Standard Note: Not my characters.

Author's Note: ! I'm so happy that you're enjoying these little drabbles. I know we don't have any official word about what comes next for these rays of sunshine, but until we do, let's keep the party going, shall we?

Day 33

RJ saw that his mom was different. Not a bad different, just... different.

To him, everything was different now.

Once—before—when he'd woken up in the middle of the night and asked for juice, her eyes were red when she brought it to him. It looked like she'd been crying, but when he'd asked her what was wrong, she whispered, "Nothing is wrong, sweetheart" and told him a story about the Brave Man until he fell back asleep.

It was confusing because as he closed his eyes and felt her kiss on his forehead, he thought he saw her eyes get wet again.

A couple of times when he'd knocked on her door to ask her to play or to watch a new trick, he heard her sniffling before she answered. Judith said it was because she was sad the Brave Man wasn't there to play with them and that she missed him so much, but that RJ didn't have to worry because they would all be okay.

They told him that sometimes—not to worry. He knew neither of them wanted him to, but he saw how sad they looked sometimes when they thought he wasn't watching and it made him sad, too.

But it was different now.

Because now the Brave Man—dad—was there.

Now they both were so happy.

Now his mom laughed more, really laughed.

Yesterday he heard her singing when it wasn't even bedtime!

Judith was a lot happier, too, he could tell. She didn't go out into the woods as much any more.

And now when they took their walks and had their Family Fun Days, there wasn't an empty space that couldn't be filled.

He even had a special name—Junior. His dad was the only person who called him that and he loved it.

It wasn't just his mom and sister, either—RJ noticed that everyone else was acting different, too. People kept coming by their house those first few days. Some started being nicer to his mom, probably because his dad was there watching. He even heard some people tell his mom that they were sorry, but he didn't know what for. If Judith knew, she wouldn't tell him and when he asked his mom, all she said is that sometimes it's hard for people to believe.

Except that didn't make sense to him because everyone should believe. He did.

And because he did, everything was different now.