When I awoke sometime the next day, my body was completely stiff. With a hoarse grunt, I sat up and stretched, my joints popping as I did so. I was still wearing my work clothes from the night before, and I quickly changed into some jeans and an undershirt. My programmed morning routine took me to the bathroom, where I stood over the toilet in a daze. I felt like I must have been asleep for awhile, because I never felt this slow to fully wake up, but I never felt this well-rested either.

I finished in the bathroom and ventured into the kitchen. There I found Chuck sitting deep in the corner, holding what looked like one of my last packs of plasma juice. He had the can raised to his lips, and this sight brought me to my fully awakened state. I rushed over to him and ripped the can from his grasp. He whimpered in protest.

"Don't drink this stuff," I ordered. "You'll make yourself sick."

"I'm hungry," he muttered.

I bit my lip and turned toward the fridge. I opened it up to find it was completely barren, with the exception of two packs of plasma juice.

"Well, that's understandable," I figured. I closed the fridge and turned to Chuck. "I'm going to need to make a run to the supermarket."

Just as I said it, I regretted it. I didn't trust Chuck well enough to leave him alone again. I contemplated whether or not it was a good idea to take him with me to the supermarket, but my thoughts were interrupted by my phone ringing. I whipped it out of my pocket and answered it.

The sound of my boss's voice emanated from the other end. "Mr. Draculous, where were you today?"

"Where was I?" I echoed skeptically.

"Yeah, you never showed up to work."

"Wait a minute…" I wandered into the living room and checked the time. I was shocked to notice that my shift for the day was long over. "Oh, crap! I'm so sorry; I must have overslept big time."

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I would have had to take the day off anyway with Chuck around. I wandered back into the kitchen, where I found the boy wandering around, opening cabinets and the dishwasher, possibly in search of food. He finally found the garbage can and opened it up to root through, but he closed it when he realized it was filled with nothing but empty plasma juice cans.

"I'm sorry sir," I apologized. "But something came up at home and I'm finding it hard to attend work. But I promise, as soon as I get things sorted out, I'll come in and work double shifts, and…"

"Steve, relax," he interrupted. "Do what you have to do. You've worked hard enough for a while off."

"Okay," I sighed. "But let me know if anything comes up; I'll do whatever I can to help."

"Very well," he said. "Good luck with everything."

"Goodbye sir," I said before hanging up the phone. I turned to Chuck, who had huddled back onto the floor and hugged his raccoon doll to his chest. He was still rather filthy from living in the alleyway, and what little clothing he had on was ready to fall apart.

"Chuck, would you go take a bath or a shower?" I asked. "I'll bring you some fresh clothes you can wear."

"Bath or…sh-shower?" Chuck stared at me skeptically.

"Yeah," I replied. "Come here."

I led Chuck to the bathroom, where I showed him the bathtub and shower. He stared at it with a confused expression. I quickly figured that he probably didn't know how to work a faucet, seeing as I had to prompt him to use a toilet.

"Watch," I instructed. I plugged the tub drain and turned the faucet, causing the tub to fill with water. Chuck squeaked in astonishment, watching it with wide eyes. He gripped his raccoon toy with worrying force, and he trembled ever so slightly. I asked him: "Are you alright?"

"Oh…" he whimpered. "I forgot about…the b-bathtub."

"I can imagine," I said sympathetically. "Do you need some help?"

He nodded.

I thought for a moment. "You're wearing underwear under those jeans, right?"

"Uh-huh," he responded. He tucked his raccoon under his arm and unbuttoned his tattered jeans and slipped out of them, revealing a pair of boxers that were filthy, but at least they didn't look ready to fall off.

"Okay," I mumbled. I reached for his raccoon to set it down someplace safe, but Chuck whimpered and backed away.

"I'm not going to steal it," I assured. "I just want to set it down somewhere. I don't think it's a good idea to take it in the bathtub with you."

Chuck froze with his arm firmly around the raccoon. But when I reached hesitantly for it again, he made no attempt to keep it from me. He only gave me a nasty look as I set his toy on the floor right beside the tub.

"Her name is Maria," he grumbled.

I was somewhat taken aback. I didn't know, and probably wouldn't have guessed, that the raccoon doll was female. "Oh," I muttered. "That's a pretty name."

Chuck said nothing.

I glanced back at him and caught sight of his bandaged hand. "I might want to take this off, too." I took hold of his arm and he let me peel off the bandage I had wrapped it in the night before. I helped him step into the tub, but he quickly stepped backward and gasped.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "Too cold?"

"Too...hot," Chuck responded.

I sighed and turned the cold faucet on, letting the unheated water dominate the tub. I was a bit skeptical, as the tub was only lukewarm to begin with and the extra coldness made the bathwater quite chilly. But Chuck stepped in again and this time found it to his liking. He sunk into the water and hummed contentedly, but his expression seemed a bit nervous or uncertain. He kept glancing down at his raccoon on the floor.

I grabbed a washcloth and quickly went to work, scrubbing Chuck's arms and shoulders and revealing lighter skin underneath the layer of dirt. The thought of bathing a grown man was certainly enough to make me feel extremely awkward, but somehow I was able to convince myself that it wasn't that bad. I could tell Chuck was a Young Adult, but at the same time, he didn't really look like one. He acted like a child, and had the demeanor of one. His understanding of the world around him seemed limited to that of a very young Sim. He might have as well only been a Child Sim.

Once I felt like I had cleaned him sufficiently, I helped him out of the tub and unplugged the drain. I gave him a towel to dry himself with and made a quick trip to my room to search for some extra clothes. I opened my dresser and wondered if there was anything that would even fit Chuck. He was so small, so thin that his torn jeans were barely tight enough to stay on. I could only imagine his body was much thicker and better built before his life in the alley. Fortunately, I managed to find a t-shirt and a pair of jeans that looked small enough for him. I had worn them as a teenager, but found them too small after aging up several weeks before. I also took the smallest pair of boxers I could find, figuring I could go without them.

I returned to the bathroom and handed Chuck the assortment of clothes to put on. I left the bathroom for about a minute to allow him some privacy, but he was soon making audible, frightened noises. I opened the door again to the relief that he was fully-clothed, digging his fingers into the raccoon that was now back in his possession and pressed against his chest. I knew I had to at least try to do something about the tangled mess of red hair atop his head, so I grabbed a comb off the counter and worked it through his hair. Other than a loud yelp whenever I pulled too hard by accident, he stayed quiet.

I noticed Chuck's eyes were closed, and I wanted to see what he was thinking about. But it wasn't yet nighttime and I couldn't read his mind. All I could do was continue the tedious task of untangling his hair until it at least looked presentable. It wasn't perfect, and there were still a few knots in his hair, but I was getting tired of trying and set the comb down.

I stepped back and examined what I had done. He looked rather different now than he did an hour ago. He looked less like a stray animal off the street and more like a naïve and oblivious child. He didn't really look any closer to his apparent age, but he at least looked clean.

Suddenly, Chuck's stomach growled loudly. He gripped his abdomen and whined. I decided that we should get some food quickly, and I didn't want to keep him waiting too long.

"Would you be okay in a restaurant?" I asked him. But as soon as I said it, I regretted it. The last couple of times I gave him food, he devoured it like a starving dog. His behavior was anything but proper dining etiquette.

"Restaurant…" he echoed. "They have f-food there."

"They do," I said, uncertain. "Do you think you can handle that? That means eat your food slowly and don't make a scene. Act how you are acting now: calm and collected. You can bring Maria with you if you want."

Chuck buried his nose in his raccoon.

"Can you manage that?" I asked again.

He nodded.

"Come with me then," I instructed.

I led him out of the apartment and down the stairs and we both got into my car. I decided not to go to the café I worked at, which is where I usually went out to eat with Kai. Most of the Sims there knew me, and I was afraid they would question what Chuck was doing with me. Instead, I drove to Kim Gould's Steakhouse on the other side of the city. It was a longer drive, but very few people were familiar with me. It was even further from the alleyway I found Chuck in, so chances are they didn't know about the "alley kid" either.

Chuck was already starting to whimper when I took him into the restaurant. With a firm grasp of his shoulder, he glanced at me and seemed to remember what I had told him. He buried his nose in his raccoon again and seemed to calm down.

We were quickly seated and ordered our meals. Apparently Chuck was struggling with reading the menu, so I had to help him decipher what it said. He quickly settled on a hamburger while I decided to get a sandwich of some kind with plasma fruit in it. Normally I didn't eat plasma fruit, but that was all they had that would satisfy me, and it didn't taste quite as bad when mixed into a meal.

We ate in silence, carefully taking our time while we were there. I kept a close eye on Chuck to make sure he stayed collected and quiet. I could imagine he would wolf down his burger in one bite if he could, so I was proud of him for sticking to his good behavior even though it must have been difficult.

Chuck finished his food quickly and sat back contentedly. He looked sleepy as he hugged his raccoon to his stomach and stroked its back up and down. I could feel my powers returning as the night fell, so I decided to read Chuck's mind. I closed my eyes and focused hard, mentally searching for Chuck's brain. The image that appeared out of the darkness was of a woman with long, red hair reading out of a book. I felt a bed beneath me and heard the woman's voice, lulling like a soothing song, sending me off to sleep.

I broke the connection just in time to see the waitress deliver the check. I quickly paid for the meal and Chuck and I were on our way. Just as we got outside, my phone rang.

"One second, Chuck," I told him as I answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Steve, where the heck have you been?" Kai's voice emanated from the other end. "I've been trying to get a hold of you all day. I checked the café and you weren't there."

"I took the day off," I mumbled.

"You did what?" Kai laughed. "You never take the day off!"

"Yeah, well, something came up at home and I couldn't make it to work," I explained. "What are you up to?"

"Lola and I are on our way to Plasma 501," Kai replied. "We were hoping you could come with us. I hear there are a bunch of celebrities there tonight. Big names, I'm telling you."

I became very excited. "I'll be there. Just give me about an hour. There's something I need to take care of first."

"Get there as fast as you can," Kai said before hanging up.

I put my phone away and got into the car, my nerves tingling with excitement. It had only been about a day or two since I had last been out with Kai, but it had been a very long time since we've seen many big name celebrities. Even going to a lounge with Lola was rare as she had a kid at home to look after, and it was always a thrill to be seen with the biggest celebrity in all of Bridgeport.

I hurried Chuck home and anxiously got into the elevator. When we reached my floor, I quickly unlocked the door and let Chuck inside. As worried as I was that I shouldn't leave him alone again, the outing with Kai was such a big deal for me. I just had to figure out a way to make it work.

To my relief, Chuck flopped exhausted onto the couch and seemed on the brink of sleep. I figured he would probably just sleep through my outing and not damage anymore of my apartment. Once I was sure he was peacefully asleep, I locked the door and rode the elevator back downstairs toward my car. I climbed into it and hastily rode it to Plasma 501, where I saw Kai waiting with his girlfriend near the entrance. I practically ran over to meet up with him.

"Steve!" Kai exclaimed, shaking my hand enthusiastically. "Glad you could finally make it."

"Me too," I admitted. "Are you guys ready?"

"We've been ready," Kai replied.

"Come on, boys," Lola called, already halfway in the door. "I'd like to make it inside before people start asking me for autographs."

The three of us made our way inside and approached the velvet rope. I caught a glint of admiration in the bouncer's eye when he saw that I was with Lola Belle. I felt like nothing short of a prodigy as I entered the lounge and found myself surrounded by celebrities of all statuses and professions. It gave me hope that I would soon work my way to the top, just as I had dreamed of when I first moved to Bridgeport.