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Chapter L- Getting to Know You

"The boy made it fine Yukari, but we have something more to discuss... Why did you never tell me we had a son together?" Evan demanded, letting some of his pent-up anger out. He felt a bit betrayed, sixteen years he had lost with a son he never knew about. He knew he hadn't been the best father for Lucas and Erin, and he was doing his best to be better for them now, but he missed out entirely on Akira's early life.

The vixen stayed silent for several moments before she sighed on the other side, she said something to herself in Japanese before she spoke to him again, her voice sounding sad and awkward. "Because I didn't want to cause problems for either you or Akira, so I thought it would be easier if I raised him on my own. He was insistent on meeting you though, and I just couldn't say no anymore. He's becoming a man, and if he wants to meet his father I can't really refuse him," Yukari said. "I'm sorry Evan, I know it wasn't the right thing to do, but I thought it was best for now."

Evan sighed and shook his head. It made sense in a way, but it didn't make it any less upsetting. "So what now? What does he want to do? Did you ever ask him this?" Evan asked, learning he had another child was still a shock, but he wasn't sure what would be the next step? Would the boy just go back to Japan or would he want to stay here with him? With the rest of the family leaving soon, he would have plenty of room for the boy and he was sure Lucas and Erin would love having their new sibling around as they did have a lot to catch up on.

"He said he wanted to stay with you. I'll pay for his schooling, but would you be willing to take him in? I know it's sudden, but he really wanted to get to know you. He's a sweet boy and I'm sure meeting his siblings must mean the world to him."

"If he wants to stay I have plenty of room. I missed sixteen years of his life and I'm trying to be a better for father for Lucas and Erin, and I guess be an actual father for Akira. I'll help you get in contact with the school board of Greenhart."

"Thanks, that would be helpful Evan. I'm so sorry about Marie, she was a good woman."

"You knew her?" Evan asked surprised. It shouldn't have been too surprising as Marie had done plenty of shows in Japan and Yukari was a prominent japanese heiress and socialite, so it wouldn't have been too odd for them to have crossed paths but it still surprised him.

"Of course, you didn't know? Marie and I were related. We're cousins," Yukari explained to the confused male fox.

"Right... but yeah, I'll look after the boy trust me, but I hope we can meet soon. I was on a planned trip to Japan in January, but I've requested to work on home for the next while. I have a lot of things to work on in my personal life and making things up to my kids, but I would love to see you."

"We will have to see, my job doesn't have me leave Japan much. I could see if I could move things, especially if Akira is staying in Canada. I've got to go Evan, I still need to sleep we will talk again later." She said, and after saying goodbye they both hung up.

"It's rude to snoop Lucas," he chided before smiling. "But I love you son, and tell Akira if he wants to stay he is welcome to do so," he said with a smile and a wink as he felt the presence of his son vanish and laugh.

~~~~

Lucas blushed at being caught by his father. He hadn't known that it was possible to tell when you were being watched by seersight, but he guessed it was. As he snapped back into focus he saw everyone was looking at him. Akira himself looked confused and almost worried as he was the first to speak.

"Are you okay? You just spaced out for a bit, does that happen often?"

"Oh sorry, I was using seersight," Lucas explained, which made Akira even more confused.

"Aren't you a Mage? I was always told only Mundanes could be Seers?" Lucas gave out a sigh, he had a lot to fill the other fox on. All the craziness that had happened since he met Ian for one and his inexplicable powers nobody really understood, but he figured that could wait as he still wanted to learn more about his brother. He did remember what his dad had said and snapped his finger.

"It's complicated but I do have seersight. Which apparently can be sensed... but that's beside the point, Dad said you could stay with us if you wanted, so how about it? Do you want to stay with us?" Lucas asked with a smile. "I would love to have you stay with us, what about you Erin?" he asked his sister, who beamed a bright smile.

"Of course! You are our family, and we are finally being able to meet after so long is amazing, we have so much to catch up on after all. We got to inform you of all the insane stuff going on here and you can tell us more about Japan and what it's like so please stay? It's so nice to have another big brother!" Akira blushed at all the attention, but he kept his composure and smiled at the vixen and then at Lucas before he spoke, his voice soft and almost shy.

"I would love to stay, in fact that is what I was hoping for. I want to be able to live with you guys and be with siblings, I love Japan, but this could be nice," he said, before looking at the Curtis who was standing to the side. "It's nice to meet you too cousin." He then let out a loud grunt as he was embraced in a bone-breaking hug from the excited pit, whose whip-like tail was wagging like crazy as he snuggled the silver fox.

"It's so good to meet you Akira!!! But don't call me cousin, just call me Curt! But I bet we'll get extra close since I'm staying here in Canada too! We'll be going to the same school too!" Curtis said with a massive smile, seemingly oblivious that the younger canine was getting slightly uncomfortable, but thankfully Ian managed to tap the pit on the shoulder with an awkward smile.

"Hey mate, can you put him down? I don't think he's used to overly affectionate people," the wolf said as he watched the fox give the pit a pleading look to be let down, and blushing, Curtis did let the fox down as he scrambled back to Lucas.

"Sorry Akira, I get a bit over excited but it is good to meet you buddy!"

"It really is good to see you to Curtis..." the fox said with a shaky smile "And it's okay, I'll just have to get more used to the more expressive ways of you Westerners, but I'll adapt," he said as Daphne and Cody came up to greet the boy, much more gently than their son did.

"It nice to meet you Akira," Daphne said, before giving a gentle hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. "It's nice to meet another nephew, but we will be going home tomorrow. I'm glad we got to meet before then." Cody was the next to greet him, but he just gave him a bright smile and simple nod, not feeling the need to say anything, but he did let out a paw for Akira to shake which the fox gladly took. He then looked over to the confused-looking cheetah, and Lucas realized that he hadn't really introduced the two. Dr. and Mrs. Mishra had left a bit after his dad did, probably so they could get in contact with the school board and see if they could get some blind-friendly accommodations in the school, though Monet herself approached the cheetah and started to speak to him camly.

"How are you doing Mish-" she said before stopping herself and shaking her head. "Jaidev, how are you doing Jaidev? I am sorry to hear of what happened to you but Mansfie- I mean Ian asked me if I could help you get around more. He also asked me to see if we could bring in a Medium to aid in helping control your powers. Would both of those be acceptable for you?" She asked as kindly as Lucas had ever heard her. It was a bit odd, but he could tell even she felt a bit responsible for the feline's blindness to a degree.

The cheetah just gave a small awkward smile before speaking. "You called me by my name! Though you can just call me Jai, everyone calls me that. I was kinda hoping you could fix my eyes, though I guess that isn't possible is it?" Jai said with a sad look on his face, before smiling again. "But if you can help me make it easier to get around that would be nice, and learning to control my gift so I'm not constantly harassed by ghosts would be amazing. I can hardly get a good night's sleep because of them, and it's only gotten worse since I've been blind, but I can probably apply that to being in a hospital." He said while tapping his chin. "But yes, if you can do those things that would be very appreciated." he said, before looking around again. "So you have a brother Lucas?" He then asked, directed towards the fox. "It's good to meet you Akira, I wish I could see what you look like, but I guess we can't help with that can we?" he said with a shrug, before rubbing against the bandages. "These are getting so itchy I can't wait till I can take them off."

"Hopefully it will be soon Jaidev, but those bandages will let your injuries heal safely," Allison said kindly. "I will contact the Brotherhood and have a Medium sent to aid you, though we don't have one in Vancouver so it might be a few days, but I will help you. Monks and Nuns of the Brotherhood are required to be able to function without sight. It is possible to use your chi as a way to develop a sixth sense that, which might not completely replace sight, but makes it easier to get around to a degree. I can show you how to do that when you get out of the hospital, which should hopefully be soon here right?"

Jai just gave out a gentle shrug at that question. "I'm not sure, I don't think they will keep me that long, but I guess we'll see. Hopefully I can get back in school when I do get out, because I don't want to miss to much. I'm just worried that I'll be treated differently by everyone, I just want to be treated normally, but I guess that isn't going to be likely is it?"

"You will likely be treated quite different, you will probably be shown a lot of pity among other things, but know they usually do not mean ill by it. It is just the way most people are expected to treat disabled people, but some more heinous types will make fun of you for your blindness, but I suggest you ignore them and let me deal with them. That's beside the point though, just accept that things will never be the same. You lost something that cannot be replaced, but as you know countless people live with blindness everyday so if they can do it, so can you. You are a bright young man Jaidev, so I'm sure you can manage."

This made Jaidev blush a bit, which made Lucas smile, Jai looked really cute when he blushed. He was glad that he seemed to be the same person he was before the incident as Lucas was worried he would have changed from the experience and he smiled as Ian leaned against him and kissed his cheek.

"I'm so relieved you are back babe. I was so worried. When you get home I'll make you feel so good, but sadly there are to many people here," he said as he kissed Lucas's neck, which flustered the fox a bit, but he didn't do anything more. Lucas let out a sigh, relieved the wolf didn't molest him with everyone here. There was far too many people around, and he didn't want them to see more of him than he wanted, plus all he was wearing was a flimsy hospital gown so he didn't feel particularly covered as is. Akira gave him a tiny grin and Lucas smiled back at him. Ian then spoke again, this time directed towards Akira. "So tell me Akira, did you have any friends back in Japan? It was hard enough to move to here from Scotland, but it must be even more crazy for you if you plan on staying."

"I had a few friends back home, but I mostly kept to myself," the silver fox replied. "It is a crazy feeling, but I'm looking forward to staying in Canada, I'm just happy to be able to meet my father and siblings. So I'll adapt, so what made you move here Ian? It must have been something for you to leave your home." Ian winced at that and sighed and Lucas could only pity the wolf, knowing the reason he had moved but he knew Ian wasn't angry, as Akira had no way of knowing the reason, but the wolf shook his head and started speaking, his voice calm but Lucas could tell that he didn't like saying it.

"I moved here to get away from the Hunters, you have heard of them correct? They had kept up numerous attacks against me and the rest of my family, so my dad and grandfather thought it best for us to move somewhere too throw the Hunters off. This is how I met Lucas here," he said and kissed Lucas on the back of his head and smiled. "So I'm grateful that I did as Lucas makes the move completely worth it, but I still miss Scotland and hope I can take a visit soon. We also took out the Hunter behind the attacks, he was the one who attacked the funeral of Lucas's mom." Ian finished calmly with a small smile.

"Oh that's good, do you think you'll stay here much longer? Since the man who kept on attacking you is gone?" Akira then asked in a curious tone.

Lucas also looked towards Ian, also curious, while everything seemed to suggest that he was staying. How much longer did he really need to stay here? Especially if the person who forced him to do so in the first place was currently trapped in the Dark Realm? This bothered Lucas as he didn't want Ian to leave, but he couldn't ask Ian to not go home back to his family just for his sake.

Ian seemed to notice this and smiled as he held Lucas close. "I don't plan on leaving anytime soon, as much as I miss home I am happy here. I have Lucas and my dad is paying a fortune to pay for my mine and my brothers schooling at Greenhart so I plan on at least graduating from there and after that I guess might do a year of Uni here in Canada so Richard can graduate and see if both Lucas and I could get accepted into a Uni back in Britain. But that's ages away since we still got a year or so before then, so I'm not worrying much about it." He said, before looking towards his father who had been sitting and talking to his mom about something. "That sound about right dad? Us staying here until Richard and I graduate?"

This caught Jordan's attention and he look towards Ian with a bright smile. "Yeah, that was the plan. Schooling at Greenhart is quite expensive, so it would be a waste to not let you both graduate and I can work from here easily as I don't really need to work at the office and I got others to handle the work there while I work from home," he answered, before looking towards his wife. "I wish you could move here with us though dear, but I know you can't leave your job, but we do miss you when you are gone."

"It's okay, I miss you too and my time here has been largely fantastic despite all the craziness that has happened and I hope to return here again soon, but you guys should come back home for the Solstice. Maybe we could introduce Isaac to Lucas and see how it goes?" She said while Ian and Jordan both gave her a worried look, which made Lucas himself nervous. Ian hadn't spoken much about his grandfather, but given his position, he must have been an extremely powerful Mage, and the thought of meeting him honestly scared Lucas, but he knew it was inevitable.

"Let's not move quite that fast honey, while I know Lucas has to meet my father eventually, you saw how he acted when he met you." Rebecca blushed a bit and nodded as did Lucas himself, remembering how skittish he was at first towards the female wolf. He almost had a panic attack meeting her. If he met Isaac Mansfield, Lucas was worried he would possibly have a heart attack.

"That is a good point, but my point remains. If you guys do come back home for the holidays, it would be nice to show Lucas the wonders of Scotland. But either way, I do look forward to returning home as I got a lot of work to catch up on." She said with a small sigh, before shaking her head and going back to a bright smile. "But I do love my work, so it's not too bad. I should be heading home soon so I can get some sleep before my flight tomorrow." She finished, before getting up and gently kissing her husband.

"I should be heading home myself, I have an important board meeting to attend to. I'm still working out that deal with the Welsh Clans on an expansion in their country. It's been a long time coming and we are close to finally finishing the arrangements so we can go through with it," he said, before looking towards his son and his ward. "I know it's pointless to ask, but do you want to stay here Ian or do you want to go home with us so you can see your mother off in the morning?" Ian looked pained at the question and Lucas could tell how torn he was with everything. He knew Ian wanted to stay, but he also knew Ian wanted to see his mother off, so without hesitation, Lucas made the decision for the wolf before patting him on the paw, which got the wolf's attention.

"Go, I'll be out tomorrow so you don't have to worry about me. My dad will be here and he will be able to fend for us both, you saw him fight at the funeral. You should see your mother off in the morning, if you don't go you'll never forgive yourself." He said and when Ian looked like he was going to say something, Lucas cut him off with a kiss, silencing the wolf and calming him down.

Once the kiss was disengaged, Ian looked towards him and nodded. "Okay, I'll go home, but I want Greg to stay. I know your Dad is plenty capable of fighting most threats off without much trouble, but it doesn't hurt to have some help does it," he said, and cut both Lucas and Greg off with a wave of his paw before they could say anything. "That's an order Greg, there will be two agents back home along with my parents, I'll be fine. Plus the place is warded so unless they have someone who has powers like Lucas nobody will be able to get through them without setting them off. So please stay with him?" Ian asked the tiger. who just sighed and nodded standing straight and saluting the wolf.

"I will stay, but don't do anything too stupid while I'm not there alright? Tell Richard I said hi as well okay?" Ian just smiled and gave his own salute, before turning back towards his parents.

"I'm going with you, I do want to see mom off," he said, before giving a polite bow to Akira and a pat on Jai's head before he left the room along with his parents. After several moments of silence, Lucas looked towards Greg, who seemed really awkward to be without the wolf to look after.

"You okay Greg?" He asked the tiger, who seemed to snap back into attention, before focusing on the fox with a stiff look on his face. "I know this is awkward, but this could be good for you, you NEED to get more of your own thing outside of Ian so spending a night away from him could be a good start for that." Greg just grimaced and nodded with a sigh as he sat down next to Lucas and put his head in his paws.

"I told him the same thing, but he is right Gregory, this could be a very good thing for you. And if I didn't know better that was the exact reason your master told you to stay, so you can have some time away from him and put some thought into yourself and any plans for yourself in the future." Allison contributed as well.

"I'm guessing Gregory-san is Ian-sama's Hogosha?" Akira asked in confusion as he didn't know much about the situation. Lucas just looked at him confused, but Greg seemed to understand him enough to answer in a confident tone.

"Yes, I'm his Protector... it's what we call them in English or as they call it in Hindi an Abhibh?vak." Greg explained. "I took an oath to protect Ian and serve him as he needed. When I was young, me and several other young men began our training learning how to fight paw-to-paw, use our magic effectively in combat, as well as various other tasks like cooking, cleaning and other things to aid our Master in any way."

"So you are basically his Valet?" Akira asked poliety, before Jai himself spoke up.

"I think I'm lost, what are you guys talking about? So Greg is basically Ian's bodyguard or something?" Greg nodded towards the cheetah, before remembering that Jai wouldn't be able to see that. He then spoke politely answering his fellow felines. "Kam ya gaeda," he spoke in Hindi. Lucas figured it must have been nice for the tiger, being able to speak with someone who spoke the language as he doubted anyone else spoke it well. Greg seemed to be able to read his mind as he looked towards the fox and let out a small grin. "Ian actually speaks Hindi quite well, he speaks a few other languages as well given his duties. He might seem like a fool, but Ian is quite bright when he wants to be. He just doesn't use that brain half the time." He said with a mild chuckle.

"I didn't know he spoke Hindi?" Lucas said with a tap of his chin. "So you spend your summers in India right? Does that mean you are away from Ian during that time or does Ian and the others go with you?" Lucas asked curiously. He had remembered Ian had told him the circumstances of how Greg's parents met and how they eloped, which nearly caused a Clan War if the International Council hadn't intervene and that part of the deal was he would spend his summers in India. Greg frowned at that question, but answered nonetheless.

"Ian, Richard and Jordan went to India as well so I wouldn't be alone. I honestly only spend a week or two there as I don't really get along well with the Patel Clan much, but next year should be my last summer going there as I'll be 18 and once I'm an adult I won't have to make the trips anymore, not that my N?n? would really care, he never cared much for me honestly. I'm not sure why he insisted I stay every summer, he always ignored me when I was there." Greg stated with a cool shrug, dismissing the entire thing. "I think he might blame me for what happened to my mom, since he doesn't have my dad to blame anymore," Greg said with a sigh.

"That sucks..." Lucas said, knowing what happened to the tiger's family. "It's not fair that you get blamed for something you had no part in." Lucas said, patting the tiger on the back. "Can't you just say no? If your... what did you call him? I'm guessing you meant your grandfather? If he doesn't want you, then screw him because we want you." Lucas said with a firm look on his face, which made the tiger blush a bit. "It's his loss and our gain really, at least we appreciate you for who you are."

"Thanks Lucas..." Greg said with a small smile on his face. "For so long I devoted myself to Ian, to defend him and be the best person I could be before him, but I could never seem to make him happy no matter how I hard I tired," he said, looking down to his feet and sighed. "I guess I blinded myself, by focusing so much on him I neglected myself and that made him sad, and I couldn't see that. How ironic, the more I devoted myself to him, the more I pushed him away."

"So you are finally getting it through your thick skull that devoting yourself too much to him made Ian sad. All he wanted is to see you be your own person, the way you were before the training," Allison said with a small smile. "Now what do you want to do Gregory? What are your goals besides Ian?"

Lucas also looked towards the tiger, interested in what he was going to say. The tiger stayed silent for several moments before speaking, a contemplating look on his face. "I want... I want to learn train more on my ferrokinetic abilities." He said, looking at his paws in wonder. "I managed to remove a bullet from Lucas's body on my first try, I want to get better not only so I can serve Ian more, but also to learn more about myself and my powers. I always held myself back thinking anything else would be unnecessary for my duties... and if I'm honest, I kinda want to start dating, meeting a girl you know?" This made Erin perk up remarkably as she gave a flirty smile towards Greg, which made him blush lightly and cough. "Anyway yeah I want to meet a nice girl and well..."

"You're tired of being a seventeen year old virgin?" Allison teased lightly, which made Greg go even redder in the face and made Erin look at him in surprise, before smiling even more.

"You are virgin?" She asked in a surprised tone. "I'm honestly surprised someone as hunky as you are that a girl never tried to jump your bones."

"I never really paid attention to girls much since I was so focused on Ian and most girls found me scary for the most part," he said with a shrug. "But I maybe I can make myself look less scary?" he said as he laid back in frustration.vb "Bah, I have to learn to socialize better, that's going to be bloody hard." He said, rubbing his temples in frustration.

"You socialize with us just fine, so it shouldn't be that hard Greg," Jai said in a supportive manner, giving the tiger a thumbs up or at least gave a thumbs up in Greg's general direction, which made Lucas smile.

"Like Jai said, if you can speak with us, you can speak with anyone, you just need to open up more and smile. You are a good enough looking guy so I doubt you'd have a problem catching a girl's attention, you just gotta relax and not look like you're going to rip someone's throat out. Because honestly ,you look a bit too intense sometimes and that turns some people off," the fox said as kindly as possible. "But I'm glad you are finally thinking about branching out and doing your own thing man. Ian will be ecstatic to hear that."

"Thanks Lucas," Greg said kindly as he patted the fox gently on the head.

Akira decided to speak up then after staying silent for a bit, watching everyone spoke. "I don't need know what exactly is going on honestly, but it's always good to be your own person. You can't devote yourself to someone to the point of neglecting yourself, that isn't healthy," he said as he looked at the tiger. "I guess that's something you've been doing huh? Neglecting yourself to serve Ian-sama and that upset him. You honestly remind me of a Samurai, extremely loyal to your Lord to the point you are willing to die for him, does that sound about accurate?" Greg just nodded, not saying anything as he continued to stare at the ceiling.

Erin was the next to speak. "I think you'll do great Greg! I'm happy you are finally being yourself. You are a great guy and any girl who snags you will be a happy and blessed woman." She said with a flirty smile and wink, which made Greg blush even more.

"Thanks Erin, that means a lot," he said, giving her a bright and sincere smile that flustered the girl into silence, blushing at the smile he was giving her, which made Lucas chuckle. He would need to talk with the tiger, he knew his sister liked him quite a bit and he himself certainly trusted the tiger with her, but he still needed to have the 'if you hurt her I'll kill you' talk with him... He knew it wasn't needed as Gregory was really an amazing guy and he knew Erin would be treated well by him, but he was a big brother and he still had to look after his little sister. He then looked over towards Akira and smiled, he had to look after him now as well, he had missed sixteen years of his brother's life so he had to make up for that.

Akira seemed to notice him staring and he gave him an awkward smile. "Is something wrong Lucas?" the younger fox asked in a mild tone. "Do I have something on my face?"

This made Lucas shake his head and laugh gently, which seemed to catch Greg's attention as he looked towards Lucas as well. "No, it's just... I missed sixteen years of your life. I know I'm probably sounding like a broken record, but that's a big deal, but I guess it doesn't matter now since you are here, we have to catch up on it. I'm so glad you are here now Akira."

This made the boy blush as he snuggled closer to his sibling. "I'm happy to be here too Lucas," he said back, which made Greg smile.

"Me and Ian used to be that close, and I do miss that we lost that when I started my training and I always felt bad about that," Greg admitted with a distant look on his face. "So much time wasted and I have so much to rethink. Who I am outside of Ian, what our relationship should be? We were raised together and I love him like a brother, but is that appropriate given our stations? Some of the older Mages already look down on me for being too informal towards Ian, but when I try and be more formal it pisses Ian off and he chews me out. It's really funny how someone as high status as him hates being reminded of his status. He hates being referred to by titles."

"Really?" Lucas asked in a curious tone, he didn't know much about how things were for Ian back in Scotland as he didn't really talk about it much besides saying he missed it sometimes and he really didn't know much about how the culture was amongst the Clans as he hadn't really been involved with that much. "What is it like living amongst the Clans? I don't know anything really about it and I want to know more."

"It's not too much different than regular life really. But when it comes to the higher-ranking Clan members like Ian, it can get political. Ian being gay is going to cause a lot of problems I'm sure you know." Greg said while looking at the fox. "Ian doesn't care because he just wants to be himself, but I know he secretly worries about losing his birthright, but he has his parents' support and hopefully he'll be able to get support from Isaac. It would help greatly having the Clan Leader supporting him, but even then, the possibility of a Clan Challenge is still a thing."

"What's a Clan Challenge?" Erin asked before Lucas could get the question out. "What would that mean for Ian?"

This made Greg sigh again, looking away before speaking, his eyes distant. "A Clan Challenge is when another ranking member of the Clan, for example one of Ian's cousins, makes a challenge to fight Ian for the right to be Clan Head and if Ian loses the fight, he loses his birthright and could risk being banished from the Clans." He said, before looking back at Lucas with a smile. "But given how powerful you are, no way they wouldn't want you in their midst. One thing the Elite Mages value is power, and you have that in spades so maybe they'll listen to reason. There is the matter though of Ian needing to produce an heir, which you can't provide him obviously so that is a problem, but that's a matter for a later time," he said, getting up and stretching slightly. "But I'm going to see if I can get us some food, so stay here alright?" He said, before walking out of the room and closing the door.

"Speaking of which, I should return home. My mother should be getting off of work soon and I do have some stuff to handle if I want to start training all of you when Lucas gets out of the hospital, so I bid all of you adieu," Allison said, before she also left the room.

Lucas just sighed and looked back at Akira, just now wondering the last time his brother had eaten. "Hey Akira, if you don't mind me asking, when's the last time you ate? You have to be starving?"

"I am honestly. I ate at the airport when I landed, but that was hours ago and I went to Monet-sama's home and we rushed here, so it's been pretty crazy, but hopefully Greg can find us some food," he said rubbing his stomach. The kids all sat in silence until they heard the door open and an older arctic fox came in looking tired.

"Dad!" Erin shouted as she ran up to the man and hugged him. "What took you so long? What were you doing?" She asked, before sniffing at the man. "You don't smell like alcohol so you weren't drinking."

"I was in contact with Greenhart, I'm trying to set it up so Akira can get into the school. Yukari said she'll pay for it, but I still got to set things up to make things easier," he said while smiling at the silver fox. "But I'm glad you are staying with me... son," he said, before looking at Curtis who had been talking to his parents in silent whispers before the man stepped back in the room. "I'm glad to have you here as well nephew, I hope Greenhart is worth you moving in your senior year. I think you're bloody mad for doing this, and it's admirable, but I expect you to do good in school or I'm going to send you right back to Scotland. Do I make myself clear Curtis?" The pit just nodded and gulped at the stern look on his Uncles face, which made his mother laugh.

"Be easy on him Evan, he's a great student and he will be happy to help with chores right Curt?" She said and the boy nodded sheepishly, obviously embarrassed by everything. "But really Evan, thank you for taking him in. It means a lot to be able to see you again as I really missed you." This made Evan blink as she went up to hug him. "We should stay in contact more, we are family after all and I don't care if you are an Ahtan, you are my brother and I love you."

"I love you too Daphne, I'm sorry for being so out of the loop from you and Rita. I just didn't want to deal with the past and I guess Marie's death was a reality check for me," he said with a sad sigh. "I was a shitty father and an even shittier brother. I had no idea that Lorcan went missing, I didn't know about Rita's problems having children, but I have to do better and I am going to do so. I've put myself on no travel working for the next few months. It pays less, but not that much and I really have no concern about money anyway, I am already rich." He shrugged.

"What about the money from Marie's stuff? What happens with that? I mean, she had numerous successful fashion lines."

"I haven't really done anything with that," Evan said honestly. "I've been so busy with the funeral, and now the situation with Lucas, that I haven't had time to do anything about that. I guess I'll talk with the lawyers on that and get a settlement and stuff."

Daphne just nodded and stood back, before looking at the clock. "It's late, we are going to go home so we can get some rest for tomorrow." She said before she, Curtis, and Cody left the room to go home. Evan let out a sigh, before sitting down in a chair near Lucas, looking completely exhausted.

"You okay dad?" Lucas asked concerned.

Evan let out a sigh and shook his head a bit. "I'm tired Lucas, things have so crazy since Marie died that I haven't had much time to rest. Plus I've been a complete wreck since you got shot. Hopefully I can get some rest when you get home," he said, before looking towards Akira and smiling. "Even then I found you Akira," he said, getting up and hugging the boy close to him. "I love you boy, and I'm so glad to have you now."

Akira hugged the man back and teared up. "I love you too dad," Akira said tearfully, right as Greg stepped back into the room, arms loaded with snacks and other treats.

"What did I miss?" Was all he said in a confused tone, which only made Lucas chuckle, making Greg look even more confused. "Really what did I miss?"