"I don't know about this, James."

"It'll be fine. Believe me. You'll love it."

"I don't know…"

It was the day of the Pie Event, and James was doing his best to convince Logan to attend, without being too pushy. The blind guy was leaning towards going, but he still had his doubts.

"The whole thing is a big step for me," Logan said.

"Hey," James began. "Remember; not only am I being paid to watch out for you, I also really care about you. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen. I would never do anything that could be dangerous. It's just going to the lobby to eat some good food and meet people. Don't you want more of a life?"

"Yeah…" Logan sighed nervously. "You mean that?"

"I mean all of it, but what in particular?"

"That you care about me."

"Absolutely." James smiled and took Logan's arm. "So let's go, okay? You can hold onto me the entire time."

"Well," the taller boy latched onto James's arm and let out a long breath of air. "Okay. Let's go."

Logan had barely even stepped beyond the threshold of the front door more than once. This small step was a giant leap for his kind. James put an arm around Logan's shoulders, and used his other hand to hold Logan's. The blind boy put all of his faith into his aid and they walked out of the apartment, heading towards the elevators.

"It's not so bad, huh?" James asked.

"I-I guess not," Logan said quite shortly.

"You'll get used to it. Here, you can press the down button. There's braille."

Logan reached out and felt the wall until he found the correct button. His hand was shaking.

"It's totally safe. Nothing can go wrong," James reassured him. Logan did his best to smile through his nervousness.

The door slid open and they walked into the empty elevator. James also had Logan press the lobby button. As the elevator began to move, Logan's heart picked up.

"Ohhh God," he whispered.

"It's fine, it's fine, shhhh." James rubbed his shoulder and held him a little closer. "Only an elevator. It runs up and down all day and never has any problems."

Logan hummed sadly as he held onto James, but he was quite comforting. They got to the bottom floor and it made a ping!

"Here we are," said James.

He led Logan out of the doors and down to the common room. Neither of them had ever been inside it before. The doorway was decorated with a sparkling trellis of fake orange leaves. As they went through, Logan was bombarded with an array of smells he hadn't experienced since he was little. Pumpkin, apples, spice. Warm smells. Warm, homely smells. He stood off to the side and inhaled for some time.

"It reminds me of Thanksgiving with my family," he said softly.

"Yeah, me too."

"Oh!" The voice of a stranger called out, coming close to the boys. "You must be the young man from 412?"

"Umm…yes?" Logan replied hesitantly.

James looked at the older woman who was talking to them and smiled. "I'm James, his aid. Do you live here?"

"As a matter of fact, I'm his immediate neighbor," the woman said. "It's nice to finally meet you. I'm sorry, what is your name?"

"Logan."

"Logan. It's very nice to meet you, Logan. I'm Holly."

"Hi…"

"You should have some of this pecan pie, it's absolutely stunning!" Holly remarked. She smiled warmly at Logan regardless of his disability.

"We'll have to try it, thank you!" James said. "Come on Logan, let's go have some pie."

"Ummm okay."

James led Logan over to a long table which had been covered in all sorts of pies. This was sort of like heaven for James, since he was a huge fan of this particular kind of baked sweet. There was cherry, pumpkin, a few varieties of apple, sweet potato, strawberry-rhubarb and of course the pecan. James took a little bit of each and put it inside two Styrofoam containers. Seating was limited, and the management openly invited the guests to take their slices of pie back home. Logan was nervous, even though he delighted in the experience.

"You want to go back?" James asked.

"Yes."

They packed up the pie and returned to Logan's apartment. The elevator ride upstairs was far less stressful than going down, and James was really happy to see that. It didn't take much to get Logan adjusted to new experiences. It was good to be back, though.

"How was that?" James asked.

"It was a lot," Logan answered, calm get a bit shaky. He sat down at the kitchen counter and put his head on his hands. "But it was fun. Thanks for taking me."

"You don't need to thank me; I'm just trying to make your life better. Here, let's try some of this, okay?"

They sampled the pastries for a while. Logan agreed that the pecan was the best, but James really enjoyed the granny smith apple. "Just bitter enough," he said.

When all of the eating was said and done and they had moved to the living room sofa, Logan said something that surprised yet excited James.

"I want to go outside."

"What?"

"I want to go outside."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Logan smiled and touched James's arm. "I think I can trust you, and today really was fun."

"Oh Logan," James said. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear to say that!"

"When I smelled that room, I remembered a lot about being a kid," Logan went on. "Mama always baked pecan pie for Christmas. I'd come down real early in the morning, and she would be starting the pie. She'd let me put the nuts into the piecrust."

James looked at Logan as he reminisced so sweetly. It made his heart feel warm to see that cute smile on his face, describing a seen lost long ago. It had been a long time since Logan thought about the happy feelings associated with his late family.

"Then we'll go for a walk tomorrow," James suggested. "Do you have warm enough clothes?"

"Ehh, just some," Logan said. "An aid from a few years ago, Terry; she bought me winter clothes 'just in case.' They're in my closet. Oh, can you get them for me? I've never touched anything in there."

"Yeah sure."

James stood up, Logan following closely behind, and went into the bedroom. He opened up the only closet and saw that it was pretty packed with boxes.

"What is all of this?" James asked.

"Just stuff. Mostly things from my aunt's house. I dunno."

"Here, here we go."

The tall boy pointed a box out to himself marked, "Winter Clothes?" in curly handwriting. It was blocked by a smaller, black, airtight trunk.

"Hmmmm," James said. "What's in the trunk?"

"Trunk?" Logan asked. "I don't know. Why?"

"It looks curious. And it's in the way of the winter clothes."

"Take it out."

James slid the trunk out, which ended up being heavier than it looked, and clacked it open. Inside there was a whole array of items. He saw photos, stuffed animals, and tiny objects from here and there. James picked up one of the stacks of photos and quickly realized what it was; things left over from his family.

"Oh, Logan," James said softly. "It's your memory box, I guess."

"That's right," Logan said. "I haven't ever looked inside there. My aunt packed it up for me."

"There are a bunch of photos," James explained. "Doesn't do any good for you, but I think I see your sister. That's definitely you. Those are your parents I guess."

"Yeah…" Logan agreed blankly.

"All sorts of interesting stuff in here. A cellphone?"

"Cellphone?"

"Yeah, an old cellphone."

"Weird. Let me hold it?" Logan held out his hand for the phone. James handed it to him gently, and the moment that it touched his skin, Logan retracted. He dropped it on the ground and threw his arms around himself with a sudden screaming sob.

"Oh my God!" James yelled. "Are you okay?!"

Logan wailed and cried, rocking back and forth suddenly. He screamed and sobbed, and James flung his arms around Logan's body. He held him against his chest. Logan's face touched the smooth, hard pectoral muscles of his aid, dotting the fabric of his shirt with tears. His sobs calmed down.

"Sshhh, shhhh," James cooed, petting the back of Logan's head. "It's okay, it's okay. I'm so sorry I did that."

"N-n-not your fa-fault," Logan sniffed. "I sh-should've known."

"What was that?" James asked very tenderly.

"M-my sister's c-cellphone. Th-the last thing sh-she said to me. C-call 9-11."

"Oh, Logan…"

"The m-m-memory came back."

"It's okay, it's okay. Oh, Logan…" James squeezed his body close and continued to stroke his head. "I'm sorry."

"N-not your fault," Logan sniffed real loud and tried to pull himself together. He sat back from James slightly and tried to look up at him.

"You can't hide the memories like that," James said, trying to sound caring and not condescending. Logan nodded softly. "You need to face them and accept them, then move on. Like, okay, I'm sure there are happy memories in here, too. Let's look."

He pulled the trunk closer to them and started to grab around for something things. He found the stuffed polar bear.

"How about this?" James suggested. He plopped the toy into Logan's arms.

"My bear," Logan said. He hugged it sweetly and smiled a teary little smile. "My bear."

"Or this? Some jewelry." James put a pair of earrings into Logan's hands.

"Mama's diamonds," the blind boy said immediately. "She said they would belong to my sister one day."

"Not so bad, right?" James asked.

"No, it's not," Logan agreed. He handed the earrings back to James for the trunk, but he held onto the bear. "Sorry for flipping out."

"Totally alright," James said. "I would have done the same thing, I'm sure. Look, some CDs."

"What are they?"

"Girly stuff. Probably your sisters? Kinda old for you. Selena."

"Oh yeah, those are hers. She listened to it all the time."

Logan put his hands out for the CDs.

"You can move on and still treasure things," James said. "You just need to have something to move on to."

"I don't know what, though," Logan said sadly. "I really don't know. My life has been so blank inside here, how can I move on? What is there to move on to?"

"Well," James mumbled. "What about…you and me?"