I kept thinking this chapter was super short but erm... whoops?

David sat on the couch, he watched out the corner of his eye as the shrink closed the door behind Robin who had insisted on showing him in.

He looked at the wall opposite when he heard him coming back. The room didn't seem like ones he had seen on tv, it looked more like a study, one of an explorer or a college professor. There were dark wooden bookcases against most of the walls, with books which looked so picture perfect that David was at least thirty percent certain that they were just movie props.

David drew his eyes away from the books and back to the therapist as the man sat in a leather arm chair opposite David. The teen tried his best not to laugh at how staged it both looked and felt.

"I'm Archie Hopper, it's nice to meet you." The man proffered his hand.

David didn't take it. "I know." He was used to hearing his mother telling him not to stick out, not to do anything bad or rude, not to be memorable. "I mean, Robin told me who you are." He glanced down at the sling he was wearing to show that he couldn't shake his hand, even if he wanted to.

Archie gave a somewhat self conscious laugh. "Sorry, I didn't think." He lowered his hand. He nodded his head at the sling, his eyes flickering to the crutch David had hobbled in using, he was wearing a special sling to keep his shoulder still, and a brace on his knee down to his ankle. "That looks sore."

"I'll live."

"I think that's very brave of you." David didn't say anything. "Okay. I assume that you know that you were referred to me by your doctor, he thought you could benefit from having someone to talk to, he mentioned that you were experiencing difficulties since the crash, and that you're new to town, and the losses you've suffered. That's a lot to happen to anyone."

David shifted in his seat.

"I like to start fresh, we get to know each other, we can talk about anything you want, so long as you're being honest with me."

"Anything I want?"

"Anything. Though if it's about baseball or other sports you may find my responses to be limited."

The corner of David's mouth tugged up, he quickly smoothed it down and gave another small shrug. "I don't really know what to talk about."

"How about an answer for a question? We can take it in turns." He watched the teenager nod. "Where do you come from?"

"I… I think from near here. We moved away when I was pretty young, and before that I didn't really leave my-, Ruth and Robert's home. My mom always said we lived in a town near to the one she grew up in, but she could be lying." David clenched his teeth. "Have you always lived in this town?"

"No, I'm actually from New York; I went to college and then got a job opportunity at the hospital in Storybrooke so I moved here." He gave David a smile."Where did you move to after your adoptive mother left your adoptive father?"

"I don't know. Oregon, maybe? Somewhere far away from where we came from. I think we made some stops along the way but I don't remember that much. Other than being in a car for what felt like forever. How did you know about my family? Did Robin tell you?"

"He told me the long and short of it, but I already knew, for better or worse, Storybrooke is a small town. I had heard about you before you were even referred to me. Robin didn't give away details anyway, just vagaries; that you had an unsettled childhood, that you moved around a lot, that you recently discovered that you were adopted."

"I wasn't adopted, I was given away. Why did you see me so quickly?" David asked with suspicion.

"It was my turn to ask a question, David. I had a cancelation, a regular kid who's got chicken pox so can't come for a few weeks, I got the call from your doctor a few minutes later, it was a happy coincidence, nothing sinister. Which place did you most enjoy living in?"

David eyed the shrink carefully, he didn't see any signs of a lie on Archie's face, David internally berated himself for allowing his paranoia to out itself. His mother would have called it caution. "Texas maybe. Or California, I liked the beaches. Louisville was alright, we stayed in a nice motel for a couple of weeks."

"Maine is rather different to those places. A lot colder in winter." Archie chuckled. "Your turn for a question." He stood up and walked across the room to built in cabinets he opened the door of a minifridge. "Would you like a drink? I have water, orange juice, iced tea?"

"Water, please." David waited until Archie handed him the uncapped bottle. "Thanks." He took a long sip. "Why'd you become a shrink?"

Archie took a sip of his own iced tea as he thought. "I wanted to help people, and to understand what goes on in their heads, to help them understand too."

David scrunched up his face before smirking ever so slightly. "My mom always said that only people who are messed up become shrinks." He suddenly remembered himself, the rule to stay invisible, moveable. He opened his mouth to try and fix what he had just said but Archie was laughing.

"I think she might be right." He said when he had recovered. "I wanted to understand why my parents had been the way they had been. I'm guessing your own mother may have had her own experiences with people in my profession."

David's brows flicked down into a frown, he couldn't imagine his mom ever voluntarily going to see a therapist, but there was apparently a lot he didn't know about her, there could have been hundreds of therapists in Ruth's past for all he knew.

"I hope that you'll give me a chance to prove we're not all bad." He was met with silence but David didn't seem opposed to giving him a chance, so Archie continued their game. "Are you looking forward to starting school?"

David pulled a face and shifted. "I don't know."

"Are you nervous about starting a new one?"

"I'm used to starting new ones. I just… this is going to be the first one I'm going to be going to for a while. Unless something happens."

"Something happens?"

David shrugged. "Things happen, I could be moved or…" He trailed off into silence. He took a sip of the water."

"You're worried that something like the crash will happen again?"

David swallowed down the bitter taste of bile in his throat as he thought about the crash, or didn't think about it, as best as he could. "Things happen all the time. I'm not paranoid."

"I don't think that you are, I think that you're cautious, which is understandable after what has happened." He watched him carefully. "Do you think a lot about possible bad things happening?"

David swallowed deeply. He plastered a smile onto his face. "I thought it was my turn to ask the question?" He said without heat. Archie smiled in return.

"You're right, sorry, ask away."

Truth be told David didn't have a question to ask, he hadn't thought that far ahead, and Archie's more shrink like question had thrown him. "How long do I have to see you for?"

"That depends entirely on how much progress we make together, your doctor, when he referred you to me, told me about some of the problems you've been having, he said that you were insistent that you were okay, but David if you just try and ignore them they'll get worse, they could become deeply damaging."

David balled his fist as it rested on his knee. "What if I choose not to talk to you?"

"Well, that's your choice, of course, but I hope that you will choose to open up to me." He watched as David looked towards the dog who had woken up and was now staring at them. "Do you want to talk about what's been going on?"

"Not really." David mumbled. His eyes flickered up and Archie was still patiently smiling, David kind of hated that, though he knew he shouldn't. James would have hated it. The anger in his veins dispersed and an ache settled into his heart

"That's okay. We don't have to do or talk about anything you don't want to."

David was at a loss for what to say, he didn't want to talk about it, but he also felt bad that Archie was so understanding. He watched as the dog stood up, yawned, then plodded over to sit by David's feet. David reached out and rubbed the soft fur of his ear, he could feel any remnants of his temper calming. "How old is he?"

"He's nine, he's called Pongo." He watched as the dog slumped down and rested his head against David's worn sneakers. "I think he likes you."

David couldn't help but smile at Archie's words as he watched the dog doze off. He looked back up at Archie. He opened his mouth, couldn't get the words out, closed it, opened it, tried again. "It's your turn to ask a question."

Archie dropped his professional mask as surprise shook him. He gave David a real and genuine smile. "Have you seen much of the town?"

Half an hour later David walked, limped, out of the psychologist's office, he hadn't talked with him about anything real, but he had listened to some methods to help him if he had another anxiety attack, not that he admitted to having them at all. He carried the leaflet containing the same information in his hand as he walked to the waiting room, Archie behind him.

Robin had been flicking through some magazine, he didn't even know what it was about, he had just been anxiously waiting for David. When he emerged he seemed so young, he watched as David's eyes flicked towards him, and the confused look on his face as he saw him. Robin was pretty sure he knew why, that David was confused that Robin had stayed, even though Robin had told him three times that morning that he would be waiting.

Robin threw the glossy magazine onto the side table as he stood up and walked over to meet the two of them. "You okay?" He asked David quietly, on instinct.

"Mmhmm." David hummed, He shifted his hold on the crutch, he saw Robin reach out for the leaflet and David more than happily handed it over. Robin made a show of making sure that David saw him deliberately not looking at the leaflet. It was a bit stupid but also kind of sweet.

Robin looked from David to Archie, trying to find any hint of what went on inside the room, but he was a steel safe.

"I was hoping, if it's okay with David, to set up a regular appointment I was thinking perhaps every wednesday?"

"For how long?

Archie gave him the patient smile he had been using on him that whole day. "I'm not sure yet, David, I think it could be beneficial for you to have someone to talk to especially with you starting school soon. How about I say for the next six weeks and then we review whether more would be helpful or not."

Robin watched carefully as David sucked in a breath but nodded. Robin had a feeling the session might not have been the most productive. He glanced at the leaflet in his hand and saw information on anxiety and anxiety attacks, he took it as a hopeful sign that David might have opened up to him about them, even if he was acting guarded now. He realised that Archie was now looking at him.

"Oh, yeah, yeah that sounds good. I'll make sure to keep them clear from any other appointments." He watched David tilt his head back to rest against the doorway. Oh, he wasn't happy with this, was he? Robin almost wanted to just say that he didn't have to go, but he thought of the sight of David missing, then outside barely able to breathe. It wasn't even an option, even if it would make David smile for a few seconds. "You ready to go, Sunshine?" He reached out and ruffled David's now short hair.

David rolled his eyes, moved his head away from Robin's reach, but didn't audibly protest the nickname, or the affectionate gesture. "Yeah, I'm ready."

"You guys up to anything fun?"

"David needs new clothes and stuff so we're going to the city to pick some stuff up." Robin looked to David who gave Archie a small smile which didn't reach his eyes, clearly just being polite.

"Well, have a good time." Archie told them, a big smile still on his face, and unlike David's it was more than just being polite. "David, I'll see you next week, in the meantime if you need me my cell is on the leaflet, Mr Locksley-Mills it was a pleasure to meet you."

As soon as they got to the mall Robin led David to the first Starbucks he could find, David leant back in the booth seat as he watched Robin waiting in line, he had sat there the whole hour David had been in therapy, even though David had assured him he didn't need him there.

He had spent the car ride with Robin glancing at him in clear worry.

It should have been annoying, well it was, but it felt kind of like he had the best version of Ruth with him: not the one who had been unable to eat or get out of bed, and not the one who pulled him and James out of one of their middle schools in Colorado and took them on a cross country road trip seeing all the bizarre roadside attractions they could find and living off french fries and ice cream, but the one who was like a mom he would see in cable tv, or close enough, one who was there, who would sign permission slips and remember to give him lunch, the one who let them stay in the same place for longer than a month.

He felt a lump form in his throat. He hated Ruth, he hated that she lied to him, she hated that she hadn't kept them in one place long enough to allow him to have friends or even a home, he hated how much he missed her. And that he was already having to fight hard to remember what she sounded like.

He webbed his fingers together on the table. His phone felt heavy in his pocket, he couldn't bring it out now, he couldn't ensure that he would be able to keep control of his emotions if he were to look at a picture of his mom, he was certain he would definitely lose it if he rang her voicemail, no matter how much he wanted to hear her voice.

A gentle tap on the table, out of his peripheral vision he could see Robin taking the seat across from him, placing down cups and two plates with muffins.

"David?"

David swallowed deeply. He looked up, plasting on a small smile onto his face, meeting Robin's eyes. "Hey." His voice came out huskier than intended. He looked back down.

"You okay, sunshine?"

David pulled his drink towards him, Robin had guessed what he would like, he had done well, choosing a chocolate brownie frappuccino thing. David used his straw to scoop the whipped cream off the top and onto the side of the plate closest to him. He finally looked back up at Robin. "What's with the 'sunshine'?" He cocked an eyebrow.

"It's just a nickname. My mum used to use it, sometimes."

"Your mom? From England, right?" David remembered Robin telling him so the day before.

Robin gave him a knowing look, letting him know that he was well aware that David was deliberately changing the subjects, and that he was letting it fly. "Yeah, London. I grew up there until I was around your age."

"Then you moved here?"

"New York, actually, for a few months. My mother hated it, she wasn't from a city, she hadn't exactly loved London either but New York was worse, I think. So she and I moved here, we'd have to go and visit my father in the city every weekend, well, when he didn't have meetings all weekend. When he had them we'd stay in town, I'd get to hang out with my mates, it's how I got introduced to Regina, and to Mal."

David turned his ice cold cup on the table, watching water rings merge together where the cup sat. He swallowed deeply and tried to push the image of Mal in Robin's kitchen out of his mind. "Where did your dad work?"

"He has an import company, and stakes in a whole plethora of other companies. He lives in New York still. We're not close, you probably won't meet him for a while."

"How about your mom?"

"She died about a year after we adopted Margot. Cancer. She had blonde hair like you, and she used to paint, and she was an amazing baker."

David took in Robin's grief softened face. He reached across the table and gently squeezed Robin's hand for one, two, three seconds, before allowing his hand to retreat. He sent his father a small sympathetic smile, he understood the loss of the only person they would count as a parent. "She sounds cool. I've never baked so I'm sure I haven't inherited that skill."

"You've never baked?" He watched his son shake his head. "Not even one of those ready made out of the box things?" Another shake of his head. Robin shook his own. "Okay, we're going to have to change that."

David tilted his head to the side.
In his head he heard Robert's voice, Ruth wanting to bake a cake with him and James, Robert shouting that boys shouldn't, that it'd turn them soft, there was a plate smashing, James holding his hand to stop him from going to Ruth's aid, despite the danger. David went back to playing with his toy car, feeling like he was going to vomit.
There was never the subject of baking brought up in the house again.
David swallowed and forced a smile onto his face, pushing aside his memories once again. "I think you're just using this as an excuse to have cookies."

Robin shrugged, a smile identical to David's graced his face. "Of course."

David let out a low chuckle. "I guess I'm okay with being your excuse, only if we make chocolate chip ones."

"Is there any other type?" He watched carefully as David smiled, looking away from Robin to try and hide it, his hand scrubbing through his short hair, the smile stuck on his face despite what seemed to be his best efforts to keep it off. It took him a minute to realise that he was smiling himself. "Eat your muffin David."
He heard his mother's voice in his head, saying that David was much too skinny, she would have fed him up, god was he turning into his mother? Better than being like his father, he supposed.

David officially hated shopping. "Do I really need more?"

Robin rolled his eyes at the whine.

He turned from the jackets he was looking at to the teenager leaning against the wall, Robin had assumed he was just bored or being a teenager, but he looked uncomfortable being there, he kept checking the doors, Robin wasn't sure what he was searching for. He followed David's line of sight to the doors again. One one side was a security guard, he was checking his phone, glancing up to look around every time someone walked in or out. He looked back at David. He was staring at the clothes currently in their cart, there wasn't a lot, at least it didn't seem like a lot to Robin, it was probably a quarter of the amount of clothes the rest of his kids had.

It was probably more than David had ever bought in one go, more than he had spent on clothes in a year, if not ever.

Robin felt bad about rolling his eyes. He reached over and gently squeezed David's uninjured shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?"

David looked down at the floor, his left foot on a candy wrapper. "I'm fine." He mumbled, scooting his foot off of the wrapper to the floor.

The squeeze increased in pressure, forcing him to look up. He shrugged, or tried his best to, it was near impossible with his injured one and with Robin holding onto one. Robin was staring right at him, those piercing blue eyes identical to his own, the concern in them so familiar to the concern he had seen so often in the mirror.
"I'm not used to this. We- I normally get cheap clothes free or, y'know, stolen. And I don't have that many, it's easier that way, to like pack quickly."

"Okay, I get that, it makes sense with moving. But you're not going to be moving any time soon, Sunshine. And you'll need these, you're going to be home for a while you'll need clean clothes for all those days, and I hate doing laundry." He joked trying to get David to smile. "You need clothes which you can comfortably wear your leg brace under, and the rest of your bandages, then some which you can wear normally when you don't need to wear them anymore. Unless you'd prefer us to come back?" He asked softly.

David shook his head. "No, no, I'd rather we just got it over with."

"Okay, that means we're going to have to get quite a bit, okay?" He stared at his son until he nodded. "Stop worrying about the cost, please."

"I'm not worrying, I just, I don't need super expensive shit."

"David, this isn't expensive, it's just the average cost. And these things aren't singed and don't have holes in them. Anyway, it's not like I've been able to buy you like fifteen years worth of clothes, think of it as me catching up, yeah?"
He chanced his luck and moved his hand from David's shoulder to cup his cheek. His thumb gently brushed from just under those blue eyes to where his fingers rested against David's cheek. "Yeah?" He repeated.

David swallowed deeply, he bit his lip and allowed his eyes to fall down away from Robin's face. "Alright." His words hitched as they came out, his eyes flickered up to Robin's then back down again, he wouldn't be able to hold it together if he looked at him.

Robin took his hand from David's cheek. "Good. Now, you want a plaid shirt? Or some sweatshirts? I know it's summer but you're always shivering."

"That's because your stupid hometown is freezing." David grumbled, walking beside Robin as they made their way through the store. David stopped at some shirts, gravitating towards the red checked one.

"Hey! My hometown is across the sea, and it's normally cold and nearly always raining, this is a step up. I'm guessing you lived in a lot of warmer states."

David rolled his eyes but smiled. "Yeah, I guess." He picked out a plaid shirt and passed it to Robin who added it to the cart. He started to flick through some more on the rail.

"Did you talk about moving a lot with the therapist?" Robin asked, trying to sound casual as he added a plain blue shirt to the cart then began to look at white ones.

David shook his head. "We just talked. He'd ask a question, I'd answer, I'd ask a question, he'd answer.

"If you want to talk about it I'm here, or Regina, - you don't have to, of course, it's up to you."

"There's nothing to talk about, he asked me where I've lived and I told him I couldn't remember all the places."

"Okay, okay." Robin held his hands up in surrender. "I'm not prying, I promise. I just, I hope you know that you can talk to any of us, I'm here if you want to talk, or not talk," he ran his hand through his hair then let it rest on his neck, "and so's the therapist. He could help you with the anxiety attacks, or any other problems."

"I took the leaflet from him, didn't I?" David rolled his eyes, this time it was not playful. "We talked. Just… I'm fine, I got in the car, and I'm not having a, - a freak out, see, I'm fine."

"Okay, okay sunshine, I believe you. You're right, you did good. I'm sorry." He didn't mention the fact that it still took five minutes for David to get into the car, and that Robin wasn't certain that he was fine.

Roland came running into the living room as soon as Robin unlocked the front door. David had flicked onto some sitcom he had watched a few episodes of while he was in hospital, but Roland came running up to him with a massive smile on his face and at least five cardboard boxes in his arms. "Hey David!"

"Hey Roland… What's with the boxes?" His reaction was rewarded with an even bigger smile.

Roland pushed the coffee table aside and sat on the floor next to David's feet, placing the boxes beside him on the floor. He pulled things out of the topmost box. "It's my rocket, Mrs Sawbridge said I could bring it home to finish it."

"A rocket? That sounds cool."

"It is, we've been learning all about space in class, did you know that the great red spot on Jupiter is actually a storm that's been happening for hundreds of years?"

"No, I didn't. That's pretty cool."

"Totally! Look I made the planets and this is the rocket."

David smiled and nodded in interest as Roland showed him things. He was kind of impressed by how imaginating he was.

"Can you help me?"

"Help you?"

"Yeah I need to add some cardboard bits and I need to paint neptune, mars, and the rocket too."

"Sure, erm where should we do it?" He looked at the light wood and light coloured couches of the room they were in.

"We can do it here, we just need to cover the table with some old newspapers."

David settled himself on the floor as Roland left the room to grab the stuff they would need.

When he came back he covered the coffee table with newspaper and set out paints. And directed David on what to do.

David painted Neptune as Roland chattered to him, David was filled in on what seemed like everything from Roland's school, stuff about his class and his school, how he hated having to be in classes when he'd rather be playing soccer or baseball. David didn't really have much knowledge of either of them, other than the few baseball games he had watched on late night motel tvs, or the couple soccer games he had caught Robin watching when he was meant to be making powerpoints or whatever. Roland was more than happy to go over what seemed like all the rules of both games.

David was almost relieved when he began asking David about the places he lived.

"I wish we could do that, I've only ever lived here, that sounds more fun."

"It could be, I guess. It meant that I couldn't keep friends though."

"Why not?"

David smiled gently at the wrinkled confusion on Roland's face. "Well, we would sometimes move late at night, or super early, so any friends we had we didn't get to say bye to them. And it was sometimes harder to make them because we were always new."

"Did that upset you? Having to move all the time?"

David opened his mouth but when no words came out he closed it when no words came out. He plastered a smile onto his face instead. "You know one time my mom came and picked me and my brother up from school at lunch time, and we just left, she took us on this massive road trip across like six states, we stopped at every road side attractraction, and lived on like candy floss and stuff like that. And we went to a couple of theme parks and a water park, it was winter so we had the whole park to ourselves."

"Woah! That's so cool!" Roland shouted in his enthusiasm.

David smiled but in his head he could vividly remember how erratic his mom had been, how David was old enough to realise that his mother's mania was not that usual. And remember how when they finally stopped at a motel their mom went out partying, how she had been on a two day bender and him and James had been having to try and scavenge food people had left on tables at the fast food place down the street from their motel. And how they had left in the middle of the night when Ruth was certain that she had seen Robert.

He startled when a bowl appeared in his vision. He had to tilt his head all the way back to see Robin, it took him another few seconds to realise that Robin was offering him it. He took it from him and found a bowl of segmented apple.

"Dinner's going to be a little late because Regina's having to work." Robin explained. He had been about to walk in when David had said he wished he could have kept friends and had found himself frozen in place. Now he felt intrusive, especially putting together David's road trip story with the sad far away look in his eyes. He was almost certain that there was more to that story. "If you don't like apples, I can get you something else?"

"Oh, no this is good, thanks." He dug one of them out and took a bite as though to prove how fine the snack was.

"Are you okay sitting on the floor?" He nodded to David's left outstretched leg.

"It's fine."

"David-"

"- Honestly Robin, it's okay, anyway I want to help Roland."

Robin gave him a long look before nodding. "Okay, if it starts hurting sit on the couch again, okay?"

"Uh-huh..." David tried to hide his smile and look like he was actually agreeing.

"David." Robin dragged his name out.

"Dad, we're fine!" Roland interrupted loudly, rolling his eyes, sharing a look with David as he did, he grinned widely when he made David smile and hide his laugh. "Hey dad can we go to a theme park? David's been to loads, we should all go to one together."

Robin's eyes flickered from Roland to David, then back again. "I'll think about it Rolo." He nodded to the bowl in his youngest son's hand to encourage him to eat his snack too. "Be careful with the paint or your mom will kill me for letting you use paint in here."

David shot up, gasping and looking around, it took him a few seconds to realise he was in Robin's home, and a few more to realise that he had fallen asleep on the couch in the living room, and that Margot was there and had woken him up. He scrubbed his face with his eyes, trying to steady his breathing and to push away the dream he had been caught in. When he finally looked back at Margot she looked less spooked by the way he had woken up.

"Hey Margot, sorry was I… did I scare you?" She shook her head and he wasn't sure if she was telling the truth or not. "Was I talking in my sleep?"

"No. You were sleeping and then just woke up, all on your own."

David was now nearly one hundred percent certain that she had woken him up. But he couldn't find it in himself to be mad that she had woken him. "Are you okay? Robin said you were at, er, dance?"

"Gymnastics." She corrected.

"Right." He nodded. "Did you have fun?"

"Yup. I did a perfect forward roll."

"Woah, congrats."

"Thank you."

She continued to stand there just looking at him and he wasn't sure why. "Can I, are you okay?"

"Can I read to you?"

"Read to me?"

"Yeah, look." She held the book out towards him.

"The day my dragon came to school."

"Yeah, it's my book I borrowed from school to bring home - I have to read it to someone at home and they have to write in the journal to say that I read good."

"Like your mom and dad?"

"Or a brother, and your my brother now so you can write in it… if you like…?"

It was the first and only sign of nerves on Margot's behalf. David wasn't sure how he felt about being counted as part of the family so soon, but the look on her face made him send her an encouraging smile. "I guess if you want to you can."

Margot didn't hesitated in climbing onto the couch beside him and sitting as close as possible to him.

He barely listened to her reading instead he was more focused on the fact that she was cuddling up to him, he found himself being super aware of it, and of the fact that he hadn't had anyone do that before. He wasn't even certain that he had done it when he was younger, it was always impossible to relax at all in the Nolan house, even to read a story. Before he knew it Margot had given up all pretence of reading the story, and was running her hand through his short hair. He winced when her tiny fingers glanced the twisted knots where his skull had been sewn back together.

"I liked your long hair, it was like mine. Do you miss it?"

David shrugged his shoulders, she was now knelt up beside him, eye to eye with him, he tried not to shrink back. "Kind of, it was fun, I guess. I normally have short hair, not like this, it's,- Robin, -your dad, he got the guy to make it cooler than I normally have it. My mom used to cut it."

"Do you miss your mommy? My mommy and daddy said she died, like grandma did."

David cleared his throat but when he spoke his voice still hitched when he tried to speak. "I do." He admitted outloud for what was possibly the first time. "And my brother, Jamie… I miss them a lot."

"I'm sorry you're sad."

"I'm not sad."

Margot stared at him with her grass green eyes, he looked away from her, but she had already heard his soft voice. "Yes you are. If you had cake you might be happier."

David let out a small laugh despite himself. "Yeah, maybe."

"My daddy is your daddy too, but you call him Robin like mommy, mommy says it's cause you're new, are you gonna call him dad soon too?"

"Er…" David scrubbed the back of his neck, and was relieved when he heard Robin enter the room.

"Go-Go, I thought you were heading upstairs to have a bath?" Robin swooped his only daughter off of the couch, tickling her until she giggled and withered so much that he had to change his hold on her or he would have dropped her. "You're all gross after gymnastics. I shouted for you."

"I was reading to David."

"You were?"

"Yeah." David cleared his throat, looking down and wiping a stray tear from his eye. "Yeah, she's really good."

"I'm nearly one of the best in my class for reading, only Alice is better but that's okay because she's my friend."

Robin took in David rubbing his eye, he had walked in to hear the very end of their conversation, he had wanted to stay out of sight to hear David's answer to Margot's question, but he was too scared about what the answer would be. He looked back at Margot. "Did you wake him up?"

"...No… He was already waking up."

"Go." Robin's voice was full of warning. "We told you that David needs to rest up to get better."

"He rested up, and he rested: I read to him."

"Robin!" David interjected quickly, he felt his heart quicken, in his mind he ran through how quickly he could take Margot and escape to safety. "It's fine. I didn't even mean to fall asleep."

Robin bit his lip, taking in David sitting on the couch, bags under his red rimmed eyes. He was struck yet again by how young he was, even younger than his actual age, the product of how he grew up. He wished he knew all about it, he feared the truth, he needed the answers and David wasn't about to give him them.
"Sunshine, she's not in trouble, okay? I just wanted you to get as much rest as possible." He calmed him as quickly as he could, locking eyes with David as he tried to prove he was telling the truth, he watched as David's stiffened posture relaxed and he nodded, looking away, ashamed at his overreaction. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm going to start charging every time you ask me that."

Robin rolled his eyes. "I'll add it to your allowance. How are you feeling?"

David tilted his head to the side. He couldn't tell if Robin was joking about an allowance or not. "I'm fine. The tablets are making me a little," he waved his hand in a vague gesture towards his head, "groggy. But I'll be okay. And it really is okay, Go, Margot reading to me."

Margot beamed in Robin's arms. "You can call me Go, all my family does, and you're our family. Roland is Rolo, Henry is Hen, and daddy calls you 'Sunshine'."

"Your daddy does that to annoy me."

"That's because David's always so bright and happy."

The two guys responded at the same time.

Robin chuckled looking to David. "Regina's home, dinner will be ready fairly soon but you have time to get a quick kip in."

"I'm," David yawned, "I'm okay. I'm awake."

Robin frowned but nodded. "Okay. It's time for you to take your next lot of meds."

David yawed again, he ran his hand through his hair to rest on the back of his neck, then nodded. "'Kay."

Robin hesitated before nodding again and carrying Margot out of the room. "Take your tablets David." He called over his shoulder.

"I like the new clothes."

David stopped to look down at his clothes before smiling back at Regina. "Thanks. Robin mostly chose them." He admitted with a shrug.

"You're going to damage your shoulder permanently with all that shrugging you do." She teased him. She moved towards the fridge, reached into the cupboard above it, and brought down two orange pill containers. "Here you go."

"Thanks." David couldn't help but feel a tinge of pride when he got the cupboard containing the cups and glasses right the first time. He filled it with water then tried to open the containers.

Regina noticed him struggling and picked them from his hands. "Sorry, I forgot, here."

David tipped the pills into his hand, threw them into his mouth, and swallowed them with a gulp of water. "Thanks." He leant across the island and he watched her chopping some salad like things. "Whatcha making?"

"We're having barbecue short ribs," she nodded towards the pressure cooker on the counter from which a delicious smell was coming from, "and rice," she nodded to a pot on the stove top, "I'm just cutting things to stir fry."

"Can I help?"

"Help?"

"Yeah, I could help you cut some things?" He offered.

"You don't have to help." Regina was silent for a minute before pushing over a cutting board and knife along with some peppers and other things. She nodded to the island stool beside David. "You have to sit down to help."

David debated rebelling but knew she was right. He collapsed onto the stool and began to chop the peppers under Regina's direction. "How was your work?" He asked, not entirely sure what she did other than something to do with the law.

"It was okay, pretty boring with way too many meetings, but it means I don't have to work much tomorrow."

"That's good." David rolled his shoulder slowly to get feeling back into it.

"How was your therapy session?" She asked cautiously. She watched him shift in his seat. "I had to go to one, not your one but another, when I was struggling a few years back."

"With what?" He stopped chopping and looked up at her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay. I found I couldn't have babies. It was hard on me, and Robin, but I blamed myself. It helped, eventually, but it was hard, I dreaded it, and I hated having to open up. My mom taught me to keep secrets, it was hard to unlearn that."

There was silence in the kitchen, other than the dull thuds of knives hitting the cutting boards after slicing through things. "I didn't like it." He admitted. "I didn't really tell him much. It was just too hard, with the memories and the…" He trailed off. "I don't want to go back, but I think Robin's going to force me." He froze like a deer in headlights realising who he was talking to.

"Robin wouldn't force you to do anything you don't want to do. I know he seems like a pain in the ass, but if you told him you didn't want to he'd instantly drop everything to pull you out of it. You know he worries about you a lot?" She smiled softly as his cheeks pinkened. "He's not sure how or when to tell you but he really cares about you, he's just not sure how comfortable you are with him telling you that."

David fought not to shrug his shoulders. "It's not, I know my mom, Ruth I mean, I know she cared about us, she would say it sometimes, when she was really emotional, but she didn't really know how to say it either."

"She was your mom, I'm sure she loved you more than you'll ever know, both you and your brother. I know that therapy's hard, but sometimes it helps having someone outside of everything to talk to. Someone you can talk through things without worrying them or offending them. You don't have to go but it could help. And then once your time there's done you never have to see him ever again, unless you bump into him at Granny's." She saw his face scrunch up and quickly added, "It's this diner in the middle of town, most people at your school go there or Nino's Pizza and Gelato place."

David smiled faintly. He guessed she had a point, and it was helpful to know that David could get Robin to get him out of the sessions easily. He slid his cutting board complete with fully chopped peppers and spring onions over to Regina.

"These are pretty good, did you do much cooking before?"

"Nah, we were mostly in motels, they didn't have cookers, I perfected about a hundred microwave meals though."

Regina chuckled. "Don't tell Rolo or he'll try to live off of them."

David was officially exhausted, after the day of psychological and retail therapy, then the intense 'sibling bonding' with Roland and Margot. Combined with the warm meal and the medication David felt dead on his feet by seven, he managed to shove off Robin's fussing and made it up the stairs without Robin helping him, he ignored the feeling of Robin's eyes from the bottom of the stairs watching him. David was torn between being annoyed that Robin expected him to fall, and touched that he was being protective, David chose to see it as the latter, after reminding himself of Regina's words as he helped with dinner.

He pulled a pair of checked pyjamas pants and a marvel t-shirt, made to look like an old style comic book drawing. He was pretty sure he had seen the movie running on late night movie channels in a motel room in Tallahassee. He changed and threw the clothes he had worn after the shopping trip into the laundry basket beside the door. His room was nice, it was better than all of the motel rooms, more modern, it had been empty when he had first moved it, some of Robin's old clothes and spare bed stuff, but without him really noticing more things had been moved in. The latest was a television screen, it wasn't massive but it was skinnier and newer looking than any of the early 2000's models he had grown up around. His small wardrobe and chest of draws were full of the new clothes and shoes they had bought but he still fished out one of the old hoodies which had belonged to Robin. It was big and soft and it wasn't like anyone was going to see him choosing to wear it now he had other options.

He shrugged it on, taking extra care with his left arm, he zipped it up and looked at the crest over the heart, the university Regina, Robin, and Mal had attended together. He wondered if Mal had changed her mind about wanting to know him. He wondered if Robin would have chosen to raise him had he known. He should take the hoodie off in case someone saw… but no one would, he reminded himself.

Until the knock at the door.

"Er, come in?" He called after waiting a few seconds for someone to walk in without his answer.

Henry was there, smiling at him, he was freshly showered and now was in his own pyjamas instead of the school uniform the elementary and middle schools wore. At least David would be spared that, small mercies. "Hey. Sorry, are you about to go to bed?"

David shook his head. "No, no it's only like half seven." God he wanted to go to bed. But Henry was thirteen, David wasn't about to go to bed before someone younger than him. "What's up?"

"I was just going to play some Mario Kart in my room, mom and dad said I can, do you wanna play too? If you're not busy."

David looked at his bed then to Henry, his smile was wide. "I'm not busy. Mario Kart sounds cool, I actually know how to play that game."

David did not know how to play the game, at least not as well as Henry, he had learnt playing on old wiis in some of the better public schools and a couple of times in hospital waiting rooms. Henry was clearly a seasoned pro, he destroyed David several times, David won the fifth round as he was so bad he kept getting the rocket boxes.

"Did you play video games when you were living with your mom?"

"James and I had an old nintendo DS but it broke years ago, I played on wiis a little, some places have them in waiting rooms and stuff. A couple of years ago me and James er," he rubbed the back of his neck, "we 'liberated' an old Playstation 2 from a motel waiting room before moving to the next one, we like perfected this racing game."

"That's so cool." Henry beamed. "There's a cool game store in town, it's got loads of old consoles, and they have loads of things cheap. Maybe dad could take us."

"Maybe."

"I could ask if you like?"

"Maybe... Wanna play another round?"

"Are you tired? We could play again tomorrow instead."

"I'm not that tired." He rubbed his eyes. Let out a small groan then yawned. "God, I'm sick of being tired."

"Is it the medicine or the injury? Dad said you got thrown out of a car, that they had to sew you back together…"

He could see the regret on Henry's face for asking and gave him a soft smile, he still had to clench his fist and dig his nails into his palm to be able to stay in Henry's room with him rather than being sent back to that stretch of highway.
"Yeah, I had to have surgery on my shoulder and my leg because they were a little messed up, but I had also busted my head open, they had to stitch it up, and I had a concussion. I hadn't really been awake when the last surgery happened, I had internal bleeding from being thrown out the car. The doctor said the concussion is going to be making me tired, the tablets don't help much, so together I'm just… yeah." He trailed off.

"I'm sorry." Henry said quietly.

"I'll be off them soon." David smiled, but he knew Henry didn't mean about that.

"Hey, I meant to give you this sooner, I just didn't know when." Henry stood from the chair and went over to his desk. David watched him open the desk draw and pull something out. "Here." He held out a case clearly holding a 3DS.

It took David a minute to realise that he was offering David the 3DS as a gift. "Henry this is, it's awesome but I can't take your thing."

"I have two, my mom and dad bought me one for my birthday, but my mom's mom gave me one too, I've never used it because, well we don't really like her. Me and my friends prefer to play xbox, but if you have one it means we can both play games, together if you like. There's some games in the case, I have a copy of the animal crossing and a couple of others we could play together. And some you can play on your own, it must be boring having to stay home with just dad."

David tilted his head, indicating that Henry had a point, and slowly took the case from Henry. "If you want it back just let me know."

Henry shook his head with the easy smile still stuck on his face. "Nah, it's yours."

Regina changed into her own pyjamas late that night, soft lounge pants and one of Robin's old t-shirts. Afterwards she walked through the house checking in on all of the kids.

Margot was long gone, cuddled up to a soft hippo teddy, Regina still moved the blankets around her and kissed her forehead. She was still so young that Regina could make out the baby she had been just a few years previous. Regina made sure the night light was projecting stars around the room before pulling herself from the room.

Roland was still a little awake. "Hey baby." She whispered, smiling when she saw the sock monkey teddy tucked under his arm, he used to carry it everywhere, now she only glimpsed the worn toy when Roland was asleep. "Time to sleep." He was tired enough that he didn't protest, he snuggled down as she tucked him in.

"Night mommy." He mumbled, finally shutting his eyes as she kissed his cheek.

Henry was next on her round, He was in bed, his table light on as he read a book. "Hey mom."

"Hi honey. Time to settle down soon." Her voice was low even though there was little chance of disturbing the other sleeping kids in the rooms down the hall.

"Okay, I only have a few pages left in this chapter."

Regina smiled at her oldest child, he was so clearly turning into a proper teenager, but she could still see the three year old he had been when he had first moved in.

"I gave David the DS your mom got me." He had learnt a long time ago that Cora was not really a grandmother, she just wasn't. He knew she had only sent him the gift in a bid to outshine his parents.

"You did?"

Henry shrugged. "Yeah, I already have one, and he doesn't have anything. And I feel bad for him having to listen to dad's bad jokes all day."

Regina couldn't help but laugh. "We all feel sorry for him having to listen to them. That was very nice of you, Henry, you're a good boy. I'm proud of you."

Henry shrugged again. "I'm just doing what you and dad taught me."

Regina smiled at him and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "Ten more minutes til lights off, okay?"

"I'll be done in five." He assured her. "Night mom."

"Sleep tight honey."

She peaked in on David, but already knew that he was fast asleep, she had seen him before. She noticed a phone about to fall off of the bed so she walked over and moved the old model phone to the side table, when the screen lit up she came face to face with a picture of David, and two other people who she assumed were Ruth and James. Ruth didn't look like Mal, not obviously anyway. Mal had almost white hair, Ruth had dark, Mal's blue eyes stood out while she was pretty sure Ruth didn't, though she couldn't tell from the blurry picture.

She looked back at the sleeping teen and the only one left of the Nolan family, other than the guy who they had been running from for a decade. She had realised that he was someone who ran cold during the time he had lived with them, but she was still surprised to see him wearing a hoodie in bed. It took her mere moments to realise it was Robin's. She remembered her husband practically living in it when they were undergrads, she had been with Daniel, she shouldn't have been noticing Robin, but when had that ever stopped her? She tucked David's blanket over him and gently brushed his hair out of his face. She could see Mal in his face, more than she would like to admit after everything, but she could also see Robin. She wondered, not for the first time, what a biological child of her and Robin would look like, she wouldn't change her kids for the world, but she was still curious.

Robin was washing up the last few dishes at the sink when two arms snaked around his waist. Even if they hadn't been alone in the house he would have known it was Regina. He smiled as she kissed his shoulder. He shook his hands over the sink then turned to face her.

He dipped his head down, at first he kissed her softly, but soon their kissing deepened, their hands caressing each other as though this was their last ever chance.

Later they settled on the couch, Robin cradled a beer in one hand,his other arm was wrapped around Regina as she leant back against his chest. She sipped wine as he flicked through their DVR searching for a crime show they watched and pulled apart inaccuracies in the laws they claimed to have.

"It's weird having a full house."

Robin was surprised to hear her say that, it took him a few moments to nod and speak. "I know it's not what we planned-"

"-We always talked about possibly adopting in the future. This is just a quicker version, and we didn't exactly adopt him."

"I don't even know if he's going to want to stay. He keeps shutting me out, or letting me in a little, then completely shutting down."

"That's progress Robbi," She used the old nickname from their youth to get him to pay attention. "I talked with him, he said he didn't talk much at therapy, I told him about my experience with it, I think he's going to try and talk to the shrink next time. It might help him."

"The shrink, Doctor Hopper, rang me this afternoon, he didn't want to speak in private around David as he wasn't that forthcoming, he's been asked to test David for PTS, he said it'll take weeks of therapy to be able to give an accurate diagnosis."

"It would explain a lot."

"Yeah… I just don't know how he'll deal with it."

"We'll all deal with it, together." She pulled the arms he had around her closer and pressed a kiss to the back of his knuckles. "And don't worry too much, he'll slowly let you in, the kids love him, he fits in here, he just doesn't know it yet."

"Yeah," Robin said through a chuckle, "the kids are acting like he's a new puppy." The two indulged themselves and allowed themselves to laugh fully in what seemed like weeks. "Though," he said when they had finally recovered, "he does tilt to head to one side like puppies…"

"Ha! I wonder who he gets that from!"

"I do not! I'm a grown man, not a puppy!"

"Uh huh, press play already."

Robin rolled his eyes. "Yes ma'am." He sighed loudly and dramatically about ten seconds into the show when Regina's cell chimed.

Regina rolled her eyes back at him. "Oh hush." She leaned forward to snatch her phone off the coffee table, hoping it wasn't about to be some long message from Eva she was going to have to concentrate to read.

'Mallory De Vane." The cell read. She sucked in a breath to read it.

"Who is it?"

Regina didn't answer straight away she just read. She had had to read it three times.

"Gina? Who is it? Are you okay?" Robin frowned, staring at his wife without even trying to catch sight of the words on the phone, he was too concerned with why she seemed to have paled several shades.

"It's Mal." She said, her voice completely flat. Reading the words made her feel sick, saying them out loud left a bitter taste in her mouth. "Ruth and James' funeral and memorial service next week. She wants me to pass on the information to you and 'the others'. Apparently we're all welcome."