Matty and his dad walked to Doctor Pfaff's office. Pfaff was laying on his couch playing with a paddle ball. He was the only one of the agency psychiatrists that Matty felt comfortable with. Matty was pretty sure because he could tell Pfaff genuinely liked his parents. Plus it was easier to talk to someone when you knew they were just as or more nuts than you were.

They walked in, "Hey Pfaff. Here's Matty."

Pfaff smiled, "Thanks Lee. I got it from here. You know I have an opening at 3 if you need to talk as well. I know none of this is easy on you either and no offense, but you look awful."

His dad spoke, "Not today, Pfaff. I really don't have time. Appreciate you taking care of my boys, though."

Pfaff smiled, "Anytime, Scarecrow. Just let Amanda know that my fudge pop supply is starting to run a little low."

His father smiled a little, "I'll have one of the freshmen pick you up some. On me. Amanda has enough on her mind today."

His Dad left. Doctor Pfaff looked at Matty and signed, "I know it's still early, but would you like a fudge pop since we were discussing them?"

Matty nodded no. "No, sir."

Doctor Pfaff smiled, "Right. You can speak now. Your mother told me that. How's it going?"

Matty spoke, "It's going alright. I mean I thought I would feel different. But I'm still me. Being able to speak didn't change much except oh my gosh is it nice being able to use the telephone. Also, I really like being able to hear music again. My Dad gave me his old record player and his records. I really like the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan so far. My sister is trying to get me to listen to more modern stuff but I like the classic rock better. I kind of remember some of the songs from when I was little. It's nice."

Pfaff smiled, "I can imagine. How are you doing with seeing Lazlo again? That can't have been easy. Did the nightmares come back?

Matty nodded no, "Not yet, sir. I mean I know it's not right but somehow getting the upper hand with him last night. He was not as scary as I remembered. He was pretty easy to take down actually. It's just I think I would've killed him if my father hadn't pulled me off him. I kind of wanted to kill him. I shouldn't want to kill anyone should I?"

Pfaff took a bite of his fudge pop and then said, "That man hurt you. He hurt your sister. He threatened your family. Has been in your nightmares since you were a young boy. But killing a man. It changes you no matter how evil they are."

Matty looked at him, "My Dad has killed people. Evil people. I've seen him do it. I wanted to watch him kill Lazlo last night. I think he would have if the agency cars had not pulled up."

Doctor Pfaff sighed, "How would that have made you feel? If you had seen your father kill a man."

Matty looked at him, "It wouldn't be the first time. When I saw my father kill Gregor. It made me feel like nobody could ever hurt me again as long as I was near my father. I know it is messed up but it made me feel safe for the first time in my life. I didn't even know he was my father back then."

Doctor Pfaff nodded, "You are sixteen now and you know that Lee is your father. How would you have felt if you saw him do that now?"

Matty looked at him. "I know I should say I would be horrified. But I think it would be the same. My father will literally do anything to keep the people he loves safe. I mean anything. He has no regard for himself. He just cares about the people he loves. But I'm starting to get tired of always needing to be protected. I want to be able to protect myself. Help keep my family safe."

Doctor Pfaff smiled at him, "Well I think you have taken a lot of steps towards becoming more self-reliant. You finally overcame the block that was keeping you from speaking."

Matty looked at him, "That was not really me. When I had my surgery, they gave me some really strong stuff to combat the pain. The drugs made it so I could speak again."

Doctor Pfaff looked at him, "Matty, traumatic mutism is a tricky thing to treat even in hearing people. It was you, not the drugs that broke through that. I want you to remember that in case it ever recurs. You should be really proud of yourself. You are a very impressive young man."

Matty looked at him, "Thank you, sir. They were very strong drugs, though. I think they did help. When they wore off, I couldn't speak for a few minutes but then it was like I remembered how. I really wanted to be able to speak to be normal. I am finding out that I am not much different than I was when I couldn't hear. I maybe should not have done all this. It was selfish."

Doctor Pfaff looked at him, "What makes you think you were being selfish?"

Matty looked at him, "Things really weren't that bad before. Sure, I got bullied in my last school. That made me want to be normal. I'm starting to realize I'll never be normal. I scared my family. I hate being a problem."

Doctor Pfaff looked at him, "Has either your Mom or Dad ever called you a problem?"

Matty looked at him, "No, not in so many words but they worry about me so much. I don't like being the cause of them worrying."

Doctor Pfaff smiled at him, "It's a parent's job to worry about their children. What about you? Who do you worry about?"

Matty looked at him, "I worry about all of them. Especially my brother Phillip right now. He's not acting like himself. Is he alright?"

Doctor Pfaff smiled gently, "I think you should ask him that."

Matty looked at him, "I'm a little worried about my sister too. She never really had to deal with any of this stuff directly before. I mean she knows what happened but she's just a little kid. She gets scared sometimes. I know last night is not going to help."

Doctor Pfaff nodded, "Well if your parents need me to talk to her. I've counseled almost every member of your family except her. They just need to ask and I'll be happy too as long as your mother keeps the fudge pops coming."

Matty smiled a little, "Thanks sir. Can I ask you a question? Do you think I could become a full agent in the future with my PTSD and hearing issues? I mean I'm fine with desk duty or whatever. But it would be cool to be a full agent like my parents and Phillip one day."

Doctor Pfaff smiled, "Oh I think you would make a wonderful agent Matty. Most of the agents here suffer from some sort of PTSD. Hazard of the job. It's very common. You deal with yours very well. Now that you have gotten past the traumatic mutism. I think there's hope for you."

Matty looked at him, "Do you think it could come back? That I'll stop speaking again one day?"

Doctor Pfaff sighed "Unfortunately yes it could recur. But the key is knowing you can speak. Just remember that you can speak. Keep using your voice."

Matty smiled, "I will, sir. I think being able to speak is protecting me right now. Karbala does not know that I'm me. They think that I'm my cousin Joey."

Doctor Pfaff smiled, "I heard about that. That was brilliant thinking on your part. Now I do have another session in a few minutes. If you want to go back up to your parents. I am going to work out a schedule with your mother and come to the house again."

Matty looked at him, "We can do it in your office if you want. I mean we just used to do them at the house because Mom had a problem with me coming to the agency. I never really had a problem with the agency. I like being here."

Doctor Pfaff smiled, "I get fed better if I come to your house, Matty. Plus, your house is closer to my house than the agency. I live in Arlington too, remember?"

Matty nodded, "Oh yeah that's right. Thanks Doctor Pfaff. I think you might need to ask my parents for more than a lifetime supply of fudge pops if you have to counsel the whole family."

Pfaff laughed, "I'm good with just the fudge pops. I've known your parents for years. I consider them friends. Now you really need to clear out. My next appointment should be here any minute."

Matty looked at him, "I'm not supposed to go anywhere unescorted today. Can you bring me upstairs to my mom's office?"

Pfaff looked at him. "I can't leave the office, but I'll call up there. I'll have your mother come down and get you."

Doctor Pfaff dialed the phone and called his mother. He got Phillip instead who said he would be right down.

Phillip came about five minutes later. Matty was eating a fudge pop when Phillip came in.

"Want one?" Matty said.

Phillip nodded no, "C'mon Matty. Let's go back upstairs. Mom said to have you do the filing that's backing up in the vault."

Matty nodded. 'Ok. Are you sure that you are alright, Phillip?"

Phillip nodded, "Stop asking me that. I'm fine, ok? I had my therapy session."

Matty looked at him, "No its just you keep calling me Matty instead of little dude. It's weird."

Phillip smiled a little. "How is it weird if that's your name?"

Matty smiled, "Well it's just I like it better when you call me little dude."

Phillip put his arm around him, "I'm sorry, little dude. I think I just need a vacation after all of this. Irene, me and the kids."

Matty smiled, "Can I come?"

Phillip smiled, "It's up to Mom and Lee. But if they say yes. I'll take the runt and you with us in heartbeat."

They got to his Mom & Phillip's office. His mother wasn't there. Phillip showed him where to file.

Phillip spoke, "If you work here. This is the type of thing you will be doing a lot of. It's a little boring but you'll get to do some fun stuff too. It won't all be filing and typing up people's reports. Sometimes you get to get people coffee too. Working for Leatherneck is the most fun. I'll talk to Lee about assigning you to him. Except I feel like Dad might use you for himself. You have the advantage of being able to read his handwriting."

Matty looked at Phillip, "Well no I can't read all of it. But I know how to sound like him. That's what Mom does."

Phillip smiled, "You are going to do great this summer. You have it made because Doctor Smyth isn't here anymore and Francine is the big cheese. You probably won't have to get paired with Fielder or some of the other agents that don't like our family just to get taken down a couple pegs like I did."

Matty spoke, "It's ok if I do. I mean if they hadn't done that to you when you were starting out. I might not be here right now. Henderson probably would've killed me that day."

Phillip nodded, "Yeah, well I guess everything worked out. I just hope it works out this time. Things suck right now."

Matty nodded, "Yeah, they do. But it will get better. I'm not going to let anyone hurt our family. And I sure as hell am not going to be the one that hurts us all. No matter what they do to me."

Phillip grinned. "No, you won't. They are going to have to go through our entire family to even get near you."

Matty nodded, "Hopefully we can cut the head off the snake by catching Birol."

Phillip nodded, "Yeah, if Lee doesn't kill him. I think I will. I've never actually killed anyone yet. But I want to kill Birol."

Matty nodded, "Me too."

Phillip gave him a quick overview of how to file.

Matty filed everything away really quickly. It was easy. He was used to the way his mother organized things. He knew exactly how to put things away to make her happy.

As he was filing the last of the files his mother came up behind him. "Oh wow. It's cleaner in here then it's been in a long time. Phillip and I have been so busy we've been having the freshman agents do it."

Matty smiled, "Yeah well is there anything else I can do. You want me to go through any more Karbala files?"

His mother smiled, "No I was just coming to get you because we ordered some pizza downstairs for lunch."

He followed his mother into the bullpen. It was bustling and noisy. Much different from the quiet of last night. They went to his father's office. Phillip, Francine, Agent Watson and his father were all eating pizza.
Agent Watson was a very good-looking man. Matty could see why his mother kept teasing his father about him. He was in his early forties with dark hair, very blue eyes and was wearing a very nice blue suit.

His mother spoke, "Agent Watson this is my son, Matty."

Agent Watson smiled and Matty noticed how perfect his teeth and spoke with a very posh British accent "Hello young man, it is a pleasure to meet the future of the agency. I saw what you did to Lazlo. Very impressive."

Matty nodded, "Thank you, sir. It's a pleasure to meet you as well."

Matty grabbed a paper plate and a couple of slices of pizza and sat down next to Phillip.

His father spoke, "So Matty, here's the scoop. We have a young freshman candidate looks like he's about twelve years old. Your mother is calling him in. We are going to have him pose as being the real Alexander Stetson. In the meantime, we are going to have you stay here at the agency for a few days."

Matty looked at his parents, "What about school and my hearing aid fitting tomorrow?"

His mother spoke, "I spoke with Doctor Mcjohn. He is going to fit you for the hearing aid. We will send some agents over to pick it up and he'll take care of everything that needs to be done."

Matty nodded, "So I'm going to just live in the agency for a couple of weeks? I'm supposed to go back to school on Wednesday. They will be watching the school."

His father spoke. "We already called the school and told them you needed another week or so to recover. That there was a setback."

Matty nodded, "Ok. Can I call Jeff tell him that I'm alright? I have an autographed print of Jamie's I'm supposed to give him for his Mom. He's going to worry. He might come to the house. What if they mistake him for me? He doesn't know my whole family are spies."

His mother spoke, "I'll call him. We don't want you talking to anyone or being seen anywhere for a few days. It's better if we keep you out of sight."

Phillip spoke, "Jamie's stopping by later, right?"

His mother spoke, "Yes, Jaime is going to stop by this evening with a few things for Matty and some Chinese food for dinner. Then he is going to go to your father's house."

Phillip spoke, "So it's just going to be Grandma, Irene, and Agent Jump street at the house with the kids?"

His father spoke, "Jumpstreet? Actually that's pretty good. Sounds like we have a future code name for Saunders if he makes it that far in the agency. No, I'm assigning you to be their guard in the house. You need a break, Chief. You look awful."

Phillip sighed, "You do too, Lee. But I can do more good here than at home. Playing Death Demon with my kids and watching stupid movies is not going to help."

His mother spoke, "You can still help. Use the computer in the office. Do some research. Just you need to go home, Phillip. You really look awful. You aren't acting like yourself."

Phillip whined, "Lee looks worse. His hippie rock star beard is starting to make a comeback."

Their mother touched the side of Phillip's face, "Phillip, go be with your wife and kids. Would you want anyone else protecting them?"

Phillip smiled, "Besides Lee? I guess not. What do I tell them about Matty?"

His mother smiled, "Just tell them the truth, Alright?"

Agent Saunders came in the office. Matty looked at him. He did look like a teenager, but he didn't really look anything like Matty. He had light brown hair and was nowhere near as thin as Matty was.

'Hi Mrs. Stetson." Agent Saunders said.

"Hi Pete. Thank you for doing this. Do you mind dying your hair darker?"

He nodded no. Then his mother said, "Go down to fabrications. They are waiting for you. You'll need a scar on your ear as well. Matty show him your scar. They are going to give you a fake brand on your wrist as well."

Matty moved his hair. Agent Saunders looked at his scar, "That's why you were deaf?"

Matty nodded no, "The scarred ear is actually my good ear. I can actually hear out of this one now. I always could a little but really loud noises only. Now everything is a little muffled and I can't hear everything."

Then Agent Saunders looked at Matty's parents, "He can speak. I thought you wanted me to pretend to be mute."

His mother spoke, "We do. He just started speaking. Karbala doesn't know that. The picture they have of Matty is a couple of years old. He's a lot smaller and thinner and this picture. This was before his growth spurt."

Agent Saunders took the picture, "Oh wow this is only a couple of years old? You look like a different boy in this."

Matty spoke. "I guess.'

Agent Saunders spoke, 'There's only one problem with me doing this. I don't know sign language at all."

Matty spoke, "Just if you leave the house tap on my family members with your index finger. We all talk to each other in morse code all the time. I can teach you some basic words."

Matty demonstrated by tapping on Phillip, "This dude is a total dork."

Phillip smiled and tapped back, "Yeah he is."

His dad spoke, "We don't have time for Matty to teach him anything. Phillip can teach him. Matty was always a quiet kid anyway. Just let my family lead. They can all do the sign language. Just nod yes or no a lot. And don't actually speak when you go out. Once your hair is all set. Change out of that suit into more casual clothes. Phillip will take you to the house. Hope you like video games, pizza and dumb movies."

Phillip and Agent Saunders left the office.

His mother spoke, "Now we just have to figure out where to put you when you go to sleep tonight, Matty.'

Matty spoke, "I can just sleep on the couch in you and Phillip's office upstairs.'

His dad spoke, "Or one of the holding cells. There are real beds in there. I can have a tv brought in. Ernie's got a bunch of movies in his office if you want to watch some.'

Matty nodded, "No I'm good. I'd rather help by working. I can do more paperwork or filing.'

His dad smiled, "Kid, you don't need to. You aren't getting paid for any of this."

Matty nodded, "Yeah but I'd rather work. I need to help. I want to fight back."

His dad nodded, "Ok then. How about you go down with Leatherneck for a little while then? He's in the equipment room right now. He can always use help putting away that stuff.'

Matty smiled, "Yeah alright. Are you going to walk me down there?"

His dad looked at him, "No. it's alright you can just go by yourself. And Matty I just want to say how proud I am of you. You've been great. The way you've been handling yourself. I know none of this is easy for you. Maybe I'll see what i can do about getting you on the payroll now. All this work you've been doing. The vault looks almost as good as when your mom was doing the filing. We will come get you for dinner."

Matty nodded, "Ok, see you later, Dad."

Matty went down to Leatherneck's office, "Hey Mini-Ace."

Matty smiled, "Hi Leatherneck. My Dad sent me down to see if you needed help with anything."

Leatherneck looked at him, "Are you even getting paid for any of this?"

Matty smiled, "My dad is looking to get my on the payroll."

Leatherneck looked at him, "Do you have any type of clearance yet?"

Matty smiled, "Aunt Francine granted me an advance on my future clearance."

Leatherneck laughed, "Yeah, that's not a thing. The equipment in here. A lot of it is classified. Look I just have to put away a couple of things. Everything else can wait for later. I'll teach you how to get out of handcuffs and pick a lock."

Matty smiled, "I already can do that. My dad taught me all that stuff. I can go back upstairs if you want. Or I'll go see if Stamps wants some help doing data entry."

Leatherneck smiled, 'That stuff is all classified too, Miini-Ace. I know Doctor Smyth is retired. Your father has never been one to follow rules. But he has to be more careful letting you see and work on classified things without a clearance. I've worked here long enough to know it's the dumb stuff like that takes you down. Never the stuff you really did wrong. Let me just finish up here and we can go work on cars if you want. Or we could go to the virtual shooting range."

Matty smiled, "Working on cars would be cool. Got any good ones?"

Leatherneck smiled, "Nothing too exciting this week."

Leatherneck finished up and he followed him to the garage. Matty knew about cars but he was not as into it as Phillip and his father. Leatherneck taught him the proper way to re-upholster seats to hide the bullet holes. The rest of the day went by pretty smoothly.

His mother came and got him. She looked tired. "C'mon Matty, we ordered some Chinese food. We are going to go eat it upstairs.'

It was just him and his Mom and Dad. His dad spoke, "We set up a room for you for the night in one of the old holding cells. There's a couple of beds in there because your Mom and I are going to come join you after a while. Jamie dropped off a bag and some books at reception and the Chinese food for us. He sends his love. He's on his way to Joe and Carrie's now."

Matty looked at him, "Isn't Jamie a target too?"

His dad spoke, "Yes. But he's not an agent like Phillip is and no matter how I feel about him. He isn't technically my son. We have a lot of agency protection around Joe's house right now."

They ate the Chinese food. Afterwards his mother brought Matty to a holding cell. There were two beds in the room. There was a television on cart with wheels with a VCR and a stack of movies.

Matty looked at her, "I don't really want to sleep in a holding cell, Mom."

His mother went over to the door. "The door won't be locked. You aren't a prisoner. This is actually the same cell I found you in all those years ago. Your Dad and I will be down later to sleep in here later. "

Matty looked at her, "The door will be unlocked?"

She smiled, "Yes. And Matty if it makes you feel better. If the door accidentally locks for any reason" She went to the wall and knocked Pop Goes the Weasel. "The secret passageway still works. You are not a prisoner. This leads to the parking garage. There's a phone in here. But don't call home. They tapped our line. It's on purpose right now. We want them listening in so we can help sell that Agent Saunders is you."

Matty looked at her," Can I call Jeff?"

She nodded no, "No, none of your friends."

Matty smiled, "You mean friend. I only have one, Mom. Well, I guess Bobby Fergusen is too but we aren't that close. At least Rachel wants nothing to do with me. What about her? What if they were watching when she came over?"

His mother nodded, 'Matty if they didn't even recognize you. Then there's a good chance they aren't after Rachel. But we do have an agent watching her house as well for any sign of trouble."

Matty nodded, "Ok. Can I call Tony? He's in London. I doubt Karbala is watching him."

His mother smiled, "That shouldn't be a problem but Matty it's 8PM Eastern here right now. It's 1AM in London right now. How about we call him in the morning?"

"Ok. Now you just read one of your books or watch a movie or something. Your Dad and I just need to tie up a couple things. Then we will come down here for the night. We all need some sleep. Especially your father."

Matty looked at the two twin beds in the room. "Will you and dad fit in that little bed?"

His mother smiled, "It's bigger than the love seat upstairs. We'll be fine."

She smiled, "You rest now. Your daddy and I will be down to join you in an hour or two. Ok? Do you want me to steal some fudge pops or anything from Doctor Pfaff's office?"

Matty smiled, "No I'm good. I had one before lunch. I'm guessing more coffee is out of the question?"

His mother laughed, "Yes for tonight. You can have more coffee in the morning. There are hot chocolate packages upstairs. I'll bring you a hot chocolate when we come back."

Matty nodded. "Yeah alright, Mom."

Matty didn't feel like watching television. He just grabbed a book and went on one of the beds. He kept on reading the book. An hour passed, then a second hour passed. Where were his parents? He went to the phone and dialed his dad's office number. There was a busy signal.

Matty decided to give his parents a few more minutes. Then he would call again. He waited and then dialed the number. It was still busy. He then dialed his Aunt Francine's office. Her phone went to voicemail. Something must be going on. He wanted to find out what. He decided to go upstairs. His dad had let him go unaccompanied to Leatherneck's office earlier. He'd just use that as an excuse.

Nobody was really around anymore. It was just the night shift because it was almost 11 at night now.

Matty put his shoes on and went out of the holding cell. There weren't any guards at the station because it was the old section they didn't use anymore. He walked to the elevator and went up to the bullpen floor. He wanted to know what was going on. He walked to the bullpen. His parents were in the office with his Aunt Francine. They all looked upset.

They hadn't drawn the blinds so Matty could see into the office. He decided to watch them for a minute before he went in. If he read their lips without them knowing he was there. He would probably get more information.
"We should go tell Matty what is going on. He's liable to come up here if nobody tells him anything." His mother said.

His father spoke, "No, not yet. We'll just upset him. Maybe we don't tell him anything at all tonight. Just that we won't be downstairs with him. Or there's no reason for us both to leave, Amanda. You could stay here with Matty."

His mother spoke, "No Lee, I'm coming too, that's my baby Karbala took."

Matty's heart dropped. They must have gotten Leann somehow. Except she was talking to his dad. If it was Leann wouldn't his mother have said our baby?

Notes:

Don't worry I triple backed up the next chapter. You'll find out which of the kids it is very soon. The hijinks are about to go next level.

Next chapter - Not saying what happens next chapter other than Matty befriends a security guard who has a pet parrott named Patrick.