True to his word, next day, Nick showed Harry how to ride his new bike. It wasn’t easy though for Harry, who felt embarrassed at not being able to keep the bike steady enough. He could feel his face heat up after each time he lost his balance and had to stop riding in order to prevent falling. Nicholas was being patient with him, which Harry was grateful for. Before he managed to get the hang of it, he was called inside for lunch.

Harry, still feeling irritated at being unsuccessful, was quiet and sported a sullen expression on his face. He picked at his food and eventually pushed his food away.

“Can we try again?” Harry asked his grandfather, who had finished his lunch already.

Before Nick could respond, Cathy interrupted. “Why don’t you take a break for a while, Harry? You seem to be getting frustrated and I don’t want you to try too hard and end up hurting yourself.”

Harry scowled. He wanted to learn how to ride now! “Please? I just want to learn how to ride,” he mumbled the last part.

“What was that?” the older gentleman asked.

“I said that I just want to learn to ride my new bike,” Harry replied, speaking clearer this time since he knew Nick hated when people didn’t speak up properly.

“Why don’t you just go up to your room for now?” Catherine suggested. She could tell if he went out there and wasn’t successful, then he’d become more frustrated.

“Fine,” the boy snapped.

“Harry,” Nick warned. “Don’t speak to your mum that way.”

Harry lowered his frustrated gaze downwards. “Yes, sir. May I be excused now?” Catherine agreed and Harry dashed upstairs and threw himself onto his bed. All he wanted was to learn how to ride his bike! Why can’t he go back outside and try again? It wasn’t long before the boy became sleepy lying on the bed and soon fell asleep.

“Harry,” his grandmother said as she shook Harry by the shoulder lightly. The boy grumbled slightly before slowly opening his eyes.

“’lo Grandma,” he mumbled as he sat up and slipped on his glasses.

“You’ve been sleeping for a while now. Cathy said you are welcome to try riding your bike once more before it gets dark.”

Yes! “Okay,” Harry replied, much more awake now. “I’ll be down in a bit.” She left and Harry went to the bathroom, freshened up a bit before darting downstairs.

Nicholas was already outside waiting for him. He climbed back on the bike and his grandfather guided the bike a bit before letting go. Harry wobbled a bit before balancing the bike long enough to peddle on. He made it up to the end of the street before he stopped since he wasn’t supposed to go further than that. He turned around the bike and slowly started peddling back to his grandfather. He did it on his own! He was finally able to balance the bike and ride on his own without any assistance.

Harry looked up at Nick and grinned happily as he came closer to the man. Harry had only looked up at his grandfather briefly, but that was enough time for him to lose his concentration on balancing the bike. The slightly uneven pavement didn’t help either because Harry still ended up loosing control. The bike slid from underneath him and he skidded on the cement while his bike ended up on the edge of the curb.

Nick rushed over to Harry quickly and pulled the boy up with surprising strength for such an older man. He quickly looked Harry over and only found a bleeding elbow from the fall.

“Bloody hell, that hurt,” the boy grumbled.

“Where did you hear that word?” the older man asked sharply.

Harry looked up at his grandfather. Oops, he hadn’t meant to actually say that out loud. “I heard it from some older kid.”

“Don’t use such language again. If I hear that –or any other foul terms- you will end up with a bar of soap in your mouth. Understand?”

“Yes, sir,” the nine-year-old answered. Why was everyone telling him what to do lately? It seemed like nothing was going right today.

“Come on,” Nick gently led the boy towards the house. “Let’s get this cleaned up.”

After entering the house, Eleanor immediately pushed the boy into a chair and began to gently wipe away the dirt from the cut. She then spread some ointment on it before placing a large band-aid over the entire scrape.

“There you go sweetie,” Harry’s grandmum said. “All cleaned up. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes so you should wash up.”

After dinner, his two grandparents left for their own home and Harry joined Cathy on the couch in front of the telly. It was getting late when a movie came on. Harry wanted to stay and watch it but he knew any minute now he would be sent up to bed.

Sure enough, he heard his adoptive mum say, “Harry, it’s getting late. You should head up to bed now.”

“Can’t I stay up and watch this movie with you?” Harry whined. He knew he shouldn’t keep pushing her today but he really wanted to watch the movie. It wasn’t like he had school tomorrow or anything since it was summer time after all.

“No, Harry. You’ve had a long day as it is.”

“Please?” the boy begged. “It’s summer vacation so it’s not like I have school tomorrow.”

“I said no, Harry,” Catherine stated firmly. The boy was quite cranky today after his repeated failures at riding a bike but the nap had helped him for a while. Then of course he fell off the bike, which put him back in an irritable mood.

“Pretty please?” Harry grumbled. “It’s just one night!”

“No and that is final. Just go to your room and stay there quietly please.” It wouldn’t hurt to let him stay up once and a while but she felt that she shouldn’t give into him right now. Another night, she’d offer to let him stay up but not tonight.

“Fine!” The boy snapped and stormed upstairs.

Harry yanked his pajamas out of the drawer and carelessly threw his current clothing on the floor in a messy pile. He pulled on the night clothes and crawled into his bed. The boy turned off his light and tossed his glasses on the nightstand. As he slowly calmed down in the dark, he realized that he had been quite bratty out there.

He realized with a sickening shock that he just threw a temper tantrum just like his cousin Dudley. He never wanted to be like any of those relatives and immediately began to feel bad for snapping at Cathy when she had been so nice to him. It was just yesterday when he’d had the best birthday ever and here he was getting upset over a bike. He shouldn’t have become so frustrated with his failures and then snapped at his family.

Harry sat up, thinking about going downstairs and apologizing for his behavior but then he remembered what Cathy had said last. She said to stay in his room. Oh, what if she hated him now? He never should have said anything! Now Cathy was probably having doubts about him and maybe she was even regretting spending so much of her time and money on him.

Harry tried to calm his panicked breathing as his mind automatically brought up all the horrible things that could happen. If he was thinking rationally, it should have occurred to him that Cathy wouldn’t send him away after one argument. But at the moment, he was panicking and naturally not thinking straight.

He glanced over at the clock and was shocked to realize that it was past eleven thirty and he had yet to see Catherine. She always came in to say goodnight to him. She had come every night since he arrived here to tuck him in and now tonight, she hadn’t shown. That must mean she really was mad at him. Knowing that she didn’t come up to say goodnight made him feel an ache in his chest that he couldn’t explain. The boy curled in a small ball on his bed and cried softly in his pillow. He really screwed things up now! It wasn’t long before the exhausted boy fell asleep in his bed.

A short while later, Catherine awoke from her seat on the couch and made her way upstairs. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep on the couch but she was tired from a long day. As she reached Harry’s door, she peeked in and saw the boy fast asleep on his bed. She pulled up the blanket and covered him up before lightly kissing his forehead and whispering a goodnight. It was too dark in the room for her to see the remnants of the tears on the boys face and Harry was far too asleep to notice that Cathy had come after all.

Harry woke the next morning, unsure what to do since Catherine had said to stay in his room. With the people he grew up it, it was no wonder why he took orders such as that literally. The boy at least got dressed before he pulled out a book to read. If he was still in trouble, it wouldn’t be right to play with his toys so he settled with a book.

Downstairs, Catherine was eating breakfast alone. She wasn’t sure why Harry wasn’t down yet, even though she could hear him moving around upstairs. She assumed that he was still sulking though and had decided to stay upstairs for the time being. For now, she agreed to let him be and ate her breakfast. By lunch, she still hadn’t seen him and decided that was enough.

“Harry,” she poked her head in and found him sitting on his bed reading. “Why don’t you come downstairs, eat lunch and afterwards I have a few errands to run and you’ll accompany me.”

The nine-year-old nodded and bookmarked his page before standing up. She wasn’t smiling or showing any emotion and that caused Harry to worry. He really hoped her errands had nothing to do with getting rid of him. He couldn’t decide whether it would be better if she left him in some alley like his uncle had or stuck him back in the over-crowded orphanage.

Lunch was a quiet tense affair. Both were assuming the wrong things. Cathy thought the boy was still sulking, while Harry worried over being sent away for upsetting his adoptive mum.

After lunch, Harry slowly followed Catherine to the car, dreading every step he took. He really hoped they were just running some pointless errands and she wasn’t going to send him away. They hadn’t driven far before Harry couldn’t stand the silence anymore.

“I-I’m sorry!” he blurted. He reached his hand up and scrubbed furiously at the single tear that escaped. Only little babies cried and he was a big boy and they didn’t cry.

Catherine glanced over clearly surprised to see Harry crying. The moment she took her eyes off the road was a mistake though. Another car had run the stop sign and slammed into their car. It impacted the front of the passenger side, causing the airbags to instantly deploy. Everything quickly went dark for the two McKinneys.

Catherine slowly woke up, hearing a strange beeping sound. It took her a minute to realize what she was hearing and she sat up in shock. The moment she did so, she felt pain along her right side and gasped. She fell back on the bed with a pained groan.

“Cathy?” she opened her eyes slowly and looked into the concerned ones belonging to her mother.

“Where’s Harry?” the woman managed to get out. Her throat was rather dry and from her tone, her mother could tell which was why she poured a couple of water and helped Cathy sip it.

“Harry is fine. He is currently in the children’s ward and your father is sitting with him. Last I heard he hasn’t woken up yet.” Eleanor informed her. “I will be right back. The doctor wanted to know when you woke.”

Catherine sat there, wishing she had enough strength to get up and see for herself that Harry was okay. For now her mother’s word would have to do. The strawberry blond-haired woman turned to the door as her mum reentered along with a doctor.

“How are you feeling, Ms. McKinney? Any pains? Aches? Difficulty breathing?”

Catherine dutifully answered his questioned before finally being able to ask her own.

“How is Harry doing? Was he hurt badly?” she asked, worry written all over her face.

“Your son is doing fine. Even though the car impacted on his side, he was reasonably unhurt, which was very unexpected. Once you see the damage done to your vehicle, you’ll be surprised that your son survived. It’s a miracle that he only ended up with a broken leg. The only other complication is he has yet to regain conciseness. By the way, you both have been here for two days now. Your only injuries were bruising to your right side from impacting your vehicle therefore you should be released by tomorrow.”

The doctor then exited and Catherine turned back to her mother. “What about the other driver? What happened to him or her?”

“All I know if that the man was in a hurry and ran the stop sign. I believe that the doctors just mentioned that he was a little shaken up, no injuries or anything.” Ellie replied.

Cathy leant back on the pillows, wishing that she could see Harry. Tomorrow wouldn’t come soon enough.

“Finally!” the strawberry blond-haired woman muttered to herself. “I thought they’d never let me out of here.” After the doctor checked her over once more, she was finally released. The first thing she did afterwards was make her way to the Children’s ward. She quickly located Harry’s room and entered. It was quiet and she slowly made her way next to the unconscious boy and sat down. She reached out and grabbed his limp hand and held onto it tightly.

“Harry,” she began, not knowing if the boy would be able to hear anything or not. “I am sorry for having that dreadful argument with you and then just leaving you to yourself. At times, you seem like such a normal happy child that I forget about your past. I should have figured out that you weren’t sulking in your room. Please forgive me, for that and for landing you in the hospital. I can’t believe I took my eyes off the rode…” she trailed and then started to cry softly.

“You mean so much to me, my sweet little boy. Have I told you that? Adopting you was the greatest thing I have ever done and I will never regret that decision. The doctors haven’t found anything wrong with you, but yet you are not awake. Why? Please, just please wake up,” she ended with a soft whisper.

Cathy returned the next day to sit with Harry. There were still no changes but she still continued to sit by his side. She’d talk with him, not really knowing if he’d hear it. After sitting there for so long, Catherine decided to get up and stretch. She wandered to the room where coffee was provided for everyone. It was a bit crowded so she lowered herself into a seat across from a brown-haired gentleman.

“Mind if I sit here?” she asked politely.

“Not at all,” he replied and looked up at her.

Catherine found herself mesmerized by his gorgeous chocolaty brown eyes. Even though he was sitting down, she figured he was about six feet tall, had a nice build and was slightly muscular. He wore a rich dark green button up shirt along with black slacks. Cathy was lost in her thoughts and missed what he just said.

A pink tinge appeared on her face as she asked, “I’m sorry, what was that?”

“I merely stated that my name is Connor Blair,” he replied with a charming smile.

“Oh,” Catherine replied. He had a great smile too! “I, uh, my name is Cathy. Well Catherine McKinney. And it’s nice to meet you.”

“So are you an escaped patient out for a coffee break or are you visiting someone?” Connor asked.

“I was involved in a car accident just a couple of days ago,” the blue-eyed woman began.

“Pardon me for interrupting, but are you okay?” he asked, concern evident in his eyes.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Just a little bruised up. I was just visiting my son, who was regretfully in the car with me at the time of the accident.” Cathy replied.

“Your son?” the brown-haired man asked, his smile fading. “Is your husband with him now while you’re on coffee break?”

Catherine gave a short laugh. “Husband? No, I don’t have a husband. Harry is my adopted son.”

Connor’s smile reappeared. “I apologize for my assumption. I’m sure you’ve heard that assuming-”

“Makes and ass out of you and me,” Cathy finished with him. They both laughed a little at that and smiled at each other.

“So are you visiting a friend or family member? If you don’t mind me asking,” she added.

“Friend actually,” the man replied. “A buddy of mine got badly injured at work and I thought I’d keep him company.”

Cathy was about to say more when a nurse came over. “Ms. McKinney, the doctor sent me to find you. Your son appears to be waking up.”

Catherine stood quickly. She was about to leave but she remembered the gorgeous chocolaty eyes of the man she was sitting with. She reached into her purse and pulled out one of her business cards.

“Here’s my card with my home number on it,” she handed it to Connor. “In case you’d like to go out for drinks sometime?” she ended hesitantly.

He smiled brightly. “I’d like that. I’ll call you sometime.” She smiled back and left. She strode through the halls quickly and pushed open Harry’s door. A doctor was reviewing Harry’s chart but he looked up when Cathy entered.

“Ms. McKinney?” he asked. She nodded. “Your son Harry appears to be waking up judging by these machines,” the man motioned towards all the devices set up on the side of the bed, “monitoring his health. I’d like you to alert a nurse or myself when he fully regains consciousness.”

“Okay,” Catherine agreed. “Thank you.”

She resumed her normal seat next to Harry and held onto his hand. She jumped slightly when she thought he squeezed back, but figured it was just a twitch of his hand. It was about an hour later when Harry groaned. Cathy immediately sat up straighter and clutched onto his hand like a lifeline.

“Harry? Can you hear me?”

Another groan and his mouth opened slightly. “ ‘ater,” he rasped out.

“What was that?” she asked softly and leaned in closer.

“W-water, ‘pleez.” This time Cathy understood and grabbed the cup from the table, poured some fresh water and allowed Harry to take several small sips of it.

“I’m so glad you are awake, Harry. I was worried about you after finding out you hadn’t woken yet,” the woman babbled.

“ ‘m tir’d,” Harry murmured sleepily.

“Go ahead and rest. Everything will be alright now,” she said.

The doctors finally released Harry several days later. They were quite worried about his excessive sleepiness which wasn’t caused by any medications in his bloodstream. After declaring his as healthy as could be with a broken leg, they released him. Cathy wheeled Harry down to the front of the building and was just pondering if she’d have enough strength to life Harry into the car. That dilemma was solved when she spotted Connor heading inside the hospital.

“Connor,” Catherine called out. The brown-haired man turned towards her and smiled.

“Catherine,” he greeted. “How are you today?”

“Fine,” she smiled at him. “This is Harry, by the way.”

Connor looked down at the small tired looking boy sitting in a wheelchair with a cast on his foot. “Nice to meet you Harry,” he replied unenthusiastically.

“You too, sir.” Harry responded quietly. The man looked friendly enough, but yet he didn’t sound too friendly. Maybe it was just the tiredness affecting his judgment?

“Do you think you could do me a favor?” Cathy asked uncertainly.

He gave her one of his charming smiles. “Sure.”

“Could you lift Harry into the car for me? I don’t think I’d be able to do it with my sore side and all.”

“Anything for you, my lady,” Connor answered with a grin. He pulled open the door of the rental car and lifted the nine-year-old into the car.

“Thank you kind sir,” Cathy teased with a grin of her own.

“Anytime,” he replied. “Would you like to have lunch with me next Tuesday?”

“Sure,” she responded happily. “When and where?”

“How about that new Italian restaurant that just opened? Know which one I’m talking about?” Connor asked.

“Yes. I’ve been wanting to go there. One o’clock sound alright with you?” Cathy asked.

“Sure. I’ll see you then,” Connor stated before waving briefly as he entered the hospital.

Cathy got into the car with a content smile on her face and started the engine.

“You’re going on a date?” Harry asked softly.

Catherine jumped slightly. She had momentarily forgotten that Harry was sitting in the car next to her. “Yeah. I’ve been a bit busy for a while now and honestly haven’t had time to go out with anyone.”

“I’m sorry if I’ve taken up your time-” the boy began before he was cut off.

“Don’t even think about finishing that,” the strawberry-blond haired woman stated gently. “You mean everything to me now Harry. You are very important to me and I don’t want you to even think that you are interfering in any way with my social life. Things have been hectic lately but I will find time to see my friends and such. Just please don’t blame yourself,” she finished.

Harry smiled tiredly at her. “Okay,” he agreed. “Are we going home now?”

“My parents will be there waiting for us and I expect you to take it very easy. If you need anything, do not hesitate to ask. But, yes, we are finally going to get home.”

Harry listened to Cathy’s advice and took it easy for the next few days. He was still tired but that finally went away after several days. Since the doctors couldn’t find any reason to his tiredness, Harry assumed it was something he did. According to his mum, the car was badly smashed on his side of the car, which led the boy to assume he did something freakish in order to protect them. Even if it was freakish, it managed to prevent either person from getting severely injured in the car, which Harry was grateful for.

It was somewhat difficult for the young boy to maneuver up and down the stairs when using his crutches so he mostly stayed upstairs. His adoptive mum even brought him meals in bed so that he didn’t have to go downstairs.

On Tuesday, Nicholas came over while Cathy went to have lunch with Connor. Nick and Harry watched movies and just talked while she was gone. When she returned, she was smiling brightly and informed them both that she had another date with Connor planned for dinner on Saturday.

Cathy seemed happier having someone else around in her life. The rest of August flew by quickly as Cathy went on dates and Harry relaxed around the house. He wanted to ride his bike more but with a broken leg, that wasn’t exactly possible. Luckily for him, he went to his checkup and the doctor checked his leg over, surprised that it seemed to have healed rather quickly.

Just before school started up again for Harry, Connor was introduced to Nicholas and Eleanor. Harry’s two grandparents had arrived earlier and they were sitting around, waiting for Connor to arrive. Finally the doorbell rang and Cathy jumped up excitedly to answer it. She talked with him for a second before bringing him into the living room, where her parents were relaxing on the couch with Harry.

“Connor, this is my father Nicholas,” Cathy introduced and Nick stood to shake hands. “This is my mother Eleanor. And you know Harry, of course.” Connor gave a quick nod.

“It’s nice to meet you both,” the chocolate brown eyed man stated with a kind smile.

“It was nice to finally meet you,” Ellie replied. “Cathy has been talking about you quite a lot lately.”

“Is that so?” Connor looked over and noted the pink tinge appearing on Catherine’s face. She smiled somewhat sheepishly and lowered herself into a chair. Connor followed her example and sat next to her.

“So what do you do for a living?” Nick asked the man sitting across from him.

“I am a certified public accountant and I occasionally work with a friend of mine in his photo studio.” Connor answered.

“Photo studio? Do you develop the pictures or actually take them?” Ellie asked curiously.

“A bit of both actually,” the brown haired man replied. “I took a course in photography several years ago and since a friend of mine owns his own studio, I like to help out from time to time.”

A silence spread over the group. Finally Cathy broke it by suggesting they go ahead and eat dinner. Everyone agreed and gathered around the kitchen table. Dinner was filled with quite chatter, mostly between Ellie and Connor. The older woman asked him all kinds of questions ranging from his family to things he does for fun. After they finished eating dinner, Eleanor brought out a cheesecake. She made it herself using the recipe she got while visiting a friend in the states. After everyone devoured the delicious dessert, they returned to the living room to sit around and talk some more. Finally it began to get late and Connor decided to head home. He said a quick goodbye to everyone before leaving.

“So,” Cathy started. “What did you think?”

“I think he is a sweet gentleman,” her mother said with a smile. “Quite the charmer too.”

“I think I am going to get some coffee. Anyone else want some?” Catherine asked.

“I’ll come with you,” Ellie replied. “We’ll discuss this new man of yours away from the boy’s ears,” she said, flashing a quick look over at Harry and Nicholas sitting next to each other.

After Catherine and her mother exited the room, it was silent until Nick spoke.

“What do you think about this Connor?”

Harry shrugged. “He seems alright. He doesn’t really talk to me or anything. Mostly ignores me.”

“Hmm,” Nick said, frowning slightly. “Maybe he’s not too fond of children?”

“Probably,” the boy agreed. He then yawned.

“Tired?” the retired military man asked. Harry nodded sleepily. “You should head up to bed then.”

Instead of getting up to move, the boy leaned into his grandfather’s side and closed his eyes. “I’m comfy here.”

“Then stay there. I’ll probably end up carrying you to bed once you fall asleep anyways,” Nick said with a fond smile. He heard a quiet mumbled of agreement before the boy’s breathing evened out.

A few minutes later, the two women reentered the room. Both noticed Harry was asleep so they kept their voices down.

“Dad,” Catherine said quietly and the man looked up at her. “You never said earlier what you thought of Connor.”

Nick took a deep breath. “Honestly?” she nodded. “I’m not sure I like him. He seems nice enough but, well I don’t know. I just don’t like him.”

Eleanor looked over at her husband and let out a soft laugh. “Is that the protective father shining through? Seems like yesterday, you were threatening that poor boy that wanted to take your only daughter to a dance. Didn’t you threaten to gut him with that Marine issued knife of yours?”

The three adults laughed. “Yeah, so maybe I was being a bit protective then. But what else could I do when that boy –who was three years older than Cathy- wanted to take her to a dance?”

“You could have left him alone,” Catherine suggested. “You know, he was too terrified to dance with me, thinking you’d show up and get him if he even touched me.”

Nicholas smiled guiltily. He was a father and that was his only daughter. Can you honestly blame him?

Harry turned a bit in his sleep and grumbled something incoherently, causing the adults to remember that the sleeping child was still in the room.

“Maybe I am just being overprotective,” the older man pondered. “Anyways, it is getting late so we should be off soon. But first, I’ll take him upstairs.” Despite his age, the man was able to lift the fifty-five pound boy up and take him to his bed. He woke the boy when he arrived and instructed the sleepy nine-year-old to change into his pajamas before crawling into bed.

“Good night, Harry,” Nicholas said as he turned off the light.

“G’nite,” Harry murmured before falling asleep.

Time passed quickly once school started up for Harry. He studied hard and excelled in his classes, which pleased his mum and his grandparents. When he received his first semester grade report as school let out for the Christmas break, they took him out to eat at his favorite restaurant for getting top marks in all of his studies.

This year, Christmas was going to be spent at their house and Harry’s grandparents were going to come along with Connor. Cathy had been going on steady dates with the man and they seemed to be getting along quite well together. Sometimes Connor would even come over to their house, but they had yet to go to his.

Since the man didn’t have any living family, he would be spending the holidays with them. Harry wasn’t quite sure what to think about that. He had a wonderful Christmas with the three McKinney’s last year and wasn’t so sure he wanted to include the other man. But since Connor made Cathy so happy, he figured he could try and get along. He didn’t want to be selfish after all.

Harry was wrapping his gifts when the doorbell rang. He got up to answer it since he could hear the shower running, signifying that his mum was still in the shower. The boy went downstairs and opened the door.

He looked up and stared into the chocolaty brown eyes belonging to Connor.

“Is Cathy around?” he asked, stepping inside without being invited.

Harry frowned. Sheesh, that was rude. No ‘hi Harry’ to start? Just, ‘where is your mum?’

The boy closed the door and turned to the older man. “She’s upstairs in the shower.”

Connor made no obvious signs of hearing the answer other than he headed towards the stairs.

Before Harry could help himself, he blurted out, “You can’t go up there right now!”

The brown haired man turned back to the boy and rolled his eyes. “Oh course, that would be improper of me, wouldn’t it?” he said with sarcasm. “Well boy?” Harry winced at the term. “Where are your manners? Shouldn’t you ask me if I’d like something to drink?”

“I-I’m sorry, sir,” the boy stuttered. “Would you like something to drink?”

“No,” the man replied before seating himself on the couch.

Harry was confused. Why did the man tell him to ask that when he didn’t want anything to drink? This guy must not care for kids much, unless it was just him. It really did seem that the man didn’t like him. He never talked to Harry, nor did he even acknowledge that Harry was nearby unless necessary.

Despite being confused, Harry seated himself in the living room, to keep Connor company until Cathy came downstairs. It was silent while neither felt like saying anything. Finally Harry broke the silence, to at least try and get along with the guy that captured his adoptive mum’s heart.

“So, uh, do you have a favorite sport team?”

“No,” Connor answered with boredom evident in his tone.

It was silent for a few more minutes before Harry tried again.

“Well, what about-” the boy started.

“Look,” Connor interrupted. “I don’t really want to sit here and talk with you. I came here to see Cathy and that’s all. So why don’t you run up to your room or something? Be a good little boy and leave me alone.”

Harry turned his gaze from the man to his lap. Maybe he was really annoying the man with his stupid questions. He just wanted to try and get along because he knew it would make Cathy happy to know if they got along, even if it was only a little. Harry gave a short nod of understanding before he left the living room and went up to his bedroom.

The nine-year-old sat there quietly for a while, contemplating the mystery that surrounded Connor. The man seemed pleasant enough for the most part but yet, he was not so friendly judging by their conversation downstairs. It could just be that Harry was annoying him with his pointless questions. Harry wasn’t sure what to do but for now, he decided to leave the gentleman alone. He’d talk politely if they were eating together or whenever Cathy was around but other than that, he wouldn’t probably attempt anymore conversations. Harry heard Cathy walk by his bedroom door and head downstairs. He could hear them talking below as he got back to the task of wrapping.

Christmas Eve was already coming up tomorrow and Harry was excited. His grandparents wouldn’t be coming over until Christmas day and unfortunately Connor would be visiting all day tomorrow and supposedly staying the night to celebrate Christmas with all of them. Oh well, Harry wouldn’t let that man spoil his day. He’d work on getting along for Cathy’s sake and disappear to his room if need be.

Harry finally wrapped the last of his presents and gathered them up before going downstairs. As he reached the foot of the stairs, he saw his mum kissing Connor under the mistletoe hanging in one of the doorways. They broke apart quickly and Cathy turned to smile at him.

“What have you got there?” she asked curiously.

“Presents. I wrapped them myself too,” he said proudly as he held up the packages. They were pretty well wrapped for a nine-year-old.

“Nice job,” the strawberry blond haired woman commented. “Why don’t you put them under the three?”

Harry nodded and went over to their Christmas tree and set the packages underneath it. He hoped this Christmas would be as good as his last, even with Connor present.

Christmas day arrived and Harry woke early, feeling incredibly excited. He loved knowing that he is included in all holidays, now that he doesn’t live with the Dursley’s anymore. They never included him in any of their holiday plans.

Harry put on his glasses before quietly walking down the hall to Cathy’s room. The door was mostly closed and he quietly pushed it open. He froze in shock at seeing Connor sleeping on the other side of the bed. That explained where he slept since they didn’t have a guest room. Harry thought it would have been the couch, but obviously he was wrong. He was about to leave when his adoptive mum’s eyes popped open.

“Isn’t it a bit early?” she asked, closing her eyes again.

Harry smiled. Sometime she really wasn’t a morning person. “Nope,” he said quietly. “It’s seven-thirty. I think that’s a bit late, if you ask me,” he added cheekily.

His adoptive mum groaned and opened her eyes. “Okay, okay. Go downstairs and look through your stocking. We’ll be down in a bit.”

Harry nodded and dashed downstairs. He had finished pulling out all the goodies by the time the two adults came downstairs.

“Finally,” the boy said playfully. He jumped up and gave Cathy a hug. “Happy Christmas,” he said first to her and then turned to Connor, “Happy Christmas.”

The man grunted and headed towards the kitchen, most likely to get some coffee. It seems he isn’t much of an early riser either.

After everyone regrouped by the tree, they began opening presents. Harry was surprised to see something for him from Connor. He opened the package and it revealed a book. It was a history text on the two world wars. Harry opened it and flipped through a few pages. It looked a bit dull, but at least the man gave him something.

“Thank you, sir.” Harry said. Connor flashed him a fake smile, probably because Cathy had been watching. That was the first time the man had smiled at him, even if it was not a meaningful one.

By the time Harry finished opening his gifts, he had quite the pile of things ranging from toys, games, clothing and such.

Connor noticed and commented on it to Cathy. “Wow, you sure spoil him.”

Catherine frowned when she saw Harry look down. She knew that he’d feel spoiled with just a few things since he was used to getting nothing.

“Why don’t you go put all your new things in your room?” she suggested. Harry nodded and gathered up many things in his arms and traipsed upstairs.

She turned her attention back to Connor after Harry was gone. “Look, there is a reason that Harry gets so much. I hadn’t said anything before because I didn’t feel the need to. Harry’s past, well, it wasn’t very good. The people he lived with before abused him and he was used to not ever getting anything because he didn’t feel like he was worth anything. So maybe I do tend to spoil him, but he deserves it after growing up with those dreadful people.”

Connor listened intently before nodding his head. “I see where you are going. I just hope that he doesn’t eventually get to the point where he becomes demanding and starts expecting to always get so many things.”

“I’m certain that he won’t get like that,” Catherine stated calmly.

The man raised an eyebrow. “And how can you be so sure?”

“The child other child that Harry grew up with was completely spoiled. He got everything he wanted and more. Harry has told me before, that he wouldn’t ever get that bad. He’s seen how that other boy acted and it basically disgusted him. So I am fairly certain he won’t ever act like that,” she explained. Before either could argue on the matter any further, Harry came back downstairs.

“Ready for breakfast?” Catherine asked as she got to her feet. Harry nodded eagerly and followed her into the kitchen, Connor wasn’t far behind them.

A short while after they ate and got dressed, Nick and Ellie showed up. They spent the rest of the day enjoying themselves and each ate their fill at the delicious Christmas feast. Harry went to bed, happy and content, after having enjoyed his second Christmas with the McKinney family.

Things got back into a regular routine after the Christmas holidays were over and Harry went back to school. Cathy was still seeing Connor often and he had become a regular sight to find around their house.

On Valentine’s Day, Harry had been dropped off over at Cathy’s parents house while she went on a romantic date with Connor.

“So where are we going?” she asked curiously.

“We are going… here,” Connor replied as they pulled into the parking lot of the Italian restaurant where they went on their first date. They ate their meal and chatted quietly. Cathy was wondering what was wrong with Connor, since he looked a bit nervous.

She figured it out just as he stood from his seat and dropped to his knees before her.

“When I first met you, I could tell just by looking in your beautiful blue eyes that you were going to be very special and dear to me. And I was right.”

He pulled a small box out of his pocket. “Catherine McKinney, will you marry me?”