Thank you, Cyberkat for all your help so far! I promise I'm not making mistakes on purpose ;p As for your last review... 'Poor Joey!'... uh, well... I hope you don't hate me after this part O_o *plops forehead onto desk*

**Update on this chapter; Cyberkat thanks again! You are so right! Typos are a PAIN! As for the caps, if you are talking about the conversation between Yami and Tristan, they are yelling over a motorcycle engine ;p And thank you too, Angel-Belle!**



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Al found himself babysitting yet again. He followed Joey as he walked, slower and slower toward home. He kept his gaze to the ground and his hand to his chest.

"Aren't there leash laws in this city?" came a harsh voice from behind. It sent chills up Al's spine. Joey stopped, didn't look up, but gruffly harumphed and started again.

"Who the hell is this kid?!" Al kept his eye on him; taller than even Tristan and piercing blue eyes that narrowed in anger at being ignored.

"Hey, Wheeler! I'm talking to you!"

"I heard ya! I don't have time for ya now, Kaiba." Joey continued walking, slow enough Kaiba caught up without effort and grabbed him around his neck from behind.

"You let go you..." Al was ready for him, if he could, he'd have taken this punk on.

"So make time." he noticed the bandage on his rival's hand and a sick smile crossed his face. "What happened to your hand? Someone a really bad puppy today, huh?" he was mocking his victim with baby talk. Al was getting sick.

"Back off! What do you want anyway, Seto?"

"Nothing. Just noticed you were down. I had some time to kill and thought I could help." he started to cackle, "Maybe help bring you down a little more!" his laughter increased, then he threw Joey aside as if he were throwing away a tissue and walked away. The sick laugh still hanging in the air.

"What a putz! How do you..." the 'babysitter' turned to find Joey actually picking up speed toward home. "Damn it, kid! Wait up!"

He caught up to Joey, who was just standing outside his door, staring blankly. He reached into his pocket for his keys. His eyes widened and he began to snarl.

"Damn you, Yug!" he growled through his teeth.

"Found the money, did ya, kid?" Al readied himself to zip back to Sam to warn him what may be coming. Instead, Joey looked at his hand, sighed and smiled.

"Thanks for bein' a pal." he said softly before entering his home. Al smiled. As corny as it was, it was true friendship.

Everything was quiet. Too quiet for Al, but perfect for Joey. He flung his coat off and began to drop it onto the couch when he noticed something move and quickly caught it in midair. His father was asleep. Hopefully fast asleep.

"You jerk! You said you'd be late!" Al scolded. He took a closer look. He knew better; the man wasn't sleeping, he was passed out. "Oh, boy..." he could see the terror in Joey's eyes. The kid was about to just drop his coat onto his sleeping father. Every worst case senario when through his mind before he snapped back, ran into the kitchen to replace the money then take off for his room, lock the door and collapse onto his bed.

"Damnitdamnitdamnit..." was muffled into a pillow.

Should I get Sam? What should I do?! Al's mind was racing. He really didn't know what to do. The kid replaced the money, so maybe if his father stayed crashed for the evening, things should be fine...

"BOY! I KNOW YOU'RE HOME! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" Joey jumped back into the wall next to his bed and hugged his knees.

"No no no no..." he repeated under his breath.

"NOW!!!" Even Al jumped this time.

"I should get Sam! But what if this is... or what if it could be...Gooshie!" Al struggled with what to do, then found himself praying. Hey, it worked for Sam. "DAMN IT!" He followed Joey down the stairs, the skinny body shaking uncontrollably. "Take it easy, kid. Could be nothing." he wasn't sure who he was trying to comfort more, Joey or himself.

They made their way slowly into the living room where Mr. Wheeler was sitting with his face in his hands, seemingly trying to rub away what would soon be a massive hang-over.

"When I look up, your hair better be cut, styled, permed, and gold plated, all that money you took!"

"S-s-sir?" the man snapped his gaze up at his son. His eyes were blood shot and very angry. His fists started to clench, "I-I-I replaced it! I p-p-put it b-b-back! Look!" the man slowly stood and swaggered into the kitchen. Joey followed, from far behind. "See? All there. I promise." he said meakly. His father marched toward him and smacked him upside the head.

"What the hell were you thinking taking all that money, brat?!" Joey looked back to the floor, again allowing his bangs to hide his fear. "LOOK AT ME!" the boy quickly obeyed, but found he couldn't get his mouth to work for an answer.

"..."

"Never mind. It's back." he seemed to relax, but then startled even Al when he grabbed his son by the hair and dragged him to the answering machine. "But how about explaining this?" he made Joey press the play button. It was his biology teacher, reminding him, and other students as well- her voice was cracking, she must have been going in alphabetical order- about school policy when a student gets below a D on an exam.

"Please have it signed and returned to me tomorrow. Thank you." *Click*

Then his History teacher followed right after a bill collector. Al watched Joey's face turn three shades of green before his father decided he prefered black and blue, and decked him. Joey fell to the floor and attempted to cover his head, begging for the man who called himself a father, to stop. Wheeler grabbed his boy by the hair again, yanked him to his feet and slammed him into a wall. Al felt his chest cave in. He thought sure he was having a heart attack.

"GOOSHI! ZIGGY! GET ME TO SAM! GET ME THERE NOW NOW NOW!!" Nothing.Damn it, Sam! I warned you! he continued to pound Ziggy and holler for Gooshie all the while from the corner of his eye he could see the man threatening his own son's life. He tried to keep from looking, but he still couldn't help hearing.

"PLEASE NO! PLEASE PLEASE!" Joey tearfully begged and pleaded. "Not again! PLEASE!"

"Should have thought about that before you lied to me, stole from me, and disobeyed me!" every offense was punctuated with Joey's head against the wall.

"GOOSHIE! DAMN IT!" Al cried.

"Admiral! We're trying..."

"FINALLY! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" he demanded.

"You weren't locked onto Joseph for so long before! You've been locked on him for over two hours now! We're trying to get a fix on Sam..."

"TRY HARDER!" he demanded again. Suddenly a shrill cry came from behind, and against his better judgement, he turned toward the cry anyway. Daddy was standing on the hand Sam had repaired and was trouncing the boy, going back and forth from fist to belt, buckle first, tearing at Joey's flesh.

Al dropped the little Ziggy, covered his ears and shut his eyes tight. He then began to stomp the little computer to bits, cursing it to hell and back then to hell again, "GOOSHIE! ZI..." before he knew it, Ziggy had come through and he was right next to Sam. "GGY!" Sam jumped, not from Al's screaming, but from how he was acting.

"AL! WHAT'S GOING ON!?" he wanted to shake the hologram to pieces.

"Oh, boy Sam! Get there now, get there fast just GET THERE!"

"All right! Calm down! Where is it?!"

"Uh, Creston Drive... too far by foot, or at least too far you'd never..."

Call Tristan. Start by foot, he can meet you and take you the rest of the way. Sam took Yami's advice and called Tristan, trying not to give too much detail. As soon as he hung up, he sped out the door.

"Sam, that was Tristan? He's coming?" Al didn't like this.

"Yea, I just have to listen for him..."

"Look, Sam, I don't think..." Al was cut short by the familiar sound of the bike screeching to a halt to allow the little body to climb on.

"Where am I taking you?"

"Creston Drive."

"Creston?! What's there?"

"..."

"Ok, hang on!" The bike was a sling-shot. Sam never remembered being on such a fast machine before. He was terribly frightened.

"YUGI! LOOSEN...UP! CAN'T... BREATH!"

I'll take over. I've been on this before.

Thankyouthankyouthankyou...

"YUGI, YA GANNA TELL ME WHY WE'RE IN SUCH A HURRY TO GET TO CRESTON?"

"I'M SORRY, I CAN'T. JUST PLEASE HURRY AND KNOW I APPRECIATE THIS!"

"NO PROBLEM! WHAT EVER IT IS, IT MUST BE PRETTY IMPORTANT, HUH?!"

"YES! AND THANK YOU AGAIN TRISTAN!"

Thanks for covering, Yami.

As they rounded the corner Yami spotted Al on the front step of their targeted house waving for them to stop.

"HERE! STOP!" Tristan pulled the breakes and stopped as quickly as he started, and looked around.

"What's here?" he wondered allowed.

"Sam or Yami... whoever! Don't let Tristan go in!" Al warned. Yami gave control back to Sam.

"Is it really... that bad?" Sam hesitated to go in, "Damn it."

"Who ya talking to, Yug?" Tristan had joined him on the step.

"Huh? No one..." the look on his guide's face caused Sam greater hestiation than ever before. Tristan couldn't take it and turned the knob.

"Hey, they were expecting you!"

"TRISTAN, WAIT..."

"What is it, Yug? You're so jumpy..." and he walked in farther anyway.

"TRISTAN!" Tristan waved him off, there was no one home.

"Settle down! There's no one here! Why did we come here anyway?" he was making his way into the kitchen, "HELLO?!"

"SAM GET HIM OUT..."

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Sam watched the boy backing out of the kitchen, white as a ghost. He kept going back until he tripped over the coffee table and landed a perfect ten back flip onto the couch. "Y-y-yu...J-jo... he's..."

"Tristan, calm down! What did you see?"

"J-j-j... he...he's..." Sam slowly crept into the kitchen.

"Over here." Al pointed, rubbing his eyes.

"Oh no no no..."

Sam, are we... too late? Sam knelt beside Joey to check his vital signs, then sighed a huge relief.

"He's fine. It looks worse than what it is." he noticed the telephone off the hook and a bloody finger print smeared on the number nine. "He tried to call for help..." he finished what the boy had started and called. "They're on their way. Where's Tristan?"

"Outside, tossin' his cookies."

Tossing coo...

Never mind, Yami. ,"This wouldn't kill him." he offered the worried friends. "It's possible, since his father isn't here, he just went out again to take a brake and will come back..."

"... to finish his job." Al finished.

"I'm going to check on Tristan." He stepped slowly outside to comfort the frightened friend. He was still hanging over the railing. Done being sick, but was now in the 'shock' phase.

"Yugi, is he...?"

"No. He's fine..."

"Fine?! Are we talking about the same bloody mess on that kitchen floor?!"

"Trust me, Tris..."

"I don't know, Yug..." Tristan had become gravely serious. It worried Sam. "You've been acting weird lately. I wasn't going to say anything but... HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?! DO YOU KNOW WHO DID THIS?!" Sam found himself in the familiar position of eye to eye by the collar against the house. There may have been some advantages to such a small body, but the disadvantages were soon out-weighing them.

"I-I didn't know... I just..."

The puzzle! ME! I've helped with something like this before!

Why, AGAIN, haven't you...

We all ready knew he was in trouble at the time, we didn't know about this.

I'm sorry., "The puzzle! Remember? It helped Joey before..." the grip loosened and the anger faded back into tears. Sam made sure Tristan would be ok before going back in with Joey.

"I'll... be fine... Yug." he assured as he rubbed the tears from his eyes.

"Tristan, you have to hear me out, ok?"

"Of course..."

"You have to call his mo..."

"No way! She's the last person..."

"Who could save his life!"

"What do you mean? He is going to die, isn't he?!"

"If you don't call his mother! He'll never confess to what just happened. His father will keep..."

"His father?! No way..."

"Never been here before, right? None of us have ever met him, not even Mai!"

"Geez, Yug, would you take her..."

"Look, please! Call her!"

"Ok, Yug. I'm sorry." he started to call, then stopped and side glanced Sam, "You're sure..."

"Very!" he said as he went back to join Al and Joey.

"Any changes, Al?"

"No. Sam that ambulance better hurry, we don't know where daddy is or when he may be back to finish..." Sam stopped him. Yami didn't want to hear anymore. He looked Joey over again; too many bruises to count, cuts and scrapes all over. The wound from his hand had reopened, the bandage was soaked with blood.

"Damn..." was all Sam could squeek out. He didn't care what Al had said about him being a great M.D., he couldn't stomach what he was seeing. "These cuts aren't deep enough to be a... a... knife. What..."

"Over here." Al was pointing to something in the sink.

"Oh, Jesus!" Sam picked up the assault weapon; a belt with a bloodied buckle.

"Yugi! She's on her way to the hospital and the... HOLY SH...!" Tristan had run in to give him the update, the sight of the belt sending him back out and over the rail. Sam listened as the ambualnce stopped and the paramedics jumped out, then rushed through the door.

"Poor kid must have been the one who found his friend." the first one said of Tristan.

"IN HERE!" Sam called, still holding the belt.

"Whoa! Kid, it's probably best you and your friend outside go home. We'll take it from here."

"Uh, no. Let me stay..."

"No way, kid. Sorry."

"Right." Sam joined Tristan again, but wasn't about to just 'go home'.

"He'll be ok, right Yug?"

"Yea, but he's going to need us..." Sam felt himself knocked out of the way, accidentally, by the first paramedic through the door at Joey's feet. The sight of his friend on a stretcher made Yami ill.

"You two haven't left yet?! He'll be fine! Go home..."

"But his mother's going to be there!" Tristan said angrily.

"All the more reason you can rest assured and go..."

"Screw this! Come on Yug!" he stomped to his bike, Sam quickly following, when one of the paramedic's comments stopped them in their tracks.

"See this kid's hands? The one is full of glass..."

"Which one?!" Sam wanted to know.

"The one not bandaged. Why?"

"I bandaged the other. He..." Sam gave up. These people weren't going to hear anything they had to say. They had a job to do.

"Ok, kid..." he finished helping his partner lift Joey into the ambulance. Once in, he walked over to reassure the boys their friend was going to be fine, until his partner stopped him.

"Cal, there was a guy who checked himself into the E.R. earlier. Glass in his face, cuts all over his hands. Don't you think...?" Cal turned his attention back to 'Yugi' and Tristan as the other called his friend in the E.R.

"What's this kid's name?" Cal wanted to know.

"Joey Wheeler." Tristan answered, still obviously very angry.

"What ya got, Andy?"

"Wheeler..."

"Damn, not another one of these!" he said under his breath, though he knew Tristan and Sam could still hear him. "Let's roll! And you two, go home!" The two watched as the ambulance sped away with their friend inside.

"Come on, Yug..."

"But we can't just..."

"We're not just going home! He's going to need us! If he's even going to still speak to me when he finds out I called his mom!"

"Tristan..."

"Come on, damn it!"

Uh, Yami?!

Right, Sam. Yami had taken over just in time for Tristan to hit the gas, and they were on their way as quickly as the ambulance. Sam hoped to be just visiting the hospital!


tbc...