I'm sorry this took so long to get out!
Shopping
Fran Morgan's SUV pulled up to the giant mall closest to her house and everyone started to pile out of the vehicle. Spencer was looking up at the giant building with an expression of fear and awe on his face.
"It's gigantic," he whispered to Derek, his eyes still glued to the building in front of him.
"You ever seen a mall, Kid?" Derek asked with a chuckle.
Spencer shook his head. Derek blinked. He had been kidding, but it seemed that Spencer really had never seen a mall before. But, then again, not only had he grown up with a schizophrenic mother on the bad side of Vegas, but he was also kidnapped and had left the house where he was held in two years, so it did make sense that there were a lot of things he'd missed out on.
"Derek?" asked Spencer nervously
"Yeah, Kid?" said Derek, catching onto the kid's tone.
"There are a lot of people here," he whispered, sounding for all the world like the little kid he was.
"It's okay buddy. They can't hurt you," Derek reassured the small child.
"But they could," said Spencer, trying to emphasize the difference in what he and Derek had just said. Derek understood. He'd felt this way after Carl Buford, though not to such an extent.
"Not with me here," responded Morgan, sounding confident. Spencer bit his lip in thought, then nodded and started sucking his thumb. He looked at Morgan and lifted his arm that wasn't otherwise occupied, indicating he wanted to be picked up.
Morgan reached down and lifted Spencer, who weighed far too little, and held him on him hip. Spencer wrapped his legs and arm around Derek and buried his face in Derek's neck.
"Aww," cooed Sarah and Des from where Fran and they had paused and were watching Spencer and Derek.
Derek felt Spencer's face heat in a blush and he shot a glare towards his sisters.
They walked through the Macy's entrance in the mall and went to the children's section to start finding clothes.
Des looked at Spencer. "How old are you, Spencer?" she asked, wanting to ask him not Derek, so he could feel included.
He looked up at her and took his thumb out of his mouth. "What's today?" he asked quietly. Des frowned a bit, not really sure what that had to do with anything, but decided to give him an answer anyways.
"August 29, 2011," Des told him, not sure how much of the date he wanted.
"Seven years, ten months, and twenty days old," he answered. Des blinked in surprise at the answer.
"Um… alright. So, about seven years." She looked over at Fran and directed the next comment towards her. "Most seven year olds are about a size 7, so we'll start there?"
"Sure," responded Mrs. Morgan. She glanced at a couple of the racks and pulled out a random top and bottom that were size sevens and told Derek to go see if they fit or not.
Derek carried Spencer to the dressing room and stood him up on a bench.
"Ready?" asked Derek with a grin. He unfolded the shirt his mama had handing him to make Spencer try on. It looked huge! But maybe with kids it was harder to tell sizes?
Whatever, he decided. I'll just take my mama's advice and have him try this on.
"Here, kid," said Derek, reaching for Spencer's shirt. "Let's try this on."
Spencer bit his lip at Derek's words and cautiously nodded. He wasn't looking forwards to having to take off his clothes in front of someone. Even if it was Derek. Nonetheless, he still removed his shirt and wrapped one arm around his torso and put the thumb of the other one in his mouth.
Derek frowned when he noticed Spencer's behavior, but decided that it had to do with not having a shirt on. He noticed Spencer's torso which was littered in bruises and scars. Morgan ground his teeth in anger. How can anyone hurt a child like that? Especially one as sweet as my Spencer. Derek paused at that thought. 'My Spencer.' He decided he liked the way it sounded.
He put the shirt his mom had picked out for Spencer on the small boy.
…and it absolutely swallowed him! This was how big most seven year olds are?
"I think we might need a smaller size," said Derek, scratching his head. Spencer giggled at the older man when he stated the obvious.
"Well, let's try on the pants and see how big they are on you," said Derek. Spencer's face paled and he glanced at the khaki pants picked out.
"No. No need to do that…" Spencer picked up the pants and held them at his waist. "See? Too big. No need to put them on." No need to take these ones off, he secretly thought. His shirt was one thing, but Spencer did not want to take off his pants. Too many memories.
Derek glanced at Spencer and tried to think of the best way out of this. He understood exactly what Spencer was doing by not trying on the pants, but he really did need to get a little bit more used to stuff like this. He couldn't go through life without changing clothes.
"How about I turn around while you change pants and when you're ready, we'll show the girls how big they are on you, and see if they can guess closer to your size. That sound okay?"
Spencer nodded slowly and waited for Derek to turn around and close his eyes before hurriedly stripping of his pants and replacing them with new ones.
"I'm done," he said quietly.
Derek smiled at the sight of the child holding up his pants with his hands and a shirt that fell almost to his knees. He put Spencer back on the floor and took one of his hands, while Spencer struggled to hold his pants up with the other.
"Mama?" said Derek when they got near the exit of the dressing room. His mother and sisters came to see Spencer. "I think they might be a bit big."
"Oh my!" said Mrs. Morgan. "I think you're right. Here, let's go a few sizes smaller."
They found that size fives fit the best on him. He probably hasn't grown much since he was taken. Malnourishment and all that, Derek reasoned.
Derek tried to take him into the dressing room as little as possible, knowing how uncomfortable in made Spencer.
Eventually, after hours of shopping, a trillion bags, and a huge bite out of Derek's saving, they were on their way home.
Spencer was nodding off in the car, but Derek did his best to keep him awake, so he would be able to fall asleep at night.
They got home, ate dinner, and decided it was time for Spencer to go to bed. He went into the guest room set aside for him and fell asleep quickly. Sarah and Des stayed for a bit, before deciding it was time for them to go.
After they left, Derek retired for the night. It'd been a long day and no doubt there would be longer to come. He too fell asleep rather quickly.
"…Derek. Derek,"
Morgan woke up to someone calling his name softly. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked up at Spencer standing in his doorway in his new footie-pajamas and holding a teddy-bear.
"Hey, Kid. You okay?" he asked, sitting up in bed slightly.
"I had a nightmare," whispered Spencer so quietly that Derek barely heard.
Derek threw the covers back on his bed and patted the spot next to him. Spencer scurried up to the bed and crawled in next to Derek. He cuddled up against Derek's side and buried his head in the older man's chest.
"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Derek. He felt Spencer's head shake, but then pause.
Spencer looked up at Derek nervously, biting his lip like he did when he was thinking and glanced down at Derek. "D-do y-you want m-me t-t-to," Spencer started stuttering. "I-I mean, sh-should I-I y-you know," he said, touching Derek's pants. "This?"
Derek grabbed Spencer's hands in his own. "I will never ask you to do something like that. Ever. Remember that Spencer. I love you, but not in that way."
Spencer looked confused. "I-I don't understand."
"You will someday," Derek assured him.
"How do you know? I don't think I'll ever understand," Spencer said skeptically.
"I know it feels that way Spencer, but trust me. Wanna know something?" he said.
Spencer nodded, now sucking his thumb.
"When I was in highschool, there was a man I knew," Derek started. He was telling this seven year child something he'd only ever trusted a few people with, but it felt right. "He seemed nice at first, but after awhile, it turned out he wasn't. He did things that no adult should ever do to anyone. The same thing that was done to you, just a bit less severe. Understand?" asked Derek, making sure Spencer was following.
Spencer nodded again.
"Well, I remember feeling the same way you do now. I thought things would never get better and my life would never be normal, but they did. It all stopped, but I never told anyone about it and it ate and ate at me, until finally I told some of the people I was closest to. It was hard at first but it really helped.
"Trust me Spencer. Things will get better. You just have to let me help you. Do you think you can do that?"
Spencer looked at Derek. "I-I'm not sure. I can try."