The ride home was silent as Jack and Julie had no idea what to say and the last three days living with Troy had thought them that Troy was not one to start a conversation. They stopped by the pharmacy to pick up the anti-anxiety medication and the sleep aids that Troy had been prescribed.

The psychiatrist who had prescribed them a Doctor McGhee had told them that Troy should start the sleep aids that night and then the medication in the morning. They stopped at a restaurant to have dinner as the time was getting quite late. Jack couldn't believe that they had almost spent an entire day at the shelter.

During dinner they could see that even though Troy tried his hardest he was exhausted but they had a schedule to discuss. Jack would have preferred to wait until the morning however he feared that Troy might have another attack in the morning.

He opened the conversation while they were waiting for desert. He pulled out a piece of paper and his pen from his pocket and placed them on the table. Immediately he saw that he had Troy's attention.

"Now, Meredith has said that it would be better for all of us if we all knew what we are supposed to be doing the next day. So from now on every day we will take ten minutes after dinner to plan out the next day. Does that seem acceptable to you?" he asked knowing full well that Troy would not object.

"Yes sir," was his quiet response.

"Good, now we were told that you wake up in the mornings to exercise and that it is very healthy. I myself get up in the mornings to go for a run, perhaps we he could run together? Then support each other for some fitness exercises?" said Jack. He was nervous, he had never done something like this before, and how did you tell a fourteen year old boy what he should be doing? Wasn't fourteen just around the age when kids started to fight against their parents about what they were to do?

"If you think that is a good idea sir," was Troy's response.

"Ok. I leave the house around 7:15 and exercise for an hour, so wake up is at 7, ok?"

"Yes sir."

"We come back, take a shower and go down to have breakfast. Now I have to tell you that the kitchen always belongs to me in the mornings. I am always the person responsible for the breakfast. Clear?" said Jack his voice coming out a little harsher than he anticipated it.

This time Troy only nodded his head, they did not expect him to cook? Maybe it was just breakfast.

"Then after breakfast you and I are going to hit the mall," Jack was writing down the schedule as he was talking and he looked over to Troy to see his reaction, as far as he knew children always liked the mall and they could pick up some stuff for the two of them to do for the following days. "We'll hit the music and the electronic store and perhaps the toy store. What do you think of that?"

"Oh, please don't forget the bookstore," added Julie joining in the conversation. "We have a rule in our house Troy, that a trip to the mall must always include a visit to the bookstore."

Troy could only nod his head, he had never been to the mall so he did not know what to expect and what he was to do.

"Oh, I know!" exclaimed Julie "why don't I join you boys for lunch?" she then turned to Troy. "Normally we have help around the house, Michelle who comes in everyday to help and normally I really like cooking but the clean up afterwards is what I don't like."

Troy wondered if they would actually tell him what he was supposed to do or was he supposed to guess. Was he supposed to clean up afterwards when she did the cooking? Was that what they had expected of him in the last few days? For he had seen no one around the house, maybe they had gotten rid of this Michele person now that they had him. He felt his heart beat going up and his breathing becoming faster. What was happening to him? Why was he reacting like this?

Jack saw that Troy was panicking and decided to move things along. Whatever they had said had set of something,

"After lunch we come home and normally everyone is left to fend for themselves until about three but tomorrow we will sit down and talk more about what we expect of you while you live under our roof."

Troy let out the breath he was holding, he hadn't realised that he had been holding his breath until just that moment. Usually whenever his father changed the schedule or expected Troy to do something else he would find out about it when his father punished him and screamed at him for getting it wrong or not doing it. It looked like the Bolton's were going to give him the benefit of the doubt and tell him about it. He realised that they were looking at him and waiting for him and he blushed, they probably already thought he was an idiot, 'way to go Troy' he thought to himself.

Jack saw that whatever he had said calmed Troy down and he seemed to be thinking things though and he couldn't help but smile when Troy blushed when he realised that he was no longer listening. He didn't want to draw attention to it so he continued.

"I coach basketball down at the youth centre in the summers and I was thinking it would be a good idea if you would join me. It would keep you in the game. Also Meredith wishes that you speak with her every day for this week and then a few times next week and eventually it would be once a week. She is also in the youth centre in the afternoons so we will be hitting two birds with one stone. Sound good so far?"

"Yes sir," said Troy, he was supposed to see this Meredith lady more? What could they possibly talk about? She kept asking him to describe things and asked weird questions. It was like she had no idea what children were supposed to do to repay their parents. For a moment he wondered how her children repaid her and her husband, he knew quite a bit about her as she had spent quite a bit talking about them.

Suddenly he looked up again, he seemed to have lost track of the conversation again, he was sure that the Bolton's couldn't have been pleased with him as they had to keep waiting for him. He knew they wouldn't do anything in public but he was sure that he was going to be punished when they got home. That thought made his breathing once again pick up as he didn't know what kind of punishments these people used and therefore he couldn't mentally prepare himself.

Julie saw that Troy's breath had picked up once again, she had to give credit to Meredith, if knowing what was happening panicked Troy this much what must not knowing had done to him. She picked up the conversation.

"After you boys get back from the centre and wash up we'll have dinner and we always clean up after dinner together. After dinner..." here she paused and even though Meredith had said that they told him what to do and not to ask, she couldn't help herself,

"is there anything you are used to doing after dinner?"

Troy looked down at the table and bit his lower lip he wasn't sure what the right answer was so after about a minute or two debating the issue in his head he decided to go with the truth.

"I usually practice the piano or study," he said quietly.

This seemed to surprise the Bolton's "you play the piano?" asked Jack and Troy could only nod his head. Then Jack remembered seeing it on the schedule however he was at the time more interested in the other things that were on that dammed thing.

"Well since it is summer and no studying is required you can play our piano, would that be ok?" went on Jack.

Troy's joy at being allowed to play the piano that he saw in the house was short lived as he was shocked over the other half of the statement, no studying required? How was he supposed to keep up if he was not to study? For the moment he decided to let that one go since he had so many other things to worry about. These people had yet to learn of his stupidity, he was sure that once they found out they would make him study to cover it up as well.

He decided to keep this piece of information to himself. He was already in deep trouble with them he did not want to add more to his punishment that he knew was coming up. They would punish him for his stupidity when they found out no doubt about it. There was no reason to get everything though in one day.

"After you practice we'll do something together as a whole family, like watch a movie or read or play a game and then we'll go to sleep," concluded Jack. "Have we left something out? Is this ok?"

Had they left something out? Yes, Troy didn't see any mention of the discipline he was to receive on the schedule, how about what and when he was supposed to help around the house? How was he supposed to repay them? He did not have anything to give them. But perhaps he would learn of those tomorrow when they went on schedule. Maybe they wanted to keep it on the same times as his father? He knew that they had seen the schedule he had written out.

GOD he wanted to scream! There were so many questions, so many unanswered things. He didn't want to voice any of them since the Bolton's seem to think the schedule was fine and waiting an answer from him so he looked up from the table top he was examining and said in a voice that he hoped sounded strong enough.

"Yes sir, everything seems fine."

Jack looked over at Troy and knew that he was not alright but he didn't know what else he was supposed to say to help Troy. He decided that it was enough for know, they would face each problem as it arose in the following weeks.

During desert they could see that Troy was fading fast and was almost asleep, so they asked for the check and left, he even dozed on the way home.

"I want you to go upstairs, brush your teeth, take a shower and get ready for bed and I will be there shortly," said Julie softly to Troy as they walked in through the door. Troy only nodded his head not even looking up and moved up the stairs.

Jack wrapped his arms around his wife and held her close as they gained strength from each other. Then Julie moved to the kitchen heated up a glass of milk took the pill that Jack handed to her and made her way upstairs.

She was waiting for Troy when he came out of the bathroom. He had put on his pyjama pants but was carrying the top in his hands; he froze when he saw that Mrs. Bolton was waiting for him in the room. He knew that he had caused them trouble. They had spent the night at the hospital because of his foolishness and an entire day at the shelter. He knew that they would punish him for it he just never expected it to be Mrs. Bolton.

He had in his stupid and delusional mind believed that mothers were not supposed to do things like discipline and punish their children. Of course Mrs. Bolton was not his mother and therefore not in the same category but he had thought that Coach Bolton would have been the one to do it. His father had often told him that should his mother were alive she too would have been revolted by him and would have taken great pleasure in educating him. At night when the monsters in the corners seemed too much he had imagined that his mother was there and she had at least been nice and helped him.

He took an involuntary step back as she moved towards him and froze, he at least knew that he had to accept his punishment and be ready for it. He probably was going to get an extra beating because she had already been waiting for him. He felt tears well up, it was not fair she had told him to take a shower and he had taken the quickest one he could manage and be ready but he had not been fast enough.

He had become rather spoiled in a very short time. He was completely pain free for the first time in his life and found that he liked the feeling. He wanted to be pain free for just a bit longer, was that such a bad thing? He told himself to stop thinking like that, he deserved to be punished for the trouble he had been. He wanted to make up some points with her so braved a question. Perhaps if she saw that he was willing and compliant she would take it easy on him.

"Er... how...how would....you....you like me?" he hated the fact that his voice broke and it looked like he was going hyperventilate again. It was just a beating; he had beatings before he could do this. He took deep breaths to try to calm himself.

Julie had tears in her eyes as she looked at the boy, he was scared of her. He was trying very hard not to panic and she knew that he expected her to beat him. From experience Julie knew that words would never be enough and they would never have the effect that her actions would. But she used them anyway as she reached out to the pyjama top he still had in his hands.

"Shhh, it's ok, everything is going to be fine." She gave the top a tug as it looked like he had a death grip on it. After a minute he let go of the top and looked at her.

She very carefully found the head of the t-shirt and very slowly reached up and slipped it over his head. Then she found the right arm and waited for him to put his arm through the arm hole. She repeated her actions slowly on the other side. She smiled at him and grabbed his hand and led him over to the bed.

"I am not going to hurt you, don't worry," she went on, but she knew that the words were not registering with Troy.

Troy hesitated when they reached the bed. He was not supposed to sleep in a bed he knew that, he had spent the last three nights on the floor as he was not shown another option, not that he had slept much he just didn't know what to expect.

"It's ok," said Julie in a very soft voice as she continued to tug at his hand. She was determined that Troy would get some sleep tonight. She already felt guilty about the fact that he had not slept the last three nights and she haven't even picked up on it. She gently led him to the side of the bed and guided him to sit. She then reached for the glass of milk and the pill.

"This medication will help you sleep, and I found that warm milk always helps the process as well." Troy looked at the pill, Meredith had also in length had explained to him what they were for that didn't mean he wanted to take it but he was more afraid of what she would do to him if he refused. Also wasn't she going to punish him? Meredith had told him he would feel sleepy pretty quickly after taking the pill perhaps they were going to wait until the morning to discipline him although there was nothing on the schedule about that.

In the mean time he realised that he was just staring at the pill and quickly put it in his mouth and drank down the milk as fast as he could. When he was done she took the glass of his hand and placed it on the table while walking over to the closet. Maybe he was supposed to spend the night in the closet? Was he supposed to get up and follow her there?

Julie reached into the closet and first pulled out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. "These here are your clothes for going running with Jack in the morning," then she pulled out a set of clothes for him to wear. "And these are for the rest of the day and these are for playing basketball at the centre." She said as she pulled out the appropriate clothing from the closet and drawers and put them on the chair and desk.

She looked down at his shoes, was she supposed to pick his shoes as well? She didn't want to risk it, "you know better than I what kind of shoes you should wear for running and basketball but these here would do with your daily outfit," she said as she pulled out a pair of campers from where they sat.

All the clothes had come from Troy's own closet at his home. As a social worker had gone and packed up his clothes for him. She at first was amazed that a boy could own so many items and when she found out that he couldn't chose them she was devastated. She looked over at Troy who was watching her every move. "Any questions?" she couldn't help but ask.

Troy took a deep breath he had been lucky so far and the Bolton's seemed to be forgiving of mistakes or at least not acting on them yet. His father had never welcomed questions but he braved another one anyway. All his clothes from his upstairs closet had made it over to this house but nothing from his room in the basement, such as his house clothes and actual exercise clothes.

"What am I to wear in the house?"

Julie was taken aback by a second, in the house? Thinking quickly and knowing that she can make adjustments later she said, "The jeans and the t-shirt that I have set out is fine, you can keep wearing them."

"Yes ma'am" said Troy looking at the choices. If they didn't want house clothes he was fine with that.

He watched her carefully as she moved back towards him. She once again took his hand and raised him of the bed. He breathed a sigh of relief she was at least going to show him where he was meant to sleep.

Julie released Troy just long enough to move the covers back and turned around back towards him. His eyes had gone huge and he was staring at her. "Come on, it's ok, this is your bed and this is where Jack and I want you to sleep." She kept saying things like that and it took a bit of tugging and pushing until he was lying down in the bed.

She covered him and made sure he was smugly tucked in ignoring the slight trembling. She smiled remembering that he was not the first teenager she had tucked in. She still did for Daniel if he was having a bad week and decided to spend the night at home. Even at the age of 29 he went mushy whenever she mothered him. She thought mothering Troy might be just what he needed right now.

She very carefully moved her hand to his forehead and ignored the fact that he flinched from her touch. She believed that the best medicine for this was showing him that her touch would not hurt him. She slowly ran her hands through his bangs and whispered that he was fine and safe and this is where he was supposed to be.

Very slowly she saw his eyes flutter closed even though he fought against it. And after about ten minutes his breathing evened out and he was asleep. Julie reached over and gave him a kiss on the forehead knowing that if he was awake it would have been too much for him to handle.

"He asleep?" asked her husband. Without saying anything she reached over to his bed side lamp turned it off and went to her husband. She took him by the hand and led him away. She didn't know what awaited them tomorrow but they both needed sleep and rest to help their son.