Sorry this took so long, Folks. To tell you the truth, I was gonna wait until next weekend on my birthday to update. But since a friend told me to update now, so I did. Even though my twentieth birthday is next Saturday, you're all going to get a present today. So, here it is!

---

Atem was reluctant to take Yugi back to the Moto house, but until he could prove that the couple was physically abusing HIS child, he was legally theirs. Yugi was shivering. He was too scared to get out of the car.

"I can't go back … they'll kill me!" Atem unbuckled his seat belt and went to Yugi's side of the car. He firmly kissed the scared child on the forehead and held him in a tight hug.

"Listen, I have a plan, but I really need you to be brave for me in order for this to work, alright?" Yugi sniffled and nodded. "Alright, this is a recorder; I want you to keep it on throughout the night and then tomorrow, instead of going to school, I want you to come home, alright?" Yugi nodded again.

"'Kay …" Atem smiled sadly.

"Oh, one more thing …" He pulled out Ping from behind his back. Yugi let out a small giggle when he saw his favorite toy.

"Ping!" He grabbed the doll and clung to him. Then, like he'd been hit by a truck, a thought came to him. "I can't take him inside … they'll get mad …" Atem sighed, but he understood as well. He remembered Yugi's tearful eyes when Olga ripped it out of his hands.

"Maybe you're right. But I'll keep him safe, alright?" Yugi smiled and hugged Atem one more time before he got out of the car and sadly walked into the dark house. Atem had never been more scared in his life. He knew that leaving his baby boy with those people was an accident waiting to happen. But he knew that Bakura would help with the legal matters. He let out a ripple sad sigh before he drove off to his home.

---

When he was able to get home, his brothers were still there. Bakura asked what the house looked like and Atem described a broken down old shack, probably no electricity or plumbing at all. Not the best place to raise a child, especially a sickly child like Yugi. It may sound sick and twisted, but Atem liked it when Yugi was sick. It gave him the chance to take care of the boy, and he loved doing that so much. It'd be another three days before Yugi would be back, so Atem had to make sure he had a good portion of Yugi's medicines at hand, not wanting another replay of this visit.

"So, what are we gonna do?" Marik asked. Atem sighed and sat down at the table with his brothers.

"Well, I gave Yugi a recorder to record anything that happens over there. Hopefully, he'll be able to get something to prove that those people shouldn't be raising him." Bakura took a sip of his beer and sighed.

"Damn, why would those jackasses want Yugi back anyway? He's always sick, too hyper, and gets into trouble more then even Marik can." Marik was about to make a wise comeback, but thought that was pretty close to the truth.

"The truth is, I don't know what we're going to do. If we go to the police, they'll probably hit Yugi even harder."

"What makes you think they're hitting him?"

"He had scars all over his back and hand marks on his cheeks." Bakura stood in his chair.

"That's child abuse! It's illegal!"

"I know … I need to be alone for a while …" Atem said. He reached for Ping and made his way up to Yugi's old room.

"Damn, he's got it bad." Bakura raised a brow.

"Got what bad?"

"You know, separation anxiety from Yugi. He can't sleep, can't eat, and worst of all, when he does sleep, he sleeps with Yugi's stuffed animal. Isn't that Post-Partum Depression?" Bakura blinked and slapped his own face with his hand.

"You idiot! That's only when a woman gives birth and ignores her baby!"

"Oh, then … forget I said anything."

---

That weekend, Atem went to Yugi's school to pick him up. He wanted to surprise the boy, and keep him away from those people as long as possible. It was two thirty; fifteen more minutes, and he would be able to spend all weekend with Yugi. He couldn't wait. He had so many things planned for when he saw his little one. He missed the boy so much. Soon, the children started to pile out of the school. So far, none of them were Yugi. After about ten minutes, half of the student body had left the school grounds. The busses had gone and so had many of the other children whose parents came to pick them up. Yugi was nowhere to be found. Atem was getting very worried. He decided to go into the school and check to see if Yugi had come that day. He jogged into the front office.

"Excuse me, but was Yugi Dar--- I mean … Yugi … Moto here today?" Atem cringed when he called Yugi by his biological last name. The secretary checked the computer system.

"Well, he was in his first three classes, but then it seems as if he just disappeared." She said. Atem gasped.

"You don't know where he is now? What kind of school are you running?" He yelled in panic.

"Why, the best in the district, of course." The secretary added with a smile. Atem cringed and left the office.

Once he was out of the office, Atem took out his cell phone and dialed Bakura's number. Even if his younger brother wasn't home, Marik definitely would be. The ringing on the other end rang twice before a rough voice answered.

"House of laughs, what's your problem?" Marik answered.

"Marik, is Bakura there?"

"Nah, he's in the middle of a case right now, and he told me not ta disturb 'im 'less it involved human sacrifice." Atem could hear Marik snickering on the other end.

"Well disturb him anyway; this is a life and death matter! Yugi disappeared from school in the middle of the day!"

"Huh … that is quite a situation."

"Marik!"

"Okay, okay. If it'll make ya feel any better, I'll call 'im and go lookin' around for the squirt, 'kay?"

"Thank you. I'm on my way to the Motos' right now and give them a piece of my mind."

"Sure, give 'em a piece of your mind for me too, 'kay?" Atem smirked and hung up the phone.

---

About fifteen minutes later, Atem arrived at the beat-up old steps of the Moto … shack. He forcefully pounded on the door. On the other side of the door, Atem could hear a grumpy man stomping through the house and shouting, "You damn little girls, I said I don't want to cook---", the door opened to reveal Jack Moto with a gun in his hand, "Why Mr. Darkling, how kind of you to – Oph!" Before Jack could finish his sentence, Atem punched the trashy man right in the nose. He reached forward, grabbed the gun, threw it to the ground and stomped on it with great force. "Hey, you owe me fifteen hundred dollars for tha"--- Before he could finish another sentence, Atem punched him again, this time in the gut. Atem let himself into the dark house and tackled Jack to the floor.

"WHERE IS HE, YOU ROTTEN EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING!" he yelled from the top of his lungs. Jack choked, trying to talk.

"What're ya talkin' 'bout?" He asked right before Atem punched him again in the nose.

"Don't act like you don't know! Where is Yugi!" Atem took out a knife he had in his pocket and held it to the man's throat. "TELL ME OR ELSE!" Jack just snickered through all the blood.

"Would you like me to tell you or would you rather kill me?" Atem's thin patience was dwindling down to almost nothing. He pressed the knife further into Jack's neck.

"What I want to know is why you wanted to even look at Yugi when you abandoned him eleven years ago!"

"Oh, is that what you want to know?" Jack knew he was pushing Atem's buttons, and was proved when Atem kicked the trashy man in the dark spot.

"TELL ME NOW!"

"He's in a place where you won't find him." Atem's eyes filled with horror. He hoped to high heaven that nothing had happened to his baby. Atem reached for Jack's leg and forcefully twisted it into an awkward position until he heard it snap and Jack scream.

"You listen to me, you piece of shit! The police are on their way over here now. I'm going out to find Yugi, and when I find him, and I will, you better hope to God that I find him alive, or I will personally see to it that I give you a worse punishment then even Lucifer himself could give you!" And with that, Atem left the injured man to his own agony while at the same time, the police arrived to arrest the broken man.

Just then, Bakura and Marik pulled up. Bakura was still in his suit while Marik just wore a pair of baggy jeans and a wife beater. "'Tem, what's the news?"

"He says that he took Yugi from school and hid him somewhere where we won't find him." Bakura ran his fingers through his hair.

"Damn, then we may never find him."

"Oh, we'll find him. As God is my witness, we'll find him."

For the next few days, The Darkling Triplets and a search team checked every square inch of Domino City, but could not find a trace of Little Yugi. Atem silently cried himself to sleep every night, hugging Ping. If they didn't find the boy soon, and get him the medicines he needed, the boy would surly die. If Yugi died, then Atem would too. His will to live would be worth nothing. He just had to find him. Right now, He was stationed outside of Domino Park; Yugi's favorite place to play.

"Now, if I were Yugi, where would I be?" He asked himself. The young man closed his eyes and let a memory take him over.

---

About eight years earlier, when Yugi was three years old, he came to the park and played 'Hide and Seek' with Ryou and Malik. Ryou leaned against a tree and started counting.

"One … two … uh free … uh six …" Malik and Yugi giggled and took off in different directions. Malik hid in one of the small crawl-through tubes. He stayed there and giggled silently.

On the other side of the park, Yugi was looking for a place to hide when suddenly, one of his spells hit. It was a minor dizzy spell, but spells like that were enough to make Yugi throw up. He started to sway back and forth before finally, he fainted, and fell into a large ditch.

"Uh … eightity-eleven, uh … eightity-twelve ... uh … one hundred! Ready or not, here I come!" Ryou announced. He started to jog all over the park. Marik kept changing hiding places in order to confuse his white friend. "Malik, stop moving 'wound, I know you're changing pwaces!" Finally he saw Malik running for the tree that they called 'base', and he ran after him. "Gotcha!" Ryou ran after Malik, reaching out a hand to tap the taller, tanner child, but Malik was faster and reached base before Ryou could tap him.

"Ha, ha; home free!" Ryou stomped his foot.

"Aw, nuts!"

"Shush; Yugi still bes out dere." Malik said.

"Oh yeah!" So Ryou ran off to look for Yugi. After about twenty minutes, the small white boy couldn't find the smaller, exotic child. He went back over to Malik, who was playing in the sand. "Malik, I can't find him anywhere." Malik looked up with confusion in his eyes.

"I help you!" They went in search of the smallest boy again, but couldn't find him anywhere.

"Yugi! Yugi where are you!" They called. Ryou was starting to panic for his smaller friend.

"Is he sick 'gain!"

"He's not sick 'gain, he don't know ta game bes ova." Malik looked around again. "Yugi, come out now; 'snot funny no mowa!" Suddenly, the two heard a car horn honking at them. It was Atem. The two children looked at each other. How were they going to tell him that his only son was missing?

"Hey, Boys; ready to leave? We'll stop by McDonald's and then I'll take you both home; where's Yugi?" Ryou and Malik glanced at each other again.

"Uh … Mr. Yugi's dad, we can't find Yugi is right now …" Ryou said, shaking. Atem raised a brow.

"What do you mean you don't know where he is?" Malik covered Ryou's mouth with his hand before the smaller blurted out that they lost the kid.

"Um, we were playing 'Hide and Go Peek' but we didn't finded him." Now Atem's eyes widened.

"WHAT!" Both boys flinched at the man's loud shout.

"We lookted for him, but we can't find him." Malik said. Atem ran over the park.

"YUGI! YUGI WHERE ARE YOU!" Ryou and Malik followed, yelling the same thing. Domino Park was huge. There were at least six baseball fields, seven pavilions, two playgrounds, a lake, and a walking path. The three of them checked everywhere, but couldn't find Yugi anywhere. Atem was in full panic. He called his brothers who immediately came to help with the search. Marik took the woods and Bakura took the pond. Neither could find him.

"How could one tiny kid fall off the face of the earth?" Marik asked. Atem shook his head.

"He didn't, there has to have been something we missed!" Finally, Atem saw a ditch in a shady part of the park. He ran over and dug inside. Finally, he found Yugi covered in a pit of dirt and leaves. "Yugi, Yugi wake up, please!" He saw a puddle of vomit and knew that Yugi had had one of his dizzy spells. Finally, the boy began to choke and wake up.

"Daddy …"

"Yugi, oh thank GOD you're safe! You must be freezing!" And he was. Yugi was shivering terribly. His lips were blue and his skin was a purple color. Atem took off his jacket and wrapped his shivering son in it.

"Would you guys mind taking the boys home? I've got to get Yugi to a doctor." Bakura and Marik nodded, escorting the other two boys to their car.

---

That was it! Ever since Yugi discovered that ditch, he would run away to that ditch when he was pissed with Atem. Atem quickly ran to the ditch. When he got there, his suspicions were correct. There was Yugi, scared, alone … and naked? He could hear the boy sniffling and sobbing. He carefully entered the ditch as not to scare him. The boy was holding himself, shivering. He looked so blue and broken.

"Yugi?" At the sound of his name, the boy fell into a corner of the ditch and brought his knees to his chest. "No, No, Yugi it's me." The boy slowly turned his head. Atem saw eyes, which once held the light of the world, now dull and lifeless. Yugi kept opening in closing his mouth like a fish, but couldn't speak. He didn't know where he was, and maybe … even who he was. He needed his medications NOW. Atem wrapped Yugi in his jacket, just like he did all those years ago. He saw that the boy's rear was raw and bloody. He'd been raped and beaten; and most likely left for dead. Atem was beyond pissed right now, He was FURIOUS. But more on that later, right now, he had to get Yugi's medicine into him and to medical attention. As He lifted the boy and made his way out of the ditch, he spotted something in the boy's hand. It was the tape recorder that he'd given Yugi earlier in the week. Most likely he'd caught something to make those people abandon him once again.

---

In the waiting room, Atem had gone over the tape once again after the millionth time he played it. There was so much on this tape, he was sure to get full custody of Yugi once again and those people locked away for good. Once he stopped the tape, he looked around. He remembered being in that same waiting room to find out results the day he brought Yugi here when he was born. He'd been abandoned then too. Atem cried for his son. It seemed as if the world was telling him that the child really was supposed to die. NO! He wouldn't accept that. No child deserved to die at the dawn of life. He loved Yugi too much and would fight to keep him alive, even at the cost of his own life.

"Mr. Darkling?" Atem looked up to see Dr. Manteuffel. The same doctor that treated Yugi the first time.

"How is he?" Manteuffel sighed.

"Not good. He lost a lot of blood because of his hemophilia. He has multiple skull fractures, meaning that he was hit on the head a lot. He also had major internal bleeding in his anal area and around his"---

"Alright, alright, alright I've got it … anything else?"

"I'm afraid that his head wounds have caused his minor Fugue episodes to become full blown amnesia." Atem gasped.

"So … he didn't know who I was when I found him?" Manteuffel shook his head with a sorry look.

"I'm afraid to say that he didn't even know who he was himself. Besides that, his insulin level was very low, so we put some in his IV and it seems to be better now. And with his asthma, his lungs had practically collapsed on him, so we put and oxygen mask on him. We were finally able to stabilize him." Atem stared at the floor and absently nodded. "May I ask how he got this bad in the first place?" Atem looked up with tears in his eyes.

"He was … given back to his … parents …"

"What? How?"

"Court order. They said they had to side with them because he'd have both a mother and a father."

"Well did you mention all the things that happened because of the fact that they abandoned him and caused him to be born before he was ready?" Atem nodded.

"Yes, we mentioned all of that, but the opposing council made it all seemed like genetic chances." Manteuffel sighed.

"Pardon my language, but that's bullshit." Atem smiled.

"Well I'm happy to see that you agree with me." The doctor put his hand on Atem's shoulder.

"Atem, you should have told me; I would have come down with the medical records that we have on Yugi and backed you up."

"Well, from what I have here on this tape, it should be enough for me to get Yugi back."

"Just the same; if you need my help, I'm here." Atem smiled.

"Thank you. May I see him now?" Manteuffel nodded. He led Atem down a long hallway to the room that Yugi was staying in. In the window, he could see Yugi hooked up to all kinds of machines and a mask over his face. The boy was watching TV. Gulping silently, Atem entered the room, gaining the attention of the injured boy. The boy turned his head to look at the person who had just entered his room. Atem smiled.

"Hello, Yugi … do you know who I am?" Yugi blinked in confusion, but then smiled before he slowly whispered.

"… You're the person who saved me …" Atem smiled and nodded his head. He couldn't help but let a small ping of pain enter his heart at the broken boy's words.

"Yes, I did. But do you know who else I am?" Yugi shook his head. Atem gulped. "I'm your …" He wasn't sure if he'd be lying to his son or not. Technically, he wasn't Yugi's father. But that would all be taken care of. At that very minute, he knew that his younger brother would be finding some way to tell a judge of the horrible things Yugi had been exposed to, and he would have Yugi back in his bed, safe and sound. "I'm your father." Yugi attempted to sit up, but Atem held him back.

"… You're really my … dad?" Atem's heart was breaking at this scene. He just wanted to think that it was one of Yugi's episodes, but it wasn't. The damage done to his still developing brain had taken its toll. And Yugi's only defense mechanism was to forget all his memories. But still, Atem couldn't help but wonder if he'd ever have his little boy back the way he was now that he had been traumatized to this point.

"Yes, I am." Yugi once again tried to sit up and this time, he succeeded. He held out his arms. An image of Yugi as a baby, reaching out to Atem for him to pick the baby up and cuddle with him, entered his mind. Yugi kept his arms out.

"Will you hold me?" Atem could never deny the child that request, and he wasn't planning on starting now.

"Of course, My Little One." Atem picked Yugi's small form up and lay down in the hospital bed with the child snuggling to his chest.

---

End of Chapter