"Tony," Steve whispered, getting his husband's attention. "He's asleep."

The two men were in the waiting room of the hospital still not having heard anything about the state of their son. Sam was now fast asleep on Steve's lap, cuddling into the huge man as he dreamt.

Tony brushed back the boy's bangs with light fingers. "He looks so much younger when he's asleep," he noted.

"Tony," Steve once again got the engineer's attention, but his voice was hard with emotion. "How did Dean get this bad? How did we not notice?"

Tony sighed and wrapped an arm around the love of his life before kissing the side of his head. "I don't know Steve. He–I guess we were just seeing what we wanted to see, he was on codeine," the man pointed out.

"Because he was in pain!" Steve's eyes were clouding with unshed tears. "He was in pain and we didn't even notice! Our baby was in pain, Tony!"

"Shh, I know, I know, Steve. But he didn't tell us! We couldn't see the injuries! There was no way for us to–"

"He should've told us, Tony! He hid from us instead of telling us he was in so much pain he used medical grade, addictive painkillers. And we–God Tony! We treated him like a criminal!" Steve was openly weeping, trying to keep from moving as to keep Sam from waking.

"It's my fault, Steve. When I picked him up at the school, I–I berated him the whole way home. Hell, I sounded like my dad." Tony slumped down in his chair, running his hands through his hair. "If I didn't have you and the kids I'd be halfway in a bottle of vodka right now, Steve."

Steve snapped his head towards his partner. "You're not going to right?"

"No. But I really fucking want to. I just–I had a thought before we found out he was hurt. That maybe–maybe he took the codeine because he knew we wanted to talk to him after school." The man admitted.

"What? Why would he–"

"There were a couple of guys that I met in rehab years ago. They were abused as children, and they said that when they knew they were gonna be beaten that night, they took drugs to lessen the pain." Tony looked Steve in the eye as he told him "I thought Dean took drugs because he thought we were going to beat him, Steve. I got angry–yes about him taking drugs, I hate that he did that, but I also got angry because I'm tired of him always thinking we're gonna hurt him! How many times can we say that we won't? How many ways can we show him we love him until he gets it?!" The man, frustrated, stood up and started pacing.

"Tony, sit down." Steve reached out a hand to the man but he was too wrapped up in his head to notice.

"I don't know how much longer I can do this Steve–I–"

"Tony, sit down." Steve used his 'Captain voice' to get his husband's attention, and, sure enough, the man plopped right back in his seat.

"Tony, what happens when you look at Dean?" Steve asked. Tony closed his eyes and took a big breath, calming himself.

"I–I'm amazed that he trusts us with everything he's been through. I'm angry at everyone who ever laid a hand on that perfect boy, and–and I'm filled with so much love for him that I–I don't know what I'm gonna do if something happens to him." The man replied, hanging his hand low.

"You love him. I do too. He's a wonderful boy and we just need to be patient. We would walk through fire for any one of our kids, and with Dean, it just means that the fire lasts a little longer," Steve comforted his husband.

Tony sighed and rested his head on the man's shoulder. "I know. We take it one day at a time, that's what we said the first day we got Thor, and we'll keep saying it until someone wins a Nobel prize or some shit."

"That's the plan." Steve agreed. Looking down at the tear-stained boy on his lap, the man tightened his arms and kissed the top of his head. "Tony, when I talked to Sam earlier he said that he 'was used to taking care of' Dean. What do you think that means?"

Tony blew air from his cheeks slowly, thinking. "Well, it could mean that Dean has a poor immune system, or that they have each other's back. But I think you know exactly what that means," the man sighed.

"That poor boy." the blond cuddled further into Sam. "If only we got him first–"

"Hey–" Tony interrupted, lifting his head to look his husband in the eye. "Dean is with us now and there's no point in thinking about the 'what ifs'. He–"

"Sam?" Steve interrupted, seeing Sam Wilson push through the hospital doors.

"Steve. Tony." The man greeted the two coldly.


"We didn't touch him!" Tony shouted.

"Then how did he get hurt?" Mr. Wilson shot back.

"We don't know! We brought him here as soon as we knew something was wrong!" Steve defended.

"And that only took how many days?" The social worker asked sarcastically.

The three men were in a hospital conference room after placing Sam in a quiet area to rest.

"Look, we didn't hurt Dean, Sam. We would never!" Steve tried to reason with his former squadron member.

"Stop lying to me, Steve! I saw the bruises! How could you?" Sam was angry, furious even. "I trusted you, Steve. Phil fucking trusted you! I told those boys that they would be safe because the two of you were good people! That they were lucky we were able to get them in!"

Tears of anger started falling down the man's face. "How could you? "

"We didn't fucking touch him!" Tony screamed.

Steve looked at the man that he once called his friend. "You really think I would do that?" He asked, heartbroken.

"I've been through this too many times with Dean. Every time I think I've found him a good place with parents that are gonna protect him instead of use him, they prove me wrong." Sam's voice fell into a dangerous whisper, "So yeah Steve. When it comes to these kids, I definitely think you would."

The social worker made his way to the door.

"Hold on, we're not done here!" Tony shouted.

"Yes, we are. There's a police officer standing guard outside the door who won't let you leave until the investigation is completed. Once Sam wakes up we're going to get his statement, and we already sent two officers to get statements from your other children." Mr. Wilson turned to glare at the men.

"I don't care how rich you are Stark. No one hurts these kids and gets away with it. Not if I have something to say about it. If you're found guilty you will lose your children. All of them. God knows what you've done to the others." With that, the man slammed the door behind him, leaving the couple in astonished silence.