Chapter 11: A Rough Night
That night, Nick opened his eyes at the sound of a racket, coming from downstairs. He squeezed his eyes shut—and sighed—his adoptive parents were fighting again.
"Why would you let these complete strangers—who probably really aren't his parents anyway—tuck our son—our Nick—into bed?!" Henry yelled at Cecilia.
"How else do you explain why they're so concerned about him?!" she yelled back.
"Even if they are his parents—which they aren't—we are—they are only doing it so he'll go away with them!" Henry yelled.
He shuffled out of bed and shuffled toward Udonna and Leanbow's room.
"Mom?" Nick shook Udonna's shoulder. Udonna and Leanbow both woke up.
"What's wrong, Bowen?" Udonna asked.
"I can't sleep. Can I stay here?" Nick asked.
Udonna glanced at Leanbow, who nodded.
Nick scrambled into his parents' arms.
Then Leanbow heard Henry yelling, "They probably made it up that they're his parents!"
He growled and asked, "Is that racket downstairs what woke you, son?"
Nick nodded.
"They don't seem like the type to make something that important—especially to Nick—up!" Cecilia yelled back.
Udonna wrapped her arms around Nick and glanced at Leanbow. "No," she told her husband. Nick curled up and buried his face against her nightgown. She rocked the teen gently, as he closed his eyes and sought the comfort she provided and symbolized for him.
Leanbow nodded and moved closer to his small family.
"But then why didn't they ever look for him!" Henry yelled.
"They wanted to protect him! Or weren't you listening to Udonna earlier!" Cecilia snapped.
"She was lying!" Henry hissed.
Leanbow pulled away from his wife and son. "Leanbow," Udonna began.
"No one calls you a liar and gets away with it, love," he growled, before he began heading down the stairs towards the fighting couple.
Nick curled further into Udonna's arms and begged, "Can we go home tomorrow?"
"Are you sure you want to go back to Briarwood?" she asked.
Nick shrugged and Udonna asked, "Is there anywhere you want to visit here before we leave?"
"The park," he sleepily suggested.
The two listened as Leanbow stalked down the stairs. "Udonna is not a liar," he hissed at Henry. "You're just jealous of the fact that Nick has finally found us. Nick has spent the past twenty years wondering about my wife and I—she spent the past twenty years believing the two of us to be dead! I had no memories of either of them for the past twenty years! And if you ever call my wife a liar again, you will regret it." Leanbow punched the wall above Henry's head and then rejoined his small family upstairs, wrapping his arms around the two people that made up his family.
Nick ended up spending the night with his parents, because he was afraid that Henry would try to take him away from Udonna and Leanbow.