In case you missed the tumblr announcement – this story will be 52 chapters long!

~TLL~

Jude resisted the urge to scratch his head. He had fifteen minutes left before he was allowed to wash his hair dye out. He could wait fifteen minutes to scratch his head. Probably. He was getting more and more tempted to slide the pencil he was holding through the dye, just to relieve the tiny itch just above his ear. It consumed most of his thoughts, rather than the test in front of him that he was supposed to be taking. Of which he also had fifteen minutes left of.

He circled B for his last multiple choice question and then immediately erased it and circled C and then immediately erased it. Like he'd been doing for the last three minutes. Multiple choice questions were tricks, nothing else and he would have groaned aloud, were Lena not sitting at the end of the table, going over her own paperwork and keeping an eye on him at the same time.

Did it really matter if he knew life cycles that well? He was never going to be a scientist; he was never going to care.

And then he was off track again, wondering just what he would be and if he should care more about animal life cycles. Maybe he would be a scientist. Maybe he would need to know. Maybe –

"Time's up, Jude."

Maybe he was all out of time and he had absolutely no knowledge. He slid the paper across the table to Lena slowly.

"How do you feel you did?" she asked, like she always did.

"Um, I think better than the last one but still not good," Jude said. "I'm going to go shower and then you can tell me how bad I did and then I can go to Connor's, right?"

"You can't go to Connor's until after Stef gets home. She should be home within the hour."

"Really? Why?"

"Something we want to talk to you about," Lena said. "It's a surprise. Go shower."

A surprise?

Jude tried not to feel skeptical as he took the stairs up to the bathroom, turning on the shower water. His mind was tripping over what the surprise could be. It couldn't be anything about the adoption – it hadn't been long enough for that. He looked down and watched the blue dye swirl around the bottom of the tub. Surprise? What would they want to surprise him with? He felt a little more confident that it was going to be a good surprise than he might have before but he still felt the anxiety niggling at him. What if it wasn't good? But he couldn't figure out if it was good or bad, either way, because he had no ideas on what the surprise could be.

His heart was thrumming by the time he towel-dried his hair and made his way back downstairs. He listened intently and walked slowly, making sure that he could hear Stef's voice before he made his reappearance in the dining room. Lena was still sitting where he left her but his test was now sitting, graded, over on her left side.

"How did I do?"

"Seventy percent!" Lena said brightly. "You did a really good job."

Seventy percent was the best that Jude had ever gotten on a test and he couldn't help his beam of pride. He couldn't wait to tell Connor!

"Which means you definitely deserve your surprise," Stef added.

Jude sat down in the chair next to Lena. "What surprise?"

"Well, it's been something we've thought you've been needing for a while," Stef said, "and we've been really impressed with how you've been doing with your schoolwork so, really, think of it as a reward too."

"What is it?" Jude asked. "I'm kind of nervous."

"Don't be," Stef said. She placed a bag on the table. "Go ahead! Open it!"

Jude's stomach fluttered but she looked excited and so he felt excited too as he pulled the bag across the tabletop. He opened the top of it and reached in, feeling something cool and slightly small against his fingertips. He pulled it out.

"A phone?"

His own phone. He'd never asked for one, figuring it would be too much to do so. He looked down at it and thought, as he always did in moments like this, about Callie. She had done what she could to get him a phone; to get him what he wanted. He had only had it for a month, even though she had promised to get it back to him, she hadn't been able to get the money back together later to give it back to him, though he had no doubt that she had tried. He didn't know what had happened to that phone now.

"All yours! We wanted you to have one and, we thought, now that Connor's getting healthier, you might not be inside all the time, and we should know how to find you."

"Thank you!" Jude said, smiling at Stef. "Thanks!"

"No phone after ten and no phone at the dinner table," Stef added. "We don't want it to keep you up all night."

"I'll be good!" Jude promised. "I will! Thank you."

He hugged them both.

"I'll drive you over to Connor's now so that you can show it off," Stef offered.

"Well, yeah, but it's not like I'll have anyone else to text."

"Except us," Lena said, an edge of sarcasm to her voice.

"Oh, yeah, of course," Jude said.

"I programed all of the family's numbers in," Stef said. "Other than that, you can personalize it."

Jude was almost too scared to really touch it. He didn't want to leave fingerprints across the glossy screen. He knew it was a nice phone – as nice as the ones that Mariana and Jesus had. And maybe that wouldn't have been a huge deal to anyone else but it made Jude think that they really did think of him as theirs, even though the adoption hadn't happened yet and even though the had decided to adopt him so quickly that he was sure they'd change their minds. But he was equal. And that was what he wanted, because he wanted to belong to this family completely.

"Thank you! Really," Jude said. "You didn't have to."

"It's what parents do for kids," Stef said. "Now, come on, shoes on. I have to go to the grocery store tonight too."

"Not that he ever eats dinner with us," Lena joked. "You know, Jude, Connor is allowed to come over here too. Your friends are welcome here."

Jude had to admit, he had never considered having Connor over to Stef's and Lena's house. It wasn't like Connor was in solitary confinement. It wasn't like Connor had to stay away from people or places. He'd told Jude, just a few days ago, that he'd missed grocery shopping, since he'd gone with Adam again.

"I'll ask him," Jude said, and he felt strangely happy about the fact that he had a house to bring a friend to. Or a friend to bring to his house. And he was oddly excited about it too, right up until Connor looked at him and said: "But, can I really go to your house?" All in a tone that implied he didn't want to.

"Is there something about your illness stopping you? Because if that's the case, then you shouldn't be allowed to leave your house at all and I know that you do, so … Why?"

"It's Ms. Adams house," Connor said. "Can I really be in Ms. Adams' house? That's going to be weird, Jude."

And then Jude went from worried to laughing in half of a second.

"So, it's about Lena?"

"Yeah," Connor said. "What else would it be about?"

"I don't know. It could be anything." Jude shrugged.

"It's not about you. For you, I'll suck it up and do it. But it's gonna be weird."

"That's okay, you'll do it for me."

"You knew that before I said it."

"I did," Jude replied.

"You have to give me, like, a week to get used to the idea."

"Fine. One week." Jude slid his phone across the couch cushions. "Look what I got!"

"Yes, finally!"

"Not that we're ever apart."

Connor rolled his eyes. "Sometimes we are! You have to study and stuff so we can go back to school together."

"So, you're starting school again?"

Connor shrugged. "Probably not before the year's over. Dad's thinking the next couple months for recovery and then some summer school and then start again in the new school year. With you."

"I'm really glad you're going to be there," Jude said. "I mean, for more than just the fact that I won't be all alone but –"

"I won't leave you alone."

Jude half-smiled and then he tapped his fingers on the back of Connor's couch. "When does Dr. Meyer see if your cancer's … cured or whatever."

"Remission."

"I knew that."

Connor smirked. "That appointment is next month so cross your fingers."

Like Jude had uncrossed his fingers since the last day at the Centre, when Mariana had brought him Connor's note and driven him to the hospital.

"They're crossed," he promised anyway. "And, guess what?"

"What?" Connor asked, letting himself into Jude's phone. Jude watched him open the contacts list before figuring out what he was doing.

"I got seventy on my science test."

"Jude! Yes!"

Connor held up his hand for a high-five and Jude happily gave it.

"I knew you were smart."

"It means I missed thirty percent."

"You're looking at it the wrong way," Connor said and he shook his head at Jude. "Come on. It means you got seventy percent of it! Focus on that!"

"But –"

"No, it's really good news!" Connor interrupted. "And, I have my own good news."

"What's that?"

"Dad pulled my bike out of the basement last night. I don't think I'm supposed to know yet because he did it when I was supposed to be sleeping. He also pulled out my old ball bag too. I mean, he's not going to let me play any time soon or anything but it means that he thinks that I'm going to be able to play again or ride my bike again."

"When you were in the hospital, he was talking about being able to play catch with you again because he didn't remember the last time you had done that."

"He won't let me really play until he and Dr. Meyer talk it over a hundred times."

Jude couldn't help but grin, resting his head against the back of the couch. Jellybean jumped up next to his head and he was sure that she felt it too.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You were convinced you were going to die. We were all pretty much convinced you were going to die and now you're just sitting there whining about how long it's going to take you to play baseball like you didn't have a kidney transplant and like you know you won't have to go through chemo again."

"Whining?"

"Yeah but that's okay. I kind of love the fact that you're whining about normal stuff and not the fact that your lips are so cracked they pretty much bleed every time you talk."

Connor mouthed the word 'love' to himself.

"But, I guess, leave it to you to change my mind about whining too. Will your sob story never end?"

Connor shrugged. "I could still have cancer."

As if that thought had ever left anyone who had ever met him.

"Even if I do, I could really fight it off this time. And I'll have enough good days that I can play catch with my dad and ride bikes with you or play catch with you and maybe my dad will get a bike or … Whatever I want. You gave me choices, Jude, and I could … I could do pretty much anything, you know. I could even learn a new sport, once I feel better, of course …"

Connor's rambling poured in one ear and out the other. He was chattering about what he could do next, maybe join new clubs once school started in. But Jude wasn't thinking about school. He wasn't thinking about months from now. He was thinking about now, when Connor's bike was out of the basement and Adam's hopes were soaring high enough that Connor was starting to talk about whether or not he might have actually grown since the last time he'd worn his baseball glove. He was thinking about now, where he'd never ridden a bike, not once, in his entire life, to the point where he had barely an idea of how to get the bike to go, let alone how to get the bike to stop. He was thinking about now, where the closest thing he had ever gotten to catch was tossing something from one of his own hands to the other one. He'd never thought as a baseball bat as anything other than a weapon.

Jude almost opened his mouth to tell Connor all of that but, then, he shut his mouth. He couldn't let Connor be his teacher again. He couldn't learn something from Connor that most people learnt from a young age, passed from parent to child as so many things were. He wondered if Stef and Lena would know how to teach him. To ride a bike, certainly, and Jude was sure they would do their best to help him with the baseball thing. Most people could probably play catch but the fact that Connor was talking about a bat had Jude worried. Connor was going to have to teach him how to hold it properly. Stef and Lena likely didn't know and he didn't have anyone else to turn to.

Except …

And Jude wondered if he'd get the help he wanted after all.

(-.-)

At seven o'clock, Jude was back home. He'd told Connor that he hadn't finished all of his homework, and he'd promised Lena he'd be home early, but, really, he just wanted to get home while there was still daylight left. He took off up the stairs, slowing once he reached the second floor and tiptoeing by Jesus's ajar door, enough to see that he was sitting at his desk.

Jude walked into his own bedroom and put his bag down on the floor, taking a deep breath and gathering up his courage. He hoped he wouldn't need his courage. He had talked to Jesus before; he knew that Jesus wasn't scary. But Jude had never asked Jesus for anything before and he didn't know if he could take being denied. He had to learn this, for Connor, because he wanted Connor to be up and around. He wanted to do more with Connor that just sit in his house, as they had sat in his hospital room. He wanted to go back to the beach, find a coffee shop. He wanted more.

With that thought fueling him, Jude hesitantly knocked on Jesus's bedroom door.

Jesus glanced over his shoulder, popping a headphone out. "Yeah? What's up?"

"I need a favour," Jude said, and he felt like a stone had dropped in his stomach.

"Yeah? Come in?" Jesus gave him a look. "What kind of favour? Should we shut the door? Do Moms not need to know?"

"Nothing like that," Jude said, trying to figure out just what Jesus was thinking he needed. Maybe he wanted to know. Maybe, in this case, ignorance was bliss. "Connor's starting to feel better and he's talking about riding his bike and playing ball again. With me. Because I'm his best friend. But I can't do any of that and I … I don't want to have to tell him that I've never done any of that before."

"Are you asking me to teach you to play baseball and ride a bike?" Jesus clarified.

Jude nodded, remembering when Connor had teased him about being bad at asking for help. "Please. If you can ride a bike or play baseball. I don't know …"

Jesus just laughed at him.

"Yeah, I can play baseball and ride a bike." Jesus stood up. "Come on. Let's go."

"Now?" Jude said, scrambling to follow him out the door.

"Why not? Got anything better to do?"

"No," Jude said.

"Besides, what are brothers for?" Jesus asked. "Let's start with the bike, okay? I know where that one is."

"Okay," Jude agreed, as if he were in a position to disagree with anything that Jesus suggested.

Jesus dug the bike out and then took Jude out the sidewalk. He glanced back at the house and then pushed the handlebars out toward Jude.

"Hold this. I'll be back in a second."

Jude tried not to fidget in the few minutes it took Jesus to go into the house and run back out, a helmet in his hands. He planted it on Jude's head, doing up the straps before Jude had a chance to move his hands. He stood still as Jesus wiggled the helmet.

"How's that feel?"

"Weird."

"But weird and going to strangle you, weird and loose, or weird and fine?"

"Weird and fine, I think," Jude said, because it definitely wasn't either of the other two, but he didn't really know what a bike helmet was supposed to feel like when it was fine.

"Moms would kill me if you fell and I didn't stick a helmet on you."

"I'm not going to fall."

"Everyone falls, don't worry about it. Eventually, you just won't. And, hey, if you like the bike, you can keep it."

"What?" Jude asked. "Is it … your bike?"

"Yeah but I haven't really ridden it since I got my license. I didn't like riding my bike, it was just easier than bugging Moms and Brandon for rides all the time. So, if you like it, keep it. I'll steal it back if I ever really need it."

"Thanks, Jesus."

"What are brothers for?" Jesus asked again. "Except for laughing at you when you fall over a couple of times."

Well, that was okay. He had a brother who would laugh at him but he also had a brother who would help him, and the trade off was worth it.

He got onto the bike seat.

"Ready?" Jesus asked.

"Ready," Jude said.

Even if it was for the fall.

If you have a song that reminds you of The Island Of Misfit Toys and would like it to be on the playlist, send it in and let me know! I'd love to hear your playlist suggestions. This week's songs are: You Will Find Me by Andrew Ripp; and Where I Can't Follow by Amy Kunesy.

So, on tumblr I'm: we are all of legend now (with dashes between every word). If you want to find my replies to anon reviews, add backslash tagged backslash anon dash replies. If you want to see anything I post about The Island Of Misfit Toys, go to my tumblr URL and add backslash tagged backslash the dash island dash of dash misfit dash toys. Punctuation is spelled out due to Fanfiction's restrictions. If you're having any trouble accessing the tumblr content please send me a pm and I can format it for you in a different way.

~TLL~