The drive from the prison facility was a quiet affair. Tenma had taken the front seat next to Ochanomizu and Astro was sitting in the back with Uran.

Soon Astro and Uran began to play on the backseat, poking at each other and laughing. It was pretty good though, because Tenma didn't say anything at all and it started to become rather awkward for Ochanomizu.

Finally, the professor cleared his throat. "So, you must have been looking forward to get out of prison," he commented.

Tenma shrugged. "I suppose a private home is nicer than a cell," he said, though it didn't sound like he was very enthusiastic about it at all.

"Astro has been very excited about it," Ochanomizu then said. "He talked to the major and all the news outlets himself. He's been campaigning for your release."

"Yes I know; he informed me himself," Tenma replied. "The major even came to visit me, just to tell me it was because of Astro I was released, and he thought I should rot for another ten years at least. Not my words, his."

"Oh… I see," Ochanomizu blinked. "That must have been… upsetting."

"No," Tenma breathed as he leaned his head in his hand. "Not really."

Ochanomizu blinked as he glanced at Tenma, it was incredibly nerve wracking indeed. This man beside him, he seemed outright docile. That wasn't at all like the Doctor Tenma he knew; neither the young idealistic man before Tobio died or the proud ideologue he had later become. Even if his ideas at the time had been rather… insane. Tenma had always been full of energy; a certain power and aura had always seemed to emit from him.

But, now, there was nothing there. Tenma's eyes looked empty; he didn't look excited about his own freedom nor the future. He was just looking out at the road without really seeing anything.

Briefly Ochanomizu had to wonder if it was because Tenma was under heavy influence of drugs to help him with his mental ailments. But he quickly came to the conclusion that even if that was part of it, it was not the entire explanation.

Finally they reached the centre of Metro city, a big apartment building. Together they all took the elevator to one of the top floors and walked down the hallway before finally they stood in front of the correct door.

Tenma glanced at it. "It's unlocked," he observed. "Someone is already in there."

"Ah yes. Yuko should be waiting for us," Ochanomizu nodded. "And well… other officials," he admitted rubbing his neck.

Tenma glanced at him.

"The police wanted to make sure you came directly to this apartment," Astro then admitted.

Tenma smirked grimly amused. "I see, this thing wasn't good enough for them," he commented, raising his hand to reveal a metal bracelet on it.

"Whoa, that's pretty," Uran gaped.

"It's a tracker," Astro realized. "And…" his eyes glinted for a while. "It's heat sensitive; if you take it off so it loses the heat radiating from your arm, and can't feel a pulse anymore, it will notify the police."

"Indeed," Tenma nodded. "They should know I did indeed go here directly by just looking at a computer."

"Oh, come now," Ochanomizu tried. "We all know it would be very easy for you to build a robotic machine to trick the bracelet if you so wished. Please just cooperate with the police. For Astro's sake."

Tenma exhaled deeply. "Yes indeed," he said as he opened the door and stepped inside, alerting a woman to their presence as she appeared in the doorway with a pink robot next to her.

"Ah! Doctor Tenma!" Yuko beamed. "Welcome to your new home! Astro, Uran, professor, I hope you had a good trip." She smiled as another person became visible, a certain detective with an odd mustachio.

"Detective Gumshoe!" Astro gaped. "You're on this case?"

"I volunteered," Gumshoe admitted. "I wanted to make sure that Professor Tenma wouldn't be a problem for you. So I shall keep a close on him for the next three months until his evaluation. Be warned, Tenma, if I see any funny business coming from you it's back to prison! Astro's wishes be damned."

Tenma shrugged. "Yes sir," he sighed deeply. "I'll do my best."

"You don't need to worry detective!" Astro beamed. "My father is going to do his best; it'll be okay!"

"If not, I sincerely hope you'll notify us at once," a third voice sounded, a woman from the living room.

Astro darted into the living room and looked in. "Mrs Yukata!" he beamed.

The woman in there was mature and elegant, with long straight blonde hair collected in a ponytail. She was wearing a strict business suit and wore glasses. All in all she looked very professional.

"Yes indeed, I shall continue to look over Doctor Tenma's health," she said. She had been Tenma's doctor and psychologist for the past year.

Tenma nodded.

"Astro," Yukata spoke, "I need you to make sure that Doctor Tenma take his pills every single day and that he goes to all the therapy sessions assigned to him. In the first month, I will come daily to make sure myself, after that I'll only come weekly and hopefully eventually I won't be needed at all. However, while I am here, I sincerely hope you'll take advantage of it. If you see any odd behavior coming from your father, any anger outbursts or refusal to follow the program, don't hesitate to inform me."

"I will," Astro assured. "I'm sure it won't be needed though."

Tenma looked away.

"Well, it'll be okay if he's a little angry once in a while right?" Astro asked. "I mean, that's just my father. He always had a pretty big temper."

Yukata sent Astro a sharp look. "Indeed, expressing emotions is healthy. But in Tenma's case," she frowned, "just don't let it get out of control."

"It'll be fine!" Tenma suddenly hissed, annoyed. "I'm not an animal."

Yukata lifted an eyebrow. "Then prove it. Control yourself, Doctor Tenma."

"Hmph," Tenma turned his head away.

Gumshoe sighed. "Doctor Tenma, you already know the rules. Don't you?"

"Yes indeed," Tenma nodded. "I am not to leave this apartment without supervision, the supervisor is allowed to take me to the park and grocery store. If I wish to go any further than that I must ask for special clearance. I am required to take the medication which has been handed to me, and I am not allowed to skip therapy sessions or any psychiatric visits. Anything else?"

Gumshoe nodded. "Yes, your computer, internet and phone will all be monitored. You are allowed to build and repair robots if you wish to do so, but they will need to be inspected regularly by Astro and Professor Ochanomizu."

Tenma lifted an eyebrow.

"I made a workshop for you, right here in the apartment!" Astro then injected with a smile. "It has a fully functional working table and engineer equipment. It's not the newest, but things that were discarded from the Institute. Still, I'm sure you can build some amazing things in there."

"Oh," Tenma blinked. "Really? That's… That's nice Astro."

Astro blinked. "That doesn't make you happy?" he asked. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you would like it."

"Oh, I… I'm sure I'd like it. I mean," Tenma bit his lip, "I erh…"

"You were still building robots when you were in prison, weren't you?"

"No," Tenma shook his head. "I didn't… I only made minor repairs. The last fully functional robot I build was Shadow. And he… erhm."

"Father," Astro breathed. "Well, you can build things other than robots. Whatever you want to do, it's yours now!"

"Thank you, Astro," Tenma breathed.

Gumshoe huffed as he walked towards Tenma. "Astro is a much better son than you deserve," he stated in a low whisper so only Tenma could hear.

Tenma exhaled deeply. "Then we agree on something."

"You know, perhaps it's time for us to leave now," Yuko commented. "Let Astro and Tenma settle in. I mean, would you like that Doctor Tenma? We can stay as well."

Tenma groaned as he held a hand on his forehead. "Do what you want," he said simply.

Ochanomizu sighed deeply. "Come Uran, time to say goodbye to Astro. We'll go see again tomorrow for breakfast."

Uran swallowed. "He is really going to stay here?" he asked.

"Only for a little while," Astro smiled lightly. "So no, you can't have my room!"

"I don't want your stupid room. I want you to live at home!"

"And I do," Astro promised. "This is just for a while. And we'll still see each other every day at school and other places."

"Then what is the point?" Uran asked.

"I think Tenma and Astro have a lot of catching up to do," Yuko then said with a light smile.

"Astro probably also wants to make sure all his hard work won't be for nothing," Tenma added. "That I won't commit another terrorist attack."

"Father! That's not it!" Astro exclaimed. "That's not it at all!"

"It's okay, Astro. If I were in your position I would be afraid of it as well," Tenma assured. "I hope though, that one day you won't have to be afraid of me anymore."

"I'm not afraid of you," Astro said.

"Really?" Tenma asked, looking at Astro. "You should be, you know."

"You won't hurt me."

"Astro…" Tenma exhaled. "Perhaps the question isn't even if I wish or not wish to hurt you. I'm the one person in the world capable of building something to deactivate you. You have many enemies, enemies whom won't be afraid of trying to use me against you. Are you really ready to deal with all of that?"

"I'll protect you!" Astro exclaimed. "And you won't hurt me, I know you won't."

"Know or believe?" Tenma asked. "Those are two very different things, Astro."

For some time there was silence as people awkwardly looked at the two.

Ochanomizu sighed deeply. "Come on, Uran," he said. "Astro, your room at home with us always stands ready for you. And if you need anything, anything at all, don't hesitate to call."

"I know," Astro assured.

"Take care of yourself, Astro," Yuko asked and Astro nodded.

"I will."

Finally, after what seemed like forever, everyone but Astro and Tenma had left the apartment. Tenma exhaled deeply.

Astro blushed as he scratched his cheek. "Sorry about that," he said.

"No, it's fine. Those people care for you, it's only right that they are concerned about you being in such close proximity to me," Tenma said as he walked into the living room with his suitcase and finally placed it on the table. "To be honest, I was quite surprised as well when you came to me and talked about this idea. And now you've even gone through with it. You do stun me, Astro."

"I just..." Astro swallowed. "I want to make sure you settle in well. I read that loneliness and lacking a sense of purpose is a huge problem among people just released from prisons."

Tenma smiled, mildly amused. "You don't have to worry about me being alone. I am accustomed to being alone."

"Oh... okay." Astro blinked. "Hey let me show you the rest of the apartment!" he beamed. "As you can see, this is the living room!" he presented. "And in here is the kitchen," he opened the door to reveal a very neat and modern kitchen. "Yuko said she would stock up the fridge, so you shouldn't lack food for a while! And over here!" he grabbed Tenma's hand, pulling him into the hallway and opened a door.

"This is your bedroom!" he announced, gesturing to a plain but neat bedroom with one single bed, a closet and night table. "There're some clothes from your old house in the closet, but we should go shopping in the next few days. We just need to tell Detective Gumshoe that we will be going," he said. "My room is right here across from yours!" Astro opened another door revealing a bookshelf with books, a closet, and a table with wires on it clearly meant for Astro to recharge on at night. "That's the bathroom down there." Astro pointed. "And this!" he beamed as he walked to the last door and opened it, "Is your very own workshop!"

Tenma blinked before finally he walked over to Astro and glanced inside. True enough, there was a workshop with a work table and different engineering equipment. Tools were neatly organised on the wall, there were small boxes with all sort of robotic parts, and, of course, a nice big desk by the wall. Stunned, Tenma walked in and looked around, then he glanced at the desk and laid a hand on it.

"As I said before, all the equipment was discarded from the Ministry of Science. You know, they always update to the newest things. So it's not even really outdated, it's just not the newest of the new," Astro informed him. "And all the parts are leftover from the development team. I picked them up myself."

"It's… very nice." Tenma said and then he blinked as he saw two empty photo frames standing on the table.

"I found those at the store," Astro said. "You still have those photos of me and Tobio right? I thought that maybe… you would like to frame them."

Tenma swallowed and he suddenly found the need to suppress some tears that threatened to come through. "Yes, I would," he said. "Thank you, Astro."

Astro smiled. "I know, you should build a camera!" he said. "Then you can take a bunch of new pictures when we visit the zoo!"

Tenma smiled, a little amused. "Wouldn't it be easier to just buy a camera?"

"Well maybe, but what's the fun in that?" Astro asked. "Beside, the optic controls in my robot eyes are far superior to human eyes and regular cameras. Imagine what you could do if you applied the optical technology from my eyes into a camera?"

"Hmm," Tenma frowned. "You know what, that is interesting."

"You could even apply scanners to the camera itself."

"Well..." Tenma glanced at all the discarded robotic parts. "Your eyes are built from very rare and very expensive top quality nano products," he said. "These parts are all very nice for common technology and robots, but I'm afraid nothing here is on par with what went into your eyes. Besides, I would need to work on a nano table with fibers in microscopic size. I'm afraid this workshop isn't quite at that level."

"Oh," Astro realised. "Huh, you also made my eyes from scratch didn't you?"

"Of course I did," Tenma said. "Your sight, your sense of smell, your hearing, your sense of touch... It was all very important to me that it would be as authentic as possible. I developed your skin to be sensitive so you could feel wind, heat, and cold. It was an entirely new fabric I created."

"Wow really?" Astro asked. "Wow, there are a lot of small things that went into creating me I haven't even thought about aren't there?"

Tenma exhaled. "I wanted to make you perfect; the perfect robot. Normal people should not be able to tell you apart from a human being. Able to feel, able to see, hear, and smell. I programmed you to like all the things Tobio liked, to dislike all the things he disliked… Although all of this were just mere technicalities. Somehow you acquired a heart of your own." He glanced at Astro. "I have no idea how that happened."

Astro blinked. "So… my heart is an accident?".

"Well, it wasn't intentional," Tenma replied, "but I wouldn't call it an accident, either. Somehow, you just became something far greater than I could ever have imagined. You became something more than just a robot, just a copy. You became your own person. I was just unable to see that before it was too late."

"It's not too late," Astro pointed out. "You're here now, and so am I. One of these days we'll got to the zoo. You can get to know Uran, too."

Tenma smiled, amused, then he frowned. "How did I do it though?" he asked almost to himself. "I know how I made your eyes, your memory circuit and your skin but… how did I manage to make that heart. How?"

Astro blinked. "Is it really that important?"

Tenma frowned.

"Father?" Astro prompted. Tenma blinked then he shook his head.

"You're right. I'm not going to build any more robots anyway, so what's the point?" Tenma exhaled.

"You're not?"

"No," Tenma shook his head. "Whenever I build a robot, it always leads to some kind of disaster. It's a fool's errand. The last time I built a robot, it nearly started a war that would have killed thousands of robots and even more humans. You nearly died… What would it be like with the next one? World destruction maybe?"

"Oh… Erhm," Astro swallowed.

Tenma chuckled. "It's okay, Astro. The world is better off this way." He walked out of the office and past Astro towards the kitchen.

"But..." Astro swallowed, watching after him. "Robots are your life! You can't just… Father."

This Chapter has been beta read by MugetsuPipefox