(Thursday morning)

(No Pov)

The Smith's house was quiet and peaceful as the sun rose to start the day, greeting the world with its bright rays of light. Eve was in the kitchen making breakfast for everyone, while Kate and the rest of the family sat around the table and waited patiently for her to finish. Lilly and Stormy were talking amongst themselves about something Lilly had on her phone, while across the table Winston had the morning paper opened as he drank his cup of coffee, only moving with the occasional paper flip. Kate who sat between the other participants of the table, was just staring of into empty space.

(Kate's Pov)

I stared of into the wall that sat across the room from me, not really thinking about anything. I was still trying to process what I saw earlier this morning, when they brought him back. What could he have been doing there? Did he need to go get something? My mind bounced from question to question, as I glanced in the direction of the living room, only barley being able to see the edge of the closed door.

Mom had opened it to check on Humphrey every thirty minutes or so, just to make sure he was still sleeping. One of the said visits she did go in to place a glass of water next to him, quickly leaving as not to wake the poor thing out of sleep. We were all worried about him, but we knew he needs to rest.

My attention was brought away from the door back towards the table, where mom had set a plate down. The table and the plate clashed making a solid clanking noise that echoed through the kitchen, but that didn't seem to stop her. She proceeded to place the other plates of food in front of dad and the girls.

She had made eggs and bacon, with toast and hashbrowns that were nice and fluffy. I felt my stomach growl a little causing my mom to smile, "Go ahead and eat dear" she said wiping her hand on a towel and taking her seat across from me. I picked up my fork and slowly made my way through the dish, the family following my lead. After a few moments the silence was starting to get to me, our house was never this quiet and it just felt awkward to me.

"How's he doing?" I said, "still sleeping?". I was looking at mom but I could tell that dad and Stormy had looked up as well. I just took another bite of my eggs as I waited for mom to answer.

"He seems to be doing fine for now. He hasn't woken up from what I can see and I wouldn't expect him to. I used a pretty strong fast acting sleep aid on him..." she glanced over at the door, "he should be a sleep for a couple more hours".

At least he was getting some rest finally. The first step of any recovery is rest and nourishment. I continued eating my food, trying to coral the last pieces of egg on to a patch of hashbrown before eating it. "Do you know what he left for? I mean he didn't even say anything when he left".

"Well, when we arrived, he was sitting on the floor in the dining room." she paused, "It seems that he felt the need to clean..." she trailed off for a second as if hesitant to say anything. I just stared at her waiting for her to finish. "He had tried to clean up the "mess" as he said it, hence the state of his appearance.". I watched as her eyes glanced over to dad before fixating on her plate. Before I could ask anything, Stormy spoke up causing us to look over.

"What mess?" she asked looking to mom. "Humphrey always cleaned the house and kept it spotless, I doubt there would be a mess in our home." she said flashing me a glance and then back at mom. I looked at mom, who looked in a state of panic. Stormy had not been there during the whole ordeal because she was at school. The only thing she had known was that Humphrey had been hurt and put in the hospital. She didn't know "how" he was hurt, or by "who". The decision was made not to tell her right away so she wouldn't freak out while we delt with Humphrey, but now it had been so long it felt awkward to try and bring it up.

I knew mom was trying to think of how to handle this situation, and I'm sure she knew it would come up eventually. I watched as mom fought a war inside her mind on what to do. I was kind of surprised, it was not easy to cause mom to faulter like this. But this was different, Stormy was not her child and the news was not something that could be said lightly. I mean Humphrey and James where all Stormy had, and not even a few days ago her foster father tried to kill her brother. that would be hard for anyone to say to a twelve-year old. For now, she was just told James had to go out of town on a trip for work.

"I'm sure he did a good job of keeping the house clean, but accidents do happen..." mom said finally speaking up. It looks like she deciding it's not time to tell her yet. I wasn't going to argue with her decision. "What was Humphrey like at home dear, if you don't mind me asking?".

I turned back to mom, shocked by her question. It seemed kind of out of the blue and irrelevant. it didn't seem to faze her that I was staring at her though, as she continued to focus on Stormy who was thinking of an answer. After a few moments she gave a small grin.

"Annoying" she stated with a small laugh. "He always seems so gloomy and dramatic about everything. He mostly stays hidden in his room only really coming out to go to school" she continued as she ate a bite of her food. "But every time I tried to get him to come out James would tell me to leave him be, that he was doing school work or something. I guess highschoolers get a lot of homework" she said waving her arm to gesture a huge pile of homework.

Mom tilled her head to the side as she listened to Stormy, occasionally glancing to dad, who would look from her to Stormy. "Would you not eat dinner together? Or breakfast?" she asked.

Stormy paused to think again as if digging through an archive of lost knowledge. I didn't like that. I mean it was a simple question and her response time for it was seemingly too long. "Not that I know of, or at least remember. James said he preferred to eat alone in his room so he could focus on his studies. Witch makes sense, since Humphrey is a straight A's student."

"Did James cook for you, or did you cook?" I asked jumping into the conversation. Mom looked over at me, so I just nodded and continued my questioning.

"Us? Cook? That's a good one" she said giving a small chuckle. It received matched looks of confusion from the rest of us. She noticed this and continued, "We eat take out every day. I can't even boil water without almost burning the house down, and I'd never seen James's cook anything for as long as I've known him. The only one of us that can cook is my brother, he learned from our mom" she said giving a soft smile.

I wasn't sure what surprised me more, the fact that they ate take out every day, being such a unhealth and costly way of living. Or the fact that the quiet boy in the room next door was a good cook. I found the thought intriguing.

"But Humphrey hasn't cooked since we lost her and dad. Him and mom always had a special bond and spent a lot of time together in the kitchen. "She continued. I felt bad that the conversation had made her bring up sad memories of her past with her parents.

"Did James ever order Humphreys food with yours?" mom asked still pushing the interrogation along. Stormy was much faster to answer this time around. "No, he said Humphrey liked to order his own food, so we didn't need to get his food with ours" she said setting her fork down on the empty plate. Now that we were all done with our food, mom picked up all the plates and walked over, setting them down in the sink. She filled a glass with some orange juice and made her way back to the table, handing the glass to Stormy who gladly accepted it.

Mom was looking at dad again, their eyes having an unspoken conversation. She turned to Stormy about to say something but was stopped when she heard screaming followed by glass breaking. It wasn't just yelling either, it was pure terror echoing through the house. We all jumped up and ran to the source of the commotion in the living room, mom being the first through the door.

She rushed over to Humphrey who was still yelling incoherent words and waving his arms. Mom wasted no time getting over to him, carefully stepping over the broken glass from the cup she had placed next to him, witch in the commotion had been knocked of the table.

"Humphrey calm down honey it's okay, you're okay!" she said grabbing his hands trying to stop him from moving as much. He didn't seem to hear her as he continued to move around whimpering and yelping.

"What's wrong Humphrey" Stormy said making her way over to him, but being stopped by mom telling her to stand back. Her eyes began to water as she watched her brother in front of her.

Dad quickly walked over to give mom a hand placing his hands on Humphreys shoulders to steady his movements. But the second he applied some pressure Humphery let out a quiet phrase that stopped our hearts. "I'm sorry, please don't hurt me anymore". My heart sank into my stomach hearing the words clearly come out of his mouth. Mom looked up to dad before quickly sitting Humphrey up, shaking him gently.

"Humphrey dear wake up, come on hon wake up" she said still gently shaking him. After a few moments he went silent and his eyes opened slightly. They were filled with tears; witch easily fell down his cheek the second they opened. His breaths where short and ragged as he tried to catch his breath from his fit. He looked from mom to dad and then to me and Stormy before looking back to my mom.

"What's going on?" he asked coarsely, looking around confused. He raised his hand and wiped one of the tears of his face, then looking at his hand. Quickly he rubbed his hands across the rest of his face getting rid of the rest of them. Mom hadn't moved an inch from her spot directly in front of him. After a moment, once he calmed down, she spoke.

"You seemed to be having a bad dream.." she said looking at the sheets that were in disarray and the broken glass on the floor. Humphrey noticing the broken glass, let out a small gasp.

"Did I break this, I'm sorry please forgive me" he said trying to get up to pick up the glass. He was swiftly pushed back to his seat by mom. She just gave a small nod and a smile.

"Don't worry about the glass dear we have plenty more. Are you ok? Dose anything hurt? Any discomfort?" she said examining him carefully. She lifted his hands and examined the cuts on his knuckles, that where now showing signs of infection. She set them down a let out a sigh. "Are you hungry?" she continued now looking back up to him. He didn't say anything for a moment as he just looked at her.

"I have a little money; I can go get some food" he said softly looking down at his hands. Mom just placed hers over his bringing his attention back to her.

"Non-sense dear, I will cook you something. How about you take a shower and I'll make you a meal for when you get out?" she said standing up and stepping back. "Kate dear, will you show him where the shower is" she said turning to me.

I gave a small nod and watched as she looked back to Humphrey. She gestured with her hand for him to stand up, which he did without complaint. She walked him over to me and smiled before walking out to the kitchen. After her and dad where gone I turned my attention back to Humphrey. He was looking down at the floor again. "Ok follow me, I'll show you where the bathroom is" I said turning and walking to the stairs. He didn't say anything and just followed me in silence.

I walked slowly up the stairs making sure I didn't go to fast for him. Once we were at the top I turned to the right and walked down the hall making sure he was still behind me. We passed Lillys room before making it to the bathroom, once there I opened the door and turned on the light for him. "Here you go, there are towels in the closet and you're free to use any of the shampoos and conditioners. He just nodded and walked in. He began to close the door but as he did, he stopped. "Thank you, Kate, for everything" he said before fully closing the door.

I stood there for a second before smiling a little. That was the first time he had said anything to me since school. I walked further down the hall into my room and grabbed my phone of the charger and made my way back down the stairs to the kitchen, where everyone else was.

(Time skip 20 min)

I sat at the table watching as mom made some food for Humphrey. Dad came down from up the stairs joining us. He had gone and bought new clothes for Humphrey to put on, since his where ruined. mom brought a plate over and set it on the table along with a glass of water. As she walked over to the entry way for the stairs, she jumped a little, scaring us.

"Humphrey dear, you about gave me a heart attack" she said stepping back allowing a now clean Humphrey to walk in. It was like a night and day difference looking at him. His dark, matted and stained fur was now its original fluffy grey with white highlights. His ears were lifted up a little, not resting flat against his head anymore. Seeing him like this again was refreshing. He looked so soft and cuddly. I paused for a minute, "what did I just say" I thought to myself. I watched as mom walked over and sat him at the table in front of the plate she had placed earlier.

He didn't make any moves for it, as he just kind of looked at it. I looked at mom confused and she just smiled. "Humphrey dear, you can eat it's okay" she said rubbing his back. He looked up at her and then back at the dish. He reached up and picked up the fork, taking a bite of the food. We all watched as he proceeded to finish the plate rather quickly. He set his fork down and wiped his mouth with his napkin.

"Would you like some more, there is plenty" mom said reaching for the plate. To her dismay he denied the extra helping with a small nod." No thank you mam"

She didn't look happy about it, but she didn't protest it, and carefully picked up the plate and placed it in the sink with the others. While she was in the kitchen Stormy made her way up beside her brother.

"Are you feeling better now" she asked softly as she rested a hand on his arm. Turning to face her, he brought her into a hug, burying his face in her neck. "Yea never better" he said back not breaking the embrace. "How are you holding up" he asked finally looking at her. She just gave a big smile and looked at Lilly who was across the table on her phone. "Great, I've had lots of time to hang out with my new friend Lilly from school. We even had a sleep over last night!" she said excitedly.

"I'm glad that you're happy and safe". He raised a hand and rubbed the top of her head making her laugh. I thought it was cute how they had a good relationship. Me and Lilly always seem to ignore each other unless we need something from each other. We loved each other sure but we didn't have a super close bond or anything.

"Yea I can't wait for James to come back home, so I can tell him all about it" she said catching everyone's attention in the room. Not knowing the context, she smiled and laughed. Humphrey stopped rubbing her head as he brought it back down to his lap. He wasn't showing it but his hand was shaking. His expression darkened a little and the air grew still.

Mom made her way back over quickly breaking the silence, "Lilly dear, why don't you and Stormy go play for bit." she said looking to Lilly. She was about to say something but mom gave her a look that we both knew all too well. Without a word she got up and walked over to Stormy. "Let's go to my room" she said with a smile and grabbed her hand leading her away. Stormy looked back at Humphrey and smiled before disappearing behind the wall.

Once they were gone mom looked to me gesturing the same. I looked to Humphrey who was still looking down, before standing up and walking over to the stairs. Before I walked up them, I looked back one more time, noticing him looking over at me before I disappeared. I felt bad leaving him with my parents, but there was no arguing with mom. For now, I would just have to leave things to her. I laid down on my bed with a defeated sigh. I guess I would take a nap since I got up early. With that I rolled over and slowly dozed off to sleep.