Author's Note: Holy Moly! I can't even tell you how thankful I am for your feedback and for the nice comments – it almost made me cry, okay, it did ^^
I apologize for the long update time, but I had some sorting out to do as to how I want to continue this story. I don't wanna mess this up, coz it's my baby.
*mini-spoiler* (don't like, don't read): On the account on law I make here... I'm still working my way through that topic. I'm no lawyer, and I won't make it the center of attention. I am still doing some research to have it halfway authentic, but I hope you see that this is not my main purpose and not my point, either. It's about the characters I seek to develop. So, lawyers or law-interested folks out there, please don't feel offended by inaccuracy.
P.S.: I added new sub-headlines for the chapters, I hope that's fine with my dear readership^^
As always, you reviews are utmost awesome, even if they make me cry, for they make me cry in joy – and therefore very welcome.
Read, review, and hopefully enjoy ;)
Once outside the boatshed, Callen quickly makes his way to the car, fighting any urge not to look back, because he is sure he would just go on sitting with Marty and hold him close. He rests his head against the steering wheel for a second, gripping it so tight so that his knuckles turn almost white. He sucks in some much needed air.
However, it is as Nate said – the only way to help this situation is to find a way to keep Marty, so the agent within him has to take charge of the situation again.
He has work to do.
G pulls himself up and starts the engine and speeds down the streets until the NCIS building comes into view. Callen feels a wave of relief wash over him at its familiarity. It means home, safety, and a computer system that will hopefully give him the much needed input to kick that man in the ass hard enough to make him leave the country. Maybe G can convince Hetty to run a background check on Brandel using Kaleidoscope. And even if not, he can at least gather all necessary information he has in the files on Marty, and then talk to a lawyer. Either way, he has to work this out. Callen exits the car and makes his way into the bullpen. The agent hurries to his desk and opens the drawers where he put all important folders and papers about Marty, CPS, and the like.
"Callen! There you are!" Kensi's voice suddenly rings out. G turns his head to meet the mismatched eyes of the female agent.
"Hey," he croaks as he straightens back up. Concern is written all over her face.
"I guess you already heard...," Callen grimaces.
"Yeah," she nods curtly, before clapping her hands together. "So, uhm... we already have Eric and Nell working on finding anything on the internet or whatever network we can get our hands on. Hetty is calling in some favors to get more information, and she is also talking to several lawyers for different perspectives. So, are you coming up to the Ops?"
"What?" Callen stares at her, still trying to, well, process.
"Are you coming to the Ops? C'mon, we got no time to lose," Kensi urges him.
"You mean, you guys are working... on my... our case?" G frowns disbelievingly.
"Well, obviously, you genius," Kensi rolls her eyes. "You are family. The family is threatened. So we do anything to make sure the family stays safe. So now, let's not lose time but get working, alright?"
"... thanks," he stutters, honestly overwhelmed. G knows he can always count on the team, but that they immediately jump into action, neglecting all other plans and tasks, still amazes him.
It is seemingly that in the greatest crisis you learn who your true friends are, and just how far those true friends go for you. And his friends go beyond anything G Callen ever thought they would.
"You only thank us once Marty is safe with us," Kensi flashes a faint smirk. "Where is he, by the way?"
"At the boatshed with Nate. He fell asleep," G grimaces as he starts to follow Kensi to the stairs.
"Honestly, I would suggest we just keep him asleep until all this is over," she snorts. She doesn't know everything, but what Kensi knows from Hetty is enough to not only hate Brandel to his guts and beyond, but also to think that it would be better to keep her little friend out of this altogether. He doesn't deserve that. He really doesn't.
"I was thinking the same," Callen admits. Right, like hibernation. Just let Marty sleep until this is all clarified, and if not, use the time to get him out of the country.
"But for now... let's focus on what we can do – run a full-round investigation," Kensi encourages the Senior Agent, something G is honestly glad and thankful for. It makes this hell a little more bearable, and him a little less helpless while he wanders around the fires and abysses.
The two make their way into the Ops, where all eyes are instantly on them once they enter. Callen waves his hand slightly, offering a weary smile, "Hey guys."
He takes his stance next to Sam, who pats him on the shoulder wordlessly. G nods. It's a simple gesture, but it says everything that needs to be said:
I'm your partner, I'm there for you.
We fight this fight together.
You are not alone.
"Do we have anything useful yet?" Sam asks the analysts as they punch in numbers. Eric twists around in his chair to look at them, "We are still working through the files. Give us a few more minutes."
"Well, you might want to add a new parameter," Callen grimaces.
"Sure, anything is of help," Eric nods. Because any new parameter will help figure out this mess. A new perspective means new angles, new angles mean more possibilities – more chances.
More chances to keep Marty.
Because no one wants Marty to leave.
"Uhm, according to Marty, the woman we met there today is not whom she claims to be," G explains.
Hetty cocks an eyebrow at him, "So you mean to say that she is..."
"Not his mother. Marty said that she died some two years ago after she was in a coma for some time. Well, if this turns out to be true, it means that someone else is enacting her," Callen explains. The rest of the team gapes at him.
Seriously?
Doppelgänger?
Copycats?
This sounds like it is out of one of Marty's and Kensi's beloved cheap movies.
"Just who the hell are those people?!" Nell shakes her head.
"That is what we have to find out, Ms. Jones," Hetty replies matter-of-factly.
"So add identity theft and possible murder to the list," Kensi makes a face. "Those people are giving me chills already – and I haven't been face to face with them yet."
"I was face to face with them – and I have chills," Callen snorts.
"I bet," Kensi grimaces sympathetically.
"But what would they have from... making her appear as Marty's mother? I mean, Marty should know the difference. That is a huge risk, especially since we can probably demand a DNA scan – and then they are screwed," Sam argues.
"Well, Mr. Hanna, even if I don't know too much about this yet, what I can say is that someone who goes as far as to enact someone else, to have her identity, doesn't do so without a reason. If you approach someone who knows the real person, then you do so because you have absolute confidence that you will succeed. And given that Mr. Deeks was gone for so long, which granted them enough time to prepare, they surely came up with a strategy," Hetty tells him.
"Guts they have," Sam shakes his head.
"And that will be their downfall," Hetty says gloomily.
As if on cue, her phone rings. Hetty glances at the screen briefly before she turns to the agents again, "You keep working on it while Mr. Callen and I will head downstairs."
"What am I doing downstairs?" Callen frowns.
"Meet your lawyer," Hetty shrugs, already walking off. Callen heads after her wordlessly. That sounds like a plan – and plans are good, they mean structure, and that is what he needs.
Funny how much Marty and he are alike in that regard.
Downstairs he meets Hetty's lawyer, or now his lawyer, a middle-aged African American man with dark hair, olive-green eyes and dimples. He wears an anthracite suit with a navy blue tie and black shoes.
"Ah, Mr. Connor, I'm glad you could make it that fast, thank you for coming by," Hetty greets him, taking his hand with a warm smile.
"For you always, Ms. Lange," he smirks at her, but then turns his attention to Callen. "And you must be Mr. Callen, right?"
"Yeah," G nods, extending his hand to the man to shake hands with him, too.
"I'm Gabriel Connor, pleasure," he smiles at him warmly.
"Pleasure," G replies.
"So, uhm, can we go somewhere to have conversation? I don't think this is something we should discuss in the hallway," Connor says.
"We can go over to the lounge," Hetty says, gesturing at him to follow, which he and Callen do. They settle down.
"Alright," Connor begins, clapping his hands together, "I have to say I didn't have much time to look into your case yet. I just have the information Ms. Lange could give me, but now I would like to get the story straight with you another time so that I don't miss anything and can start my work, because we shouldn't waste our time."
"Sure," G agrees. "Go ahead."
"So okay. You have the guardianship for your younger half-brother, Marty, correct?" he asks.
"Yes," Callen nods.
"You cooperated with CPS," the man goes on.
"As far as you can cooperate with them," G shrugs.
"Yeah, I know they have that kinda reputation... anyways, now his parents turned back up again and they want to have him back, by going to court," Connor goes on.
"Yes," Callen nods. "But there is something else that turned up only just now. Marty says that the woman we met today is not the woman she claims to be. He is convinced that she enacts his mother. To his knowledge his mother died a few years ago. I believe Marty, but we don't have valid proof for this yet, so I don't know what we can do with the information from the legal side."
"Wow, that's... okay, new, but, uhm... we can work with that, but... ugh... really? I'm sorry," Sawyer grimaces, looking honestly surprised.
"Yeah, same thought I had," Callen snorts.
"So okay, from what I know so far... there is a certain procedure that I can already lay out to you, the general mainframe to stick to," Connor explains. "The first step is to make sure that Marty stays with you."
"That sounds good to me," Callen chuckles nervously. That is the one thing he hoped he'd say. G doesn't care about what it says on paper. He didn't when they approved him Marty's guardian, and he didn't care about it ever since. The only thing that mattered to him was that Marty stayed with him. And that the lawyer means to take this as a premise makes G more confident in trusting this man with his most important thing on earth.
"Your father will try to fight for custody for Marty, we will fight that so that Marty stays in your custody and terminate his parental rights. If we are successful with that, we will apply for adoption. That way, your father can't get to him anymore," the lawyer explains.
"Alright," G nods. That sounds reasonable.
"That is our primary focus now. I would suggest to push your father's perhaps other crimes aside, and by that I mean possible murder of his... wife, as far as I could take, and helping with identity theft. The same is true for this woman. I guess it might sound a bit counter-intuitive at first, but I think it's the best strategy to delay that until later," the lawyer tells him, but Callen can't help but ask, "But wouldn't it be better to get him into prison first? I mean... then the rest would be superfluous, right?"
"Well, if you can bring me valid proof for the identity theft and the murder that will hold in a courtroom, then hooray, we go with that, but my intuition tells me that this will take some time to uncover. Time I fear we don't have. With securing Marty's custody first, however, we have way better chances because we have that one advantage," Connor explains, making G frown, "What advantage is that?"
"Well, from what I know, Marty will likely stay in your custody until the hearing – so that he is not put under more stress. We can also hand in a petition to further secure that. We have support on our side because you cooperated with CPS right from the start and met their standards as his legal guardian in the first place. The father, however, has at least the shoot-in issue on his side. So until this is clarified, I think we are safe to say that Marty will stay with you until the judge decides if your guardianship or theirs is terminated. That gives us the time to gather all the evidence, because that means your brother is with us – and he is all the evidence we need. It is his story we have to prove," Connor explains, to which Callen nods.
Right, it's what G promised him. To prove his story right, set the record straight.
Connor goes on, "For as long as your brother is with you, we can gather all the evidence it takes, because, sadly, those things still show on him. X-rays and an extensive physical and psychological evaluation will reinforce our perspective. That will be cataloged – and I warn you now, that will be a... consuming thing to do. It's always hard because we have to go into detail. Marty will have to tell... everything he is ready to talk about. It serves the higher purpose, however. We have to make sure the parental rights are terminated and that happens if the parents are proven unfit of taking care of him. Child abuse is one of the best indicators," Connor explains, his features grim.
"Yeah," the agent nods.
"We have your agents who can tell the judge how much of a good parent you are for him on the other hand, to strengthen your position as being the fitter parent. That is what we can build on without weird theories about identity theft. Because I can tell you, if we drop this bomb too early, possibly without enough proper evidence, we run severe trouble that this will actually backfire on us so that you seem unfit as a parent and not them. If we bring this, we have to have a good timing, so that it is our trump. And we will have it once we have absolute proof for this. Otherwise it will only make the judge believe that we are making up crazy theories," the lawyer warns him.
"I don't like that, but I get it," Callen agrees with a grimace.
"Well, so what I need from you is all the evidence that you can find to prove Marty's story. By that I mean any clues of ongoing abuse during his childhood. As already said, that includes x-rays, old files, times he missed out on school, but also a new physical report. I hope you have a physician he is okay with, because he will have to do a thorough check. I know that this can be extremely difficult with children who suffered from what Marty underwent," Connor grimaces sympathetically.
"Yeah, we have someone," Callen nods. Well, at least he hopes that Marty took a liking to one of the doctors he was around with.
"Good, well, other than that we need the exact circumstances of the shooting that Ms. Lange already mentioned to me, and a psychological profile from his psychologist that makes clear that he suffered trauma because of this man and that you, on the other hand, are helping him in coping a great deal offering him support and stability," Connor explains. "I will set everything up with the court in the meantime. Once we have everything together, we will hand that information to the court. They will sight the material. And then there will be a long round of interviews and visits on both sides. I will do anything I can, but it may also come to it that they will seek to see Marty interacting with his parents."
"That's not happening," Callen grumbles.
"It is very important that you do what the court requires you to. Again, I will try to bypass that, but we have to give them good reason to neglect this. However, that is something that will come about only later on, so we shouldn't fuss about this for now," the lawyer reminds him.
"Okay, " the agent grimaces.
"I will see if your psychologist can speak in Marty's name or if he can only report to another psychologist assigned by the court. Either way, his evaluation will be essential to prove our point," Connor goes on.
"That shouldn't be a problem," G smirks, now more certainly – because Nate can surely provide such a report.
"What we also want to look for is other people who can speak in Marty's favor, so neighbors, witnesses who saw him getting hurt and so on," the lawyer explains.
"Right," G nods.
"Well, that's the standard. However, I expect your father to play dirty. And that means we have to think about all the things he will poke his finger in – or will twist around to make it fitting into his own story," Connor goes on.
"And by that you mean what exactly?" G grimaces.
"Well, he seemingly has a different 'perception' of the shooting that sounds, and I stress the sounds, coherent enough that it held in a courtroom before. It is also what went into protocol, and I tell you, that will be very difficult because it was actually brought to court like that. It was decided that it was merely an accident. So that's going to be a tough bone anyways. However, that will most likely be the pattern. Whatever we take, he will twist around, if he has a halfway good lawyer to do that. And he will go looking for all failures in you especially to make you seem unfit of parenting," the lawyer warns him.
"Well, nobody's perfect, but I thought we had a pretty good handle on it," G makes a face.
"That is not the matter, Mr. Callen. That is something you have to really understand. Even if I agree with you, after what I heard from Ms. Lange, it's absolutely not about the reality that you're the better parent for Marty in all possible ways. It's about what people see, what that judge will have to see," Connor explains. "To give you an example, that Marty stays here at the NCIS will surely cause a lot of trouble because it is against convention. People won't understand that because they do not understand the specific circumstances, at least that it what your father will build on."
"Darn," Callen licks his lips nervously.
"However, we can bypass that if we make those circumstances clear before. The judge has to understand Marty's story and that this made even such unconventional actions needed for his healing process. That this offers him greater stability than conventional treatment would. We have to shed the right light on it," the lawyer tells him.
"Okay, I get that," Callen nods.
"And I will give you this fair warning – they will not only go digging in your personal background the way we will in theirs. They will also go through your friends' closets, too, and mess around in them as much as they can," Connor tells him, making Callen blink at him incredulously, "What now? What do they have to do with it?"
"Well, we will want to bring them in to speak in your favor, but that also means that the other side will get a chance to question them. And they won't just ask about Marty. They will make them appear as questionable or even bad company, too," the lawyer explains.
"They are federal agents working to protect the country," Callen argues.
"And that is what we will build on, but they will make it look like they are people hiding things, people who get into danger, mean a dangerous life, a possible threat to Marty, and even more. You will have to be aware of the fact that this will happen if you want to win, Mr. Callen," he tells him.
"And I think I can speak in everyone's name that we will have no trouble with that for as long as it ensures that Mr. Deeks stays with us," Hetty says, clapping Callen on the back of the hand affectionately.
"It will be a tough struggle, I can tell you that much," Connor warns him.
"I'm ready for it," Callen says with as much determination as he can muster.
"Well, as for the rest... I will go through everything I can find from the legal side. I would recommend you to dig for any information that might help prove our point," the lawyer tells him.
"We are already working on that," Hetty smirks.
"Alright, then that is what we do. I will work through the material to work on a fitting strategy, and you please start with the doctor's and the psychologist's reports. Those are our best way to prove our point," the lawyer goes on, to which Callen nods, "Sure."
"Okay, then I don't want to waste more time, but work on this. We have literally no time to lose," Connor says, getting up.
"Thanks a lot," Callen smirks wearily.
"You should only thank me once we win this case," the lawyer smirks warmly before he tells his goodbyes and takes the folders and files Hetty already put together for him with him to work them through.
"To me it's the weirdest thing that I now have to let a lawyer handle it for me. I would just love to arrest this guy for what he did and that'd be it," Callen grunts, covering his eyes with his palm for a moment. That would be so much easier. Why is that guy not a Marine after all? Then he could roast his ass in all the hurtful ways he deserves.
"Mr. Connor is a very able man, I assure you, Mr. Callen," Hetty tells him.
"I have no doubt he is, it's just...," Callen shrugs, but Hetty understands, "It's just that you would rather not give it into someone else's hands. However, that is the only way I see this happening. We have to go to court – and that means we have to play according to their rules."
"I hate convention," he snorts.
"Me, too, Mr. Callen, me, too," Hetty sighs. Callen suddenly turns his head. Hetty smiles warmly once she sees what he turns to. Nate stands with his hand on Marty's shoulder in the gateway.
Callen knows Marty by the sound of his sneakers.
"Hey," Marty speaks up, managing a feeble smile, but much more honest than Callen had ever dared to hope for.
"Hey," he replies, stepping closer.
"I thought I'd better stay here," the younger brother admits after a short pause.
"Yeah? Why?" Callen questions in a soft voice, full of concern. "I mean... maybe you'd better be off at home, just saying."
He doesn't want to strain the kid anymore than he did anyways.
"This is home," Marty replies simply, which makes Callen smile through all the sadness.
The way Marty figures, he could of course go back to the apartment now, lock himself up in the bedroom and cry into the pillow, being sorry for himself, but... that doesn't get him anywhere. His family, yes, family, is here. And they made him happy before, why shouldn't they now? If he wants to gain strength again, then it is here.
Maybe he is not that unlike G – his older brother always jumps into action, works a case, and solves it. And Marty wants the same. He doesn't want to run anymore, even if a part of him will always want to. Marty wants to stay here, stand his ground, fight for what is precious to him.
"He insisted," Nate winks at him.
"Well, then I'm glad that you came by," Callen winks at him, pulling him close once. Marty smiles into the embrace.
This is real.
"So? Anything interesting yet?" Nate asks rather casually.
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you just now," Callen replies.
"And I wanted to ask Mr. Deeks to have a cup of tea with me," Hetty offers. Callen winks at her and Marty gets the hint. He walks up to her, "But not that herbal tea from China you gave me last time. That didn't calm my nerves at all. Last time I drank it, I was bouncing up and down the walls for the rest of the night."
"We can go with a standard Earl Grey, if you preferred?" she offers, patting him on the lower arm as she leads him back to the lounge.
"Fine, but I still don't buy it," Marty says rather playfully.
"Why?" she frowns at him.
"Because I still don't believe that it is named after that British Prime Minister people keep talking about," Marty snorts, joining in the old game. "That guy never was to China by that time!"
"I don't believe it either, but the tea is good," Hetty shrugs.
"True again," Marty agrees. Both disappear in the lounge.
"Is he really okay?" G asks tentatively.
"Once he woke up, we talked a bit. He was at a steady five. I think that he came clean about this really relieved him in some way," Nate shrugs. "And your brother is, much like you, a fighter."
Right, a fighter.
"Good," Callen lets a silent sigh of relief.
"So? What can I do for you?" Nate asks directly.
"Hetty already had me meet my new lawyer," Callen starts to explain, but Nate can't help the comment, "Of course she did."
"Right?" Callen chuckles. "So anyways, he told me what I have to get for court. I would ask you for a psychological evaluation, to present to the judge and all."
"Of course," Nate nods. "That's no problem."
"Good, well, and the other thing is that we also need a doctor's report, about Marty's... injuries," G explains. Nate nods knowingly, "That might be hairy with Marty in that state, I see."
"Well, I hope you help us with that somehow," Callen shrugs.
"Again, of course," Nate tells him. "Maybe the doctor who's treated you after the stabbing might be a good idea, thinking about it. Marty got to know him without actually being the patient, as far as I know. That may be of great help."
"I thought the same thing, but he also had someone who treated him after we found him. I thought that maybe that guy was also an option," Callen explains.
"Well, but there he clearly was in that relationship of doctor and patient. And as far as I know, Marty didn't just try to escape, but also managed so that you had him stay with you," Nate smirks. "So I suppose he didn't really build up a close connection to him. With the other we have better chances. And he helped save your life, that is surely a plus."
Callen hides a small smirk to himself.
The day he met Marty, even if he can still remember it in all detail, seems so far away now. The boy whose sneakers he can tell by the sound, the teen who manages to joke about tea to bring himself to a lighter mood, is someone almost entirely different from the scared boy with blue eyes who cried out his name as a plea to somehow be remembered by the world.
However, that memory only makes the taste on G's tongue ever so bitter. What if their father wins the case and makes Marty that again? This almost forgotten child who hid in a dumpster and was not only weary of the world, but partly learned to hate it?
What if that small smile, those bright eyes are lost to the world?
Callen doesn't even want to think about it. He just knows that his personal world will collapse without him, without those things.
"I just hope that this doesn't backfire on him. I mean, he hardly talked about what his father did until recently. And you know how he is about all that stuff," Callen licks his lips. Marty got over many things, but undressing in front of someone else still proves to be difficult. Even if he is comfortable around G for the most part, Marty actually changed with the bed sheet over his body for quite some time, as though he was a little ghost. But now to strip in front of a doctor, no matter that he may know him already, and not just show an injured body part, but point at each of them and tell the story... this will get tough.
As if everything wasn't already.
"I know that we have to get this as soon as possible, but we should leave it at least for today," Nate tells him, and Callen is glad that he says so, because he didn't want to crush Marty yet another time. It's a miracle that the boy is already standing and smiling. How he does it, Callen will probably never know.
For now, he just wants to have Marty sip his tea and discuss with Hetty as though everything is normal.
Even if nothing is normal now.
A little while later, Sam and Kensi come downstairs, too. They exchange greetings with Nate and a few more hushed reassurances for G.
"So? Did you find anything yet?" Callen asks.
"Well, we're still looking through everything we can find. We though it might be a good starting point to see if we get some witnesses to speak in Marty's name. Maybe some neighbors or so," Kensi shrugs.
"Right, and we might wanna go for the schools another time, see if the teachers are willing to make a statement now. And we might want to turn to the people who were in court when the shooting was discussed. Maybe his former lawyer or so. Perhaps even police officers. I guess we just need backup for us, right?" Sam goes on.
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too," Callen nods his head.
"Eric and Nell now try to find a link between the stolen files from Marty's school to Brandel. If he was the one who removed them, then this will surely give us some leverage," Kensi goes on. Callen offers an appreciative smile.
Right, there was that, too.
"Well, it would be helpful if Marty could give us some names," she goes on.
"What names?" the teenager's voice, as if on cue, rings out behind them.
"Oh, hey there," Kensi offers a warm smile, and is positively surprised that the boy smiles back, if a little crooked, but still. She looks over at Callen, non-verbally asking for permission, to which he nods. So Kensi goes on to explain, "Well, we are now looking for people who can speak in your name, witnesses. We asked ourselves if you could help us find them, you know? Some names of neighbors who have seen... what your father did, or who talked to you."
Marty chews on his lower lip pensively, but once he notes the growing nervousness with the adults surrounding him, he quickly speaks up, "Sure, no problem, I just... well, I have to think. It's been such a long time since I last thought about them."
Everyone lets a silent sigh of relief. They already feared that Marty would relapse or so, or just end up a crying mess. After all, those are surely some old wounds that will reopen with getting into contact with those people again who were, if only loosely, part of his past, where there was nothing but dread and fear in it.
"Well, uhm... there's... wait, what was her last name...? Nancy something... she was the woman I babysitted for, or well, I played with her kids while she did some chores at the house," Marty shrugs. "Nancy Trager! Right, that was it. She lived a little down the road. Well, of course she might have moved away by now. I wouldn't ever know, but..."
"We will see if we can find her," Kensi offers with a gentle smile tugging at her lips.
"Do you think she knew?" Callen asks quietly.
"She's asked about it, as far as I know. And a part of me is convinced that she invited me over to babysit to help me in a way," Marty shrugs. "I liked her a lot. Her kids were great, and she was great with them. For a single mom, she really knew how to rock it."
"Is there anyone else we might turn to?" Sam asks. Marty makes a face, "I don't know if people in school knew. My P.E. teacher once called me upon it, but I brushed it off. And we never had someone come over to check. I was never ordered to the principal either. I guess some neighbors may have known that something was off about us. I mean, the hell, we were the one family where there were flying plates even at midnight."
"Well, then we will go ask around your old neighborhood," Sam offers.
"I wonder if anyone still remembers," Marty whispers, more to himself. He really wonders if people still remember his mother, or him. Nancy might remember him, because she cared, but the other people?
Marty always felt like he was a walking shadow among them. When he walked home from school or got the groceries for his mom, he always had the feeling that he was invisible, like a little ghost creeping along the fences. In the beginning, or at least the beginning he remembers, there was some murmuring about them, this new family no one knew. And since his mother was not allowed to spend time with the other women, that only intensified. However, curiously enough, over a few years of time, the murmurs disappeared and silence remained, and so did the blurred vision, seemingly. People would, if at all, frown sometimes, in the sense of:
Isn't that the boy from down the road? It's always so loud around night! My children hardly got any sleep!
Isn't that one of the Brandels? You never see anything of them. I wonder why that is.
Isn't that... what was his name? No, wait, that was the other boy from further down the road. I mixed them up.
Who is that?
Is he even from here?
What does he want here?
Of course Marty will never know, because he never asked anyone what they were really thinking, or if they were thinking anything of him to begin with. Perhaps it was just his imagination after all, because, so Marty learned especially once in the streets, people are more ignorant than they are attentive. So he might just as well have passed all this time as a little ghost, and wouldn't have known that this was what he was to them, and would always be to them.
But really... maybe Nancy and her kids still remember him, remember him for, well, him. Like he still wants to remember his mom for herself, the person she was and not for the make-up she wore. Marty would like to believe that he somehow left an imprint in at least one house other than his own in that street. That he was visible enough to someone to be remembered.
When in the streets, he never gave it much of a thought, and even if he did, it was quite the contrary. He wanted to be forgotten, by his family, by his father, by the world. Marty wanted to become a new him. That is also why he insisted on not referring to himself or being referred to by others as Marty Deeks. Even if it was just the act of taking on his mother's name, all in secret, it felt like a kind of liberation to him – to redefine himself. Marty was no longer the invisible ghost passing the fences as people looked on or looked down. He was Marty Deeks, maybe a ghost, still, but deliberately so, and not because someone else made him. Even if, of course, someone, namely his father, made him. Because Marty, expect for that feeling of liberty he only felt when sleeping under a clear nightsky or walking along the coastline, didn't like his stay in the streets, even if one takes aside the time in the ring for a moment. Even if he made the decision to run away, it soon dawned on him that his hands and feet were still forced by his father.
And now they might be forced once again.
Marty just hopes that history won't repeat itself in that way. Because he is obviously visible to his new family, and the teenager wants it to stay that way.
He doesn't want to disappear again.
However, as he hears the others going on to discuss the next steps, he feels a strange kind of confidence rising within him.
Because, in contrast to before, he now has people who see him and who want to continue to see him.
Maybe they can make him visible.
Maybe they can make sure he doesn't disappear.