Nick trailed behind Vernon, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt the whole time. He tried to ease his nervousness, but try as he might, he just couldn’t calm himself. How would he address him? Although his knees were bandaged up, he was still in his dirty, torn clothes, he wasn’t presentable at all. Before he could process another thought, he found himself standing outside the captain’s office, seeing the name “CAPTAIN RICHARDSON” printed boldly on the glass window of the door.

“Where’s Captain Marcell?” Nick questioned, not being able to believe he could remember the name after all these years.

“He’s our Chief now, looking to retire real soon. How do you know him?”

Nick shrugged. He wasn’t sure if Vernon knew about the tragedy that had befallen him years ago, and he wasn’t exactly comfortable to share it so openly with people now. Nick trailed behind Vernon, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt the whole time. He tried to ease his nervousness, but try as he might, he just couldn’t calm himself. How would he address him? Although his knees were bandaged up, he was still in his dirty, torn clothes, he wasn’t presentable at all. Before he could process another thought, he found himself standing outside the captain’s office, seeing the name “CAPTAIN RICHARDSON” printed boldly on the glass window of the door.

“Where’s Captain Marcell?” Nick questioned, not being able to believe he could remember the name after all these years.

“He’s our Chief now, looking to retire real soon. How do you know him?”

Nick shrugged. He wasn’t sure if Vernon knew about the tragedy that had befallen him years ago, and he wasn’t exactly comfortable to share it so openly with people now. “I remember meeting him once upon a time.”

Vernon stared down at Nick, knowing that something was troubling his mind, but he didn’t want to press further. He tapped on the glass and waited for a confirmation from the other side.

“Come in!”

When he heard that, he grasped the door knob and twisted it, pushing the door open and holding it so that Nick could walk in. “Go on kid.” Vernon whispered as he nodded his head towards the office.

Nick took a deep breath in and slowly stepped inside, his heart pounding so loudly in his chest when he heard the door close behind him. He looked around the office, his brows crinkling in confusion when he saw no one there.

He opened his mouth to say something, to make his presence known, but quickly decided against it. He stalked up to the desk and glanced over the pictures that decorated the desk. He bit his bottom lip upon staring at the pictures, seeing that the captain was a rather large man and looked to be quite intimidating. He was tall and muscular, a chiseled bone structure and very defined posture. What stood out the most to him was the captain’s striking emerald eyes, which was complimented by a set of full, bushy eyebrows, that caused the color of his eyes to stand out almost painfully.

He stared at a picture of the captain holding a young lady, who he assumed to be his wife. She was absolutely stunning; the word beauty couldn’t even begin to describe her. She had a crop of brown hair that cascaded past her shoulder, pearly white teeth that complimented her radiant smile, striking eyes, just like the captain, and she had a perfect petite figure.

He broke his stare away from that picture and glanced over the others, a look of puzzlement etched over his features when he saw a picture of the captain with Brian. They were both dressed in their uniforms, and the captain stood behind Brian with his lips in a slight curve upwards while Brian stood there with his hands clasped in front of him, a big, bright, goofy smile on his face.

Nick chuckled as he now looked over the framed certificates that hung on the wall. “Kevin Scott Richardson.” He read softly to himself, in awe with all the rewards and acknowledgements he had received.

“An office isn’t an office unless you litter it with family pictures and proof of your accomplishments.” A voice suddenly stated.

Nick quickly whirled around, his heart lurching into his throat upon hearing the sudden and unsuspected voice. He quickly calmed himself when he recognized him to be the man from the pictures; Kevin Scott Richardson. “I’m sorry sir.” He whispered sheepishly.

Kevin smiled warmly, “You have nothing to be sorry for son. I’m sorry for keeping you waiting though, got caught up in some business.”

Nick nodded as he watched Kevin walk behind his desk. Now that he was in the man’s presence, he was in awe with how large the man really was in person; he was a mountain, tall, bold and strong. “It’s okay.” He whispered again, not believing that his voice was leaving him right now.

“Have a seat.” Kevin offered as he sat down in his own seat.

Nick pulled out the chair from in front of the desk and sat down slowly, immediately clasping his hands together in front of him so he wouldn’t start fidgeting. He glanced up at Kevin, feeling incredibly small and insignificant under his intense stare, which seemed to read into him with such ease.

“So Nickolas… do you know why you’re here?” Kevin questioned.

Nick cringed upon hearing him say his whole name. as if the man wasn’t intimidating enough. “No sir.”

“Well, it’s nothing you have to be so uptight about, so relax kid.” Kevin chuckled, trying to ease the tension he sensed in Nick. “Are you gonna let your arms have back some of it’s blood supply?”

Nick glanced down, noticing that his right hand had a death grip on his left arm while his left hand had a death grip on his right. He removed his hands from his arms, revealing a pale white handprint outlined with red.

Kevin’s smile never left his face, “Do you want something to drink before we get down to business? I have water and pop.”

Nick swallowed hard, “Yes please, I’ll take a pop.” He noticed for the first time that his throat was extremely dry and scratchy, he felt absolutely parched.

Kevin nodded and rose from his seat, walking over to the small refrigerator that was tucked in the corner of his office. “Is strawberry pop okay?” Kevin asked as he walked back towards him, holding a pink can out.

“Yes sir.” Nick rasped as he took the can of strawberry soda.

Kevin settled himself back down in his chair, watching as Nick popped the can of soda open and began gulping the fizzling liquid like he hadn’t drank anything in days. “Uh… the carbonation isn’t burning your throat?” he laughed.

Nick didn’t stop drinking until he received the last drop of soda the can had to offer. He sheepishly pulled the can away from his mouth and used the back of his hand to wipe his lips. “Sorry, I was really thirsty for some reason.”

Kevin shook his head and smiled, “It’s okay, just didn’t want you to start choking on me. But now that I know you’ll be okay, shall we start off by having you tell me a little about yourself?”

“There isn’t much to tell.” Nick replied with a shrug. “I’ve been living on the streets and that’s about it.”

“Is there a reason as to why you were living on the streets?” Kevin questioned, although he knew the answer. He knew everything he needed to know about Nick, but decided to question him to see if he would explain his side of things. Getting Nick to open up to him was taking a step towards having the kid confide in him.

Nick tried his best to dance around the question, “Ain’t had the luxuries like other kids have.”

“Nick, waking up to greet each brand new day with a breath is a luxury that most of us take for granted. So this ain’t got nothing to do with luxuries.”

“Well, my family could never afford a place to live, nor anything to eat. My family, we live off the streets and we survive by the streets, that’s always how it’s been.” Nick simply replied.

Kevin nodded, knowing that Nick’s “family” consisted of his friends. He decided to keep the fact that he knew the truth to himself because he would wait for Nick to come to him to open up, he would have to take baby steps in getting this kid to confide in him. “Okay… well, what if I offered you to come and stay with my family?”

Nick’s eyes widened, “What?”

“I’m offering you a place to live and food to eat. We’ve taken you off the streets, and now you no longer have to survive by it if you choose to take up my offer.”

“Look, Officer Vernon and I already have an agreement going on. He said he wasn’t going to place me in an orphanage if I cooperated, and I’m keeping up my end of the bargain.”

“No one’s talking about placing you in an orphanage. I’m asking you if you would like to be apart of my family.”

Nick’s brow furrowed in confusion, “But… you know nothing about me.”

“Do you want to go back to school?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to get a job?”

“Yes.”

“Are you a heavy eater?”

“I can be.”

“Well, there you go. I know everything I need to know about you.”

Nick chuckled, “That’s not what I meant…”

“Have you ever killed anyone?”

“What? No?”

“Okay, now I know everything I need to know.”

“Look Captain Richardson, thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I already have a family out there that’s waiting for me to get back to them, and I’m sure they’ll love to hear this crazy story.” Nick said as he rose from his seat, making his way towards the door.

“Your family wants you to be here.”

Nick froze in his steps, slowly turning around to face the captain, who was now standing. “What?”

Kevin stared long and hard at him, hoping he could read his eyes. “Think about it.”

Nick stared at Kevin, before he finally tore himself away and continued to walk out of the office. He wasn’t sure if Kevin was done talking with him, but he just had to get out of there to get his thoughts together.

“How’d it go in there kid?”

Nick looked up to see Harry standing in front of him. He simply shrugged.

Harry chuckled, “That bad huh? Look, don’t let that old dinosaur fool you, he may look all stern and scary, but he’s one of the biggest softies I know.”

“Kinda like Brian.” Nick said softly, more to himself. At that thought, he now wanted to see Brian, knowing that he could possibly ease his racing mind and put a smile on his face.

“Well, Vernon sent me over this way to give you a new change of clothes, I know you must be uh… wanting to get out of them dirty clothes. If you’d like to shower, I could show you over to where the showers are at.”

“Where’s Brian?” Nick blurted out, needing to talk with him.

Harry shrugged, “Haven’t seen him since we were in the IR, but I could get a hold of him for you.”

Nick smiled faintly, “That would be great, thanks.”

“So uh… what do you want me to do with your new pair of clothes?” Harry asked.

Nick looked over at the folded clothes Harry held out towards him. “I guess I’ll shower up while I wait for Brian.” he said as he grabbed the clothes from Harry.

“Do you need me to show you where it’s at?”

Nick shook his head, “Nah, thanks to the tour Vernon gave me, I think I pretty much got everything from here.”

Harry smiled and nodded, “Okay, well… if you need anything else, just let any one of us know. The whole station knows you’re here, so they won’t bother you but don’t hesitate to ask anybody for anything, okay? I’ll go fetch Brian and when you’re done with your shower, you can just head on back to the IR.”

Nick smirked, “Thanks for everything.”

“No problem kiddo.”

Nick nodded to himself as he began to make his way towards the showers. Maybe my family really does want me to be here…