AN: Thank you for your patience and reviews. Shout out to SouthernChickie for being my beta/influence/partial motivation for this story. She rocks! I have to say much of the credit of this story belongs to her. Anyways enough jabber on with the story.

"Maybe I should call a doctor," Tessa said worriedly looking at her watch. The hands told her that it was 4:47pm. Richie had slept through the night and well through the day.

Mac smirked. Tessa hadn't stopped fussing over the boy since last night. She had checked on him at least a dozen times. Sometimes her excuse would be she wanted to make sure he wasn't getting sick, so she wanted to see if he had a fever. Most of the other times were because he had been whimpering in his sleep. Tessa had woken him, but his eyes only stayed open for a moment or two before he drifted back to sleep.

"Relax, Tess," Mac said finishing up some paperwork at his desk. "He's fine, just exhausted."

"If he's just exhausted how do you explain the emotional outburst he had last night?" Tessa asked cocking her left hip out and resting a hand on it. "And the nightmares?"

Mac sighed. "Richie has a lot on his mind right now." He put his pen down and leaned back in his chair. "Emily coming back is bringing back old memories, whether consciously or subconsciously. I don't even think Richie remembers calling me Keating."

"And that's another thing," Tessa said walking up to the desk. She leaned over resting her palms flat against the smooth mahogany surface. "Who is this Keating man? For Richie to react that way Keating must have hurt him somehow."

Mac had been thinking the same thing. He hadn't asked Richie last night because the boy had been drained emotionally and physically. The teen wouldn't have been able to handle going into painful memories. Another outburst like the first one and Richie would have passed out. Hell, the boy was so weak he didn't even need to have an outburst. All he had to do was get angry and that would have taken enough energy out of Richie to make him collapse.

"I don't know who Keating is," Mac admitted. "I'll talk to Richie about it when he wakes up."

Tessa pushed herself off the desk, crossed her arms over her chest, and began pacing again. "I still think I should call a doctor."

Mac rolled his eyes and grinned at Tessa's maternal instincts. In another life Tessa would have made a great mother, the Highlander had no doubt about that. It made his heart ache sometimes that he couldn't give Tessa what she truly wanted. Children, Mac knew, would complete Tessa's life in more way than one.

"He'll be fine, Tessa," Mac drawled.

"Yeah, see," Richie said walking into the room. He held out his arms as though he were on display. "I'm fine. No bruises, no sneezing, and no coughing." He turned around in a circle so they could get a clear view of all of him. "I was just tired, Tessa, that's all." He smiled tiredly at her.

Not quite believing him, Tessa walked up to him and put a hand on his forehead. "Well, you don't have a fever."

Richie gently took her hand away from his head. "That's because I'm not sick, Tessa. I'm fine, I promise." He stomach growled. "Okay, well, maybe I'm a little hungry."

Tessa smiled. "I'll go make you something to eat."

Richie nodded. "Thanks, Tess."

Tessa walked out of the office, leaving Richie and Mac by themselves. Richie took the seat across from Duncan and slumped down.

"You okay, tough guy?" Mac asked taking in Richie's weary appearance.

"Why does she fuss over me like that?" Richie drawled propping his head in his hand. "I can take care of myself."

"She cares about you tough guy," Mac explained. "She doesn't want to see anything bad happen to you."

Richie looked at the ID bracelet dangling on his wrist. Then he grabbed hold of the crystal around his neck. It was the same crystal Emily had given him. She had left him not soon after that. Richie wondered if that meant Mac and Tessa were going to leave him as well.

"What's going on inside that head of yours, tough guy?" Mac asked, noticing the pensive look on Richie's face.

"Why did you guys give me this bracelet?" Richie asked suspiciously. If they were planning on taking off he wanted to know about it now.

Mac didn't know where the teen was taking this. "It was a birthday present, Richie," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We thought you'd like it."

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" Richie said quietly. He gripped the crystal around his neck.

"Where are you going with this?" Mac asked raising an eyebrow. He was curious as to why the teen was being so suspicious.

"Are you guys planning on kicking me out?" Richie asked bluntly. He was tired of beating around the bush. He wanted to know the truth.

Mac's jaw dropped. "Richie, what on earth would make you think we were planning on throwing you out?"

"Emily gave me this crystal for my birthday," Richie said pointing to the quartz around his neck. "It wasn't long after that she abandoned me."

"So you think because we gave you that bracelet we were going to do the same thing?" Mac asked as it all clicked into place.

Richie shrugged. "It makes sense." He was staring at the floor so hard you'd think diamonds had spurted out of the ground.

Getting up, Mac sighed. He walked around and sat on the edge of the desk so he was directly across from the teen. "Look at me, tough guy," he said gently. Richie tentatively met the Highlanders gaze. "Tessa and I are not going to throw you out, and we're not going to run out on you." He put a compassionate hand on Richie's shoulder. "We got you those gifts because we care about you. That's it."

Relief flooded into Richie's eyes. He let out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. It hadn't dawned on him until just now how much he cared about Mac and Tessa. He liked living with them. They had been the first people to treat him decently in a long time. "Really?"

Mac nodded. "Really," he agreed, smiling. The smile quickly fell from his lips. "Richie, I do want to talk to you about something serious though."

"What?" Richie asked suspiciously.

"Last night, when you had your outburst," Mac began, watching as the boy visibly reddened from the memory. "You called me Keating." All color left Richie's face. "Who is he?"

"I called you Keating?" Richie asked. He couldn't have, could he? The teen hadn't thought about Keating in years.

Mac nodded. "Yeah, you did." Noticing Richie was uncomfortable he gently said, "You don't have to be afraid to tell me, tough guy. I'm not going to think less of you or kick you out."

Richie shifted in his seat. "Listen, Mac, I know you're worried, but don't sweat it. Keating was just an old foster parent," He tried to sound like his usual self when he said it. "I probably just had a case of temporary insanity or something."

"You were terrified, Richie," Mac stated, crossing his arms over his chest. "That's not a feeling you get with some mundane foster parent. What aren't you telling me?"

"It's nothing," Richie snapped, his eyes burning with an angry fire. "Keating was an old foster parent, that's all." He stood up. "Just leave it alone for once will you?"

Realizing he wasn't going to get anything out of Richie right now, Mac nodded. "All right, I'll leave it alone." He stood up so that he was face to face with Richie. "But I'm here if you ever want to talk about it."

The rage in Richie's eyes had faded, leaving weariness and heartache in its place. "There's nothing to talk about, Mac."

"Richie, come and eat," Tessa called.

"Coming, Tess," he called back still looking at the Highlander. "I'm all right, Mac. You don't have to worry about me."

"Go on," the Highlander said. "Tessa's waiting."

Richie fell out of bed, hitting the floor with a resounding thud. The annoying beep of his alarm clock kept buzzing in his ear. He slammed the snooze button. He shook his head trying to shake away the remnants of the nightmare he'd been gripped in. He was grateful his alarm had gone off and pulled him out of it, but the consistent buzzing was still annoying as hell. Richie ran a hand through his sweat soaked hair and pulled himself back on the bed.

"Richie," Mac called through his door.

"Come in, Mac," the teen replied.

The door opened. "Are you all right?" the Highlander asked walking over to him. "I heard a thud from downstairs."

Richie nodded. "Alarm scared the hell out of me and I fell out of bed." It was partly true.

Mac looked skeptical. "If that's all then why are you covered in sweat?"

"I had a nightmare," Richie shrugged. "No big deal."

"About Keating?" Mac asked bluntly.

Richie tensed up. "No," he said defensively, even though he knew it was a lie. It had been two days since Mac had tried to talk to him about Keating. Ever since then Richie had been having nightmares about his old foster father.

"Richie you've been screaming his name out in your sleep," Mac said gently. "Tell me what's going on?"

Richie sighed. "Mac, I…" he trailed off.

The Highlander put a gentle hand on the boy's tense shoulder. "It's all right, tough guy. Tell me what happened."

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