Tames thanked Cloud for the ride but Cloud wanted Cole's thanks to be more physical. He kissed him softly on the lips then said, "I'll call you when I'm alone."

"You better. This is the first time I'm dropping you off at your house. Something is definitely going on."

"Try adoption. I'll call you later."

Cloud rose his brows in worry, "If you don't call me after an hour, I'm going to call."

"Thank you Cloud." He smiled at him then kissed him one last time before leaving him and walking into his house.

His house was the way it was when he left it. Family picture hanging on the wall, the welcoming carpet on the floor, bright lightening and the cinnamon scent all over the house.

There was really nothing different except the two officials sitting on the couch and the twin's parents looking as presentable as they could be.

John sat in the armchair and Cole came in just as his mother entered with a tray of chilled drinks in her hands.

"Please help yourself to some." She kept a smile up for her guests as she moved back to sit on the hand of John's chair.

"Thank you Mrs. Maroni for your hospitality." The female official said.

Tames came into the room and everyone glanced up at the both of them.

"Are they your sons?" The female official continued.

Ashley grinned then stood up to introduce her sons even though one of then hasn't been known as her son for a while. "Yes. This is Tames our youngest and Cole, the oldest. Cole, Tames, the officials go by the name Nick Haden and Vanessa Morgue."

She managed a smile for Cole but he ignored it and rose a brow at Jane who smiled genuinely at him. Ashley whispered to them to stay put making them stand at the end of the room while their mum returned back to their father's side.

"What's going on?" Tames asked, not being able to hold it in anymore.

"Could you go to your room, Tames and Cole?" John said to them that told them it was more of a command than a suggestion.

They both reluctantly left but didn't go so far. They sat on the stairs to listen in on them. Tames glanced at Cole and asked the one question Cole didn't want to answer, "Why are they here?"

Cole didn't know whether to lie to him or hurt him by telling the truth. However he wasn't given the chance to answer because the heard John's voice say, "What do we owe this pleasure...?"

"The Lumbergs reported a problem and we are to look into it. They reported child abuse and yes, negligence is part of child abuse." Miss Morgue said.

There was a short silence but John quickly answered, "I'm sorry. You must have been misinformed. My kids are well taken care off."

"Not from the statement I had gotten from the other guests here. Mr. and Mrs. Lumberg had heard complains from one of your children. Cole if I may say. They said he admitted that his parents verbally abuse him, throw him out of the house sometimes and neglect him. Is this true?"

Cole never knew he would feel bad if he saw Tames' shocked and surprised expression. He was out of words for the first time in a long while.

"You told the twin's parents about us?" His expression changed to that of hurt when he looked back at Cole.

"They wouldn't have known if Dad didn't verbally abuse me when he was talking to Jane." When Tames frowned at him like he had no idea what he was saying, Cole added, "Jane is the twin's mum."

He gave a short nod then said, "But you have to tell them that it is all okay now."

"I cannot. Jane told me once I'm in, I'm in. I don't have a choice until it is over and if I want things to end up well, I shouldn't lie about the way you all mistreated me."

Tames exhaled sharply when he knew he really didn't have much options. Cole could lie to the authorities mostly because he didn't feel like lying. Why protect someone who wouldn't protect him?

"Are you saying you want to take our child from us?" Ashley asked and she sounded angry. "You cannot do that."

"I believe we can. Any abuse of any kind makes you unfit parents and that means we will not only take Cole away from you but Tames also." Mr. Haden's voice didn't hold any sympathy for them. It was like he was used to awful parents trying to claim children they couldn't care for.

"Are you trying to call us unfit parents?" John asked, calmly. Cole had always known his dad to be the cool and calculated one. He was probably planning something.

"From what I read from Mr. and Mrs. Lumberg's statement, yes. You are. Words like Faggot, Whore, abomination and countless other insults were in the statement. The kid been occasionally thrown out on special holiday like Thanksgiving, Christmas and many more were also included."

"B-But... He's our son." Ashley tried.

"Doesn't mean you can treat him the way you do." Miss Morgue said. "The Lumbergs have even been nice enough to accommodate your son that they could proudly call him theirs."

There was an uncomfortable silence but it suddenly because overpowered by their father's voice, "Then it is true."

"What?" Cole heard Jane's voice. She sounded confused like she hadn't expected him to admit it.

"I am saying we haven't been the best parents since our son came out to us. We treated him wrongly and probably would still do if he hadn't gone off to live with the Lumbergs and we didn't get a new neighbor.

"You see, our new neighbor came to us and showed us his gay son. His befriended our other son somehow but no matter how much we tried to separate them, they just got closer and we knew our son didn't like their lifestyle so we wondered how it was possible they could be friends."

Ashely continued, a lot more calm now, "We decided to be a bit more open to our gay neighbor and found out that he was harmless. He was extremely sweet and helped out a lot in the kitchen. We didn't know much about this gay thing but our gay neighbor, Payne, informed us well on it."

"So we have been trying to get Cole to come home by asking Tames to get him home. Sometimes we call Jane but she refused us to talk with him."

"That was probably because he was either sleeping, still in school or out." Jane retorted but Cole's parents said nothing after.

There was another short pause and then Miss Morgue's voice was heard, "I see. Do you really believe you can be more accepting of your son and we won't hear any more complains from the Lumbergs?"

"Oh yes." Ashley said, "We want to make up for all our mistakes. We really didn't know."

Somewhere in Cole's heart, he didn't want the officials to buy their crap but he wanted to see if his parents were telling the truth.

"Then the Moranis, this is your chance. You have one month to prove that you can be good parents. Cole isn't allowed to live with the Lumbergs again. From this evening, he is your child and you are to take care of him like he is one. We will be checking on you once a week to see progress.

"Then after one month, we will read Cole's statement. If he doesn't want to live with you because of the abuse then we have the right to take him away from you along with your other child. This was Jane Lumberg's decision and we thought it was thoughtful of her. Thank her as we leave." Mr. Haden's voice echoed followed by some shuffling which meant they were standing up to leave.

No one had to tell Cole and Tames to leave the stairs when they heard their father's voice as he thanked the officials as they left.

They remained quiet at the top of the stairs as their parents said their goodbyes to them.

Then they heard Jonathan's voice for the first time as he said his own goodbye, "Sorry for everything, John. I hope we can still catch coffee together."

"We should."

"And thanks for putting in that suggestion." Ashley said, "We are so grateful to have Cole back. This time we will take care of him."

"You better because the moment Cole complains to me...just know the CPS is on speed dial." Jane threatened.

"Ha Ha. Don't mind my wife. Her love for children can drive her a little nuts. We will be going now so tell Cole bye for me. Jane will be here tomorrow with his clothes and what he left at our house."

"That would be lovely." Ashley sounded shaken and Cole took that as his cue to leave to his room.

Tames tagged along and helped him lock his door as he lay tiredly on his bed. The feel of the sheets beneath him and the color of the ceiling brought back so many sad memories that he had look away from it, sitting up against the wall. He didn't want to remember that now.

"Cole I am still so sorry for what I have done. I never knew it could be this serious." Tames kept apologizing and Cole groaned, clearly tired of those words coming out of his brothers mouth.

"I did say it was fine, didn't I? Relax, they gave me one month and if they fuck up, the Lumbergs get to have me."

"Aren't you the least bit sorry for Mum and Dad?"

"No. I don't see why. They treated me like trash."

"So becoming someone else's son would be payback?"

"You got it." Cole smirked at him then raked a hand through his hair. "But it is all up to them so, whatever happens happen right?"

Tames shrugged and have him a black look before reaching for his pocket to retrieve his vibrating phone. He checked it then said, "It's Maureen. We'll talk later?"

"Sure since I am not going anywhere anytime soon."

He gave a half heart smile then said, "Good to have you home."

Cole shrugged and it was enough response for Tames because he left and at that moment, John and Ashley came in.

He frowned, straightening his back, still feeling the cold chill he felt when ever he was around them. John must have noticed him tense and sighed, giving him a worried look that made Cole blink to be sure he was seeing it with his own eyes.

"Son, we are sorry." His father said with sincerity sipping from his words.

"And you want me to believe that?" Cole asked.

"We aren't going to force you, dear. We are going to try to show you. We know we haven't been the world' greatest parents but we are going to try." Ashley said.

"I know it might sound like a joke to you now but please, we apologized. Please give us another chance."

Cole didn't know what to say. He hadn't expected a day when his parents would be actually apologizing to him and meaning it. He wanted to crawl in to a ball and cry. Not your sad tears but the really happy one.

He managed a nod and gave them a genuine smile.

They smiled back with a look a relief in their eyes. His dad ran a hand through his hair and said, "Thank you son. You won't regret it."

They both left the room and Cole fell back on his bed. Exhaling, he stared at his ceiling and thought back on the bad experiences he had gone through. If he was going to enjoy being their son, he had to forget all those bad memories and the only way to do that was to replace it with good ones. And he knew just how.

Fishing for his phone in his pocket, he quickly called Cloud and smiled at the ceiling when he picked at the first ring, "Cole, start from the beginning."

"You would never believe what just happened to me."