At first, Tessa didn't even notice the pair sitting in the middle of the living room floor. Striding into the room, laden with packages, the thought of looking down for her lover never occurred to the women.

"Duncan, can you give me a..." Finally noticing the duo, she immediately abandoned her packages and dropped down in front of them.

Both Duncan and Richie were slightly startled by the strength she showed as she pulled the teen off Duncan and settled him on the floor in front of herself. Turning him one-way and then another, she examined him from head to toe. "What's wrong? Where are you hurt? What happened?"

"I'm okay, Tess." Richie defended himself, still befuddled by the intense scrutiny he was receiving.

The Frenchwoman, however, was not convinced by his reassurances. "Let me be the judge of that." She replied, tilting his head from side to side to examine him closely.

"He isn't hurt, Tess." Duncan defended the teen. "Or sick."

When the woman looked over at him skeptically, the Immortal continued. "Honestly, he's alright."

"Good." The woman replied, removing her hands from the teen and abruptly standing. Walking back over to retrieve her discarded packages, she lightly patted the boy on the shoulder. "I'm glad."

"Tessa." Duncan didn't even know what to say to her. How on earth he was going to convince the woman that she needed to be less abrupt with the boy was beyond him.

"Come help me with these?" She turned to the two. "And maybe fill me in on what, exactly, is going on here."

"All right." Duncan told her, rising only slightly slower than Richie. Resting a hand on the back of the boy's neck, he went over to help Tessa place the packages on the kitchen table.

"So?" She asked expectantly, looking through her treasures.

When Richie looked down at his feet, Duncan decided to relieve the boy's discomfort and answer the question himself. "Richie was a bit confused."

"About?" Tessa questioned, looking from the Immortal, to the teenager and then back to the Immortal.

When Richie remained silent, Duncan once again interjected. "About who all was going to France."

"We told you both Duncan and I are going." Tessa looked at the boy, not understanding the reference.

The Scotsman quickly spoke. "It wasn't you or I going that he was confused about."

"Well, then where was the..." Tessa finally understood what the Immortal was alluding to. "Richie, what were you thinking? You are much too young to be left here by yourself. Of course you are coming."

"I know." Richie said quietly, not quite meeting her eye. "That's been made pretty clear."

"Good." The Frenchwoman replied, turning her attention back to the packages. "Tomorrow will be a busy day, you better go get ready for bed."

"Bed?" Richie repeated, slightly in shock. "Tess, primetime TV hasn't even started. It's way too early to go to bed."

"I didn't say go to bed, Richie." The woman returned. "Just get ready. Why don't you go get a shower, brush your teeth and put on your pajamas? Then you can come out here and watch some television with us."

"Pajamas?" Richie replied; the idea of that particular type of clothing was far from appealing to him.

Tessa was not swayed however. "Yes, pajamas. The things one sleeps in. I've bought you plenty, Richie. Second drawer on the left."

"I know what they are, I just don't wear them." The teen replied stubbornly.

Duncan finally interjected. "It's up to you, Richie. If you'd rather roam around in your underwear, I won't be offended in the least. How about you, Tess?"

"Not at all." Tessa replied, totally understanding the man's logic. "You might get a bit cold, though."

"Oh, for Pete's sake." The timid boy blushed bright red at the very idea. "Fine, I'll wear the pajamas."

As Duncan watched Richie hastily retreat to the bathroom, he couldn't help calling after him. "Don't forget to wash behind your ears."

The couple exchanged grins at the groan that floated back to them from down the hallway.

As she slid the last item into her suitcase, Tessa paused to listen to the sound of the shower turning off.

"Sounds like he's done." Duncan commented, noticing Tessa's hesitation at the sound.

Her response was quick. "He took a long time. He's usually in and out in two minutes."

"Hard day." Duncan said quietly, taking both their suitcases and placing them by the bedroom door.

Tessa looked over at the man. "Thinking he was staying alone; what are we going to do with him?"

"Well," He couldn't pass up this opportunity to discuss the distance Tessa was putting between herself and Richie, even if it would anger the Frenchwoman. He owed it to the boy. "It wouldn't kill you to be a bit more affectionate with him."

"Richie knows I care about him." Tessa replied simply.

The response absolutely infuriated Duncan. "He doesn't know, Tessa. Isn't that painfully obvious? He's terrified we're going to abandon him."

"Duncan." Tessa began, surprised by the passion in the Immortal's voice.

Duncan, however, was not finished expressing his thoughts. "He's absolutely certain that he's going to do something to make us get rid of him. How can you not see that? The first time we even mention leaving, he thinks it's just an excuse to leave him. My God, it's heart wrenching. Not to mention downright dangerous."

"Dangerous?" The one word earned her undivided attention. "What do you mean? What aren't you telling me?"

"He thought we were leaving him." Duncan started.

Tessa urged him on. "And."

"And he was hanging out at the docks, waiting for his old pal Jason to come help him find a new place to live." The Immortal continued, then walked out of the bedroom.

Tessa was mortified. She quickly followed him into the living room. "The docks? He was at the docks? At night? Alone?"

"He was." The Scotsman replied flatly.

The Frenchwoman was far from pleased. "He had no business being there. How could you not tell me this?"

"I wanted to discuss it in private." The Immortal defended, stopping to stand in front of the couch.

Tessa's anger was mollified. "Have you handled it yet?"

"That's what I was doing when you came in, Tess." The Immortal replied simply, turning to face her.

Tessa was not exactly impressed. "That's how you handle it? By hugging him?"

"He needs affection. Reassurance. We need to let him know that his place here with us is permanent, Tessa. He thinks our love is only temporarily and completely conditional." The Immortal defended his response to the boy.

Tessa was quick to respond. "He was somewhere completely unsafe. And he lied to us about where he was going. We cannot simply hug him every time he disobeys us, Duncan."

"I know that." The Immortal retorted. "I'm not saying we should just ignore what he did."

"Well, then what are you saying?" Tessa questioned suspiciously.

The Scotsman looked her dead in the eye. "I'm saying that reassuring him was my first priority. He needs to understand that we love him. Otherwise, he'll never understand why we punish him when he misbehaves."

Even Tessa couldn't argue with that logic. "So you did punish him."

"No." The Immortal admitted, quickly continuing when he saw the look Tessa was leveling at him. "I thought we should discuss what it should be first."

"Why don't we just ground him?" Tessa replied.

Duncan gave her an impatient look. "In France? Where exactly would we ground him to?"

"All right." Tessa allowed. "Maybe grounding would be a bit hard to enforce. But we could just insist he stay with us throughout the whole trip."

"Absolutely not." Duncan was not at all thrown by the surprised look Tessa gave him. "Nothing good can come of making him think being with us is a punishment."

"So you want to let him roam on his own in Paris?" Tessa countered.

The Immortal was not phased by the question. "Of course not. Not only did he scare me half to death with his reckless trip to the docks, he's entirely too young to be left to his own devices in a big city; especially a foreign one."

"So you do want to keep him with us?" Tessa questioned.

Duncan gave her a quick nod. "Of course. I just don't think that we should equate spending time together and punishment."

"Good point." Tessa admitted. "So what? Should we take away some privileges? Not let him talk on the phone or watch the television?"

Duncan paused to think it over for a minute. "I can really get behind the phone idea. He has a penchant for gabbing and not being able to would be a good reminder of what happened tonight."

"True." Tessa nodded in agreement.

Duncan was still processing the idea, however. And liking it more and more. "Besides, he has a tendency not to talk to us about things. If he can't pick up the phone and call someone else, maybe he'll actually start coming to us with his feelings."

"We should be sure to mention that." Tessa added.

"Absolutely." Duncan nodded in agreement, settling with the woman on the couch.

Tessa snuggled contently into the man's chest, finally at ease with the agreement over the teen. "Two months?"

"Too long." Duncan replied. "This is the first time we've ever punished him, Tess. And two months is like a lifetime to one so young. A week."

"A week?" Tessa replied skeptically. "We'll still be in Paris. He won't even notice. One month."

"Sounds right." Duncan said, glad they could actually come to such a quick agreement.

Tessa wasn't quite yet satisfied, however. "Television?"

"Television?" Duncan paused briefly to consider the idea. He responded quite slowly. "I'd really rather not. I think it's too good of an opportunity to show him affection."

"Affection?" Tessa questioned, pulling away just enough to give the man a puzzled look. "How on earth do you plan to show him affection when he's watching TV?"

"It's a good time to just sit quietly with him. Allow him to lean up against us; when he gets tired out he might actually let us hold him."

"Duncan, he hates that." Tessa retorted. "He always pulls away when we try to hug him."

"At first." Duncan replied. "But only because he isn't used to it."

"He wasn't raised being held. It isn't something he's comfortable with." Tessa stated.

But the Immortal was not sharing her sentiment. "He's still being raised, Tessa. And the fact that he didn't receive much affection when he was little just means he needs more now. I intend to make up for the coddling his missed out on earlier."

"It doesn't make him comfortable, Duncan." Tessa once again told him.

And, once again, Duncan disagreed. "I know he gets tense about it at first, Tessa. But when you insist on holding him, he clings almost desperately. Before you came in, he just sat in my lap on the floor, clutching to my neck for a good five minutes. That is not the response of a boy who doesn't want to be treated with affection."

"He doesn't want babied, Duncan." The Frenchwoman told him.

The Immortal practically mumbled his response, which was as much to himself as to her. "That doesn't mean he doesn't need it."

"Who doesn't need what?" Richie questioned, coming into the room just early enough to hear the tail end of the conversation.

"Oh, sorry." Richie replied, seeing the couple sitting knit together on the couch. "Didn't mean to interrupt.

Duncan immediately halted the teen's retreat. "Stop right there."

As Richie turned back to face him, Duncan continued. He spoke insistently. "You aren't interrupting, Richie. We need to talk to you."

"About what?" Richie asked suspiciously.

Tessa was the first to response. "Your little adventure today."

"What about it?" Richie replied warily.

Duncan decided to join in, not wanting the teen to equate discipline with only Tessa. He could see the trend occurring and he wanted to curb it as much as possible. "You put yourself in danger by going to the docks, Richie. And you lied to us."

"I know, I'm sorry. I just thought I needed to figure out where I was going to stay." Richie replied quietly.

"That's not acceptable, Richie." Duncan told him, doing his best to ignore the shocked expression on the boy's face. "If you had simply told us what you were thinking instead of lying to us and hiding your feelings, all the pain of thinking you were being left could have been quickly ended. Not to mention, you never would have been roaming around the docks by yourself."

"You're right." Richie said seriously, nodding his head.

Duncan and Tessa, however, were not as ready to end the conversation as Richie. Tessa decided to get her input in. "It's all about communication, Richie. If you would simply talk to us, these things would be handled much more quickly."

"And easily." Duncan added, surprised and pleased at how well he and Tessa were handling this together. Despite their differing opinions about how to treat Richie, they were handling this particular conversation quite well in his estimation. "And we've come up what we feel is the most suitable punishment, which we hope will help you learn to communicate with us."

"Punishment?" Richie repeated; stumbling over the word he had never expected to hear.

Tessa replied this time. "You don't really believe we can let you do something so unsafe and not respond to it, do you?"

"Well, I…" The boy was at a loss for words.

Duncan, however, was not. "We love you too much to ignore it when you put yourself in danger, Richie."

"That is why you are not allowed to use the phone for a month." Tessa told him.

Richie was dumbfounded. "The phone?"

"Yes, the phone." Duncan told him. "That means; if there's anything you need to talk about you are going to have to come to us. Hopefully, you'll be able to see how much easier life is when you just talk to us."

"Okay." Richie replied quietly. There was a noticeable pause before he continued. "I'm really sorry, guys. I never meant to upset you."

As the teen turned slowly to leave the room, he was surprised by Duncan's voice. "Where're you going, Rich?"

"My room." The teen replied.

But that was not what the couple had in mind. Tessa replied first. "Come sit and watch TV with us."

"Really? But I thought you were mad." Richie replied hesitantly.

Duncan looked at him seriously. "We were upset, Richie. But you know the consequences now and you understand why we're punishing you, don't you?"

"Yes, sir." The teen replied seriously.

Duncan nodded shortly. "Good. Then now that that's handled, come sit with us."

"Okay." The teen couldn't help but break into a grin at the invitation. No one had ever punished him and then wanted to hang out with him. It was a new experience entirely.

As the teen sat down in the armchair, Duncan frowned. "Richie?"

"Yeah?" The boy looked over at him expectantly.

Duncan held out an arm to him. "Come sit WITH us."

"All right." Richie replied, sliding off the chair and perching himself at the end of the couch.

The couple exchanged a look. To the Immortal, it was apparent that the Frenchwoman found her point being proved perfectly. Duncan was sure he was right about the teen, however. With a slight sigh, he reached out for the boy. "Richie" he started slowly pulling the teen across the couch. "Come here."

The tense moments that Richie sat stiffly upright on his lap made the Immortal seriously question his decision to force the contact on the teen. As Richie leaned back against him and settled amicably into his chest, resting his head against Duncan's, the Immortal couldn't help but smile. When the teen casually took the remote from his hand and flipped the channel, he broke into an outright gin. This was definitely progress.

Now if they could only survive Paris.