None of the others tried anything for a couple of days. JD had been keeping his distance from Ezra, fearing the man didn't want anything to do with him.

One afternoon Buck came by himself. He had a soft smile playing on his lips.

"Am I to assume you drew the shortest straw this time?" Ezra drawled.

"One of has to go, figured I'm as good as any."

"Will the memories you contain be difficult to handle?"

Buck frowned, as if thinking about it, "I don't know what I'm supposed to show you, but I'm guessing it won't be easy."

"Seems to be the consensus." Ezra snorted.

Buck held out his hand, allowing Ezra to decide if he wanted to accept it or not. Clasping his hand, Ezra closed his eyes, feeling the chill he felt when he touched JD.

"What I have to show you, though it may be hard, is your mother." Buck said in a low voice.

~The first thing Ezra noticed was that the memories were not his own. It was of his mother, but she was a teenager. She was laughing with her friends, walking home from school. Maude was smiling, not one of her fake smiles she put on for a con, but a true one.

"Hey Maude, you coming to the party later tonight aren't you?" asked one of her friends.

"Of course. I wouldn't miss it." Came his mother's voice, that sounded off without her heavy southern accent.

He had once asked her where she was from originally, but she never told him. She sounded like she had a Bostonian accent.

The scene changed and it was night. She was arriving at a party at a house. Maude went in with her friends and was surrounded by other teens who were drinking and doing drugs. Some girls were making out with guys near the walls while a cluster of people danced in the middle of the rooms. Maude's friend nudged her.

"I see Jamie is looking at you." Giggled the girl.

Maude turned and saw the boy in question. She smiled at him which must've been encouragement enough for him to approach. They talked for a while and then before the night was over they were making out and then in one of the bedrooms. His mother looked so happy.

The scene changed again to Maude sitting down at the kitchen table listening as her father berated her over and over again and that she would have to get an abortion. There tears in her eyes, but they never fell as she stared straight ahead. Her mother stood off to the side, never coming to her rescue.

When the scene changed again, she was in the hospital with James standing next to her.

"Everything is going to be alright, Maude. You'll see. He's going to be strong and beautiful. He's going to have your eyes and my charm."

Maude laughed at that and ten minutes later she was going into labor. When she held the baby in her arms for the first time, Maude fell all over again in love with her baby. James kissed her forehead and ran a hand over his son's head.

"What should we call him?" he asked.

"I like the name Ezra."

"Ezra Patrick then. Patrick after your father since he passed—"

"No, I don't want him to have any association with that man."

"Maude, he's dead now. Even though he was upset back then, I'm sure he would've loved little Ezra no matter what."

Maude still wanted to refuse.

"How about he just have the letter P as his middle name?"

"Fine." She murmured. When little Ezra made a gurgling noise her smile returned.

"Ezra P Standish. Welcome to your family. We've been waiting for you, son."

The heartfelt scene changed and Maude was a few years older, carrying around a toddler who wouldn't stop crying. She looked distressed. James soon came into the house and moved to take the wailing child away.

"The electric company called again, James. They're threatening to shut off our power."

"I know. Works just been hard." James said tiredly, bouncing Ezra on his hip, and quieting him down.

Maude looked a little annoyed by how easily he was able to pacify the toddler.

"He likes you better."

"Nonsense."

"He always calms down for you, but is always crying when I try." She sighed, "Maybe I should try and get a job. That way there will be two checks coming in."

"What about Ezra?" James frowned.

"I can take a night shift at a diner and you can stay with him. I can ask one of my friends to help."

"Maude, your friends are taking classes at the college. They won't have time to watch him."

The scene changed and his father was no longer in the picture. Young Ezra was sitting on a bench reading while his mother was running her first con after meeting her new boyfriend who was a con-artist. She started to learn how to make it on her own and soon was running cons by herself, sometimes using her son. After her boyfriend broke up with her, she turned her cons to start targeting men who had money.

A young Ezra asked why that was.

"Because you can never trust men so I turn that trust they would have with me and use it against them."

Later scene had Maude on the phone receiving news that James had passed away. It was his mother calling her. Maude ended the call without so much as a tremble in her voice. She looked to Ezra who was asleep in the next room, but she didn't tell him. Instead she allowed him the belief that his father was still out there somewhere. Meanwhile she had allowed herself to cry one last time before she shut off all feelings. ~

Buck released his hand and smiled at Ezra who opened his eyes, there were unshed tears in them.

"Ain't saying I don't like her or that it's any excuse how she treats you, but it's always nice to know where you came from even it's a not happy." Buck said.

"So what happens now?" Ezra murmured.

Buck opened his arms and grinned. Ezra accepted the hug, but instead of feeling the chill again, Buck was warm. The solidity dissipated and it was like Buck was absorbed into him. It was a peace he hadn't known he was missing. And it felt nice. Looking at the clock, Ezra was surprised that three hours passed. Heading to bed, he began to feel like he could get through the rest.