(A/N: I don't leave notes much, but since Berwald *finally* starts coming in this chapter, I would like to say I am kind of experimenting with writing his accent. It will never be that whole vowel slaughter, so don't worry about that. I'm trying to make it kind of subtle, tell me if you like it or not. Also, thanks very much for all the reviews! I am happy you all seem to like how I do Tino so far. I hope my later chapters continue to bring him justice. -Tuuli.)

I awoke to something that was oddly pleasant, granted it was oddly horrifying in it's own way.

"Wake up." Hot guy voice. I was a little terrified how quickly I had discerned that it was Berwald's voice. I guess it was better to be woken by him rather than his mother. He hadn't witnessed me trying to rob him, at least. Though I was certain he knew what I had done, that wasn't just something you didn't tell your son about. Mrs. Oxenstierna was a really weird lady, but she wasn't weird enough to not inform her son of something like that I don't think. My eyes peeled open pretty quickly. I had a guilty conscience, not to mention my eyes were probably always gonna be eager to behold someone so attractive.

Me and all my glory, I suppose. I might be hauled back to Helsinki and back to Hell today, but I still managed to have a mind for a hot guy when I saw one. Oddly enough, that realization was a huge relief. Kind of a reminder I was still sane through all of this, that I might be dead pretty soon, but I was still me. Weird comfort, right? Who cares, comfort is welcome when it comes to my life nowadays. I smile at him, because I can. My moods change a lot, don't they? I go from petrified because his mom is probably waiting with a gun downstairs, to flirtatious. Flirtatious by my standards, which is small and subtle, like smiles. "Sure."

Apparently, he wasn't in the mood for flirts. I understood that. I had been an ass. I mean, stealing? Really? What was I thinking? There is like, a rule somewhere specifically stating it is especially not legal to steal from people that attractive. It made them mad, and pretty people stopped looking pretty when they frowned too much, and then their beauty would waste away, and that was awful. I bet a million bucks that I don't have that frowning made Mrs. Oxenstierna less attractive than she used to be... "Seriously, get up. Yer not in trouble... Actually, I would call this the opposite of punishment, for someone like ya."

I sat up at his second command, yawning. My tired eyes looked up to his much more intimidating and alert ones. Opposite of punishment? Oh, I get it. She pitied me. I'd get fifty bucks and I'd be on my way. That had happened to me once before. Not because I messed up stealing like I had this time, but because a someone saw me sleeping in an alley, felt bad for me, and literally stuffed twenty Euros in my pocket while I was asleep. I never found out who gave it to me, but if anyone ever came forward and took credit for it, all I could do is thank them verbally. I still don't have much to offer, though their kind money had got me to Tornio. Tornio hasn't been the land of opportunity I had hoped it been yet, but progress was progress in the grand scheme of things in any form.

There was an awkward pause, in which, for once, I had nothing to say. Berwald broke it. "Why?"

So, being inquisitive was a family trait. Sighing, I went over it again, this time much more tired, and I probably even sounded agitated, something he really didn't deserve. I should comply with a smile, you know, to make up for my bullshit stealing thing. But it was too early in my mind to pretend, so Berwald got what he got. "I have shitty parents. Shitty life, in Helsinki. So I ran away. I only had like six hundred Euros though, I am broke, so here I am. Stealing. I don't like it, but it is what it is. Any more questions why? Because it is as simple as that. It isn't something vast, interesting or complex." Standing to my feet, I ruffle down my hair. I have hideous bed head, and I didn't wanna look so atrocious in front of this guy. Granted our chances of ever happening were currently in the negatives, I just didn't wanna look bad. It's human nature to yearn to look acceptable in the presence of the more fortunate of looks.

Another nod. I need to keep a log going in my journal to count how many times he nods, just out of curiosity. Was this the second time? Or maybe the third? We have had two conversations, which means, so far, once per conversation. If I remember properly.

He led me down the stairs, and I followed, suitcase in hand. I muse about such dumb things. Nodding? How stupid and trivial and unimportant. I will agree with my parents on one thing, that I thought the unimportant things in life held some vast and untold importance that, more times than not, were never really there. They always yelled at me for that, and I guess I understood that. I'd wonder aloud about how all the tall people I knew liked coffee, and why trees grew up. I went on for a long time about that last one. Why didn't the roots poke out the ground, and the tree trunk go in the ground? See, dumb stuff. My mind is always off the wall too, going from one obscure idea to the next. His mother was waiting downstairs for me though, and that really is more important right now.

Good news, she wasn't mad. Well, I mean, not too mad, certainly more calm than I had expected. She didn't have anything in her hands that could potentially kill me. Her expression was unreadable. But there were no police, no parents. All good signs. I gulped, not wanting to face this, but here she was, facing me. I was already facing it. Might as well speak. "Hello."

Everything I did could lead to me being sent home, if that wasn't already set in stone already. I really, really needed to play my cards right. Otherwise, everything these past few months I worked so hard to build up? It would crumble, crumble quick. And I wouldn't be able to put it back together. I could try, but it would be like trying to put up a wall of stone back up with a stapler. You can assume how well that would go.

"Hello, Tino. Did you sleep well?" Avoiding it was killing me. Just tell me, was my life done for or not? I wanted to know, to appease the growing dread in my chest. That was the absolute worst feeling in the world. I could handle it in my tummy, because then I could just laugh it off and claim sickness. Just a stomach flu! But when it came to the knots welling up in your heart, the ones that happen only when you've done something horrifically wrong, and the consequences are just right in front of you, about to take a bite out of your soul? There was no other justification. It was one-hundred percent dread, in it's most raw, hard to handle form. And that was the type you had to suffer with, because you couldn't ever push it away entirely. I think Mrs. Oxenstierna knew that. Dragging it out was perhaps the very start of a long punishment for me, and I probably deserved it.

But I did sleep well. "Yeah, I did. The room was very nice." True, all true. I am a thief, sure. Far from some perfect, upstanding member of society. Still, I try to avoid lying best I can, because that normally ends up just making life worse in my experience. I didn't need to fuel the fire right now. Plus, the room was truly very nice. Old as this place clearly was, it was well kept. Recently painted, new flooring installed, all the works. I bet that cost a lot of money, now that I think about it.

As if that thought cued her words, she spoke. "Yes, we renovated the place two years back. Cost a lot of money, money you almost stole, Tino. Money that would be gone if you hadn't been caught."

The first thing I wanted to say was 'But it was only fifty Euros!' In the end, the amount of money I was taking did not matter. I was taking money, money I had in no way earned, money they deserved. I don't have the best filter on me though, so I said it despite knowing it didn't matter. Just saying it got it out of my system, and I only needed it out once. But it did need out. "I was only gonna take fifty..."

"You are such a child, for someone who feels big enough to run away," I expected the castigation, and simply listened close, "The problem here is not the money. I can give you money. We have that, don't you worry about that at all. If I had understood your situation, I would have just gave it to you, you know. But you didn't even ask. I don't know what world you had at home, but you have left that place, and must be in this world now as a respectable human, despite what may have happened back then." Ah, the grow up speech. How many times had I received this at that old house of mine? Of course, not in such a serious manner. And unlike now, I never thought it was right at all. But I understood what this woman was saying. Hell, I agreed! It was wrong. But that was just life for a runaway.

The prominent old woman gave no indication she was done, and I would not speak until she did. She turned on her heel, pacing through the lobby as she spoke, leaving Berwald and I to watch on. "I do not want to know what happened to you in that old home. Do not bother telling me, because you will only use it as an excuse for your shortcomings later on. Not giving you a voice takes away those excuses, leaving you only yourself to blame. That will help you grow up. I have no idea your age, and I can only assume you are a little too young to really grow up, but in situations like your own, one must grow up earlier than the norm."

I was confused, but listening, eyes kept on her to show respect.

"Enough of my dilly dally. Tino, you are living with us now. Under my roof. I will not call the police unless you attempt another robbery. But unless you are a pure idiot, I doubt that will be an issue ever again. You'll be an employee, and I will pay you with a place to sleep, clothes, and food. Oh, and of course education, I am practically adopting you, I will not have a stupid son." With that, she walked up to me specifically. The family was made of giants I swear, and even though she was a pretty old chick, I still had to look up at her a little bit. Intimidating, but with the offer I was being made, I was in no place to flinch away from this. Her blue eyes squinted, taking me in. "I have a feeling you are respectable, deep down. You did do those chores, and that was probably your saving grace, kid. You speak any Swedish?"

The last question jolted me back to reality, forcing me to remember that I had a tongue to speak with, and I needed to use it. I nodded quickly, "Yeah, a little. It isn't perfect or anything, but I took it in school... My Finnish is way better, but-"

"Hush." I was cut off, and that made me jerk back a little. I'm not used to being cut off. My parents sucked, but they were abusive in a different way. They didn't cut off my sentences, they just acted like they never heard them. This was new... "I just asked a yes or no question. Do you speak Swedish, or not? Yes or no."

I can tell this raising up was probably what made Berwald seem standoffish. But it was certainly a better deal than what I got. "Yes."

"Good. Don't know if you can tell, but we are from Sweden. Berwald's dad owned the place, and we lived in a town nearby in Sweden. But Aksel up and died four years ago, and since then it has been up to my son and I. Well, and you, now. But our Finnish falters sometimes, and we normally speak Swedish just talking..." She seemed very relieved. Couldn't blame her for that though. It's my native tongue, and I knew that was the only reason I grasped it at all. Swedish was pretty simple for me to get, considering it was a good bit less complex. Getting used to speaking it around them wouldn't be extremely easy or anything, but I owed them a shot with it after what I did.

I nod. Hm, looks like I am starting to get into nodding too. Was the first time I had done it in this conversation? I forget. I hope it is, I don't wanna start nodding as much as Berwald or anything. "I can help you two with Finnish, if it would help. I mean, running the front desk would be pretty hard without a good understanding of it."

Mrs. Oxenstierna took that as an insult, unfortunately. Her brows furrowed, and her previously indifferent expression evolved into a more obvious frown. "Kid, I speak Finnish just fine. It's a pain in the ass to speak all the time though, so I'm just telling you to keep on your toes."

Note taken. I nod. Two times in under a minute, that was for sure. I need to quit nodding.

"Well, get to work." She turned away from me, cracking her knuckles. "You've got a lot to make up to me. Keep that room key by the way, that's your bedroom now."

I couldn't help but smile. I nearly rob this woman, and what do I get? Shelter. Maybe even a home. But I wouldn't hope too hard for that last one yet. "Ma'am?

"Hm?"

"Thank you."

And like I could feel her scowl without seeing it yesterday, when she caught me with my ear up to all of her money, I could feel the smile she had as I thanked her for this chance. Life may have sucked pretty hard up to here, but I guess miracles even happen to people like me.

Mrs. Oxenstierna simply walked off, not giving a verbal response. Neither of them were verbal, but I could do the talking for them in the future. I sure had the mouth to do it. But now was not the time for talking, now was time to wash windows.