Title: Bruised

Summary: Set right after 1x13. Amber comes home bruised, her family demanding answers. ONESHOT about hurt, family, and love.

Rating: PG-13, just to be safe.

Disclaimer: I own absolutely anything in regards to this show.

A/N: So, second story for Parenthood in a week, weird!

The sound of laughter filled the lively house; it seemed to seep out the windows and swirl around in the night air. It was peaceful, in a non-traditional sort of way, the sound of family and friends hanging out and having a good time. Safe even.

Amber sniffled and wiped her shaking hands across her makeup-smeared face. She stood outside the front door for several minutes, not wanting to make her presence known. Her phone vibrated in her pocket. It was another text from her mom, wondering where she was and why she was late. She sighed and chose to ignore it yet again.

She heard the sound of an argument starting up. Not one of those heated ones, more like a family debate. She smiled slightly, wishing she were among them. "Get a grip," she muttered to herself, pushing the door open and letting it slam shut behind her.

"Amber?" Her mom hollered from the dining room, her footsteps quickly following her words. "Is that you?"

Amber grabbed her bedroom door's handle, not looking Sarah in the eye. "Sorry I'm late… I was called into work. I'm tired now, I'm going to go to bed, okay?"

"No, not okay. Honey, you're two hours late, its your cousin's birthday, the least you could do is call."

"Okay, sorry." She stood there, hand on the handle, not moving an inch. "Can I go to bed now?"

Sarah sighed, throwing her hands up in the air in defeat. "Fine, you can go to bed. First come sing happy birthday to Sydney with us and steal a piece of cake."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes, you have to." Sarah sighed. "God, I don't understand. It'll take you all of three seconds. Come on, get your butt over here."

Amber swallowed and held her breath as she turned to face her mom.

"Oh my God!" Sarah shrieked, rushing over to her daughter. "What happened to you?"

Amber pushed her mom's hands away from her newly formed bruised eye and bloody cracked lips. "Nothing happened. I fell at work, no big deal."

"No big deal?" Her mom repeated loudly. "No big deal, honey, your face looks like it was used as a punching bag."

"Gee, thanks." She thanked dryly.

Multiple sets of footsteps approached as the family's ears couldn't help but overhear the conversation. Adam was the first to speak. "Hey guys, what's going on here?" Sarah stepped aside, gesturing to her daughters face. His jaw tightened and fists formed. "Oh my God, Amber, what happened? Did someone do this to you?"

"No!" Amber assured, her voice cracking and betraying her. She stared at her grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles, feeling guilty. "It was an accident!"

"She said she fell." Sarah butted in. "She said she fell at work."

Grandma Camille rushed to her granddaughter's side, pulling her close to inspect her injuries. "Oh my, Amber, come with me. Zeek, get the first-aid kit, would you?"

Amber let Camille lead her into the kitchen and sit her down on the countertop. She tried to hold back her tears, but several leaked anyway. Her cheeks were red from embarrassment and her hands were shaking even more now. "It's nothing," she tried to assure yet again, her voice quivering. "Seriously, Grandma, it's nothing, I'm fine."

"Don't you lie to me, young lady." Camille ordered as the rest of the family shuffled into the room. Zeek handed her the first-aid kit. "I raised four children. I've seen lots of cuts and bruises, this isn't nothing and it definitely wasn't an accident."

Amber sniffled again.

"Amber, sweetie, what happened?" Sarah sounded as if she was on the verge of tears herself.

"Kristina, why don't you get the kids out of here?" Adam suggested, not taking his eyes off of his niece.

Kristina nodded. "Yeah, okay. Sydney, Max, Haddie… why don't we go watch TV or something?"

"Spongebob?" Max asked quickly.

"Sure, that sounds awesome." She hustled the two younger kids out of the room, but Haddie remained with the group.

As soon as they left Julia, Sarah, Zeek and Adam began to question her, demanding answers. Amber shook her head, stealing a quick glance from her brother and then from Haddie, before turning away from them all. "I don't want to talk about it. Please, everyone, just leave me alone!"

Her family stood there, dumbfounded.

"Hold still," her grandma ordered, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the world as she applied medicine to the cut on the side of her lip. "We've got to get some ice on that eye of yours."

Adam grabbed a pack of frozen peas from the freezer and handed it to Amber.

"Thanks," she said quietly, not looking him in the eye.

Drew stepped forward, pushing past his mom. "Amber, did those girls do this to you?"

Ambers eyes widened in alarm. Her face told him to shut up. She looked at Haddie again and swallowed. Without an answer, she applied the frozen peas to her eye, wincing as her swollen skin made contact with it.

"Did what girls?" Sarah demanded to know, turning to her son. "Drew, what's going on? Do you know something?"

Drew backed up, looking down and keeping silent.

"What's going on?" Sarah nearly screamed. Adam wrapped his arm around her shoulders, trying to calm her down. "Please, will someone tell me what's going on? What girls?"

"You mean my friends…?" Haddie more of stated than asked in a horrified tone. She stepped in front of Amber. "My friends did this to you?"

"What!" Bellowed Adam and Sarah simultaneously.

Amber closed her eyes and looked down. She bit her bottom lip and held her breath in attempt to not cry. But when she couldn't hold her breath anymore, she let it out. Everything. She cried, burying her face into her hands as the incident replayed in her head. Her tears became more and she grew louder, not caring anymore, not being embarrassed to show weakness.

Haddie gasped slightly, not wanting to believe it. "Oh my God. I'm going to kill them! I'm so, so sorry. I swear, I didn't tell them do it. I didn't tell them to do anything!"

Sarah threw her arms around her daughter, burying Amber's face into her embrace. "Oh sweetie…"

Camille took the icepack from Amber and took a step back, glancing over at the rest of her children and grandchildren.

"I don't understand," Sarah said she ran her fingers through Amber's hair. "I don't understand why they did this to you. What happened?"

Amber said something, but her words were mumbled by her mother's chest. Sarah released her from her hug and Amber wiped away her tears. "It was my fault…" she began, looking at Haddie. "I'm sorry. Steve came up to me and we talked… I know it's horrible of me. I know I'm a bad friend and cousin for liking him, I know. I'm sorry!"

Haddie shook her head. "No you're not..."

"What happened?" Adam interjected firmly.

The beat-up teenager sniffled again. "They saw me talking to him. They followed me into the bathroom… they ganged up on me." A small sob escaped her lips. "I don't think they meant to take it as far as they did!"

"Doesn't matter. They did take it too far." Adam tried to contain his anger. "I'm going to call their parents. No more! This has gone too far!" He stormed off, pulling his cellphone out as he did.

"I'm sorry," Haddie apologized. "I told them to leave you alone."

"It's not your fault."

"I know, but… it kinda is." She patted her cousin's arm. "I'll be right back. My dad's going to need those numbers…"

As things got quieter, Camille handed Amber back the makeshift icepack. "You need to keep it on your eye, or it'll swell pretty bad."

The remaining family surrounded her. They gave her expressions that showed sympathy, love, and support. Amber sighed, and doing as she was told, applied the icepack to her eye.

The end.