"you cannot run out in the road like that. whats wrong with you?" Doc frowns. Monty flinches away from the angry older man, giving him a sad puppy look. Doc heaves a sigh through his nose and decides to take his anger out on the man who nearly killed the boy. "Red go. get him back to the house." Doc said. Red grumbles lowly and heads over to Mack.

"come here buddy." Red murmurs, taking Monty. he cuddles Red, sniffling. "its okay." Red assures gently.

"you apologize to him. you made him cry." Mack frowns at Doc.

"I think he'll come to forgive me. I saved him." Doc mutters. Monty reaches for Reds busted knuckles, he'd hit Chick pretty hard in his teeth.

"its okay buddy. he tried to hurt you so I hurt him." Red assures gently, but lets Monty see his hand. Monty looks over at Doc and Chick. the two are in a heated argument, which is fine, until Chick strikes the older man. Doc can handle it just fine, but Monty screams immediately, reaching for Doc, Macks already riled up, but now he's in Chicks face screaming at him. Red walks over and passes Monty to Doc before stomping over to join Mack. Doc frowns a little, looking at the boy whose hugging his neck.

"m'okay kid. I'm fine." Doc assures, trying to pull one of the arms from his neck. Monty lays his head on Docs shoulder and drops one of his arm, holding tightly to the back collar of Docs shirt with his other hand. "don't wrinkle my shirt kid." Doc murmurs. Monty whines a little when Doc tries to pull him off. he holds tighter to Docs shirt. Doc sighs a little and carries the boy away from the fight. "I'm taking him to your house." Doc calls.

"alright." Red says. Doc lets him hold onto him tightly.

"what the hell are we going to do with you kid? they're going to want to keep you." Doc murmurs. Doc sets him down once they enter the house. Monty heads over to the table, opening the bag and pulling out his new drawing tools. he grabs a blank sheet of paper and starts drawing. Doc decides now is a good time to bring up the drawing he was given. he reaches into his back pocket. he pulls out the picture, unfolds it and pushes it towards Monty. "how did you know kid?" Doc ask. Monty looks at the picture and snatches it. he smoothes it out gently and begins drawing on it again. he adds a few more details to the car and pushes the paper back to Doc before continuing on his previous drawing. "I know sign language, I want you to talk to me here. how did you know?" Doc ask. Monty again stop on his current drawing. he grabs a new sheet of paper and draws a very quick drawing and pushes it over to Doc. its a picture of a tv and its got the Hornet on the screen. "you saw me on tv?" Doc ask. Monty nods, taking the paper back and drawing a VHS tape on it, before pushing it back to Doc. "oh someone had me on tape. oh, but how did you know that was me?" Doc ask. Monty stands up and walks over to Doc. he grabs Docs arm and the older man lets him. the boy pushes Docs sleeve up a little and points a the little hornet, the bug not the car, tattoo with FHH '51 - '54 written underneath it. he must've seen it the night of the accident. "you saw my tattoo." Doc says, nodding. Monty grins at him and goes back to his drawing. "do you have any questions for me?" Doc ask. Monty looks down with a frown, then shakes his head and keeps drawing. Doc puts the picture back into his pocket and looks over when the door opens.

"the nerve of that man!" Red huffs. Monty flinches immediately, the crayon in his hand snapping in half.

"hey, lower your voice." Doc reminds him. Red looks over at Monty and scoops him up gently.

"you okay?" Red ask.

"he's fine." Doc assures. "oh by the way Luigi, Guido, Sheriff, Mater, and I set up your spare room for the kid." Doc says.

"aww you guys set up a bedroom for him?" Red grins. "come on buddy, lets go check out your room." Red smiles. Monty takes his hand and follows him. Mack watches him go and shakes his head.

"he's going to be crushed when the kid has to leave." Mack mutters. "I mean, eventually someone will claim him right?" Mack asks, looking at Doc.

"not sure kid." Doc says, following after Red. Red opens the door and grins looking around.

"look at all this buddy. what do you think?" Red ask. the rooms been painted bright red and the ceiling has been painted with design they'd previously seen on Ramone's car, so the painting had all probably been done by him. the room had a rather large childs desk, a blue shaped race car bed with a teddy bear themed bed setting, a dresser covered in some old NASCAR stickers Doc had hidden away, a childrens rug in front of the bed made to look like a town with little roads and buildings, and a nightlight probably bright enough to light up the entire room. there's a small homemade toy box over in the corner, with a few brand new multipack hot wheels car packs that were no doubt to be used with the large rug. Monty stares, jaw dropped, looking around.

"go on in Monty." Mack snorts. Monty seems hesitant, so Red takes his hand again and pulls in him into the room gently.

"look at this. there's even a little chair at your desk for Tommy to sit with you while you draw." Red smiles. "isn't that great Monty?" Red ask. he turns to look at the younger. "Monty?" Red ask. the boy is staring at the bed he's been given.

"kid you okay?" Mack ask. Monty's hand twitches. Doc walks over to him and crouches down.

"you okay kid?" Doc asks, watching him. Monty looks at the bed then at Doc, the back to the bed. "Monty, have you ever had your own bed?" Doc ask. Monty shakes his head a little, reaching out to touch the bed.

"somethings missing." Mack says, walking off. he comes back with the blanket Monty had used the previous night, he loved the blanket but the kid needed it. "here kiddo." Mack smiles a little. Monty looks at the blanket and grins taking it and carrying it over to the bed. he frowns a little shoving the blanket at Doc, who is still crouched close to the bed, then pulls at the teddy bear blanket. once he gets it free, he lets it fall to the floor before snatching the blanket from Doc and remaking his bed with it. he sits on the bed grinning happily. Doc snorts and grabs the teddy bear blanket as he stands, folding it up.

"lets go get the stuff Sheriff gave you earlier." Red smiles heading for the living room. Monty doesn't follow. he runs over to the Hot wheels cars and squeals picking up one of the packages. there had to be at least 40 cars, mostly classical cars.

"here I'll open those, you go help Red." Mack says. Monty nods and runs off to help Red. Mack starts opening the cars and Doc helps him. "there's no way we can just keep him is there?" Mack ask, looking at Doc. Doc frowns a little.

"is that what you want? to keep him? like some kind of lost puppy?" Doc ask.

"no, I want him to have a family. you look both Monty and Red in the eyes and tell them your sending him off to the state where he's going to have a shitty life, no family, jump from house to house." Mack frowns. "he's stable here, he's happy here. we can provide for him. its better if he stays with us." Mack argued.

"I don't want that either kid. I really don't, but Mack, you and Red are still kids. you don't need a kid." Doc frowns.

"we'll I'm not letting him go into Foster care. so you either help me, or I'll get Sheriff to help me and get myself a lawyer. I'm willing to fight to give this kid a good life Doc. I won't let you get in my way. Mack warns. Doc sighs.

"look kid, I'll do what I can." Doc assures. Mack nods, looking up as Monty and Red come in carrying the art supplies. Monty is grinning excitedly, practically bouncing with energy. they set the desk up and Monty runs over to the cars they've unpackaged. he squeals and carries two of them over to the rug carefully placing the cars before running over to grab more. the rug is big enough for all 40 cars and then some. he puts some cars on roads, parks a few in some of the parking spaces, and even puts one on the little barge floating down the rug river. he looks over everything excitedly. "you stay here and play kid, I have to talk to Red and Mack." Doc says. Monty nods and puts Tommy on the chair at the desk, before pulling it over to the rug. he laughs and drives the cars around, making little car noises. the three adults are sure he's probably never had real toys, so they step out of the room to let him play while they talk.

"whats up?" Red asks.

"look, if you want to keep him, I'm going to do what it takes for you both to keep him, but during that fight the state has every right to come in and take him away. I'll fight with you to get him back, but you two need to work on getting a lawyer. got it?" Doc ask. Red nods.

"okay. yeah, absolutely we can't just let him go. he belongs here." Red says.

"Reds right. Doc, we're going to fight for him. we'll do what it takes." Mack says.

"work on getting a lawyer, I'll handle the rest." Doc assures. Red nods and heads back to Monty the boy is laughing and giggles, pushing the little cars around and making engine noises happily. Reds positive the boy should go down for bed, but is content to let him play until he falls asleep.

"you gonna play for a bit?" Red ask. Monty jumps up, running over to his desk and grabbing a picture. he folds it before running over to Red and grabbing his hand. he pulls him towards the front door. "where are we going?" Red ask. Monty signs to him. "car? you want to go to my fire truck?" Red ask. Monty shakes his head, pulling on Red hand. Mack and Doc watch curiously.

"he wants to go somewhere." Mack says. Red opens the door and lets Monty lead him. he pulls on his arm, pulling him towards Ramone's shop.

"you want to go see Ramone?" Red ask. Monty nods and Red follows him. they enter the shop. "Ramone! you in here?" Red asks. Ramone pokes his head out and grins.

"hey! Monty, Red. whats up?" Ramone ask. Fillmore follows him out.

"woah, is that the kid?" Fillmore ask. Red nods.

"Monty thats Fillmore." Red smiles. Monty looks him over, before letting go of Reds hand to run over to Ramone. "he wanted to come see you." Red shrugs. Monty becons Ramone down to his height and the man crouches.

"whats up kid?" Ramone ask. Monty squeals opening his other hand and holding out a car. it's the same model as Ramones, but a different year. "oh look at that! you got my car." Ramone grins. Monty shakes it at him and Ramone puts his hand out taking it. Monty pulls out the drawing and gives it to Ramone. "this is great kid." Ramone grins, putting the picture on his assistants desk. "I could paint your car if you want." Ramone offers, holding the hot wheel car. Monty nods excitedly.

"Monty, you came all the way over to Ramone so he could paint your hot wheel car?" Red chuckles. Monty turns and grins at Red, before turning back to Ramone.

"sure thing kid. I'll paint the car for you." Ramone winks. Monty squeals at him excitedly before Fillmore catches his eyes. he immediately runs over. he reaches up with one arm towards Fillmore, who steps back. he's not really a big kid person, neither is Sarge. other peoples kids are great, but from a distance.

"woah dude, whats up?" Fillmore ask. Red walks over and scoops him up gently. Monty reaches for Fillmore's necklace. its a large gay pride flag pendant. Fillmore steps closer and lets him see the necklace. he squeals and grabs it to look it over. "nice to know you're a pride kid." Fillmore grins. Monty lets his necklace go and grins at Fillmore, before wiggling free from Reds grasp and running towards the door.

"don't you dare leave without me." Red says following after him. Monty pushes against the door hard, but it doesn't budge. "it's a pull door buddy." Red says, pulling the door open. Monty huffs a little and lets Red take him home. he's slowing down on the walk back, blinking tiredly, and lets out a long whine. Red looks back at him and chuckles, scooping him up gently. he whines at Red and holds onto him, fisting his hand into Reds shirt tightly. he shows his other empty hand to Red. "did you leave Tommy at home?" Red murmurs. Monty nods against him. "okay buddy. come on, we'll go get Tommy." Red murmurs. he carries Monty into the house, where Mack and Doc are still talking. Red grabs Tommy and hands him to Monty, before heading to lay him in bed. Monty holds tighter with a whine. he likes his new room, but he's too scared to sleep in it. Red nods a little to himself and holds the boy gently. he heads back out and looks a Mack.

"hey why don't you lay him down?" Mack ask.

"he won't let go." Red says. Doc raises an eye brow.

"what do you mean?" Doc ask.

"he won't let me lay him down." Red says. "besides I should take him to see if Flo will keep him for a bit. we were supposed to go to Luigis tonight for a bit." Red adds.

"oh yeah the rematch. hmm. yeah let me call Flo." Mack says.

"why, just leave him here. I'll watch him." Doc shrugs, getting up. "I gotta do a few things at the clinic, but he can go with me for that." Doc says, walking over to Red. Monty blinks tiredly but when Doc gets close enough, he reaches for him. Doc takes him, letting him curl up in his arm to sleep. the boy makes no protest.

"are you sure?" Red ask hesitantly.

"poker games with Guido and Luigi last a pretty long while." Mack frowns. Doc shrugs.

"if you're not back by 10 or so, I'll just take him to my house and you guys can come get him in the morning. I'm an old man, not a teenager. I can baby sit. done it before." Doc shrugs. he heads for the door and leaves the two behind confused. Docs not a big fan of kids, but just like everyone else in this town, the kids stolen his heart already. Monty looks up at him tiredly, yawning. "go to sleep kid. I've got some paper work to do." Doc assures gently. Monty curls up, holding Tommy tightly. the clinic receptionist, grins when Doc walks in. he usually walks straight into the clinic, not into the main office, but he has paper work, not patients, so he goes to the main office.

"Doc, whose kid is that?" she asks.

"Red and Macks." Doc says, walking past her. he goes to his office and sits down. the boy curls up in his lap snoring.

it only takes Doc about an hour to finish his paper work, then he scoops the boy up again and carries him back to Red and Macks house, after grabbing both him and the kid dinner to go at Flos, to sit on the their couch and hold the boy while he eats. Monty shifts after about 30 minutes at the house. he sits up and blinks tiredly.

"hey kiddo you okay?" Doc ask. Monty rubs his eyes and gets up, leaving Tommy and walking off. he comes back a few minutes later with his blanket and climbs back up onto the couch with Doc. since Doc is laid back on the couch, the boy curls up in his lap, leaving his head on the older mans stomach. Doc tucks Tommy in beside him and gently runs his fingers through the boys hair.

10:45. Mack and Red come walking into the house talking and immediately freeze. Doc is still in the position from hours before, head propped up on his hand, with Monty curled up in his lap under the Ouran Highschool Host Club blanket. they had assumed the two would just go back to Docs house, but it looked like both had been asleep for a pretty good while.

"should we wake him up?" Red asks, looking at Mack. Mack walks over and gently shakes Docs arm. Doc shifts immediately, head falling forward and blinking awake long enough to catch a glance at Mack before his eyes fall closed again.

"hey Doc, you wanna go home?" Mack ask. Doc mutters at him, sinking into the couch further. he snores and the arm holding Monty tightens, almost like a warning. like Doc is warning them not to touch the boy because he's already asleep and comfortable. "Doc?" Mack ask.

"just leave him be Mack." Red murmurs. he walks over and gently pulls the blanket from Monty to spread it over them, making Monty squirm. Doc growls lowly as he does so, shifting a little and pulling the boy up to his chest to hold him carefully.. Red lays the blanket over them gently while Mack shuts the kitchen light off.

"okay come on baby." Mack murmurs. Red follows him to the bed. Doc shifts a little and holds the boy, snoring.

Mack mumbles, Reds awful squirmy this morning. he can feel the whole bed move along with the man. he's about to ask Red if he's okay when he feels two little hands on his face with an annoyed grunts, he realizes immediately its not Red, its Monty. Mack groans, turning his head.

"Monty go back to sleep." Mack mutters. Monty blows a raspberry at him and squishes Macks face in his hands giggling. "Red your kids awake." Mack mutters, rolling over and putting his back towards Monty. he huffs, sounding annoyed and proceeds to climb over Mack to get in his face. Mack groans lowly opening his eyes. Monty grins at him with a squeal. Mack chuckles slightly and rolls back onto his back to look at the boy. "okay, I'm up. I'm up. where's Red?" Mack asks, yawning. Monty stares at him, knowing Mack wouldn't understand him if he signs. Mack gets out of bed, scooping the boy up. "you're getting a bath today." Mack warns him. Monty cuddles to him as Mack carries him to the kitchen. Reds not there and neither is Doc. "where is everyone?" Mack ask. Monty shrugs and squirms free. Mack sets him down and does for his cell phone. when he comes back, the front door is open. "damn it Monty, not again." Mack mutters. he presses the phone to his ear and heads for the door. "Monty! get back here." Mack says, watching the boy walk down the side walk towards Ramones shop with a paper in his hand.

"Mack?" Red ask.

"hey Red, where'd you go?" Mack ask.

"oh I burnt my hand making pancakes, Monty startled me. Doc and I are at the clinic." Red says.

"check the kids head. I think he got hit in the head with the skillet Red was using." Doc frowns.

"is he awake?" Red ask.

"Monty! come back here!" Mack says, heading after him as quickly as he can. "yeah he escaped. he's heading towards Ramones." Mack says.

"oh I promised to take him to Ramones to pick up his hot wheel car." Red says. Mack finally catches up to Monty and sighs, opening the door. Monty immediately runs in, squealing. Ramone pokes his head out and grins.

"well he wasted no time." Mack mutters.

"hey! kid, I got your car done, hold on." Ramone says. Monty bounces excitedly. Ramone brings out the painted hot wheel car, made to look exactly like his own car. Monty squeals excitedly, taking it and looking it over. he holds the paper out to Ramone, like its payment. "alright little man." Ramone nods, putting the picture on the receptionists desk along with his other drawing.

"thanks Ramone." Mack says.

"no big deal." Ramone grins. Monty grins looking over his car and then heads for the door.

"Monty hey kid don't just keep running off." Mack frowns grabbing him and scooping him up. he squirms and pouts but relents. "come on we'll go run and see Red and Doc at the clinc." Mack

"we're almost finished here, just take him back to the house and let him play." Red says.

"alright." Mack agrees hanging up. he carries Monty back to the house. "go play in your room." Mack says. Monty runs off with his newly painted car. he carefully places the car on his rug, parked in front of some random building. he gets up and heads over to his desk to work on a drawing.

Red and Doc walk back into the house, Reds hand all bandaged. Red immediately walks over to Mack and hugs his chest tightly. Mack looks confused but holds him.

"whats wrong?" Mack asks, stroking Reds cheek gently.

"I some news, good news and bad news." Doc says.

"whats up?" Mack ask.

"good news, the kid can be adopted, bad news, you two can't adopt him." Doc frowns.

"what why not?" Mack ask, holding tighter to Red.

"neither of you are 21. the law says you're not old enough." Doc says. "that also means you're not old enough to foster." Doc adds.

"wh-what can we do? we can't just let him go!" Mack says

"well, Flo and Ramone are foster parents, because they fostered and adopted Mable. so I can put him under them." Doc says.

"but wouldn't he have to live with them?" Mack ask hesitantly.

"yes and no. its a long story and a bunch of legal crap. I can do that, or I can keep him its a lot more of legal crap, but what it would boil down to is, I report that he's been found and is being held under protective care do to previous abuse injures. as a doctor <i>and</i> a judge, I can tell them he's safer here with me than he is anywhere out there that his dad could find him, because I haven't reported his dad is dead yet and his body has 'mysteriously' disappeared so I can this. that means he can legally stay with you two. Sheriff can fill out some paperwork and get you guys assigned as temporary officers to 'protect him'. until you turn 21 Mack." Doc offers.

'that still leaves him open for them to take him." Mack frowns.

"yeah but they'll have to go through a lot of legal loops and hoops and I'm hoping they decide its just not worth fighting. it can take a couple weeks for this to go through, in that time he'll legally be under Flo and Ramones care, then once it goes through he'll technically be under my care but under you guys. once this happens, it can take years to get it reversed so they can take him, by that time you'll be 21 and hopefully Red too." Doc explains.

"that sounds like the best option." Mack says. "but does that mean we're going to lose him while he's under Flo and Ramones care...?" Mack ask.

"sort of. since they both run 24 hour shops, you guys will be considered baby sitters or nannys or something." Doc shrugs. "hey can technically stay, he just needs a 'room' over at Flo and Ramones." Doc nods.

"but Flos dinner isn't 24 hours." Mack says confused. Doc smiles at him slightly.

"really? its not? hmm. must've... messed up on the paperwork. oops." Doc shrugs, winking. Mack smiles a little.

"thanks Doc." Mack says softly, gently holding Red. Doc shakes his head a little.

"told you I'd help you fight kid." Doc says.

"thanks." Mack smiles. Monty squeals running over to hug Docs leg, giggling.

"hey squirt." Doc smiles, scooping him up. he checks the boys head over. "gonna have a nice bump there, but I don't think it burned him Red." Doc assures. Red stays quiet, holding tighter to Mack. he's upset at the fact they could lose Monty, but he'll be alright. Monty grins at Doc, before looking over at Red. he reaches for Red with one hand, the other hand fisted in Docs shirt like he always does as though he's afraid he'll be dropped, making grabbing motions with his hand. Doc puts him down gently and watches him run over and hug Reds leg. Red looks down and picks him up, holding him tightly, still cuddled to Mack.

"its okay Red." Mack assures.

"kid, I'm not going to let them take him from you. I promise you that I can bury them in more paperwork than you realize. I can blast them with legal papers <i>and</i> medical papers. they cannot and will not take him." Doc assures. Red just holds tighter to Monty, who looks confused. Doc decides to give them a bit and walks out of the house.