CHAPTER 4:

After making more toast and playing games for roughly an hour, Toby finally convinced Spencer that she had to tell her mom about her father.

"Please, Toby, I really don't want to tell her," Spencer whined, looking into his crystal blue eyes.

"I know, Spence," he said, rubbing her back, "But you have to. I'll help you, I promise," he held his hand out, and silently told her to take it. Spencer scrunched her nose and shook her head.

"Please, Spence," Toby gave Spencer his best puppy face, and she finally gave in, taking his hand. He pulled her into a hug and cradled her head into his shoulder. He lead her to her mom's office, and held her hand while they stepped inside the dimly-lit room.

"Mommy," Spencer said, nervously, "Can I talk to you?"

"Not now, honey, I'm busy," Mrs. Hastings sighed.

"Mrs. Hastings, it's really important," Toby stepped in, as Veronica sighed once more and nodded.

"Um, so, the other day," Spencer looked at Toby, and he gave her an encouraging glance, telling her to go on. "The other day, when Daddy came home late, I was up. And… and… he hit me. Right here," As she pointed to the spot on her knee, Toby swore he saw Veronica's face turn white.

"Oh my god. Spencer," Veronica sighed, pulling Spencer into her arms. "He promised me he would stop. I'm so sorry. I'll fix this, I promise, sweetie." Spencer nodded, as Veronica embraced her tightly. Veronica gave Toby a look that said, "Take care of Spencer while I go talk to her father,"

"Hey, Spence, come on. Last one to the playroom's a rotten egg!" And just like that, the two of them were off, sprinting to the Hastings's playroom. Spencer got there about a second before Toby, but he had let her win.

Spencer sat on the floor of her playroom, and buried her head in her hands. "Hey, Spence," Toby comforted her, stroking her hair, kissing the top of her head, and whispering, "it's going to be okay," into her ear. Toby could see that she was about to start crying, so he pulled her into a tight hug, and wiped the now flowing tears off of her face. Toby let her cry in his arms for a while, as she sat in his lap.

Then, Spencer sniffed, "Do you want to play chess? Melissa just taught me," she looked at him, her eyes still a bit watery. He nodded, and grabbed the chess box off of the shelf.

"I'm so going to beat you at this!" she exclaimed, seeming to have regained her enthusiasm.

"There's my girl," Toby smiled, ruffling her hair.

"What, you don't believe I'm going to beat you?" Spencer challenged him.

"Oh, no, I'm confident that you're going to beat me," Toby laughed as Spencer started to set up the chess board.

…..

"See, I told you!" Toby looked at her, as she smiled triumphantly.

"Toby!" Veronica called from downstairs, "Your mom is here to pick you up!"

Toby looked at her sadly, and said, "I guess I have to go now," Toby stood up to leave, but Spencer tackled him, pulling him onto the floor, as they both giggled uncontrollably.

"Come on, I'll walk you to the door," Spencer said, hugging him tightly. They shuffled, still hugging, to the door, where his beaming mother was standing.

"Hey, Spencer," Marion greeted her, as Spencer broke from Toby's embrace.

"Hi," she responded, shyly. "Bye, Toby! Bye Mrs. Cavanaugh!" She yelled out the door as they left. "I'm expecting to see you tomorrow!" She said, as all three laughed.

Once Toby had left, Spencer went back to her bedroom, where she overheard a conversation between her parents.

"Peter!" Veronica exclaimed. "You promised that you would never drink like that again. And, now look what you've done, you hurt Spencer,"

"Veronica, I'm sorry, okay. I'm trying to get better. You know that,"

"What I know, is that you hit Spencer! And hard, I saw the mark,"

"You know what, Veronica, what do you want me to do? Ok, what do you want me to do?"

"I'm giving you two options. Either you go to rehab, or we're getting a divorce,"

"Veronica, you can't be serious. I can't do either one of those things,"

"Oh yeah, why not?!"

"Because, I can't have a rehab stint on my resume. And, I don't want to divorce you, I love you,"

"Ok, well, right now, what I need is some space,"

"Veronica, please,"

"No. Either go to rehab, or get out. The door's open!"

"Why did you have to make this such a big deal?! I only hit her once!"

"Yeah, you hit our seven year old daughter ONCE. It is a big deal, Peter!"

"Okay, you know what, I'll go to rehab. Okay, I'll go,"

"Good. Then we're done here. I'll book you a flight out for tomorrow evening," Veronica fired back, storming out of the room.

"Veronica, wait," She turned around. "I'm sorry," He said, his voice sounding sincere.