Disclaimer: Standard Disclaimer. But I really, really want them. Please send comments, questions, compliments, and otters to sdelcul@yahoo.com.

Author's Notes: I apologize for the list overload, but please bear with me (feel free to send angry emails and fling inanimate objects) until I catch up. Keep in mind that internet is a two hour bus ride away at the moment and I have to boil my water before it's safe to drink. Gotta love rural Ecuador!

Story Notes:

He'd been doing a favor for Rosa Vecchio and bringing down old clothes from the attic when he'd come across the photo album. He was opening it like a sacred relic before he even realized what he was doing.

Two hours later Mrs. Vecchio came up to check on him, and found him engrossed in the old pictures of a young Ray, Maria, and Francesca.

"Ray's 6th birthday party. We gave him a toy police car."

He looked up, startled, and she smiled. She continued before he could begin apologizing. "When I tucked him in that night he had taken it to bed. He told me that he'd decided he was going to be a police officer when he grew up. I remember telling Carmine about it later, and he said, 'Don't worry. He'll grow out of it.' He never did."

"He certainly is stubborn."

"Stubborn and brave. I worry about him even more than I did before."

"As do I." He looked away.

"He'll come back to us, Benton. Safe and sound." She patted his knee.

"He loves his family too much to stay away any longer than he has to."

"Ray will do what is asked of him, and he loves his family, but it is not us who he does this for."

"I don't understand."

"I know this was a surprise for you, Benton, and a bad one as well. But he did this for you. My son loves you, as I know you love him. He needed to feel worthy of that love, so he left, but he will come back." She slid the picture out of the album and placed it in his hands. "Here. Let this help you remember that when you start to worry. You can return it when he does." She kissed his forehead and left him alone.

"Thank you," he whispered. "I love you, Ray."

End the Gift by silvina: sdelcul@yahoo.com

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