Disclaimer: White Collar belongs to USA Network and Jeff Eastin.: Criminal Minds is the property of CBS, the actors, producers, and writers of the show.

DAMON (11)

*** "He is an avid chess player." ***

Gideon started explaining. The BAU was given the case when the bodies of the other three boys had been found in the Hudson River. Peter groaned, for the boys and for how this would affect Damon if he ever found out. They thought they had a serial killer, but when BAU got involved, they surmised rather quickly that Stephen was the key. With Damon's added information, Gideon thought it was quite possible that hired guns were sent to grab Stephen and did not know what he looked like. Maybe they had taken the captured boys to whoever wanted Stephen in the New York area for identification. There was no indication of abuse on the boys other then tie marks on wrists and ankles and, of course, the fatal gunshot wounds. To find out who wanted Stephen, they had to know who Stephen was. They found nothing on Cindy Atkin before Texas. They found interesting information on Rick Atkin. He had died 8 months before Damon was conceived, and had never been married. His family signed a statement disowning any claim to Stephen. They started canvassing the town to try to find any clues.

STEPHEN

Stephen was the only child of Cindy, a paralegal. She did not make a lot of money, but she made enough to keep her and her son comfortable. She rented a two bedroom pre-fabricated home on the outskirts of town. Her only close neighbor, Sylvia was also Stephen's babysitter. She had been watching him since he was an infant. Cindy doted on her son; all of her free time was spent with him, teaching him and encouraging him. Sylvia said he was an intelligent child and with Cindy's constant teaching he had learned quite young. She laughingly said she couldn't remember which happened first, take his first step, or read his first word. And he perfected both quickly. Cindy used children's books to start him, but she upgraded those rapidly. When Stephen was about four and a half years old he got hold of one of Sylvia's books, Stephen King's 'The Shinning' and read it before Sylvia even noticed he had it. It scared him half to death. Nightmares! He was too young to understand the difference between fiction and non-fiction and thought the story was real. Cindy instructed him that until he was older, he was only to read non-fiction. And Stephen would never disobey his mother. Cindy was able to instill such a love of learning in the boy that he devoured non-fiction like it was candy. Cindy kept him in a constant supply of reading material.

When Stephen was six, Cindy registered him in school. It didn't take the school long to realize he did not belong in the first grade, so he was given a test, he passed. He was given the second grade test, he passed. Third grade, pass. Fourth, fifth, sixth. It took a couple days to give these tests and word got out about the boy 'genius'. Mrs. Walker was on the school board and she was wealthy. She found out about this boy with a single poor mom and decided to step in. She decided Cindy wasn't fit to raise a child of this quality, not taking into consideration it was Cindy's teaching that had made him that way. Mrs. Walker claimed that she had the money and the means to send him to the best schools and universities, not Cindy. She wanted him, probably for the personal status she thought it would give her. And she might have had the power to succeed. She demanded Stephen be given an IQ test to see just how smart he was.

Well, Stephen was bright; he understood what was going on around him. He knew this lady thought he was too smart to stay with his mother and wanted to take him away from her. He did not want to take the test; he did not want to leave his mother, who he adored. But they made him take it. He scored 101. Mrs. Walker was livid! That was proof Cindy was unfit, she didn't let him get enough sleep or get a decent breakfast before the test. She made them administer a second test, making sure he had decent sleep and food first. He was really pissed. He scored 63. Mrs. Walker dropped her campaign; Cindy pulled Stephen out of school and placed him in home study. She started him in first grade and Stephen never took a test to advance him past his age level again.

Since it was a small town, and Stephen was a bright boy, he was pretty much allowed to have the run of the town after that. Most mornings he spent in the library, taking a few minutes to do whatever work he needed to for home school on the library's computer. Cindy did not have a home computer, nor did she have a TV, she said TV numbed the brain. When Stephen was done with the library computer he read whatever non-fiction his heart desired. He spent hours in the reference section, leafing through the texts. Once the librarian asked him what he was doing, she knew he wasn't reading, he was too young, and he told her he was looking at pictures. She laughed and told him there were no pictures. Stephen being a very amiable happy boy that won the heart of any adult he met; smiled at her and said sure there were pictures. He turned back a few pages and found one where the sentence breaks just happened to form a heart and showed it to her. She thought that was just the cutest thing!

Cindy was a greatly respected lady in the town. She knew her boy needed to learn 'manly' things so over the years she approached various men around the town, asking them to help. Among them being the gunsmith, a rancher and a lawman.

In the afternoon's Stephen would visit various locations around the town, to include his 'instructors'. He spent a lot of time in the town square playing chess with the elderly that gathered there. He won his share, and lost his share while keeping them entertained with his constant chatter. Once every week or two, he would spend a day at the rancher's. The rancher adored Stephen; he wished his grandkids were half as helpful as he was. Stephen learned to ride, and helped to gentle a few horses. The rancher said he had a knack for it. Stephen helped feed the cattle, muck out stalls, etc. He tried to help with the heavy work as best he could, but with his small frame… the rancher just smiled.

The police officer let him ride with him sometimes, it was a very small town, and taught him a little hand to hand fighting. He used to let him play with his handcuffs and Stephen learned how to pick them.

All the adults in town adored him, with his outgoing friendly personality, his bright blue eyes, and his heart-stopping smile. The children hated him; he didn't have to go to school. They called him a brown-nose and a geek, among other things. They really got tired of hearing parents say 'why can't you be more like Stephen?' So Stephen learned to avoid them, he couldn't fight them, his mother disapproved of fighting, so he learned how to outmaneuver them, how to disappear through cracks in the fence, to run fast, and how to climb high in trees. Sylvia said he got really good at 'disappearing' when other kids showed up!

In all the years Sylvia knew them, Stephen and his mother never fought and never disagreed. They lived and breathed for each other. Stephen obeyed her every order without question.

BACK TO THE BAU

When Gideon got done telling Peter about Stephen, Peter was at a loss for words. He sure did not sound like the Damon he knew.

After a couple minutes, Gideon spoke again, "You think Damon has dissociative identity disorder don't you?"

Peter looked confused; he's a mathematician not a psychologist, "Excuse me?"

"More commonly referred to as split personality."

"Well, it has crossed my mind…" And more than once, he thought.

"He doesn't"

Peter was confused "He doesn't"?

"No. He wants to; he wants everyone to think he does. But, no. Except for the black times, he has full memory recall. And even the black periods are not a memory loss, but buried. Also, a split personality maintains both personalities within, switching back and forth. Once Damon claimed he was Damon, he never became Stephen again. "

"Why would he want a split personality?"

"He thinks Stephen is soft, weak, (Gideon shrugged) a chicken, so he denies him." Peter remembered 'I'm a coward like Stephen' "And Damon had to be tough and strong to survive. What he did was grow up at the hand of a vendor. You are not the same person you were as a child; there are things you do today that you wouldn't consider as a child. Stephen couldn't steal to live, Damon could and I'm sure still can." Peter frowned at that. "But you and I had years to make the transition. And many change their name as they go, Petey, Pete, and Peter. Damon had to do it in front of that vendor, and the vendor gave him his name in the process. It's not so much Stephen left, as Damon claims, but his gentle side was buried, and the tough side, never allowed to be shown before, came forward. I'm over simplifying it, but that's basically what it boils done to."

"When you talk to Damon about his past, always refer to it as 'his' past, 'his' mother. When he responds with Stephen, accept it. He'll never be all Stephen again, I doubt if he will ever use the name again, he has changed, his life experiences have changed him. But as he feels more comfortable, and safe, he will allow more of his 'soft' side to show."

Peter was relieved; it wasn't as bad as he thought.

Gideon went on, "Don't get me wrong, Peter, Damon will need some counseling, probably a lot. But he's far from crazy." Gideon smiled, "He might drive you crazy."

Peter laughed, "Well, he's doing a darn good job of that! There is a problem I would like to ask you about." And Peter proceeded to tell him about the nightmares and Damon refusing to sleep on the bed and sleeping with the dog.

Gideon shrugged, "Let the dog sleep in his bed."

"Satch is trained to stay off the furniture and stay downstairs."

"How old is he?"

"About 1 ½ years, I think."

"Retrain him."

Peter thought about that, it's such a simple solution. Why didn't he think of it? He'd have to talk to El. "What about the photo album of the pictures, do you have access to that? I really would like a copy of those pictures. Whoever did this wanted Damon and took Damon's paintings. That sure sounds like family to me. And who knows, maybe there's something about the pictures. Art is in my area of expertise, and Neal's."

"I agree on the family thing, and if we find the album, we will send you copies of the pictures. Are you sure there's no one on the Caffrey side who knew about him."

"Neal says no. And if any did, he says they wouldn't care enough to find him. But why would someone from Cindy's side kill their own blood? It makes no sense."

"No, but we'll look harder into her. We'll check out that Sue Ann name Neal gave you." Then Gideon leaned forward and tossed Peter a file, "Now we come the hard part."

Peter picked up the file, glanced at Gideon, and opened it. It had Stephen's medical information. Stephen was found in the closet, unconscious. His mother had been dead five days. Stephen was severely dehydrated and in serious condition bordering on critical. When they cleaned him up, they found material in his hair and his upper shirt, and some smeared on the bottom of the shirt; they believed he wiped off his face. There were flecks of the material in his mouth. They collected the material and sent it to the lab, it was analyzed as… Peter put the file down. He made a few short gasps for air.

Gideon quietly stated, "There's a restroom right through that door if you need it."

"No. No, I'm okay, I just need a minute." He pictured Damon… HIS Damon… in that closet… watching his mother's brains flying into his face… He got up and ran to the bathroom.