Week 11 - UDC 8

51. Go

Alan paused, then grabbed one of Nick's hands and pulled him over to the entryway. "In fact, before I go? Take a good look in there at the couch, Nick. Just look for a minute."

Nick did as he was bid, frowning. "So he's sleeping. I don't-"

"No," Alan interrupted and Nick looked at him in confusion. "Sleeping is the whole point right now. Walt, did he mention how he'd go to school even sick like this, because he thought he had to?"

"Did mention the three years of maybe hiding being sick," Walt replied and Nick turned to look at him. "I didn't ask for specifics and was trying to keep him calm in a doctors office."

"You're trying to tell me something here, aren't you?" Nick asked.

"Yes," Alan told him. "And it's this: behavior like that didn't happen overnight or in a vacuum, and did not start with the Foster Care environment."

"Like the cooking," Nick realized suddenly. "And the used to being hungry and trying to hide that he is."

"There you go," Alan said, nodding. "You know more than you think you do. He'll frustrate you without realizing that he is, because he has hang-ups, Nick. Not all of them stem from three years bouncing from home to home." He nodded to Pete, asleep on the couch. "And I get it, you know? The desire to make a grand gesture and try to solve everything at once. I made one a week ago, but I didn't and don't expect it to fix everything right here and right now, because life does not work like that."

52. Wait

Nick sighed. "Baby steps?"

"Yes, Nick. Sometimes so small you don't realize they're being made." Alan paused. "Although, if I were in your shoes, I think I would have wanted to smack Campbell, too, but I did not officially just say that as Pete's social worker."

"He'd probably laugh, though," Nick said with a chuckle.

"Probably. You good?"

Nick nodded slowly. "I think so?"

"Not going to try something grand without permission again?"

"I'll be hearing about that for a while, won't I?"

"Maybe." Alan glanced at Walt with a smile. "Your son, sir."

Walt chuckled. "Oh go on. Tell Sonia we said hello."

"Will do."

53. Rise

"Nick?" His mother asked. "Wake Pete up and get him to the table, would you?"

"Can I change first?"

"We've got time," Helen told him, smiling. "And after, we might discuss feeling helpless in the face of things we can't solve instantly."

"You heard all of that?"

"I'm your mother, of course I did." She watched him go, then shifted her attention to the table, which wasn't completely set yet. "Walt? Table."

"Right." Walt paused a moment, noticing that she was stirring something. "Are we having soup? You only gave me one bowl."

"One of us is having soup, because I'm not sure how well he'd tolerate more than that right now." She smiled. "We're having a casserole and green beans."

54. For

A shake to his shoulder and suddenly he was staring up at Nick in confusion. "What?"

"Dinner time, Pete," Nick told him. "And at least you aren't mistaking me for your father again. I'll take it."

Pete paused as he sat up, blinking and yawning. "I didn't."

"Oh, you did." Nick helped him up. "Come on. Whatever Ma's got going smells delicious."

"Not hung-" and then he blushed, for his stomach was again betraying him. "Eh."

"Something tells me that you are."

Pete peered around the living room, something catching up in his tired brain. "Where's Mr. Jenkins? Wasn't he here?"

Nick smiled and navigated him to the table. "Yes he was, and he had plans and couldn't stay. Ma? One tired and confused Pete, where do ya want him?"

55. Against

The meal went by quietly and the three of them were amused at how excited Pete seemed over the soup. It was one thing to have seen him so excited over it, and another to see him tired but not stopping to talk until he was done and falling asleep at the table on them. Nick grinned and pulled the bowl away. "Been a long time, huh?"

"Ages," Pete admitted with a yawn. "Thank you, Mrs. Bradshaw."

"Pete," Helen said, getting his attention. "You really don't have to be so formal." That blank look again, this time tiredly. "We'll work on it, then."

"Okay." He blinked when Nick handed him a glass. "Huh?"

"Drink," Nick told him and Pete shrugged and did as he was told, then stared at the glass. "Don't tell me you've never had 7-UP before."

"Wasn't expecting it." He yawned again. "Hate being sick."

"Who doesn't?"