A/N: First of all, this story has more or less already been written by Christine Nöstlinger: in her novel But Jasper Came Instead, a family of two kids and two authoritative parents is disrupted by a less authoritative foreign exchange kid, who turns out to have major family problems. So you should much rather read that than this.

Second, I have absolutely no idea of either the emotional or the practical aspects of such things. So I tried to write as little as possible about things I don't know, and make this beginning a part of the movie's all-around perfect happy ending—but even so, I might have committed some horrible mistake. (Yes, a mistake in a fic with at least one abused character can be quite a horrible mistake.) Please correct this and all my other mistakes! Thanks in advance!

Also because English isn't my native language, and I don't understand that much French at all, and I've no idea how to write English with a French accent…

"Madame Rochefort, I love you. I'd promised myself to write this to you, and then you left us before I did it. But never mind, because I'm finally writing it to you here…"

(Dominique Couturier, July 1999)

"Dad, could you please pick me up for a moment? Just so I can see in this crowd… Thanks…" Kyle is turning around frantically, looking for kids with brown hair and diagonal belts, he's not sure about the shovel…but, yes, he still has that, too! And how far he is… "Thanks," Kyle repeats as he gets down. "Sorry, I'll be here in a moment," he says rapidly, "I just need to…"

"Won't you have time later?"

"I don't think so…" Kyle answers sadly. Once the Mole gets home to his mother, who knows how much harder it'll be to talk to him.

The Mole is stronger than he is, and even walking calmly, carrying a shovel, he's getting further away fast. Soon, running across the meadow starts to hurt Kyle, but this is the least he can do—not long ago, how gladly he'd have run like this, only with the Mole in his arms, if that could've saved his life! Then Kenny did that afterwards.

"Mole!" At last he's close enough for the Mole to hear him and turn around. "Wait for me, please!" The Mole stops and nods, but doesn't start back, and Kyle doesn't dare to slow down. Kenny hasn't solved everything, not at all! He's just given Kyle a chance. Not to solve everything, of course, not even around this one kid, just to try something, at least.

"You're alive!" he pants as he reaches the Mole. "Alive." This is the start of Kyle's new job, and his parents'. "I haven't disappeared…" It's just now that he remembers that the Mole has started it: when he was almost dead, he still went and crawled out to them, and perhaps not just to warn them; and he asked exactly Kyle to hold him. Now Kyle has hope, and he's very proud that he has reason to hope."If we've promised we wouldn't leave you…"

"Well, you don't."

"No…we said we'd take you home—sure, I know, now…--but I also meant home to us. If you want to."

"Sure, because you can't face your muzzer…"

"Not that! Don't come because of that! Only if you want to leave…" Kyle doesn't know what, and he doesn't dare to say what he knows. "Well, I just wanted to say this while you're still here. You can also go to Stan's place, but he has a big sister…" The Mole laughs. "Okay, and I have Mom…" The Mole just keeps laughing darkly, and Kyle doesn't know how to explain. "I don't know where you want to be. But if it's at our place, then come."

"What for?"

"Because maybe it'd be better?…less bad?…that way? But don't come just because of us! Sure, Ike and I would be happy, too, but that's no reason to--"

"Who's Ike?"

"He's my adopted brother, too…"

"Too?"

"Only if you want."

Now the Mole doesn't stand as impatiently, he even turns a little toward where Kyle's come from. "Your parents?"

"Mom's sorry and she's apologized."

"To you."

"And I didn't even get hurt at all. She'll be that much happier to see you…" The Mole's sarcastic laugh reminds Kyle that now he has much more than a few minutes to live, so you can't just tell him random good news. "Anyway, I know they'll be very glad that you'll live with us and Ike and I will learn French."

"Sanks a lot! By ze way, 'ave zey said zat?"

"No, but I know."

"I know what you've said about yourself. Sanks for zat."

"But really, Mole, it's for sure that you can come. And a lot else may happen. Like, that Mom really tries to make up for—"

"Let's go, and we'll see," the Mole interrupts.

Sheila recognizes the child approaching beside her son from afar.

"Look, Gerald! There's that spy who…has also come back to life now."

"Of course. Don't think about the war, it's as if it has never happened."

"But we remember it, and even that is hard enough. And just look at him."

"Well, I see that he's smoking…"

"That, and all the rest…that suicide mission! I don't know how he lived before the war, but I know he'll live just the same way now, unless someone helps him."

"Kyle is his friend now."

"That's just it, Gerald. There are many kids with major problems, and you and I can't help all of them, but him we already know. And you've seen how much Kyle cares for him. Here and now, we truly have an opportunity to…"

"It's not worth it to talk about it now, without knowing the details. Let's wait till they're here and tell us what they want to tell."

In the evening, Kyle is getting ready for bed relatively happily, though he doesn't know much, or rather, exactly because of that. Mom's just said that the Mole had called his mom and given her their phone number, then she'd asked Mom to come to the phone, too, but they hadn't talked about anything special, just that the Mole'd stay here for a while. Mom doesn't know, either, what he's talked about with his mom, and not because they spoke in French, but because she didn't even listen. It was just the Mole who said he'll give the number, and then that Mom should go to the phone.

Kyle is very proud of his parents for managing all this like that.

And Mom has apologized so sincerely, so sadly for the war in which the Mole had fallen. And it seems that the Mole has really forgiven her; at least he's said something about Kenny giving them a new chance.

The other thing that's made Kyle truly relieved is that the Mole is welcome to stay with them as long as he wants. Mom and Dad can't promise he'll never have to leave for any reason, but they've promised they will never send him away.

Otherwise, everyone says for the time being and we'll see about everything. And Kyle feels that for the time being, everything is as good as it can be for the time being.

The Mole is sleeping near, in the living room, in one of Kyle's pajamas. For the time being, nobody's gone back for his things yet. When Mom and Dad gave him money to have with him—as much as Kyle's weekly allowance--, they said it was for things they wouldn't buy him, not clothes or books or anything, they stressed. Kyle guesses they meant cigarettes, or anyway, he's pretty sure that's what the Mole will spend it on.

He can be Kyle's brother or friend or whatever he wants to be; this is also clear from the way Mom and Dad are talking. Luckily, Kyle has told him the truth: a lot may really happen.

In the meantime, Kyle still tries to imagine their shared future based on what he's seen so far. Because the Mole has always been strange, but now, with Mom and Dad…

…For example, when Mom asked him to stop smoking, he said the smoke disperses outdoors. And when she said she's worried for him, and Dad and Kyle said they are, too, he thanked them very seriously—and then said he'd consider quitting. He said that seriously, too, not cheekily. Then he spent half the afternoon smoking on the back steps, collecting the butts beside him before taking them inside to throw them out.

…And after lunch, when he immediately went to wash the dishes, and Kyle was scared and whispered: "It's not because of that, not because of the language or the chores or anything, haven't I told you? Don't you believe it?" And luckily, he could immediately see on the Mole's face that he'd never thought of such a thing. "Of course eet's not because of zat. But eef I'm already 'ere, zen I'll 'elp, too—we're all equal…"

…And when he quietly asked on the back steps: "I don't mind, but Ike's still little, you're not telling him stuff, right?" "About God? Okay, zat can wait a few years. But ze sings 'ere on earss can't."

Already during this one day, Kyle has heard the other two boys talk a lot to each other and him and others, but the Mole has never gone to him to talk about Ike. Still, since he's been around, Kyle hasn't once kicked the baby. Sure, Mom and Dad had long since told him not to do it, but they're different, and they haven't yet said such things about coat hangers, and haven't risked their lives for freedom, either; anyway, the main thing is that now they're glad, too.

From the LiveJournal of chris-rockfort:

In the war I went after Christiane, too, but now I'm back. Someone has voluntarily given me life. By going to hell. (And does dying in someone's arms make them some kind of a reverse mother, too?) But two people haven't yet been liberated from MAC. I think there must be more, but I've seen two myself. I'll see what I can do and keep you guys updated.

BTW, now I'm living with a family with two kids. The older son is my age, and he spent half the afternoon dissing his mother to me (though that was hard for him, it showed), and recommending other adults where he thought I'd be better off. But now it's actually good that Sheila is as "interfering" (involved) as Kyle says. Because I know that it's not only because I'm his friend that she's agreed to take me.