Coming Home

It had been one of the worst days in Adam's young life. Certainly on the top ten list... that's for sure. What happened to Joel, and the pursuing aftermath is something that he wished they would never have to deal with again. Unfortunately, he knew better than that.

He made it back to his room, and quietly took a quick shower. He was hoping that Logan would be too busy with Daileass and the clones, to wonder where he went off to, but Adam really felt he needed to do this alone with out anyone else, and Logan would have wanted to come.

He loved Logan more then life itself, and was every day finding something else that impressed him about his lover. But again, somethings Adam just had to do on his own.

After his shower he went and opened his closet. Pushing past all the uniforms he had, Adam very rarely wore anything then fatigues or his uniform, he found a pair of black jeans, and then a nice button down shirt. He sat on his bead and pulled on the pair of cowboy boots that Sammy had got for him. Sammy was meaning to give them to him when they got up to Montana, but of course that never happened.

Using a plain leather thong, he pulled his hair back into a pony tail, and eyed the pack that was sitting in the corner. What was in that pack was the entire reason for his trip today. He knew he had to make it quick as the sun was about to set on the east coast, and he didn't really want to do this after dark. He went over, picked up his pack, and shouldered it. Pulling out a communication devise from his pocket he opened it up and made the call. "Ark, could you please teleport me, Daileass is still a bit skittish right now, and I don't want people knowing where I am going."

"Of course Adam, where would you like to go?" Came Ark's response over the comm.

"Patriots point please.... just off the bridge where no one will see me appear." Adam's request was soft and resigned. Ark's only answer was Adam finding himself next to the bridge that connected the mainland to the island, and of course, no one else was around to see him just appear.

Pulling on the ball cap that he had, he started to walk across the bridge. This was his first time here since the funeral on Wednesday, and he was shocked to see the number of people who were milling about. He was hoping that no one would see him, but as he reached the two Marines that were standing to either side of the bridge, he saw both of them stiffen and start to salute. With a quick hand signal and a shake of the head, Adam told both of them not to salute. As funny as it may have sounded, Adam wanted to be there not as the commanding officer of the UNIT, but as a friend and brother to those that had fallen. He wanted to blend in, not be mobbed by all the people there. He did nod to the two soldiers as he passed and they nodded back.

Once he was on dry ground, he was once again shocked at how many people where there. His eyes narrowed as he saw someone had set up a both of some kind to the right of the bridge. Not knowing why it was there, Adam walked over to it. He saw a kindly only man sitting behind the booth, decked out in a military uniform complete with the combat service medal from the Vietnam Conflict. Sitting in front of him, on the table were stacks of folded flyers. Adam picked one up, and was about to open it when the man spoke. "Hi there... is this your first trip to the Patriot's Point Monument to Brotherhood?"

"The what?" Adam asked having never heard that term before.

"Patriot's Point Monument to Brotherhood." The man answered. "That's the name that has been given to this place. Are you here to learn more about what this place is all about?"

Adam sputtered for a moment, he was totally not prepared for this. "Umm... I.. I just came to see what was going on here. I'm not really sure what happened, and why."

The man got a somewhat sad, but patient look on his face. "You really should pay more attention to what's going on around you son... the world is changing, and changing quickly."

Adam made sure his face didn't portray the annoyance he felt at being patronized, and simply went alone with the man. "How's it changing?"

The man looked Adam up and down, and then asked. "How old are you son?"

"I'm fourteen, and my name's Adam."

The man smiled. "You can call me Doc... that's what everyone calls me. See.. I was a corpsman in he Army during the Vietnam Conflict... you've read about that in history class right?"

Adam smiled to himself... if this man only knew half of what he knew about that war, he wouldn't have asked that question... but he was here playing a normal kid, so he simply nodded and said, "a bit."

The man nodded and smiled. "Good... did you read yet, how sometimes the enemy would use children to attack our forces... they would sometimes strap bombs to real little kids, like six or seven years old, and tell the kids to walk up to a large group of soldiers. When the kids did, they would blow up the bomb killing the kid, but also killing or wounding a lot of our soldiers. It got to the point where we would have to kill kids before they got close to us... " Doc had gone eerily soft when he was speaking about this, and Adam didn't need to use his telepathy to know that the man was reliving a time when he had to do just that, and his heart ached for the kindly old guy that he was talking with.

After a few seconds of silence, the man shock his head and re-focused on Adam. "Oh.. sorry about that. But anyways... as I said, the worlds changing, and it's happening because finally the kids have stood up and said 'no more.'

"What... what do you mean?" Adam asked the man. He wasn't sure if he really liked where this conversation was going.

"When you look around here, you'll see monuments dedicated to over one hundred people. Very few of them were out of there teens.. and hell a good number of them weren't even in their teens yet. But every single one of them gave their lives to help out others that they thought of as family. That's the meaning behind the name of this place... 'Patriot's Point Monument to Brotherhood.' Doc put extra emphasis on the word brotherhood.

Adam was about to ask another question, when the man looked behind him, and stood up quickly. "Turn around, and you'll see something amazing." Doc said, so Adam did. All around the area, everyone had stopped their milling about, and watched as a rag tag group of six people marched from bridge, and were heading towards the flag pole in the middle of the monuments.

Doc spoke softly, as almost everyone else had quieted down as well. Out of the corner of his eye, Adam noticed that the two Marine Guards at the bridge were now standing at perfect attention. "Everyone morning at Sunrise, and every evening at sun set, a group of people come out to either raise the flag, or retire it. Very rarely is the group the same, but it always has members from many different groups in the area. Tonight, it looks like we got members of the VFW, (Veterans of Foreign Wars) the local Elks club, and members of one of the Boy Scout troops."

Silently the watched as the group marched up to the flag pole. The stopped, and on a command from one of the older VFW members, wearing his full dress uniform, four of the members stepped forward. One of the scouts, a kid of maybe thirteen years, smartly grabbed the ropes on the flag pole, and started to slowly lower it. As one, every military, ex-military, and scout member saluted. Doc was no exception, and just on instinct Adam snapped to attention and saluted as well. Doc noticed, but did not mention it. Those who did not salute, all had their right hand placed over their heart.

Standing on top of the small knoll behind the monuments, someone started to play a bugle. The haunting sounds of Taps rang through the air as the flag made it slow decent down the pole, into the waiting arms of the other scout.

"The boy playing the bugle is Elliot Tanner. He's one of the local scouts, and is out here twice a day to play the bugle. He's the only one that has been here every day for this little ceremony. If you really wanna know why I say the world is changing, and the kids are the ones responsible... talk to him." Doc said gently, as the Honor guard started to slowly fold the flag. Adam fought it, but could not stop a single tear from falling.

Once the flag was completely folded, the man who had it, handed it over to the other scout, who was maybe twelve. They formed up, and with everyone dropping their salute, they moved back out. Again though, Doc's words were soft, and only meant for Adam. Every time it's the same. The Flag is always carried out by the youngest member of the Honor guard, again representing the youth that this place honors." Adam looked at Doc, and saw that the man had a tear in his eye as well. "Go on General... talk to Elliot... I think it will do you some good."

Adam gasped, and Doc almost laughed. "I knew it was you since you came across the bridge, but I also knew that you probably didn't want everyone to know. So I played along. Now.. go talk to him."

Adam simply nodded, and made his way to the bugle player, Elliot, not exactly sure what he would say yet, but knew he would have to say something.

"Hey." Adam said as he got up to the fifteen your old looking boy who was just putting his bugle away in it's case.

"Hiya." He said as he closed his case and turned around. "Hows it going?"

"Not too bad I guess. I heard your playing, and was just wondering about it." Adam said not really knowing what else to say.

Elliot smiled and held out his hand. "Well... what did you wanna know?" He asked after Adam shook his hand.

"Well, I guess I wanna know why you do it." Adam couldn't believe that he was not able to ask more intelligent questions.

Elliot gave a sad smile, and looked out towards the monuments. "I feel like almost anyone one of the kids could have been me."

"What do you mean?" Adam asked not really sure where this was going.

"Well... I'm in foster care myself, and I have to thank God every morning that I found a really good home. I mean I could have easily been in a home that would have made me run away. Then I could have been like them."

Adam didn't know how to reply to that, but didn't have to worry about it as Elliot quickly grabbed his case, and moved to where the monuments were at. "Obviously I never met any of these kids, but I kinda make up stories about them every once in a while. The ones here, and the ones still alive have kinda become like hero's to me."

"Why's that?" Adam asked, not really liking anyone looking at his like a hero.

"Well... these are the kids that looked up at society and said 'never again.'" Elliot looked to see if Adam got it, and Adam didn't... so he continued.

"See... I look at this whole Clan group as a bunch of kids that have decided that since some of the adults weren't going to do what they were supposed to, the kids would do it themselves." Elliot was really rambling on here, but thankfully Adam was quick enough to keep up. "There's a bunch of adults out there that do care, but it seems like a lot of the ones in power are simply in power cause they can be, not cause they care about us. The Clan has started to force out those people, and put in the ones that really care. It's gotten to be dangerous for the adults in power to not care about the kids, and that's what I really like."

Adam wanted to stop him, and correct a few things, but Elliot charged on. "Not to mention the fact that they got to play with really cool shit too. I mean look at this kid." Adam looked down and noticed they were standing in front of Dennis's grave. "This kid was flying a helicopter! He was only my age, and flying a damned helicopter... how cool is that. Not to mention the fact that he died to save a bunch of his family. You know I ask myself almost everyday if I could have done that.. and you know what. Even though I would love to answer yes... I really don't know if I could be that brave. See that's what the Clan means to me, and you know something else. There's a lot of people who see shit like this, and are pushing to change things. I mean have you heard of Tom Collins yet?"

Adam shook his head, having never heard that name before. "Tom Collins is a guy who is running for the senate here. He's someone who actually cares about kids. And not just someone who says he does... he's got a huge record that say he does. He knows that we're the future and he's gonna try and make sure we get every chance to make our future better. Some people don't like him cause he's all about forcing kids to take responsibility, and making sure they do their best in school, but I think that's great."

"What do you mean making kids take responsibility?" Adam asked, still not really understanding.

"Well it's simple really. A lot of people have been going with the whole thing that kids aren't being taught to be responsible for their actions... or that some kid was abused so that makes it alright to abuse another kid. That's bull. You know, just last month, some kids were bullying another kid, and the one kid ended up killing himself. The bullies said they knew it was wrong, but did it anyways. Well... If Collins gets in there, he's gonna try and make it so that bullies get a just punishment, and that people can't get away with all the bullshit they do now. Not to mention trying to actually make schools teach kids, instead of just testing them. That always annoyed me. Teachers don't teach anything other then what's in the textbook, and then only what gets tested on. Most of that doesn't really matter. I mean what good does it do to know that Washington was the first president of the US if they don't teach us WHY he was. You know what I mean?"

Adam could only nod, as he'd never been to public school he couldn't really answer, but what the kid said made sense. "Of course there's a lot of people in this country that don't like any change, and they're really bitching up a storm. I don't know if you heard but there's a lot of people that don't like the Clan because they are going out of the normal way of doing things, and getting things done." That statement lost Adam and Elliot must have realized it, cause he laughed a little and spoke again.

"Sorry I get kinda excited when I am talking about this. Lets see if this makes sense. The Clan is doing a lot of things that aren't 'by the book' and thats pissing a lot of people off. Instead of using the local social serviced department to get kids out of abusive situations, they are just taking them to Utah or where ever, or finding them different homes that have people that can take care of the kids. Most of the really old 'stuck in their ways' types hate that. Personally I think it's great... cutting through all the bullshit... but they see it as a threat to their power. Am I making sense now?"

Adam had a lot he wanted to say, but just decided not to say anything. He had a chance here to get some information from someone who wouldn't tell him only what he wanted to hear. "So you said your a foster kid?" Elliot looked at him for a moment wondering where that topic change came from, but nodded, so Adam asked the question he wanted to. "Are they all as bad as I have heard? I've never lived in a foster home, so I don't know what it's like."

Elliot got a far away look in his eyes and started to talk. "I've been in foster care all of my life. I never knew my birth parents, and no one has ever told me why I am not with them, but that doesn't really matter. I've been in six different foster homes that I remember, and now I live in a group home. For the most part the foster homes weren't terrible. I mean I didn't get abused in any of them, but two of them came close. Not in the physical sense, but in those homes, they made it very clear that I was simply tolerated. Three of them were okay, but again, it wasn't a family, it's not like I was invited into their family, I was simply a guest. One of them was great. I went there when I was ten, and lived with them until I went to the group home two years ago. From the first moment I got there, I was considered one of the family. They treated me and my foster sister just like their own kids. That was the happiest time of my life."

"What happened?" Adam asked, really wanting to know what happened.

"Well... when the foster parents tried to adopt me, the Social worker had no choice but to put me in a new home. They have regulations that state that they do not want foster kids and foster parents getting too closely attached. 'It's harmful to the child, when they have to be moved if they are too attached to the foster parents.' That's a direct quote from the Social Services staff manual.

Adam was about to explode when he heard that but kept his face neutral. "I thought you said the place your living now is good?"

"Oh it is.... don't get me wrong. I'm happy to be there instead of some of the other places I know of, but it's not where I want to be. Where I live now is the kind of group home where kids come out of it better then they were. It's really a nice place with people who care, but there are over thirty kids living there with only five adults... while it's a nice place, it's not a place to feel like your a part of a family... if you know what I mean." Adam nodded... that was really his greatest fear... there are so many kids at the Unit base... can that really be a family? So far yes, but who knows about the future.

"Let me ask you this," Adam started, "if you had your choice would you go back to that foster family?"

"In a heart beat... I mean I like where I'm at, as I said, but there I had a real mom and dad." Adam simply nodded then looked over to the Marine guard that was standing by the bridge, sending a telepathic message to the man, he asked him to contact Corporal William Jackson of the local Police Department, and ask him to meet Adam here. Seeing the man nod, then talk into his mic, Adam turned back to Elliot.

"Well... we'll just have to see what we can do about that. Why don't you call your old foster parents and and ask them to meet us here?" Elliot looked at him with wide eyes.

"What... why?" Elliot now looked very confused.

Adam couldn't help but grin. "Oh... I'm sorry... I never introduced myself. I'm General Adam Casey of the Clan Short Special forces division."

Adam watched in wonder as Elliot's eyes filled with first shock, then awe, then, slowly at first, a rising hope as he reached for his mobile phone.

It was then that Adam remembered about the backpack filled with little things that he wanted to leave at all the graves; little tributes to each of his fallen family members. But the look in Elliot's eyes as he tried to make his phone call made Adam realize that THIS was a better tribute than ANY little trinket he had gathered.

'Yeah, it was all worth it,' Adam thought to himself as the boy cried and blubbered into his phone.

"D...Daddy? Dad... I... It's me, Daddy..."

'Maybe the Clan shit will work after all...' Adam smiled to himself as he felt and allowed a few happy tears to trickle down his face.

He felt a pair of invisible, strong, fur clad arms surround him in a hug. "Yeah, it will. And thanks, brother," Kuan Ti's voice whispered in his ear.

"... I'm coming home, Daddy... I'm coming home."