Jeremy drove down the street toward his home. It had been four months since the bite and no one came by to claim their son, so Jeremy decided to take full responsibility of him and adopt him as his son. Mike sat in the back seat and stared out the window. Bandages wrapped around his head tightly due to the fact that the stitches bled every once in a while.

"Will I get to see Mommy now?" Mike finally asked.

Jeremy nodded, "Yes, you will get to see Mommy." He had a feeling that Mike wouldn't recognize 'Mommy'. His theory was that Mike's memory was scrambled a little bit. He must've thought his real father was the security guard that tried taking him away from Foxy. He probably sees some other random woman as his mother. No doubt one of the women at the restaurant when he was bit.

Jeremy pulled into the driveway of his home and let Mike out of the car. "Welcome home, buddy."

Mike looked up at the house, "This isn't home…" he shook his head and stepped back.

"Sure it is." Jeremy knelt, "It's just…" the thought of something Mike would find believable, "We moved while you were in the hospital. We did it then so you didn't have to wait for your stuff to get unpacked." He said.

"Oh." Mike said, lightening up a bit.

"But… uh…" Jeremy paused, remembering that he only had a few small things set up in a room for Mike. He was going to wonder where all his stuff went. "Some… bad guys stole the truck that had your stuff in it." Jeremy said, "We tried stopping them, but uh… they blew up the truck."

Mike's eyes widened, apparently he had some toys he really liked. "The bad guys blew up my toys?" he whimpered.

"Don't worry, don't worry. Tomorrow, I'll take you out to buy some new toys." Jeremy offered, "Okay?"

"Okay." Mike looked down, "Can we go inside now?"

Jeremy chuckled, "Yeah, let's go." He led him inside where Jeremy's current girlfriend, Jacquelyn, waited for him, "Here's Mommy!" he said excitedly, hoping Mike would get excited.

Mike stared at her for a while, "Mommy got skinny." He whispered loudly to Jeremy.

Jacquelyn gave Jeremy a look with a risen eyebrow.

"Does she look pretty though?" Jeremy knelt by him, "Go give her a hug, she missed you."

Mike grew a smile and hugged her. "Mommy!" he cheered and nuzzled into her shoulder.

Later that night, after Mike had gone to bed, Jeremy and Jacquelyn sat on the couch. "Jeremy… why?" she asked. "You didn't have to take him."

"What was I supposed to do?" Jeremy asked, "Let them take him to an orphanage? Hell no." he shook his head, "With his head injury, he was sure to be made fun of."

"And how would you know?" Jacquelyn asked.

"Because I was made fun of for walking funny. I had a neural issue with one of my legs so it always kicked out to the side when I walked." He said.

"That was school, Jer." She sighed.

"No, it wasn't." he gave her a firm look.

She paused. She always forgot that he was in an orphanage at one point in his life.

"Jackie, I know how those kids can be." He said, "Besides, if no one was going to take responsibility for their kid, then someone has to."

"Here we go again." She rolled her eyes.

"It was my fault he was bitten in the first place. All I really can do now is care for the kid who almost died because of me." Jeremy said. "Besides, we can raise him together." He said, "We're parents now." He managed a small smile, "We just… skipped the hard parts." He shrugged.

Jacquelyn had called it an obsession. She'd wanted to wait to have any children. However, Jeremy had mentioned the uncertainties of life and that the child was a surprise. And Jacquelyn didn't like the idea of it at all. She still wanted Jeremy to herself and didn't want some 'five-year-old brat with brain damage' in the way. She was insensitive. No matter what Jeremy said to her or Mike, she was not going to be his mother. Since that day, she insisted in having him call her Jackie instead of Mommy. She yelled at him for little mistakes he made, in which Jeremy would defend him. Jeremy spent more time with Mike than he did with her, despite his invitations toward her. She would typically be left alone for 'bonding time' with Mike when he left for work during the day, however, when Jeremy came home one day after about a month of having Mike, Mike had been sitting in the living room watching some crime scene shows on the television while Jacquelyn was upstairs asleep. He stood by the bed and stared at her, "Unbelievable…" he scoffed "Jackie!" he snapped.

Jacquelyn jolted awake, "Hey, Jer-bear." She yawned.

"Don't 'Jer-bear' me. You know I hate that name." he said, "Why is Mikey watching CSI?" he asked.

"I was watching it earlier, I must've left it on…" she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"How long has he been down there by himself?"

Jacquelyn looked at the clock on the wall, "Hour and a half?"

His eyes widened, "Are you kidding me? An hour and a half?" he asked, "You should have been watching him!" Jeremy barked.

"Why? Why should I be watching him? He's not my kid!" Jacquelyn snapped back, "I'm not responsible for him!" she flipped the blanket off her lap and got out of the bed.

"We are responsible for him! If we're his parents-"

"We are not his parents!" Jacquelyn screamed, even loud enough for Mike to hear from downstairs. Jeremy felt as though he was punched in the chest. "I am not taking responsibility for someone's dumbass kid who can't even remember who his real parents are." She said lowly. "I didn't want any part of this." She said. "It's me or Mike, Jeremy."

Jeremy stared at her for a while, "Then get out."

"Excuse me?" she asked, "You're choosing the kid?"

"I can't spend the rest of my life living with the fact that not only this kid's injury is my fault, but the fact that I put him in an orphanage because my girlfriend doesn't have the patience to take care of him." He said.

"You inconsiderate-"

"Get out!" Jeremy yelled, the pictures on the walls shifted and papers blew off the dresser and nightstand. His now-black eyes glared at her with red pupils, "Now…"

Jacquelyn backed away, her eyes widening at the state her boyfriend was in. Ex-boyfriend. She wasn't putting up with him or his so-called son anymore. She grabbed her coat and her keys and left.

Jeremy followed to make sure she left the house.

Mike sat on the living room floor in tears, ketchup surrounded him, "Daddy, was she lying?"

Jeremy's eyes turned green at the sound of the small voice and he dropped to his knees and held his head. "About what?" he managed.

"You and mommy not being my parents." He whimpered.

Jeremy thought for a while, despite his sudden migraine, "Yes…" he lied, what was he supposed to tell a five-year-old with brain damage? "She's just upset." He said and looked at him, "People say mean things when they're angry."

"So Mommy's just mad? She's coming back?" Mike grew a little excited.

Jeremy paused. She just broke up with him. Or him with her. Either way… they've broken up. She wasn't going to be around anymore. He sighed, "No…" he said sadly. "She's not coming back." He looked around the living room and chuckled, "Man, you made a mess in here." He said, wiping his eyes.

"Were you crying?" Mike asked.

Jeremy sniffled and shook his head, "No." he stood up, "What were you doing here? Playing CSI?"

Mike nodded with pride, "They found a dead guy at the park and there's blood everywhere!" he waved his arms around to motion at the ketchup that posed as blood in this scenario. "I haven't figured out who did it just yet." He said and dropped his hands in disappointment.

"Well, do we have a body?" Jeremy asked. He hated that Jacquelyn let Mike watch as much CSI as he did and wished she taught him something other than how to figure out a murder scene. He decided to let Mike figure this one out for once and teach him how to clean it up.

"Right there." Mike pointed at a stuffed giraffe covered in ketchup.

Jeremy almost laughed, but forced himself to keep a straight face to humor the child, "Okay, and clues?"

"There's footprints here." Mike pointed at some red footprints that he had done himself by walking in circles through the ketchup. "And hand prints there." He pointed at the wall where random ketchup handprints had been left. "No witnesses." He said.

"Okay, what's step one?" Jeremy asked and knelt by him, "Take pictures, right?"

"Right!" Mike nodded excitedly.

"Alright, go find some paper and some crayons. In your room, right?"

"Okay!" Mike cheered and ran off.

Jeremy stood back up and took a deep breath, "Okay, no more ketchup." He said, "If not then I better come up with a fake bleach recipe." He mumbled to himself.

Mike ran back into the room with a box of crayons and a handful of construction paper. "Got it!"

Jeremy nodded, "Okay, so…" he scribbled onto one of the sheets, "Exhibit one." He said and drew a hand print and colored it with the red crayon. "Exhibit two." He counted and drew a small foot print the same way.

"Exhibit three!" Mike cheered and picked up another piece of paper.

"Nope," he stopped him, "A body is evidence." He said and pointed at the apparent dead giraffe, "That's exhibit three."

"Okay." Mike nodded.

"Step two?" Jeremy asked.

"Investigate." Mike said, the serious tone made Jeremy turn his head to take a deep breath, trying not to laugh at such a 'serious' matter.

"Nope. Clean up." Jeremy said.

Mike paused. He never got this far into his investigations. Jacqueline always yelled at him and sent him to his room while Jeremy stayed and cleaned up the mess. The previous few times was done with glitter as blood, and not ketchup. He looked up at Jeremy in confusion, "They don't say how to clean up on TV." He confessed.

Jeremy nodded, "Well, I'll show you."

With several kid-safe formulas of dish soap, laundry soap, and water to clean up the ketchup and an entire lesson with what the professionals actually used, including bleach, Mike learned that a crime scene investigation was a lot more difficult than they showed on TV.

"Next is a bath." Jeremy said.

"Aw!" Mike moaned.

"Bath time, buddy." Jeremy led him to the bathroom. "Detectives need to be clean to finish an investigation." He said.

"Oh…" Mike thought for a while, "Daddy, I don't wanna be a detective anymore…" he complained.

Jeremy chuckled, "Okay. But you're still taking a bath." He said.