Carter had been half hopeful, half apprehensive that Brandon would be at Jax's appointment the next week. But he hadn't. And then the next week, still no Brandon. It was strange, after seeing the man nearly every week for the last year, even if only briefly, even if they don't speak he'd at least enjoyed a whiff of that fresh pine scent, and he realized he'd come to look forward to it. The third week, Dr. Tyler left Jax practicing some simple exercises that didn't need supervision and pulled Carter aside.

"I've been meaning to ask you," Dr. Tyler began. "Have there been any changes to Jax's schedule or environment?"

"None that I can think of," Carter said, confused. "Why?"

"The last few weeks, Jax hasn't been as determined as he normally is, and I was wondering if there was anything particular the might be causing him to feel more tired or stressed than usual. Any changes that could have upset him, or made him feel out of balance."

Carter felt a stab of guilt. Ever since Brand's rejection, he had felt off balance himself, but he hadn't noticed any changes in Jax. Was he so self-centered that he hadn't noticed his behavior affecting him?

"Honestly it can be caused by a lot of things," Dr. Tyler said. "Consistently staying up too late at night, a growth spurt, schedule changes, new faces, missing faces. It can be very hard to tell with kids. Some of them are very resilient to change and some seem to crumple at the slightest thing. Jax has seemed more like the resilient kind, though. And it could be a phase. He could bounce back in a couple weeks. But maybe you can keep an eye out and see if you notice anything that could possibly be throwing him off balance. The last thing we want is for his progress to slow down or stop. Newton's first law of motion is true for children as well as objects. A child in motion is more likely to stay in motion. Now, at some point we will be able to expect Jax's progress to slow, but I would prefer he be a bit further along than he is now before that happens."

Dr. Tyler's words weren't assuaging Carter's guilt any. "I'll talk to him tonight," he promised.

"Don't worry too much," Dr. Tyler said. "It's something we need to be aware of, but he could flip back in a week."

He clapped Carter on the shoulder and turned back to Jax.

"Okay, Super J! Time's up. I didn't work you too hard today, did I?"

Carter observed his son with laser focus as he helped Dr. Tyler put the smaller equipment and tools away. He still seemed like he was within a normal Jax-level of energy, but on the lower edge of normal, perhaps. But he was noticeably quieter on the walk to the car and the ride back to school. Carter dropped him off before heading home to put an afternoon of work in, but he was distracted, trying to figure out the best way to broach the subject with Jax. If it was Carter's distraction because of Brand that was getting to him, was Jax aware enough to realize that was what was going on? Or was something happening at school that Carter didn't know about? A bully, perhaps. Carter felt his alpha protective streak surge, but he forced it back down. If that was the case, he would help Jax learn to deal with it without violence. Especially as it could be a human kid. And Carter didn't even know if it was a bully, his mind was just spinning.

It was a relief when the bus dropped Jax home at three-thirty. Carter wasn't getting anything useful done, anyway. Numbers had started swimming in front of his eyes, when he saw them on the screen in front of him at all.

"Hey, Jax! How was your day?"

Jax let his backpack slide to the floor and shrugged. "Okay."

Carter clamped down on a sharp reprimand about putting things where they belong. "Want a snack, buddy?"

Jax shrugged again. Dr. Tyler was right. How had Carter not noticed how out of sorts Jax was? Was he that terrible of a father? Jax slid into a stool at the kitchen island and Carter set about preparing his favorite treat, dinosaur chicken nuggets. He set it in front of Jax expectantly and Jax just pushed the nuggets around on his plate, sliding them back and forth through his ketchup.

"What's wrong, Jax?"

Another shrug. Carter was really starting to hate shrugs. "Dr. Tyler said you've been tired the last few weeks?"

Jax stared at his plate without responding.

"You know you can talk to me, right?" Carter slid onto a stool next to his son. "No matter what. Is something wrong that you think I'm going to be made about?"

Jax shook his head.

"But something is bothering you?"

Jax gave a half-hearted nod, but that was a far sight better than a shrug.

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

Jax sighed and didn't say anything. Carter wanted to continue to pester him with questions until he started talking, but he knew that would have the opposite affect Instead, he waited. As painful as it was, he could wait. However long it took.

It took a good five minutes and Carter felt like he was going to have a fit of apoplexy by the time Jax started sharing. "Therapy isn't fun anymore," he said.

Carter kept himself from bombarding Jax with specific questions about what wasn't fun and why. Or with lectures about how as you grew up, you had to learn to do a lot of things that weren't fun. "Oh? How is it not fun anymore?"

"It just isn't," Jax said unhelpfully. While Carter tried to figure out how to draw Jax out without frustrating him so much he stormed to his room in a huff and ruined any further chance of a discussion for the day, Jax continued, "I miss Dr. Delaney."

"Brandon?" Carter asked, surprised. "I haven't seen Dr. Delaney when I come to pick you up from your sessions lately. Is that what you mean?"

Jax nodded.

"Was he helping Dr. Tyler?" Carter had assumed Brandon just popped by to say hello to Jax every week, which was sweet in and of itself. He was notorious for staying up-to-date with all "his" babies' lives, which warmed Carter's heart in ways completely disconnected to the mating draw.

"He just talks to me," Jax said.

"What do you talk about?"

"Dr. Delaney had a bad accident like I did," Jax said. "He had to work really hard like I do to get better, too. But Dr. Tyler wasn't his doctor. They were kids like me then."

Carter hadn't known that about Brandon. "And did it make it easier, working with Dr. Tyler after talking to Dr. Delaney?"

Jax nodded again. If Carter had felt guilty when he thought Jax's difficulties were because Carter had been distracted, he felt ten times more so now that he knew his son was feeling lonely because his dad had chased off the one person who seemed to be able to relate to him and make him feel like he wasn't alone.

"Well, maybe Dr. Delaney will be there next week, huh, bud? Maybe he had a lot of work to do. You know he takes care of a lot of people who are having babies."

Jax nodded, his shoulders drooping even further, breaking Carter's shattered heart into a million more pieces.

Carter had messed this up, but he was going to fix it. Jax was more important than anything. If that meant Carter had to bury his desire for the man he knew was his mate, so be it. Jax needed Brandon. Carter needed Jax. Everything else was secondary.