John took a seat quietly positioning himself at the perfect angle to get the best view of Jeremy through the window. The ramshackle building he was in had a perfect view of the business they used to share, more specifically, his office.

He watched the brunette boy rush in and slam the door shut. He smiled.

"This is getting out of hand!" he shouted in desperation as he paced back and forth.
"First of all, what are you doing here? I thought you were in Barrie trying to make a life away from your mother and me," the man said somewhat warily.
Justin slammed his hand on the desk in front of him with tears in his eyes. "Were you ever really my father? Tell me, did you ever care about me to the point where you wanted to protect what I loved?" tears began to stream down his face.
"Stop being absurd. You know your mother and I..."
A wry laugh escaped the boy's lips like an ice tempane touching the air. "You never did. You always thought I was absurd. The hockey leagues, the singing, Anne.... You thought it was all a waste of time and money for your business. I was a waste of resources."
"Justin..."
"I don't plan to ever shut up again. I'm not going to let you do your bidding in my life as if my opinion doesn't matter."
"You're drunk. Why don't you go home and..."
"I don't need to be drunk to tell you all this. I don't need to take any kind of temporary courage to stand up for what I love," he wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand. "But it seems like you do need it in order to be honest with me."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You know? These last few weeks I've thought deeply about everything that's happened in the last year. You knew about him, didn't you? You knew about him from the very beginning and you didn't tell me anything. You let me be away from his side all that time, let him go hungry while his mom tried to get a job, let him get cold and cry at the hands of different strangers."
"It was necessary and you know it. If we told you about him, you'd be back before your time."
"I have no idea why I thought you would care about him more than me. I'm so stupid," he sobbed.
Jeremy got up from his seat, rounded the desk and put his hand on his son's shoulder to comfort him. "You should go home and rest."
"John has Jason," he blurted out.

Silence fell over the place. Jeremy swallowed his saliva laboriously not knowing what to say.

"I was an idiot for thinking you'd put your pride aside for him when you couldn't even do it for me," he removed his father's hand roughly and walked toward the door. He paused for a few seconds with his hand on the doorknob and sighed. "I can thank you now."
"For what?"
"For teaching me how not to be a father," he said and walked out of the place.

***
"Are you sure he won't come back?"
"Henry is keeping an eye on him. He'll inform us of any changes, but we must hurry."

The brown-eyed woman looked at the girl lying unconscious in front of her. Her wrists bore the marks of the rope with which she was tied and her body suffered from continuous tremors due to the fever that attacked her. She repeated the name of her little one in the midst of her unconsciousness.

"Rose, we must get out of here," the green-eyed woman said as she noticed her absent mindedness.

They both grabbed the young girl by her hands and feet and pulled her out of the filthy room she was in.

"I'll take care of her. You go get the boy," Pattie warned once the brown-haired woman was safely in the back of her car.

Rose looked back at her daughter one more time before closing the car door and returning to the establishment. She needed to keep a cool head in these moments. She couldn't let her feelings ruin the work of years.

***
Anne felt a sting in her head. She tried to open her eyes, but it was difficult to do so without increasing her pain.

She heard the faint sound of music mixed with a car engine and panicked.

She opened her eyes forcing them to adjust to the light and frowned as she recognized the woman behind the wheel.

"Oh, you woke up already," the woman said seeing her momentarily.
"Where are we going?" she asked somewhat warily.
"Somewhere safe."
"Where is my son?"
"He's safe, I promise. We put him in another car so he wouldn't be frightened by your appearance."

The girl looked at her wrists and managed to see the marks from the rope she was tied with. There was a light layer of dirt covering her clothes -surely it came from the floor of the place where she was. She sat up fully and looked at her face in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were puffy and a reddish color covered all her skin. She grimaced. It wasn't the best image she could give, but she didn't care. She wanted to see her son.

"Did you guys side with him?" she snapped. "Is this part of your plan? What the hell do you want from me!"
The green-eyed woman sighed. "I know we didn't have the best relationship. We were hurtful and rude to you more than once. God! I felt so dirty when we said those things to you. I would like to ask you to forgive us, but all I can ask is that you understand."
"Understand what? That I wasn't good enough for your precious son? That it's my fault I have a psycho father? That I'm responsible that my family had been destroyed and you don't want me to do the same to yours?" tears were beginning to pile up in her eyes.

Pattie parked the car and leaned on the steering wheel for a few seconds as she took a breath.

"We should have told you a long time ago, but we didn't want him to hurt you. We were cruel to you because we wanted to keep you away, to protect you. I felt horrible every time I saw the damage we were doing to you. And Justin...," a sob escaped her mouth.
"Tell me what?" she asked cautiously. Seeing the woman in that light made her uncomfortable, but she didn't want to offer her any comfort. She didn't have an ounce of gentleness inside her for such people. She wanted answers.
The woman wiped away her tears and turned to see her with a compassionate face completely different from the person the girl knew. "Your mother is alive, Anne."