…akjdflaks fjaisdofj bad… continue to be bad… no one will want you…

The man was scary and towered over Nod and Nod hugged Cheep-Cheep tight and looked around for Ronin. Ronin would make the scary man go away.

"Ronin?" Nod called.

"Ronin doesn't want you," the man repeated.

"Yes he does," Nod shrank back from him, "he said he loves me and if you're mean, I can go back and live with him, and your mean and I want Ronin."

"No."

Nod spun to find Ronin standing over him too, but he looked angry and scary.

"Ronin?"

"You have to go with your uncle," Ronin said, "you can't stay with me anymore because you're bad."

"I'll be good!" Nod pleaded.

"No, you're bad," the mean man told him.

"No!" Nod sobbed and lunged for Ronin, grabbing onto his pant leg, "I'll be really really good! I promise I'll be good!"

"No, you're bad," Ronin pried Nod's hands off.

"You have to come with me," the mean man picked Nod up around the waist and dragged him away.

"Ronin!" Nod screamed for him, but Ronin turned and walked away.

"Ronin!"

Nod woke up with a gasp, knocking Cheep-Cheep off the bed in his struggle to get away from the mean man, who turned out to just be his blankets.

He was home in Ronin's bed, and the glowy plant was on the nightstand, and it had just been a bad dream.

Except there really had been a bad man, and Ronin really had made him go with him. Nod hiccupped and sobbed, looking around for Ronin, but he wasn't there, and Cheep-Cheep wasn't there either, which only made Nod cry harder.

"Nod?" Ronin came into the room carrying a lamp, "what's wrong?"

Ronin had let him come back, so did that mean he wasn't bad, and he could keep staying with Ronin?

"Did you have a bad dream?" Ronin set the lamp on the night stand and stooped to pick up Cheep-Cheep before sitting on the bed beside him.

You weren't there, Nod wanted to tell him, and you made me go with the bad man, but the words wouldn't come out.

"It's okay chickadee," Ronin held Cheep-Cheep out to him, "you're okay."

Nod took Cheep-Cheep from him and buried his face against him. He was angry at Ronin, but he didn't want to be bad and have Ronin make him leave.

Ronin scooped him up and leaned against the headboard with Nod cradled in his arms, "you're safe now. I'm here."

Ronin rocked him and hummed quietly, and Nod liked it when Ronin held him, and Ronin kept all the bad things away, but only when he wanted to. What if he didn't want to keep them away from Nod anymore?

The boy whimpered, and Ronin shushed him, cuddling him closer. Nod sniffled and stuck his thumb in his mouth. He didn't know what he did that was bad. Ronin had told him he was good, but if he was good, why had Ronin made him go?

"It's okay Nod," Ronin murmured softly, "I won't let anything hurt you."

Nod snuggled close to him. Ronin always did what he said he would. The bad man had been mean, and Ronin had let him come back home with him, just like he said he would. If he said he wouldn't let anything hurt him, then he wouldn't.

Nod would just have to figure out what he did that was bad so he could make extra sure that Ronin would let him stay.

Nod ran to open the door when he heard the knock, but it wasn't Eben standing there.

"Hello Nod," Orla smiled down at the boy.

Nod huffed and pouted, sulking away to go cling to Ronin's leg.

"I guess he was expecting someone else," Orla laughed.

"Eben has been over the last two afternoons," Ronin explained, "I think Nod was hoping he would be over again today."

"That's good he's been playing," Orla slid her bag off her shoulder and set it on the couch.

"He's doing much better. He seems to be picking up signs again, although it sometimes takes him a while to figure them out," Ronin reached down to lift Nod up, "still no talking though."

"We'll still have fun," Orla made the sign for play.

Nod gave her a very skeptical look and tightened his hold around Ronin shoulders.

Ronin was really hoping he would be able to get out the door without Nod throwing a tantrum. He was only planning to be gone a few hours, and if Nod did alright with that, then Ronin could start making arrangements to go back on duty.

Of course 'alright' didn't necessarily mean happy or enthusiastic about it.

"I brought a new game for us to play," Orla pulled a brightly painted wooden box out of her bag and held it out to the boy.

Nod gave the box a curious look, and Ronin set him on his feet. With many a suspicious look between the two adults, Nod inched forward and took it.

"Open it up," Orla encouraged.

Nod frowned up at them and opened the latch, then whistled and chirped happily at the content. It was filled with little wooden disks that had different animals painted on them. He dug through the box, holding up disks and making the noises that went along with the animals.

"I thought you might like that," Orla smiled, "do you want me to show you how to play?"

Nod looked up at her and cautiously made the sign for 'play.'

"That's right," Orla sat down on the couch and motioned for Nod to come sit next to her.

He hesitated, then grabbed Ronin's hand and pulled him along with him to the couch.

Ronin had purposely left himself extra time before his meeting with Nod's advocates, thinking Nod might do better if he could stay for a while with Orla there, so he let himself be pulled down on the couch beside the boy. He could play a few rounds of the game with them before he had to go.

It was a memory game, and Orla showed Nod how to lay out all the pieces animal side down, then take turns turning over two of them at a time. If he got the same animal on a turn, he got to keep the pieces. Nod picked the game up quickly, and after a few rounds, Ronin stopped playing, letting Nod play with just Orla.

"Hey buddy, I'm going to take off for a little bit," Ronin put a hand on Nod's back to get his attention after the next round of the game finished.

Nod chirped at him without looking up. He was in the middle of enthusiastically shaking the box with the pieces in them to mix them up for the next round.

"I'll only be gone a few hours," Ronin kissed the top of his head and stood up.

Nod glanced up at him and twittered questioningly.

"Before dinner," Ronin made the sign for dinner.

Nod's eyes narrowed.

"Do you want to go first Nod?" Orla opened the box, dumping all the pieces out on the table.

Nod glanced at them, then back up at Ronin, his forehead wrinkled as if he were trying figure something out. Finally he signed 'dinner' back to Ronin.

"That's right," Ronin nodded, "I'll be back by dinner."

Nod sighed and his shoulders slumped, but he went back to putting game pieces in place with somewhat less enthusiasm than before.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Ronin told Orla.

"We'll be alright," Orla stroked Nod's hair back soothingly.

Ronin gave Nod one last kiss on the head, then left. He paused outside the front door once he closed it, listening for the screaming to start, but there was none.

Hopefully, Ronin would be back before Nod started getting anxious about him being gone, and everything would be alright.