Josh bit his bottom lip, Sam had woken up minutes earlier and he could see by the way Sam was squirming in his seat that he needed a break. He glanced back and forth between the road, his son and Justin.

This boy had mood swings, one minute he was acting all nice and stuff and the next he was angry as hell and waving the gun in the air as if he was going to use it. Josh didn’t know what to think, didn’t know how to handle that. He was afraid to approach him after Justin had lashed out at him like he had, although it was somewhat his own fault. He should have never lost his temper like that, especially not when the boy he was saying it to held a gun in his direction and could easily shoot him with it and now he was afraid to ask Justin something, afraid to interrupt him.

He knew he couldn’t postpone it for very long. However with this boy’s temper he was afraid to ask for the thing that father and son both needed; a break. Josh had stopped every 2 à 3 hours during their drive home. Sam needed that and so did he besides there wasn’t really someone waiting for them to get home so they took their time. However he didn’t know how fast Justin wanted to get to LA and whether or not he would allow this little hold up. He glanced at the young man next to him; his facial expression revealed the mood he was in and it didn’t look good.

For Justin the argument had caused him to relive some memories; from childhood memories he’d pushed away, wanted desperately to forget till today when it all fell apart. He’d been happy talking about small unimportant things but he didn’t want to talk about himself and it ending like that had caused Justin’s somewhat good mood to disappear. And he was back with feeling the shame and the guilt of his actions.

Sam arched his back as far as he could and Josh knew he couldn’t wait any longer. Sam was getting rest lesser by the second and he was afraid Sam would anger the young man if it continued like this. He took a deep breath, here goes nothing.

“Can… can we stop for a second?” Josh asked hopefully, hoping not to anger the young man with the gun anymore than he already had.

“No” Justin said curtly, as he glanced back afraid they’d been followed. He’d been glancing back occasionally during the ride to check if he really was safe. That no one had seen him getting into this car and that they weren’t being followed. Josh noticed it and knew what to say to persuade the man to take a break.

“Sir, we’re a long way from Tennessee, they haven’t followed us, please, he needs a break and so do I” Josh said carefully, choosing to be respectful although the young man was 5 years younger than he was. Justin looked back again, at the endless road behind them and at Sam.

“Fine. There’s a gas station 10 miles up ahead we’ll stop there” Josh nodded gratefully,

“Thank you”

For a second, just a second Josh saw the boy smiling but it disappeared almost instantly and silence once again regained the car.

“Come on baby” Josh addressed his son, who was growing weary from sitting in the car for too long. He lifted the boy out of his seat and settled him on his arm, brushing his son’s hair away from his forehead, holding him close to his body as Justin stood next to him. He’d left the gun in the car but not before warning the young man, “Don’t try anything or you’ll pay later” Josh had nodded, fear in his eyes as he quickly got out of his car.

They walked silently to the bathrooms on the other side of the gas station, Josh knew they were close to a big city but he didn’t know which one. He had no clue, he had been so busy with protecting his son and keeping an eye on Justin that he was completely disorientated. It didn’t really matter anyway and it was the last thing on his mind. Josh made quick work of changing his son’s diapers to prevent Justin from getting angry with him. They settled on a bench several minutes later after Josh had dared to ask if they could just stay here for a little while. Justin had agreed, needing the break himself and now they were quietly sitting next to each other as they watched Sam run around on the small patch of grass.

“He’s a sweet kid” Justin said as he followed Sam with his eyes.

Josh nodded, “He means everything to me” Justin’s lips tugged into a smile. Josh glanced at the boy briefly, mimicking his smile before he turned his head back towards Sam. They didn’t say anything to each other after that and soon they walked back to the car, resuming their journey.