To 8Ball3- Fair enough XD And maaaaybbeeee a Medusa reference :D I had cake instead of pie with fractions, cake's better ^_^

To An-Unnamed-Goose- (Chapter 22) There's SO MUCH food- I was watching Superstore the other day and they were eating this purple soup? I googled it, it's poi, but had more dye in it to be more purple, I thought it was fascinating XD Homework is definitely the worst, I'm so glad I don't have school anymore :P (Chapter 23) Thank you! ^_^ I'm terrified D: (Chapter 24) Mmmmmmm, I'm saying nothing :I

The door bell rang about four. Louisa, bathed and scampering about in a clean T-shirt and shorts, froze at the noise. She stuck her tongue out at the door and carried on running laps around the sofas.

"Oh, I'll get it then, shall I?" Jessica mused.

"Yep!" Louisa spun on her heel and began running laps the other way. Jessica sighed, putting down the tray of drinks and snacks on the table, where it was instantly scrutinised by Denise. The door bell rang again. "She'll be there in a second!"

"You could answer it!"

"Stranger danger!"

"So now you listen to me about that?" Jessica grumbled. Louisa blew a raspberry at her, ducking and darting around the couch as Jessica made a grab at her on the way past.

"Hello." Mr. Becks smiled as the door opened.

"Do you want a Louisa? She's free." Jessica offered an encouraging smile. He narrowed his eyes in thought.

"I have her part-time." He replied slowly. "Her and… thirty other kids."

"I will give you my life savings." Jessica bribed. He raised an eyebrow at this. "It's like fifty bucks, don't get excited." He laughed and she waved him in. "Lou, lesson time!"

"Who is this?"

"Mother, this is Harvey- uh, Mr. Becks. He's Lou's teacher."

"Why is he here?"

"Why don't you ask him that?" Jessica retorted. Denise frowned. "Fine. He's here because Lou missed out on a fair bit of school, so he's helping her catch up. Lou, will you get over here?"

"No!"

"Why is she-?" Harvey circled a finger at the child, now bouncing around her path, feet firmly kept together. Jessica sighed.

"We went to the beach. Aaaaand it kind of… super-charged her?"

"Oh. Oh." Harvey snorted, hurriedly turning it into a cough when she glared. "Leave her with me, I'll… find something for her to do."

"Please."

"Lou, I brought some new Math for you today!" He grinned, reaching into his bag and retrieving half a dozen worksheets. Louisa stilled, primed for another bounce. She turned her head slowly, brow furrowing, incredulous and offended. "I even added in shapes for you!" Harvey continued. "Got some circles, got some squares, got some diamonds… Uh, that's rude!" She had blown a raspberry at him and resumed her bouncing.

"Awww…" Jessica mock-cooed. "You having some trouble there, teach?"

"No…"

"Circles and squares not good enough for her?"

"Your child is a menace."

"Hey." She jabbed him in the shoulder. "Only I can call her a menace. You want anything?" Jessica waved vaguely at the table. Denise was picking at the cheese and crackers.

"Ooh, don't mind if I do." Harvey smiled. "Lou, I'm going to eat your food!"

"No!"

"I'mmmmm gonna!"

"No no no!" Louisa protested. Harvey hurried off, Louisa a couple of steps behind him. She barged her way into a seat next to him, shouldering him, grabbing a handful of chips before he could. He set the Math sheets down between them and produced a pen, the meaning clear- do your work or I shall eat everything you love.

Louisa grumbled, but obeyed, pen in one hand, food in the other. Jessica took a second to consider the madness her life had become, and then joined them.

"Drawing faces in the circles isn't Math, Louisa."

"Yes it is."

"How is it?"

"That circle is pie. It's sad."

"It's sad?"

"Yes."

"Why is it sad?"

"You'd be sad if you were chopped up for pie."

"Um… yes, I guess I would be." Harvey raised an eyebrow at Jessica, who shrugged, helping herself to a wedge of cheese.

Denise's eyes fixed on the movement. Jessica mentally sighed, popping the cheese cube in her mouth.

"You should really be having that." Denise remarked coldly, waggling a gnarled finger at the fruit slices and vegetable sticks. Louisa reached over and picked out a few carrot sticks, munching on them absent-mindedly. She was now turning the squares into little houses, with chimneys on the roofs, flowers in the garden and curtains in the window. Mr. Becks didn't seem to mind, helping himself to a bit of cucumber.

"I'm quite happy with cheese." Jessica said, picking up another bit. "You get to have cheese."

"I am allowed cheese. I do not have-" Denise gestured around the table. "-expectations." Jessica put her new bit of cheese on a cracker, eating slowly while she mulled over her mother's latest criticism. She could see cogs turning behind Harvey's eyes. He fidgeted with his glasses, struggling to figure out how cheese impacted 'expectations'.

"Lou, that is a triangle, not a crocodile." He explained patiently. Louisa snatched the papers up with both hands, shoving them at him, like the crocodile was attacking.

"Rar!" She declared, laughing.

"Consider me terrified." Harvey nodded solemnly, hand on heart. Louisa grinned devilishly and set her papers down, continuing to characterise her shapes. "What's a quadrilateral, Lou?"

"I don't know."

"We did this last week."

"Pfft, that's ages ago."

"It's really not."

"Look, it's a car! Nyoom!" She played with an imaginary steering wheel, race car noises in tow. Denise tutted and Louisa frowned. "Mom, she's bein' rude again."

"Do not call her that!" Denise hissed. Louisa blinked at her.

"Scary lady, she's bein' rude again."

"Aww, she calls you 'scary lady'?" Harvey beamed. Jessica nodded. "I love that, that's so cute."

"Am not cute!" Louisa argued, swiping her pen through the air and leaving a blue line down his arm. "I'm awesome!" Harvey nodded, biting the inside of his cheek, trying and failing to conceal a smile. Louisa threw the pen at him, but he simply leaned to one side and it sailed over his shoulder. "Mooooommm, tell him! Am not cute!"

"She's not cute." Jessica insisted, nodding solemnly, but clearly at odds to her statement. Harvey snickered. Louisa stared at them in disbelief.

"Am not, am not, am not!" She folded her arms on the table and dropped her head into them, sulking. "Don't like you." Came the muffled argument.

"You shouldn't let her call you that." Denise retorted.

"What, 'scary lady'?"

"Mom."

"But I am her mom."

"No, you are not!" Denise hissed. "She is nothing to do with you, you are not her mother!"

"Mm." Jessica tapped her fingers on the table. "OK, counterpoint- my blood-related daughter, remember her? You took her away. And secondly, what would you know about being a mother? All you do is tell me I'm fat."

"You're not fat." Harvey said.

"Oh, I've definitely put on a bit of weight since taking this one in." Jessica jabbed a thumb at Louisa, who was still sulking. "But I don't care. We have good pie, don't we, Lou?" Louisa nodded, finally lifting her head, resting her chin on her arms.

"I like pie." She mumbled.

Denise sneered at Jessica, disgusted.

"I would ask how you could be so irresponsible, but you have always been like that, haven't you?"

"Yep." Jessica sighed, picking up the big block of cheese and taking a bite. Denise's lip curled.

"You were and still are in no fit state to consider yourself a parent and now you're in some… relationship with him?"

"I am?" Jessica marvelled around her mouthful. "Harvey, why didn't you tell me? I'd've put down my cheese."

"Must have slipped my mind." He murmured, looking a little pink.

"You bring nothing but shame and disgrace to this family-"

"Ooh, where have I heard that one before?"

"Why can't you do one thing right for once?" Denise demanded. "Why is that so hard for you? I did my best to raise you and this is what you've become! Have you no shame? You certainly have no gratitude!"

In years to come, Louisa would always be able to pinpoint the moment Jessica snapped- so quick and fierce, she almost heard her temper hit breaking point.

"Oh, yes!" Jessica laughed without humour, hands slamming down on the table in fists. "Thank you so much for making my childhood a misery! Thank you for all the trauma, especially around the holidays, that was the best kind! Thank you for all the bruises and the scars, thank you for taking away my newborn daughter before I even got to see her and thank you so so so much for continuing to show up and ruin what little life I built up for me! Not you, me. Meeeeee." She poked herself in the chest repeatedly for the duration of the word. "Me, me, ME. Because, believe it or not, Mother, the world does not revolve around you. You are not important, you are not this saving grace, this model citizen, this whatever the hell you've deluded yourself into thinking you are! You are nothing." Jessica smirked at her, eyes ablaze with a fury that shrunk Louisa into Harvey's side, her little fingers holding onto his sleeve. "You know where the door is, Mother. I suggest you use it. Now."

Denise did not move. Jessica shot to her feet, marching off to her room. There was much banging and crashing and swearing, and then a minute later, she emerged, hauling Denise's luggage out. It had clearly been rammed full of her belongings, a sleeve of a cardigan hanging out the side. Jessica lugged it over to the door, kicked Denise's shoes over next to it, draped her coat over the top of it. "Now, Mother. Now. This is our home and we don't want you in it."

"Mmph." Denise rose. She moved stiffly away from the table, nose turned up. She put on her shoes and her coat. Jessica moved away from her, shaking in anger. "How am I supposed to get this downstairs?" Denise gestured at her suitcase. "With my hip. My back."

"Gravity." Jessica recommended coldly.

"You will put me in a grave." Denise warned.

"Oh, I've only heard that one a million fucking times! Get out!"

"Jessica," Harvey called gently, "do you want me to-?" But she didn't respond, slamming the bathroom door shut behind her. Harvey glanced down at Louisa, who was picking at her lip, staring at her Math work. "I'll be back in a minute, Lou." He brushed her hair back from her face. "OK?" She shook her head, grasping his hand. "It's alright." He soothed quietly, squeezing her fingers. "She's not angry at you. You've done nothing wrong. She just needs a little while to calm down. Let me show Denise out and I'll come back and put the kettle on." Louisa didn't like it, but she let him go. Harvey smiled kindly at her and then he was gone, carting the old woman's suitcase for her.

Louisa waited for a minute, the apartment oddly still and quiet. An uneasiness whittled into her gut and she hopped down from her chair, hurrying over to the bathroom. After a moment's hesitation, she knocked on the door.

"Scary lady?" She heard sniffling on the other side. A moment later, the door opened and Jessica was there, crouched before her and pulling her into a hug. She was still shaking. Louisa hugged her back, curling her fingers into the back of Jessica's T-shirt.

"I love you, Lou." She mumbled, a hand on the back of the child's head, as if making sure she didn't get taken too.

"Love you too, scary lady." Jessica laughed weakly, pulling away a little to look her in the eye. Her own were red and watery, but she was smiling.

"Am I really scary?"

"Yes. But good scary." Louisa thought for a moment. "Mom scary." Jessica wiped at her eyes with one hand, sniffing. Louisa reached up, patting her cheeks with both hands, making her smile again. "You want ice-cream?"

"Lots." Jessica confirmed, nodding. "Lots and lots of ice-cream."