"whats up?" Red ask. Docs not angry or upset they haven't noticed, they just probably assumed Monty had been potty trained, like he had. they were just kids themselves.

"he's not potty trained you know that right? he's been running around in a pull up since the accident." Doc frowns. Reds eyes widen a little.

"u-uh no." Red frowns. "uh but I'm sure Flo might have some." Red says, getting up and heading out of the house. Doc heads back to the bathroom, strips himself down to his boxers and scoops the boy up. he strips the boy of his pull up and tosses it into his bathroom trash can.

"alright Reds going to deal with everything. you and I are getting a shower." Doc says. Monty whines a little, holding onto Doc. "you'll be fine kiddo." Doc assures, turning the water on. Monty flinches holding tighter to him. "relax kid." Doc murmurs, setting him down and closing the shower door. Monty wouldn't be able to get out without help, the side of his shower/tub was too tall for him as Doc had one a little taller than normal so he'd fit properly. Monty hugs his leg tightly whining. "look kid, you're smelly. yucky. you need a shower. you're going to be okay." Doc assures. he knows grabs his shampoo and body wash before lowering himself to sit in the tub. Monty watches him hesitantly. "you know how to use shampoo?" Doc ask. Monty nods a little watching him. Doc opens the soap bottle and puts a little into his hand. "alright good. I'm going to wash your hair." Doc murmurs. Monty hesitantly inches closer to him. Doc washes the boys hair gently, then helps him wash the soap out. he tries not to stare at the boy, but the bruises catch his attention. the poor boy still has deep bruises appearing from not only the accident but also his father. he opens his body wash and hands the boy a wash cloth covered in soap. "here scrub up with that." Doc murmurs. Monty cleans himself, with a little bit of Docs help.

"hey I got clothes for him set up out here." Red says, poking his head into the bathroom.

"good grab him a towel we're almost done here." Doc says, scooping the boy up and holding him so they can clean the rest of the soap up off the younger. once the boy is soap free, he shuts the water off and opens the shower door. Reds standing there with a towel for Monty, so Doc passes him over. "shut my bedroom door when you leave." he mutters. Red nods at him and heads out of the room. Red sits Monty on the floor and works on drying him off. the boy giggles a little when Red dries his hair.

"okay buddy, now Doc says you aren't potty trained is that right?" Red asks him. Monty shrugs a little, looking nervous. "thats okay. we'll get you fixed up." Red assures, getting the younger dressed. "I hope these fit you, you're a little small." Red chuckles, putting a shirt on him. the pants are a little big, but the shirt fits near perfect. he looks down at the shirt and squeals. oh course they'd managed to find him a nice shirt with Strip 'the king' Weathers one it. he points at the shirt excitedly. "yeah I know. Mack looked hard for something you'd like that wasn't pink." Red chuckles.

"get him dressed?" Doc ask, walking out of his room dressed with his hair combed. Red secretly wondered if Doc ever allowed himself to look relaxed instead of clean and put together.

"yeah he's all dressed and cute. look at you little man." Red smiles.

"good. looking better squirt." Doc says, ruffling the boys hair. Monty laughs and grabs his hand.

"his hair is so long and curly. should we cut it?" Red asks hesitantly.

"I wouldn't. he'll let you know if it bothers him, besides Macks hair is longer." Doc says. Red shrugs a little.

"yeah you're right." Red nods, scooping Monty up. "I am worried about how small he is though." Red frowns.

"come on, we'll head back over to your house and discuss that so he can go play in his room with his cars." Doc says. Red nods and holds Monty as they head to the house. "okay buddy, you go play in your room alright? the adults have to talk buddy." Red murmurs. Monty nods a little and runs off once Red puts him down. he immediately heads back into the room and over to his desk, he needs to tell Red something the only way he knows how, but pauses as he sees the box of clothing Flo had provided. he decides to dig through it.

"hey guys, whats up?" Mack ask.

"not sure. I mentioned how small Monty was and Doc said he wanted to talk." Red said.

"we do need to talk about his size. he's small. most abused children are, but he's... he's pretty small. he's so malnourished so try to urge him to eat. leave out some snacks or something for him. encourage him he needs to eat more. he's 5 and only about 25-26 pounds, he should be somewhere between 35-40 pounds by now. his weight will be things these people pay attention to. so we need to get him to gain a few pounds, not a lot but he needs to not be so underweight like this." Doc explains.

"we can work on it, but unless we're at Flos, he doesn't really like to eat. he won't sit at the table and eat with us he gets real nervous and when we put him at the table in the living room so he cand eat there, he just nibbles on things." Mack frowns.

"well he's probably never had a family meal. leave food out thats easy for him to snatch but won't be obvious that its missing. he's probably used to stealing whatever he can from the counts to eat." Doc assures gently. "his mother probably fed him but his father didn't. under a public watchful eye his father probably acted like a decent person instead of abusing him. he likes you two, but he's still used to the abuse. he's scared. normal things for you guys are things he's probably never seen. I know you're doing your best and I'm proud of you two, but he's an abuse victim. gotta give him a chance." Doc assures. Red nods and looks behind Doc as the sound of Montys little feet comes barreling down the hallway.

"hey buddy, whats wrong?" Red ask. Monty holds up a picture to him. Red takes it and looks it over a moment. its hard to understand what it says but it suddenly clicks. "oh, you are potty trained aren't you?" Red laughs a little. he nods a little with a frown. "come on kiddo, lets get you fixed up then." Red laughs, taking his hand and leads him to the bathroom.

"huh?" Mack ask. Doc shakes his head.

"Red can explain later." Doc assures. Red comes back with Monty in tow, looking happier than he had before.

"hey where'd he get that?" Mack ask. pointing to something hanging off his shirt. it looks like a pacifier on a chain. Red shrugs. "he's way too old for those." Mack adds.

"no idea, but he gets upset if you try to take it off is shirt." Red says. Doc rolls his eyes.

"its not like it'll hurt him if he chews or sucks on it." Doc shrugs.

"yeah but its probably dirty. it probably came from that box of stuff Flo gave us." Red frowns. Doc actually makes a face at that.

"gross. those boxes have been in her basement, the one that flooded last year. might wanna at least clean it first." Doc frowns. he kneels in front of Monty and takes the clip off. immediately the boy cries reaching for it. none of them are sure what it is he likes about it, but Docs willing to give it back, only after its been cleaned. "I'm going to clean it you'll get it back." Doc assures, heading for the sink. Monty follows after him, pulling his pants with a whine. "you'll get it back. give me two minutes." Doc frowns. he squeals angrily and runs over to Red.

"you'll get it back buddy its okay." Red assures, scooping him up gently.

"what does he want that old thing for?" Mack ask.

"no idea, but he likes it." Red shrugs a little, carrying Monty over to the sink so he can watch Doc. the older man reaches over and clips it back to his shirt.

"here see? I was just washing it. making sure it was clean. if you're going to be chewing on that thing it needs to be clean." Doc frowns. Monty pouts at him and cuddles to Red, glaring at Doc. Doc snorts a little and ruffles his hair gently. "I gave it back don't be so unhappy." Doc frowns a little.

"should we have washed those clothes before we let him wear them?" Red ask worriedly.

"they don't smell of mold or mildew. they don't have any spots of mold on them. she did change the boxes on them so maybe she washed the clothing. they seem okay. he shouldn't be in any danger. I just don't want something that he could possibly stick in his mouth risking that." Doc assures. "but I don't think he'll put it in his mouth. its got a car on it. I think he just wants it because there's a car on it." Doc chuckles.

"you know I forget that they fostered a lot of kids." Mack frowns.

"I'm going to head home and keep working on that paper work, you two take care of him." Doc chuckles, ruffling Montys hair again. Monty blows a raspberry at him and cuddles to Red, dropping his head on his shoulder. Doc snorts and leaves, smiling.

"alright. I think he needs a nap." Red murmurs.

"oh yeah, a shower wears you out doesn't it?" Mack teases, smiling at the boy. Monty watches him, holding tightly to Red with on hand before holding his hand out to Mack, making grabby motions. "what?" Mack ask, walking over.

"he wants Tommy." Red murmurs. "come on buddy, its nap time, I bet Tommy is in your room isn't he?" Red coos softly. the boy curls up and yawns, cuddling to Red. Red decides the best way to do this is to tuck Monty into the bed first, though the boy whines in protest as Red tucks the blanket around him gently, then hand him Tommy. he hopes the boy will nap in his bed instead of having to be held. Monty stretches a little, snatching Tommy and curling up in the bed happily. "have a good nap kiddo." Red smiles, walking out of the room. he could get used to this. he could get used to the boy living with them, being their kid.

a couple months later, Monty was looking healthy. he was still small for his age, but he weighed up perfectly. his bruises and wounds were healed and gone. he was looking so much better then the scared little boy they'd found escaping from a burning car. the whole town had pictures everywhere, drawn by Monty of course, that were getting better and better everyday. Monty had, unfortunately, become good friends with Mater. there was nothing wrong with the man, he just didn't understand one thing about child safety and Mack had already punched the man when Monty had come home once with a rather large bruise on his head, from riding that damn four-wheeler without a helmet, but Monty was loving everything. the attention, the love, everything. he was terrified of Guido, but he loved everyone else in the town even Sarge, who only ever said hi to him if Fillmore made him.

Doc currently had the boy with him in his house.

"okay you ready for this?" Doc ask softly, kneeling in front of him and fixing the bow tie on his little suit. it was a big day for them so Doc had actually gone out and bought Monty a nice fitting suit. Monty nods a little, smiling at Doc with a giggle. "can you do this?" Doc ask. Monty nods once, reaching for Tommy. "okay. you got this kid. you've got this right?" Doc ask. Monty squeals at him. "good." Doc grins, standing up. he reaches for Montys hand and leads him out of the house. they head down the side walk and spot Red and Mack. "there they are." Doc smiles, gently squeezes Montys hand. Monty grins a little, squealing at them loudly.

"oh hey buddy. look at you. spend two nights with Doc and you come out looking like him." Mack laughs a little. Doc snorts at him, letting go of Montys hand.

"so, as you two know, I've been doing a lot of paperwork since this kid got here. I've been doing a lot of stuff since this kid got here, but, and I'm not even going to drag this out at all." Doc chuckles. he holds out a folder towards them Red takes it confused and opens it. his heart stops. "I would personally like the be the first person to congratulate you two new dads. paperwork's done kiddos. Monty is officially your son." Doc murmurs. Red breaks out in a grin and looks at Mack.

"really?" Mack ask. Doc nods.

"yup." Doc smiles. he lets go of Montys hand when Red couches down to reach for him.

"come here buddy." Red grins. Monty runs over him happily.

"daddy!" Monty squeals, throwing his arms around Reds neck.

"did you just...?" Mack ask, jaw dropped.

"he did. I've been working on that with him for about four weeks now. he's got a pretty bad speech impediment, thats why he didn't talk. but the more you work with him the better he gets." Doc smiles. Mack walks over and hugs Doc tightly. Doc doesn't really appreciate that normally, but can't find it in him to care today. he hugs Mack back. he knew these two could do it.

"come on buddy, you get ice cream." Red murmurs, scooping him up and kissing his head. he carries him off and Mack turns to Doc.

"I thought we couldn't cause we weren't old enough?" Mack asks confused.

"don't worry about it. go spend time with you kid." Doc smiles. Mack nods and smiles walking off quickly. he had everything he needed Red and Monty. life is good.