Rocky wondered if he was becoming an insomniac. He can't sleep and its not even close to morning yet. It could be the side of the bed he's on, or the fact that he's in a strange home that he just can't seem to keep his lids closed. Robbie, however, is sleeping like its a drunken hangover. Finally tired of sitting around waiting for sleep that isn't coming to wash over him, Rocky sneaks out of bed and grabs his computer carrier pulling out his electronic notebook. He'd like to get some work done but he's unsure of the density of the walls in the Ballerini home. What if his rapid, and he's often told hard and loud, typing wakes the family. That'd be a really bad introduction to the rest of the family- bad enough he's dating their son now he won't let them get sleep because he can't.

Better take it downstairs. The sleepless male decides.

Slipping out of the room, he looks up then down the hall. There's a night-light plugged into the socket in the center of the wall illuminating the hall. That must mean Arc is potty trained. Rocky wondered for a moment if it would be alright to crack doors until he locates the sleeping child but he didn't wanna risk it, plus Robbie has a female cousin and a girl's room is sacred when it comes to un-announced entry. Down the hall he goes reaching the stairs he decends them then travels into the kitchen; that should be far enough away from the family so he won't disturb them. Flipping up the computer screen he opens his documents to the draft of a novel he's been working on. Rocky loves creative writing and considered it his throw away course at school but truthfully he would like to be a novelist. Someone that people would adore because he'd really make them think with his mystery novels and let's face it he should be a master of the subject with all the new twist and mysteries he's finding out about in his own life. He often wondered if he should make his life into a story, he wouldn't read it but someone might.

The main character of the story's name is Jordan Montanna and the mystery is the room he falls into under his home where he finds a body, but not just a body a strange man he's never met has been living under his home. Rocky has been typing this story for a year and a half until last years end and this years start when his own batch of problems began. Jordan is 16, B average student going on a C since failing a test- he'd been over hearing Colt get yelled at by their Dad that day when he typed it in and he lives in Seattle with only his mother Leslie after a bad divorce. Jordan is also a blond like his own hair color, and is 5'9". The most noticable thing about the main character is his being in the band playing the trumpet. The last scene he's typed out was Jordan riding his bike to the store for some pet food for his goldfish 'Lady Tangerine'.

"Let's see." Rocky's voice is quiet as the mood of a dark and sleeping house calls for it.

Fingers in the correct placement he begins to rapidly fill the empty space of the document with words that are filing out of his head. Going back a word he corrects his spelling then continues on. Progress was steady for him so much so he didn't even realize that daylight was beginning to shine through the home until he saved his draft with Jordan coming home from school and finding the door unlocked and a plate, once covered with food, now sitting in the sink when his mother works until 5:00. Letting out a satisfied sigh, he stretches his arms over his head to get out the cramps of his sitting position. He wouldn't say good posture is the best for typing very long but he can't help it. Like Colt said he may have been born with a rod up his back. But better that than a granny's hump. While closing the screen he wonders why oldmen don't get a hump- must be a woman thing. Scooting the chair back, he leans forward resting his forehead on the wooden table top.

That's right Rocky, fall asleep now that its morning. Eyes closing, he sighs as sleep waves begin to cloud his mind. Better than sleeping at night when no one is awake to watch out for you- hn, you'd agree with me wouldn't you Sin, poor kid couldn't catch a break.

A man-made sound resembling a motorboat sounds through the hallway downstairs; the pitter patter of little feet pad quickly along the polished floor. A ninja instinctively turns his head at any sound whether it be a threat or not and he watched, head still resting on the table, as a young child twirls circles in the living room a toy boat in his hand- he being the cause of the noises. Normally, Rocky would have straightened himself and greeted the person but this isn't just any person... this is... Him. Arc. His- Rocky Douglas' son. He never would have thought a title like Dad or Daddy- father would ever come his way. Not that he didn't think he would never settle down, he is after all raised right. But a child made without love is strange to think about. Will Arc love him some day, will he have to marry just to find a mother for the boy- no he didn't suppose he had to because in this day and age people are raising their children as single parents all the time. So there's no reason why he can't. But what if things progress with Robbie, then what? Too many thoughts and feelings.

Uh-oh. He sees me. Now what? Sitting up, he awaits the encounter.

The young boy about 2'9", its hard to tell with kids heights, his hair bright blond just like the boy's mother although Maria's true hair color is brown so whose to say that Arc doesn't get his hair color from his grandmother. Even from the distance he can see the boys piercing blue eyes the Balsam family trait as both Maria and his boyfriend have the eyes. Arc's chubby cheeks resemble his own from when he was a kid, and his cock of the head from curiousity also from him. He looked like a lost animal staring at the stranger in his aunt and uncle's kitchen. Their eyes are locked as they wonder who will make the first move; to the ninjas' surprise Arc snags up a handful of his pajama shirt slipping it into his mouth and he chews on it gingerly. That proved it if nothing else that this boy is his son. When Rocky ws a child he had a nervous habit of chewing on his shirts completely ruining them it took him a while to grow out of it but when he did he never looked back on those nerbous days becoming the solid level-headed male that he is now. He hoped that Arc could overcome his nerves as well.

Cautiously the young boy moves forward into the kitchen, right up beside Rocky, where he can get a better look. They must have stared at each other for minutes before Rocky took a hold of the shirt and tugged it free from the boys mouth wiping a bit of saliva, that pooled at the corner, with his thumb causing a smile to spread across the boy's mouth.

Twisting from left to right, the young boy asks. "Are you my cousin too?"

Unable to find his voice, he shakes his head.

Hands on Rocky's thigh, Arc leans up into his face then asks. "Then who are you? A bad guy?"

Chuckling a bit, Rocky again shaks his head. "N-.. No, I'm not a bad guy. I'm a friend of your cousin Robbie," shaking his head to correct his words he says. "Ivan." He has to remember that Robbie's family calls him by his first name rather than his preferred middle.

That took the suspect from the boys eyes, which brightened with glee. "Cousin Ivan's home?" He asks sliding into one of the empty seats.

"Yeah, he's upstairs sleeping- like little guys like you should be." Rocky repremanded. "How come you're awake so early? Aren't you tired?"

"No I always get up early so I can play bounce on the couch." Cupping his mouth with both hands he whispers. "Auntie Di' doesn't like it when I jump on the cushies."

"Ohhh." Rocky smiles. A trouble maker. He should have known that's how his kid would turn out. His kid. It still seems so strange. Could he really tell the boy who he is to him or will he leave it alone and just become his friend.

Arc begins to swing his little legs beneath the chair, his arms bent on the table resting so a finger has a perfect angle up his nose. If he put it in his mouth that would be it for Rocky's appetite. So he came up with a better solution. Taking the boy's hand down from his face to remove said finger, he says with a saleman's smile.

"How's about I make you breakfast. We can eat together and talk- man to man."

"Can you make pancakes?!" He was so elated at the thought he nearly fell from his seat popping up so fast.

"Yeah, I can make that. Will you help me?"

"Okay." Sliding from his seat, he rushes into a closet in the kitchen that's actually a pantry and grunts and strains while reaching for a box of mix.

"I'll take care of that," says Rocky picking the 4 year old up from the floor placing him carefully atop the counter. "Don't move okay, I don't want you to fall. I'll get the things together and you instruct on how to make them."

With a thumbs up from the child Rocky got the mix from the pantry, butter from the fridge and some raspberries he spotted from the back. A pointed finger to where the pans are located and breakfast was underway.

"And then we plate it." Rocky lowers the last pancake onto the boys plate. "How did they turn out junior chef?"

"That's a pancake?" Asks the boy cocking a brow at the food. "Aunt Di' makes mini squares."

"Squares? Okay." Looking about the kitchen for the knives, Rocky finds them in the third drawer by the fridge. Setting the knife onto the counter top he grabs a hold of the young boy by his underarms setting him down on the floor. "You wait at the table and I'll bring them over, alright?"

"Uh huh." Arc gives a hard nod then heads for the table.

"Do you like syrup?" Rocky asks, flipping another set of pancakes over on the pan. Once done doing that he paces towards the pantry for the syrup.

"I like it, uh huh, I have mine its strawberry."

Rocky locates the strawberry syrup then brings it over to the counter to cover Arc's soon to be sliced cakes. Cutting them with care Rocky wouldn't have noticed Robbie coming in if Arc didn't announce him with an excited whail.

"Ivan!!" He claps his hands then gives his cousin a thumbs up.

Smiling at the boy, Robbie gives him a thumbs up as well. "Heeey buddy, are you gonna do good in school when you go?" He asks casually while continuing over to Rocky at the stove.

"Yup. I practice every time. Wanna hear the alphabets?"

"Sure go for it."

Sucking in a lung full of air, the young boy starts to sing. "A-B-She-D-E-F-Gee-Ach-I-J-K-N,N,N-O-P-..."

Rocky kept his laughter down hearing the boys take on the alphabet. It really does sound like a slue of N's when people say it to you quickly rather than slowing it down. He tenses a moment when Robbie's arms wrap around him and said male plants a kiss on his cheek. Shrugging him off, Rocky gives his part-time boyfriend a warning glance to cool it infront of the kid.

"He's in his own world, he always gets stuck on X thinking he said S over and then he starts over from there." Robbie says as he watches Rocky cut into the 4 year olds breakfast then dump syrup on it once done. "Mmm. Strawberry." He pokes a finger in it sucking it off, repeating the process he offers the finger to Rocky who gives it a quick lick and suck right before shoving the mischievous male away. He acted as though he loved putting Rocky in awkward situations- kind of like a game to see where he could get him to be open about their relationship in public. "Good right?"

Nodding, Rocky says in mock anger. "You're pushing your luck Ballerini."

Hands up in defense he then grabs the plate backing away. "Here you are Arc."

"Thank you mister." Says the boy picking up a pancake square with his fingers.

"You're welcome," A thought dawned on him. "And you can call me Rocky."

"Like that Power Ranger?" He asks over a mouthful.

"Yeah, like the Power Ranger."

"That's cooooool!! My name is Arc Elias Balsam and I'm 4 years old. I live at-..."

Giving the boy a kiss on the head, Robbie says to the boy. "Leave it at the name unless you're in trouble remember?"

"Uh huh." Arc pops another pancake into his mouth.

Taking one from the boys plate, Robbie really looks at his cousin. He never would have noticed without meeting Rocky but his cousin and the ninja do look frighteningly similar. Its one thing to say someone is your son but to actually see it with your own eyes is mind-blowing! How could his Aunt be such a bad person as to rape Rocky and keep the kid. Its disgusting and wrong but at the same time he can't be mad that he got an adorible little cousin out of it.

"You want some? I'm making raspberry."

"If you don't mind."

Shaking his head, he holds out a plate to his boyfriend. "Naah, here you are." He turns the stove down. "When do your parents usually get up?"

"Don't worry about them, they'll stagger to life someday. Come eat with us."

Rocky twists his mouth in thought then nods. "If you're sure."

Turning the stove off, he takes the remaining cakes then walks over to the kitchen table to join his lover and son. If Rocky were on the outside looking in he would be sickened at the scene in some sense. An unknown father and his child, the boys cousin as his boyfriend its sick and weird. But on the inside it feels nice and warm, and somehow right. Rocky couldn't help notice that Arc's middle name is the same as his own and that bothered him a bit knowing why but at the same time he couldn't be mad. It would be rude to penalize the boy for something he couldn't help- which was being born by a sick woman for a sick reason. Rocky couldn't help but think for a moment that if the woman were alive today he honestly would want to hurt her and the thought of that scared him more than a little.

"Wanna go to the park today?" Robbie asks.

"Okay."

Arc was in his own little world as he ate.

"Arc? You wanna come buddy?"

Looking up, he nods. "Uh huh."

"Forgive him, he's never had pancakes with fruit in it."

"Its okay." Rocky snickers. All that quiet concentration just to eat reminds him of his little brother. Tum calls it being in the zone.

Breakfast went along so great with the three of them it seemed like the perfect moment and with perfection things tended to ruin themselves to dispel the notion that anything can be perfect. The cause of the rip in perfect happiness is from a pair of brown blue eyes open them in the living room. Corin watched Rocky and her cousin enjoying breakfast and each others company. The girl has never seen Rocky before but she's heard so much about him from her mother she was almost upset at herself for thinking her rival is somewhat cute. When Corin was growing up her mother was forced to write the family letters when she was placed in the institute where her aunts and uncles consists of kind things and nothing much else to say interesting hers consisted of comparing her to Rocky who was proclaimed to be a psychic like herself, her mother also adored Robbie because he has a bit of gift himself. To her mother, being a mentalist was everything because it was all she knew growing up and no one understood her pains so it was her goal to gather all of them so they could live in a world where no one would treat them differently. It was a cruel and hurtful dream because it isolated her own family from her love and she liked it that way because to her it probably gave them a chance to see just how she's felt her whole life. So Corin couldn't allow herself to be angry at Rocky or Robbie she just wanted things to be normal now that her mother has passed. But there was one thing she still had to do in order to ease her own sorrows and pains. Something she wants to give to her mother.

Putting on a bright smile, Corin walks into the kitchen her pink night gown swirling about her legs. "Good morning Ivan, Arc..." Looking surprised for show she says. "I didn't know we had company. Who are you?"

Rocky could have died from fear right then and there as standing before him is his abductor, his tormentor. Maria. Her blonde hair and blue eyes drill holes in him as he stares back barely able to shake from the fear that's coursing through him. Its as if his body is saying be afraid but at the same time don't move or she'll kill you.

"Don't you know? This is Sam Douglas." Says Robbie. "He said you've been trying to contact him for ages, so don't play dumb Cori'." He winks at the girl to show he's teasing her. "Rocky this is-..." He looks at him, confusion in his eyes at the sight of his lovers horrified gaze. "What's the mat-.." His outstretched hand touched Rocky's shoulder.

That was all the ninja needed before he tore himself away from the table. "S- stay away from me!" He shouts with fear and anger in his tone. "Robbie don't let her get near me!!" He lowers himself to the floor, hands over his ears. Rocky curled in on himself as if to hide away in his own body.

"Wha-... what did I do?" Asks Corin surprised by Rocky's reaction.

Robbie shrugs while getting up from the table and wrapping his arms around his boyfriend who jumped at first but then wrapped his arms around Robbie when he realzed whom it was. He was whispering in the faintest tone for Robbie to keep her away from him.

"I will. I will. Come on, we'll go upstairs and rest for a bit, you look tired." Robbie looks at Corin pleading with his eyes that she make herself scarse until they're gone.

Nodding, the confused girl exits the kitchen heading for the downstairs bathroom. Arc had started crying from all the commotion, but was easily hushed by Robbie's soothing words to him that everything was alright. Upstairs Robbie closes the door, then sits down on the bed next to Rocky who is still steadying his nerves.

"What happened?" Asks the Canadian.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to react like that. Its just that Corin looks exactly like Maria."

Confused further, Robbie shakes his head. "That's not possible, my aunt and cousin couldn't look less alike if they tried. She takes after her father."

Rocky shakes his head. "All this time, all this time she was using her own daughter as a doll to torment me. If she had been caught..." He trails off.

"I don't understand, what do you mean used her as a doll. Corin's never met you."

"Robbie, your aunt was a powerful psychic she could do anything within her power so laying a face over someone's mind would be no problem."

"Huh?"

"Its in the brain, its like magic. If you know a trick well enough your eyes won't be fooled by it. But if you've never seen it than to you a card could disappear and reappear in and out of thin air. And with that technique she made herself look like her daughter- she used her like a doll. If I described my attacker to a sketch artist and cop they'd pick up Corin thinking that she's Maria, and when she goes to a jail her mother is still free to come after me as she sees fit whether Corin's ever met me or not, if I'm saying that she's the one how can they not believe me- especially when Colt and Tum tum saw her too."

Taking that all in Robbie sighs in frustration. "That's so sick." Hugging Rocky, he caresses the males back. "I'm sorry she did those things to you. But you don't have to fear Corin, she's nothing like my aunt and she has a boyfriend who she's very in to." He snickers, cheek nuzzling Rocky's.

The blond smiled faintly. "It just took me by surprise... I'm alright though." He removes himself from the hug. "I think I scared Arc though." He felt ashamed.

"Don't worry about him, he's a tough kid. He won't be down for too long."

"That's good."

"Wanna go down for breakfast?"

Shaking his head, he stands. "No. Can I take a shower, though?"

"My home is your home, go right ahead."

"Thanks." He leans over giving the male a kiss on the lips. "I don't deserve you."

Robbie only laughed at that. Rocky couldn't be more wrong. As he watched the blond leave he wonders momentarily what to do about Corin. Does she still wanna talk to Rocky and what about?