Kyle and the Petersons had arrived at last. He was excited to finally meet his genetic equivalent, a man who had helped create him. He walked away from the Petersons' car with a hop in his step, Adam's garden was beautiful. The older man whose genes his body mimicked looked up. It was the priest!

"What do you want from me?" Kyle suddenly felt frightened, what if Thomas Foss was a better actor than him and his new "parents" combined. Speaking of the curious pair, they were carting his few earthly belongings into the small house.

"What do you want to know?" Adam Bailen was not at all what he had imagined he would be. It was a pleasant surprise really. Kyle couldn't help but smile a little bit.

"Everything," he enthused.

After Adam had briefed Kyle on everything that had gone on between the company and himself, how and why he had left, and why the evil corporation so wanted both of them dead, he led him into the house. It was beginning to get dark.

"Do you have a bathtub?" Kyle asked uneasily. Adam just grinned.

"There's an extra bathroom I reserved just for you--end of the hall to the right. I'll see you in the morning, me." Adam smiled softly, laying his hand on Kyle's shoulder briefly before walking down the left corridor to his own bedroom. In the short amount of time they had known each other, Kyle and Adam had settled into an easy trust. They could understand one another, it was nice.

Kyle reached the bathroom and clicked the door shut behind him, locking the door from the inside and flipping the switch for the vent. But when he turned around, his breath caught. The rest of the house was extravagant, though small, but this was amazing. The room had ridiculously high ceilings, said ceiling was etched tastefully in gold and a conservative (for a dining hall) chandelier dripped fluidly from the centre. There was a large, ivory golden-claw foot tub to one wall, a gold accented stall-shower on the other side, separated from a toilet by a knee-wall. All the way at the end of the narrow space was a large vanity full with sink and a mirror that went almost to the ceiling. Kyle shook himself out of the daze, pulling out the compact piece of plastic from his jacket and settling into the tub.

"I can't believe he gave me this..." Kyle whispered, touching Declan's cellphone almost lovingly. He turned on the phone and it made a bit of noise at start-up. He panicked when the sound echoed off the walls, but when he didn't hear his 40-something counterpart he relaxed. A message appeared on the screen saying "Your number is...". A message popped up just after that, and Kyle's heart caught in his throat; he stopped breathing. "K, D here...the ntwrks secure-dont wrry n my new #s in the fone.txt me wen u get wereur goin. 3" Once Kyle had deciphered the "code" he smiled, especially at the little ' 3' at the end. It was almost an afterthought. He brought up the menu on the phone, selecting messages and 'Declan', the first number on the list. The only other one said 'Lori' and Kyle frowned at that. That could only mean that Declan had told her, and that could only mean that they were still together. Not that that bothered him because boys weren't supposed to be with boys and Lori was wonderful and Declan and her were right for each other...

He liked his truth better. He sighed, running a hand through his matted hair. Right what to say what to say...

"D, it's K. I'm at Adam Bailen's hideaway home. The company wants him dead too. Guess what else? Josh was half right. I'm a government experiment, that's only what? A step away from alien. I miss you and the Tragers, tell Amanda I say hi."

It took him a while to figure out the keypad but he shrugged, sending the message. Kyle settled back to enjoy the new tub and wait for Declan's response.

Declan started awake at a foreign little jingling, and then he remembered the phone. It had a new ring tone as it was a new phone. He sighed, figuring Lori was the only one that would be crazy enough to call at such a ridiculous hour. He picked it up off the table without opening his eyes.

"Hello?" he asked no one. "Greatt.." He opened his eyes to the cheery message "1 new message from Kyle!" He started, clicking 'read'.

He laughed at Kyle's self-deprecating humour, knowing the boy didn't mean it all at. But the last phrase shook him, and he didn't have a single good reason why. Say hi to Amanda for me echoed through his mind in a mockery of Kyle's voice. He winced. He was jealous. He started typing..

"hey k! great 2 hear ur doin well. call me a better hour ok man? look forward to it"

He sent it and rolled over, slipping back to sleep.

Kyle's phone rang and he jumped, startled out of a daydream. He read the short message and frowned, but decided on a time to call. He put the phone away and rolled over, thinking of Charlie and Declan and how his heart was sending him that familiar feeling of pain. he thought of him and Charlie in the bathtub, remembering how fulfilled he had felt in the flesh and yet... He knew Charlie's true nature. He had hurt a wonderful girl, and Kyle himself may have contributed to that. His frown turned into a scowl. The phone rang again. he brought it up to his ear quickly, realising it wasn't a text message.

"I'm sorry," Declan said softly on the other end, and then hung up. Kyle decided to just go to sleep.

He woke to a knocking at the door. For a second he thought it was Lori wanting to get ready for school. He jumped out of the tub before opening his eyes. Oh. Not the Tragers. He sighed, unlatching and opening the door a crack.

"Me!" Adam said warmly. "Want some breakfast?" Kyle nodded, a blank look on his face. "Something wrong?" Adam frowned. Kyle shook his head, walking to the kitchen sedately. "Oh, come on! I'm a morning person." he gestured to his coffee emphatically. "We're morning people." Kyle's lips betrayed him, twitching into a lopsided grin. Adam waved his hand towards the small table and Kyle sat whilst his older counterpart bustled about the kitchen, preparing his coffee. When a plate and beverage landed in front of him he had to smile. Omelette, extra creamy coffee, toast, all garnished with a few Sour Patch Kids.

"So want to talk now?" Adam's eyebrows rose up to his hairline as he took a long pull of his caffeinated life. Kyle sighed.

"I liked thisboy Charlie, but he was cheating on his girlfriend, my neighbour and bestfriend, and then my surrogate sister's ex started in on me and things progressed and now IthinkImightlovehim," Kyle said much too fast for human lips, his cheeks flaming as he attempted poorly to bury himself in eggs. Adam just smiled.

"Tell me about him?" Kyle looked up hopefully. Then it clicked, Adam couldn't judge him because he was him. Kyle might be physically new and improved super genius, but his DNA matched the man across from him. It was a blood tie, one that could not break.

"You like boys, too," Kyle said gravely, finally understanding. Adam laughed, a hint of darkness in it.

"Men, now." There was a slightly alarming twinkle in his eye.

Kyle's advanced hearing had been honing in on his bathroom-room all day, and now, around 2, he heard a ring. Adam just stared at him as he ran into the house and down the corridor, locking himself in and snatching the phone before it had rung twice.

"Hello," he said, slightly out of breath.

"Kyle," Declan sighed. Kyle could hear the boy's smile. It made him smile. "How are you?"

"Better now," Kyle admitted, causing Declan to chuckle.

"How's the old man?"

"Great. I mean.. he's just like me."

"So he must be wonderful." Kyle blushed. Then the phone made an annoying beeping sound and he brought it away from his ear to glare at it disapprovingly.

'Warning! Low battery!' flashed on the screen.

"How do I get a new battery?" Kyle interrupted whatever Declan had been saying that he hadn't heard. There was a questioning silence. "For the phone." There was a knock at the door. "Yes, me?" Kyle attempted casual... He didn't succeed.

"Kyle... Can I talk to you?" Adam sounded angry and concerned and... sad?

"Um. Yes." He mournfully hung up his phone, placing it gingerly back in his pocket. He unlocked the door, Adam opened it.

"Was that your boy?" Adam tried to sound nonchalant but something was off.

"He's not my boy." Kyle stared at his socks.

"Come out to the garden, we'll have a chat."

"He said it's a secure line?" Adam cocked one eyebrow as he so often did. Kyle wondered idly why he couldn't do that.

Kyle nodded, the question seeping in.

"What about GPS?"

"Disabled," Kyle answered imidiately.

"Alright, I'll get you a charger." Adam paused. "Is the boy paying the bill?"

"He must be... he doesn't have this address to bill it here."

"Right. Tell him to--send it here. I'll get it... Kyle, are you sure you're alright?"

781227, as he'd taken to thinking of himself, or Adam2 more recently, since moving in with the older man, sighed sadly and shook his head. He walked away and took out the cell to text Declan the address and ask the boy how Lori was doing. Declan replied that he did rightly know as he hadn't heard from her in several days. Charlie broke up with Amanda right after Kyle had left, and Lori was spending all her time with the distraught girl. He asked Declan to get him Amanda's number and was perplexed when he got no response. The phone shut off.

"Are you alright?" Lori asked from a tight embrace, her head buried in the crook of Amanda's neck.

"No," the blonde sobbed, clinging tighter.

"Shhh, I'll stay as long as you need me." Amanda pulled away, realizing what she was doing.

"You need to get back. Family, Declan... Kyle may have already called..." A finger shushed her, just barely touching her lips. She shuddered. Charlie used to do that when she cried.

Suddenly there were questing lips on hers, and the world melted away.

Kyle sat bolt-upright in his tub. It was barely midnight and he had only drifted off to sleep a couple of hours ago after discovering the cultured film, "The Birdcage" with Adam1. He sensed an intruder. He popped out of the tub, stealthily slinking down the hall, slipping soundlessly out the door into the garden. He saw a rustling in the grass and pounced.

"Ow!" Declan moaned as his head hit the ground, Kyle landing on his chest uncomfortably. Kyle's eyes widened, threatening to pop out of his skull as he gazed down at the boy.

"Why are you here?" he hissed.

There were those cool lips, covering his. There were those cool fingers, winding their way into his hair. Kyle moaned, slumping into the slighter boy, returning the kiss with fervour as tongues became involved. When they finally broke away, gazing into one another's eyes, they could both only think to say one thing:

"Hi."