Hearing the familiar baritone call out his name, Richie was startled. He had to be mistaken. There was no way he was really here. The teen briefly attempted to convince himself he was hallucinating. Curiosity quickly got the better of him, however, and the teen found himself opening his eyes against his better judgment.

Blinking a few times, the teen finally realized that the sight before him was not a figment of his imagination. The man was really there, settling himself onto the hospital bed. He was only inches away; leaning over the boy, concern filling his features. As the man reached his hand out to brush the lad's hair out of his eyes, Richie sprung into action.

As the boy threw himself at him, Duncan accepted the unexpected movement without hesitation. Wrapping his arms gently around the lad's back, he stroked Richie's hair gently. It was a good thing, the Immortal attempted to reassure himself. If Richie could lung at him, he certainly couldn't have suffered too much damage at the hands of his captor.

Feeling the child trembling in his arms, the Immortal frowned fiercely. Leaning forward, Duncan kept his arms around the boy as he eased his battered body back down to rest on the mattress. He had, of course, expected Richie to be shaken up. Who wouldn't be after such an ordeal? But the way he was shuddering in the man's grasp made it apparent that he was still more than simply frazzled.

Sighing deeply, the Immortal gently disentangled himself from Richie and eased away slightly, hoping to check him over and get a better sense of how the lad was really doing. Keeping one reassuring hand on the back of the teen's neck, he pulled away enough to meet the boy's eyes.

The anxiety was evident in the bright blue shining up at him. His voice sounded unnatural even to himself as he spoke. "Hey there, partner."

"Hey." The boy practically whispered back.

Duncan looked down at him for a few long moments, unsure of what to say next. Somehow, nothing he could think of seemed fitting to say in response to the situation at hand. He finally settled on questioning the boy, "How're you feeling?"

"Glad you're here." The teen answered honestly.

The Immortal smiled at him sadly, moving the hand he had rested on the lad's neck to stroke Richie's hair. "I wouldn't be anywhere else."

"I wasn't sure you were coming." Richie told him honestly. "I've been here for hours."

"I know, partner. I'm sorry. There was a misunderstanding." The Immortal told him quietly.

"Misunderstanding?" The teen questioned, wanting more than anything to understand why the man hadn't been with him. "What kind of misunderstanding?"

"Mistaken identity." The man told him flatly, not really wanting to bring up the subject of Lamont's continued freedom.

Richie, however, was persistent. "What?"

"The police found me at the cabin." Duncan told him simply, hoping to keep the conversation light.

"They thought you were Lamont?" Richie asked, immediately picking up on the man's implication.

The Immortal nodded silently, not sure how the lad would react to the idea. He prided himself on knowing his son, but had lived long enough to have interacted with former hostages on more then one occasion. Experience had taught him that their reactions to talking about their captors were anything but predictable.

"Then he's still out there?" The teen questioned stoically, looking blankly into Duncan's eyes.

The Immortal didn't know how to respond to the apparent lack of emotion. Unsure how to reassure the boy, he went with the only response he could think of; the honest one. "He is."

The formerly empty stare immediately was filled with emotions. Richie's voice cracked just as his eyes filled with tears. "Please, dad."

The request wasn't completed. But Duncan knew exactly what the lad was asking. Simply by using the three-letter title in his plea, he made his desperation for protection clear. Leaning forward, the Immortal gently wrapped his arms around the boy once more, allowing the teen to bury his face in his father's chest.

"It's going to be all right, Richie. I'm here now. You're safe." The man soothed, waiting patiently for the teen's tense posture to relax in his embrace.

When it didn't happen; the Immortal once again attempted verbal reassurance. "I'll find him, partner. He's not ever going to hurt you again. I promise."

Pulling away from the man slightly, Richie looked up at him seriously. "How's Tessa?"

It wasn't exactly the question Duncan had been expecting. But it was one that deserved an answer. Shrugging, he told the boy honestly. "I haven't seen her yet."

"Really?" Richie questioned, slightly in awe.

The Immortal smiled down at him again, entertained by the youth's apparent joy at being his first stop. "This is my first stop since tasting freedom, bub. I'll check with the nurses soon. Give her parents a call."

Nodding in acceptance, the teen once again pressed the man with questions. "How long were you in jail?"

"Two hours, tops. Just long enough to get recognized. It was the getting hauled in part that took the better part of the day." Duncan replied seriously.

"So do have any idea where Lamont is?" Richie once again switched gears, leading them to the one topic the Immortal had wanted to avoid.

How was he supposed to answer that question? The boy had been through too much at the hands of the man. He didn't want to cause him any more worry. But he didn't want to give him a false sense of security, either. There was no way he could guarantee the gardener wouldn't find his way to Richie once more.

"I would guess he's somewhere nearby." The Immortal answered honestly, deciding on the straightforward approach. He wasn't entirely sure the lad could handle any more unwelcome surprises.

Richie's eyes went flat at the statement. "You really think he's around?"

"Probably." The man replied frankly, squeezing the boy's shoulder gently as he spoke. "I doubt he'll go too far without you and Tessa."

"He thinks we're his family." The boy confirmed bleakly.

Duncan nodded at that, having figured as much. "I hate to say it, partner, but my guess is we haven't seen the last of the man."

"So where's Tessa?" The teen questioned once more.