The listener

Title: Safe

Summary: what if Toby's mom comes looking for him while he's in foster care and after realizing that while he may not be safe with her, he's not exactly safe in foster care either. What will she do to insure the safety of her son? She's already lost one boy; can she bare to lose another one?

Disclaimer: I do not and never have owned The Listener, even though I wish I owned season one, forget about the other season L

Author's note: Please leave comments cause I love them

Chapter 1

Toby was doing what he normally did on weekends; staying as far away from his foster home as possible. He could wait to be free of the system, he kept telling himself five more years, but sometimes that felt like a very long way away. He lived for his visits to Dr. Ray and the few opportunities were he could get away from people.

The noise was the worst for him, hearing everything from the people around him, and the more people there were the more noise there would be. Their thoughts would push their way through his defenses and he would be forced to hear exactly what people were thinking. He hated it, he had lived with it for thirteen years, his entire life and still he couldn't fully control his ability to read peoples minds.

Slowly he made his way to his favorite abandoned park and took a seat on one of the rusted swings on the playground. Swinging slowly he let himself close his eyes, as he tried to remember his life before foster care, but still the only thing he could remember was the same old memory replayed in his mind over and over. He had been in a small trailer watching his mother, he assumed, and his new baby brother when a man came in and took Toby's baby brother away, then his mother had told him he needed to jump, jump into the water and that his name was Toby Logan now.

What Toby would give to be with his mother now, instead of in foster care being bounced from one foster home to another. He had been told it could be worse he could be in a facility, those were supposed to be the worst. Then again, his life could be a lot better. The foster home he was in now was one of the worst he had ever had. There he was forced to play personal maid and was beaten almost everyday.

Toby hated coming home everyday and hearing that mans thoughts. They were almost impossible to ignore. Michael Helprin was the angriest abusive man Toby had ever met, every thought he had came with a wave of anger. Sometimes the man's thoughts were so overwhelming that they would incapacitate Toby leaving him with what felt like a massive migraine.

Toby had asked Ray time and time again how to block out the man's thoughts, but Ray's suggestions never seemed to help. So now this was his life, he spent his time either as far away from his foster home as possible or cleaning the house or in some kind of pain.

Toby's thoughts were put on hold as he sensed the presence of another person entering the park, which was odd because no body ever came there, not in the past six months he'd lived in Newbery. Try to act casual, he got up from the swing and started to wonder over to where the thoughts seemed to originate. There at the parks entrance were two men. They were looking around the park, like they were trying to find someone. While Toby had felt their presence before, he couldn't pick up exactly what they were thinking. He thought about getting closer, but something told him he should stay put out of sight.

For some reason these men made Toby nervous. What did Toby have to be nervous about? Toby was just some foster kid. Unless maybe they had come for him; the thought made his gut twist into knots. Was that possible? The only person Toby had ever told about his ability was Ray, and Toby trusted Ray more than any one else in the world.

Suddenly Toby felt a hand clamp around his mouth. 'Oh god they were here for me! What am I going to do?' Toby thought. He was freaking out, but before he tried to scream, he realized something strange. He could hear the thought of the person behind him! How was that possible? He didn't know why, but the knowledge that this person's thoughts were shielded from him was a comfort.

Slowly, very slowly he twisted around… 'Holy shit!' he was dumbfounded because the person before him was someone he had seen before. The memory was from so long ago it felt like a dream, but he knew this woman. She had his eyes, or maybe he had hers, they were blue just like his! And she had his color hair, dark brown. She was exactly as he had remembered him, and he involuntarily let out a gasp of air. Could this woman be…was she his mother? The woman he had dreamt about for so long?

Then a current of thought came at him. She was projecting her thoughts to him, 'Toby… I know you have a lot of questions, but we have to move. We're in danger. Those men are looking for you, but I wont let them take you!' the last part of the women's thought came out almost as a yell. 'You have to follow me and try to be as quiet as possible. I'm going to take you somewhere safe.'

If anyone else had asked him to do it, he wouldn't have, but this was his mother. He had wanted her for so long and he couldn't let go of her for a second time. Toby reluctantly nodded his ascent. He knew that his foster parents would be angry, but he couldn't find it in his heart to really care. The only person, who he felt guilty for leaving was Dr. Ray, but he would have to understand. Toby was going to be with his mother now.

Suddenly, the woman grabbed his hand and in a haze he ran with her. To where, Toby wasn't sure he cared.