Same trigger warnings apply

Sonny stared out of the car window and hummed along happily to the song playing on the radio, the familiarity of driving across state helped him forget about the horrible events of the day before. Now his mind was no longer clouded with sleep or tiredness, his memories of what had happened leading up to him being taken to the police station had come flooding back. Every time he turned to look at the driver of the car there was a stab in his heart when he saw it wasn't Ryder. He was trying his best to forget about what had happened to the man who raised him, he refused to accept that Ryder was dead. It was easier for Sonny to tell himself that Ryder had jumped out of the car before the police had arrived and taken off on foot. In sonny's mind Ryder was already in a different state searching for somewhere to lay low; when Ryder deemed it safe to return to Chicago he would come back for him. One day they would be reunited because Ryder would never abandon him, he promised.

"Sorry about all the travelling" apologised Kelly his kind voice piercing through Sonny's thoughts.

"It's ok, me and Ryder used to travel around all the time" Sonny replied casually . Kelly flinched at the mention of Ryder but thankfully the teen hadn't noticed, Severide didn't know anything about Ryder except for the fact he snatched Sonny away from them. However the fondness leaking into Sonny's words made Kelly realise something that would make rebuilding their lives together even more difficult, the young blonde didn't see Ryder as the bad man who kidnapped him, he saw Ryder as the man who had looked after him for the past ten years, he saw him as a father figure.

"So uh you must have visited a lot of places then and seen a lot of things " responded Kelly recovering from his initial shock.

"Yeah" Sonny replied in a distant voice, Kelly could hear sadness seeping into the boy's voice.

"Hey it's ok Sonny, I know you're going to miss travelling but Chicago is a great place" promised Kelly, he felt sorry for the young boy, his entire life had changed in a blink of an eye.

"Huh, oh no it's not that it's just-" started Sonny before stopping to let out a shaky breath. He didn't want Kelly to think Ryder was a bad guy, the other man only ever did the things he did to keep Sonny safe.

"I never really saw much of the places we went to. Ryder didn't like me being in busy places, I used to stay in the motel room while Ryder did while he needed to do" explained Sonny.

"But it never bothered me. I enjoyed travelling from place to place, we'd stop in fields on the way and play baseball. Well I guess it's not really baseball when it's only the two of you. But it was a lot of fun" continued Sonny hastily, it may have been unusual but he'd had a good childhood and he didn't want to Kelly to believe otherwise.

"Have you ever played a proper game?" Asked Kelly curiously.

"No" Sonny report allowing a frown to flash across his face for a few seconds.

"Well I guess we'll have to change that won't we" announced Kelly causing the blonde to beam brightly at him. Sonny loved living with Ryder but he hated how lonely it was sometimes, for years he'd dreamt of actually being able to play baseball in a team or even just practicing with people his own age. Kelly continued asking Sonny about himself while the blonde asked Kelly what life was like in Chicago. The conversation flowed easily and Sonny was surprised by how comfortable he felt talking to Kelly. Words just seemed to tumble out of his mouth as he talked to the older man.

"Matt never remarried or had more children?" Asked Sonny curiously after their conversation about Chicago fizzled out. The question had been on his mind ever since Officer Tanner had told him his father was alive, before he'd been reunited with the ex-firefighter Sonny had imagined Matt having a new wife and young children. After all Ten years was a very long time, Matt could have easily started another family in that time but from what Sonny had seen in Matt's dilapidated house he knew apart from Kelly, Matt was all alone. Guilt bubbled up inside his chest as he realised he was probably the reason for the older blondes isolation. As Kelly remained silent Sonny started to wonder if he had crossed a line, he wasn't used to talking to people he didn't know very well. With Ryder he had known exactly what he could and couldn't say, as long as he never mentioned Eve or his parents Ryder didn't care what Sonny talked about. But the young teen didn't have a clue what was appropriate to say to Kelly or Matt. Despite knowing he needed to be careful and tread lightly Sonny couldn't stop himself from blurting out what ever came to mind. As he waited for Kelly to speak Sonny started to fear that his babbling had landed him in hot water.

"I'm sorry, it doesn't matter" apologised Sonny in a high pitch voice full of panic.

"No Sonny it's fine, you just caught me off guard that's all" replied Kelly feeling regret surge through him at the young boys distress.

"You can always ask me anything Sonny, I promise I'll never judge and I will always try my best to help" promised Kelly who had a feeling that Sonny would indeed ask him more question's in the future and seek him out for advice. During their journey Kelly had noticed one big difference separating Matt from Sonny, the younger boy was incredibly open, he didn't dance around difficult subjects or hide his feelings. Kelly had felt relief wash over him at the fact Sonny thankfully hadn't inherited Matt's worst habit; the blonde firefighters closed off behaviour had always caused him more harm than good. Fortunately Sonny appeared to have Hallie's honest nature, the woman had never hidden how she felt about things and was always voiced her opinion, she was known to be quite blunt at times. When she and Matt were a couple they had balanced each other out perfectly, maybe Sonny was what Matt needed to start opening up to people again.

"And to answer your earlier question, no Matt never remarried or had more children, it didn't feel right to him. He wasn't the same after everything that happened" sighed Kelly.

"Oh" Sonny mumbled softly feeling overwhelmed with guilt.

"I ruined his life didn't I?" Croaked they blonde.

"No of course you didn't 're the best thing that ever happened to him" soothed Kelly as he mentally kicked himself, he should have known Sonny would blame himself, he was definitely Matt's son.

"Look I wasn't just talking about you disappearing, you going missing really hurt Matt but slowly he began to learn to cope with the pain he was feeling" explained Kelly before pausing. He wasn't sure how Matt would feel about what he was about to say next. Kelly's head began to ache at the conflicting thoughts filling his mind, on one hand Casey deserved privacy but on the other hand Sonny had a right to know. Kelly decided to proceed with telling Sonny the truth, he didn't want his relationship with the young boy to be built on secrets and lies.

"But just as he was starting to deal with your disappearance and your mother's death everything went wrong" admitted Kelly.

"How so?" Asked Sonny tilting his slightly causing his hair to flop to one side.

"We lost a very close friend and we were at odds for a long time because of it. Then Matt had an accident which left him with a brain injury. He started to heal, but the thing about recovery is a part of you has to want to get better but Matt just didn't care anymore" explained Kelly in a steady tone, constantly shifting his gaze from the road to Sonny to check the boy was doing ok. Sonny remained quiet for awhile as he mulled Kelly's words over in his head, Ryder hadn't wanted to heal either after Eve's death, Sonny hoped he wouldn't loose Matt too.

"Do you think he'll start to heal now?" Asked the young blonde hopefully, he wished he'd done more to help Ryder, maybe he could help Matt.

"I hope so".