As always, (although I don't think this has shown up in the previous chapters . . . GASP! The lawsuits!!) I don't own Reno, and I'm not getting anything out of this fic except some self-satisfaction.

"Reno? Where you at, boy?"

Reno was curled up in a corner outside his house, trying to hide from his father. The older man was slurring his words slightly. His drinking and gambling debts had grown steadily worse over the years, and as a result of the increasing pressure from the debt collectors, he'd been drinking more, and getting more violent against Reno and his mother. Reno had come home that day to find Pete beating Karla. That's when he ran outside to hide. He could never hope to take on his father.

The shouting and crashing had ceased a few minutes ago, and Reno had the crazy urge to laugh. "He's finally done it!" he thought hysterically "The motherfucker killed Karla!" Indeed he began to laugh, a short burst of childish giggles that ended in a moaning sob as his father tumbled out of the house and ended up just a few feet away from where Reno hid. Reno scuttled a bit further into his hiding place, and watched his father closely.

Pete Collins was a stocky man whose red hair and pale coloring Reno inherited. Drink and hard living had made his face blotchy, his eyes bloodshot. Karla had once, in a drug induced stupor, told Reno he hadn't always been like this, that they had actually lived on another sector back when Reno had been a baby. But ever since Reno could remember, Pete was as he was now. There was no solidarity between Reno and his mother, to make things worse. No one stood up to Pete. If he beat Reno, Karla made a perfunctory effort at pulling him off the boy, and when it was Karla's turn to get beat, Reno ran outside to hide away as he was doing now.

Reno saw his father stumble, put a hand up on the wall to steady himself. His eyes, a dull, muddy brown, found Reno's, and a slow, cruel smile dawned on his father's lips. Reno made a small frightened noise in his throat and tried to make a dash for freedom. It was instantly crushed as Pete threw his half-full bottle of beer at the back of Reno's head. The boy stumbled for only a second, but it was enough for Pete.

He clamped his fingers viciously over Reno's collarbone. "Running away from me when I call for you?" he asked in a deceptively gentle voice. His fingers tightened sharply, and Reno screamed, a sound cut short by his father's hard slap, which rocked Reno's head to the side.

Pete now shook him hard, almost absentmindedly. "We gotta get to Geist's place, Reno. I gotta see the man over some money." He half led, half dragged Reno before him, shifting his hand from Reno's collarbone to the back of his shirt, pushing the boy when he slowed down and pulling him back when the boy tried to escape. Eventually they reached their destination.

Geist's place was a rundown bar, the proprietor of which moonlighted as a loanshark and drug pusher. Reno had been here before. Pete used him as an insurance of sorts. Once, in a rare good mood, Pete had told Reno he'd give the boy to Geist if he couldn't cough up the cash Geist demanded. Reno had almost laughed, but abruptly stopped when he saw Pete's dead serious expression. And Geist would do it. He'd take Reno and work him to the bone in any of his smaller, unsafe enterprises. This was the man to whom Pete owed so much money he'd had Reno selling drugs since he was a small child.

Inside Geist's it was dark, smelly and crowded, as loud men hooted and pawed at the waitresses. Pete went to a hallway at the back, and set Reno at the door. "I'll be in there for a minute. If I need you and you're not here when I come for you, God help you, you little whoreson, 'cause I'll have your fucking head on a stick" Reno nodded briskly. He remembered all too well the first, last and only time he'd ever run away from that spot. He'd been half-conscious for days.

As the door closed behind Pete, Reno leaned against the wall and settled in for a long wait. The door right across from him opened, and it was the dressing room for the waitresses, where they changed from their usual street clothes and changed into the skimpy tops and short skirts Geist demanded from them. Reno was unfazed.

He'd been desensitized to nudity by all the times he'd had to accompany his father to this place. Still, an unpleasant shiver went through his skinny body as he saw the girls as the customers never saw them. He saw girls without makeup, in regular clothes, smoking cigarettes and looking sullen or sad or laughing at the expense of some unkind patron.

Suddenly Reno heard a thud and a crash in the room behind him, and his father bellowed "Reno! Get in here now!" Reno ran into the room, where Geist's goons had grabbed Pete and were dragging him outside through a back door that led to the alley behind the bar. "There! There you go, Geist, works like a regular little mule, that one. Looks scrawny, but he's quick smart, and - oof!" His breath wheezed out as one of the goons put a fist against his stomach. Another thug grabbed Reno's hair.

"I don't care about your skinny-assed kid, Collins. You told me you had my money, and you don't have enough to put a fucking dent in your debt. " Cort spoke from behind a curtain of smelly cigar smoke "You're a liability, an expensive one. I tend to eliminate those before they give me more grief than they already have." He motioned towards the door "Take them outside, do what I told you."

The thugs dragged Pete and Reno outside, and proceeded to beat Pete thoroughly. Reno shut his eyes against the sight, but made no effort to escape, made no sound. When the beating ended, the thugs went back inside, after harshly telling Pete "Geist sez you have till next week, Collins."

Reno looked at his father and winced. Pete was a mess. There was blood all over his face, and bloody, torn, dirty clothes. He muttered something incoherently as Reno helped him to his feet. Unsteadily and excruciatingly slow, they made their way back to their house, where Pete collapsed into his chair, barely conscious. Karla looked at Reno dazedly; apparently she'd taken some drugs to ease the pain of her beating. "Geist's goons got him." She nodded uncertainly, and Reno left his parents to nurse their beatings. He needed to see a friendly face.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

He got to the brothel Cam lived in, running out back to her window. He peeked in for a quick look. Cam was with a 'customer', but he seemed just about done with Reno's friend. Reno felt as flush of arousal come over his face as he sat under the window outside, unwillingly listening to the sounds coming from the room. He'd begun feeling strangely for Cam recently, couldn't really put a name to it.

He heard the client finish with a groan and a swear, and waited for the sound of the closing door as he exited. Once the man left, Reno knocked on the window sill "Har-dee har har, I can see your ass!" he snickered, grinning. Cam laughed and motioned him to come into the room while she dressed, " 'Sup, Reno?"

"Nothin', well, Karla and Pete each got their asses handed to them, they're walking around like dis" He mimicked a movie zombie, dragging his feet and moaning wheezily. Cam laughed through her nose "Ouch. Glad to see you ain't beat too." Reno sat on the window sill, stretching "Yeah, me too. How 'bout you? That guy looked all awkward and shit." Cam threw a small red ball at him "You were looking!?" Reno caught the ball and scoffed "Hey, I remembered the last time I jumped in here without checking!"

Cam shrugged "Eh, I just do what I have to, same as you." The redhead cocked his head to the side "got anymore jobs tonight?" She took the ball from his hand "Nah, at least not till after 10 or something. You?" Reno shrugged "Nah, I already sold the stuff. Let's go eat, huh?" Cam arched an eyebrow "Can't wait for dinner?"

Reno flopped onto her bed, clutching his belly dramatically "Ugh, I'm dying, Camryn Varens, you pitiless whore!" Cam burst out laughing and grabbed his hands to pull him to his feet "Get up then, ya lumpy sack of crap." "Hey!" Reno protested, pulling hard on her hands so she fell into bed next to him.

After a few minutes of play-wrestling, they both sat up laughing in gasps and wheezes. "Ooh, you so totally copped a feel!" Cam swatted Reno's leg as he snickered and admitted "Yeah, I did. Let's go then, c'mon."

They jumped out the window and headed to "The Misty Hedge". Unlike its lofty name suggested, "The Misty Hedge" was a dingy cafeteria where one of the cooks fed children like Reno and Cam if they could put up with some occasional fondling. Kids usually decided they wanted to eat more than caring about being offended.

Reno knocked at the back door, and the cook, a tall, sallow man called Harv asked them "Hey, Reno. What, ya hungry?" Reno nodded, and Harv sighed "Its been a while since I saw ya. What, the whores're feeding ya now?" He looked accusingly at Cam, who glared right back. Thanks to her and Valeriana's feeding him, Reno no longer had to come here as much as he'd had to before he'd met her. Harv shrugged "It's no matter. Wait here." He went inside, and Reno looked at Cam, knowing she knew what he'd had to put through for Harv to 'miss' him. Cam clasped one of his hands in both of her own and squeezed, tipping him a wink. Reno smiled, and Cam was glad to see it.

Harv came back out with two paper plates with food. He handed them out and waved them away "You guys git, now. Joint's busy. Don't want customers seeing no scruffy looking kids." They both nodded and ate quickly, both to escape further admonishments as well as Harv himself.

After they ate, they walked out of the alley and into the main throughway. "I think my da- Pete's getting killed next week." Reno said in a as-a-matter-of-fact voice. Cam stopped walking "What? Why?" Reno wouldn't look at her, kept looking at the floor as he muttered "The money . . ." Cam stood inn front of him "Reno, look at me. What's going on?" Reno looked at her then, blue-green eyes locking onto violet ones. He told her everything, subconsciously knowing Cam would never hurt him, that his confidences were safe within her.

When he finished telling her everything, there was a moment of silence before Reno muttered "He tried to exchange me for his debt". Cam arched her eyebrows "What the fuck, Reno?!" He frowned "I know, right? He said I'd work like a little mule . . ." After a few seconds' silence, Reno said "What an asshole!" in the musing tones of one who has made a significant discovery.

Cam snickered despite herself, and Reno snickered as well. They kept snickering till Cam remarked "Hey, Reno, what's another word for mule? Ass!" Reno was whooping with laughter now "That's a donkey, ya dumbfuck!" Cam was laughing so hard she had to hang on to Reno to keep from falling. It was a bad idea, as Reno had apparently though to do the same with her. They ended up hanging onto each other. Surely it wasn't that big a joke. It was actually morbid of them to be making jokes at a time like this, but with the lives they led, and with the dismal futures they had before them, it was enough that they could have a good, honest laugh.

After the laughter tapered off, they walked around the slums, chatting up any other kid they knew. Before long, however, Cam groaned "Aah, shit, look, it's almost 9:30" Reno flicked the edge of her ear with his fingernail "Yeah, and you got a hot date to look forward to." Cam bit him on the arm, Reno yowling loudly. "Shut up. I hate having to do this." Cam mused as Reno rubbed his arm and replied "I hate my job too, Cammy. Listen, one of these days we'll get out of this dump, and do what we really wanna do."

Cam sighed, looking slightly saddened "When, Reno?" He frowned, "Soon, OK? I mean, it can't be this bad forever, right?" Now it was Cam who avoided his gaze as she said in a small voice "You'll forget me, once you get out of here." Reno stopped in his tracks, appalled "Wha-No! Why the hell would I do that?!" Cam shook her head "Who needs a stupid whore with him?" Reno made a small scoffing sound and said "Fuck that shit. You're coming with me. I won't forget you, OK?" She looked at him, eyes blazing "You promise?" He nodded, "I promise!" They were in front of the whorehouse now.

"See ya tomorrow, yeah?" Reno was actually beginning to move away from her before she pulled him back with her hand on his sleeve. Reno gave her a perplexed look, but Cam only smiled as she lightly fanned her hands over his shoulders. She leaned in and kissed him softly.

It was an awkwardly sweet moment for both of them. Reno had never been kissed by a girl before, and Cam had never kissed a boy of her own initiative. Indeed, had never wanted or even thought to kiss a boy as she kissed Reno then. This soft, almost chaste touching of lips was the first real kiss either had ever gotten.

Almost as quick as she'd initiated it, Cam stopped the kiss, stepping back from Reno. She smiled at him, blushing furiously, and ran into the house. Reno stood rooted to the spot, dazedly swaying a bit before the realization of just what happened sank in. Blushing a dark red to match his hair, Reno grinned and headed home.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A/N : Hey guys! Thank you for reading. So, to avoid any confusion, here's a small explanation about the ages. In the first chapter, Reno and Cam wree both 5, until the end of the chapter when Cam's attitude changes. They're 7 by then. In the second chapter, the one split in two, the guys are maybe 9 or 10. And in this chapter, Reno's just turned 12, with Cam following close behind. Kinda precocious 12 year olds, right? I completely blame their environment! Anyway, what I wanted to show how Reno's already used to sex, drugs and violence, things no 12 year old should know about. Yeah. In a perfect world . . . as for the chapter opener, as well as when Cam first makes an appearance in the chapter . . . it really is horrifying what some children have to go through. My mom's a registered nurse in a pediatric hospital. Some of the things she's seen make policemen cry, I kid you not. I'm not much of an activist, but I really think we should raise awareness and take better care of our kids. Anyway, back to the chapter. Um, yeah, so Reno and Cam got their first kiss. Yay!! Ahem . . . The kids have begun feeling something for each other, but are a bit unprepared to deal with what they feel. And it was really effortless to write the slightly demented humor in this chapter. I really like how they've turned out so far. They understand each other with that weird telepathy best friends develop, and crack each other up like crazy people. As always, any advice, suggestion or comment, please give the little "Review" button some love.