A couple of short ones tonight. The first is a cute Alex chapter and the second more serious.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Chapter 97.
"Alexander, what did you do?" Cameron demanded. She was looking from her son to the stand in the front hall and back again. It was empty, but there were bits of the bowl that had been on it for a couple of years.
The boy frowned. "It wasn't me!"
"No? Then who did it?"
Alex looked at the dog standing next to him. "Junior."
"Alex, how could Junior knock over the bowl and break it?" his mother asked, because it was obvious someone broke it and she couldn't imagine the basset being the culprit.
He refused to answer except to repeat, "It wasn't my fault!"
Cameron allowed her disappointment to show. "Go to your room. No TV, no video games, no Fiddlesticks on your palmreader."
"But..."
"And no 'buts'!"
Alex was visibly upset but did as he was told, not even talking to his father as he passed him.
"What was that all about?" House asked Cameron.
"He broke the bowl that your Aunt Sarah sent us, and then claimed it was the dog," she reported. "I think I'm more upset that he lied about it than that he broke it."
"It was pretty ugly. So you don't believe him?"
"You're the one who always insists that everybody lies."
He nodded. "Think I should go talk to him?"
It always pleased her that he took this father business so seriously, but, "Let him stew for a bit first."
He smirked. "Whatever happened to compassionate Cameron?"
"She's busy worrying about Evan," she replied.
He nodded again.
"Gretchen says that the kids are putting together a petition and trying to get all of his former and present students to sign it," she said. "I hope it helps."
"You believe Conway's innocent," he stated.
"Of course!" She sighed. "Maybe you should go talk to Alex. I might have overreacted."
"Now that's my caring-'til-your-eyes-pop-out wife," he said with a smile. He put an arm around her and kissed her, then headed for their son's room.
House found the boy stretched out on his bed, face in his pillow, his small body shaking with sobs.
"So, whatcha doin'?" House asked casually, ignoring the obvious.
Alex sniffed once, then turned over and sat up. Wiping the tears from his eyes he asked, "What did Mom tell you?" He couldn't take it if his dad was angry with him too.
"Something about a broken bowl," his father said, then waited to hear his side.
"I didn't knock it over! Junior did!"
"Why?"
"Why?"
"Do I hear an echo?"
"He...he was chasing a ball." Alex hadn't wanted to admit that, because he knew what would come next. He clenched as he waited.
"Chasing a ball? In the house?"
"Well..."
"Alex, you know you're not supposed to throw the dog's ball in the house."
"But it's cold outside!" Alex knew that was no excuse, but he had to try.
"So, you're not guilty of breaking the bowl, but you are guilty of throwing a ball in the house." House restated the situation.
"I guess."
"Then you deserve to be punished."
"But Mom already punished me."
House nodded. "I think you owe Mom an apology, and you should do something nice for her."
"Like what?" Alex accepted that this was fair.
"What do you think?"
"I can start by sending her an 'I'm sorry' note," Alex suggested tentatively.
"That's what I'd do."
"Thanks, Dad," the little boy said, impulsively hugging him.
The corners of House's mouth turned up. Over the past four or five years, he'd become more confident in his abilities as a parent. It was really just another game, and he seemed to be good at it. And seeing the way his kids were turning out convinced him that he usually did the right thing.
He left Alex alone and returned to Cameron. "Wait a little while, then check your email," he told her.
A half hour later, she checked her handheld. There was a message from Alex.
Dear Mom,
I'm sorry. Junior nocked over the bowl but I was troing his ball in the House.
I won't do it again. Your son. Alexander James House.
Her eyes misted over and her faith in both her husband and son went up several notches. "I guess I didn't tell him he couldn't use his computer."
Chapter 98.
Tori walked into the station through the metal detector. She'd left her jewelry home, knowing she'd have to go through some kind of security screening, but she had no idea what to expect other than what she'd seen in movies and TV shows. She approached a middle-aged man in a uniform sitting behind a desk.
"I'm here to see Evan Conway." Her firm voice hid the
butterflies doing somersaults in her stomach.
"Are you his lawyer?" the desk sergeant asked, consulting the computer list of those being held.
"No. I'm his...girlfriend."
"OK. You'll have to leave your purse here," he told her. Then he asked her to produce her driver's license and began to record her information in his computer, including her name, address and phone numbers. "Officer Kendall will escort you."
Feeling naked without her bag of essentials, she followed a tall
policewoman down a hall to the holding cells. Evan was in the third cell, sitting on a flimsy-looking cot. He stood as soon as he saw her.
"Tori! You didn't have to come down here," he protested but he was
obviously happy to see her.
"I had to come and see for myself that you were OK," she explained. "And to tell you that we're all behind you. Not just me, but my family and their friends."
Evan smiled. "Please thank them for me, but I don't want to involve anyone else in my troubles.
Tori ignored him. "The kids are even collecting signatures from as many of your former and current students as they can contact."
"I don't understand."
"They think, and I agree, that the word of a hundred or more kids versus that of one known trouble-maker will count in your favor."
"You do believe I'm innocent, then?" he asked.
"Of course I do! We all do. How can you ask that? I...I love you, but I'm also not a bad judge of character. I know you, and I know that you'd never do what that creature has accused you of doing."
He nodded, so touched by her support and everyone else's that he couldn't say anything else.
"Anyway, Clair and I talked to your lawyer yesterday, told her what a fan club you have." Tori smiled at him.
He blushed. "She seems to have had lots of experience in cases like this," he said, rather than respond. "I just hope she can clear my name."
"Of course she will!" Tori said. "Because you're innocent."
"Thanks for helping me with this Tommy," Emily said, printing off copies of the petitions they'd written on his home computer.
"I like Mr. Conway too, you know," he said, smiling at her.
She nodded. "I can't believe so many people want to sign!" They'd done one petition for Conway's former students and another for kids who were never in his class, but knew him and were disturbed that he'd been arrested. "Scottie says he's talked to some of the kids from his class, and Calene's brother Kenny is doing the same thing, so that year should be covered."
"What did Tony say?" Tommy asked, masking the touch of jealousy by stacking the prints rather than look at her. She might not have noticed Tony's attention over the weekend but he'd been painfully aware of it, and was still worried that she might be attracted to the good-looking older boy.
"Tommy?" Em thought about what Gretchen and Audra had told her. "You have no reason to be jealous! Tony is interesting to talk to and..."
"...and handsome and rich," Tommy finished.
She smirked "Uh, so are you," she pointed out.
He looked at her pretty face, the short blond hair and sparkling blue eyes.
"I've been thinking lately about us, you and me." She touched his hand with her much smaller one.
He looked at hers, resting on his, sending tingles through him. He gulped. "Me too."
