sure but he had to take her word for it. "Good. Do you feel any better now?"

"A little."

"But you still don't feel well enough to eat," he assumed. She shook her head. "Well, maybe you'll feel up to it tomorrow. Get some sleep for now. Ok?"