I was up with the crack of dawn, thanks to the time difference in addition to the alarm I had set on my phone, just in case. The battery had been dead when I arrived so I wasn't able to let my parents know that I had arrived safely, but that was quickly remedied as soon as I woke up.

I wanted to talk to Theodore straight away. I had hoped in vain that my luggage might have arrived at some point in the night, but it was nowhere to be seen and the doors to the main part of the house were still locked. I was beyond frustrated; I had a copy of my contract for this job in my carry on bag and I had wanted to take another look at it before I talked with Theodore this morning.

Assuming he would come to talk to me soon, I still decided to make myself at home while I waited. I rummaged through the kitchen and found that it was fully stocked with every kind of food and drink imaginable. I located a can of coffee and started a strong pot brewing.

"G'morning, Nanny Jules." I heard Harry's deep, rumbly voice behind me.

"Good morning, Harry," I said, turning to smile at him. He looked adorable with his mussed up curly hair and groggy eyes. I did notice, however, that they were less bloodshot this morning. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Mhm," he answered with a happy nod.

"Would you like some breakfast?" I asked, expecting him to want some kind of sugary cereal.

"Yes please, Nanny Jules. Make me some eggs? Please. Eggs, please." 

"Scrambled eggs? Fried? Hard-boiled?" I asked.

"Those!" He answered excitedly. "Hard-boiled! Nanny Kim didn't ever make them because she said they're...they're...too much work."

I turned towards the fridge and rolled my eyes. Honestly, how hard was it to boil eggs? I pulled out a full carton of eggs and asked, "Harry, would you like me to show you how to make hard-boiled eggs? They're pretty easy."

"Nanny Kim won't let me use the stove," he pouted.

I leaned on my arms over the table, looking at him where he sat. "Well Nanny Kim isn't here and I think you're plenty old enough to learn how to cook."

"Really?" He asked and suddenly his face lit up in the most beautiful smile I had ever seen. His green eyes sparkled and deep dimples embedded themselves into his face. I didn't think I'd ever seen someone whose face so clearly defined happiness.

"All right, let's get started." I pulled out a saucepan and placed six eggs inside. I instructed Harry to fill it with just enough water to cover the eggs and he complied with a grin still fixed on his face. I motioned for him to put the pan on the stove top.

"Now there's one thing you do have to remember," I instructed him. "When you're going to cook, always ask permission from your nanny or another adult before you do it. You will probably need help at first."

He nodded excitedly. I turned the burner to high and told him we'd wait until it boiled; then I described to him how the water would look when it was boiling. When it did, I took the hot pan off the burner, covered it and told him we had to wait ten minutes for them to keep cooking. He absorbed every word with ravenous hunger. Finally, after ten minutes, I emptied the hot water and ran cold water over the eggs for several minutes. "If you want to eat them like this, they'll still be a little warm. Or we can put them in the fridge for about an hour and they'll be cold."

"I want to eat them now," he grinned triumphantly. "I want...I want all...all six of them!"

I giggled at his enthusiasm and answered, "Well, I was kind of hoping you'd share them with me. I'm pretty hungry."

He slapped his hand to his forehead and said, "Duh, of course Nanny Jules. I rember... remember I have to share."

I chuckled and showed him how to peel his eggs. Then we both sat down to a breakfast of eggs, toast, orange juice, and coffee for me. I didn't want to upset Harry so I carefully told him, "You don't have to call me Nanny Jules. I think I'm going to go home today. I don't think I'm going to be your nanny."

Just as his face had been the epitome of happiness a short time earlier, it was now a clear example of disappointment. "Why?" He asked softly, looking down at his half-finished breakfast. "You don't like me?"

"Oh, Harry, it's not that, I promise you. It's just that I wanted to work with a younger child. You're almost grown up now."

"I don't want you to go," he said, sniffling. Aw, shit, he was crying. Thanks a fucking lot, Theodore! I had some choice words I was going to leave with him once I was on my way out.

"I'm really sorry, Harry. You're a wonderful boy but I just don't think I can stay."

He wiped his face on the sleeve of his t-shirt. "If I'm...If I'm...." He was trying to control his voice in spite of a mounting sob. "If I'm...If I'm good, will you stay?"

"What do you mean, Harry?" I asked, feeling like he had punched me in the gut.

"Theodore says I'm bad. I'm too...too stupid to do anything."

I didn't even know how to address that but I knew I wanted to punch Theodore in the gut right about now. And why did Harry call his dad by his first name? "Oh, Harry that's not true. You're not a bad boy," I assured him. "And you're not stupid. I can already see that you're very smart!"

His eyes lit up again, but not his whole face this time. "Really?"

"Yes, really," I assured him with a pat to his hand. But I wanted to know more, so I questioned carefully, "Does your dad always say things like that to you?"

"He mostly doesn't say things to me," Harry said meekly. "But he says I'm stupid and...and bad. A bad boy."

"Oh honey, that's just not true. Believe me!" I said emphatically.

He gave me a quirky little smile. "You call me honey?"

"It's a term of endearment," I explained. "You call someone honey when you care about them."

"I like it," he nodded happily.

I was enraged at the thought of Harry's dad speaking to him like that, but I didn't say anymore.

"Pills, Nann-, oops I mean Jules," Harry announced after breakfast. I diligently retrieved his pills and gave him his morning dose.

While I waited for Theodore, Harry showed me around his learning room and his play room, which was across the hall. He had an unbelievable collection of Legos, and many, many Lego creations stashed on every possible surface. His feet seemed overly large for his body as he stumbled across the room from one thing to the next, showing me all of his cool inventions. Some of them were pretty sophisticated considering they were made of Legos. He had the set for the Eiffel Tower, which looked extremely complicated as well as the Tower of London. He had also made some free-hand builds which had a remarkable amount of detail, like a spaceship with lights and landing gear and an escape hatch.

Next, he bumbled over to his train table which held an intricate network of wooden Thomas the Train Engine figures as well as tons of track, bridges and scenery. "I...I love Thomas because I like...I like to...I like to...." He was getting frustrated by his inability to find the right word.

"It's okay, Harry, just take your time," I encouraged him.

"I like to...I like to pretend that I'm him and drive all over like I would want to some days." It was the first time I noticed that he had some facial tics; it's possible they manifested when he became excited or frustrated. He blinked a lot more while explaining things and he had a bit of a twitch in his neck, regularly cocking his head just slightly to the side.

"Are you tired, Harry? Do you need a break?" I asked because it seemed like these tics became more prominent the more he showed me his toys and games.

"No, no, not tired. Play, I want to play."

I scooted close to him on the floor and rubbed his back firmly. "It's fine, Harry. Let's play. I'm not going to  make you take a nap right now."

He nodded eagerly. "Okay," he said calming. "Okay." I wondered if he had any therapeutic equipment that he used when he got worked up, like an anxiety blanket or the like.

While I played with Harry, I waited impatiently for Theodore to show up and have our discussion. Harry finally fell asleep around 1:00, on the couch in  his play room. I dialed Theodore's number as I really wanted to get things sorted out before Harry grew any more attached to me. He answered with that stiff formality that I'd already become too familiar with.

"This is Juliette," I said. "I believe we were going to discuss my departure today. I was expecting you to come by this morning."

"I am a busy man," he stated.

"One who needs to find a proper caregiver for Harry," I said boldly.

"Fine," he said and hung up. Not five minutes later, he strode into the kitchen, holding a piece of paper. "This, Ms. McGill is your contract. I think you will plainly see that you misunderstood it, but you did sign it which makes it legally binding."

Snatching the paper from his hand, I looked carefully over the wording.

...provide care and education for seventeen-year-old intellectually disabled boy...

How the hell could I have not read that properly? To be fair, I had been finishing my education degree, functioning on little to no sleep and too much caffeine, and stressing out about finding just the right job. Maybe I had jumped at this one without being thorough enough. Or maybe I'd been too enamored by all the zeros at the end of my promised salary to read the contract carefully. Still, it would have made sense for him to clarify that during the interview, wouldn't it? I tried to own up to my mistake. "I'm truly sorry, sir. I can see this is entirely my fault but still, I'd like to go home. This job isn't what I thought it would be."

"No," Theodore said flatly. "A contract is a contract, Ms. McGill. I expect you to abide by it."

I shook my head. "During the interview, you didn't mention, not once, that Harry was a teenager."

"Fine. I'll pay you $150,000. Do we have an agreement?"

I hoped he didn't notice my jaw landing on the floor. "I...uh...I...yes, we have an agreement, sir." Not only was that more than enough to get me stay but I was already growing fond of Harry in the few short hours since I'd met him. And there was a sharp nagging in my gut, a feeling that I'd never really had before, that told me that maybe Harry needed me.

"Splendid. I will have a new contract drawn up to reflect the change."

"Thank you so much, sir. I actually think this will work out wonderfully." Hey, a little ass-kissing never hurt anyone. The man was as soft as a bathtub full of nails but he was generous with his money, that much was certain.

"And if it's not too much trouble, could I just come and get my luggage?" I asked. "The door to the suite was locked last night and I couldn't come to find it. I'd really like to take a shower and change my clothes." I also knew that my own copy of the contract was inside my bag and perhaps I could still win this argument but of course, I didn't mention that to him. For $150,000, I was already convinced to stay. I just wanted to prove to myself that I hadn't made such a dumb mistake.

"I will have it brought immediately. Now will that be all?" He demanded. Heavens, he was an impatient man!

"Not exactly, sir. I have a few questions about Harry."

"For god's sake, what could you possibly need to know?" He fumed.

"For one, he told me that if he doesn't take his medication at night, he will die. Does he have any life-threatening condition I should be aware of?"

"No," he snapped. "The boy exaggerates. Or perhaps one of his prior caregivers thought that would be the way to make sure he takes his medication without a fuss."

"May I ask what medications he does take? Will I be responsible for filling the medication box weekly?"

"No, that will be done for you so no need to worry about it."

"Okay," I said, not exactly content with the sparse information he was providing. I wasn't going to let the medication question rest since I thought it would be very helpful for me to know what he was taking and for what condition. But I let it go for the moment. "Is Harry allowed to go out? For example, if I want to take him to the library or a park. Maybe a movie."

"That...I'm not exactly sure about that. Perhaps we'll see how this goes. The grounds are larger and more well-equipped than any municipal park," he said with disdain. "He has a swimming pool, an extensive series of treehouses, and many other distractions to occupy him. He has no real need to leave the premises."

"With all due respect, sir, these guidelines weren't written into the contract and I don't have an instruction manual. I don't mean to be a bother but I would think you'd want me to be well acquainted with the care of your son."

Theodore curled his lip in disgust. "If you had logged into your computer, you would have seen all the details of Harry's care are delineated in a document on the desktop."

Was that so hard to just tell me that? I grumbled internally. "I apologize sir, but I hadn't taken a look because I arrived late last night and I wasn't expecting to stay."

"And for your information," Theodore continued, "Harry doesn't leave the property often because when he's out in public, he often causes certain...complications."

I didn't dare ask about the complications. Some intellectually disabled kids were prone to tantrums and meltdowns, so I assumed it was something of that nature. It was probably wise for me to get to know him and his various moods and behaviors first anyway, before attempting an outing.

"Anything else?" He asked fiercely.

"Why does Harry call you Theodore?" It was a bold question and I was slightly afraid of his reaction to it, but I couldn't contain my curiosity.

He sighed so viciously that I was sure I saw steam come out of his nose. "Theodore is my name," he seethed. "Now will that be all?" It may have sounded like a question, but it definitely told me that he was finished answering questions for now.

"Yes, sir, that's all I wanted to know."

"You will also find Harry's lesson plans on that computer. Please begin at once." He left immediately and I turned to find a just-waking Harry standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

"Are you still leaving?" His mournful tone of voice nearly broke my heart.

"No, Harry," I said, smiling for his sake. "I think I'm staying for a while."

* * * * *

Thank you SO MUCH to all of you who have joined this adventure with me.

As I usually do at the beginning of my stories, I would like to ask that you all help me to promote it just to get it off the ground. Let your followers know about the story or give me a shout out in one of your own stories and I will happily reciprocate. Target your fellow Harry fans! :) I'm also happy to check out your books. I can usually commit to reading 3-5 chapters and giving feedback.

love Jen *J*