The ringing phone jerked Sebastian from a sound sleep. “Hello?” Sleep resonated in his voice and he cleared his throat. The small, scared voice on the other end woke him immediately and completely.

“Bastian?” Sebastian sat up, Nizhoni sitting up with him and turning on the bedside lamp.

“Basil? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Sebastian tried to keep his voice calm as he spoke.

He heard a small sniffle. “Yeah. M-my mom never came home from work. I fell asleep and I woke up and she wasn’t home and I got scared.” Sebastian was already dressed and grabbing his keys. He spared a glance at the clock; it was just after one in the morning.

“Alright, Basil, you’re okay. How about I come and get you and you can stay here until we figure everything out, alright? 

Basil bewailed in relief. “Uh huh. She was supposed to be home a long time ago. I’m really scared.”

“Okay, buddy, I’m on my way, okay?”

Basil spoke as if he didn’t hear Sebastian. “I tried calling, but she didn’t answer at all.”

“Alright, I’m coming. You want me to stay on the phone with you until I get there?”

Basil seemed to calm at these words. “Uh huh. Please.”

Sebastian showed up to Basil’s at twenty-five minutes after one on a Wednesday morning. The roads and neighborhoods were dark and empty. In the weeks since his birthday Sebastian noticed whenever the boy was over, he was quiet, a sad and far away expression seemed more prominent than not.

He’d asked Jaxsen if he knew what was going on but he never knew more than Basil and his mom had been “arguing”. Leaving the truck running, Sebastian jumped from inside the cab and made his way to the front door, still with Basil on the phone, and told him to come outside. 

He did. 

Relief flooded his face as tears flooded his eyes. Basil clung tightly to Sebastian as if he might blow away in a strong breeze.

“It’s okay, Basil. You’re alright now.” Sebastian rocked him gently like he’d done to Jaxsen so many times. Finally Basil pulled away, wiped his eyes and locked his front door before climbing into the passenger seat of Sebastian’s truck.

Jaxsen and Nizhoni waited in the living room when Sebastian and Basil arrived back at the house. Jaxsen met him in the middle of the living room.

“Are you okay?” Basil shook his head. “Do you want a hug?” When Basil nodded Jaxsen wrapped his arms around his friend.

“Jack, Nizhoni and I need to talk to Basil for a bit. Can you go wait in your room?” Jaxsen nodded and with one last look at Basil, turned and went upstairs.

“Basil, sit, sweetheart. Are you hungry? Did you eat dinner?” Nizhoni asked him softly.

“I ate a snack when I got home from school. I had a bowl of cereal later.” His voice was low. He didn’t sit down as suggested but stood where Jaxsen had left him standing. With a word, Nizhoni went to heat him up some leftovers from that night’s dinner.

“Come on, sit, son,” Sebastian prompted and sat next to Basil on the couch. “Basil,” Sebastian began softly, “I need to know what’s going on at home.” Basil looked at his hands, tears falling unbidden. “You’re not going to be in trouble for telling me anything. How often does this happen?”

Nizhoni came into the room carrying a bowl of spaghetti and placed it on the coffee table before sitting in the recliner to the left of Sebastian. 

“It used to not happen a lot. She would usually call and say she was gonna be late. She was s-supposed to be home at seven.” He looked up, green eyes wide and shining. “She’s never not come home.” 

Nizhoni and Sebastian shared a brief look. “Is that all you know, honey?” Nizhoni asked.

Basil nodded slowly. “She always tells me she works late.”

“Jaxsen said you’ve been arguing. What have you been arguing about?” Sebastian asked him, folding his fingers together as he leaned forward.

Basil shrugged. “She’s been saying things. I don’t usually say anything back.”

“What kind of things does she say?”

“Th-that I’m too much trouble sometimes ‘cause she has to work so much. That she doesn’t have time for me anymore. Sh-she said it was my fault my dad left us. She’s been saying that a lot.” Basil ran an arm across his eyes and sniffled.

“Basil…this is important and I need you to tell me the absolute truth. Has she hit or hurt you in any way?”

He shook his head. “No. Just being really mean and making me feel bad.”

“How long has this been happening?”

“Since before I met Jaxsen. It’s just been worse since Christmas.” Sebastian sighed, not at all happy about what had just been revealed.

“Alright, it’s late. Try and eat and go and try and get some sleep.” Basil nodded and reached for the bowl, but made no move to eat.

“I’m sorry, Bastian,” he said tearfully.

“For what?” 

“For being so much trouble.” Sebastian stood and pulled the boy into his chest, the bowl being placed back on the table. 

“You’re not any trouble at all, Basil.”

“Yes, I am,” he lamented. 

“No, Basil. Sh, sh.” Finally Basil calmed down and pulled away. When he did he wiped his eyes. “Do you want to eat?”

  Basil looked at the bowl and shook his head. “I don’t think I can eat right now. I’m sorry.”

“Go get some sleep. We’ll figure it all out tomorrow, okay?” He nodded and followed the stairs up to Jaxsen’s room.

Sebastian didn’t say anything for a long moment, just stood, rigid, looking after where Basil lethargically climbed the stairs, his head low. Nizhoni knew well enough not to break the silence. He turned, met her eye, and quietly stepped out onto the back deck.

“Alcohol?” Sebastian asked, his tone tightly controlled.

“Would be my best guess,” Nizhoni replied as she wrapped her jacket around her. Sebastian’s grip tightened around the wooden railing making it creak under the pressure.

“I won’t let anything happen to that kid, Nizhoni,” Sebastian vowed, his voice deadly low.

She smiled. Always the hero. “Nor would I try to stand in your way. He’s a good kid. Do whatever is necessary.”

He smiled as he met her eyes. He loved her with all his being and told her before capturing her in a deep kiss.

Jaxsen had been waiting on his bed staring anxiously at the closed bedroom door. When Basil finally did come through the door, his eyes were red and swollen. And he looked as if he were completely alone in the world.

“Hey.” Basil didn’t reply, but half smiled. Quietly Basil walked over to his backpack, pulled out his night clothes and changed. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

Basil shook his head and settled under the covers. “Can we just go to sleep, Jax?”

“Sure, Basil.” And he turned off the lights.

Sebastian was too angry to sleep, so instead of keeping Nizhoni awake with his constant tossing and turning, he quietly went downstairs. He wandered aimlessly into the kitchen, opened the fridge and stared blankly into it. His mind wondered how a parent, or anyone, could be cruel to a child. He cherished every moment with Daniel, his late son. Every smile, every silly joke. Each time he wanted to play baseball with him. He would never understand how anyone could make their child feel unwanted, or like they were too much trouble. 

When Basil had apologized for being “so much trouble,” or when, the night of his birthday when he had asked for a hug as if he would be turned away, Sebastian wanted nothing more than to make him forget that pain. Daniel never knew that pain in his short life, and for that much, Sebastian was grateful. His son had known he was loved up until his last breath.

“Danny, God, how I miss you,” he said into the confines of the refrigerator. He pulled out a gallon jug of Simply orange juice and pulled a glass down from the cabinet, poured the juice to half the container’s volume allowed. He took a long, slow drink, letting his eyes close as he concentrated on the tangy taste washing away his anger. He felt the crushing weight of injustice like an elephant on his chest. It took him a moment to gain his breath, a moment longer to swallow the tears. Injustice doesn’t even begin to describe how unfair it was that so many people abuse and hurt the children they created, leaving them feeling alone and dead inside, while not giving a fuck in the slightest get to keep their children…and he and Ellie, he thought sadly, who loved and cared for their only child, lost him because of someone else’s irresponsibility. 

“Dad?” Sebastian looked up to see Jaxsen standing in the threshold of the kitchen. “Are you okay?”

Sebastian set the glass on the counter. “It’s late, Jack. What are you doing up?” 

Jaxsen came into the kitchen and grabbed Sebastian’s glass, finishing off the orange juice. “Got thirsty. Dad?”

“Huh?” 

Jaxsen frowned and lightly grasped Sebastian’s forearm. “Dad?”

Sebastian looked down at him. “Yeah, Jack?”

“What’s wrong?” He smiled gently at the boy wishing he could say. This wasn’t a burden for the boy to bear.

“Nothing, Jack. Don’t worry about it, okay?”

“You can tell me, you know,” Jaxsen countered in earnest. 

Sebastian’s smile grew, his heart lightening a bit. He picked up his son. “Know what would make me feel better that you could do?”

Jaxsen shook his head. “No. What?”

“Give me a hug, Jack.”

After dropping both boys off at school Sebastian drove purposefully to Maggie Robinson’s house. His anger, which had come back full force on the way, rose even higher when he saw signs of her being home. He pounded on the front door wishing he could break it down.

He tried twice more before a much disheveled Maggie Robinson appeared leaning heavily on the door jam. By the looks of them she’d slept in her clothes, her hair was a wild nest of tangles, and her eyes were squinting against the morning sun. Without a word he pushed past her and into the small foyer.

“Please, come in,” she said, waving her arm in a sarcastically inviting manner.

“Let me ask you something, Maggie…” he said, completely ignoring her sarcasm. “Do you know where your son is?” Maggie poorly hid her reaction as she looked around the house.

“Did you even notice he wasn’t here? Were you too goddamned drunk whenever you decided to come home to notice he wasn’t here?” He paused, giving her a moment to answer. She did not and for some reason he didn’t know, this fueled his anger.

“You want me to tell you about how at one o’clock this morning I got a phone call from a terrified ten-year-old because his mother isn’t home yet?” He stared at her with contempt clean in his face. “How often does this happen, Maggie? How many times a week do you leave him like this?” 

A thought occurred to him, something Basil had mentioned. “Is that why you’ve been asking him to stay over so frequently? How many of those ‘double shifts’ are you working, and how many are all night drinking binges?” Her lack of answer was all he needed to confirm.

“This is what’s going to happen, Maggie. You’re going to check yourself into a rehab facility and clean up. Once you’re out of rehab you’ll maintain AA Meetings.” She began to protest but he didn’t allow her the opportunity.

“You’ll do this, Maggie, or I will go to my lawyer’s office and have you charged with neglect of a minor and petition that I gain custody as his foster parent. I will not have that boy be abused and goddamn it if you’re too fucked up to take care of him, then I will.

“Basil doesn’t want to come here. He doesn’t feel safe here, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go collect some of his things.”

When he came back downstairs Maggie was nowhere to be seen and he shook his head sadly. He’d give her a day to sober up before calling and giving her her options once more before taking legal action. He left much quieter than he’d arrived.