"Alex, you awake?" A small voice woke the young boy up. He pulled the covers right up to his face and glanced into the darkness, afraid that someone had broken in or something. "It's your dad." The light then flickered on and Alex let out a sigh of relief as his eyes laid upon his dad. He was wearing a jacket, his snapback and skinny jeans; definitely not pyjamas.

"What are you doing here?" Alex asked, yawning afterwards. He rubbed his eyes with his fists and blinked a few times before noticing the state Chase was in. He had obviously been crying and he kept pulling at the sleeves of his jacket, a sign of his nerves.

"You need to pack a bag. Just with necessities. A change of clothes, your phone... you know the stuff. Just, hurry."

"What's going on? I have school tomorrow..."

"Don't ask questions. I'm getting you out of here and that's all you need to know. I'm going to go pack some stuff for Sammy. I'll be back in a few minutes. Please, be quiet." Alex nodded, getting out of bed and yawning yet again. He took a short sip of the juice he had sitting beside his bed before grabbing his school backpack. It was just a plain black backpack, minimalistic like he had always liked. Before packing, he changed into some more appropriate clothes, consisting of a pair of skinny jeans and a large Pokémon sweatshirt. He unzipped his bag and shoved in a spare pair of jeans and a shirt before following it with his phone and his charger.

Chase entered the room just as Alex was finishing up and trying to secretly shove his stuffed monkey in there without anyone noticing. Chase saw but didn't say anything. "You ready to go?"

Alex nodded, throwing his backpack over his shoulders. "Where are we going?"

"I don't know but we need to leave." Chase's hand was intertwined with Sammy's. The young girl looked seriously out of it, her physical presence in the room and her mental presence elsewhere. She usually loved her sleep so it was probably due to the fact that Chase had just woke her up at three in the morning. She was wearing a Paw Patrol backpack on her back and was silent as Chase dragged her down the stairs. Alex also followed without saying a word.

"I don't like the dark, daddy." Sammy whined, gripping Chase's hand and tugging at it to get her dad's attention.

"I know, honey but we need to leave now otherwise mummy will get angry. Don't you want to go on an adventure?"

"Adventure! Adventure!" Sammy yelled, her mood changing substantially as if someone had flipped a switch inside her mind.

"You need to be quiet though! We can't wake people up or we'll get caught." Sammy nodded and Chase smiled through his worry as his daughter went quiet. Sammy then latched onto Alex's hand too, choosing to lead the group herself.

-

"Alex, did you bring your phone by any chance? Stacy took mine and I don't know where she hides it so I couldn't get it back." Chase questioned as they stood outside a familiar house. It was tall and even looked friendly from the outside. The front garden was reasonably well kept with cute little flowers standing as tall as they could up the path. Jameson Jackson was well known for his love of gardening, as peculiar as it may seem.

"Uh, yeah..." Alex took his bag off of his shoulders and shoved his hand inside it, feeling around for the device before pulling it out and handing it to his dad. He took it graciously and asked Alex for the password. He entered it and shut down the apps Alex had had open in favour for the keypad where he dialled one of the only numbers he knew by heart (he only knew Marvin's, his own and his mum's).

"You have Marvin as a contact?" Chase questioned when the contact name appeared under the number.

"Yeah... from when you got hurt." Alex mumbled, looking down at the high-tops on his feet.

"Ah," Chase pressed the phone against his ear and waited for it to stop ringing. Just as he was losing hope and thinking Marvin wasn't going to pick up, he muttered out a fairly groggy greeting. "I'm with the kids... outside your house."

"You're what? Give me a second," The noise from the other end of the phone began to muffle before the line went dead and the front door of the house opened up to reveal the magician in his pyjamas with seriously messy bed hair. "Why aren't you at home? In bed? Like a normal person?"

"That's just it... we have nowhere to go."

"Adventure!" Sammy screeched before remembering she needed to be quiet and hushing herself.

"Adventure..?"

"Yes... Stacy... she wasn't treating me right and I just took it but then she hurt Alex and I can't let him get hurt. We're not safe there."

"That bitch," Marvin whispered, mostly to himself. "Come in. The others are still asleep," The group followed Marvin into the house where Marvin took them to the kitchen. He filled up the kettle and switched it on. "Tea?"

"Please. I'm tired, man."

"What about you two little ones?" Marvin directed his attention to the children. His face was bright with life and enthusiasm because he was always working with children and he knew how to entertain, even in the darkest moments of their lives. Alex shrugged, refusing to meet Marvin's gaze, even though they had messaged fairly regularly in the last few weeks (mostly updates on how things were).

Sammy grinned, jumping up and down and yelling, "Hot chocolate! Hot chocolate!" Marvin barked out a laugh, grabbing four mugs out of the cupboard and placing them on the counter.

"I'll have tea too then, I guess." Alex eventually replied, watching closely as Marvin dropped three tea bags into the cups and then spooned some hot chocolate mixture into the final cup. The kettle then popped to signify the water boiling to a finish and Marvin began pouring it on top of the teabags and powder.

"Chase, two sugars. Alex..."

"One."

"Awesome," Marvin scooped in the sugar before mixing all of the beverages and leaving them to cool a little. "So, details. What did Stacy do that was bad enough to make you all flee to the humble abode of your best friend?"

"She slapped me," Surprisingly, Alex was the one who spoke up. After staying quiet about Stacy and her abuse for so long, he was finally at the stage where Chase was and had had enough. "You know she was abusing dad. Well, I aggravated her and she slapped me in front of Sammy and dad."

"Shit, man. I thought things were better?"

"A little. I mean, I hadn't heard them shouting for a while and Chase didn't seem too hurt but I guess I'm not around to see everything."

"Well you're all welcome to stay here as long as you need. Two people may need to sleep on the sofa though. We only really have Chase's old bedroom free."

"I don't mind!" Alex replied with a tiny smile. Marvin nodded before Chase gestured to Sammy too.

"Okay, it's settled. After our drinks, I think we should all try to get a bit more rest." Marvin handed Chase his tea and Sammy her hot chocolate before sipping at his own drink. The tea was warm as it travelled down his throat and helped wake him up a little more. They drank in silence, all thinking and staring out of the kitchen window. The sky was red and the darkness had subsided for the most part. It was pushing five in the morning by that point and birds were beginning to wake up and chirp, whilst early bird people were opening their curtains and preparing for the day ahead. The streets were calm that early in the morning, almost eerily so. It contrasted the erratic feelings of the family who were aware that they no longer had anywhere to call their own home. If it wasn't for Marvin and his amazing hospitality, they'd be out on the streets in a much worse condition.

"Thank you," Alex mumbled, being the first to finish and place his mug down on the side. "Is it okay if I try and sleep now? Do you have a blanket I can borrow?"

"Of course. Go lay down and I'll fetch you one." Alex nodded, heading into the living room and curling up on the sofa that was too small for his lanky body. It was fairly soft and comfy though, not that it mattered because he was so exhausted that he was out in seconds. Marvin returned with a blanket and smiled gently at the boy's sleeping figure, laying it gently over the top of him. At some point during Marvin's absence, Sammy had laid on the other sofa and was snoring gently. Chase was just standing in the doorway, watching his two children sleep calmly, despite the hectic events of the night.

"You remember where your room is?" Chase nodded, following the magician up the stairs.

It hadn't changed a bit. His old Nerf gun collection was still standing proud on his shelves and his previous camera was even neatly placed on his desk. A pile of notebooks filled with plans for old videos and trick shots was tall and there was even a thin layer of dust on top of it. He bent down and blew it away.

"No one has really come in here since you left. I mean, JJ tidied it up after you went but since then, we've just left it be." Marvin's voice startled Chase, making him turn around with wide eyes and a hand over his heart.

"You scared me, dude!" He laughed but the laugh wasn't even close to genuine. The memories of his happiest moments were coming back to him like a large wave, making him feel a little sea sick because of how violently the boat was rocking. Marvin approached him after seeing his face green a little and pat his back.

"You're always safe here. We won't let you or your children get hurt here, alright?"

Chase nodded.

"You should seriously sleep now. It's late- or, well, really early. Goodnight."

"Night." Chase mumbled but as soon as Marvin closed the door, he was picking up one of the notebooks and sitting on his bed. He opened it up on a page full of little sketches of trick shots. He remembered them to be from the one video he made where he was throwing teabags into random places. He could picture the grand smile on his face and the ecstatic celebration he had every time he landed the trick shot. Back then, it had all been genuine. Tears filled his eyes as he grazed the sketch of a stickman doing a shot he had called, 'the Easter egg hunt'. An unexpected sob rose in his throat so he clamped a hand over his mouth to silence it.

He missed Chase Brody. Not the new and certainly not improved person he had become but he missed his happy self. He missed waking up in the morning and being excited for the new opportunities the day might have held. He missed having not a single care in the world so he could dare to try so many new things. He missed not being afraid of loud noises and yelling.

Never once had he regretted having the children, even if they had originally tied him to the toxicity that was his and Stacy's relationship. What he regretted was letting it get so bad. He should have ran away before Alex had been hurt.

How are you today? :)