He's out the door and halfway down the hall of my floor before I catch up with him. "What the hell is your problem?" I ask, grabbing his arm.

He spins to face me, anger flashing in his eyes.  "I don't have to take this from you.  I don't fucking need to take this."

"Take what?"  Oh great, he's snapped.

"The fag jokes.  If you wanna be an asshole, then fine, but do it on your own time, not while I'm trying to help you." He wipes at his eyes.

Now I'm totally lost.  "I didn't make a fag joke! What the hell did I say that was a fag joke."

He rolls his eyes.  "You implied I was a woman."

"That was a compliment!  You're good with kids."

He's relaxing a bit, but still pissed. "You wouldn't understand."

I laugh.  "Hey, I went to high school too, you know.  People are assholes.  I can get being sensitive about shit like that, but you gotta remember, it's done and over."

"But it's not."  He whispers it, but I hear him anyways.  He sees me looking at him and blushes.  "Problems with my room mate."

I can't help but offer advice.  "Well, next time he says something to you, you should sock him.  See how many jokes he makes after that."

Michael laughs.  "Somehow, I don't see that being very effective.  He's quite a bit bigger than me."

"Hey, lots of guys are bigger than me, and I kicked their asses."

I start walking back to my apartment and I'm relieved to see that he follows.  "I think there's a slight difference in strength here, Peter," he remarks.

I smile as we walk back in the door to my apartment.  "Doesn't matter.  It's all a matter of how much you wanna hurt the other guy."  We sit back down on the couch.  "So, if I may ask, what's so awful about this room mate of yours?"

He sighs.  "He's basically a high school football jerk who never grew up.  I tried to get reassigned to a different room, but no such luck."

"Why don't you move out?" I ask.

He shrugs.  "Not enough money.  I'd try to find someone to get an apartment with me, but I don't really know anyone..."

It was like an alarm bell went off in my head.  My brother was gone.  I needed money for his half of the rent.  Here's someone who is looking for a room mate and could pay half of rent, and he knows how to take better care of Hallie than I ever could.  So what was I waiting for?  "Hey, if things stay bad with him...I'm sorta looking for a room mate to take over my brother's half of rent."

He blinks.  "Seriously?  You mean that?"

He looks totally overwhelmed.  It's kinda funny.  "I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it."

"I...uhm...I don't know what to say.  Thank you.  I'll...I'll get back to you on that, ok?"

"Ok."  I bite back a grin.

He stands.  "I really do need to go home now, though.  I have homework and class tomorrow and all that good stuff."

I stand too.  "Listen, thank you...for taking us to the hospital, and the sock thing, and all that.  And I'm sorry for pissing you off."

"It's ok.  Sorry for blowing up at you."

We smile, shake hands, and he walks out the door leaving me to try and figure out what exactly had happened this afternoon.