Ryan slept better than he had in months. It was the most comfortable bed he had ever remembered sleeping in, not that that was saying much. The thing that made the room the most comforting, though, was that it had a lock. Sure Sandy probably had a key, but it was still nice have a semblance of privacy.

He stretched in the bed, torn between letting himself enjoy it and letting himself stress over all of his life's uncertainties. His wrist loudly voted for the latter. It had been years since he had broken his wrist, but he was pretty sure this was exactly what it had felt like. His knee, on the other hand, didn't seem to be giving him much trouble. That was nice. Maybe he couldn't fight with his broken arm, but if his legs were fine he could flee if needed. It was still a little sore so hopefully he wouldn't need to flee anytime soon.

He sighed. He was hungry. Sandy had said that he could have anything in the kitchen. He had meant it, hadn't he? Ryan might as well find out. It was easier getting down the stairs with no one watching him. Was Sandy waiting for him in the kitchen? Didn't he have a job or anything? Did he leave Ryan in his giant house unsupervised?

He heard the TV on in a room he hadn't seen yet. Sandy was probably in there. He decided to hobble that way first and see if he would say anything about eating.

To his surprise, not only was it not Sandy in the living room, but it was a teenage boy and a little girl. Did this guy collect children or something? The boy was sitting on the floor playing a video game, the little girl was playing with a couple of dolls on the couch behind him.

"Hey." The boy paused his game and looked at Ryan, sizing him up.

"Who are you?" Ryan answered. Even with a broken wrist, he knew he didn't have to be afraid of this kid.

"Well, according to a DNA test," he paused and glanced behind him at the little girl who was watching him talk, "siblings" he finished. He gestured with his eyes to the little girl. Upon hearing an apparently new word, she stopped what she was doing and turned to the boy on the floor.

"What's a sibling?"

"It's a really awesome person. Anyway. I'm Seth, this is Rosie. Say hi, Rosie."

"No." She went back to doing whatever she was doing and the boy, Seth, rolled his eyes.

"So. There's food in the kitchen like eggs and pancakes and toast. But all of those things require assembly so there's cereal too." They stared at each other for another moment before Ryan walked to the kitchen to pour himself some cereal.

Sandy walked into the kitchen to see Ryan sitting at the counter, poking at a bowl of cereal. He smiled.

"Hey, kid."

"Sandy." He looked over to see his wife breezing through the kitchen.

"Hey, honey. What're you doing home?"

"Outside. Now." He gave his new son a reassuring smile and a pat on the back that made him flinch so severely, he almost fell out of his chair. He made the mental note of no touching along with one that said his case worker's suspicions about his past were probably right. He rubbed his face and sighed. "What happened to his face, Sandy?"

The Kirsten was angry. Furious. He probably should have woken her up and filled her in on the details when he had gotten home. He sighed.

"I don't know. I didn't ask him."

"Did you ask the people at the prison?"

"Aw, honey. They have no idea what's going on there. If I've learned anything over the last twenty-four hours, it's that that is a terrible place."

"Is he violent, Sandy?"

"Did you see the way he flinched when I touched him? I doubt he is."

"Is that why Rosie slept in bed with us last night?"

"I was just being safe. Overly cautious. Probably for no reason."

"If you have any doubt about him hurting our children, why would you bring him here?"

"He doesn't have anybody else. Look. I just met with his social worker who gave me his file. There's nothing about him being violent in it."

"Why was he arrested?"

"He tried to steal a car." He decided to power right through her inevitable interruption. "I don't think it was his idea. His brother got arrested too but he had a ton of priors for stealing and assault. I think he just dragged his little brother along. There's no real charges pressed against him. Other than this, his record's clean. They didn't even tell him why he got the DNA test or who I was. He's spent his entire life thinking some other guy was his father. He didn't even find out that guy wasn't his biological dad until he saw me standing out in the lobby. I feel awful. He looks like a good kid. I already made him an appointment with Dr. Chu."

"Has he said anything to you?"

"I was gonna ask you. He said less than ten words to me."

"Really? The entire ride and everything?"

"I'm not sure if it's because of the shock of everything or what."

"Well, if he really is your son, he should start talking soon." Sandy relaxed at her joke knowing that he had won over The Kirsten. For now. He still really had no idea who the boy in his kitchen was and he hoped he wasn't going to cause any problems. Kirsten kissed him and walked back inside. "I only stopped by to grab a file so I'm going to head back to the office. It was nice to meet you Ryan."

Ryan gave a small wave, but she didn't turn around to see it. He swallowed his mouthful of cereal and looked at his new father.

"You have a family." The man looked confused.

"Yeah. Jeez, I didn't tell you anything did I. I'm sorry, kid. This is all really overwhelming for me too. Yes. That is Kirsten, my lovely wife of almost eighteen years and those are our two beautiful children, Seth and Rosie."

Ryan stared back down at his cereal. He was skeptical about being thrown into the house of a strange man, but now he was shoved into the house of a strange man with a wife and two kids. He learned from his stint in foster care that the danger of the situation had now tripled. A husband and father could still be psychotic or perverted, now he had to additionally deal with whatever trouble the rest of the household would bring him, and then he would have to suffer the consequences of their actions and lies from his 'father.' He wondered when he would get to go home to his mother and why she had put him in this situation in the first place.

"When you finish up eating, why don't you go get dressed so we can get going to the doctor?"