Tessa sat in the stands watching the high school baseball game. The Rhode Island Prep Minutemen was playing their cross-town rival the Evan's Glenn High School Patriots. It was a close game.

Richie had spent hours explaining the game of baseball to Tessa to prepare her for going to his games. Tessa had understood the game after the first explanation, but Richie took such delight in the interest that she had to ask him questions every now and then. Finally Richie decided the best way for his hopeless mom to learn was to play and taught her how to play his Yankee's World Series computer game Conner had sent him. Once she was sufficiently drilled in the ways of the joy stick she and Richie spent hours in front of the computer vying for the world championship.

Richie looked at the stands as he went to take his second at bat. He spotted Tessa, just where she had been the last time he had looked, and, just like the last time he looked, she was alone. 'He promised,' Richie reminded himself. 'He's just running a little late, that's all.' He turned his attention back to the game. It took a few pitches, but he ended up with a double that sent one man home. By the last inning Duncan still was nowhere to be seen. Richie went up for his last at bat. So Duncan wasn't there, no big deal. Tessa was. He could show off for Tessa. He concentrated hard on the ball. Strike one. It was okay. He still had two more tries. The next pitch went straight for his head. He had to drop to the dirt to avoid getting hit. Ball one. Richie got up and dusted himself off as the crowd behind him yelled at the pitcher. Richie took his position and watched. The wind up and the pitch. It was perfect. Richie gripped his bight tightly and swung. With a loud CLANG! The two met. The ball sailed over the in field, over the out field and over the low chain link fence. Homerun.

Richie jogged the bases behind the runner that was already on second. The crowd was on its feet cheering and clapping. Richie caught Tessa's eye as he rounded third and headed home. She was beaming.

"Oh you were so wonderful!" she cheered as he lugged all his equipment out of the dugout after the game. "The first homerun of the season!" Richie grinned and handed her his game ball. "Game #3 against Patriots MVP Richie Noel-MacLeod," Tessa read what the coach had written on it. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks. too bad Dad never showed."

"Then we should hurry home so you can tell him all about it," Tessa said with a smile. She had called Duncan's cell a few times during the game and had gotten no answer. She didn't want Richie to know how upset she was so she acted as if this were all perfectly normal.

They got in the car and Richie told the game from his point of view the whole way home. When they got home Duncan's car was in the driveway and there was another car in front of the house.

"Must be meeting a student," Richie mumbled. Duncan had been doing a lot of that lately. He had missed every game so far, though he promised to try to come to every one.

"Why don't you go take a shower and I will fix you a snack. By the time you're done Duncan will be done with his student and ready to hear all about the game," Tessa told him.

"Okay," Richie said less than enthusiastically as he climbed out of the car and got his bag out of the back.

After his shower Richie changed into his pajamas. It was only five, but he wasn't planning on going anywhere for the rest of the day. He made it to the bottom of the stairs and then he heard voices arguing.

"It's not hard, all you have to do is come!" Tessa nearly shouted.

"I had important business to handle, Tess," Duncan sounded tired. "This kid nearly lost his scholarship. He needed help."

"And what about last week? What was so important then?"

"Tessa, I don't know what you are so upset about. It's not as if I lock him out of the house for weeks at a time; I missed a stupid ball game."

"It may be stupid to you, but it is very important to him. Half the reason he was so excited about making the team was that you kept telling him how proud you were! And now he hardly sees you!"

"Tessa, Richie is a big boy now, he understands that I'm busy."

"He understands you have no time for him!"

"I'm not hurting him!"

"Yes, you are! All he wants is for you to take an interest in him! Is that so much for a child to ask?"

"Tess."

Richie didn't wait around to hear the rest. He went back upstairs and got onto his computer. He logged onto the internet. Richie sent Conner a long e-mail about the game and how his week had gone. At the end he put his countdown to Spring Break.

. . . . . .

Christmas came and went. Duncan was home as was Richie, but they didn't see much of each other. Richie spent most of his time in his studio or on the computer and Duncan spent most of his time in his office. There was no fighting on Christmas Eve or Christmas itself, but the days before and after were often filled with yelling and hurt feelings. Tessa spent as much time with Richie as possible. They played computer games, talked, painted, and played with the puppy Richie had begged for and gotten for Christmas.

Richie started calling Conner every Friday to talk and Conner was always there when the phone rang. They would talk for an hour. Conner had also gotten the same internet messenger service as Richie so they could chat without racking up the phone bill. They also played video games together over the web. Richie ended every call, e-mail, chat, and game with his count down to Spring Break.

School started back up and Richie was in the student art show. His work was well liked among the goers and he was invited to participate in an art auction the week after Spring Break. Richie quickly agreed and started on some new pieces. Duncan hadn't made it to the art show. He was too busy arranging a school sponsored trip to Europe for some of his students.

Tessa and Duncan fought regularly. They tried to keep it down, but Richie heard nearly every word they said. Almost as a ritual he would take a shower, then sit at the top of the stairs out of sight and listen to them as they argued. His life reminded him of a bad after school movie, where the parents always fought because one was an alcoholic, or druggie, or having an affair and the kids listened to the arguments and blamed themselves. He had always thought the kids were real idiots always thinking they were the root of all the problems. He wasn't like them. He wasn't blaming himself because he didn't understand. He blamed himself because he did understand.

The night before Richie was leaving for New York the fight had been particularly bad.

"You don't love him anymore!" Tessa accused.

"I do! I tell him all the time!" Duncan argued.

"You tell him? You TELL him! Have you forgotten what those people did to him as a child? 'I love you' are just words to him; you have to show him that you love him. You have to spend time with him, talk to him, show some sort of interest!"

"Richie knows that I love him! He's not stupid!"

"You haven't been to a single one of his baseball games all season! You couldn't pick out one of his paintings if you tried! You don't know who his friends are! You don't even know what he named his dog. that you nearly forgot to get for him."

"What does that dumb dog have to do with anything?" Duncan yelled. "It's just an animal!"

"Do you know why he wanted a dog?"

"Because every boy does?"

"Because he wanted someone to go running with. Someone to play with. Someone who he knew would always be there for him. Someone to replace you."

"Richie is not trying to replace me with. with. whatever the dog's name is!"

"Buddy! The dog's name is Buddy!"

"I don't care what the dog's name is! Richie's not trying to replace me with him!"

"You were supposed to run with him in the afternoons, you promised you would. But you don't. You were supposed to take him to the park to practice, you promised you would. But you don't. You don't do anything with him! So he got a dog!"

"So is Bobby replacing you, too?"

"BUDDY! And no he's not. I spend time with Richie. I take him to parks and museums, and movies. I encourage him."

"Don't start that again," Duncan groaned. "I'm sorry if I'm too busy trying to help some people grow up and get a job and be ready for the real world to go to a baseball game."

"Do you have any idea how stupid you sound?! You're too busy to go to one, ONE baseball game! I don't even understand how in the world you can put practical strangers above the boy you broke the law for! Because that's what we did. We broke the law to make sure that boy upstairs could have a normal life. To make sure he knew what it was to be really loved! And you don't care about him anymore!"

"I do care! I provide every thing I can for him! I make sure he can go to the best schools, and try anything he wants to. I make sure he can go anywhere in the country for college without worrying about if we can afford it. I pay for his hobbies! I pay for his home! I pay for his food! If I didn't care I'd put him on the streets!"

"You do all that? My store does nothing for this family but give me something to do during the day? And for your information Richie doesn't want to go to college! Even Conner knows that!"

"That boy is going to college if I have to apply for him myself."

"He wants to go to art school. He wants to be an artist!"

"Like you, Tessa! He wants to be like you! I can't help him with that!" Duncan shouted back.

Richie decided he had enough and went into his room and crawled out onto the roof with Buddy following behind him. He sat in the only spot he had found that blocked the shouts from his ears.

"All you have to do is show an interest. You don't have to be able to teach him anything. Just look at his work and tell him what you think," Tessa pleaded with him.

"Richie knows I."

"Would you stop thinking like an adult and think like Richie!" Tessa exclaimed. "He doesn't know. Any normal kid would have difficulty knowing if you loved them in this situation. Richie. Richie, is much different. He goes into a situation assuming that no one cares. You have to prove that you do. You're not!"

"I do what I can," Duncan said tiredly. "I can't help him with his art."

"Then help him with school work, book reports, and research projects, play catch with him, do anything. Just talk!"

"Tessa, I."

"Don't speak to me, Duncan MacLeod," Tessa said. "I'm going to go check on my son."

She went upstairs and found Richie's window open. "Get in here," she laughed at him sticking her head out the window. "It scares me to death to find you out here."

"I'm not gonna fall," Richie said quietly.

"That doesn't keep a mother from being scared."

Sighing Richie got up and crawled back into his room, Buddy clamoring in after him. Richie sat on his bed. Tessa sat next to him.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine."

"You sound like you've been crying."

"I stepped on my hand when I was going through the window."

"That must have hurt."

"It did."

"Do you want to tell me the truth now?" Tessa prompted.

Richie looked at the sword lit by a spot light above his bed. "I heard you guys fighting. I can always hear you. I'm sorry."

"For what? You've done nothing wrong."

"I'm here."

"And that is so wrong?"

"You never used to fight before."

"Duncan and I have had our fare share of fights, petit."

"Never like these. I'm just waiting for you to throw something or Dad to hit you."

"Duncan would never do that," Tessa assured him quickly. "And I would never throw anything at him."

"I've heard those fights before; I know what they sound like. You guys are getting there."

"Petit, did your foster parents fight a lot?"

"Some of them. most of them. And it's always about me. They didn't want a boy, they wanted someone younger, they wanted someone smarter, less of a trouble maker. they didn't want anybody."

"Richie. I understand why you feel this is your fault. but I promise you it's not. Duncan and I just don't agree on some things."

"About me."

"About you, not because of you. Do you understand the difference?"

"No."

"If we disagreed because of you we would fight about things that you did or didn't do, things that you caused. We disagree about you; we fight about our different opinions on how you should be raised. Things that we do for you. Not you. Do you understand now?"

"Sorta."

"Do you at least understand there is nothing you have done to cause the arguments and there is nothing you can do to stop them?"

"I guess."

"You guess?"

"Okay, I do."

"Alright." She smiled at him. "Do you feel any better?"

"Not really."

"Is there anything I can do to make you feel better? Would you like some hot chocolate or tea? Do you want a snack?"

"No. I think I'm just gonna go to bed."

"Are you sure? Do you want to talk some more?"

"Not really."

"Okay." Tessa stood up and held the covers while Richie slid into bed. She tucked the sheet around him and folded the blanket at the foot of his bed for easy access. "I'm going to miss you while you're gone."

"I'm gonna miss you, too."

"I don't know what I'm going to do with myself with everyone gone," she said, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"You can use my studio, if you want."

"I just might have to take you up on that. Are you all packed?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

Richie rolled his eyes. "Yes."

"Okay, well you get some sleep. We can go to breakfast before your flight in the morning. Would you like that?"

"Yeah."

"And I'll see if Duncan can go, too."

"Why bother asking. he's gonna be busy with his trip." Duncan was taking some students to Europe while Richie was in New York.

"I will always ask, because the second I don't he'll be free. Good night, petit." She leaned over and kissed his forehead.

"Night, Mom."

Duncan saw Richie for a quick good-bye the next morning. He couldn't make breakfast.