Daniel groped about for human touch, his need for human contact driving him forward. George reached down and lifted him into his arms. Daniel buried his face in George's shoulder and gulped in choppy breaths of air. Ruby rubbed circles on his back and murmured soothing words in his ear until he was breathing evenly again.

Daniel lifted his head off his foster-father's shoulder. "You can put me down. I'm ready."

George slowly set him down on the polished wood floor. Daniel remembered the special room that had been built for the temple. The ceiling was made of rippled glass, back lit, to symbolize the Egyptian sky, as well as a glass wall so that the temple can be seen from across the street in Central Park. The wall behind the temple was built from stone to represent the cliffs that had been behind the temple in Egypt. In front of the temple's portal a wharf, a landing and a reflecting pool reminded the visitor of the Nile River, which had flowed past the Temple of Dendur for twenty centuries. The pool hadn't been done when he'd last been in the room.

He heard water flowing gently as a pump circulated the liquid. He could smell the chemicals used to keep the pool from stagnating. It smelled faintly like the YMCA's swimming pool area.

George squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "Do you want to go in, son?"

Daniel nodded.

George took his hand and led him up the few steps to the portal. They stopped and George placed Daniel's hand on the sandstone wall of the entrance. Daniel ducked his head in thought and turned to George.

"They were so excited when they began uncrating the stones. I remember everyone sitting on the floor tossing packing material all over. I looked like some kind of weird Dr. Seuss birthday party." He tucked his head under George's arm for a moment. "You know, maybe that's why I like my Legos so much. They make me remember my parents when they were stacking the temple walls."

They walked through the portal toward the small temple itself. Again, George stopped and placed Daniel's hand on one of the pillars – each shaped like a bundle of papyrus stalks with lotus blossoms bursting from the tops - that flanked the entrance to the temple. The temple had been complete, except for the roof, when Daniel had last seen it and he remembered the sunken relief carvings that had decorated the sides of the building representing the pharaoh making offerings to Isis, Osirius and their son Horus. He also remembered that his father had told him the pharaoh at the time was actually Caesar Augustus of Rome.

He stopped and looked up. He could tell from the absence of light above, that the roof had been placed on the temple porch. This was the spot where his father had grabbed his mother and tried to pull her to safety. This was the spot that he had tried to run to and to save his parents.

He turned his face into George's chest and broke down, sobbing uncontrollably onto his shirt. George wrapped his arms around the boy and just held him firmly while the storm railed within Daniel.

Once again, Daniel was lost in the moment of the accident. He reran the accident in his mind, searching for a way that he could have saved them. Time seemed to cease its endless march while he wrestled within himself. As his emotions began to quieten, he started to tell George everything he had seen that day. It was the only time since he'd been hypnotized that he had been able to talk to anyone about that day.

George listened, making no comments, while Daniel continued. He described waking up in the hospital; alone, confused and in pain, wondering why his parents weren't there with him. How Nick had been the one to tell him they would never be with him again. How months later, when he'd been allowed to leave the hospital for a short period of time, Nick had taken him out for breakfast and told him he was on his own.

"George, I killed them. God made me blind because I didn't save them. God took them away because I wasn't good enough. I wasn't big enough or fast enough."

Stricken, George looked to Ruby who stood quaking with tears, holding Barbara who was quietly sobbing. Dr. Allen had left the group when they entered the display area to given them some privacy. George slid down to sit on the temple floor, leaned against the ancient walls and briefly wondered how many grief-ridden souls had passed through the stone pillars seeking comfort from their gods. He pulled Daniel into his lap and cradled his head against his shoulder once again.

"Daniel, they're gone, but their love for you never will be. I'm convinced that they are, even now, watching over you from heaven, passing on their love and strength." He turned Daniel's face upward and looked into his blue eyes. "Do you believe they loved you?"

"Y..y..yes," the boy stuttered uncertainly.

"Do you believe they wanted to leave you?"

"No!" Daniel said with conviction.

"Do you think that they would want your whole life to be spent feeling sorry for yourself?" George sent a silent prayer up that he was going about this in the best way for Daniel.

"No. They always told me to get over it whenever I pouted about something." Daniel made a noise between a laugh and a sob. "Mom told me that my puppy-dog face wouldn't work with anyone else."

George grinned. He'd seen that face when Daniel wanted something that was denied him.

"Daniel, there will always be a hole in your life. No one should lose their parents before they're grown, but it happens. You take time to grieve and you do your best to make them proud of you." George gave him a small hug. "I think they would be very proud of the way you're growing up. You care about other people's feelings and try to help others. You haven't let your loss of sight stop you from doing what you want. I admire that."

Ruby moved a little closer to hear their quiet conversation.

"Daniel, if God had blessed Ruby and me with a son, I would want him to be just like you – puppy-dog face and all."

"Really? You mean that?"

"I mean that with all my heart, son."

"You know, George, I know they'd be pleased to see that it's finished and open to viewing by anyone who wants to come." Daniel chewed on his lip. "Do you think it's wrong of me to be happy when I remember them? It feels wrong. Like I'm glad they're dead."

"Oh, god, no, Daniel! Remember the good times and the fun you had as a family. I know I would never want my children to be sad for a long time if I died. I'd want them to have a happy life." George shifted a bit. "Do you think we can get up now? This stone floor is hard on my poor rear end."

Daniel giggled and slid off George's lap. "Hey, Ruby. I'm okay now."

Ruby enveloped him in a hug and kissed the top of his head. "You know if you keep growing the way you have been lately, I won't be able to reach the top of your head much longer." She ruffled his hair for good measure.

Daniel grinned and ducked his head, smoothing his hair back down.

"Come on, let's go get the girls and I'll take everyone out to dinner." George closed his eyes briefly. Thank you, Lord, for getting him through this. Now please help him when we have to leave him in a few weeks.

XXXXXXXXXX

"God help us, Ruby. How are we ever going to tell him? He's shown so much improvement since he went to the museum. I really hate to do anything to disrupt that." George ran his hand over his slightly thinning military hair cut.

"I don't know, but it has to be now. We leave in two weeks and I think he'd suspect something if we just started packing up the house." Ruby grimaced at her own pathetic attempt at humor.

"We should tell him first, before the girls. They'll take it in stride, but Daniel will have a hard time with this and I don't want the girls to see him too upset."

"Mrs. Henderson from social services called this morning. They've found another foster home for Daniel. They're an older couple with grown kids and they've already got two other foster kids now, but they're experienced and willing to take him." Ruby leaned her head against her husband shoulder as if to suck up some of his strength.

"Where is he?"

"He's up in his room reading."

"Did Barbara bring over some new books for him today?" George grinned.

"Yep. He's been up there ever since. It's a wonder his fingers don't bleed, as fast as he reads Braille now. I hope his new family follows up on the glasses the doctor wants to fit him with. He might be able to read actual print."

Several minutes later George came back down to the living room with Daniel. The three of them settled on the couch with Daniel in the middle.

This can't possibly be good. Daniel wrapped his arms around his chest and waited for the bad news.

George began, "Daniel, you know I'm in the military…"

No kidding!

"…and part of military life means I'm transferred every couple of years. Well…"

"Yep. I knew it. Just when I was getting comfortable at school, I'm going to be moving."

"…I've got orders to report to Turkey…"

Turkey! There are a lot of archeological excavations going on over there! This could be a good thing.

"…and we leave in two weeks." George paused.

"Turkey? Cool!"

Ruby's face fell. "No, Daniel, you don't understand. The state of New York will not let us take you. According to them, you wouldn't get proper care for your 'condition' overseas. We also tried to get Barbara and James approved as foster parents, but the state won't place you with them because of Barbara's blindness."

George draped his arm around Daniel's shoulders. "They've found a good home for you here in New York City and you'll still go to the same school. We'll write all the time and hope that in four years when we come back that you can be placed with us again."

Daniel let the news sink to the pit of his twisted intestines. He had stupidly allowed himself to become comfortable in the Hammond's home. He had actually begun to feel that he was a part of their family. This is never going to happen again. If I don't care, then I can't be hurt.

Daniel stood up and walked quietly up to his room and closed the door softly behind him. He moved stiffly over to his bed and sat. There can't be a God who loves us, no matter what George and Ruby believe. Someone who loved me could never let this happen.

No tears fell. He didn't feel anger or sadness. He felt nothing. He decided that from this moment on he could depend upon no one in life but himself.

XXXXXXXXXX

Three weeks later

Amy slid over to close the distance between her and Daniel on the playground bench.

"Daniel? How was your first weekend with the new family?"

"Okay."

"Okay? All right, Jackson, I know you can communicate better than that. I want some details. Are they nice? What about the other two foster kids? How old are they? Are they handicapped too? Details, Daniel, details."

Daniel shifted in his seat, reluctant to discuss this with Amy. If he talked about it, it would become real, but if he could ignore the time spent away from school, maybe it would fade away into a dream.

"The Meirs are nice. They're Jewish, so we went to the synagogue Friday night and had a nice Sabbath meal. Saturday is spent studying the Torah. Sunday they took us to the park."

"What about the other kids?"

"One is a little girl, Jennifer, who's four and Hector who's sixteen. He speaks Spanish so he promised to teach me."

"Tell me about them."

Daniel was feeling a little agitated. "What do you want? They're all just people! They seem nice enough. Nothing special."

Amy was frustrated with him. He was usually willing to share his observations about other people with her.

"Look, can we just drop this subject. I hear Mr. Addison coming so it's time to line up for class." Daniel picked up the books he'd taken home over the weekend and stepped past Amy to head for the door.

Amy reached up and grabbed Daniel's hand before he got past her. "Daniel. I'm sorry. I know you're missing the Hammonds. I just thought…"

"No you didn't think," Daniel interrupted. "You just started jabbering like you always do without thinking."

Daniel jerked his hand away from hers and continued to the door.

Daniel ignored Amy as much as he could during the morning. It wasn't easy, since they were working on an English project together. He knew he'd hurt her feelings, but he just couldn't seem to get up enough energy to care.

By lunch, he decided he needed to apologize and hope she'd accept. When Mr. Addison dismissed the class for lunch, Amy marched out the door, leaving Daniel behind.

He caught up with her in the lunch room and sat next to her.

"I'm sorry, Amy. I was out of line being rude to you. Forgive me?"

Even though she couldn't see him, she knew by the tone of his voice that he really was sorry. "Sure. Just don't do it again or I'll have to hurt you."

Daniel grinned, knowing that he was back in her good graces, but more determined than ever that he wouldn't open himself to anyone ever again.

And he didn't – for four years.