Alan's Biggest Case

Chapter 10

Alan wakes up abruptly from the sound of the television. Sam is laughing while eating some scrambled eggs, really interested in whatever it is he's watching. He doesn't even realize Alan get up to go the restroom until he came back out. Sam said hi, but not like he ever had before. His voice was filled with joy. Happiness.

It was the first time Alan had heard Sam talk in a cheerful voice. "Good morning." Alan seems rather stressed out and Sam notices it. "What's wrong, Mr. Shore?" Alan sat down and leaned back, slouching a little. He rested his hand above his stomach and began to explain the situation.

"I called CPS last night while you were asleep since you said you were fine with going to them. I didn't think about the fact that you may have to face your father until after I hung up, and frankly, I don't know what to do. I'm sorry." Alan is very fidgety, he can't stay still. He begins to get up and slowly walk around the room. Sam no longer looks or sounds happy.

"Well. You didn't know. It's not your fault--"

"No, it IS my fault! I should have thought about the possible consequences that this could create, and I shouldn't have called them. I should have waited. I made everything worse, I feel awful about it." Alan is talking very quickly and his voice is somewhat raised. He's throwing his arms around in the air, letting everything out, not realizing that Sam is frightened. Alan went quiet and looked at Sam.

"Please don't yell. Please."

"Right. I'm sorry. I'm just very upset right now because my job is to protect you, and I have failed."

Alan sits down on the couch and closes his eyes when he suddenly hears a monotonous beeping noise. He opens his eyes to see Sam isn't in the bed, then feels a head rest on his shoulder. He looks down and sees Sam's brown scraggly hair, and he smiles

"I don't understand why you're okay with this."

Sam is still resting his head on Alan's shoulder, and whispers, "I'm not. But there's nothing we can do." Alan thinks about what Sam just said and realized that he had a point. They just have to go down that path and fight whatever comes in their way.

"Well I guess we better start planning. I'll call CPS back and see if they have contacted anyone related to you, and we'll go from there." Alan looks down and Sam slides his head up so the make eye contact. Alan can see the fear in Sam's eyes for whatever it is that comes next. He stands up and Sam lifts his head back up, he turns around crouches down to be at eye level with Sam. Sam doesn't look at him, he's looking down in his lap, so Alan puts his hands on the sides of Sam's head, and tilts it up so they can look at each other.

"We can do this, hang in there." Alan softly kisses Sam's forehead as he stands back up to call CPS and get updates.

Sam sits there for a while thinking of all the possible outcomes of this. He could get away from his father - or be forced to stay with him until he's legally allowed to move. He can't wait two years. He turns around and begins to look out the window to get his mind off of the whole situation. He goes into his own world, imagining what it's like to be on his own. He imagines being able to drive wherever he wants, whenever he wants, without having a curfew. He thinks about how he can do whatever he wants with his life, whether that means getting a funny tattoo or a weird piercing, or move to the other side of the world.

He realized he never really thought about what it's like to be independent as much as he's thinking now. It's almost making him nervous, but in a good way. He thinks about how he has something to look forward to now. He continues to make a list in his mind about all the things he can do when he turns 18. As he imagines, he begins to smile, which feels unnatural for him.

Alan walks back into the room after the phone call with CPS and sees Sam staring out the window, smiling. It makes Alan smile, knowing Sam must be thinking positively, but he knows he's about to take that smile away with the news he just received. They already located his father and contacted him about the case they are creating. He doesn't want to bring it up, but he knows he has to. He walks over and sits next to Sam and observes him off in his own world with that smile stretched across his face.

Sam is thinking about everything but notices Alan sitting down beside him. He looks over at Alan and sees that Alan isn't happy and his smile slowly starts to fade away. "What's wrong?" He turns around and sits normally in the chair while looking at Alan. Alan isn't looking at Sam anymore, as he thinks about how to phrase the bad news.

"Mr. Shore. What's wrong?"

Alan sighs and figures he will just tell him, "There's no way to sugar-coat this, so I'm just going to tell you." He hesitates again, which makes Sam begin to panic.

"Mr. Shore..."

"They already contacted your father. They wouldn't tell me anything else except how they explained the situation to him." Alan looks disappointed as he mutters everything he knows.

Sam sits for a minute, quietly. He doesn't know what to say. He's angry, and sad, and nervous, so many emotions are inside him right now, which just causes him to well up. Alan looks over and sees Sam's eyes beginning to tear up and quickly wraps his hands around him, consoling him, telling him everything's going to be okay. Sam leans against Alan and begins to cry on his shoulder.

Alan doesn't know what to do except hold Sam in his arms and let him get everything out. So that's exactly what he does. He sits there rubbing Sam's arm as he silently cries, waiting for him to calm down. There's no point in trying to get him to stop, it'll just make his emotions build up even more.