Nick tried to force a grin in return, trying to shrug it off. Yet, he couldn’t help than to think of all people, why is it that they were so set to help him? They could’ve easily booked him and released him back on the streets, but instead, here he was, standing in a huge, redone and refurnished place, a new shelter to stay, and would soon be feasting on a home cooked meal.

No one was ever this nice to him, ever. He learned things the hard way, and learned that in life nothing is ever handed to you, that you have to go out there and take it… just like those men took his family away from him. He wasn’t sure what to think of this whole situation, and he could fell his hard shell begin to resolve a bit, but he wondered if he should bring back his hard exterior, just in case. The last thing he wanted for these guys to take him in, treat him nice for a bit, and then throw his ass back out on the streets, or into an orphanage. He needed to see if these guys were the truth.

“Hey, you okay?” Brian asked, concerned of how Nick suddenly became quiet and seemed withdrawn.

Nick snapped out of his trance, looked over at Brian and gave a light smirk, “Sorry, I’m fine. Just trying to wrap my mind around all that you guys are doing for me I suppose.”

Brian wrapped his arm around Nick’s shoulder, pulling him in close as he ruffled his hair once more, “Don’t think about it too much kid, you’ll come to see us like family soon enough!”

Family… he was just fine with his “family” on the streets, why did they want him to join theirs so bad? He was again broken out of his thoughts when he heard the front door to the… fire house open, revealing both Howie and AJ, who were carrying in loads of groceries. He didn’t even realize that both he and Brian had walked back out into the living room.

“Where’s Vern and Harry?” Howie asked as he carried the groceries into the kitchen. “There’s more stuff in the car that needs to be grabbed.”

Brian shrugged as he walked over to begin unpacking the groceries and start putting them away, “Not sure. They were still outside when Nick and I had came in, and I had just got done giving Nick here the tour of the place.”

Howie looked over at Nick and smiled, “And how do you like it so far?”

“Like it? I love it!” Nick replied in a less enthusiastic tone he had used earlier with Brian; he was really battling with his thoughts of being here, though loving it. “It’s amazing.”

“Did you show him the game room?” AJ asked as he came up from behind to place the groceries he was carrying on the counter as well.

Brian chuckled and rolled his eyes, “Yes AJ, I showed him the game room and all, told him it was all your idea.”

AJ beamed proudly, “You wouldn’t happen to be a billiard player, would you?”

Nick shook his head as he glanced over at Brian, in hopes he could save him from this question. He couldn’t. “I, uh… I don’t even know how to play that.”

AJ gave a lopsided smirk as he slapped a reassuring hand down on Nick’s shoulder, “Don’t worry dude, I’ll teach you how.”

Howie rolled his eyes, “You’re talking to the best and only pool player here. He’s taught us all, in hopes to give himself better competition.”

“There’s a reason I got that pool table,” AJ tried to explain, “and there’s no way in hell that I brought that to shoot pool by myself, so of course I need some competition!”

“Where the hell are those two?” Howie grumbled once more about Vernon and Harry as he walked out of the kitchen.

“Did Kevin mention what time he’d be off?” Brian asked as he began to stock some items into the large refrigerator.

AJ shook his head, “He just mentioned that he had to finish up some reports before he headed here. Figured we’d best straighten up his room as well… from the sound of it, he doesn’t seem close to finishing up his reports, so… another late night for Richardson.”

Brian nodded as he finished stocking in the last of the cold groceries into the refrigerator. “Oh, and Nick’s clothes?”

“Still in the car.” AJ replied as he jabbed his thumb in the direction of where the car was parked.

“Why don’t you and Nick go grab his clothes from out of the car, and then you can show him where he’ll be staying. After that, you two can go ahead and fix up Kevin’s room while Howie and I get started on dinner.”

“What about the rest of the stuff in the car?” AJ questioned as he began making his way out of the kitchen.

“That’s why Howie went to round up Vern and Harry.”

Nick followed quickly behind AJ, “Thank you, for picking out clothes from me.”

AJ shrugged as he led them out to the car, “Not a problem kid.” he said as he reached in to grab the bags of clothes and handed it over to Nick, “I’m hoping it’s the right size.”

“If anything, I’ll make it fit and work.” Nick said as he continued to grab the bags AJ was handing over to him. “I, uh… I heard you know a thing or two about fashion.” he stated, trying to keep the conversation going.

“A thing or two.” AJ repeated as scooped up the remaining bags and closed the car door, “Not like I’m a guru or something, I just love shopping is all.”

“I guess I’d love shopping too, if I could do that.” Nick bit out sadly.

AJ shrugged, “Eh, you can do anything you set your mind to kid.” he replied, not wanting to give Nick pity. Little did Nick know, but AJ was once in his shoes; the only difference was, AJ was rebellious and independent, he sought pity and wanted help from no one. He even refused Kevin’s offer a few times, but one good thing about Kevin is his persistence and persuasion. Nick, on the other hand, was still a young soul, with a different and tragic story, so perhaps it was normal for him to seek pity to an extent. “You want to go shopping, you do whatever it is you need to to get you there, and you do it.” he continued.

Nick looked up at the mysterious young man as they walked back into the house. He had wanted to ask him questions, get to know him a little bit more, but figured he best ask his questions in a more private setting.

“Boy, let me tell you, you’ll come to love this place.” AJ said as they began their ascent up the flight of spiral stairs. “You’ll be taking the third level with me.”

“Why are you rooming all the way at the top?” Nick asked, truly curious.

AJ shrugged, “Besides the fact that I was the youngest,” he stressed the word “was“, “I kind of liked the feeling of being all alone up here. Brian takes the second level, along with Vern and Harry, if they decide to stay, and both Howie and Kevin’s rooms are on the first level. Also, I was the only one that cared to slide down the pole from the third floor… my bones are still young.” he joked.

Nick laughed as they finally made it to the third floor. As AJ began to make his way towards Nick’s new room, Nick had walked over towards the railing, wanting to look over. Below, he saw Howie walk in, with Vernon and Harry trailing in behind him. “Wow.” he breathed out.

“Amazing, huh?” AJ asked as he walked up beside him. “That was the reaction I envisioned when I thought of this layout. I thought it’d be cool to do something different and abstract, to have us look out over our makeshift balconies from the first, second and third level, peering out over the living room.”

“This place is like a mansion!” Nick said as he turned around and walked away from the railing.

AJ turned away as well and directed Nick to follow him into his new room, “Yeah, it took a while for us to get this place looking how it does… took a lot of blood, sweat, tears and money… but it was all well worth spent.”

AJ opened the door to Nick’s new room and flicked the light on, revealing the new spacious room to him. Nick walked in and looked over the simple furnishing in his room… a bed, dresser, end table, lamp, desk, closet… even a window for him to open to look out of, and to breathe fresh air. This all felt right.

“How did you guys pay for all this stuff?” Nick asked as he flounced down on his new bed.

AJ shrugged as he walked in as well, placing the bags of clothes down on Nick’s bed, “Like I said, it took years for us to get to this point. We all contributed money here and there to make things possible, and if anything, spent money on whatever else we wanted for this place… case in point, I invested getting a pool table for the game room, while Brian bought a pinball table and Howie invested in most of the weights and sets in the gym room. It is truly mi casa es su casa here.”

“And you guys really want me to stay here? You guys don’t mind.”

AJ sat down on the bed next to Nick, “One of these days, you’ll come to learn more about Captain Richardson, and come to see how genuine and soft hearted the man is. Though he strives to help as much people as he can, he carefully selects the people he lets close to him. He got this place for all of us to live in, because we had nowhere else to stay, surely we couldn’t all live with him and his wife! You had his cousin who moved from Kentucky and needed somewhere to stay, you had Howie that moved here as well to help out instead of living in some place on his own, and then you have me.”

“And what about you?” Nick questioned, “What’s your story?”

AJ sighed, “Long story short, I’m an only child. My mom was young when she had me, so she gave me up for adoption. As for my father, well… I don’t know much about him, only that he was years older than my mom. So, that’s two parents absent in my life, leaving me to grow up and go from family to family. I think I was around your age when I got tired of being passed around, so I ran away. Like you, I lived most of my life out on the streets, but I was by myself, just trying to get by. I kept bumping into Howie when he was just an officer, and he tried so hard to keep me out of trouble. I really didn’t understand why he cared anyway, but one day I had crossed the line.”

Nick tucked his legs up underneath him, now sitting Indian style on the bed, growing more intrigued with AJ’s life story, “What did you do?”

“Well, as Howie continued to try and keep me out of trouble, I just asked him not to send me back to the orphanage I ran away from. I should’ve known better that those people would catch wind of my whereabouts, not through Howie of course. They eventually caught me and tried to bring me back in, and of course, being the young, rebellious kid I was, I wasn’t gonna have that. I tried to set the orphanage on fire.”

Nick’s eyes widened, “What?”

AJ chuckled at the distant memory, “Yeah… luckily I didn’t get far with that though. I had only set fire to part of the boys’ bathroom before I was caught and the fire was extinguished. My intentions weren’t to hurt anybody… just burn down the place that handed me to complete strangers like I was nothing but an unwanted dog. That was the line I had crossed, and Howie had to arrest me for arson. It was then that I had met Captain Richardson, and to my surprise he had met up with the people from the orphanage and arranged to adopt me. They took me in, and, well… the rest is history.”

Nick let his eyes cast downwards, trying to digest it all. “I don’t get it…” he said as he shook his head, “Why is the captain so set on helping kids like us? Why is he helping any of us?”

AJ remained silent, truly thinking Nick’s question over. He had asked himself that same question, time and time again, and although he had lived with these people for the last five years of his life, he couldn’t help than to wonder why him? “You know… I still ask myself that question to this day. After realizing exactly what it was that my mom and dad did, which was give up their only child, I believed there was no good in this world, and that everyone was just as fucked up as I was. You can ask Howie, it took a long while for them to gain my trust, but to them it didn’t matter if it would take years… they wanted to give me something I’ve never had. They wanted to give me a family, to give me not just parents, but siblings… they wanted to give me a second chance at living life how I should and prove to me that though we live in a fucked up world, that there are still some good people in it, and it’s up to us to take the bad in the world and make it good. I guess you could say that the captain lives to help others, and takes pride in watching us grow and pass on the good deeds that were done for us.”

Nick continued to stare at AJ; he understood the explanation just fine, he probably just would never understand how he got to be so lucky. “Though I considered the guys I used to live on the streets with my family, the funny thing was… I never wanted another family, and I could never again see myself in one.”

AJ gave a faint smile; he and Nick had a lot in common. “I felt the same way. This is what I say though…” he rose up from where he sat on the bed and grasped Nick’s shoulder, “Don’t think about this too much. I’ve come to learn that there’s a reason for everything, and you deserve to be here. It sure took me a long while to come and call and see these guys as my new family, but they’re the best damn family I’ve ever had, the only family I’ll ever have. My mother and father could walk through these doors right now, wanting to start all over with being my parents, and I would turn them down and stick with these guys… that’s how much I trust them, and I seriously owe them my life. You’ll come to see the same thing Nick, and it will take some time, but… we’re gonna be the only family you now have.”

Nick gave a small nod, taking in all that was being said to him. AJ smiled and tightened his squeeze on his shoulder, in a comforting gesture. “Clean up if you need to and get ready for dinner… I’ll see you downstairs.”

“Thank you.” Nick muttered out as he heard the door close. He stood up from the bed and began to walk around in his new room. AJ was right… he shouldn’t battle with his thoughts of why they chose to help him and give him a place to stay… he should just be thankful.

~*~*~*~

“Mmm, what’s cooking?” Kevin asked as he walked through the front doors, his laptop bag strapped across his chest while he carried in books and papers.

Howie popped out of the kitchen, carrying a pot over towards the dinning table, “Classic ole spaghetti with meatballs and garlic balls. We decided to save my Puerto Rican cuisine for tomorrow night… you can thank AJ for that!”

AJ followed Howie out of the kitchen as well, carrying a bowl of salad in one hand and a basket of garlic balls in the other, “They told me to shop for some clothes for the kid, and I did just that! I can never please people!”

Kevin chuckled and shook his head, walking over towards the couch to place down all of his belongings, “Where are the other two bozos?”

“I know you ain’t talking about us Richardson!” Vernon voiced as both he and Harry walked out from the kitchen as well, carrying bottles of wine and wine glasses.

“Am I the only one wondering why we’re eating balls?” Harry joked, “Meatballs, garlic balls… Howie, is this what you’ll be feeding your future wife? Your balls?”

“Hahaha.” Howie laughed sarcastically. “You can cook your own food tomorrow night smart butt!”

Brian was the last to walk out from the kitchen, carrying a few cans of soda and bottles of water for the underage to drink, “Has Nick came down yet?”

“I’m right here.”

They all turned to the small voice that answered Brian’s question, watching as Nick made his descent down the stairs, looking timid. He was now wearing the new clothes AJ had picked out for him, which was nothing more than a pair of basketball shorts and a plain white t-shirt.

Brian smiled, “Thought you had fallen asleep on us or something!”

Nick returned the smile, “Sorry I took so long, I was trying to get settled in.”

“Glad to have you here with us Nick.” Kevin said, his lips curved up in a firm grin. “Lets gather around and say grace before we dig in. Brian?”

Brian simply nodded as he led the way for them to form a circle around the dining table. Nick, who was confused with this new ritual, followed suit and situated himself between Kevin and Vernon. “Let us join hands and bow our heads in prayers.” Brian stated.

Nick glanced around the circle, trying to observe what they were doing and what he should do. His family never did pray before a meal… they hardly ate dinner together come to think of it. He was broken from his thoughts as he felt Kevin’s hand grasp his left hand, while Vernon grabbed his right. He noticed that they bowed their heads down and closed their eyes, and he soon did the same.

“We thank You Father for gathering us all here tonight, to enjoy this delicious prepared meal. We ask you to bless the hands that prepared this meal… may it nourish our bodies, and may your blessings enrich our minds as we forever thirst and hunger for righteousness.”

Nick cracked one eye open, looking up at everyone in the circle, who still had their heads bowed and their eyes closed. This whole… prayer ritual was definitely new to him, but from the sounds of it, it sounded deep and meaningful. He just hoped that they wouldn’t have to go around and all say something!

“We’d also like to thank You for blessing our lives with the newest member to our family, Nick.” Brian lifted his head a bit and cracked an eye open to look over at Nick, who had his head up, observing what was going around him. When Nick eyes glazed over at Brian upon the mention of his name, he smiled. Brian smiled in return as he continued, “We ask You to place Your loving hands over him and continue to bless him Lord, keep him on your righteous path and may he find Your light and come to rejoice and proclaim Your name forever in love. Please God, continue to forever and always bless this new, complete family of ours… keep us safe, keep us healthy, keep us in good spirits, and may we always strive to do everything and live our lives according to Your word. In this we pray, amen.”

“Amen!” everyone else chorused out, breaking the linked chain of hands.

“Amen!” Nick whispered out a second later, his cheeks becoming flushed from embarrassment of not knowing what to do and this being his first time being apart of a prayer.

“Hey, come sit by me!” Brian whispered excitedly as he grabbed Nick by the arm and began to drag him over towards where he was sitting.

Nick could only laugh at Brian’s antics, seemingly like a big kid in that moment. Both he and Brian quickly sat down in their selected chairs as the others followed suit, sitting down and grabbing their plates, preparing to load the empty round piece of glass with heaping mounds of food. Within seconds, all of their plates were loaded with more than one scoop of spaghetti and meatballs, ceaser salad on another smaller plate, and mountains of claimed garlic balls

Silence had ensued for the longest; the only sound to be heard was the recognizable sounds of slurping noodles, the munching of meatballs, and the crunch of crisp lettuce. Kevin, Harry, Vernon, Howie and Brian all had wine glasses while both AJ and him had their respected cans of soda.

“I’d like to make a toast!” Kevin voiced out, claiming their attentions as they looked over to him, holding his wine glass in the air. “A toast to Nick joining us, and for completing our little family. May we forever continue to walk side by side with one another, and help our fellow brothers along on this journey we call life.”

“To family.” Brian chimed in, raising his glass of wine.

“To family.” AJ followed soon after, raising his can of soda as well.

Nick glanced over from Brian to AJ, who both stared expectedly back at him. His eyes then glazed over everyone else around the table, who seemed to wait for him to say the same thing. Like AJ had told him, it would take some time for him to see or accept it, but this was his only family now. He could see himself coming to accept them sooner rather than later, just like how they easily accepted him in. “To family.” he finally said.

Everyone else at the table rose their glasses as well, and together they said, “To family.”