When Declan awoke, Kyle was already up and out of the room. He slowly got to his feet, ignoring his aching body, ankle included. He wanted to go check where Kyle had gotten to, but he knew that he wasn't supposed to be there, especially not in the middle of the night unannounced, the way that he had. Instead, he picked up one of the books that Kyle had lying around the room and sat back, reading for a few minutes before the door opened. "Oh, you're awake," Kyle smiled as he entered.

"Yup," Declan nodded, setting the book down.

"How are you?" Kyle asked.

"I'm fine," Declan shrugged. "I'm thinking that I'll just go sneaking out the way I came and head home.

"You're going to go back after your father hit you?" Kyle asked confused. "Why would you do that?"

"Because," Declan shrugged. "It's my house, it's my dad."

"But he hurt you," Kyle's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Why would you want to go back to that?"

"He was angry," Declan shrugged. "He didn't actually want to hurt me."

"You look pretty hurt," Kyle countered.

"It looks worse than it is," Declan shook his head. "I'll just wash your clothes and bring them back, ok?"

"Declan," Kyle sighed. "I don't think that you should go back there yet."

"Kyle," Declan chuckled. "It'll be fine, don't worry about me, ok? I can hold my own."

"I know you can," Kyle shrugged. "But I don't know if you will."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Declan frowned.

"It means that we have the abilities to do a lot of things that we chose not to do because we're afraid of what might happen if we do." Kyle paused and looked at Declan. "There are places that you can get help, hotlines for children who's parents abu-"

"I'm not a child and I'm not abused," Declan snapped. "Don't imply things that you don't understand, ok? He hit me once."

"You're lying," Kyle sighed. "Your eyes are darting around the room and your heart rate is increasing."

"There's no getting things by you, is there?" Declan sighed, still a little angry.

"Not much, no," Kyle shook his head.

"Oh well," Declan shrugged, grabbing his still slightly damp clothing from the night before. "I'm still going home."

"Decl-"

"I can deal with this Kyle, ok?" Declan snapped again. "Don't get involved, it's my business." Declan slipped his shoes back on and exited the room. Kyle could have easily caught up to him, but Declan had made his decision, and Kyle didn't want to invade his privacy, so he just went back to the kitchen.

"Kyle, do you want breakfast?" Nicole asked.

"No thank you," Kyle shook his head, pouring a glass of orange juice. "I'm not hungry."

"Are you ok?" Nicole asked. "You seem distracted."

"Mom," Josh rolled his eyes. "It's Kyle, if he stepped on an ant he'd be distracted."

"Josh…" Nicole warned.

"Its fine," Kyle looked up, smiling. "I was just thinking about something."

"Wow, Kyle thinking, that's something for the record books," Josh said sarcastically, earning himself an admonishing glare from his mother. "Hey," Josh piped up. "My girlfriend has cancer."

"Had, yeah, that's past tense, Josh," his father reminded. "And you can't play that card, nice try though."

"Damn," Josh chuckled. "Whatever." Josh shrugged and cleared his plate. "I'm going to Andy's."

"Room clean?" his mother asked.

"Check," Josh nodded.

"Homework done?"

"It's Saturday!" Josh objected.

"Homework started?" his father amended.

"Yes, sir!" Josh saluted, earning him an eye roll from his parents, and a small laugh from Kyle. "I won't be back for dinner."

"Alright, just don't have too much fun!" his mother called after him.

"Too much fun?" Kyle looked at Nicole, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"It's an expression," Nicole chuckled. "Now you're sure that you're not hungry?"

"Yes," Kyle nodded, taking his orange glass. "Is Lori up?"

"Yeah," Nicole nodded. "I think she's in her room with her guitar."

"Ok," Kyle nodded, exiting the room with his juice and heading up the stairs. He knocked on Lori's door hesitantly, not sure that he wanted to interrupt her. "Lori?" he asked. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure Kyle, what's up?" she held the door open, letting Kyle inside.

"If I tell you something can you promise to keep it a secret?" he asked, moving to sit on the edge of her bed, looking awkwardly at his feet.

"Sure," Lori nodded. "What's up Kyle?"

"I think Declan's in trouble at home," Kyle sighed, biting his lip.

"What makes you say that?" Lori asked, her eyes wide.

"I can't exactly tell you," Kyle said. "He doesn't want people to know."

"Oh," Lori thought for a minute. "Oh! Kyle, did he tell you about…" she bit her lip hesitantly. "Did he tell you about Max?"

"You know?" Kyle asked curiously.

"Yeah," Lori nodded. "He told me awhile ago, it's part of the whole best friend thing, I think."

"Oh," Kyle nodded. "Well yeah, he did…but he also told me that his dad found out."

"Oh shit!" Lori's eyes widened. "That's not good."

"No," Kyle shook his head.

"When did he tell you all of this?" Lori asked.

"Last night… he kind of stayed the night because he didn't want to go back to his house, but don't tell him that I told you, he said not too." Kyle sighed. "I wasn't supposed to tell you anything, but I'm worried about him."

"You did the right thing, Kyle," Lori nodded. "I'll give him a call later and see if he wants to hang out, we can all go to a movie or just watch something here. And don't worry, I won't tell him that you said a thing."

"Ok," Kyle nodded. "Thank you."

"Thanks for telling me," Lori rolled her eyes. "Lord knows Declan never would have, he thinks that he can handle everything on his own."

"A lot of people seem to think that," Kyle nodded. "But you know how much he helped me, I just want to help him too."

"Of course you do," Lori smiled. "That's who you are."