Sol was wandering around, his side wrapped up so that it didn't hurt him to breathe, he'd been healing slowly. He was still in a lot of pain a lot of the time, but he was sick of being cramped up in a house all the time, he needed air, he needed sunlight. The male had made it to the same park he'd almost gotten killed in and he tugged off his shirt wincing at the pain and poking at the bandages slowly trying to get some of his tan back, He felt like he was pale white. " ********." He muttered as he rested on the bench, he leaned back and let the sun beat down on his his yellow and blue eyes closed as he tried to forget about the pain.

---

Venus felt semi-accomplished; she'd given a young girl new hope in herself all the while giving her a new wardrobe and a complete new look. Khloe looked...well, stunning for an 11 year old; once she grew into those curves, she'd be beating boys off with a stick...

But all of this made her miss her own children, already mostly grown and having lovers of their own. Venus gave a soft sigh as she wandered through the park, gold eyes scanning the benches. They landed on a teenage boy with a familiar-looking pelt and her heart twisted in her chest. She froze. Sol. Her son -- Roxy's son. She lifted a lip at the thought of her enemy and shook her head. Then she headed straight for him.

---

The female stopped and blocked his sunlight and Sol ripped his eyes open to tell her to back off, but he couldn't speak once he let his eyes skim over the figure, his 'mother' or in his mind teh incubator. Roxy had helped teach him his resentment for his parents, but He still couldn't understand why the female had let him get captured, " What do you want?" He asked closing his multi colored eyes and looking back up towards teh sun to try and get more of a tan, well to find his color again. He wasn't sure weither he wanted to smack the female or yell at her. Then again maybe he should just talk to her, his head was thinking so fast it spun.

---

Venus's throat grew tight as she looked him over; he looked so much like her, the resemblance was striking. At least he looked good; he'd filled out nicely and his fur was well-kept. She wasn't aware of the wounds under his clothing, however, or else she'd have been more uncertain. "I..." For once, she was at a loss for words. What did you say to the son who disowned you because of a stupid mistake? She hadn't been able to keep him from being captured...it was her fault and Roxy had made that clear to him. "I just wanted to say hello." Her voice was soft, almost tender as she looked at him. "You look good."

---

The boy rolled his head to the side and looked at the woman, " I'm sexy as hell of course I look good." He muttered as he looked at teh female again, He hadn't seen her in such a long time he's almost forgotten what she looked like, It was true that they looked a lot a like. " Too bad your my mom, your a hot peice of tail yourself, I understand why dad banged you." He said a smirk crosseing his face as he repositioned himself, winchign as his ribs ached. "I would have too."

---

Venus blinked in surprise, one hand reaching to her chest. What the... He was maybe sixteen, if that. A rush of anger flooded to the surface; Roxy... Roxy had polluted his mind and made him a cocky little male. Venus puffed up a little, her smile fading into a frown. "Sol..." Please tell me this is just an act, she thought. Please don't let my son be a playboy... I'm a horrible mother... "That's not nice." She said in a slightly scolding tone. "Did Roxy teach you to say that?"

---

" Who cares if she did, At least SHE saved me and kept me safe." He said as he watched the other, " She taught me how to be a man, She taught me how to fight, and she taught me that being sexy is something that you have to earn." He told her with a nod as he faced her now straddling the bench he was sitting on. " What YOU think isn't nice and what I think is nice are two different things," He muttered shaking his head at her, " I'm old enough to make my own assumptions now... Mom." He sneared the last part, he didn't know that it hurt the female to be around him, or to see him like this. He was hurt, he'd always been hurt, He'd been stoled and forced to live with humans, that to the younge male was the worst hurt possible.

---

Venus's ears flicked back, flattening against her head in a show of inner pain and turmoil. "You don't understand. I was young. I was a new mother. I never meant for you to be stolen away, Sol..." Her voice was merely a breath as tears sprang to her eyes. Her fists clenched at her sides. No. She would not cry. "I tried to keep you safe. I know you don't think I did, but I did. I swear to you..." When he said 'mom' in the tone he used, it struck her in the heart, hard. She looked at him for many moments, uncertain of what to say. Nothing she could say could make it better. He hated her. "I'm sorry."

---

" Sorry doesn't make it better, Sorry doesn't stop what they did to me, Sorry doesn't take that damn chip out of my back." He grumbled to her, He'd been in a house full of kids, one's who liked to pick him up by any apendage that they could grab. " Roxy might have raised me wrong, but at least she was there to try and make it all right, Why did you and Dad save everyone else first?" He questioned, He was not only the younest but the last to be saved, and only by Roxy's crazy attempt at breaking into a house, "When Roxy saved me, when she brought me back to the aquarium she was going to take me back, " IT was the first time that he'd ever spilt the truth, " But you guys were busy fawning over Adonis, Marrie and Lum." He had seen it, Roxy had cradeled him to her chest as he watched his parents loving on everyone but him, " Why... Why was I last?"

---

Venus's heart twisted again and all she wanted to do was take Sol in her arms and hold him, hold him like she neglected to all those years ago. "I didn't know that's what you saw... It was never a matter of favoritism, we just happened to find them first. We were just so happy to find a part of our family again. It wasn't that we forgot about you, Sol... We never forgot about you." Her gold eyes shone, glittering with unshed tears at this tearful reunion. "I wish that things would've been different... If Roxy would've just stepped forwards and brought you home..." She whined low in her throat, tail falling still along her thigh. "I know sorry doesn't take the pain away, Sol, but believe me. I wish things would've been different." She took a breath.

----

The male shook his head, " I'm glad that I got to live with Roxy, I'm glad she raised be because you obviously had to much on your plate." He muttered keeping his eyes cast down. " I should have been Roxy's child anywyas, She told me how you stole dad away from her." He muttered clearing his throat to hide the tears from the woman. He didn't want her to know that to this day it still hurt him, he still in the deepest most hidden part of him felt unwanted, Maybe that reason roght there was the reason he pushed himself on women, Maybe that was the reason most people hated him for the attitude he had. He'd wanted to be just like Roxy because he knew how much both females hated eachother, He wanted his mother to hate him so he wouldn't feel so bad about hating her, If the feeling was mutual then it really wouldn't hurt anyone.

----

Venus reached out, touching his shoulder but knowing he'd flinch away from her touch. "Sol. Look at me." She touched his face, tipping his chin up to look at her. "I won't take the blame for Apollo falling in love with me. He is my soulmate and Roxy...was just a stepping stone for him. He didn't fit her like he fits me. It's not anyone's fault!" No, it was true that she and Roxy didn't get along, at all, but it wouldn't stop her love for Apollo. "I love your father. And I love you...even if you aren't mine anymore, Sol."

---

He little male pulled away from her cursing under his breath as he jerked his poor hurt ribs. " I really wasn't ever yours in the first place." He muttered to her blinking rapidly to get the tears out of his eyes, He really didn't want to be having this conversation now. " I guess Its all fine and dandy now, I've got Mom and Dad... and I'll tell you Roxy is happier than ever with Dad." He knew using the nicknames for his adoptive parents would cut the female but he was crying and damnit real men didn't cry. " I've got Van, who's more of a brother to me that my real brothers were because I'm sure they hate me because of Roxy, because for some reason, Everyone other than dad and my self hate her, Shes just like me. Sexy and misunderstood." He said with a nod, Now the teenager was just saying things to make himself feel better. He'd only heard Roxy's side of that story and didn't know anything else, This made him realize how hurt his mom really was. He wanted to go home and give her a big hug and tell her everything was okay. "I..." He began but he couldn't finish his sentence, Really the male was at a loss for words. He didn't know what else to say none of this had really made him feel better, if anything he only knew that he was still as misunderstood as ever.

---

Venus's eyes softened. "You were mine once upon a time. I nursed you and I held you when you cried, before you can remember..." She smiled at the fond memory; she loved all of her kittens and those times were her favorite. She wouldn't admit to him that Sol calling Roxy his mother and Puff his father hurt her, but it did. But this was how it was supposed to be... "Then I'm glad you have them. You deserve to have a family. Everyone deserves that, Sol." Even if it's not with me and Apollo. "Your siblings don't hate you. Nobody hates you. But this is your decision."

---

He shrugged, " Yeah it is." He muttered standing up his hand going to his side out of pure habit by now, He grabbed his tshirt and put it over his shoulder his dog tags clinking as they hit his chest. " I"m I'm glad I made it, If I would have stayed, I'd be a different man, I'd have learned differently and I wouldn't me who I am now. Granted I need to learn a few things still, I'm happy with how I am." He wasn't sure if the wounds on his side would ever heal, if the bones would fix themselves and grow back together, but it would always remind him to ask before he kissed another woman. " I might be just like roxy, I' might be a 'slut' or a 'Playboy'" He shrugged at his birth mother, " And everyone might hate me, I don't really know..." She shrugged his hand still pinned to his side to try and force the ribs back where they belonged.

---

"Well if you're happy with what you are...who am I to try and change you?" Venus forced a smile and turned slightly, noting his pain but not commenting on it; it was no longer her place. "But if you ever want to...change on your own...our home is always open to you, Sol. I promise I won't turn you down if you ever need to talk to someone." She touched his face with an open hand, fingers carressing the cheek of the son she wished she had. "I love you, either way. Even if you don't want to accept that." She pulled away and began to turn, her long hair falling from its messy bun. "Come find me when you need me." And with that, she began to walk off, her heels clicking on the cement walk.

---

Sol watched the female walk a little bit and she shook his head, once she was out of hearing range he spoke to himself lowly. " If I ever need you, If I ever decide your really worth my time." and with that he pulled his shirt over his body, He would go home, not matter how much he didn't want to be cooped up, he would because being away from Roxy right now only made his stomach turn. He'd grown up a lot in the last two weeks, but he was still her baby. He wanted to curl up in her lap and just be babied, He needed to know that SHE still cared. Something in fight that he'd gotten in had crushed Sol's confidence, Something was changing.

{Fin}