"Care to explain?" Chris asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's not what it looks like?"
-Flashback-
"Are you sure you'll be okay for a few hours until I get it all set up?" Donnie asked Sean once more.
"I'll be fine. I'd rather not overhear that particular conversation between you and your parents. I've been thinking and I believe it would be better for everybody if I spend another night here."
"King might not have an alarm system that alerts him if somebody is in the house, but if you open a window or door to the outside he will come in with a gun in his hands. Trust me on that."
"I know. But think about it, it's the perfect plan. It will give you and your parents some privacy, and I won't have to look out for Nate all the time. He has been way too close to finding out about me being here more than one time."
"Okay." Donnie sighed. Changing the subject completely he asked: "Have you checked your phone today?"
"No. I can't seem to muster up the courage to turn it on. What if they haven't tried to reach me?!."
"They have."
"I'm still not sure it wouldn't be better to let it be. If they haven't…"
"What if I turn it on and check? Please."
"Okay…" Sean tentatively handed over his phone to Donnie who wasted no time turning it on. Finding several unopened messages Donnie read them out loud:
"Sweetie, please keep yourself safe. We all love you and want you home with us. Whatever it is we'll get through it. Nanc."
"Come on Seanie, I know you are angry, but don't do this to yourself. If something happened to you I'd never be able to forgive myself."
"We aren't angry Sean. Whenever you feel ready to come back home the door is open. We still want you kiddo, we always will."
"Me, Chris and King talked and made peace so if this is about that you can come home now Sean. Everything will be fine."
"This wasn't how we wanted to tell you kiddo, but me and Nanc…" Donnie stopped reading. "I think you need to read this one yourself Sean."
"Why?"
"Just read it."
"They want to adopt me" Sean whispered stunned.
"See, I knew they miss you."
"But what about Dylan? He is 17."
"I don't think 17 is too old Sean."
"But what if it is?! I can't get parted from him again."
"Trust them Sean. You need to go home and talk to them." Donnie said quietly.
"Not yet. I need to think this through."
"Okay, but remember my window is always open for you."
"Thanks."
It had been surprisingly easy for Sean to stay hidden. King and Chris had given Donnie a ride home and at least planned to take Nate out for lunch. Sean assumed they had done so since he had had surprisingly much time on his hands before King returned. At first he had been grateful for the opportunity to stretch his legs and take a look around King's house, but his thoughts soon went to the backyard and how inviting it looked. Sean longed for fresh air after days inside and a chance to run off some energy. To keep himself from going outside, he ventured into the kitchen.
"Okay Sean, what sounds like a good idea for lunch?" He asked himself to fill the quietness. Scanning the pantry Sean found bread and peanut butter. Not the perfect lunch as far as he was concerned, but it would go undetected. While debating with himself wether to eat downstairs or head back nto hiding Sean suddenly heard a car turn into the driveway. Grabbing the plate with his sandwich and the glass of water he planned to drink, Sean ran upstairs as fast as he could. Donnie had intentionally shut the door to his room when he left so Sean was able to breath as soon as he made it over the threshold. Putting down the plate and glass to be able to close the door, Sean paused as he heard the front door open and King and Chris enter.
"I just don't understand why he ran." Chris said.
"Dylan thinks it's because of what was going on between us and their fight, but I'm not so sure."
"Yeah I think Dylan is wrong for once."
"Who would ever have believed that the two of us could have a semi-casual conversation about Dylan?!"
"Not me at least. I can't get over Sean though. There is no trace of him and it worries me, King, it really does."
"We both know what usually happens when a person simply disappears." King agreed grimly. "The odds aren't in our favour."
"We've done everything we can think of doing, there has to be something we have missed"
"The most logical thing would have been if Sean would have hid at a friend's place but we turned Logan's house upside down and Donnie has been with us. Dylan was sure that he wouldn't go to anybody else. I'm calling Jethro, maybe he can provide some ideas from Washington or even fly out."
"I'll text James. I want to talk to Donnie again when he is done."
"Do you think he has been lying to us?"
"In this case I hope so." Feeling like he had heard enough, Sean closed the door quietly. Feeling emotional, he sank down onto the floor and accidentally knocked over the plate he had left next to the door. It in turn crashed into the glass with an all too loud sound in at least Sean's ears. Waiting for the inevitable steps Sean was surprised to hear the front door close and two car doors slam shut. A moment later the sound of a car driving away was heard and Sean let out a big sigh of relief.
"Thank God."
Looking around though he saw that his peanut butter sandwich had flown of the plate and landed wrong side up. Water was everywhere and the glass had rolled across the floor. Deciding the best course of action would be getting some paper towels from the kitchen to clean up the mess, Sean headed down the stairs and into the kitchen where he came face to face with Christopher Lasalle's gun.
"Sean." The relief in Chris's voice was noticeable and he quickly put down the gun and brought the teen into a brief hug.
"Hi Chris."
-Flashback ending-
"Care to explain?" Chris asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's not what it looks like?"
"No? Because it looks like our runaway has become quite comfortable here." Sean shrugged. "Sit down kiddo." Chris patted the back of one of the kitchen chairs. Once Sean was seated Chris sat down across from him looking at the teenager intently. "Why?"
"They are moving to Florida." Sean whispered after a short moment of silence.
"Who is?"
"Evan and Nancy. It's happening in two weeks."
"I haven't heard about that." Chris said kindly. "And I don't believe they would move without you."
"Evan got a new job. It sounded like a great opportunity."
"Say that it's true- and I still think you have the facts wrong-what would running away accomplish?"
"I couldn't stand getting separated from Dyl again so I thought that if I ran away I could meet up with Dyl someplace where nobody knew us. Get a job, start a new life."
"Hate to break it to you, but we wouldn't have stopped looking and sooner or later we would have found you. And Sean, neither would Nancy or Evan. They really care for you. And speaking off I need to call your foster parents."
"But…"
"They are worried crazy, Sean. They need to know."
"I can't loose Dylan."
"Who do you trust most besides Dylan?"
"Evan and Nancy." The answer came in a heartbeat and caused Chris to smile.
"Then trust them."
-Principals and Mentors-
"Are you okay? You seem kind of quiet." Donnie shrugged as answer to his Dad's question.
"Is there something on your mind besides Sean?"
"Maybe."
"Donnie-Boy. You know you have a tendency of blowing things out of proportion in your mind. I bet it won't be as bad as you think."
"How come your always so nice about things?"
"Am I too nice according to you?"
"No! It's just…how come you never lose your temper?"
"I have been known to more than once, especially in my youth, but I try my hardest to always keep cool around my family."
"It's not just us you are nice to."
"Well thankyou kiddo. I guess I try to keep in mind that everybody has a story. It helps keep my temper in check. Just like I try to remember that you always have a reason in that mind of yours. It might not always be a reason we agree on being a good one, but it's still a reason to you. It wouldn't help matters then if I started shouting. Knowing you, you'd close off and make it harder on all of us, especially yourself. And I love you too much to want you to do that to yourself."
"Thanks Dad."
"What brought this on?" Donnie hesitated for a short moment.
"AJ has been more open to sharing things about his past lately. He has told me some about his family life before Detective Daniels…his parents…they weren't like you and Mom. And I could have guessed, there had to be a reason he was put into the system after all, but to hear him tell it from his point of view gave it a whole new sense of reality."
"Do you remember Gabriel Accardi?"
"AJ's brother? Yeah, a little bit."
"When King got your brother and I to look eye to eye again, Gabe and him became friends again."
"I didn't know that. I thought…"
"No, Gabe was ready to get out. A lot of the trouble King and Chris know Gabe by happened before they got placed into foster care. I know King and Chris have another view of him than I do, but son…to be honest Donnie-Boy I'm not certain how much to share with you. The main point is though that whenever AJ shares something from his past with you I want you to remember that there is a lot you don't know about. There is a lot AJ doesn't know about either, but that is beyond the point. What I'm trying to say is that Gabe is a good person with a rough past. You may get to meet him one day and when you do, I want you to treat him with respect."
"I will."
"Good boy. It must have been hard though to hear AJ's side of it."
"He hasn't really said much, mostly that he still gets surprised every time a grown-up keeps his temper."
"Some parent shouldn't have children. His I can say for sure shouldn't have, but what really matters is that Gabe and AJ are fine now and that their parents are stripped of their rights."
"How come you know so much?"
"Gabe and I have shared words a few times." Recognizing his Dad's statement for what it was-a closed door for now-Donnie drew a deep breath before blurting out:
"I was the brain behind a cheating ring at school."
"I know, Bud."
-Principals and Mentors-
"Let's talk kiddo."
"Okay…"
"You have nothing to be scared off, we are only trying to understand, Seanie." Nancy said, concerned about the teens tense features.
"I can't move again!" Nancy and Evan exchanged a surprised glance at the outburst.
"We thought you'd be happy about it."
"How could I?! Leaving you and me and Dyl getting separated again…"
"Woah, whoa, kiddo. What are you talking about?"
"You! Moving to Florida!" Sean brushed away the tears running down his face angrily. "I trusted you."
"Where in the world did you get that idea from? Buddy, that's not even remotely true."
"But why adopt me then? And I heard you talk about it." Evan grabbed Sean gently by the arms and crunched down so he could look the distraught teenager straight in the eyes.
"First of all; we want to adopt you and your brother to make it official. We've told you a hundred times we couldn't imagine life without you so we wanted to make it official. Secondly; Nanc and I are traveling to Florida for an extended weekend to celebrate our anniversary. We aren't moving there."
"But you talked about moving and getting a new job."
"We, our whole family are moving closer to where Donnie lives. I got an offer of a better payed job and accepted it. We thought you'd be happy about living closer to your best friend."
"Really?! We are moving there?! We all are?!"
"It will take some time to sell this place but we've already found what we think is the perfect house for us. It would only be a 10-minute bike ride to Donnie's and you'd be going to the same school as him. Your brother would be closer to his work as well."
"When are we moving?" Evan laughed at the excitement and gave him a brief hug. I'm happy you like the sound of it now."
"It will also be close enough for you to ride your bike to NCIS to visit Chris and King every now and then." Nancy supplied.
"Even better." Sean gave her a hard hug as well. "Thank you."
"I wish you would have trusted us enough to come talk to us about your fears Buddy. We would never leave you guys behind or split you up."
"I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking clearly."
"Running away is never the answer though, no matter what."
"All my fears are gone. I don't have anything to run from anymore."
"As good as it is to hear that we still would like a promise from you to never do it again. My heart can't take losing you, Buddy."
"I'll never run away again. I promise."
"Thankyou."
"Where is Dylan?"
"On his way home. He was out looking for you."
"Is there a punishment for taking off like I did and worrying you guys?" Sean asked tentatively.
"A two weeks grounding so we'll have a lot of time to talk. Besides, I don't think I'm ready to let you out of my sight for quite a while." Nancy drew Sean close to her side and dropped a kiss to his head, thanking the stars that their youngest was back home safe and sound.
A/N: Any thoughts on what James knows about Gabe that Donnie and AJ don't? The idea hit me suddenly and I'm quite happy with the way this is turning out… As always, if you liked it please review, it helps my confidence a lot and is overall greatly appreciated!