Taylan comes from a broken home. His father was a religious fantatic who would hit his mother, who drank in order to escape from the torment that had become her life. When Taylan was four years old his father left his mother, and took Taylan's older brother Alex with him.

Taylan grew up with his mother. She was an alcoholic for most of his young life and he learned to take care of himself and to stay out of sight when his mother was in one of her black moods. She never hit him, but she was neglectful because she was drunk most of the time. She was a devout Catholic, or at least she thought herself to be one, and the fact that her husband had walked out on her, and then later filed for divorce, was one of the most painful things in her life.

Taylan was 8 when social services came down hard on her on took Taylan away. He was placed in foster care for a few months while his mother was in rehab and therapy. Eventually she got herself cleaned up enough to bring Taylan home again. Coming home to a freshly cleaned new apartment, they had lost the house because his mother couldn't afford it, with his mother stone cold sober and crying because she was so happy to see him, was one of the best memories of his childhood.

His mother insisted on going to church every Sunday and sending Taylan to a youth group. Taylan was uncomfortable with the group from the moment he joined. He had been becoming incresingly more aware that he didn't like girls, and had started secretly reading gay websites in an effort to understand what he was feeling. The youth minister was very old fashioned and would deliver sermons and give lessons on morality and virtue. In order to be a good young Catholic you couldn't have sexual thoughts. Or pierced ears, or listen to loud music, or wear innapropriate clothes. All of these things, he said, were sins. Taylan felt like everyone in the room was looking at him, and that everyone must be able to tell just by looking at him, that he might be gay.

When Taylan was fifteen his mother was fired from her job and slid back into drinking. Taylan despaired and did his best to hide it from everyone else. He got an afterschool job to try to earn money, but there was no way that he could make enough. When he came home one night and found his mother passed out and cold on the floor he knew that he was in over his head. He called an ambulance and his mother was rushed to the hospital with alcohol poisioning. She didn't wake up again.

Taylan went to her funeral, but left before it was over. He knew the state was planning to place him in foster care. Taylan went home, packed a backpack with a few posessions and decided to hitchhike to California, where his father now lived with his brother. Surely now that his mother was dead, his father would take him in, at least until he turned 18.

His father, who had become even more strict and puritanical since he had left his ex-wife, did not react well to seeing Taylan show up on his doorstep. His father had built a new life here and Taylan was an ugly reminder of what he had left behind. Taylan's appearance would also add scandal to his father's image. He brought Taylan inside and planned to kill him. Taylan escaped but ended up out on the streets bleeding from two gunshot wounds. A stranger found him and took him to the hospital.

Taylan invented a new last name and pretended no knowledge of his previous life. He became a ward of the state of California when no family came forward to claim him. He attempted to take his own life while in the hospital and ended up in a mental institution under 24 hour supervision. He didn't speak for three years.

Most doctors gave up on him when Taylan remained completely unresponsive. But one doctor, Noah Maas, did not. He worked with Taylan trying to get him to respond, and to stop being self-injurious. Taylan made various attempts on his own life while in the psychiatric ward. He also petitioned the state to be allowed to adopt Taylan.

It was a long and difficult road, but finally Taylan was released into home care. He moved into a room with Dr. Maas. Noah Maas had no children of his own and had never married. He was able to give Taylan the attention and love that he really needed.

With his help Taylan was able to eventually earn a G.E.D. to make up for all the high school that he missed, and then enrolled in community college. He met Sere, his best friend there. She was an orphan like he considered himself and they adored one another from the moment they met each other, although they were most certainly completely platonic with one another.

While he was in college and out of Dr. Maas' care his life went off track again. He started drinking and the alcohol quickly spiralled out of control. He slept around a lot and ended up dating and moving in with a man named Alaistair who was abusive and manipulative. Sere became accustomed to calling the police when Taylan would show up at her apartment with bruises and broken bones. She once threated Alaistair to his face that if she ever caught him hurting Taylan she would kill him herself. No mean feat for a tiny half-Japanese woman.

Eventually Alaistair left Taylan, which devastated him but also relieved him. Taylan slept on Sere's couch for a week before finally going home to Noah. He sent Taylan into rehab for the alcohol and Taylan did all right with it, but his heart wasn't in it. It wasn't until Sere had a serious crisis and was abducted that he started to pull himself back together.