Both Sam and Sy were sitting at the dining table sipping their morning coffee. They were a bit more groggy than either of them would have liked given the fact that they were at Casey and Dexter’s house until well into the early morning hours. Neither wanted to get out of bed that morning, but the knowledge that Sammy was to be back by ten dragged them out of bed.

Their conversation was minimal, each enjoying the comfortable silence they were sharing. When the sound of Beverly’s car pulling in the driveway reached Sy’s ears, he inwardly groaned at having to adult right then. “I’m not made to stay up late anymore. That’s a young man’s game.” Sam chuckled and agreed. There was another sound that could be heard, growing louder as the group reached the front door.

 “I don’t think Sammy is having that great of a morning,” Sam said as they stood from the table and made their way to open the door.

“Morning, Mom,” Sy said as he moved aside to let them in. Jenny was carrying a very upset Sammy, who was clinging to her as if it were the last time he’d ever see her again. “Hey, kid,” he said as Jenny walked by. “What’s going on?”

Beverly looked confused and upset at her grandson’s distress. “He wanted to stay with us longer.” Beverly stepped back to allow Sam to pass. He’d gone and gotten both the crutches and the wheelchair from Beverly’s car and was maneuvering it all inside. “I wouldn’t have minded letting him stay, but I’ve got plans tomorrow I can’t break and today I have to prepare for tomorrow…which is why I had to bring him back this morning.” It was then that Sammy reached for Beverly, who promptly took him from her daughter. She pulled the boy close to her, rocking the small boy back and forth. It reminded Sy of so many times when he was little of her doing that same thing with him. He had a sudden ache for the years that had been stolen from them, and the years past when he, too, was secure in this same woman’s arms.

 “He’s been like this since I told him it was time to head home.”

“Come here, Sammy boy,” Sam said gently, taking the child into his arms. Sammy wrapped his arms and legs around Sam tightly, his loud, inconsolable wails ear piercing and heartbreaking at the same time. 

“Was he alright other than this?” Sy asked his mother.

She nodded. “He was great. No issues. He didn’t argue if I told him he needed to use the chair instead of the crutches when I felt he was getting too tired. Never protested at bedtime. Ate his dinner. He might have gotten a bit overtired from the excitement and got fussy, but…nothing like this. He just got really upset when it was time to come home.”

Sy nodded. “Alright. Good. I’m glad. What’s your trick? He’s always arguing with me about it.” He smiled despite himself. “Listen, would it be possible for Sammy and I to drop by Monday while Jenny is at school? I’m sure Shelly can watch Sammy for us for the morning. There’s something we want to tell you.”

“Good news?”

Sy smiled brightly. “Great news.”

“Then I can’t wait to hear it.”

Sy gave his mother and sister a hug and kiss before they both bid their goodbyes to the crying Sammy and Sam who still held the child. Sam did his best to console the boy, who at the moment was inconsolable. His sobs, by this point however, had quieted down to hiccupping hitches of breath, accompanied by still falling tears. Sam continued to walk the living room, his hand patting Sammy's back with occasional fingers gliding through his soft hair until Sammy eventually fell asleep on his shoulder: cried and tuckered out.

Sy was waiting just outside Sammy’s room when Sam exited after putting the child to bed, a soft smile present on his face. Embracing him, Sy kissed him deeply before pulling back and looking him in the eye. “Have I told you just how much I love the fact that you’re so good with him? And how much I love that he loves you so much?” Gentler this time, Sy kissed him again. “You’re so wonderful with him. With both of us.”

Sam smiled, his grin soft but full of pride at Sy’s words. “I love you. I love you both.”

The next morning when Sammy awoke, he grabbed his crutches and made his way to the breakfast table without incident. He could smell food cooking and could tell that the food was almost done by how Sam seemed to flail around the kitchen like a madman to get everything else set up by the time all the food was done. He set up three plates in a row on the kitchen counter before making sure each plate set had the proper utensils on the table. He set three glasses down on the table, pouring into each of them some orange juice.

Sammy looked up at Sam when he tousled his hair and smiled sadly up at him. When Sy entered from his bedroom, clearly fresh from the shower, Sammy reached out for him and Sy promptly picked him up. When he was sitting and Sammy comfortably situated in his lap, Sy wrapped his arms around him and kissed his temple. “Good morning, baby boy,” Sy said gently.

“Hi, Daddy,” Sammy answered back, his voice full of emotions he didn’t understand.

“What’s the matter, sweet one, hm?”

Sammy shrugged, his head resting against Sy’s shoulder as he watched Sam go about the kitchen and putting food on the plates. “I don’t know. I don’t want to feel like this forever, Daddy.”

Sy felt his chest constrict. He hated that there was nothing he could do beyond what he was doing to make his son feel better. He felt helpless in the face of his tears and upset. “It won’t be forever, baby. I know it feels like it, though. It just takes time for your brain to heal. And brains are finicky things.”

“How much time?”

Sy took a slow, deep breath in an attempt to keep his own emotions at bay. “I don’t know, Sammy. There’s not a time limit on these kinds of things. But I do know that it won’t be forever, baby.”

Turning into Sy’s chest, Sammy’s sobs increased. His little hands fisted into Sy’s shirt as his whole body tensed. “I don’t know why I’m so sad, Daddy. I’m really, really sad and I just don’t understand why.” Sammy’s emotional instability and outbursts concerned them. That morning, before Sammy awoke for the day, Sy had called the phone number Dr. Henry jotted down on the back of his business card. 

Dr. Henry was very understanding about their concern, easing them while explaining that, so long as the boy’s outbursts or bouts of profound, if misunderstood, sadness doesn’t turn violent toward himself or others, the reactions were normal; but he warned them to watch out for the extreme. He advised them that when Sammy fell into these episodes, to comfort and calm him as best they could.

Sy met Sam’s eyes over the boy’s head, Sam’s heart breaking at the pain that was residing there for his son. Quietly, almost as if not to disturb the moment between father and son, Sam set the plates of eggs, bacon and toast on the table before leaning down and kissing the boy’s head. “I love you, Sammy boy.”

Looking up then, Sammy reached for Sam, who took him with a small smile to Sy. Instantly, he began rocking him slowly back and forth. “Is there something we can do to make you feel better, hm?”

Shaking his head, Sammy told him, “Just hold me, Daddy.” His tears were slowing now, but not completely extinguished. 

“I can do that. Are you hungry?” Sammy shook his head, tightening his hold on Sam. “You should try eating something, Sammy boy. You didn’t eat much yesterday at all.” Sammy bit his bottom lip, clearly trying to keep himself from falling apart again. Sam sat down in the spot Sammy had vacated, situating Sammy so that he was sideways across his legs, his ear pressed against Sam’s chest. “Can you try eating a piece of bacon for me?” Sam asked him, holding up the meat. Sammy nodded, took the bacon and slowly began to eat it. “That’s a good boy,” Sam told him gently, kissing his temple. 

Sy slid Sam his plate and the three of them began eating with the television quietly playing in the background. As they were eating, Sam said to Sammy, “How about after breakfast the three of us go and cuddle up on the couch and watch The Lion King? How does that sound?”

Sy watched the two of them between bites of his own meal. His mind wandered over the last year since Sam had returned to him. He knew that while everything that he had gone through had been painful and traumatic, if it meant that it would lead him back to Sam, he’d do it again every time. The happiness that he’d experienced since Sam first appeared with Sammy at his side in the park that day had been incomparable to anything except the birth of his son. He knew that he was a lucky man to have made it this far and in love. 

He was making steps and bounds to leave his past behind him. For so long he had been trapped still in that cabin, a frightened child hiding in the corner trying not to be seen. He knew that he was almost there. Almost out of that place that had for so long beaten him down, in body and in spirit since he was still a teenager.

He no longer wanted to be that scared boy. That terrified child that had thus far remained chained, wanted free. And Sy wanted to set him free. He knew that this last part of his journey to finally and actually be unimprisoned from that place would not be an easy one. But he also knew that it was a necessary evil. An evil that he needed to confess in its entirety before going back to that place. He needed to be free of it all. And in order to be free of it all, he had to acknowledge the pain of its existence.