Joshua heard the television and could smell the familiar scent of his brother. He grabbed some cookies from the kitchen and a sandwich with a glass of milk to take to the boy. When he went into brotherly mode, he forgot about himself, and even his own hunger. "Jer?" He sat next to him on the couch. "What're you watching?"

Jeremiah was curled up on the end of the sofa, tipped over so that his head was resting against the overstuffed armrest. He had his blanket with him, fingers curled around the edge with his thumb in his mouth. He was hardly watching the tv at all, he was just sort of staring at it. Instead of acknowledging Joshua he just pulled his knees up even closer to himself.

He did not like being greeted like that; it worried him and made him feel overwhelmed with guilt. If only he'd found them sooner, then Jeremiah wouldn't be going through this. Joshua set the food down and laid on the couch with his head on the boy's feet. "Don't be a snot," he laughed.

Jeremiah just whined and he tried to tug his feet out from under Joshua's head. He'd been keeping pretty much to himself, staying in his room when he could and coming down to the living room to park in front of the tv when Hunter made him. He didn't even spend as much time with Wendell and Hunter as he used to.

"Miah," Joshua's voice turned a little more serious. "Why aren't you playing more? I thought you liked it here. You should be happy," he sighed, sounding worried. "What's wrong?" He knew the boy was young, but he was smart enough to know what was going on around him and know that his behavior was concerning.

"I don't want to play." Jeremiah had felt safe when he first came to the haven. It was the first time in a long time he had felt safe. And there had been so many promises about him getting to stay there, and then Joseph had taken them and he realized that not even Hunter and Wendell could keep him safe. He didn't want to get used to the comfort again. He was just waiting for something to go wrong, or someone to change their mind, or for their mother to come back after them again.

"You can't just sit around all the time. What are you going to be for Halloween?" Even though their mom had been a royal bitch, Joshua had always tried to make the holidays special. "We can go trick or treating around here and then maybe Andrew will drive us into town and we can get more candy there."

"I don't want any candy." he hadn't been eating as much, though he was still hoarding as much as he could, whenever he found something he thought would last for a while, and he kept it in a showbox in the back of his closet. "I don't want to do anything for halloween."

"We always do something for Halloween," Joshua insisted and scooted closer to Miah, reaching up to tickle him gently. "Julian will be lonely without you. I'll be sad if you don't come with us."

"I don't want to!" He snapped, pulling his blanket in closer to him as he pulled away from the tickles. Jeremiah finally just untangled himself and got up from the sofa. Standing up he looked tired, his little shoulders hunched up and his face paler in the light than it had been mostly hidden behind his blankie.

"Do you not like it here anymore? Do you want to leave?" Joshua looked like he was going to cry. "Don't be sad, Miah. We've finally found you guys a good home."

"I'm not going to get to stay here." He said, the fire out of his voice, all spent up on the one little outburst. "I'm going to get taken away again, just like last time. They aren't going to want to keep me."

Joshua reached forward, unable to keep from touching him. He needed that comfort for himself; it was a selfish move maybe. Wrapping Jeremiah in a hug, he held him whether he wanted it or not. "They love you. I can smell it on them. Everyone adores you here. Don't be scared."

Jeremiah just leaned against Joshua and he tried not to start crying but it happened anyway. He wrapped his hands into the sides of Joshuah's shirt and just buried his face against him. "I don't want to leave here."

"No one will make you leave. That bad man took you, but Hunter got you back. Wendell and Vance did their best to protect you and Hunter brought you home. Bad things happen, but we have someone who will fight for us now and who will help me take care of you." Because apparently he couldn't do it alone--which killed him.

"I love you." Jeremiah said softly, his voice lost in the fabric of Joshua's shirt becuase he had his face pressed so tightly against him. He was so afraid of being taken again, and he hated the idea of getting used to being well fed and being loved, only to have it taken away.

"I love you too," he replied easily and kissed the top of Jeremiah's head. "This is your home now, I know it. And Hunter and Wendell will love you forever. You'll grow up here." Joshua wasn't including himself in that because he didn't really feel close to anyone here except Logan. And he wasn't sure Jeremiah would need him for much longer.

"What about you?" It wasn't lost on him that Joshua wasn't including himself. He was well aware that the boy had been purposefully left out and he wanted to know where he was going to be, if he wasn't going to be right there.

"Me?" He frowned a little and kept Jeremiah close to him so he couldn't see it. "I don't know. Andrew has a house in Seattle--that's not far and I would come to visit and you two could come and stay sometimes. It's a really nice house and I think you'd love Seattle. We could do so many things that mom would never let us do."

"No." He held onto him tighter. "No, you have to stay here, you can't leave." He couldn't be away from him again. Jeremiah clung to him, refusing to let go if he was going to leave.

"This isn't--" he didn't want to finish that sentence. But Wolf Haven wasn't his home. His brothers were though. "Miah, what if I stayed in town?"

Miah started crying harder, he didn't want Joshua to leave him. Even if it meant he had to leave the haven he would, just so long as Joshua didn't go away again.

"No, no, no, it's okay Miah." He hugged him more tightly and felt horrible. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. He didn't want to stay in this place. It was nice enough, but it wasn't what he wanted. He knew Andrew would leave him if he had to stay at Wolf Haven. He felt helpless. "Don't cry. I'll stay."

Jeremiah was completely sobbing and upset. He didn't want Joshua to go anywhere and he didn't understand that just becuase they weren't staying at the same place that they would still see one another.

"Stop, Miah, it's all right. I'm not going anywhere. I'm sure Hunter will let me stay here. If you want me here, this is where I'll be," he held Jeremiah out at arms length and looked at him squarely. "Okay?"

Jeremiah sniffled and rubbed at his eyes but he needed. He had absolutely no understand of the position that he was putting Joshua in, he just knew that he wanted his brother around, and he thought if he went to Seattle he'd never see him again.

Joshua certainly didn't blame Jeremiah for reacting as he did. He should have known that it was a dumb thing to say to the boy in his current state. He just felt bad he'd upset him so much with the suggestion. It felt good to still be needed so much. "I brought some cookies, aren't you hungry?"

"No." Jeremiah rubbed his hand against his eyes again and he tried to move forward so that Joshua could hold onto him again. "I want to hold you." He wanted to be picked up and just cuddled for a little while because it made him feel better.

At least it was something. He had been afraid that he'd never get a connection back with Miah. He was afraid the boy had gone completely into himself. He tugged him into his lap. "I think you should be a zombie for Halloween," he said as he rested his chin on Jeremiah's shoulder.

"How come a zombie? What's a zombie?" Jeremiah wrapped his arms tighter around Joshua and he curled his fingers into his hair at the base of his skull. He let his fingers slide through his hair, again and again, just a comforting thing for him.

"It's a scary monster. Don't you want to be scary? Or maybe Batman. You could be Batman." Joshua was calming him down immensely and his breathing evened out from the rousing panic from before.

"Okay, I can." He would be Batman or a Zombie, it didn't matter to him. Either way. "What is Julian going to be?" Julian was the only person that Jeremiah was still actually open with, but he'd even closed out his other brother a little too.

"We'll go shopping in town, all three of us tomorrow and look for ideas. Maybe Julian already has an idea." If Miah wasn't going to eat, Josh was. He reached forward and started in on the sandwich, trying to make it look especially good so Jeremiah would want it.

Jeremiah kept his head pressed against Joshua's shoulder. Joshua was eating, so he pulled a little piece of bread off of his brothers sandwich and he put it into his own mouth. "What if he wants to be something different from me?"

Joshua smiled at the mentality that the boys had to pick the same costume. They usually went as a pair and he liked that, but someday he knew one would want their independence--at least with costumes anyway. "Then you'll both get the outfits you want," he said.

Jeremiah kept curling his fingers against Joshua's hair and he took another piece of the crush off of his sandwich so he could have another bite. "I want to be whatever Julian wants to be."

The feeling of Jeremiah's fingers in his hair was putting him to sleep. He was tired after working on the treehouse that day. "I think Julian will like that." He wondered if they would ever outgrow that and he smiled a little.

"I hope so." he laid his head on his shoulder and he yawned a little bit. "Will you sleep in my room tonight, Joshua?" Because he was used to sleeping alone but he wanted to be close to him.

Nodding, Joshua combed his fingers through the boy's hair. "Sure, I can do that," he said, actually pleased at the request. After a second, he decided to ask. "Miah, I know you haven't really hung out with him a lot, but what do you think about Andrew?"

"I don't know." he said softly. "He's handsome." But that was really all he could think to say at that point because it wasn't like he and Andrew had spent any significant amount of time together.

Joshua nodded, having to accept that. He leaned back on the couch, keeping Miah on his lap as he finished his sandwich. There they would relax together until dinner, and eventually bed.