Obviously, it goes without saying that domestic abuse is a heinous act, something that no good can come from. It's certainly not an auspicious beginning for the local Daycare Centre, perhaps that's why Serenity Daycare Services never progressed beyond a plan. Louise Lahey was in hospital yet again, this time it was a broken arm and a bruised, bloodied face. So Serena Stilinski was looking after her friend's adorable puppy-dog eyed son Isaac, who was just 4, she was also going to pick Camden, who was 7, up from school.
Serena never had to worry about domestic abuse herself, she had a loving husband, Deputy John Stilinski, and an adorable 4 year old son, Radzimierz "Stiles" Stilinski recently diagnosed with ADHD. Serenity Daycare Services wasn't even a blip on the map at this point in time, Serena had no plans for such an undertaking. But eventually it would become apparent that she had little say in the matter.
"Mrs S is the greatest, she made Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies for me and Stiles. Then we watched the Lion King and she knew all the songs, she tried to roar like a Lion but she just sounded like a Kitten with a sore throat. After that she let me and Stiles have a roaring contest and I won."
Isaac stood on the climbing frame holding court, he'd had the best day with Stiles and Mrs. Stilinski and he was going to make sure that everybody knew it. He loved his own mother, but didn't really understand why she was always to tired or hurt to play with him. He did notice that her injuries were always worse after he'd heard his father shouting, but his dad was scary when he shouted and he figured that his mother became accident prone when she was scared.
He tried to ask his parents why his mother was always hurt, but Cam dragged him upstairs before he could get an answer. Well Cam dragged him upstairs before he could even open his mouth to say the first word, so he decided not to ask again. After all Cam was older and wiser than him. If Cam thought that Isaac shouldn't be asking questions, then he was probably right. Anyway Isaac's friends were waiting to hear about his day with Stiles and Mrs Stilinski.
"I can roar like a Lion now, I'll prove it. ROAAARRRR!" Isaac's roar was less than intimdating. It sounded more like he tickled his nose with candy floss, than an attempt to scare away a dangerous predator.
"I let him win." Stiles whispered conspiratorially to Scott, "Mrs Lahey was in hospital yesterday and my mom said I should let Isaac win the roaring contest, to cheer him up."
"I bet I could roar better than that" Jackson called out. "ROAARRRR!" Jackson's roar was definitely louder than Isaac's.
"That was stupid Jackson. Lions don't roar like that, my daddy roars like that." Stiles offered.
"Your daddy roars?" Lydia questioned.
"Well he did when he put the new shelves up and hit his thumb with the hammer." Stiles muttered quietly. Everybody heard him despite his decreased volume and howled with laughter.
"My daddy roars too." Erica stated, "Well, I fell asleep during the day once and daddy roared at me to wake up. I can't remember if it worked."
"I don't know if my daddy roared or not." Scott pouted.
"Anyway Mrs S made us Chicken Nuggets and Mac and Cheese for dinner, it was really good." Isaac stated in an attempt to get everyone's attention back on him.
"ROOAAAARRR!" Lydia screached.
"That was really good Lydia." Danny said "I want to try too. ROOOAAAARRRRRR!"
After that everybody was roaring and Isaac knew he didn't stand a chance in this roaring contest, but he noticed that Stiles roar didn't change at all from yesterday. It was soft and sounded like he was trying to catch his breathe. Isaac was confused, he thought Stiles would be good roaring since he was good at talking and roaring was how Lions talked.
Everybody continued roaring, each trying to out do each other and better themselves, there was pride and honour at stake. Everybody wanted to be the best at roaring and their parents couldn't help them, by judging the contest, because they were too far away to hear and each parent would claim that their own child was the best at roaring. Isaac wished Cam was here to help, but he was at little league practice and wouldn't be finished for ages, they'd definitely be finished by the time Cam came to walk Isaac home.
"ROAR!" Scott's roar was loud, but short and he started coughing immediately afterwards.
"RROOOAAARRRRRR!" Boyd was the clear winner.
"Boyd only talks Lion, that's why he hardly says anything."
"Shut up, Jackson. You're just mad because Boyd's better than you, you think your the best but you're a poophead."
"Erica that's not nice." Stiles lept immediately to Jackson's defence, "You should say sorry!"
"Sorry Stiles, Jackson's a Poophead." Erica replied.
"I'm not a Poophead, asides you're a girl and everyone know's girls are stupid." Jackson whined.
"Am I stupid too?" Lydia asked slyly.
"No." Jackson mumbled.
"Jackson and Lydia sitting in a tree, K, I, S, S, S, I, S, G." Danny sang.
"I think you spelled it wrong, Danny." Stiles corrected before going over the words in his head, "Sorry, you were right I thought you missed out an S."
Jackson walked over to the slide and started huffing, everyone was being so mean to him today. Whitney Whittemore noticed Jackson going off on his own and wandered over to the slide where he was sitting, not sliding. She watched him as he stared at his hands and cried gently, his eyes already red and puffy. It was unusual for Jackson to cry, so something must have really upset him.
She sat on the ground beside him and nudged him gently with her elbow, if she'd learnt one thing since adopting him, it was never ask him a direct question when he was upset. Jackson looked up at her and wiped his eyes with his tiny clenched fists, he nudged her back with his elbow and sighed loudly. He sat on the slide a few minutes longer and sighed again, then he climbed into his mother's lap and buried his face in her armpit. She gently ran her fingers through his hair while he wriggled around trying to get more comfortable.
"Everybody was being mean to me." Jackson grumbled.
"Oh, Sweetheart what happened?" she queried.
"We were having a roaring contest and I was the best, even better than Boyd, but everyone thought Boyd was the best and then Erica called me a badname. I'm not gonna say, 'cause then you'll tell me off. Stiles told her to say sorry, but she didn't and then Danny teased me about liking Lydia. But he's my best friend and he's not a'posed to tease me. I never tease him about liking Isaac, even though they got married last week and Woofy was the man that said 'I now crown you man and wife'."
He held up the tiny black wolf toy, with blue eyes, that went everywhere with him.
"I think you mean pronouce, not crown, sweetie. But I'm hurt, Danny and Isaac got married and I never got an invitation." she huffed playfully.
"I told Danny you wouldn't like it, but he said no parents aloud."
"Well, I'm sure they didn't mean it. I bet if you go back over and talk to them, they'll say sorry. Especially after Woofy was so nice and married them."
"But that won't make Erica say sorry for calling me a Poophead." Jackson protested, trailing off as he said the word that would get him in trouble.
"No, I guess it won't. But from now on, tell me, if Erica calls you a Poophead, we'll put a dollar in a jar and if it gets full you can get a new toy. An awesome toy that Poopheads would never play with, then Erica will know she's wrong."
"OK mom, that's a good plan."
"Well now that's sorted you should go back to your friends and play. I'll call Natalie and arrange for her to mind you."
"Why mom? I don't need her, I've got you."
"I know sweetie and you'll always have me, but I need to sort out some important documents tommorrow."
"OK mom, but I don't like Natalie anymore she always drinks all the chocolate milk and gives me the horrible banana milk. But Mrs S looked after Isaac yesterday and he said it was great, she made cookies and roared like a lion."
"OK sweetie. I'll ask Mrs Stilinski if she's available to look after you, but if she can't your stuck with Natalie. Deal?" she held her hand out to Jackson.
After a few seconds he realised he was supposed to shake he hand, to make the deal official. After they shook on it, Jackson ran back to play with his friends all the issues he had with them were forgotten. As excited as he was about spending the day with Stiles and Mrs S, he didn't tell the others about it, not even Stiles, because the universe had a way of making you look stupid. Especially if you shared awesome news, before you had a definite answer. He wondererd if Mrs S would make Butterscotch cookies, they were his favourite.