"Say something, Rich."

"You . yo-you're . and-and-an-and I'm . but you ." Richie stuttered. "You're uh, um-ah-uh ."

"Immortal?"

Richie nodded. "That's the word I'm lookin' for."

"A complete sentence! We're making progress."

"When?"

"Four years after I graduated. Three years before you showed up."

Richie just stared. "I'm sorry," he finally said. "I'm in shock right now, be with you in a minute."

"Why don't you sit down, Rich?" Richie nodded and sat on the bleachers and the immortal sat next to him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm breathing," Richie answered. "When I remember to."

The immortal laughed. "Still got a hell of a sense of humor, I see."

Richie smiled. "Yeah, well, I've been working on it."

Richie looked to his left at the man he never thought he would see again. He looked just as Richie remembered him, only a little shorter.

"Have you left your state of shock, or did you still need more time?" he asked.

Richie laughed a little. "I'm good. Just, this isn't what I was expecting."

"You were expecting someone else?"

"Uh-huh."

"Didn't you see me Friday?"

"I was a little distracted," Richie answered absentmindedly waving his cast in the air.

"How is your arm?"

"Would you believe it's still a little sore?" Richie admitted. "I don't even want to know what I did to it."

"That Sinclair guy is a lot bigger than you."

"Everybody is a lot bigger than me," Richie reminded him.

"Everyone always was. You never were that good with pain. You used to cry like a banshee whenever you got remotely hurt. Bruise, paper-cut it didn't matter, you didn't like it."

"Dad!" Richie rolled his eyes and flushed. "I was a kid!"

"You still are," Greg told him, looking fondly at the boy he had claimed as his son for so long. "You hungry?"

"Please," Richie rolled his eyes again. "Don't you know me at all? Of course I'm hungry. I haven't eaten all day I've been so worried about who you were and what you wanted."

"Then let's go to my place. I'll make you lunch."

Richie grinned. "Yeah," he nodded. "I'd like that."

. . . . . .

Richie leaned back on the counter as Greg put together a couple sandwiches. "Hope you still like the same stuff."

"Yeah, my tastes haven't changed much," Richie told him still marveling at the fact that he was simply there.

"Good," Greg nodded slightly as he carried the plates to the table. "Sit down and I'll get you something to drink." Richie sat and waited for Greg to join him. "You still like Pepsi?"

"Yeah."

Greg sat down and looked at Richie. "You've gotten so big," he commented.

Richie blushed a little. "Just grew a couple inches, that's all," he shrugged.

"My boy's all grown up."

"It happens."

"I missed you, kid. You have no idea how much."

Richie looked down. "I missed you, too, Dad."

"God, I missed hearing you call me that."

Unsure of what to say next they began eating. When they were done they sat in comfortable silence just looking at each other.

"I could have sworn you were taller," Richie laughed.

"I could have sworn you were younger." Greg sighed and put his hand on Richie's shoulder. "Rich, I'm sorry I missed out. You were a hell of a kid; I missed having you around. Everything seemed empty without you." Richie didn't say anything, just looked at him with sad, innocent, confused eyes. "What's wrong, Richie?"

Richie jumped as if he had been startled out of a dream. "Nothing," he said quickly standing up. "But, um, I-I gotta go. I have work to do."

"You can do it later. I know you aren't allowed at practice until Friday," Greg told him getting up as well. "Something's wrong and you should tell me what it is."

'He sounds like Mac,' Richie thought. "I-I just, um, I gotta, uh ." He stuttered. 'Come up with something to tell Mac other than. Sorry, false alarm it was just my Dad!' he finished inwardly.

"Richie," Greg laughed. "Come here." He patted the counter on the island in front of him.

Richie rolled his eyes and bushed a little. "You're kidding, right?" he asked with a smirk.

"No," he told him. "And I'll do you one better." With a smile Greg opened a cabinet and brought out a bowl of gummy worms and set it on the counter next to where Richie was to sit. "Get up here and tell me what's bugging you."

"Dad," Richie protested.

"I'll pick you up if I have to," Greg warned with a smile. Slowly Richie made his way in front of Greg and slid himself up onto the counter. Not two seconds later the bowl was in his lap and he was picking his way through the candy worms looking for the green ones and avoiding looking at Greg. "You know," Greg started knowing that Richie would tell soon enough. "The last time we did this you were twelve. With blood running down both knees all over my kitchen floor. It was a soccer game."

"Yeah. And it was really muddy outside," Richie added grinning at the memory. "And I slipped in the mud and landed on some embedded rocks. I still have the scars from that."

"And ruined your shin guards, and your socks, and your cleats. I almost had to get you an entirely new uniform."

"Yeah, almost." Richie stuck a few worms in his mouth. "That wasn't the last time we did this, though," he said softly when he finished chewing. "I had just turned thirteen. And when I came home from school you had a glass of Kool-Aid and a bowl of gummy worms waiting for me. You know, I knew something was wrong the second I saw all that."

"I always did try to make you feel better with food. It didn't work that time."

"You told me we had to talk. And you put me up on the counter and told me that you were moving and I couldn't go with you. I left a week later."

"Richie, I wanted you," Greg assured him. "To have that feeling that you were somewhere close by. To know that when you died, I'd be there for you. When I walked into that gym Friday night and felt that buzz and saw you stop . Oh, Richie, I didn't want it to happen so soon. I wanted to be the one to help you."

"Why didn't you talk to me Friday?"

"Honestly? At first I didn't think that you wanted to. You seemed to be pretty much ignoring me. I thought you were mad. That's why I put that note on your door. I thought you knew who I was, maybe just didn't completely recognize me."

Richie looked at him then looked down. "I'm surprised you recognize me."

"What?"

"Nothin'," Richie answered hoarsely.

"Something is bothering you, Richie. Something about me. And I want to know what it is," Greg told him in a gentle fatherly tone.

Richie looked at him for a second. "How?" he finally asked. "How could you look me in the eye and make sure I knew how much you loved me, and how much I meant to you, and promise me you would come back, and then just ignore me for seven years?"

Greg looked at Richie and swallowed hard. "I couldn't find you. After I moved they wouldn't tell me where they put you. They wouldn't forward a letter or anything," he explained. "Richie, I meant everything I said. I do love you, you're my boy, you always have been always will be." Greg looked Richie hard in the eye as he spoke. He was surprised to see not hurt, but anger.

"Then why didn't you come back?" Richie demanded sliding off the counter. "You promised when I was eighteen you'd come back and take me with you. I'm twenty. I waited for two years in a city I hated for you. What took you so long?"

"Richie, I came back. And I saw you with that other immortal," Greg defended.

"Mac?"

"I guess so. You looked so happy, Rich. I mean, you had a dad and a mom. I couldn't give you that. And you were happy. I didn't want to uproot you again."

Richie looked at him and quirked his head slightly to one side. "When did you come back? I didn't see you."

"Just after your eighteenth birthday. You looked like you had been shopping all day. I figured it was all birthday presents."

"Just after as in a couple days?" Richie asked remembering when Duncan and Tessa had forced him into a shopping trip under the guise of getting work clothes right after he had moved in. Greg nodded. "Dad, I'd only known them a couple days then. Those bags weren't toys and junk, they were clothes, underwear, basic stuff that I didn't have. I had it kinda rough after you left, you know. I didn't have much. By the time I was seventeen I pretty much had nothing. Mac, the other immortal you saw me with, helped me out a little. But," tears welled up in his eyes and he fought them. "If you had come back for real, I would have dropped everything and left."

"Richie," Greg pushed a few curls off Richie's forehead. "Drop everything now. This summer move in here, I got a room for you. I'll pay for your school, I'll take care of everything you need, I feel horrible let me make it up to you."

"I'm too old for that," Richie protested pulling away. "Besides, Mac's got it covered."

"Richie, don't do this."

"Don't do what?" he demanded. "Forget about you like you forgot about me?"

"Richie ."

"What?"

"You weren't exactly looking for me either."

Richie's jaw dropped. "Me looking for you! I was a kid! You were supposed to be the one taking care of me, remember? You were supposed to get me! Not the other way around! I was the one who needed a father! As it turns out I." Richie stopped midsetence and looked away.

"As it turns out what?" Greg asked slowly approaching Richie again.

"I-I- I wanna go home," Richie said quietly suddenly feeling like he was eight years old again.

"Richie, you are home. You're mad at me now and you have every right to be. But you're home."

"I meant school. The dorm. I wanna go back, I don't wanna be here."

"Richie we need to talk," Greg insisted.

"Not now," Richie shook his head. "I have to think things out." He turned and headed for the door.

"At least let me drive you," Greg offered.

Richie stopped in his tracks. That was how it had all started with Duncan, a simple ride home. "I'd rather walk." And with that, he left.

On his way back to campus his mind swirled with emotions and feelings he had never thought he would have to deal with. He had never defined his relationship with Duncan as more that 'best-friends,' but he was about to make it a whole lot more back in Greg's kitchen. Luckily he had stopped himself before he said 'As it turns out I got a father now.' That could have been disastrous. He missed Greg and secretly had warmed up to Duncan so easily because he reminded him of Greg. He wanted his Dad back. He was the reason he was here, but for some reason the entire time he was in the kitchen with Greg he kept thinking about Duncan. How would Duncan feel when he found out that Richie had simply used him to replace the father that had abandoned him? No, Richie hadn't used Duncan. He just found the right guy at the right time to help him. He hadn't gone into the relationship thinking about using Duncan's money to get into school, by that time he had all but given up on going to college and playing ball. He went into their relationship swallowing his pride and getting the help he needed to get his life back on track. Greg would have wanted him to, Duncan wanted him to, they both had the same reason why, and they both had the same intentions . they wanted a son. And they wanted Richie to be that son. Things were just stating to get a little complicated, but he could work them out.