Ronin jerked awake and knew immediately that something was very wrong. Nod wasn't sleeping next to him. It wasn't like Nod to get up in the middle of the night. He didn't like the dark, and if he did need to get up, he always woke Ronin.

"Nod!" Ronin called, shoving back his blankets and stumbling in his rush to get out of bed.

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

Ronin raced into the living room and his heart skipped a beat. The front door was swinging open.

"Nod!"

"Ronin!"

The scream came from outside, and Ronin raced out the door and into the forest.

"Nod, where are you?" Ronin called.

Nod screamed his name again, his voice high with terror.

The forest was dark, and Nod's voice echoed; Ronin couldn't pin point where it was coming from. Before Ronin could call for him, Nod screamed again, crying desperately for Ronin.

"I'll find you Nod!" Ronin yelled, "just stay where you are!"

The boy continued to scream for him, each cry more desperate than the last, and Ronin turned in a circle, scanning the underbrush frantically. Everything looked the same, and Nod's voice seemed to be coming from every direction.

Suddenly Nod's screams were cut short.

"No! Nod!"

Ronin sat up with a gasp, his heart hammering in his chest. Beside him, Nod grumbled and scolded sleepily, cranky at having been dislodged from Ronin's arm and woken. Ronin stared down at the drowsy, sullen boy, and it was all he could do not snatch him up and cling to him.

He forced himself to take a deep breath, but he couldn't look away from Nod. The feeling of dread, the sense that he might suddenly disappear if Ronin let him out of his sight, coiled tight in his chest and wouldn't let go.

Nod whined and reached up to tug on his shirt, wanting him to lay back down.

"Sorry chickadee," Ronin managed, though his throat felt tight, "I didn't mean to wake you."

Nod grumbled and pulled harder, and Ronin forced himself to lay back down beside him, gathering the boy in close to him. Nod frowned and cooed at him when he felt his shaking.

"Everything's alright," Ronin stroked back the boy's hair, his voice starting to steady, "we're fine. Everything's okay."

Nod snuggled up against him and put his thumb in his mouth, falling back to sleep almost at once, but Ronin lay awake for hours, listening to the boy's soft snores and holding him close.

Nod snatched the washcloth from Ronin's hand with a disgruntled whine and glared up at him.

"Alright, you do it," Ronin leaned on the edge of the tub, "just don't forget to wash your toes."

He reached out and tweaked the boy's toes, and Nod pulled them to himself with a pout, but proceeded to wash them first, making sure to get between each one, then moved on to wash the rest of his front, giving Ronin an occasional suspicious look as he worked.

Ronin rested his head on his hand and let him be. He had discovered over the past few days that everything went much more smoothly if he let Nod try to do things himself before helping. Once he had done as much as he could himself, he would let Ronin help.

The insistence on being independent was a new development and would probably have happened eventually regardless of the trauma of being lost again, but Ronin would have been happy to have put it off a little longer.

Nod finished and looked up at Ronin expectantly.

"Are you going to wash your back?" Ronin tickled his fingers between the boy's shoulders where he knew he couldn't reach.

Nod tried anyway, squirming and splashing in the tub, then finally gave a huff and held the washcloth out to Ronin.

"Thanks," Ronin added more soap to the washcloth, and washed his back and behind his ears, then let Nod use the pitcher to wash it off himself.

Ronin got about as wet as he expected he would, particularly when Nod shook out his hair. He lifted the boy out and bundled him in a towel, then turned him loose.

He went straight for the dirty clothes hamper. Ronin had finally gotten him out of his striped sweater, and he wasn't happy about it.

"Clean clothes buddy," Ronin called.

Nod pouted at him.

"From the bedroom," Ronin pointed towards the door.

For a moment Ronin thought he would try to dig his sweater out of the hamper anyway, but then he scowled and stomped into the bedroom, dragging his towel behind him.

Ronin was amused, although he thought he maybe shouldn't have been. Still, this was better than having Nod throw a temper tantrum over it.

By the time he got to the bedroom, Nod had pulled all the clothes in the bottom drawers out and managed to find a night shirt that he deemed acceptable, but he was still looking for pajama pants.

"Are you going to help me clean this up buddy?" Ronin asked, picking the towel up off the floor and stepping back into the hall to put it in the hamper.

Nod chattered and chirped, moving onto the next drawer and flinging the clothes out of it.

"Eben is coming over to play tomorrow," Ronin told him, "it will be easier to play if it's not messy."

Nod was finally starting to settle down, and Ronin was hoping having Eben over would help him remember some of the things he had forgotten, and even if it didn't, he hoped Nod would at least have fun playing with him.

Nod finally found a set of pajama pants he was willing to wear and finished getting dressed.

"Do you remember Eben?" Ronin asked.

Nod marched over to the bed and snatched Cheep-Cheep off of it, then marched back to Ronin and took his hand, trying to drag him back to the living room.

"We should clean up in here first," Ronin made the sign for clean.

Nod pursed his lips and glared, but Ronin didn't budge, and finally the boy gave a huff and set Cheep-Cheep down so he could gather up clothes and dump them back in the drawers.

Ronin laughed and dropped down to his knees, snatching Nod to him as he stomped by and covering his face in kisses until he was shrieking with laughter.

"You are a silly chickadee," he gave him a last squeeze and let him go, "I'll help you clean up, then we can pick out a bed time story."

Nod still didn't seem to be following the words, but at least he followed along with the pictures and made animal noises whenever he saw one. It was progress, even if it was just a little, and Ronin was grateful to have the time to be there with Nod for it.