With that Luke got up, taking a small sack and putting a few cookies in there. "For later," he explained,"case George gets hungry again."

"Kay...." Zack whispered softly, pulling his knees up so his feet were on the chair, resting George on his knees as he fiddled with the cuddly animal's paws.

Luke watched him out of the corner of his eye his heart aching inside of him. He didn't want to give the little boy back any more than the child wanted to go. "Zack...if I could convince 'em...would you like to stay here...at the farm...with me?"

For a moment there was no sound and no movement inside the farmhouse...before Zack slowly shook his head.

"No..."

Luke bit his lip. "You wanna be there when your folks come...dontcha?"

Zack nodded softly, hanging onto George a little bit more.

"Right," said Luke understandingly. "Let's get ya home then." With that he offered his tan hand to the little boy.

"G...George....would...would like t'stay a little bit longer..." he murmured quietly, not really wanting to go back to being alone again...but he also didn't want to miss his parents arriving if they ever did....he wanted his parents back so badly...he had no choice but to keep hoping they would do so.

Luke sighed. "I'd like George t' stay..." he began thinking a minute. "Tell you what...what if we left a note...so your folks'd know where t' find ya if...I mean when they show up?"

Zack looked up at him slowly, biting his lip a little.

"What dya think? Worth a try? We could leave a nice letter...explainin where ya are..." he encouraged daring to hope little Zack would take him at his word.

Zack bit his lip a little, swallowing softly and looking back at George....much like Luke and BO used to do when they were younger....as if speaking some silent language between each other that no one else understood....the only tragic thing was that Zack wasn't doing it with a brother or a friend...he was doing it with a toy.

"What d'ya say George? Shall we ask 'em at the orphanage?" asked Luke easily recognizing what Zack was doing.

Again, for a little while there was nothing but silence that greeted the question before Zack looked up with a small nod and said quietly.

"George thinks that'll be ok..."

Luke smiled patting the little boy on the head. "Well then... we best get t' writin." With that he got up and took the writing tablet from its spot near the phone and turned it to a clean sheet, handing the little boy a pen.

Zack looked up at him questioningly as he paper was put in front of him and the pen put in his hand.

"Oh...right...well, how bout we just go back to the orphange an' ask them there to leave a note?" he offered.

"Kay...." Zack replied softly, climbing down off the kitchen chair again.

Luke took the little boy's hand gently, rubbing his hand with his thumb. "Let's go."

Zack nodded and headed out with him quietly, holding onto George firmly with the other arm.

Soon enough Luke was walking back into the orphanage, an arm around Zack. "I'd like t' speak t someone about fosterin' Zack here..."

Once again the lady was knee deep in children, some of them clinging to her trousers, others attempting to climb up her in order to get a cuddle. Nearly all of them were dressed in their pyjama's ready for bed, but not one of them looked like they were tired enough to go there.....besides her that was. Her hair was a mess, she looked about ready to cry and her clothes were a lot more untidy than when Luke had met her at the beginning of the day. She certainly couldn't hear what Luke was saying.

Zack bit his lip a little and looked up at Luke, even though he was only little, even he could see what a state she was in.

"Scuse me!" said Luke again louder. He held onto Zack's hand gently squeezing it a little, a silent promise that he would never come back here, not if Luke Duke had anything to say about it.

The lady finally looked up, as did most of the children who fell silent at his shout.

"Oh...oh hi i'm..i'm sorry I just...I'll be with you soon I...I have to get the kids into bed first..."

Luke nodded a little, guiding Zack to a bench against the wall. There the two sat and waited, for what seemed like hours, for her to come back.