My Brother's Keeper {for lokiswoman}

[CleverFox]

Seven year old Alexander Knighten, better known to friends and family as Alec, was standing outside the group home where he had been living for the past month waiting for his brother to come and pick him up. Social services had finally managed to track down Alec's only living relative after his parents had been killed in a car crash and now the little blond haired, blue eyed boy was just waiting around for his new guardian to come and take custody of him. He was pulling on the hand that was holding his, the social worker Pamela Wright having already prevented him from running off once this morning and she was taking great care to make sure that there was not a repeat of that incident. Pamela was trying not to become frustrated with the child, who was quite the handful, because she knew the reasons behind the behavioral issues that he exhibited. It wasn't easy to lose one's entire family in one fell swoop and her heart went out to him for that one but at least he had a brother that had agreed to take custody of him so that he wasn't stuck in the foster care system until he turned eighteen.

"Are you excited about going to live with your brother Alexander?" Pamela asked the child whose hand she was still holding, trying to distract him by conversation even though previous attempts at doing that hadn't exactly worked out too well.

"No!" Alec snapped, glaring at her before he said, "If he really wanted me...he woulda been here sooner." He had no idea what had kept his brother for a month but it didn't really endear him to the child and the sullen look that was on Alec's face right now as they waited should be proof enough of that.

Pamela sighed and gave up the attempt to make small talk with him, just focusing her eyes on the road and waiting for the arrival of Alec's new guardian. She hoped that things would work out for the two of them since there had already been so much tragedy for the family but really she had no way of knowing just what was going to happen, or what the future had in store for the little blond terror, as she fondly thought of him.

[LadyLoki]

Kellan Knighten had been surprised as hell when Social Services contacted him about taking custody of a brother he hadn't known had existed. He had cut ties with his family roughly 8 years ago, after a massive fight with his father. He'd made a good life for himself since then, with a well paying job as a partner in ownership of a growing company. From the files he'd received from the social worker...Mrs. Wright or something...the kid was a handful and Kellan was a little nervous about taking the child in. He didn't really want kids himself, but he liked children in general. He just hoped the kid didn't hate him or something. He'd been abroad for a month trying to close a business deal and then a week or so readying the house and getting the paperwork taken care of for the small boy, Alexander. Kellan eventually just took a deep breath and got in his shiny car, heading off to the address the woman had given him. He pulled up, and stepped out. His heart sank at the look the kid was giving him and he wondered if it was too late to back out. "Hello Mrs...Wright? I'm Kellan Knighten." He offered her his hand.

[CleverFox]

Alec's eyes went to the car that pulled up to the house and they immediately narrowed when he caught sight of the man that stepped out, assuming that this must be his brother. His parents had actually mentioned Kellan to him, mainly his mother, but he'd of course never met the guy. Which wasn't really making this entire thing any easier for the boy, Alec once again trying to pull his hand free from the social worker so that he could bolt before things progressed any farther. "Lemme go damn it!" he snapped at her, his narrowed eyed gaze still focused on the approaching man.

Pamela had never met Kellan but she had spoken to him over the phone on a number of occasions so when he walked up to her and introduced himself she offered him a smile as she reached out to shake his hand, keeping her other hand firmly grasping Alec so that the child couldn't run since she knew that was what his intentions were. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Knighten," she said to him with a smile before looking down at the little blond that she was currently holding onto tightly. "This is Alexander."

"ALEC!" the child snapped at her when she called him by his full name, the little guy hating that and he really only ever heard it when he was in trouble before.

[LadyLoki]

Kellan was sort of taken aback at the little child's angry response to his name. He sighed internally, wondering if this child was going to be a demon, or whether he would eventually adjust to life with Kellan. He shook her hand, kneeling in front of Alec. "It's nice to meet you Alec." He said gently, before standing at taking the boy's hand. Kellan held tight, having seen the boy trying to escape from Pamela earlier. He managed to get Alec into the car, buckled tight. Kellan himself got behind the wheel, and they were off towards Kellan's home.

[CleverFox]

Alec looked at the man when he decided to kneel down and the words that were spoken to him got a fierce scowl from the little boy since he didn't think that i was nice to meet him. "Jerk," he said in a bitter tone of voice, not pretending that he cared about this guy since brother or not he was a stranger and that of course made Alec wary of him. The instant that his hand was taken by the man he started to try and pull away, trying harder than he had been for Pamela but the grip that Kellan had on his hand was tight so he didn't manage to do it and soon found himself in the car and buckled up. Immediately the little guy tried to open the door, finding that the child safety locks were engaged and he couldn't get out, this angering him further so he gave the back of the driver's seat a kick as he said, "Lemme out, I don' wanna go with you!" As though to add further emphasis to that fact the small boy gave another kick, not really thinking about it being dangerous to do that while Kellan was driving. All he was thinking about was that he was being taken away by someone that he didn't want to go with and that upset him.

[LadyLoki]

"I know you're upset and confused, but kicking my seat is not okay Alec!" Kellan said turning around to glare at the child. "You could cause an accident!" He lectured, returning his gaze to the road. He was really praying that this kid warmed up to him, because he wasn't sure he could handle an eternally irritated and bratty child. Maybe he should connect with the child on some level...and he did't want to bring up their dead parents. "So...Alec, anything you like to do in particular?" Kellan figured he should at least try to bond with the child...they had 11 years to go anyway.

[CleverFox]

Alec was sort of startled when Kellan turned and glared at him while telling him that kicking his seat wasn't okay and that he could cause an accident, that not being something that the seven year old had thought about before doing it but he didn't much care either. So in response to the scolding words from his brother he just gave the seat another kick with his foot, crossing his arms over his chest when he was asked what he liked to do. "Whata you care?" he asked instead of answering the question, the little guy not sure why his brother had never been around since his parents hadn't said anything about the fight. "You went away so you don't get to act like you care now...just cause Mama and Daddy are d-d-dead." It took him a couple of tries to say that his parents were dead since even after a month it was hard for him to think about the fact that he was never going to see either of them again. His blue eyes narrowed as the little blond terror continued to glare at his brother, or at the back of his head anyway since that was the part of Kellan that he could see from where he was sitting in the back of the car.

[LadyLoki]

"Kick that seat again, and I'll spank you when we get home." Kellan warned, surprising himself in the process. He sighed at the accusatory glares sent his way by his younger brother, not sure of what to do. He knew he should probably explain to the small boy why Kellan hadn't been around for the entirety of his childhood, but he didn't know what his parents had told Alec. "It's not that I don't care Alec...I just didn't know about you because you were born after I...left." He said, feeling the glare at the back of his head. Little blonde demon child. Kellan finally neared the house, hoping to get inside with minimal damage.

[CleverFox]

The threat that came from his brother took Alec by surprise and he frowned immediately as he snapped, "You can't do that...try it and I'll call the cops and report you for child abuse!" Whether he'd really do that or not was impossible to say, not that it would really help him since corporal punishment was not illegal so long as it was not taken too far to the point where it was considered abuse. The little boy went on to tell Kellan not to pretend that he cared and he just shrugged his shoulders when he heard what the man was saying, not buying it. "Don't care what you knew," he said, once again kicking the back of his brother's seat despite the threat that had been issued the last time that he'd done that. His blond hair was disheveled and falling into his eyes but that just made him look deceptively cute, like a little blond cherub without the wings. As they pulled up to a house Alec was thinking that he was going to make a run for it as soon as the door of the car was opened, not having a clue where he was going to run to but he didn't think that he wanted to stay with this guy and he was pretty sure that Kellan didn't want him either and was just taking him in because he'd felt like he had to.

[LadyLoki]

"Try me Alec, and you'll find out just how serious I can be. Spanking isn't child abuse." Kellan said, mentally rolling his eyes. He sighed when the boy rejected his explanation, really not surprised, but he didn't want to tell the child about the fight. It was obvious Alec loved their father, even if Kellan didn't and hadn't for 8 years. He did however feel the kick and sighed, knowing he would have to follow up on his threat. "You earned yourself that spanking, and a second one if you even think about running." Kellan warned. He was not going to chase the blond boy down the street. Kellan really did think he could grow to care about his little brother, but it wasn't a one way street. He pulled up in front of his house, heaving the enraged boy over his shoulder and carrying him into the house, bag in the other hand, and locking the door tight. He knew Alec couldn't reach one of the two locks, so that was that.