Anne Sullivan Elementary

9am

Harm helped Jillian out of the car and kept a hand on her shoulder as they crossed the parking lot. When they reached the entrance to Jillian's school he bent down to her eye-level.

"Do you understand what's going to happen?" he asked.

"Kinda," Jillian replied quietly.

She'd been evasive ever since she'd gotten in trouble and had Harm worried. He had grounded her for two weeks, no tv, no friends and no flying on the weekends. The punishment seemed appropriate, but she had reacted badly. When it was possible she tried to stay at least an arms length away from him and every time he touched her she flinched. She was afraid of him.

He made a special appointment with her psychologist to discus the problem and her analysis wasn't pleasing but it was what he expected. She concluded that Jillian didn't understand that punishment was supposed to be a productive, lesson learning practice. She'd been punished physically when she had been with her mother, and since she hadn't been in trouble with Harm yet she was assuming that he would act the same way. The psychologist suggested that Harm explain everything that was going to happen and why it had to happen and make sure she understood it all- and to not act violent: no yelling, no being rough with her and no locking her away. To her mother, Jillian was an inconvenience, and only paid attention to her when she was in the way, sending her to her room for the two weeks would only enforce that Harm didn't want to be with her, or worse, didn't love her when she didn't behave.

Jillian had gotten into the fight on Thursday, was suspended all of Friday and the meeting with the school's principle and the boy and his mother was set up for Monday morning. If everything went smoothly she could go to class after the meeting. He was intent on teaching his daughter that violence couldn't solve her problems, but he was also aware that Jillian's actions were somewhat justified, and he was prepared to defend her.

Harm looked her in the eye. "We're meeting with you're principle because you hit Drew." He explained.

"And I'm going to get punished again."

He nodded, "Yes, and why is that?"

"Because hitting isn't the best way to solve a problem," she repeated the phrase that he'd tried to ingrain into her head.

"That's right. Are you ready to go in?"

Jillian looked at her feet and shuffled them. "Do I gotta see Drew and his mom?" she complained.

Harm smiled a little at her hesitance. "Yes honey, I want you to apologize for hurting him, and we need to talk to him about teasing you and your friends."

"Okay," Jillian replied, still not looking forward to the meeting.

"You ready to go in now?"

Jillian bit her lip. "Daddy, are you mad at me?" She hadn't been looking at him throughout this little pep-talk, but at this she did. Her blue eyes looked so sad at the possibility. Harm's heart broke.

He touched her cheek and smiled at his girl. "Honey, I love you so much," he said. "I know you didn't mean to hurt anyone. And I know this is all pretty scary for you. I don't expect you to be perfect all of the time, nobody is. But when we hurt others we have to do our best to let them know we're sorry, because hurting won't make things right."

He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Baby girl, I will always love you, no matter what happens. Nothing will ever change that. Do you understand me?"

Jillian nodded. "I love you too Daddy," she said, finally smiling.

Harm kissed her and stood up. "Okay, let's go get this over with."

Principle Parkins Office

9:15am

Harm was going for intimidating when he decided to go in uniform to the meeting, and if you went just off of the expression of Drew he succeeded. The little boy was wide eyed when Ms. Parkins made the introductions. His mother on the other hand seemed as if she'd made a great discovery.

"Well, that explains it," she said, more to herself than to anyone else in the room.

"Explains what Mrs. Trempe?" Ms. Parkins asked confused.

"She's an army brat." Mrs. Trempe said matter-of-factly. Then, as if she realized that she just said that out loud, she took a deep breath and looked at Harm. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean it to come out quite like that."

Ms. Parkins was speechless and Harm took a second to form a response, but Jillian beat him to it.

"That's okay," she said sliding into her seat, "but I'm not an army brat, I'm a Navy brat." Harm and Ms. Parkins smiled.

The meeting started out productively. Ms. Parkins explained the schools stance on how each of the children acted to the parents and then explained it much simpler to the children. The problem came when she asked if either Harm or Mrs. Trempe had anything they would like to add.

"My son's eye is black and blue," Mrs. Trempe stated, "and according to your school nurse it was a wonder his nose wasn't broken. I am concerned about how you will prevent this child's anger from flaring up in the future. It seems that she is more of a threat in this place than my Drew is."

"Her reaction was unacceptable, but her anger was provoked." Harm defended.

Mrs. Trempe rolled her eyes, "Oh please Mr. Rabb," she started.

"Commander," Jillian interrupted.

Mrs. Trempe looked confused, "What?"

"His name is Commander Rabb, not Mr. Rabb." She wasn't saying this to be a smart mouth, Mac had recently explained the concept to her and she was trying to pass on the wisdom to Mrs. Trempe. "It's like calling a doctor Dr. so-and-so. In the military, you address a person by their rank and name."

Harm did his best to conceal his smile, he had heard Mac and Jillian's conversation so he knew exactly what she meant by the correction. He didn't do a very good job though because Mrs. Trempe saw his smirk and mistook it for rudeness.

"Perhaps," she said this looking at Ms. Perkins, "It would be better to reschedule and speak with the girl's mother. I have a feeling Commander Rabb doesn't comprehend the seriousness of the situation."

Jillian's eyes grew wide and she grabbed Harm's hand. "She can't talk to my mom can she?" she whispered fiercely.

Harm turned her to him. "No honey, don't worry."

Jillian calmed down and Harm turned his attention back to the women. Both of whom seemed curoious at Jillian's outburst.

"I understand the seriousness of the situations just fine ma'am." Harm got back to the topic at hand, "However, I am concerned just as much about Drew's unacceptable words just as much as Jillian's unacceptable reaction."

Ms. Parkins tried to interject here but Mrs. Trempe cut her off.

"Commander Rabb, although it is not very becoming behavior, you can't compare some harmless teasing to a physical beating." Here she looked at Ms. Parkins for some validation, "How often do you set up these kinds of punishments for teasing?"

Ms. Parkins sighed, "That is not the point. Whether or not it gets this serious, teasing is a form of harassment. Any complaint of it is dealt with as the teachers, and the parents, and the administration sees fit. In this case we see fit that both Jillian and Drew are punished for their unacceptable behavior in their dispute."

"In the old days a girl knew how to ignore a little teasing, take it with a grain of salt I say." Again, she was talking more to herself than to anyone around her.

"I could say the same about a boy who got into a fist-fight." Harm commented.

Mrs. Trempe was about to say something that would get her in a lot of trouble but Harm didn't let her cut in. He spoke to Ms. Parkins, "Jillian understands that her actions were wrong. And as long as Drew understands that as well I think we've righted the situation."

Ms. Parkins was at the end of her rope trying to mediate between the two parents. "I am inclined to agree with you Commander." She focused her attention on the children. "Jillian, do you understand why we don't hit?"

Jillian nodded, "Yes ma'am."

"And why is that?"

"Because it doesn't make the problem go away, it just makes more of it. Like now."

Ms. Parkins smiled and turned to Drew. "Drew, do you understand why we don't tease?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because it's mean and you can get punched for it."

Harm grinned at his response and made his peace offering. "Jill," he prodded, "go ahead."

Jillian stood up and walked over to Drew. "I'm sorry that I hit you," She said very convincingly.

Drew looked confused, he wasn't used to a girl being stronger than him and defiantly wasn't used to being apologized to. He looked at his mother, who looked even more stunned than he did.

Seeing as she didn't get a response from Drew, Jillian turned to Mrs. Trempe.

"I'm sorry I hit him."

"Uhh, thank you." The woman looked as if she was reassigning the little girl. "We accept your apology." She nudged Drew's arm and nodded to Jillian. "Do you have anything you want to say to her?"

Drew looked at Jillian for a moment, then stood up and took her hand. "I'm sorry too," he said, and then he bent kissed her hand.

Harm was dumb founded. So were the other two women in the room. Jillian smiled and turned to her father. "Daddy can we go back to class, or are we still punished."

Harm was gaping. Ms. Parkins stepped forward on his behalf.

"You both can go back to class. I don't want to hear any more disruptions out of you two, understood."

"Yes ma'am." They both said in unison.

"Very well, you are dismissed to your class."

They both picked up their backpacks and Jillian stopped to kiss Harm before they left. "Bye Daddy, see you after school," she smiled sweetly.