After dinner the entire family went downstairs. His mom chose The Wizard of Oz for them to watch together as a family. He was going to go sit with his father. But his dad had Leeann on his lap. His mom just grabbed him and had Matty sit on her lap.

Matty fell asleep during the movie. He woke up and he was in bed next to his dad. He rubbed the sleep out of his face. He looked at the clock it was 8:00am. His dad opened his eyes and smiled at him. "You woke up. No nightmares?" Matty nodded no.

"Alright well let's go wash up a little bit. Then we can go upstairs." They washed up. Then Matty helped his dad up the stairs. His dad went straight for the coffee maker. He poured them each a cup.

His mom walked into the kitchen. "Lee what are you doing upstairs? You should be in bed. Or should have at the very least gotten me or one of the boys to help you with the stairs." His dad looked at her. "Amanda, its fine. Matty helped me. If I can make it from London to DC. I can do one set of stairs. Where is everybody?"

"Well mother is having breakfast with the gardening club. You can get away with just having coffee for breakfast today. I may even have a stale roll for you as well. Phillip took Leeann to school and then he was going to work. Jamie is still sleeping."

"Nope. I'm awake now. Morning family." Jamie came to the kitchen table. "I am going to head out in a little bit. The paper gave me the week off to deal with my family issues. But they want me to go take some photos of the senate hearings while I am down here. So, I have to leave in a little bit. But I'll be back this afternoon. Maybe I can take Matty to the park this afternoon if he is up for it."

His mom gave them each some cereal. And she did put a roll in front of his father. He smiled at her. After Jamie and Matty finished eating. Jamie left the house. He was alone with his parents.

Then the three of them went to the living room couch. The three of them sat down on the couch. His mother got a serious look on her face. "I am glad we have the house to ourselves right now. There's something your dad and I want to talk to you about." His dad touched his face.

"God this is hard. Look Matty I am just staying here in the house temporarily until I get a little better. In a week or so I am going to be moving into Phillip's apartment. He doesn't use it that often. I used to live in that building. It is not that far away. If you need me, I can be here in fifteen – twenty minutes tops." Matty was not going to not live with his dad. There was no way. "Where you go. I go. I'm going with you then." His dad sighed. "You can't kid. Legally your mom is your guardian. I am just your great uncle on paper. I have no rights to you at all. Besides this is your home. I want you to grow up here." Matty was getting angry. "I don't want to grow up here. I won't stay here if you leave. I will follow you. I don't care." His mother put her hand on his shoulder. "What is he saying Lee?" His dad's eyes were sad and full of guilt. "He doesn't want me to leave."

His mother spoke. "Matty sweet boy. I am not going to keep your daddy away from you. You and your sister will see him all the time. I'm sure of that. But it needs to be this way. Ok?" Matty's eyes were filling with tears, and he nodded no. Then he tapped on his dad "I don't want to live here. I want to live with you. Mom has three other kids. She doesn't need me. You do. I want to go home. I wish we never came here." His dad told his mother what he just said.

Matty started crying. His mom tried to grab him, but he was angry with her. He gave her a nasty look and pushed her away forcefully. Then her eyes filled with tears. He could tell that he had hurt her feelings.

His dad looked at him, "Hey that wasn't nice pushing your mother away like that. Apologize." Matty nodded no. "I am not apologizing. I am going with you no matter what. There is nothing either one of you can say or do that will stop me." Matty ran off into his room and slammed the door. He sank tothe floor in the corner of the room and started crying. He just wanted things to go back to the way they were.
It was nice having more family. He did love his mother too. But she had to understand his father had saved him from the warehouse. His dad had killed the scariest person in Matty's life. From the moment they escaped the warehouse. They were always together.

The first time they were separated was when Matty started going to school. And his father had taken a job at the college that was right next to his school but even then, his father was just across the parking lot.

The door opened and his mom came in. He could tell she had been crying too. She came and sat cross legged in front of him. She touched his hair. "I'm sorry sweet boy." She said and touched his face. "I know all of this has been hard on you. All this change. You have been through so much. Now you are living in a different country. Having all these new relatives. It's overwhelming right?" Matty nodded yes. She kissed the top of his head.

"I'm not mad at you about before, ok? I understand how close you and your daddy are. Why you got so upset. But you were wrong about one thing. I do need you. I'll always need you. You 're my sweet boy. When I lost you. I thought about youand missed you every single day. I used to have dreams about you. In the beginning they were mostly dreams where I could feel how scared and sad you were. After the warehouse exploded. I had dreams where you seemed happy and were laughing a lot in them. Those dreams scared me because you were with Lee in them. I thought maybe you had been killed."

His mom's eyes were tearing up again, "I love you so much. Look I'm going to go downstairs and talk it over with your father. Figure out a compromise that works better for everyone. I promise I am not going to keep him away from you. Ok? Can I hug you?" Matty smiled a little at her. She hugged him. "I love you." She said. Matty tapped "I LOVE YOU" on her forehead. "Why don't you lie down on the bed for a little bit? Its more comfortable than the floor."

Matty went over to the bed and laid down on it. He felt a little better, but he was still upset. He didn't feel like reading so he just re-played soccer matches in his head. He wasn't sure how much time had passed but the door of his room opened again, and his parents came in.

His dad sat on the bed and said, "How are you doing Buddy?" Matty tapped on him. "I'm ok. Dad. I'm sorry I got so upset before." His dad nodded. "It's alright kid. You have been through a lot." Then his dad said, "So your mom and I had a really long conversation. We came to a decision. I am going to be moving out of the basement, but it will be a lot closer than Phillip's apartment." Matty thought about it. Well, if he moved into Grandma's loft and grandma moved into the basement. That would be ok with Matty. He tapped. "Are you going to switch with Grandma?" His dad laughed.

"No, your grandma needs her space. Even closer than that. Just down the hall. Tell Phillip to pay up. You just won the bet, kid."

Notes:

Finally! Way to go Matty being Lee's wingman. But we missed what was the best of the off-screen conversations. Amanda came to the realization that her not being with Lee was hurting Matty. So, when she went downstairs, she seduced Lee. She did it for the children. LOL

I originally was going to drag the bet on for a little bit longer. Was going to make it so Jamie won by one day. But I needed the basement cleared for the next part of the story.

Next chapter - Matty & Jamie go to the park and encounter a mysterious woman.