Take Me Home, Camp Man

Chapter 2: Fine Print

"They're never around. Never really see them." Max said. Once he started talking, he couldn't stop. He had kept the secret for so long, now, that he couldn't hold it back. Not when David was looking at him with those huge, green eyes and that painfully understanding smile and the hand on his shoulder. "Sometimes I would go to the store for something, like bread or whatever because we were fucking out of everything, and when I came home, they'd be passed out on a bottle of liquor or whatever. My mom dies a while back, like when I was a kid, but my dad got remarried and they had a second child. She's the princess. She just- just-"

Max cried softly. He had never shown this side of himself to anyone. Ever. It was uncomfortable, but also a relief. Like taking a breath of air after treading water for hours.

"I don't have a room, David. I just have this little closet space with a bed in it and I hate- hate- hate," The words were caught up in sobs, now. Max stumbled over them jaggedly and eventually let them die in his throat.

David cleared his throat and pulled himself off the table to crouch in front of Max.

"Max, can you look at me?" Light green eyes met David's forest green ones, but they were swimming in tears and red-rimmed. "Max, I need to ask you. I need to. Have they ever hit you?"

Max froze, but only for a second. "This was fucking stupid. I'm fine David."

His voice shook and David pressed him on it. "Max."

"I don't want to-"

"Max."

"Yes! Yes, okay? Sometimes, yes, they hit me."

David closed his eyes for a split second, his face unreadable for a second. He wanted to cry. He wanted to cry and cream and hug Max until he couldn't breathe, but this was different. This wasn't some stray cat to cry over. He couldn't risk scaring Max or making it worse by crying himself.

Instead, when David opened his eyes, there was something like determination and collected nerves. "Okay," he said quietly. "Then we're going to figure out a way to get this taken care of."

Max drew his eyebrows together in questioning confusion. "What?"

"I'm not letting you go home to some abusive situation, Max."

"Don't say it like that," Max argued, throwing his small hands up. "It's not abuse, it's not like they kick me down the stairs and lock me in the basement. They only hit me when I'm doing something I'm not supposed to, like take long showers or whatever."

David hummed a little. "Max, abuse isn't just a black eye. It's everything from neglect and ignoring you, to giving you a slap when you do things like shower - which is a normal activity! It shouldn't be punished."

Max crumpled entirely at that, his face screwed up as he cried and buried his head in David's shoulder. "Promise you won't let them take me back."

"Promise."

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Gwen wasn't sure what to think. When David had come through the office, a whirlwind of energy and ramblings, she'd let him do his thing. She knew after a few years of dating the man that when he got set on something, it happened, and when he was this worked up, he couldn't form a coherent sentence to save his life.

Gwen hadn't seen Max in a while, but she didn't think much of it. His parent probably came to pick him up and she had just missed it. It wasn't unusual. Every year there was a kid whose family was late on pick-up day.

It wasn't until she heard David mumble something under her breath about a lawyer that she began to worry a little. The only times they had ever needed a lawyer were when Campbell showed up unexpectedly or a kid got injured while partaking in camp activities and their parents threatened a lawsuit.

"What?"

David looked over at her. "I'm sorry, Gwen, what?"

"What were you saying about a lawyer?"

David's face simultaneously fell and lit up, if it was possible. "Oh. Gwen, I should have talked to you before I went through all this trouble."

Gwen narrowed her eyes at that. David should have talked to her before signing the lease on the house, too. He should have talked to her before introducing her as his girlfriend to his friends only a month into their relationship. He should have talked to her before every time he did something rash.

"What did you do this time, tree-boy?" Gwen groaned.

"You should really come outside with me."

Gwen followed David out into the camp. There were a few cop cars around the flag pole - Gwen recognized Sal among some of the cops standing around - and Max looked half-way between bored and terrified in the middle of it all.

"David," Gwen said slowly, turning around to her co-counselor. "What happened?"

"They were abusing him, Gwen." David's face was twisted with sadness. "He didn't want to go home with them, they were hurting him."

Gwen's face softened. "Oh, dear God."

"Mr. Alder." A cop was coming over to David holding a whole stack of papers. "Can I speak with you for a moment?"

David nodded and stepped closer, leaving Gwen to think about what he'd just said. Gwen hated the thought of someone putting hands on Max. Fuck. She couldn't help the way her mind jumped to the worst possible thoughts - they burned him or kicked him or gave him black eyes and-

"Mr. Alder, we have a social worker here for Max, but he refused to go with them."

David's eyes flicked around the camp as he searched for Max. "What's going to happen to him?"

"He'll probably be put in a foster home or become a ward of the state unless someone adopts him."

Gwen knew what David would say before he even opened his mouth. It was predictable. David was so thoughtful and kind and too good for his own good. "Could he come with me? I'll adopt him."

"We'd have to wait until we could track down his parents to have a private adoption go through so you don't have to deal with the hassle of an adoption when the parents are out of the picture, but I don't see why you couldn't be made a temporary guardian. We just have to get the parents to relinquish their rights willingly, which I'm sure we could work into a plea deal. Let me talk to the social worker."

David followed the cop over to the social worker, who was getting some paperwork organized. That seemed to be a theme of the evening - paperwork.

The cop introduced David and the social worker, then retreated back to his own squad car. The social worker looked over some of the paperwork that David handed over, then passed over some of her own. David looked over it, his eyes painfully slow as he made sure to get into all the fine print. He signed his name on a few of them, then handed them back over to the social worker along with his personal information.

"Call me when you find his parents. I want to be there when we sign the papers."

David left the social worker at her car with a wave and headed back over to Gwen and Max. Max was kicking his toe against the dirt, drawing lines in the dust before kicking them away.

"Hey, Max, ready to head home?"

The ten year old looked up at David with tired eyes. "Take me home, Camp man."