Thanks to everyone who read, and as always, reviews are appreciated.


Jamie was watching the hall that Alex had disappeared down a lot more closely than he was watching the movie playing on the television in front of him, but then, the television wasn't calling his social worker. Best case, Sonja didn't answer, but it wasn't like Alex wouldn't leave a message or call her back or whatever so that was just putting off the inevitable. Worst case…well, the worst case involved Jamie ending up in juvie, but pretty close to that was Sonja getting in trouble for trying to keep him out of juvie. If he was very lucky Alex would just stuck to telling her that he was here and fine and that would be the end of it.

Especially since, weirdly enough, he was here and he was fine.

He'd been pretty out of it when he and Alex had arrived earlier, but Alex had been too so it kind of evened out. Alex had waved Jamie in the direction of the kitchen saying something about sandwich stuff in the fridge and to watch whatever he wanted on television then headed for what Jamie assumed was his room, only to reappear again a few minutes later with a dry sweat suit and another wave in the direction of a bathroom. That had been the last that Jamie had seen of him for a while, but with that information he'd managed to get himself changed and then had given in and made himself a sandwich. And then a second one even when he knew that he probably shouldn't because he'd been hungrier than he'd realized. He hadn't been about to start poking around in cabinets or anything like that, but a couple of handfuls of water out of the tap worked well enough to drink, and then he'd gone and turned the television on as Alex had suggested. And then promptly fallen asleep.

He'd woken up to the smell of more food, and then Alex had expected him to sit and eat like it was somehow normal to be brought home by his sort-of-boss. Well, sit and eat and answer questions, but Jamie had known that that was coming even if he didn't like it. His time in foster care and how it had come about wasn't exactly his favorite subject, but it wasn't like he hadn't learned how to edit over the years, and since Alex had nodded and eventually stopped with the questions Jamie had figured that it had gone about as well as it could.

Well, except for the part where Alex had said that he didn't dislike Jamie. That part was still weird and confusing because even if Alex really didn't say things that he didn't mean so far as Jamie had seen, adults never liked him.

"Jamie, could you come in here, please," Alex called before he could get lost in those thoughts again.

Jamie pushed himself to his feet and headed towards Alex's voice. He hadn't been on that side of the house before—he hadn't really been anywhere in the house except the living room, kitchen, and bathroom and was pretty okay with that all things considered—but please or no, that hadn't been a request.

Alex was sitting at a desk inside the room at the end of a short hall but he pushed himself to his feet at Jamie's entrance and handed him the phone, indicating for him to take the chair. "Ms. Travers would like to talk to you privately for a few minutes. I'll be in the kitchen."

Jamie nodded and sat down, putting the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Jamie?" Sonja asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you—" A child shouted in the background, cutting her off. "Hold on for a minute, would you?" She didn't wait for his agreement, her voice suddenly muffled. "Corrie! I said that you and your cousins could play tag if you played in the basement! If you want to play upstairs, you need to play quietly." Another rustle, and then her voice was clear again. "Sorry about that; with the weather we can't send the kids outside to play, and it's getting to be a madhouse in here. But are you sure you're okay? I thought you were planning to stay with one of your friends over the holiday. Kenny, right? Did something come up?"

"Not exactly," or not that he was going to tell her about, anyway, "but I was at the station, and the snowstorm really kicked up, and…." He trailed off with a shrug that she couldn't see, not sure how much Alex had already said to her but not about to volunteer that he'd fallen asleep in a bus stop during the pre-snow rainstorm. She generally accepted that he could take care of himself, but there were limits. "Anyway, the roads are pretty bad now so I'm kind of stuck here."

"And you're okay with that? He said that it was just the two of you."

Jamie flushed as he realized what she was asking, but it wasn't like he didn't understand question. If it had been someone besides Alex it might be an issue, but Alex didn't really bother him. Well, he made him a little nervous, but that was...it was just a thing that happened sometimes. Alex had never done anything to Jamie, and he was way better than some of the the fake-friendly adults at school who insisted on getting too close. "Yeah, it's…I'm fine." He looked behind him to make sure that Alex really had left. "He's okay."

"You're sure?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"All right. Be good, remember to thank Dr. Freeman, and call me if you need anything."

"I will." Well, mostly. He'd do the second and try for the first, but for the third not likely. Especially since she wouldn't be able to do anything for him anyway. It wasn't that she didn't try, the foster care system just generally sucked if you weren't a cute little baby. She knew that as well as he did. "Do you want to talk to Alex—Dr. Freeman—again?" he asked.

"No, thank you. Have a good weekend."

"Bye." He put the phone down and pushed himself to his feet. Apparently Alex's office was part of his bedroom, with a bed off towards one wall and what looked like a bathroom and closet past that, but Jamie had better sense than to go snooping and headed back out into the main area.

"That was quick," Alex said, looking over from the sink.

Jamie shrugged. "She just wanted to make sure that I was okay. And thanks for letting me stay here."

Alex nodded. "Just a minute and I'll show you where the spare room is."

"Can I help?" Since he'd entered foster care Jamie had learned that doing dishes was a weirdly perilous activity since people had all kinds of opinions on soaking and rinsing and dishwasher settings and all of that crap and always seemed to get angry when you did it wrong, but at least at the station Alex tended to say what he wanted done which made things a lot easier. And since he'd fed Jamie in the first place, even Jamie knew that it was rude not to ask.

"Please," Alex said, indicating the two pans sitting on the counter. "Could you dry those and put them in the cabinet to the right of the stove?"

Jamie nodded and took the towel hanging on the stove, doing as he said as Alex finished loading the dishwasher himself.

"Where's your backpack?" Alex asked.

Jamie went to retrieve it from where he'd shoved it in between the couch and the side table.

"Okay. Spare room is this way." He gestured for Jamie to follow and turned down the hall on the side of the living room opposite his room. "The bathroom is there." He frowned. "I think I told you that earlier."

Jamie nodded. Alex really had been as out of it as he had.

"There should be soap, toothpaste, a spare toothbrush, all of that, in one of the drawers. Just dig around and let me know if you can't find something you need."

"I've got my stuff," Jamie said, indicating his backpack, and then wished that he hadn't as he caught Alex's sharp look. Probably not the smartest idea to let Alex know that he was prepared to sleep wherever he could most nights.

"The spare room is here," Alex said, opening a door at the end of the hall. "It's a little chilly since I normally keep it closed up, but if you can open that it'll catch up with the rest of the house pretty quick."

Jamie reached up and flipped the tab on the ceiling vent that Alex indicated, feeling warm air starting to enter the room as he lowered his arm. The room was already better than the converted porch he'd had to use with the foster parents he'd had last winter, but he could see the snow building up outside the windowsill and he hated being cold.

"There are extra blankets and a couple pillows in the trunk if you want them," Alex continued. "Why don't you add your clothes to the pile I'm going to toss in the washer and then find something else to watch on television while it warms up in here? Unless you've got homework you should be doing?"

"It's a holiday," Jamie pointed out. Even if it wasn't one he celebrated, you didn't do homework on a holiday. He had like four days before he had to go back to school. And it wasn't like his homework always—or even often—got done anyway.

Alex's lips twitched. "Right. TV, then. Or if you like to read, you're welcome to borrow something."

Jamie frowned. Alex seemed like someone who should have books, but he was pretty sure that he hadn't seen any. Well, maybe there had been a few in Alex's room, but that was about it.

"You were pretty tired," Alex said, indicating for Jamie to follow. The room at the opposite end of the hall had a door on each side, and Jamie recognized vaguely that this must have been how they'd come in from the garage, but he definitely didn't remember the walls of shelves lined with books. "If you like mystery or science fiction or medical journals there should be something here that you'll like. If you do borrow something, you put it back where you found it when you're done, understand?"

Jamie nodded. He actually did enjoy reading since libraries were good places to kill time and there was only so long he was allowed to play on the computer, and since Alex had offered he might poke around a little. Thanksgiving usually meant the start of stupid Christmas movies and commercials and very-special-episodes, and he didn't have any more use for that holiday than this one.

"Toss your clothes in the washer," Alex said. "And then you can see if there's something you're interested in."