A/N: Here's another one. Review!

Atticus returned home much earlier then he usually did. Cal hadn't even started supper yet and we were in the middle of homework. It was so unexpected that we didn't even run out to the end of the road to greet him and he walked through the door without any of us noticing. I heard him come into the dining room and looked up from my addition tables, surprised, but happy to see him home so soon.

"Atticus!" shouted Jem and me as we got up immediately to run and hug him. He smiled at both of us and dropped his work bag and got to his knees in order to wrap his arms around us as though he were shielding us from the world, which, to be truthful, in this moment he was. We seemed hold each other like that for a whole minute, but none of us minded.

He kissed both of our foreheads and stood up, almost carefully ruffling Jem's hair. "How was your first day back at school Jem?"

Jem beamed. "Everybody wanted to hear what happened from me and they were real impressed with my scar when I showed it to them." He looked like he wanted to raise his shirt to show Atticus the scar he meant, but then he remembered that Atticus had seen the scar enough, and got this haunted look in his eye every time he looked at it. Neither Jem nor I ever wanted to see that look again.

Atticus smiled, amused at his son's excitement at all the attention. He turned to me.

"And how was your day Scout?" he asked. "Did anything exciting happen today?"

I shook my head. "Nah," I told him. "It was real boring. Jem got most of the attention since he just got back."

"That's good," said Atticus. "Excitement is the last thing we need right now. Jem," he turned to him. "Why don't you go lie down in your bedroom and rest? I don't want you overusing your arm right now. Bring your homework to your room please." Jem groaned, but reluctantly picked up his homework and shuffled to his room, complaining all the way that he had been resting all week and didn't want to ever see his room again. Atticus didn't even bat an eye at Jem's complaints and rounded on me.

"If you would please go to your room as well," he said. "There is something I wish to discuss with your aunt and Calpurnia in private."

How entirely unfair! "That's not fair!" I pouted. "I wanna hear what's going on too! You never tell me things!"

Atticus looked at me sternly. "Scout, I need you to go to your room please. I promise I will tell you later, but your aunt and Cal need to hear this first."

I didn't make too much of a fuss after that and I reluctantly marched into the hallway as Alexandria came into the dining room from her bedroom and Cal came from the kitchen, drying her hands with a towel. Evidently, they had heard my whining. Atticus didn't ask me to do things very often (chores and homework were expected of us, and Aunt Alexandria and Calpurnia did most of the ordering around anyway) and I felt like I would be letting him down if I didn't do what he asked. Besides, he promised he would tell me about it later. I didn't even wait in the hallway like I normally would've – I went straight to my room. However, I did leave the door open and sat crisscrossed on my bed to listen.

Everything was quiet for a few minutes, but then the shouting started.

"Another one?!" that was Aunt Alexandria. "Atticus, you can't be serious!" I didn't hear Atticus's response, but I imagined it mustn't have been good because Aunt Alexandria replied, "You didn't?! Atticus, it is your duty as a father –" she droned off after that. I didn't hear anything else. I went to the edge of my bedroom and leaned my head around the wall, but I still couldn't hear anything. They were talking quieter now.

After a few more minutes I heard footsteps down the hallway. I immediately grabbed a book off of my dresser to make it look like I hadn't been listening the entire time. Atticus would see right through it, but it wasn't Atticus who came into my bedroom.

Aunt Alexandria stood outside of my bedroom and knocked ceremoniously on the door, even though I could clearly see she was there. She looked like she was about to burst into tears her face was so scrunched, but she put on a happy face as she spoke.

"Knock, knock," she said quietly. "Can I come in?" I nodded and she came and slumped on the edge of my bed.

"Where's Atticus?" I said immediately, wanting to know why he wasn't here and she was.

"Your father is feeling unwell, so he went to his room," she explained. I furrowed my eyebrows; Atticus, unwell? I had just seen him and he seemed perfectly fine, possibly a little on edge, but he didn't look sick. Perhaps he had asked his sister to come and talk to me instead of him. I frowned at that thought. That seemed too cowardly to be my Atticus.

"Scout," Aunt Alexandria began. "Something has happened."

"Something to do with Bob Ewell?" I interrupted, sitting up. I had a feeling I knew where this was going. She looked shocked for a moment, but then recovered herself.

"Yes, Scout," she replied. "It does have something to do with him. You see, when your father arrived at work this morning, there was another note waiting for him at his office, signed by Mr. Ewell."

It astounded me that after all this man had done, she was still referring to him as Mr. Ewell. That seemed like a name from times past, not at all suited to the man it represented.

She continued. "Atticus demanded to know when the note had arrived, but no one in the office could tell him. He called Mr. Tate to report the note and that there had possibly been a break in at the law firm since nobody had admitted to placing the note on his desk or seeing Mr. Ewell anywhere."

"What did the note say?" I asked. Aunt Alexandria bit her lip.

"It was another threat," she finally said. "On you, on Jem, on your father."

"Why would anyone want to hurt us this badly?" I asked, and Alexandria looked even more like she was going to cry, and she gave me a hug.

"There are bad people in this world, Jean Louise Finch," she said into my hair. "Very bad people. Mr. Ewell is one of them." She let go of me, wiped her eyes and stood up. "I hope we never have to meet another man like him again, but undoubtedly we will. It's just a good thing that there are men like your father around to stand up to the horrible people like Ewell." And with that, she left, undoubtedly to tell Jem the same thing she told me.

I sat on my bed for quite some time, thinking about what Alexandria had said. There would always be evil around she had basically told me, but if Atticus was around, there would always be good too.

I heard Alexandria leave Jem's room and decided I would go and see him. He was sitting in his bed staring at his knees. I wandered into his room. He looked up when I came in, and then went back to staring at his knees again. He didn't look up for a long time. Finally, he probably felt like he had to say something to break the silence.

"We have to make sure he doesn't worry, Scout. He can't worry." Afterword's I thought that Alexandria had said something else to Jem then she had told to me, but at the moment I didn't worry about it.

"Yep," was the only thing I said.

I went to Atticus's bedroom not long after that. He was sitting in his chair reading the newspaper. He also looked up as I came in. I hesitated for just a moment, and then went to hug him. He held me tightly for a long time. After he let go, I wiped my eyes quickly – I didn't realize that I had been crying. I turned and almost went out the door, but remembered something and turned back.

"Ms. Maudie said to say hello."

Atticus smiled, and then turned his eyes back to his newspaper. I left before he could respond. I got the feeling that now was not the time for words.

A/N: Here we go. One of the fastest updates I have done in years, and written in between 2 shows of the foreigner even! I'm impressed with myself hope you are too. Reviews are appreciated. TTYL!