Chapter Ten - Just The Boys ... Part One:

Breakfast went as well as possible with Benny still not speaking in front of them. Since Kyle's nightmare the little boy hadn't spoken when they could hear him again. However, they knew that he spoke to his brother and had spoken to Kristina as well, so they had decided to give him time and hope that soon he would trust them enough to speak to them. Other then that, the boys seemed to be settling in as well as possible. Spinelli hoped things would continue to go well, as today he would have the boys without Maxie for the first time.

"Benny, are you ready to become my beta tester?" Spinelli asked the little boy.

There was a hesitant nod and Spinelli smiled and led the young boy to the computer. He had a new children's game he was almost done with that he thought his youngest foster son might enjoy. Drawing the children - especially Benny - out of their shells was proving to be a rather difficult task. He hoped that a shared hobby might help.

Kyle was sitting in a chair in the corner of the living room with his nose buried in a book that Michael had dropped off for him. Spinelli had noticed the frequent glances that Kyle shot at him and Benny and it broke his heart to know that the boy still felt he might hurt them. He knew better then most how normal that was, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt that no matter how much he wanted them too, the boys still didn't feel safe.

He led Benny over to the computer and began explaining the game to little boy. It wasn't long before the child was playing the game. Spinelli couldn't help the smile that spread across his own face at the sight of the small grin on the face of his youngest foster child. It would take time, but they could do this. They were going to help these boys.

Truthfully, Spinelli knew that he would still need to get Michael and a few others to go through the game - a beta tester that won't speak to you doesn't do much good. However, video games were a hobby of Benny's as well and if it made the little boy smile after all he had been through, letting him play it just to play it was definitely worth it. Right now taking care of the boys and making them happy was the most important thing. He knew how long it had taken for him to get through what he had suffered in his own past and he didn't want these children to suffer for anywhere near as long.

The moring passed quietly with Benny playing the video game and Kyle still reading his books - and still shooting glaces at the both of them every couple of minutes. At around noon, after a short conversation with Kyle, Spinelli got the boy to admit that both he and his brother were rather fond of grilled cheese sandwiches. With a little coaxing, he had the boys in the kitchen helping him fix lunch.

"What should I do about the crust? My granny always cut it off for me. What do you think Benny? Should I cut it off?" he asked the youngest child.

There was a long silence before a little blond head nodded quickly.

Spinelli smiled, "Sounds good to me! I still don't like the crust much either." he told the boys.

After a lunch filled with attempts at small talk from Spinelli and awkward silences all around, Spinelli decided to let the boys go through his and Maxie's DVD collection to pick a movie to watch.

Author's Note: I'm back! I'm a bad, bad, bad fan-fiction writer, but I'm back! And I will never take this long a break again. That little sister I mention in the last Author's Note? She's now eleven and reading this story. After much begging from her, I managed to kick the muse back into gear and I don't think she's gonna let me wait too long before updating again. I hope you guys liked it.

Now I have a question - how should the movie go? Fluffy little cartoon that causes no issues or something with a scene that could upset the boys? Like the scenes with the White Witch from the first Narnia movie?