Joe stopped outside one of the many rooms in the castle. Adrian avoided eye contact with Joe and entered the room with Josh. The security guards looked at Joe and Joe knew they were wondering whether they should stay. He gave them a nod and they stood outside the door. Joe continued down the hallway and around the corner before he paused. Joe leaned up against the wall and let out a sight. Someone cleared her throat in front of him. He opened his eyes to see Clarisse standing right in front of him. "What?" he snapped.

"You know what." She snapped back. "Joe you do not treat a child like a criminal!"

"He started it!"

"I know he did, but you didn't have to allow it to continue." She replied firmly. With that she swiftly turned the corner, but she didn't get far before Joe caught her elbow.

"Where are you going?' he asked softly.

"To talk to those boys."

"Why?"

She sighed and shook his grip. "Because, dear husband, they are your boys to take care of, therefore they are my boys too." Before Joe could respond she swiftly walked down the hallway. He watched stop at the door say something to the guards and enter the room.

Joe sighed again and left the castle. He made his way to the secret gardens where he would always go. The familiar fountain still untouched lay cold and aged. Joe sat down on its ledge and pondered to himself. What was he doing? He was allowing himself to be thrown into another difficult situation. This time he knew he could not stand back and let events play out. He had to make it work out right. Not only did he owe it to Clarisse, but he owed it to the two new sons he was given.

A twig snapped and he looked up. Adrian was standing at the entrance to the gardens. "What are you doing here?" Joe asked, in a harsher tone then he meant to.

"Clarisse told me you would be here."

"Clarisse? You should not use her first name. It is disrespectful."

"She told me I could."

Joe looked down. "I see."

Adrian walked attentively closer to Joe. He looked at the water fountain and on the ledge where Joe sat he saw a few droplets of dried blood. "What happened here?" Joe looked up and then looked in the direction Adrian was looking. He too saw the blood.

He sighed, "Nothing important."

"I used to cut myself too."

Joe looked Adrian in the eyes. "What makes you think it's my blood or even that it's from self-inflected wounds?"

"It's the look in your eyes." Joe nodded.

"Most boys your age are not that perceptive."

"Most boys my age weren't trained to become…" He trailed off and looked away. Joe looked at Adrian and knew he was never going to the finish that sentence with ease. "Look," Adrian began again. "I'm sorry for what happened, I didn't know."

"You didn't know what?"

"The problems my mother caused and… I thought she told you about my brother."

There was silence between the two. Finally Joe stood up. "There is more pain behind closed doors. Just remember that." And then he left Adrian alone in the garden.

Joe returned to his rooms and found Clarisse already there. "Did you make him apologize?" Joe asked

Clarisse looked up. "No, but I told him what happened."

"Yes I know."

"Joseph, he seems like a good boy. Just a bit misguided."

"Perhaps, but he is hiding something."

Clarisse sighed. "Of course he is he is a teenager."

"I meant something deeper; he said he was trained to do something."

"Like what?"

"He wouldn't tell me."

"I see." She smiled and sat down in front of her desk.

"What?" he asked curiously.

"Nothing."

"No, something. What's with that smile?"

"He seems a lot like you when you were younger."

Joe laughed. "I don't think so."

"I think so."

"What are you saying Rhea tried to change her son to be like me?"

"Perhaps."

Joe stopped smiling. "That is not funny."

Clarisse looked up from her letter. "It wasn't meant to be. Joe she worshiped you, she wanted you more then anything. Maybe even to the point where she would pretend that Adrian was your son. She would do anything to shape him in that fashion."

Joe looked away. "That might be why he hates me. Growing up thinking I really was his father."

"Indeed. Not to mention Rhea told him you knew about Josh and wanted nothing to do with them."

"He told you this?"

"Yes."

"Then he must have thought…"

"Yeah. Rhea hated you after what happened here, especially after you rejected her so harshly."

"It wasn't that harsh!"

"No, but seemed so to her. So when she returned to the son who she tried so hard to shape like you…"

"I get it. But if she hated me so much why did she leave them in my care?"

"I don't know."