This is a short chapter starring Will, Jay's brother. Since Jay and Will are somewhat close it would be natural that Will would be involved in Liam's life. This takes place while Jay is undercover and Will stepped in to care for his nephew. It is written from Will's perspective.

I am also fine tuning another chapter with Will and Liam, who gets in a bit of trouble while under his uncles care. But next will be a chapter where Jay meets infant Liam for the first time, per request. Stay tuned—more will be coming as the adventures grow along with Liam.

Character

I had expected the knock at the door, but it still startled me. I opened the front door of Jay's apartment to find a police officer standing next to my eleven year old nephew who seemed content with staring at the floor.

"Go to your room," I said in a neutral voice looking over his head. He obliged by race walking across the living room to his bedroom and closed the door behind him.

"Are you the father?" The officer asked me.

"No, the uncle. His dad's a cop with a special unit. He's undercover right now," I tell him, pride evident in my voice. I don't brag often, but I also don't mind sharing my brother's cool job duties. I occasionally wonder if he had any trace of admiration in his voice when he explained that I was a doctor.

"Okay. I think my partner told you over the phone that Liam didn't take anything from the bodega on the corner, but the boy he was with, Brian Walker, did.

"The owner stood there and watched him shove several items into his waistband. He apparently tried to get your nephew to as well, but the boy refused. The owner hoped Liam would walk out on his own, but he didn't. Anyway, the guy's son, had just showed up for his shift and with a nod from his father he grabbed Brian as soon as he stepped outside of the store."

"But Liam was clean right?" I asked.

"He was. Which is why he's not going down to the district."

"Is this Brian Walker kid, going to juvie?"

"Might. I hear he has had a lot of trouble in the past. The kid is fourteen and shouldn't be hanging around with eleven year old's. My guess is he figured he could get Liam to help him out with his little caper, but, gotta give the kid credit, he wouldn't go along.

"But, I'd definitely tell him to stay away from the Walker kid. Trouble is always around him and it will get Liam eventually."

"What was Brian stealing?" I asked, hoping perhaps that it was necessities, that somehow being hungry and stealing bread and peanut butter would have been better.

"Candy bars and gum. Talk to your nephew, tell him to stay away from the older kids." The officer said as he walked away, but he stopped and turned back around. "But tell him, he did good. Kids don't hear that enough, when they make the right decision."

"I will," I promised as I shut the door behind the officer.

I stood in the living room and took several deep breaths. I had no idea where Jay was, and he wasn't in communication for his safety and ours. If I had an emergency, I could go through Hank Voight, but this in no way would be serious enough to be considered an emergency. What would Jay do? What would he say? He'd be upset, but he'd be proud as well. Would he yell? Or just a stern lecture? A few days of being homebound with no TV? I had no idea. I was on my own here.

"Liam, come out here please," I yelled out. But nobody stirred. "Liam James Halstead, get out here now!" I said, raising my voice even more.

The door opened and Liam appeared, his eyes still focused on the floor. "Over here," I tell him, waving him my direction. "Have a seat," I direct him towards the couch. "Tell me what happened. The last thing I knew you were hanging out with Brice."

Liam cleared his throat and began to talk as he stared at the couch. "We were throwing a tennis ball back and forth and then he had to go inside," he said.

"Hey, look at me. I'm up here," I encourage him. He manages to look up and I'm glad he knows he screwed up as the guilt keeps his eyes dancing around.

"I was going to come home, but then Brian asked me to walk with him. He said he'd get me something from the store if I walked with him."

"And—"

"When we went into the store he started looking around and then put stuff in his pockets and in the waist of his jeans. He told me to do it too, but I didn't."

"I heard that you didn't. I'm proud of that. But how come you didn't walk away then? Just come home?"

Liam shrugged. "I should have."

"Yeah, you probably should have. It's against the law to steal, which is exactly what Brian was doing and because he did he may be in big trouble."

"Am I in big trouble?" He asked me quietly.

I sigh as I look at his sad face and stall for a moment. "You didn't steal anything, even when you were pushed and that is awesome. I'm very proud of you for that."

Suddenly he started shaking his head back and forth and looked down at the floor again. "Don't be," he said quietly.

"Did you take something?" I asked suddenly sitting up straight, wondering if his sin was somehow missed.

"No sir. But I think I didn't because I saw the mirror."

"What mirror?"

"On the wall by the ceiling. I know they are there so the people can see shoppers. I was afraid I would get caught."

"Ahh, so you didn't steal, because you were afraid you'd get caught instead of just doing the right thing?"

He shrugged again. "I don't know."

"You don't know." I sat there wondering which won out, his conscience or his brains.

"Please don't tell my dad," he begged. "I wouldn't have told him what I just told you."

"What? That you weren't sure why you didn't take the candy?"

"Yeah. If I do stuff like that—what if he leaves me?"

"Leaves you? Why would he do that?"

"Because my mom left and I was just a little kid—maybe I was a brat so she left and what if I don't know if I'm a good person and my dad leaves? I mean, he's a cop, how could he deal with me if I'm not a good person?"

"He wouldn't leave you Liam. He understands that you aren't perfect, that you'll make mistakes."

"But breaking the law," he began, his voice trailing off.

"I would advise against breaking the law under any circumstances and if you did, yes, your father would be highly upset and you would be punished. But Liam, he wouldn't leave you."

"He'd be so mad."

"He would be. I'd be mad too. If you had taken something tonight, I'd be rather upset—it's not just your dad. But you know that he loves you very much right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"You guess?"

"I just don't like to disappoint him, he looks at me with this face—I don't know how to say it."

"Oh I think I know the face you speak of." I tell my nephew as I envisioned the face Jay would wear when he was upset or frustrated with me or the circumstance he was in. "Well the best thing to is to do the right thing. Now, do you think you didn't steal because you knew it was the wrong thing or because you were afraid you'd get caught?"

"I'm not sure. I know if you get caught there are consequences, but what if you don't get caught?"

"Not getting caught doesn't make what you did wrong okay. Character is what you do when nobody is watching."

"So if I stole something and even if nobody saw me, I'd have bad character?"

"You would have shown poor judgment, made a mistake, but if you kept doing it, then yes you'd have bad character and no self-discipline." I said as Liam seemed to think about this.

"Does Brian have bad character?"

"He certainly seems to and I don't want you hanging around with him anymore."

"Isn't discipline what Dad does to me?"

"There's self-discipline, that's when you hold yourself accountable because it's the right thing to do, even if you're pretty sure you won't get caught."

"Do you have self-discipline Uncle Will?"

"I try to."

"Cause you don't have a dad to yell at you right?"

"No, but I do have a boss and adults have to follow the rules too."

"Even if you might not get caught right?"

"Exactly. It's what makes us decent human beings."

"But people still do wrong stuff and that keeps Dad very busy."

"Yes it does. And you don't want him to have to worry about you making the wrong choices do you?"

"No, I guess not. Do we have to tell him?" He asks again.

"First we need to talk about your consideration of walking on the dark side."

"I don't think I would have taken anything," Liam sighed, his eyes finally finding mine.

"How come?"

"Because it wasn't mine to take. Because, it wasn't my right to take it."

"Exactly." I say, proud of his answers. "The shop owner was pleased that you didn't take anything. If you go back to the store, he won't be too concerned, but if you had stolen from him how do you think he would react if you came in?"

"He'd probably tell me to leave."

"Probably so. Consequences. And those consequences can last for a very long time."

"Yeah, Dad says that too. Do you think he's mad at me?"

"The store owner? No, but if you had walked out when Brian started putting stuff in his pants or even yelled out for him to stop, he'd probably have a little more faith in you."

"If I told him I was sorry, do you think he'd have more faith in me?" Liam asked trying to get back in mine and the shop owner's good graces—a good sign in my eyes.

"Do you want to find out?" Liam shrugged again. "How about this—you go apologize to the store owner and never hang around with Brian again and we won't tell your dad about this little incident?"

"For real?" Liam asked, his eyes wide as if he had just won the lottery.

"But if I find out that you were around this Walker kid again, I'll tell Jay and then we'll both be in big trouble."

"I won't. I promise. I won't let you get into trouble," Liam promised his eyes suddenly brighter.

And somehow I knew that he would be true to his word. Because the last thing he wanted was to get someone else in trouble. He was ready to sacrifice for others before being concerned for himself—it seemed to be a family trait. Not a bad one particularly, but could be dangerous all the same.