"Do you need anybody? I just need someone to love." TheBeatles

Riley paced back and forth, looking between the clock on the mantel and Abigail, who was in the kitchen. He didn't want to be late for his first day at a new school on top of everything else.

In the past, Riley had always looked forward to going to school. He had lived within walking distance, so no bus picked him up. If he….wasn't up to walking…then he couldn't go. There was no way Pop would take him.

"Ben says he hopes you have good first day. He'd be here but he has a meeting with his techie." Riley tossed Abigail a smile, because that's what she wanted, then resumed his pacing. Who was she kidding, anyway? Ben barely looked at him, avoided him as much as possible during the three days he'd been staying at the Gates mansion. Not that Riley blamed him. He knew he was a freak.

He wasn't all that worried about the other kids. Who cared about them, anyway? But he did hope that his teacher was female. Riley was honest enough with himself to admit that he'd never get any work done with a man breathing over his shoulder. It just didn't work that way.

Why'd you do that to me, Pop? The instant he thought the words he wanted to take them back. As always, he just assumed Pop was there, able to read his thoughts, ready to strike. It had always been that way --- as if Pop knew when Riley was thinking something inappropriate or mean. Then he'd be punished.

He was pushing overdrive now. Riley's feet continued to wear the carpet as he walked the same strip in front of the door. Back and forth. Back and forth. Nervously, his hand flew behind him, resting on his lower back where the long stripes became a center of mutilation. He had almost no skin on his back. He wouldn't let the Gates know that, if they didn't already. Even if Ben didn't actually want him, he'd still let him live there, right? Still gave him a computer and food, which was more that Pop had ever done.

"Well, I guess we'd better get going." Abigail emerged from one of the back rooms, carrying a purse and the car keys. Riley automatically jumped up straight, barely feeling the burns of the bruises and cuts on his side.

"Oh. You don't have to drive me, Mrs. --- Abigail ---. I would have…I could just walk. It's no trouble." He hated it when people did these kind of things for him. Didn't they know he was worthless? Pop had told him himself, and Pop never lied.

Abigail looked at him strangely for a second before breaking into a tired smile. "It's no trouble, Riley. What kind of…guardian…would I be if I didn't drop you off on your first day of school?"

The normal kind. Riley thought ruefully as he followed Abigail into the small, very expensive car. On his lap was a new backpack, courtesy of the Gates, filled with several notebooks and a few pencils, courtesy of Stephanie, his social worker.

Abigail put her hand on Riley's leg and Riley almost jumped. Almost. He was getting better at things like that, especially around Abigail. Ben just made him….nervous. But he still tensed a bit. Abigail's hand was gone in a second. "You'll come straight home from school, okay? I would pick you up but…well, you'll see. You don't want to be picked up by an old geezer like me."

"You're not old, Abigail." Riley muttered, looking at his knees. He wasn't supposed to talk to girls, but Stephanie and Abigail were okay. Still, he definitely wasn't allowed to tell the woman who was looking after him that she was pretty hot by teenage male standards.

Abigail smiled at him. "Thanks, Riley, but I am. Hot chocolate?"

"What?" They were at a coffee shop. "No, thank you, I don't think I could eat anything." Only Pop ever ate breakfast. Riley ate dinner, sometimes, when he was good. But he'd eaten two meals at the Home and the Gates wanted to feed him three. He just couldn't stomach it all.

Abigail nodded. "Just some for me, then." She started to turn off the car, then seemed to think better of it. "I'll be in there a few minutes. Want to pick some music?"

"Err…sure. Okay." Riley stared at the radio as Abigail left the car. It wasn't as if he didn't have a music preference. He did. It's just that in his entire life no one had asked him to pick his favorite music. He didn't even know if any radio stations carried it.

Riley jabbed at the radio, moving past the rap/hip-hop/top 40 trash his schoolmates had liked. Past the country, though he lingered there longer. Country was okay. Past the heavy metal and talk shows. He finally landed on a station that was playing Hotel California. He might have heard that song somewhere, once or twice, but it was the opening chords that soothed him. He smiled to himself, leaning back into his seat.

Abigail got back in the car and looked at Riley in surprise. In the three days that the boy had been living with her and Ben, he'd never looked like that. He almost looked…happy. "I wouldn't have pegged you for a classic rock type of person." She commented as they pulled out of the parking lot. "That's Ben's favorite, too."

"Oh?" Riley stared at the radio, mesmerized by the music.

Abigail took a sip of the hot chocolate. Ben always teased her, saying that grown-ups usually drank coffee or tea. Abigail usually stuck her tongue out at him. "So…you'll come home right after school, right?"

"Yes, ma'am." Riley looked at her, the barest hint of a laugh on his face. "I'll be okay, Abigail."

Abigail nodded, though her hands tightened on the wheel. They were passing the preschool/kindergarten now. She looked out at the young girls. One was wearing a tu-tu and skipping, holding her father's hand. A pang shot through her --- why did everyone else get to enjoy a child when she wasn't able to?

"Abigail?" She turned towards the voice. Riley. "Why….?" He seemed about to ask a question, then thought better of it. "I'll see you after school, okay? Don't worry. I don't think the kids will eat me." He looked out the window just as they passed a group of very large jocks. "Or maybe they will." He groped for his backpack. "I think I'll just stay away from anyone who looks like they want to spit on and/or kill me, huh?"

He began to duck out of the car when he went back in, looked straight at Abigail. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?" He looked nervous. He always did when he asked for something. "Why are you so sad?"

Abigail just stared at him for a second. "You are a very perceptive child." She finally said.

Riley nodded. "I get that a lot." He closed the door then, and Abigail realized he'd never been expecting an answer.

So basically Ben has issues, Riley has issues, and Abigail has issues.

As always, please review. And happy new year!