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He opened the door, slipping into the quiet apartment. It had been a long night, and he was tired. The creep he had just ridden the world of was harder to get than he expected. It turned his stomach to think about what he found in that guy's house.

As he waited for the water to heat he decided to check on Spencer. Opening the bedroom door he peeked in, Spencer was lying curled up on the bed. There were sniffles and crying coming from him. It happened more than he liked, Spencer would cry himself to sleep.

"Spencer," he said quietly.

"I want my Daddy," he cried pitifully.

"I'm here buddy," he cooed softly, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"No, I want my REAL Daddy. I want to talk to him. Maybe if I ask him real nice he'll let me live with him."

The words rang in his ears that he didn't realize what he was doing until the boy started crying out. Lou Jenkins looked down at the child that he had saved. He had taken the boy from the park near his home. His parents weren't good for him, after the murder of two little boys they were letting a four year old wander around the neigbhood. He saved him before the sicko could get to him. Diana was too sick and William too weak to protect him right. They didn't deserve to have their child when his had been ruthlessly murdered.

Whimpers from the boy on the bed brought him around again. Spencer was curled up in an even tighter ball, his arm already bruising from the harsh grabbing and shaking him. He felt a small bit of guilt but he knew he was still the best choice for the boy, he would have to start teaching the boy to be stronger. And remind him to NEVER talk about his old parents again, they were gone.

"Go to sleep, Riley," he said tiredly.

"But I'm Spencer, Riley's dead." It was whispered but it felt like a punch to his gut. He couldn't be held responsible for what happened next.

Edina Carrington knocked on her neighbor's door. At first when the man and his little boy moved in she thought the boy would be wild. How wrong she was, he was a darling child, smart as a whip too. She hadn't been around children in a long time. Her first son dying in infancy only a few months after getting the news that her husband had died in Vietnam. He was the love of her life, but lonilness made her make biggest mistake of her life. Seven years after losing her husband and baby she married what she thought was a nice man.

Four years, three miscarriages and too many broken bones to count later, she left him. It was the smartest thing she had ever done, she hadn't known at the time she was pregnant again. Because she feared for the baby she was pregnant with she made herself disappear. It was because of this she knew the signs of someone trying not to been seen, and her new neighbor didn't want to be seen.

Spencer was such a sweet boy, but there was just something off about his father. Some of the things the boy said led her to believe that the man wasn't his father by blood. But there are all different kinds of families now, the kid could be adopted.

Usually she watched Spencer five days out of the week, but it had been almost a week since she had seen the boy last. It was a little unnerving how quiet the apartment was. Before even when his father was there Spencer would walk across the hall to talk to her, now nothing.

When no response came from the knocking she tried again. There was a very quiet squeak from the other side of the door.

"Spencer, are you okay?" She was worried something had happened to the boy, she didn't completely trust her new neighbor.

Something knocked into the door and she heard a click. It was then she noticed there was a new lock on the door, higher up.

The door gently opened and what she saw made her gasp. The precious little thing that she had spent so much time with was covered in bruises, his face was a mixture between healing bruises and fresh ones.

"How could I have not heard that?"

"Spencer, oh baby. What happened to you?" she asked.

"Daddy said I was bad. I'm an ungrateful, bad boy."

"Is your daddy here?" she asked, trying not to cry or kill someone.

"No. He went to work, I'm not supposed to answer the door, but I'm hungry. Can I have something to eat?" Her heart broke a little more at that moment.

"Of course sweetie, but first we need to go for a drive." Being a abuse victim herself she knew not to upset him if possible before she could get him to safety, there was no way she was leaving him here.

She pulled him into her apartment while she grabbed her things. Also grabbing a tin of cookies she had made him earlier, they weren't very healthy but they were better than nothing.

"Here, pumpkin, take these. You can eat them in the car." He grabbed the tin with his small hands.

They hurried down the steps as fast as an injured child and elderly woman could. She just opened the backdoor of her car when she heard it.

Looking up she saw her new neighbor walking in a slow gait to them. His eyes were dark, something dangerous was behind those eyes. Deadly. She had seen the same look right before her husband tried to kill her.

"Run, Spencer, run and don't look back!" she screamed at the child. "Find a policeman. Go!"

She didn't know if she was more surprised or happy that the child listened. Turning with the tin still in his hand he took off down alley. Her neighbor started to run, she knew it he caught the boy he was good as dead, evil didn't go away. Someone who beat a child like that, would end up killing them. Needing to do something to slow the man down she did the only thing she could think of, as he passed her she swung her heavy purse at the man's head. It knocked him down but not for long.

"I'll be back for you," he snarled before taking off again.

Once he was gone, she knocked on the door of one of the first floor tenants.

A sleepy looking college aged girl answered. "Yes," she said, yawning.

"I need to use your phone to call the police."

She hoped that Spencer would be safe until the police came. He was so damn smart that she knew if he hid he would do it well but he was still just a baby. A baby in street clothes with no coat in winter. God, what had she done?