They both laughed. "Well, finally we agree on something," Lee teased.

"Oh, come on, Lee, we don't always disagree. We agreed on which house to buy, didn't we?"

"But not what to put in it," he countered.

"Right. Your stuff," she acknowledged. "We never did get to finish that talk, did we?"

"No, we didn't. I was just thinking when you were making all your lists that you seem to have forgotten all that stuff I've got in storage from the apartment. You've got cleaning out the garage, the attic, lists of stuff we can pack up ahead of time that doesn't get used regularly...hell, you've even got a plan for where to put everything in the new house and not a bit of it includes anything that's mine. I've got tons of stuff from my old place that there just wasn't room for in your house..." He paused as a new wave of grief hit him. "That's...uh...that's not to mention all the stuff that belonged to my parents that's been sitting in storage for years...you know...from the house we lived in when I was little and...and I-" He let out a deep sigh. "I'm starting to feel like I'm still on the outside looking in."

"Ohhh...Lee..." She reached for his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. "I am so, so sorry. When I was making those lists, it didn't even occur to me to include your folks' stuff. I...um...I know how painful it is for you to even talk about them so I thought..." She shook her head. "I guess it doesn't matter what I thought. I thought wrong."

Remembering his chat with Billy and how he'd reminded Lee that his wife is not a mind-reader, he replied, "It's not your fault. It's mine because you're right. I don't like to talk about my past. I guess it's like when I was talking about wedding plans and kids and houses...I didn't state specifically what I was thinking, so here it is. All that stuff from my mom and dad's...other than the stuff we found in that hidden room obviously...I've held onto it because I thought...I don't know...maybe someday when I had a home of my own, I'd want it."

"But you've lived on your own for years," she pointed out.

"A bachelor pad is not a home though," he countered. "I mean a real home with a family of my own. Now, I know some of the furniture is probably pretty outdated because it's from the 50s..."

"Well, how about we make a plan to go through those storage units after the holidays? I'm sure there are a few pieces we could use. After all, the new house does have a larger dining room and family room. Plus there's the rec room in the basement. Oh, and since Mother will have her own little apartment, maybe she could use some of the stuff from your old apartment like the loveseat and the armchairs. They would fit better up there than a full-sized sofa would and-" She stopped speaking abruptly. "And I'm doing it again...making plans without asking for your thoughts when it's your stuff. No wonder you accused me of being selfish."

"No, you're not. You're just being you and trying to make a plan and it's not a bad idea asking your mom if she wants the living room furniture from the apartment." He paused and gave her an apologetic look. "You know I didn't really mean it when I said you were selfish. I was just...thrown when you seemed so shocked that I wanted another kid and I-"

"I understand. I said some things I didn't really mean too." She smiled and teased, "So, is that why you want the kids to stay...because you still want another child?"

"No, I wasn't even really thinking about that. I just...I just saw that look on their faces when the little one..."

"Ivy," she reminded him.

"Right, Ivy," he nodded. "Well, when she said their parents were in heaven, I just couldn't help thinking of that first Christmas without my mom and dad before the Colonel came to get me. There I was, five years old, confused as hell, scared and alone in Dozier Hall surrounded by a bunch of other kids who was just as scared and confused and I-" He swallowed hard as he tried to shake off the bad memories. "I couldn't stand the thought of those kids going through the same thing I did."

"What makes you think it's their first Christmas without their parents? The older girl, Sunny...it seems like she's already accustomed to looking after her younger siblings like a surrogate mom."

"Maybe, but I know that look I saw on her face when she scolded her sister...the pain she was feeling...it's fairly new. My guess is less than a year."

"You may be right."

"Not only that, but I get the feeling something else is going on with her."

"Yeah? How so?"

"I had a talk with Phillip about how to approach girls since she was screaming about him touching her...you know, how a guy shouldn't touch a girl without her permission and all that and you know what he said?"

"No, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me."

"He said he didn't. That he'd only introduced himself and reached out to shake her hand and that she pulled away and popped him in the jaw."

"Hmmm..."

"What?"

"I noticed when I tried to talk to Ivy how she snatched her up to keep her away from me, but also when she did it, she was very cautious about her sleeves."

"Her sleeves? I don't get it. What's the significance of that?"

"I'm not sure yet. But I did notice that she's wearing a rather fluffy pullover sweater and the sleeves on those tend to get bunched up pretty easily, exposing your skin underneath and when she picked Ivy up, she was very careful not to let that happen. I think she's hiding something...scars...or bruises maybe. When I caught that, I was worried that maybe the kids were being abused - you know, wherever they ran away from - and that's why I thought we should let them stay here with us. At least until we know more about what's going on. I mean, there's obviously a reason they ran away and were hiding out here."

"Yeah. God, I hope that's not the case. It's bad enough losing your parents young like that, but to be mistreated by adults who are supposed to caring for you too... Though it sure would go a hell of a long way to explaining why Sunny overreacted with Phillip."

"And why she doesn't trust us," Amanda added. "While you were talking to Phillip, she made a crack about grown-ups stabbing them in the back."

Lee nodded. "Yeah, that definitely doesn't sound good."

"I just wish we had a clue where they were...if they were staying with relatives...or in foster care...or a group home...or a bigger place like the one you were in when you were a kid. Surely, they've been reported to the local authorities as runaways. There can't be too many instances of three siblings taking off together. We drove by a sheriff's station on the way up here that's not too far away. Maybe one of could head back down there and make some inquiries."

"No," Lee argued adamantly. "That's the worst thing we could do right now. First, because you promised you wouldn't turn them in; second, because if there is a report about them, the first thing a local sheriff is going to do is march them right back where they were and we just agreed that whatever is going on doesn't sound right."

"You sound like you have a little experience with that. Did you run away from Dozier Hall?"

He nodded sheepishly. "Just once," he confessed. "I had just turned six and I was still in this...sort of denial about my parents being gone and I was determined that I was going to get back to my own house so I snuck out one night after bed check and started hitchhiking."

"You knew how to hitchhike at age six?" She laughed. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"Well, I'd seen it done on TV and in movies and stuff so I figured how hard could it be? In my immature six-year-old mind, I thought for sure someone would take pity on a lost little kid and take me home. And I had my home phone number and address drilled into my brain by my mom before I started school the year before so if something ever happened, I'd know how to let her know. Armed with that knowledge, I set off down the road on a mission to get back home."

"Did you ever get there?" She listened to his story with rapt attention. It was so rare that he ever talked about the death of his parents or his childhood in general and though they'd known each other for over four years, she felt like she was seeing a whole new side of him.

"Well, yes and no," he replied. "I probably walked about a mile or so before this grandmotherly lady picked me up and when I lied and told her I was lost, she readily agreed to take me home. But when we got there and the house was empty with a 'for sale' sign on the front lawn, she was sure I'd been abandoned and started crying about how sad it was that my parents didn't want me. Of course, I got mad then and told her off in my little kid way and demanded that she just call my mom and everything would be fine."

"So what happened next?"

"She drove us down the road to the nearest service station to use the payphone and of course, the number I had so carefully memorized was disconnected. After that, she had no other choice but to take me to the police station despite me crying and protesting that I didn't want to go there. I didn't tell her this, but all I could think about the police at that time was that they showed up at my house in the middle of the night to tell me my parents were never coming home again."

"That must have been terrifying for you," she offered sympathetically.

"Yeah, it was. Even though I didn't see it then, this nice little old lady really was just trying to help me. Then once we got there, she obviously learned the truth because the police had the whole report on the accident that killed my mom and dad. They contacted social services and found out that I was supposed to be in the orphanage because my uncle was buried under a pile of military red tape trying to make arrangements to take care of me."

"I always wondered why it took your uncle almost two years to take you in after your parents died."

"Yeah, it never really hit me until I was an adult just how much he went through. I was too lost in my own misery, kinda' like I was with this whole baby thing we've been debating about. I was too busy thinking about what I wanted to really listen to you. So, even though I accused you of being selfish, I was really the selfish one."

"To be honest, I think we were both being a little selfish. I think it's going to take us some time to really get over that when we've both been independent for so long." She squeezed his hand again, "But talking like this...sharing...it helps."

"Yeah," he agreed and leaned in for a kiss.

"So, I'm guessing your story ended with the police taking you back to Dozier Hall?"

"Yeah. The funny thing was they hadn't even noticed I was gone yet. As a kid, I couldn't help thinking they just didn't care to, but now...now I see it for what it really was. They just had too many kids to look after and not enough staff to do it, plus some of the staff couldn't think of any other form of discipline other than a good paddling. But there are places that are worse and that's what worries me if we start digging too deeply into this thing with these kids until we know more."

"Well, chances are good the local authorities are going to be swamped dealing with holiday travelers anyway," she reasoned. "Best not to add more to their plates with this at least until after Christmas." She changed gears as a thought struck her. "Oh, speaking of plates, now I'm going to have to figure out what to do for dinner with three more mouths to feed."

"I thought you wanted to do the tree thing before dinner," he reminded her.

"Yes, but we're going to have to adjust our plans a little bit now that we have these other children here." She gave him a teasing grin. "See? I'm not always so rigid."

"Okay, okay. I shouldn't have said that," he admitted. "Your need for keeping things neat and organized has saved my ass at the office more times than I can count."

She turned to peruse the contents of the refrigerator. "Hmmm...you know...there's a little mom-and-pop grocery store down the hill. Would you mind driving down there if I made you a list of what we need?"

"Another list," he joked.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, since we both agreed the children should stay here with us, we can't let them go hungry, can we?"

"Well, of course not."

"Besides, it's starting to get dark outside anyway, so the tree can wait until tomorrow when we have plenty of daylight to see what we're looking at."

"Good point. Okay, make your list and I'll go. While you do that, I'm going to go see what the kids are up to. It's a little too quiet for my liking."

"Good thinking," she complimented him.

Lee returned to the room they'd initially met the orphans in and upon seeing only the two girls curled up on the bed with a book, he queried, "Where are the boys?"

"Outside." Sunny answered in a clipped tone. "Playing football or something with my brother."

"Whatcha' reading there?" He nodded to the book.

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," she replied.

"That was one of my favorite books growing up," he told her.

"Well, it's the only one we have left from our parents." She shrugged nonchalantly. "Ivy likes it when I read it to her."

"You know..." he began a bit awkwardly. "At work, they...uh...they call me Scarecrow...sort of a nickname."

"'Cause you don't have a brain?" she responded flippantly.

He couldn't help laughing. "You have no idea how many times I've heard that joke. But seriously, I always liked that book as a kid because I was an orphan like Dorothy and raised by my uncle like her. I just didn't have an aunt like she did because my uncle never married."

Sunny sat up and looked at him in surprise. "You're an orphan too?"

"Yeah," he nodded sadly. "My...uh...my mom and dad died when I was only five."

"I'm five too!" Ivy chimed in cheerfully.

"Anyway," he continued. "I lost count of how many times I read the Oz books when I was a kid. My uncle did the best he could, but I always kinda' want to have these fun adventures like Dorothy did. Do you...um...do you like adventure too? Is that why you're here and not wherever you're supposed to be?"

Sunny stiffened and instead of answering his question, sniped in a hostile tone, "Well, you were lucky. You at least had an uncle. We don't have anybody except each other."

Scratch relatives off the list of possibilities, he noted. "Well, you have us now," he reminded her. "And you can stay here with us for as long as you want."

"Sure. Fine. Whatever." she responded sullenly as she sank back onto the bed.

Lee let out a sigh wondering if there were anything else he could do to reach the teenage girl without causing her to distance herself even more. He thought back to Amanda reminding him of how he'd struggled with Alexi and couldn't figure out what his problem was. He shouldn't have this much difficulty relating to troubled kids when he'd been one himself. But you know how hard you were to reach when you were young, a taunting inner voice reminded him. That also made him think of how challenging it had been for Amanda to reach him even as an adult. With that in mind, he decided that he'd pushed his luck with Sunny enough for now."Well, I'll...uh...I'll just let you get back to your book."