Boys to Men

Raylan had no idea how things had gone so wrong. It had started out innocently; he had picked Nate up from school and brought him to the marshal's office so he could hand out his apologies. Nate started with Rachel and Tim and found several others issuing his heartfelt regrets for his disappearing act the day before. After running out of marshals he headed to Art's office. He knocked on the door jamb as the door was open.

"Come in son. What can I do for you?" Art asked.

Nate stepped into the office. "I wanted to apologize for what happened yesterday. I had no business doing what I did and I want you to know it will never happen again."

"I'm glad to hear it and I accept your apology. I'm very glad that you were unharmed during the incident." Art said looking through the window at Raylan who was on the phone at his desk.

"Did you get the bad guys?"

"Yes we did and their set up was just like you described it."

"How many guys were there?"

"Twelve."

"How many and what kind of guns did you confiscate?"

Art smiled at the inquisitive boy; he was Raylan's son through and through. "Quite a few fire arms were taken; we'll leave it at that." He said winking at Nate.

Suddenly a man in a suit was standing behind Nate. "Is this a good guy or a bad guy?" The man asked looking down at Nate.

"This guy here is one of the best. Why just yesterday he helped us take down a violent splinter group."

"He did now did he? Well we just might have another job for him. I need to use your computer, we're onto something."

"Thank you Nate, I'll see you later," Art said dismissing the younger Givens.

"Yes sir," Nate replied turning to leave.

"Wait a minute Nate, how old are you?"

"Eleven."

"Are you sure? You look young. You could easily pass for ten, maybe even nine." The man said his face deep in thought.

Art's eyebrows went up and he once again looked out of his office at Raylan who was still on the phone but was watching the small gathering in his boss's office. "What are you thinking Agent Timmons?"

"Nate is in the target group, he would be perfect."

"Perfect for what?" Nate asked suddenly interested in the conversation.

"Well Nate, I'm Jeff Timmons and I'm an agent with FBI and am working on an important case right now. Do you know what the FBI is?"

"Sure, the Federal Bureau of Investigations."

"Very good, we sometimes work on cases that cross state lines since the local police have to stay in their local areas. Right now we are tracking a very bad man who likes to be with little boys around your age."

"I'm not so little," Nate countered.

"I'm sorry you're right, but he is a man who likes to play with boys in ways that only adults should interact."

"You mean he's a pedophile?"

Agent Timmons looked back at Art who shrugged. "Yes that is right. We are having a hard time finding him."

"You want me to be the bait?" Nate asked excitedly.

"Agent we should not be having this conversation without a parent present," Art admonished.

"Right you are." He leaned over next to Art and whispered, "so are his parents pot growers, meth cookers? Why was he used? To help their case?"

"No his parent is standing behind you," Art pointed out.

Raylan had come into the office after sniffing FBI in the air. The agent turned around and smiled at the tall angry looking marshal standing there. "Marshal, how are you this fine day?"

"Just fine Agent?"

"Agent Timmons, I was just speaking with your boy here." He said sticking his hand out towards Raylan.

"Yeah I could see that." Raylan answered ignoring the extended hand.

"He said I could help them." Nate pitched in.

"Oh he did did he?" Raylan asked, glaring at the agent.

"We have been on the hunt for this man for a very long time and he keeps slipping from our grasp, we need a boy your son's age just to lure him out into the open. We would be right there our eyes on him the whole time. We would even equip him with two GPS devices in case we lost sight of him."

"But you said your eyes would always be on him," Raylan pointed out.

"They would be, we'll keep him safe."

"See Dad they'll watch me." Nate chimed in.

"No, no they won't be watching you because you won't be helping them," Raylan said with a tight smile as he looked down at his offspring.

"I wanna do it Dad, I can do it," Nate assured.

"Have you already forgotten what we talked about yesterday, about what I said?"

"What about what I said?" Nate said his voice elevated.

Raylan looked around the anger creeping into his face and voice. He grabbed Nate by the arm and looked around for some privacy eventually dragging him into the conference room.

In Art's office he shook his head at the agent. "You had no right to do that, and I shouldn't have let you. He is a little boy."

"Precisely," Agent Timmons stated, "and he is exactly what we need."

In the conference room Raylan was trying to regain some kind of composure. "How could you even think I would allow this?"

"But it will be different; I'll have lots of eyes on me. It will only take a minute and then they'll have the bad guy. I bet they'll even let you be there too." Raylan just stared up at the ceiling.

"This is not a good idea and what kind of father would I be to let you be so close to a known criminal. I would only be encouraging everything I had disagreed with yesterday."

"But this is different Dad; this is a set up; protective measures in place and all that; I'll be okay. Please let me do this. It has to be fate or something that put that agent and me in the same place at the same time." Nate said his eyes pleading.

Raylan sighed deeply and looked own at his son who was really working it; his face bunched up in an attempt to sway his father into agreeing. "Go sit at my desk and do not move."

Nate thought this might be good news so he scurried off and planted his butt in his father's chair. He watched his dad walk back over to Art's office walk in and close the door. "If you are going to use my son then I have one nonnegotiable request," Raylan began. Behind his desk Art tried to quash a smile.

"What's that?" Agent Timmons asked eager to get the details in place.

"I'm not only there but I'm with him, right next to him, the whole time…and I'm packing."

"Now Raylan I don't know how good of an idea that is," Art said coming around his desk.

The FBI Agent seemed to chew on the idea not wanting this golden opportunity to slip away. "Well I've just been online with him posing as a local man into the game and I know he is in Lexington."

"Look if I'm with my son then you can fade back a bit and not spook him, better chance of apprehension with nobody getting hurt."

"But how do we explain your presence?" The agent asked.

"Easy, he can be my drugged out father who is pimping me out," Nate said sneaking in the door.

Raylan took two giant steps towards his son. "I thought I told you to sit at my desk."

"You did, and I made use of my time there reading in article in the paper that was on your desk. It was about a woman who sold her fourteen year old daughter for drugs. You can be my drugged out father who gets money or drugs by letting guys have their way with me." The three men in the room stood silent staring at the boy whose face held nothing but sincerity. "What, it does happen, it's a good plan."

"Actually it is," Agent Timmons said. "You could be right next to him the whole time and with the exchange of money we would have even more to pin on him. You have a bright future ahead of you boy," he said smiling. Raylan once again searched the ceiling for some kind of answer.

"Okay Nate now go and sit at my desk again and if you move the deal is off," Raylan warned.

Nate looked back and smiled before he ran straight for his dad's desk. He sat down and looked as the three lawmen conversed cementing the plan.

"We can dress you both to look rag tag and marshal we have people who can make you look the part if you can sell it."

"Well as much as the thought of selling my son turns my stomach I think I can manage."

"We'll have people around the park but as you stated we can be much less intrusive. But I'm not sure about you carrying; he may pat you down fearing a double cross."

"And if he's armed then we are far too exposed and the deal will be off and no amount of my son's persuasion will get me to change my mind."

"Okay, let's get this set up so I can get back online and put this into motion. We can worry about the details later."

Nate was cruising through records on Raylan's computer while having solitaire minimized so he could switch if anybody came by. He was reading all about Boyd Crowder when Tim came up behind him.

"Looking for loopholes?"

"Nope just tired of moving cards around in the screen."

"They were buddies as children, so strange the paths that people end up on." Tim said nodding towards the screen.

"Life is full of loopholes, some fall into them, some avoid them, and some get run right over by them and sometimes you don't even know which one happens to you."

"How old are you?" Tim asked.

"Eleven." Nate said sounding defeated. He was so tired of being the youngest everywhere he went.

"Are you sure?"

Nate nodded and smiled as he speculated on what he had just said while looking at the picture of himself on Raylan's desk that had been taken a week before his mother's death. His smile slowly faded but before he could reminisce any longer the meeting broke up and Tim leaned over and quickly closed out the screen before Raylan made it over.

"We are going to meet with the FBI team in charge of this fiasco tomorrow morning for an afternoon meet and greet in the park. You'll have to miss school."

"Tragic," Nate said, feigning sadness.

"Boy, you are on such thin ice, getting us into all of this."

Tim unsure of what was going on decided to comment anyway. "He is your son."

"Don't I know it," Art added as he appeared next the group as Timmons headed towards the door.

"I want Tim there; we'll be safe if he's there." Nate declared.

"Why do you say that?" Raylan asked.

"Cause he doesn't miss."

"Of course," Raylan said dryly.

Raylan woke up in the middle of the night and at first was unsure why. But he quickly remembered what the next day was to bring. He got out of bed and walked down the hall do his son's room and silently watched the boy sleep. It seemed to be the only time Nate was ever at peace. Raylan had so many concerns about his son and the recent behavior. He would by no means call Nate suicidal but he gave in to recklessness much too easily as if the outcome to his actions didn't really matter. He had to fear that his son's quest to live was slowly melting like a snowman in early spring. He had seen a counselor regularly since his diagnosis but rarely opened up much anymore. Raylan stood a moment more before he wiped away a tear that he hadn't even known had fallen.