"No, I live with you," Nod informed Ronin as if he were being particularly dense.
"You live with me right now, but when your uncle comes…" Ronin tried to explain.
"No!" Nod stomped his foot and folded his arms across his chest, "I live with you!"
"Nod…" Ronin knelt down in front of the child, "he's your family. It's good to live with family."
"I don't need family!" Nod hiccuped, tears starting to form in his eyes, "I want to live with you. I'm your chickadee. I belong to you."
"You are my chickadee," Ronin reached out to take his hands, "but you don't belong to me."
"Yes I do!" Nod cried, pushing Ronin's hands away, "you let me sleep with you and you keep me safe and you bring me food and when mommy birds do that that means those chicks belong to them."
"I love you chickadee, I really do," Ronin reached out to wipe the tears off the boy's cheeks, "I want you to have a good home with a family that's there to take care of you all the time."
"But I have you," Nod sobbed, "you take care of me. I want to live with you."
"I know, but…" Ronin tried to pull the child into his arms.
"No!" Nod stomped his foot again and shoved Ronin away, "I live with you!"
"Nod, you can't…"
"No!" Nod screamed, ducking under Ronin's arm, "I won't go! I live with you!"
The boy bolted down the hall into Ronin's bedroom and slammed the door.
Ronin's shoulders slumped, and he rubbed his eyes. This would have been so much easier on Nod if Barnet had been closer. Then they could have made the transition more gradually. With Willowbrook so far away though, it just wasn't practical.
He was just going to have to find a way to help Nod get used to the idea.
"I told you this would be a problem," Ronin growled, "I told you, you should have put him with someone else."
"So he could throw temper tantrums for them instead?" Glory gave the general an unimpressed look.
"He's gotten too attached to me," Ronin protested, "he doesn't even want to consider going with anyone else."
"He's been attached to you since the minute you pulled him out of the forest," Glory pointed out, "if we had moved him, he either would have gotten attached to someone else and had the same problem, or he wouldn't have ever trusted them and wouldn't have made nearly as much progress as he has with you."
"He won't come out from under the bed," Ronin said in exasperation.
Glory snorted, "at least you know where he is."
"Glory!"
"You're just going to have to help him get used to the idea," Glory shrugged, "you know him better than anyone; you'll figure it out."
"He needs time," Ronin said in frustration, "he needs time to get used to the idea, and he needs time to meet Barnet and get used to him, and neither of those are options. Barnet could be here to get him as early as next week."
"We could talk to the advocates about postponing Barnet taking him," Glory offered.
"That might help," Ronin conceded, "but it still won't solve the problem of how poorly Nod copes with strangers,"
"Then you'll just have to do the best you can with it," Glory said, "it's not like you're never going to see him again. I'm sure Barnet will let you visit, and knowing that should help Nod at least a little."
Ronin doubted that. Nod was so angry with him for saying he had to go with his uncle that he doubted Nod would want to see him again for a long time once he actually made him leave.
The truth was, Ronin didn't really want Nod to leave. In the three months he had been with Ronin, Ronin had started to think of Nod as his, but the boy deserved to have a family and more attention and help than Ronin would ever be able to give him while general.
Ronin was going to miss him though; it would be hard to go back to coming home to an empty apartment.
He was the adult though, and he had to do what was best for Nod.
"Nod, come out, it's dinner time," Ronin ducked down to look under the bed.
"No!" Nod pressed back into the corner farther and hugged Cheep-Cheep close.
"Chickadee, you can't stay under there until your uncle comes," Ronin sighed.
"I'm never ever coming out!" Nod told him, "I'm staying under the bed until Uncle Barnet gets tired of waiting and goes away, and then I won't come out until you forget that he was supposed to take me so that you can't call him when I come out. I'm staying here forever!"
"Ah," Ronin sat down on the floor with his back to the bed, "what are you going to eat?"
"You and Miss Orla will bring me food," Nod informed him.
"Yeah," Ronin agreed, "we probably will. What if you get cold?"
"I'll be super sneaky and I'll take your blanket while you're asleep and you won't ever catch me, because I'm super fast and sneakier than you," Nod said.
"You take my blanket every night anyway," Ronin shrugged.
"That's because you're a big old blanket hog and you take it first," Nod sulked.
"I do not," Ronin protested.
"Yes you do!" Nod accused, "and you snore like a grumpy bear."
"I am not the one who snores," Ronin did his best not to snicker.
"Are to!"
"Am not."
"Are to!"
"Am not," Ronin did snicker this time, "you snore like a little chickadee."
Ronin was going to miss that too. He had gotten used to Nod's soft snoring, and his warm little body pressed up against him, and his sleepy, grumpy protests when Ronin got up in the morning and left him to go to work.
"What if Eben comes over again?" Ronin asked.
"Is Eben coming over?" Nod head popped out from under the bed next to Ronin.
"I could ask," Ronin looked down at him in amusement.
Nod stared up at him for a moment, then ducked back under the bed, "we'll play under the bed."
Ronin waited patiently, and a moment later Nod's head popped out again, "you are going to ask, aren't you?"
"I'll ask Mrs. Nora tomorrow," Ronin nodded.
"Okay, good," Nod disappeared back under the bed.
"Don't you want to come have dinner?" Ronin asked, "I'm making pancakes. You could help stir."
"Is there maple syrup?" Nod reached out to poke at Ronin's leg.
"Yep," Ronin assured him, "first batch of the year."
"What if Uncle Barnet comes while I'm having pancakes, and I don't have time to get back under the bed before he takes me away?" Nod's hand fisted in the edge of Ronin's shirt.
"I promise I'll tell you before he gets here," Ronin patted Nod's hand.
"Okay, I guess," Nod crept out from under the bed and crawled into Ronin's lap, "but only because the pancakes are better when I help."
"They're much better when you help," Ronin agreed, cuddling the boy close.
"Ronin, I don't want to go," Nod turned into him, burying his face against his chest, "what if he's mean and he doesn't like me and he won't let me play with any toys and he won't let me sleep with him and he tries to eat me."
"He won't try to eat you," Ronin stroked his hair, "and if he's mean, you can come back and stay with me."
Ronin's inquires into Barnet had only returned vague information so far, and he was still looking into it, but if Barnet turned out to be an unfit guardian for Nod for any reason, Ronin would have his custody revoked and bring the boy back to stay with him until a good family could be found for him.
"Why can't I just stay with you now?" Nod whined.
"You need to give your uncle a chance," Ronin coaxed, "he's your family. You might really like living with him. Willowbrook is a really nice town."
"I don't care," Nod huffed, "it's better here."
"I'll come visit," Ronin gave him a squeeze.
"Really?" Nod looked up at him.
"I promise," Ronin pressed his forehead against the boy's, "now how about those pancakes?"
"I get to pour the syrup," Nod informed him.
"Maybe just this once," Ronin tickled his sides.
Nod giggled and squirmed away, pulling at Ronin's hand until he got up, then lead him to the kitchen.