Two weeks had passed since the Halloween fiasco and Sora was out of bed and is actually enjoying his return to school. Tracey smirked to him self as he watched his friend listen to the teacher. It always amazed him at how the blue haired teen could love school as much as he does.

'I should ask him that one of these days…' his thoughts were interrupted by his long-term friend tugging the sleeve of his jacket, "Yes, can I help you?"

"We're going to work together, right?"

"For?"

Sora sighed. He should have known that the violet-eyed boy wasn't paying attention. 'I guess the day Tracey Galace pays attention is the day that he actually shares my feelings…' "For the computer project. We have to make a web page."

"Oh. Sure, why not?"

"Okay…" the aqua-eyed boy placed his fingers on the keyboard and then started to type the html coding. "I was thinking we should do a page for Sleepless."

"That's not a bad idea, but do you really want a huge crowd in the bar?"

"Yes and no. Your grandpa would appreciate the business and I know my sister would like the audience. But I will admit that I might get a little stage fright."

"Stage fright? Ha! I don't know the meaning of the phrase."

"Yes, yes. All hale the mighty actor, Tracey." He said sarcastically.

"Hn." The black haired teen leaned closer to the monitor, "So what do you want to put on this page?"

"I was thinking some pictures of the group and maybe a bio for each of us."

"What about some sound files? I know they're big and all, but if we did that then people could actually hear what talent you have."

"That's a good idea." He finished the index page that he was programming and then brought it up in an explorer window. "Good, the basic stuff works. Now all we need are some pics." He saved the document to his disk just as the bell rang.

The two best friends parted ways since they didn't have another class together until last block. Tracey waltzed into his chemistry lab, then frowned when he saw the stool next to his was empty. 'What the hell? Are all my friends getting sick now?!' his thoughts continued like that for that half of the block, then with the blink of an eye he was gone at the sound of his lunch bell ringing.

Sora sat at their usual table. A smile appeared on his gentle face when he set his gaze on his best friend. "Long time no see."

"Yeah…" he sat across from the other boy.

"What's wrong?"

"Is everyone getting sick?"

"Well… I still have a temp of 99.6, but other than that-"

"I didn't mean you. I know you were sick and probably still are, but this sorta thing happens every year so I'm used to it. I was talking about Jason."

"He's not here?"

Tracey shook his head and while Sora was fixed on his eyes, he snuck a handful of onion rings.

"Ya know, you don't have to steal it. You can have it, I'm not that hungry…"

"Are you going to throw up?"

"I don't think so, but to be on the safe side I'm going to skip lunch." He arched an eyebrow, "By the way, where's your lunch?"

"… … …"

"Tracey?"

The young man swallowed his chicken fingers, "At home. My mom fixed it for me yesterday while I was here and placed it in the fridge. I forgot it was there, plus I overslept. That's why I was late picking you up."

"I see…"

Jason sat on the sofa with a laptop firmly placed on his lap and a small child lay on the opposite side of him, sleeping soundly. A soft knock was heard, but even though it was quiet it still managed to startle the lightning caster.

The redhead removed himself from the couch being very careful not to awaken the small boy and opened the door to his apartment just a crack. He arched an eyebrow, "Tracey, Sora? What are you doing here?" he whispered.

"We were recruited in bringing your work to you." The telepath stated with a slight hint of humor in his voice. "Ya know… you don't look THAT sick to me."

"Yeah." The aqua-eyed male stated his agreement, "When I was out I was curled up in bed with a bucket of vomit next to me. What do you have?"

"Uh…" Jason had to think about that.

"Daddy…"

The redhead's blue eyes widened at the word. He looked back at his friends and noticed the confusion on their faces.

"Did we just hear someone call you 'Daddy'?" Sora asked.

"Yes." He shut the door then opened it again fully. "Come on in."

The other two boys walked in and were rather impressed at how clean the apartment was. From the entrance was the living room, which was just made up of an entertainment unit that, rested on the wall to the right of the door. Going to the next wall was a bookshelf and a light cream colored recliner. And in the middle was a sofa of the same color, plus a coffee table right in front it for good measure.

Straight-ahead was a small kitchen that held a normal white refrigerator and a round table. Going to the right of the living room was a tiny hall that held a bathroom and two bedrooms.

Jason closed the door behind his friends then went to the child's side. Bending down he scooped the little one in his arms then sat down onto the cushions with the kid in lap. "What's the matter little guy?"

"My belly hurts…"

Sora blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "Jason?"

"Sora, Tracey. I'd like you to meet Travis, my son." He looked down at the small blond in his arms. "Travis, these are my friends from school."

"Hi…" he whispered, shyly as he waved his little hand their general direction.

"You don't need to be scared, they won't hurt you…" he kissed the top of his head then set him back onto the sofa. "Does you belly hurt because you feel sick or because you're hungry?"

"I dunno."

"Okay. How about you try eating some soup and if you feel sick you have the bucket next to you. All right?" he saw him nod and with a smile her ruffled his son's hair then entered the kitchen with Sora and Tracey right behind him.

The two visitors sat at the round table while Jason poured a bag of noodles into the pot of boiling water and other stuff. Sora watched him silently, waiting for a good time to ask his question, but Tracey beat him to it.

"How old is Travis?"

"He's three."

"So… you had him when you were 14?"

"No."

The blue-haired teen arched an eyebrow. "But aren't you 17?"

"No." he turned to face his friends, but stayed near the stove. "I'm 19. I just tell everyone at school that I'm 17 and that I have a little brother."

"Why would you lie?"

"Because I want to fit in like I used to. Lili tricked me and got pregnant. After that things got really screwy." He turned back to the soup and stirred all the ingredients together than added a small amount of spices.

"Mmm… That smells good…"

"Do you want some, Sora?"

"Can I?"

"Yeah. How about you, Tracey?"

"You bet!"

Silence filled the room for a few minutes then Jason handed out the bowls of his homemade chicken soup. He left his companions for a moment then walked back in still with bowl in his hand.

"Travis didn't want it?" The singer asked.

"He fell asleep. I'll give it to him later." He set the bowl down on the counter then sat at the table. "Are you guys going to eat it or just smell it?"

Sora and Tracey nodded and each tasted a spoonful. The violet-eyed guitarist began to gobble the rest of it, while his best friend was savoring the flavor.

"This is so good!" he commented.

"Thanks. My mother used to make that for me and my older brother when we were sick."

"I have a question. You don't have to answer if it's too personal, but why are you living alone with your son? What about your parents or Travis' mother?"

"My parents are dead. My mom died of an illness when I was six and my dad killed himself a month later. Both my brother and I were sent to live with our grandparents. A couple years went by then Mike got excepted to a boarding school and left. I'm happy to say that he's in college now."

"Do you two keep in touch?"

"Mmhm. He calls me every weekend and we talk. He seems to be extremely happy when I give the phone to his nephew."

"Okay, so what happened to the girl you knocked up?" that of course was from the telepath.

"I don't know…"

"You said she tricked you. What did you mean by that?" Sora asked after taking another spoonful of soup.

"We met late in our junior year. We dated then she said that she wanted to…" he trailed off not wanting to go into detail with his son in the next room. "Long story short she said she was on the pill, lying of course and got pregnant. Now, I thought it was all my fault and so did my grandparents. I decided to do the right thing, I took responsibility. I quit school and took on two jobs."

"What did her parents think?"

"Her father disliked me from the beginning and now he hates me. Her mother was scared to death; they couldn't decide what to do so I got this apartment. When she was three months in she told me that she got pregnant on purpose. She didn't want to put up with her father anymore and wanted to stay with me. Knowing well enough that my grandparents wouldn't approve, she felt she had no other choice…"

"Where is she now?" Tracey voiced his question.

"That's what I don't know. After Travis was born I left the room Lili was in and called my grandmother and her mom to let them know that both my son and her were doing fine and that they could come and see them in an hour or two. When I went back to the room she was gone. I know for a fact that she didn't die and she was rather happy with herself so she wouldn't have walked off."

"So she was kidnapped." Sora whispered.

"That's what I think too. When Travis was a year old I got a visit from your aunt. She had heard about my situation and too found it suspicious. That's when she asked if I wanted to join Iyada."

"Do you get paid?"

"No, I have a job. The deal for me was if I took on the missions they would provide me with any info they could find on Travis' mother."

"Daddy!" the boy cried.

"Excuse me." the redhead left the table to retreat to his son's side. His two friends watched him tend to the child. "What is it? Do you feel sick?"

"My belly really hurts…" he held his stomach.

"Okay. Let's get you into the bathroom." He lifted the boy into his arms then glanced at the two in the kitchen. "I'll be out in a few." He walked off with the whimpering child.

Tracey set his eyes on Sora, though the occasional glance was given to the soup. "Was that what you had for the past two weeks?"

"Looks like it. And if I felt like crap imagine what a three year old must feel…"

Tracey shook his head. "I'd rather not."

"Hey… why didn't you read Jason's mind to find out about this?"

"…" He thought about it then a smirk played on his face. "I reserve all that for you."

"Why? You've known me for 15 years. You know everything about me."

'Yes, including that you wish to keep to yourself.' He thought. "I only do it to you because there is nothing I don't already know and besides you won't get mad. If I had done that to Jay he would have killed me."

"You're right." Said a voice behind him.

"Jason," Sora spoke with a half chuckle, "how's Travis?"

"He's okay. He's back on the couch curled up with his stuffed bunny." The blue-eyed teen sat down again to join in, in their conversation. "I do appreciate you not reading my thoughts."

"No problem. I'd rather go into this one's" he pointed to his best friend, "head. So much more fun." The smirk was still pulling at his lips.

"Yeah… lots of fun." The blue haired boy retorted.

Jason just laughed. To him and most likely to the rest of the world it was very obvious that those two wanted to be together. His laughter was cut short by the ringing phone. Once again the redhead excused himself and answered it.

His smile seemed to fade the longer he stayed on the telephone. When he hung up he approached the table again with a frown. "That was my boss. He wants me to go in now and I need you to stay with Travis. Will you?"

"Of course." Sora was then rewarded with an arched eyebrow from Tracey, whom he elbowed in the shoulder. "You can't afford to lose your job. Go do what you have to and we'll stay with your son."

"Tracey, are you okay with that?"

"Who me?" he pointed at himself. "Yeah, I'm cool. We still have a project to do though."

"I know that." The aqua-eyed singer spotted the lightning caster's laptop on the coffee table. "Hey Jay, can we use your computer?"

"Whatever you want, just as long as you stay."

"Okay." The telepath went into his humorous/sarcastic mode. "I want $40,000,000 and seven tropical islands."

"Very funny…" the blue-eyed teen entered the living room and knelt next to the couch. "Travis?"

"Yes, Daddy?"

"I have to go to work now so Sora and Tracey are going to stay here and take care of you."

"No!" the boy shouted in protest and latched onto his father's arm. "You stay!"

"We've talked about this before. When I have to go to work someone else has to stay with you. I know you hate it when I leave and you're sick, but I can't not go to work."

"No…" the small blond started to cry.

Jason kissed his son on the top of the head. He hated those tears, especially when he was the cause of them. The star of Sleepless stepped over to the edge of the sofa then squatted to the floor. "It'll be all right, Travis… I know we just met, but we won't do anything to hurt you."

"No. Daddy stay!"

The redhead was about to give in when a strange voice entered his head and then his blue eyes got fixed on the blue bunny that his son had been curled up with. Only now the toy was moving on its own.

"Don't cry, Travis. I don't like it when you cry…" the bunny doll proceeded to move its front paws over its eyes in a 'sob, sob' motion. "I'll be here with you and Daddy will come back too. Tracey and Sora will take good care of us. Just you wait and see." The doll walked over and plopped onto the boy's lap.

Travis lifted his faithful companion into his arms. He stared at the plastic eyes. "Marty Bunny's right…" he said sadly then he looked at his dad with his own bright blue eyes. "I love you…"

"I love you too." He kissed him again then stood seeing that the child no longer gave the death grip to his arm. "I'll be back around nine or so, but he needs to be in bed at 6:30." He looked down, "Bye, Travis."

"Bye-bye, Daddy…"

Jason mouthed the words; 'thank you' then left. The boy watched his stuffed toy in his hands and frowned when it didn't do anything. "Marty Bunny?"

"Maybe the Marty Bunny is tired." Sora suggested.

"I'm not tired. I was waiting so we could have some fun."

"Oh? What kind of fun?" Tracey questioned the rabbit.

"We can color and the babysitters can work on the school stuff. What do you say Travis, do you want to color?"

"Color!"

"Yea!" the bunny jumped off the couch and into the boy's bedroom. Tracey followed then the two came back and the doll hopped back onto the sofa with an armful of coloring books and a box of crayons. "Let's make things bright and pretty!" it started to color with Travis right behind it.

The wind caster chuckled knowing quite well that Tracey was doing everything in his power to keep the sick child happy. He took the computer into his lap after he found a nice spot on the floor and proceeded to work on the web page that he had placed on the disk.

The telepath looked over his shoulder while still maintaining control of the Marty Bunny. "What are you typing?"

"Your profile."

"What are you putting in it?"

"Name, age, height, weight and some other random stuff. Don't worry all of ours are going to be like this." He continued to program.

Tracey's eyes glanced at the coloring books. He was very surprised that a three-year-old could stay in the lines so well. "Oooooo. You make it so pretty! Make my picture pretty!"

"Okay." Travis took the book and started to color again.

The violet-eyed teen smiled at the sight and while he wasn't looking his best friend snuck one as well, but it wasn't at the little one. 'I wonder if he'd be like that when we ever had kids…'

"Tracey?" the boy asked.

"Hm?"

"Sora looks funny." He whispered and pointed to him with a crayon.

"That's called he's fantasizing."

"I heard that!"

Tracey looked back at him and gave off a wicked smirk. "So… who were you thinking about?"

"No-no one."

"Ya-huh." The telepath stated sarcastically.

"I'm serious." He pouted a bit.

Travis giggled at the two teens then he started to cough, which did catch their attention. Noticing that he didn't seem like he was going to stop, Sora picked up the bucket that rested next to the couch and brought it closer to the boy. Sure enough the three-year-old threw up and after doing so he began to cry.

"I want my daddy!!!"

"Don't cry, Travis." The bunny moved over the books and sat in the child's lap. Carefully in its own way, the doll hugged him then wiped some of the tears. "There. No more sadness. Be happy."

Travis sniffled and hugged his friend. "Thank you…"

The blond boy was now in the bathtub. He splashed Tracey happily and willingly the telepath splashed him back. Sora entered the bathroom and his jaw nearly hit the floor. The area around the tub plus his best friend was soaked. "What happened in here?"

"He started it." The black haired boy pointed to the kid.

"Did not."

"Did so."

"Not."

"So."

After ten minutes of that, the two teens put the boy into bed with his rabbit friend. Sora sat on the edge of the mattress and sang the boy to sleep. Singing about an un-frightening future. When the child was finally asleep the two retreated to the living room to once again work on their web site.

The door creaked and Jason stepped through. Sora looked up from the screen with a questioning gaze. "You're home early."

"Yeah. My boss let me go early so I could take care of my son. How is he?"

"We just put him to sleep." Tracey announced.

"Thanks. I'll see you guys later, okay? I just want to relax for now."

"Sure." The wind master smiled. He removed the disk from the laptop and shut the computer down.

"We'll see ya." The violet-eyed boy said then he and Sora took their leave of their friend.

Jason turned off the living room lights after his companions' departure. He entered his son's room and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead then left to enter his own bedroom. He turned on the lamp that rested on his nightstand and removed something from his pocket as he sat on his mattress. He shook his head sadly at the piece of paper then he balled it up and threw it against the wall. His blue eyes were now set on the floor as a few tears began to fall.

"Now what am I going to do?"