Spike was walking home morosely with Vicky and Jimmy at the end of the school day. Normally, it was a long day, especially any days where he had no free periods, but today just seemed to race by. He had even inadvertently ended up answering "the square root of four", only to be reminded he was in Spanish class to a chorus of laughter.
Jimmy had spoken to Mal, but he had still not come back to them, running off immediately following final period. Although Jimmy had said something about what he had said, it was clear Mal was still not quite ready to forgive and forget Spike for the flagpole incident, which clearly he still considered his fault.
He was incredibly quiet as he walked. He could hear Jimmy and Vicky talking, but he didn't respond at all. All he could think about was that soon he would be face-to-face with Kim, and he would have to explain what had happened, and find a way to appease her.
His own mother had not been a part of his life beyond his birth. His dad had explained that their time together was brief, and that she had not given him up. His real mother had died very young, long before Spike could even remember her, and the only home he had ever known was the Skullovitch household until Kim came into his father's life.
A chance encounter when he was still but a child had led to something special between his father and the woman he had admitted he had loved since grade school. His father had told him many times about how Kim was the one that insisted on meeting him, and getting to know him. She had even insisted that even though his mother was gone, they keep her memory alive. She never wanted to lie to him and pretend that his real mother had never been, even if he couldn't remember her. In the end, he loved her like a mother, and one of the things that made him love her most was the fact that he knew, he always knew, she wasn't part of his life because of obligation or duty. She had chosen to take him as her son.
He felt a hand in his and looked to see Vicky at his side, giving him a nervous little smile.
"Do you want us to go up with you?" She asked him. He looked to the gate, realising he had arrived home, which was at least a mile out of his friends' way. They had taken him all the way in his fugue, just to be there for him and support him. He sighed and shook his head.
"It's time to face the music." He told her regretfully. "If I'm not back tomorrow..."
"You'll be back." Vicky interrupted him loudly.
"Just...if I'm not...tell Mal I'm sorry." He told her. He then buzzed at the gate. "It's me."
The gate swung open, but he was stopped as Vicky grabbed his arm. She looked to him.
"Send me a text or something." She instructed him. Spike just nodded, before heading inside. As she watched him go, she finally looked round, seeing Jimmy looking up at her with a dreamy expression, and an evil smirk.
"Spike...don't go..." He whispered, before puckering up his lips and making kissing sounds. Vicky just grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and dragged him away.
"You're lucky you're my brother." She growled as she took him away, glancing back, once more, to the house.
Spike made his way up the path, arriving at the door, and took a second to steel himself before opening it and heading inside. He put his bag down at the door and made his way to the living room. There, he found his uncle sitting on his large, easy chair across from the couch. Kim turned around, and got up as she saw Bulk looking to the door. Making her way over, she looked him up and down. She didn't need to say anything for him to know she wasn't happy.
After a moment, she pulled him in, hugging him warmly. He returned it, but he didn't feel as happy as he normally did. He loved her, and was happy to see her again. It had been a long time since his parents had to leave on business, but he knew why she was likely to be there.
"I'll just...check on dinner." Bulk told them, excusing himself. Kim took Spike to the couch and sat down with him.
"You've grown." She commented. Spike just nodded.
"Two inches." He confirmed, feeling none of the tension subsiding. As the clock seemed to tick by painfully slowly, he was sure this was exactly how those guys sitting in cells on Death Row felt in the movies.
Back in the Shiba House, Kevin was sitting on the stool, trying to digest what Mia had said to him.
"So Serena and Stephen...?"
"No." Mia told him. "Well, maybe, but, I don't know...she wasn't really clear." She told him. "The thing is, she had that talk with Ji."
"Just think what he'd have said to us if he knew..."
"Kevin, focus!" Mia barked. "The thing is...we know the rules. We've always known the rules."
"Yeah." Kevin said with a little smirk. "Who thought breaking them would be so fun?"
"Kevin, will you please keep your mind on this?" Mia asked him. "We signed up for this, Serena didn't!"
"Yeah, but..."
"No, so she enjoyed that little talk, took that little bullet for our sakes." Mia continued. "I don't know if she and Stephen have...you know...or if they haven't. Frankly, I'm not sure I want to, but you have to admit, it has to suck a little knowing it isn't on the cards through no choice of their own."
"I guess..."
"And what was the first thing we told them when we got back?" Mia asked him.
"Ah!" Kevin uttered, suddenly putting himself there.
"And we've been...?"
"We've been putting on a bad daytime special." He muttered, trying to imagine the situation. "We didn't know, but...I guess it still must feel a little insensitive."
"I was also thinking about Mike and Emily." Mia admitted. "Has Mike said anything...?"
"What makes you think he'd tell me?" Kevin asked her.
"He's your best friend." Mia told him. "Emily hasn't said anything to me, and Serena hasn't said anything, so I presume..."
"Wait, why are we now talking about Mike and Emily?" He asked her. Mia just looked at him a little disbelievingly.
"We are, like it or not, kind of role models." She told him. "Don't you think it'd be a little hard for them to obey 'the rules' when they already know we haven't?"
"I guess..."
"Or if we are putting on, as you put it, 'a bad daytime special'?" She pressed on. He just nodded as he conceded the point.
"I guess maybe we should just cool things off a little." She told him. "If nothing else, just so we're not continually slapping everyone in the face with what we have and they don't."
"I guess it'll take some discipline." Kevin told her. "Just as well I have plenty of that."
"I guess the next thing is to talk to Serena." Mia told him.
"Well, maybe not the NEXT thing." Kevin told her. Mia just found herself smiling a little.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked him.
"We do have a room to ourselves." He told her. "And there are plenty of things we could enjoy with no risk of being heard until she gets back."
"Who would ever have thought of you as a bad influence?" She asked playfully as she took him by the hand and led him towards the bedroom.
Elsewhere, Mentor Ji was dressed in street clothing, making his way to the Department of Health office. Antonio had a report that he needed to deliver to the offices, but he and Jayden had made their excuses and run off with his cart and fishing equipment before he could protest. Mike and Emily had gone off to train by themselves, and Kevin and Mia had gone jogging early meaning that it was down to him to deliver the report.
He knew that he had likely been set up. Since Jayden and Antonio had seen him talking with Brenda the last time, Jayden and Antonio had been quite obvious about the fact they thought he should try to make things up to her. He appreciated their intentions, but he had already resigned himself to the fact that without telling her who they were, he couldn't explain how he had behaved the last time they had dated. Thinking about it, it seemed for the best anyway. The other Samurai had been lucky enough to find each other, although they faced danger, they all knew they could handle that risk through their training. Even Stephen had chosen to be involved in the war, and knew of the danger he faced. It seemed bad enough to risk someone who wasn't trained to deal with the risks involved like they were. Risking someone who wasn't even aware of the risks seemed downright irresponsible.
As he got to the building, he signed himself in, and made his way to Brenda's office. He knocked the door and headed in, finding her working hard on some paperwork.
"Waste in the kitchen, rat droppings, leaky sink, no doors between the kitchen and employee bathroom..." She muttered, marking down the citations on the report.
"That's quite a recipe." Ji commented. She looked up, seeing him and adjusted her glasses. "I hope it's nowhere I've eaten recently."
"Trust me, if you knew half of the reports that came across my desk, you'd probably never eat out." She told him. "This place though, it doesn't need shut down, it needs condemned!"
"Antonio filled out those papers for you." He told her, handing over an envelope. She just looked to it and smiled.
"Thanks." She replied. "You didn't have to come down here though; you could have just mailed them."
"He didn't tell me that." Ji replied with a little smirk. He made a mental note to talk to Antonio later about that part of the plan. If he was sure before that it was a set up, now it was confirmed. "Well, I guess it is good to get out of the house. I can see you're busy, so..."
"Ji!" She called after him, getting up. "Would you like to go for some coffee?"
"I..."
"Please, I've been up to my eyes in paperwork for hours, and I've got a massive headache. If I don't take a break soon..."
"Never let it be said I won't save a damsel in distress from the evils of paperwork." He commented.
"I'll point out this place to you on the way." She responded as she picked up her purse and straightened herself out.
"I suppose there are advantages to your job." He stated. "I know wherever we go will be safe."
Back at Bulk's house, they had all had dinner in relative silence, exchanging only a little conversation to catch up on basics. The whole situation was incredibly uncomfortable for all involved all things considered. After dinner, they made their way through to the Living Room, where Bulk poured Kim a glass of wine, handing it to her.
"Alright, so...let's talk about it." She finally said, taking a sip and placing the glass down.
"Mom..."
"Spike, you have to realise this doesn't look good." She told him. "First of all, I get a call telling me some stranger smacked you around the head with a shinai..."
"Serena was training us mom." Spike interrupted her. "She's a professional, she knows what she's doing, it was just an accident!"
"I seem to remember Tommy and Jason putting each other in hospital a couple of times." Bulk chipped in. "And I seem to remember something about someone not too far from here trying to practice the balance beam alone and ending up landing on her head."*
Spike smirked a little at this, but quickly wiped it off his face as Kimberly gave his uncle a less than amused look. He had heard the story from his dad; it was a little while before her transfer to the gymnastics institute in Florida.
"You're not helping." Kim said coldly.
"I wasn't trying to." Bulk told her honestly. "I was just putting it in perspective. No one's perfect."
"Then, your genius uncle here pretty much begs us into letting you go to a public school," she continued, brushing off the point and carrying on with her complaints, "and not even a week after you go back, I hear you're being lynched!"
"That wasn't Uncle Bulk's fault!" Spike protested. "I was the one that fought Brad, I was the one..."
"I'm not interested Spike!" Kim put down sharply. "We pulled you out of school for a reason. You were happy with home schooling. We did that for you!"
"I was running away!" Spike answered. "I don't...I don't want to spend my life running away from problems."
"Well running face-first into them seems to be working a treat." She said sarcastically. "I for one wasn't happy about this at all, but you have to admit that none of this looks good."
"Mom, I screwed up. I know I did." Spike told her. "You and dad have at times, Uncle Bulk has too, but you all kept telling me that making mistakes is a part of life. You make them and move on."
"Well this isn't exactly a small mistake now is it?" Kim asked him. "Spike, you're young, I was your age once, I know it's easy to make mistakes. I don't blame you."
"Then you blame Uncle Bulk?" He asked her. "But I made the mistake!"
"You only made the mistake because of the advice of others." She told him. "He was the one that sent you back into that hornets' nest, but even then, you've never tried to stand and fight before. You knew that fighting was a dumb idea, but then something about that changed recently didn't it?"
Spike suddenly realised what she was getting at.
"Serena?" He asked her incredulously. "You're blaming Serena?"
"Well since she got involved, you've ended up in hospital twice." Kim reminded him.
"Mom, she's training me!" He told her. "She isn't responsible for my decisions! You know more Martial Artists than I do, you were a freaking Power Ranger! You know that just training a person doesn't mean you're responsible for what they do with it!"
"If she hadn't gotten involved, you would never have fought him!" Kim snapped.
"Kim, he's right. Serena isn't to blame." Bulk told her. "She just taught him. She said everything you and the others always did. She told him a hundred times that fighting's always the last answer."
"Well she obviously didn't get the message through then." Kim told him. She just shook her head and sighed. "Spike, I'm upset you got hurt, but most of all I'm disappointed. I just want you to be safe and happy. We never raised you to get into trouble like this."
"I know." He sighed. He was disappointed in himself too, but not as much for his questionable judgement. There was still a part of him that believed he had done the right thing, even if he had defied Serena's explicit instructions. He was mostly upset that in his actions he had gotten his uncle and Serena into trouble with his parents. "You're taking me out of school aren't you?"
"Kim." Bulk interjected before he could answer. "You have to be tired after your journey, and you're always the one that says you should know everything before making a decision."
"You're not in much of a position..."
"Kim please, just...give it a couple of days." Bulk told her. "You can talk to Serena. You can see the school..."
"Bulk, I don't care about any of that!" She snapped.
"If you're so intent on doing what's right by Spike, don't you think you should see what you'd be taking him away from?" Bulk asked her. The whole room went silent, and the air seemed to drop in temperature considerably. Spike felt like his heart had stopped. This was a very dangerous gambit. His uncle had basically called Kim out on her assertion that she cared for him. Kimberly looked completely taken aback. He was sure that his uncle had made a huge mistake. Never mind being taken out of school, he was sure now she'd be taking him back altogether. "You and Skull did leave him with me for a reason. You knew you wouldn't be around for him as much as you wanted. That hasn't suddenly changed. Just see what he has here, and if you still think it's for the best, then I won't question your decision."
Spike just buried his face in his hands. He was sure he was packing his bags.
"Alright." Kim sighed. "I'm tired, I have a headache, and I just want a good nights' sleep." She told them, before looking to Spike. "I'll give it a chance, but if I don't like what I see, then you're packing your bags."
With that, she got up, kissed Spike on the cheek, and gave Bulk one last cold look, before leaving. Spike was only slightly relieved at this turn of events. He had a chance to convince Kimberly that he was safe here, but if he screwed up now, it would cost him more than just leaving. It would cost him his uncle. It would cost Bulk a friendship that had lasted more than thirty years.
"You should go to bed too." Bulk told him. "We've got a long couple of days ahead of us."
"What are you doing?" Spike asked him as he saw Bulk pulling out his cell phone.
"I'm calling Serena to warn her." He told him. "She's coming for training tomorrow. Don't you think she should know that she's going to be grilled by your step-mom?"
"I guess that's only fair." Spike agreed. "Goodnight Uncle Bulk."
"Goodnight Spike." Bulk replied as he started to dial.
A/N: *This is a reference to an incident that occurred in Kimberly's exit arc from the show. She was in Ernie's, he had given the keys and left her to practice alone.