Disclaimer: See chapter 1

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Lloyd drove the grey Lexus toward Kansas City. Chico had said little so far as he seemed content to look at the world he'd been deprived of for five years. Reentry into normal society after incarceration wasn't easy. Chico was free but he was now an ex-con and that carried a stigma he would never change. Some would easily accept it and overlook it, others wouldn't. It would affect all areas of his life from finding an apartment and a job to people's reactions to him, especially women. Lloyd hazarded a glance at the young man, "Are you okay Chico?"

"Yeah Mr. Graham, I'm fine," he said brightly, too brightly in Lloyd's opinion.

"What's on your mind?" he asked.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm so happy to be out of that place," the young man responded.

"But…" Lloyd pressed.

"This is going to sound really stupid but, I'm scared. What if I can't get a job. I want to work and save some money so I can get more schooling. The professor said there are lots of really good night courses at the community college. I'd thought sometimes about learning something like mechanics and I'd talk to the professor about it and he gave me lots of ideas about what to do. Now I'm out here and I don't have the professor. He was like a dad to me. Is it stupid that I miss him already?"

"No, it's not stupid at all," Lloyd replied. "You're starting a new phase of your life and that's always scary. You're used to talking things over with the professor and now you don't have that. It's not stupid that you miss him. I'm sure he misses you too. We're going to stop at a restaurant for lunch and we'll discuss some of those things, okay? Don't worry, I won't leave you high and dry."

"Okay," Chico nodded, "thank you Mr. Graham."

It was nearing noon when they got into Kansas City. It had taken a while to process Chico's release. He'd had to have ID made up as anything he'd had previously was that of a sixteen year old boy. He'd been reminded he'd have to get something permanent when he got to Chicago. Lastly they had given him money he'd earned while working in the textile factory. "This is a pretty nice place to eat, let's go here," Lloyd said as he pulled into the parking lot of the establishment. The two men exited the car and walked into the restaurant. The lighting was dim and booths lined the outside walls while wooden tables that sat four made up the middle section.

"Table for two," said the waitress when they walked in. She grabbed two menus off the stack.

"No, thank you, we already have a table," Lloyd said as he proceeded into the dining area. Chico's eyes grew large as he saw the table Lloyd was heading to.

"Abuella," he squealed as he saw his grandmother sitting at one of the tables. Chico ran and scooped the tiny woman into his arms. He kissed her cheeks and her knobby arthritic hands. Cecelia Mendez put her hands on her grandson's cheeks and kissed him. They rambled on in Spanish for a few minutes oblivious to Lloyd and the rest of the patrons. Chico finally took a seat next to his grandmother and the waitress stepped forward with menus.

"So, what will you have Chico?" Lloyd asked as the threesome perused the menus.

The young man didn't answer at first. He just stared at the menu and ran his fingers over the selections available. "So many choices," he croaked.

Yes, Lloyd thought, there were so many choices for Chico Mendez now and much to consider as he made them. He had contacts that would help Chico but he had a feeling this young man would do just fine. William Reid had done a very good thing.

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"One hundred and seventy-one points," Allie squeaked gleefully as she looked across at her husband. Spencer had just played 'cruelty' for seventy-two points leaving an open 'C' for Allie who quickly laid down 'quixotic' on a double double. Spencer had Joanna on his lap as he gave her a bottle and attempted to beat his wife at Scrabble which had looked very promising until she'd racked up those points.

"Hm," his nose crinkled and he scowled as he recounted her points. Considering Allie had drawn the last three tiles and the tiles on his rack were mostly vowels, his hopes of beating her were pretty much nil, he thought.

Allie was circling her arms in anticipation of her victory when the phone rang. She picked up the cordless phone and looked at the call display, "Hi Dad."

"Hi sweetheart, how's it going?" Lloyd replied.

"How's it going, well let me tell you. Spencer and I are having a game of Scrabble and genius man is going down!" Allie kissed the air in her husband's direction while he stuck his tongue out at her.

"Well congratulations. Can you put me on speaker?"

"Sure Dad," Allie pressed the button and set the phone between the two of them. "Go ahead."

"I just wanted to let you both know that as of this morning, Chico Mendez is a free man," Lloyd told them.

"Dad really," Allie said with disbelief, "you actually got him released?"

"I can tell you since it's a matter of public record, he was granted a new trial at the appeal but I got the prosecutor to accept a plea on a lesser charge and a sentence of time served."

"Wow, he must be one happy guy," Allie replied.

"Yes, he's very happy. He's back in Chicago about to start a new life, the only down side for him is that he really misses the professor. I was wondering if you'd written William lately honey?"

"No Dad, I haven't written since I wrote and told him about Joanna." She looked at Spencer. "I didn't think it would be...uh…a good idea. I thought maybe I shouldn't."

"I really think he could use a letter about now. He's probably pretty lonely without Chico. Chico and I talked about him. The boy really loves him and he'd given Chico a lot of guidance."

Spencer snorted, "Well I'm glad he gave it to someone because he sure as hell never gave it to me. I've got to put Joanna down." He stood and left the room.

"Sorry Allie, I didn't mean to upset him, I just thought he had calmed down about the letters and that William could probably use one." He sighed heavily, "Tell him I'm sorry. Good night, baby."

"I will, night Dad." Allie ended the call and went in search of Spencer. She found him sitting in the rocking chair rocking Joanna, who appeared to be asleep. Allie sat on the toy box. "Dad said to tell you he's sorry, he didn't mean to upset you." Spencer nodded. "I won't write him if you don't want me to."

"I told you already that I wouldn't try and stop you from writing to him. This isn't the Middle Ages, I can't forbid you from doing it," he told her.

"Not trying to stop me and being okay with it are two different things."

Spencer stood up and laid Joanna in her crib. He leaned over and kissed her softly on the cheek, pulled the rails up and then turned and left the room. Allie grabbed the monitor and followed. "You know it just amazes me how willing everyone is to forget what my father's done and welcome him into the fold with open arms. You, Evan and now your Dad, all seem to think I should just forget all that I went through because of that man." He sat down in the chair in the living room, "Like my feelings don't matter."

Allie knelt in front of him and took his hands in hers, "Not forget. I know you can never forget but maybe you can find a way to get past it for both your sakes. You said the bridges between your father and you were burned a long time ago. Maybe it's time to build new ones. I think Chico and your Dad are kind of like you and Gideon." Spencer opened his mouth to speak but Allie raised her hand, "Let me finish. Gideon left, knowing you would be okay and your Dad spearheaded getting Chico released because he knew he'd be okay. It's like Gideon and William are both pulling away from their surrogate sons so they can try and reach out to their own sons. If it's not wrong for one, how can it be wrong for the other?"

"What you say is all very logical but you don't feel the emotion that's attached like I do," Spencer replied.

"Then maybe it's about time you started dealing with that emotion." She paused, "But not tonight, you're not getting out of that Scrabble game because I have to claim my prize."

"Prize, what prize, I never got a prize when I won?"

"I just made it up," she told him. "The loser has to 'perform' for the winner."

"Perform what?" he squeaked suspiciously.

Allie waggled her eyebrows and pulled him out of the chair, "Oh, I'm sure I can think of something."