"Want to go fishing tomorrow?" asked Stephen as he came into the house a few minutes later

"Sure," said Mikkel.

"You would have to be willing to get up at dawn," said Stephen.

"I could do that," said Mikkel. "I haven't been sleeping well lately anyway."

"So I heard, but we're here to solve that not make it worse," said Stephen. "So let's keep an optimistic attitude shall we?"

Mikkel nodded but didn't comment, just grateful for all the people who loved and cared about him.

~~~The Kidnapping~~~

The next morning, Mikkel was up before dawn because he had awoken screaming his head off. Stephen had come in to see him and make sure he was okay. "These dreams have got to stop," Mikkel said. "If I don't get a decent night's sleep soon I feel as if I'm going to fade away like a ghost."

"Marcus warned me they were bad, but I didn't think they were this bad," said Stephen, sympathetically. "Well, you might as well get up and get dressed you would have had to be up in an hour or so anyway to go fishing."

A little later, Mikkel and Stephen were out on a big lake a few miles away from Silverton. All was quiet then Stephen said quietly, "Let me tell you a true story." He was silent for a little looking pensive and sad and Mikkel waited patiently for him to continue. "I had a sister named Peg. Then one day, I was set to watch her. The phone rang and I took my eyes off her for no more then a couple of minutes at most. When I got off Peg was gone. I searched frantically and finally thought of the neighbor's pool, which Peg had always been fascinated with and usually she could swim like a fish, but that particular day something went wrong. When I found her she was already faced down in the pool. I pulled her out, but I didn't know CPR at that time and by the time the paramedics arrived it was to late—Peg was dead. Our parents never blamed me at least not out loud anyway, but I blamed myself and for years I carried that burden of guilt with me. It's one of the reasons I became a paramedic so I could help people." The sadness and heartache in Stephen's voice made Mikkel want to cry. He could tell Stephen was still suffering from his sister's death even after thirty years.

"And the moral of this story is?" asked Mikkel.

"The moral is maybe you need to forgive your brother—like I forgave myself for Peg's death—for what he did to you and in so doing forgive yourself. Only then will the nightmares stop," Stephen replied.

"I don't know if I can forgive him," said Mikkel looking out at the water of the lake in thoughtful silence. His brother had done a lot of things to him and he didn't know if he was ready to forgive and forget. But Stephen was also right if he didn't forgive his brother and give it all to God then the nightmares would continue until they drove him onto the brink of insanity. The longer he waited however, the harder it would become until it would be nearly impossible without a great deal of emotional anguish. Even he knew that the longer you let such negative emotions reside within your heart the harder they were to get rid of—especially ones that had had time to become deeply entrenched.

"You must try or the nightmares will continue to plague you. Those nightmares are trying to tell you something. I'm no psychiatrist, but they would likely tell you the same. All that guilt and anger will keep eating away at you sometimes for years and when you least expect it—attack. That's where the nightmares come from you know, all your fear and anger and hate are coming out in your dreams and will eventually effect your life in a negative way."

Mikkel was thoughtful the rest of the day and very little else was said. Stephen gave him plenty of time to think. He knew his nephew needed to work out the problems on his own—he just couldn't give Mikkel the solution, because the solution had to be wrought within the boy's own heart and that had to be done by Mikkel alone and no one else.

~~~The Kidnapping~~~

"Hey, why don't I teach you to whittle?" Stephen suggested when he found Mikkel sitting on the front steps the next day just staring out at the blue of the sky.

"Is it hard to learn?" asked Mikkel.

"It depends if you have any natural talent or not, but no, not really," said Stephen. "You either have the talent or you don't it's that simple." He gave Mikkel a piece of wood and told him, "Let your thoughts drift, put the knife to the wood and just start carving without thinking about it. The more you think the harder it is to do."

Mikkel did as he was ordered and let his thoughts drift back to the time of when he had first met the O'Malley's. It had been Christmas two months after he had first come to live with Marcus and Shari. He had been nervous about meeting the family he had heard so much about and Marcus had told him there was nothing to be nervous about, that he would like the family. He had been nervous all the same—not that he would like them—but that they would like him. He had tried not to fidget as he sat waiting for their flight to be called.

He had met them a few hours later and his life had changed forever. They had made him feel like one of the family right from the beginning. They had told him stories and given him gifts and generally treated him like one of the family. They hadn't cared that he hadn't been born an O'Malley—to them it hadn't mattered. Mikkel smiled, as he thought back to his first meeting with Marcus and Shari. After he and his brother had been carted down to the police station he had expected to spend a night in jail and then be either carted to an orphanage or to be taken to juvie hall. Instead Marcus and Shari had offered him a choice—a chance to come live with them or off to the orphanage he went. He had chosen the first choice and they had immediately started making him feel like a member of the family and less then a year later he had become a member of the family—they had legally adopted him, so that he had become an official O'Malley.

His thoughts were interrupted when Stephen came and sat down beside him. "You've been out here for over an hour. Marcus and Shari are on the phone and would like to see how you're doing."

Mikkel nodded and went in to talk to his parents leaving his carving behind. Stephen picked it up and looked at it. What he was looking at was incredible—it looked exactly like Marcus and Shari holding hands all it lacked was a few finishing touches to finish it.

~~~The Kidnapping~~~

"I'm fine mom," Mikkel assured her. "Uncle Stephen took me fishing yesterday. We caught some bass and trout."

"I'm glad you're doing okay," Marcus said, having picked up the phone in the den. "Are the nightmares still bothering you?"

"Yes," Mikkel said. "But not as bad as they did in the city."

"That's good," said Marcus. "Soon you'll have catch up work to keep you busy. We'll be sending you your assignments in the mail."

Mikkel groaned and Marcus chuckled. "We can't allow you to get so far behind that you'll have to stay back and take summer school, but there's that Disney World trip to think about. If you're in summer school we won't be able to take you."

Mikkel made a face that Marcus couldn't see but only said, "I'll be waiting for it and I'll try to get it done as quickly as possible."

"You don't have to spend all day on it, just do four or five assignments a day and you'll have it all done in no time. You'll still have time for fun to," Marcus said. "You have Stephen and Meghan to help you if you have any trouble with any of it.

"We'll talk to you tomorrow," said Shari. "We love you."

"I love you to," said Mikkel. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

~~~The Kidnapping~~~

The days after that passed as routine. In the morning, he ate breakfast that Meghan cooked then worked on his homework for a couple of hours then he was free to do what he wanted. He sometimes helped Stephen with his carpentry work, by taking over the sanding job, when his Aunt Meghan couldn't or didn't have time for. The mindless work gave him time to think and the more thinking he did the more he began to realize that his dreams would never stop until he forgave his brother in his heart.

On his next to last day, there he went and sat out by the creek, dipping his bare feet in the water. He then looked up at the sky and did the hardest thing he had ever done in his life. "God, I ask you to take away the hate I feel in my heart towards my brother and I ask you to reach out to him in prison to change that hate he feels towards me and the rest of the world inward to look at himself."

Mikkel felt a peace settle over him, a peace he had never known ever since his mother was killed.

~~~The Kidnapping~~~

Marcus and Shari arrived late morning on the day he was to go home to find Mikkel waiting on the front porch for them. "Ready to go?" asked Marcus.

Mikkel nodded. "I hate to leave," he said almost wistfully. "It's so peaceful here."

"You'll always be welcome back anytime," said Meghan coming out of the house. "It's good to see you Marcus, Shari."

"You to Meghan," said Shari. "Do we get to see those children of yours before we leave?"

"Their out playing with some of their friends," said Meghan. "But I'll make sure they know you asked about them."

"Bye Mikkel," said Stephen walking up and giving his nephew a hug. "You're welcome to come back anytime you want whether you have a problem or not," he teased his nephew.

"Thanks for everything Uncle Stephen," said Mikkel hugging him back. You could tell by his tone that he meant more then he was saying.

"Let's get going," said Marcus. "It's a long drive back and we have a flight to catch. Thanks for everything Stephen." His tone conveyed a deep-seated appreciation that spoke volumes about their relationship.

"No problem, we enjoyed his company," said Stephen, affectionately ruffling Mikkel's already wind blown hair.

Mikkel followed his parents to the car after Marcus had collected his bags and loaded them in the trunk of the rental car and they were on their way back to Chicago and from there—home. That word had never sounded more beautiful to him then it had at that moment and he began to realize that his home was wherever the O'Malleys were for they had done what most people wouldn't even have considered doing—they had given him a place to call home.

THE END