The rest of that Saturday's detention passed somewhat uneventfully, though Bender never really gave her an answer to her request, and now with a mere two hours left they sat beside each other at the table, nibbling on leftover snacks Laura had had in her bag from lunch. He hadn't spoken much since that morning, but he hadn't tried pushing her away. Laura had done most of the talking, actually, she'd even read to him for a while, which John found he enjoyed much more than he thought he would.

Laura made him feel like just another kid. It was a nice change.

Vernon entered once they only had an hour left and spied John's bruised eye before he could slip his sunglasses back on and sneered, "Fighting again, Bender? That's typical. Can't even stay out of trouble when you're away from school. Pathetic."

John probably could have mouthed off to the man, and part of him wanted to, but he was tired and simply uttered a "Yes sir."

"I mean honestly," the older man continued, reveling in the fact that Bender wasn't giving him the usual crap, "how hard is it to not punch someone, dimwit? Keep on living the way you do. You'll be nothing. You are nothing."

Bender just sat, glaring at the floor, pretending that he didn't hear or care about the words coming out of the older man's mouth. He pretended that they weren't eerily similar to the words his own father told him so often.

Laura, on the other hand, was glaring daggers directly at her uncle, and when the man finally did look over at her, he stopped in his tracks. He knew of their budding friendship as was evident last Saturday and by the fact that she'd been asking about him during the week, but she seemed much too angry for simply having insulted a new friend. In fact, the way she was eyeing him was a little unsettling.

She got up slowly, and for a second Richard Vernon thought his niece was actually going to hit him, but instead she glided past him and out into the hallway, gesturing for him to follow her. Maybe five minutes passed before Laura re-entered with her uncle in tow still agitated, but like she had gotten something off her chest.

Bender didn't know what she said to the man, nor would he ever find out, but Vernon muttered a quick, "I'm sorry, those particular comments were uncalled for on this occasion," and promptly left.

They wouldn't see him again until school Monday, and Bender gaped at the girl sitting next to him. So she took after her mother in that regard too. She could be a bitch when she needed to be.

He liked that very much.

"Oh my goodness! What happened to your eye?" Angie asked worriedly when she arrived to pick up her daughter. Bender was about to speak when he caught Laura looking at him and knew she silently asking permission to tell her mother what had happened.

He stared a moment, looking between his worried friend and her confused mother, and nodded, going back to sit on the steps.

Laura brought her mother to stand by the car and quietly, calmly, went through every detail with her, tearing up at times but always pushing through. Her mother was appalled at what her daughter was telling her and her heart sank when she realized that her phone call likely played some part in his treatment that week. When Laura asked if he could stay, there was no question. She'd asked already, Laura informed her mother, but she'd been given no answer.

Angie would talk to him, she decided, "But first, why don't you two wait here on the steps. I need to have a conversation with my brother."

"I see where you get it from," John teased Laura quietly in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Angela heard him though and grinned down at the boy, "Nuh-uh. I get it from her."

She left them there, Laura smirking, and Bender pondering what she'd said. As her daughter had done, she emerged after only a few minutes and sat down on John's other side.

"Laura," she said, handing her the keys, "Start the car?"

She nodded and gave a "Yes ma'am," shooting an encouraging smile at the boy on the steps, and sat down in the driver's seat, cranking the engine so she could not hear what was being said.

"John," Mrs. Simms began, looking him square in the face, "I want to apologize first for the part I had in this," she gestured to his eye, "If I had known it was this bad I would have handled the situation last Saturday very differently."

She was apologizing? For something she didn't do?

Bender shook his head, "You didn't do this. Dad was drunk just like he always is, and he got mad. I was the closest thing to him."

"I think the things I said to him may have made him angrier," she smiled sadly.

Bender could say nothing to that. She was honestly probably right, but he couldn't tell her that. He looked up, his eyes landing on Laura in the car, who was doing her best not to stare at them.

Angie looked too, "She had to grow up very quickly, you know. I had her when I was only 19 to a father that left in the middle of the night. Her step-dad, the man who gave her her last name, helped me raise her. He taught her how to build a fire and make the best hot chocolate, and the card games - they loved playing cards together - until she was in the 5th grade when he passed away. It was sudden. We didn't expect it." she spoke softly, continuing, "I wish I could say that I took it well and did what I had to do to take care of her. Instead, I started drinking...all the time...and I got lost inside my self and here was my Laura, my little girl raising herself because her father had died and her mother may as well have. I never gave her a chance to grieve."

Bender stared at the woman as she looked, almost in awe, at her daughter, amazed that she was telling him all this. She glanced back at him and patted his knee.

"She pulled me out of it, slowly and patiently, and by the time I'd come to my senses my little girl was all grown up at eleven years old. It never stopped her from smiling or being kind to people, or being loving to me, and years later when I was finally ready to look back and talk about what I'd put her through without breaking down, I asked her how she'd turned out so well. Know what she told me at 14 years of age?"

Bender shook his head, finding a new appreciation for the Simms women. Both of them. Laura for facing life with her chin held high, and Angie for coming back from a low...something neither of his parents had managed to do, and something he hoped he was able to achieve as well.

Angie smiled, "She said 'Momma, you can't control what cards you get dealt. You can only control how you play them.' she said her daddy taught her that. Now, I know your cards have been pretty shitty so far, John. But I want you to know that that girl sitting in the car has been hurt too, very much and in different ways than you have. I'm ashamed to say I played a part in that. She sees something in you that she recognizes in herself, and I see something in you that was in me for a long time." Angie spoke the way only a mother can and once again patted his knee, "We can't erase what's already been done to you, but we can prevent it from happening any more. Will you stay with us? We would both love it if you would."

Bender stared wide-eyed at Laura's mother and shook his head out of habit, "You don't owe me anything..." he breathed, "I don't want to bother you both."

She looked at him fiercely, "You are no bother, young man. Laura seems to think the world of you, and she was worried sick about you all week. I happen to think you have the makings of a fine young man, but you have some things you need to unlearn. Not letting people help you when you need help is one of them."

John's cheeks flushed at that, not used to being chided and complimented in the same breath, "I'll do work around the house. Repair things, build things if you need me to. I'll pull my weight."

Angie put a hand on his shoulder, using him as a means to help her to her feet before extending her hand to him to help him up.

"I'm counting on it. You'll stay, then?" Mrs. Simms asked hopefully.

Bender looked at her for a moment, then to Laura, who caught his eye and grinned, though she wasn't sure what had transpired between the two. He nodded, a slow, small smile forming on his lips, "Okay."

"Ah! That's great!" Angie clapped her hands together and brought him in for a gentle squeeze, careful not to hurt his ribs anymore.

Laura jumped out of the car at the sight, the excitement practically dripping off of her, "You're staying?!?"

John beamed at her, still hardly believing what was happening, "Till you run me off."

Laura was not quite as gentle with her hug, but after a quick flinch, John wrapped his arms around her just as tightly, grinning as she giggled, an unfamiliar kind of warmth in his chest.

Soon all three of them got in the car.

And they went home.