Ezra was feeling more confident after Nathan. Maybe it was the after-effect of taking him inside and he felt warmer, or maybe it was just his new resolve to try harder.

At the bar, he sat up front and watched as Inez talked to a customer before dropping of their drink.

"You look better today."

"I certainly feel better." Ezra said as he gave her a warm smile. "I'd like to thank you for helping me. For making me see what was really going on."

Inez's smile faltered a little, "I didn't mean to offend you or anything. You seem like a nice guy who just was lonely."

Ezra nodded, "Apparently with an active enough imagination to create six people."

"So… so do you not see them anymore?"

"A few, I'm dealing with it at a gradual pace."

"Are you okay with that?"

"How do you mean?"

"Well," Inez propped her elbows on the counter and leaned a little forward to take some of the weight off her feet, "you seemed really happy with your imaginary friends. I'd hate for you to be left alone with no one to talk to."

"I believe I'm talking to you currently."

"True." She chuckled, "If you ever want to stay and chat, then I'm fine with that."

Ezra thanked her and drank some more from his bottle. In the corner of his vision, he saw JD, Vin and Josiah. JD only looked in his direction briefly before disappearing. It was like JD was now scared to be around him. Vin said something to Josiah before the big man was all by himself.

"I think I should start heading out." Ezra said, nodding his thanks before making his way to the door. He didn't allow his eyes to watch Josiah, but kept them straight ahead.

Once he reached his car and was inside did he finally let out a sigh.

"So you are next, I presume."

"JD is still nervous, but we've come to an agreement on the order for the rest of us."

Ezra turned to look at Josiah in the passenger seat of his car. The man's head was grazing the ceiling.

"Who's after you?"

"Vin."

"Then Chris and JD last."

Josiah didn't offer up an argument. Ezra fiddled with his keys in his hands.

"Shall we begin then?"

Josiah gave a warm smile and place a hand on the smaller man's shoulder. It was cold, but Ezra ignored it and closed his eyes.

"What I'm going to show you next, is your father."

~Ezra was thrown into the chaos of a party, one he strangely recalled from his mother's memories. He saw the face of his father, one he hardly could recognize. The teenage boy was looking at Maude and was talking with his friends.

"Go on over to her, man."

"I can't just do that!"

"Look, she's looking this way." Said one of the other boys.

James caught Maude's eyes and saw the smile cross over her face. He felt his friends slap him on the back for encouragement as he crossed the room.

"Hey…Hey Maude. I uh, didn't expect to see you here tonight." He stammered nervously.

"Couldn't miss it."

James grabbed for something to say and noticed that she didn't have a drink, "Want me to grab you a beer?"

"I don't drink."

"Oh, um. How about a soda?"

"Sure, coke please."

James nodded eagerly and pushed his way through the crowd to get the drink. When he returned, and handed her the coke, the music was too loud to hear anything.

"HOW ABOUT WE GO UPSTAIRS!" he shouted over the noise.

Maude nodded and he almost leapt out of his skin when she took his hand. They moved through the sea of drunken teenagers and he felt her squeeze his hand. Once they were on the second floor, James wasn't sure what to do next. Part of him wanted to kiss her, but he wasn't sure she would like it. Instead of him making the first move, Maude was the one to kiss him. It was really quick and he barely was able to register that she had kissed him. Taking that as an invitation, he bent his head down and their lips connected once more, this time longer.

He wasn't sure how they ended up in the bedroom, but he faintly remembered clothes being pulled off. None of this was planned, but he figured since she wasn't pulling back that she was okay with it.

The scene changed and Ezra saw his father, still a teenager, moving down the hall of his school. The boy caught a glimpse of Maude and a grin crossed his face as he rose a hand to greet her. She didn't look up, but passed right by him. Frowning, he went after her. After finding a private place to talk without having to worry about prying ears, he asked her what was wrong.

To have her pour out her distress. Telling him that she was pregnant and that her father was planning on making her get a divorce or her other option was to be kicked out of the house.

James tried to think of what to do. He was only a year older than her and was a senior.

"Don't worry. I'll tell my mother. I'm sure she won't mind if you come and stay with us. Everything is going to be just fine." James placed a hand on her shoulder.

"How do you know that?" Maude spat. "I'm going to be that girl who's a teen mom. A loose girl who sleeps around and got knocked up!" she started to tremble and he pulled her into a hug.

"If anyone tries to call you any of those then I'll beat the shit out of them."

When the scene changed and he was at his graduation, he got the exciting news that Maude was going to the hospital to get ready to deliver the baby. He had been really excited. More so than actually graduating. After school, he worked at the auto-shop near his house. The next step would be to save up money for his family. At the hospital, he walked with his mother, wanting to urge her to move faster so he could find Maude. The plans for proposing had been delayed with the pressure to pass his classes and graduate, then work to actually buy the ring. He wanted it to be special, for his special lady.

Maude looked a little scared. All by herself in the room, but when he arrived she smiled with relief.

"Seems he has really bad timing. I hope you were able to get your diploma."

"Yeah. It just finished when I got the call." James sat down in the seat next to her. She looked just as beautiful as the day he first saw her. "First word I'm going to teach him is 'sorry' so he can say it to his mommy for making her worry."

"Stop messing around." She said, not really upset.

After the baby was safely in her hands and James was allowed back in, he was mesmerized by the scene in front of him.

"How are you guys?"

"We're okay." Maude looked up and smiled. "Want to see him?"

James looked down and saw the little guy squirming in his mother's arms.

"What about his name?" He figured she wanted to name him.

"Ezra. I like that name."

"Ezra Patrick. After your father since he passed—"

"NO! He won't have any association with that man." Maude began to get distressed again.

Since there was no chance she would change her mind, he suggested the name be Ezra P Standish. Though they weren't married yet, he figured she wouldn't mind if he had his last name.

The happiness only lasted a while before the two teens began to get overwhelmed with responsibility. James spent more time away from his family than he did with them. He didn't like his jobs, but it wasn't an option anymore. While some of his friends would invite him to events, he would always have to turn them down. At night, he'd listen to Maude's light snores and baby Ezra before Ezra woke up in a fuss. Though he was tired and his body ached, James would pull himself out of bed to spend time with his son. He would dance around the room with Ezra against his chest, humming a lullaby. Everything he needed was right there.

When they finally moved out of his mother's basement and got their own place after his twenty-second birthday, he found the new weight of mortgage and other bills piling on him. As Ezra grew, the toddler began to have a preference for him, to Maude's frustration. Maude began to get irritable and after suggesting that she take a job, James was at a lost at what to do. She grew more distant towards their son as she sought out the opportunity of temporary freedom. Though they were married now, she still acted like she was single sometimes.

"Why are you acting like this?" James asked in frustration. He was standing behind Maude as she looked herself over in the mirror after putting on lipstick.

"What? Acting like I'm still young? It's because I am."

"But you're also a mother."

Maude looked to Ezra who was asleep in another room.

"I'm twenty years old. Just because I have a kid doesn't mean I can go out with friends."

"You hardly spend time with Ezra. My mother said you'd drop him off at her house."

"She likes him and he likes it there." Maude shrugged.

"Maude."

"My friends are here. We can talk about this later." She said as she sprang up from her seat and was gone.

James sighed.

The next scene James was gaping as he tried to understand what she had said.

"Take some time apart?"

"Like a pause."

"Pause? We're married!"

"And neither of us are happy in this marriage." James felt the sting of the blow. "This will give you a chance to explore other relationships."

"What about Ezra?"

"I can take care of him. I know a friend who has her child go to this school where they teach discipline and will have other opportunities to learn different languages and instruments—"

"He's only nine!"

"It's better to start young. I wish I had started that young. There are more opportunities available to him. It would be a shame to keep him from them." James wasn't entirely sure about this plan. "I already had some free time to be independent. You should too."

James was in his late twenties, now separated from Maude. He had found a girlfriend who reminded him of the innocent Maude that he had known in high school. He tried to stay in contact with Ezra, sending him letters and pictures of his travels. Maude had told him once that Ezra was reading and writing really well for his age. He found it weird that he barely got a response, but figured Ezra was too busy with his friends to write. The day he had declared he was going to try for full custody for Ezra still pained him. The friends Maude had been with had apparently been lawyers. He was surprised that the judge had sided with her, seeing how irresponsible she was when it came to taking care of their son.

He never got the chance to explain to Ezra what had happened to him. Why he left the house that day and never came back. All the other things he wanted to teach him. The car accident that took his life was sudden, taking him and his girlfriend quick. They died by the careless drunk driver that swerved in their lane going thirty over the speed limit.

Ezra had expected that to be it, but he saw the face of his first step-father.

The man had been kind to him while he was in his mother's presence, but once it was just the two of them, he was constantly being yelled at for doing everything that he did, wrong. When he tried to tell his mom, he was told to stop lying. After that, his step-fathers consisted of men who either ignored, hit him, or shipped him off to boarding school. The period between marriages, he was sent to live with relatives or friends of his mother. Most of them weren't pleased at having to watch him, shown in how they would either dismiss him, treat him poorly like the help, or lock him in closest or basements till he stopped crying. ~

Ezra was relieved when Josiah let him go and he opened his eyes. He wasn't feeling any closure, but pent-up anxiety. Remembering the darkness, the abuse and neglect. It made it hard to forgive his mother even after seeing her side. His father's side gave him a perspective he had never seen before, barely remembering the man that was in his life almost as brief as some of the other men his mother married.

Ezra did however notice that Standish wasn't his mother's maiden name. That she had kept it after James had died. Her little way in remembering him.

"Are you going to be alright?" Josiah's deep baritone voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"Not sure I can answer that question at the moment. I'm sure I will however." He gave the other man a smile.

"You know, the six of us represent the parts of our lives that were also difficult for us. While our experiences are different and I can't begin to understand what you've been through. Know that we will always be there for you."

"Thank you, Josiah." Ezra smiled sadly.

Josiah didn't wait before pulling Ezra into a bear hug that lasted a while before he disappeared and Ezra was enveloped in warmth. A couple minutes passed before Ezra was ready to start the car.

Maybe things were not going to be as easy as he had thought.