It was a cold wintery day, as 9-year-old Daniel Murdoch was walking home by himself after school. It was the worst day of his life, and felt like a failure, when he felt snow being thrown at his face and heard laughing, as he turned and it was two boys who have been bullying him for the last couple of months.

He tried to hold back the tears, but the snow was so cold he couldn't control himself, when the bully, Peter mocked him, "what are you going to cry at a little snow" and laughed again.

Daniel then got furious and ran up to Peter and knocked him down into the snow and began hitting him like crazy.

"Hey, leave him alone" said the other bully, Eric, as he approached Daniel and patted him on the shoulder. But Daniel, hit him and knocked him down.

Eric got up quick and yelled, "I'm going to tell"

A bunch of other children, including, George and Effie's daughter Maggie, Henry and Ruth's daughter Rosie and Daniel's little sister, Mary came by and were shocked by the fight.

Little Mary looked at her brother and knew something was wrong and ran to get her mother.

As the children continued watching the fight, Maggie and Rosie looked at each other, shocked of the bad words coming out of Daniel's mouth as he continued hitting Peter.

Rosie looked up and saw aunt Julia and Mary coming by, as Julia was shocked, and Maggie began trying to warn Daniel.

"Dan…shhh…Danny….your mo…" but it was too late as Julia approached Daniel and tried to stop him and get his attention.

"Dan! Daniel! Daniel! Daniel!" she grabbed his and looked at him in his brown eyes, as he began crying, "come on, let's go home"

(Murdoch Home)

Daniel was still crying, and couldn't catch his breath as Julia told Mary, "Sweetheart, take off your coat and mitts and go to your room, while I talked to Daniel." Mary nodded and went to her room.

Julia took Daniel to his room and told him to sit and asked him, "Daniel, calm down and tell mom, why did you hit that boy?"

"He….h…as…be…en…pic…ki…ng…on…me, but also the project me and daddy worked on."

"Yes, what?"

"Th…e…tea…cher…fai…led me"

"I see. Well, I don't you lie down for a bit, I'll let you know when dinner is ready, darling" she said as she hugged him

He nodded and laid down, as Julia began trying to hold her own tears, "how dare the teacher fail him, but my poor boy getting picked on…no one fails or hurts my boy and gets away with it" she thought to herself as she headed to the kitchen to heat up dinner, when she heard Mary crying in the closet, which was her crying place.

Julia knocked on the door, "Mary" she said as she opened it and saw her little girl upset on the floor as she hunched over, "what's the matter, darling?"

"Daddy is going to get mad at Danny" she said with more tears

"No, he's not" Julia said

"Yes, he will"

"No, I assure you, daddy won't get mad at Danny." She said as she gave Mary a hug, "now come out and help mommy prepare dinner"

Mary shook her head, "no"

"No, do you want Teddy and some milk?"

Mary nodded as Julia went to the table and got her teddy bear, known as Teddy and a glass of milk and handed it to her, "you ok, now?"

Mary nodded, "I want to be alone, mommy"

Julia nodded and closed the door and finished preparing dinner

It was an hour later; William came home and saw Julia setting the table and opening the closet as Mary popped out.

"What happened?" he asked

"Nothing with her, it was Daniel. Now, William stay calm"

"Julia, what happened…is he alright?"

Julia looked down on the floor, "he had a bad day, his teacher failed him on that project you helped him with"

"Failed him…how…"

Julia shrugged, "but also, there's been a boy picking on him and Daniel tackled him to the ground today and hit the boy."

"I see"

"Now, William stay calm, he's scared you're going to be very angry with him"

William took a deep breath, "where is he?"

"He's in his room"

William nodded and went to see him, as he saw his son, coming out of his bedroom, still crying, "dad…I…"

William hunched at his son's level and gave him a hug, "I'm not mad at you, Daniel…ok?"

Daniel hugged him back tightly, "I'm so sorry, dad"

"I know you are. I'll talk to your teacher about your project…and for the boy…he most likely deserved it"

Daniel smiled and wiped away his tears, "I'm hungry now"

"I am too, let's eat" as the two headed to the table

Mary looked at them, "you're not angry, daddy?"

"She was upset, you were going to get angry at Daniel" Julia said as she pulled down Daniel's chair and he sat down

William smiled and gave Mary a hug, "I'm not angry, sweetheart."

"Promise, daddy?"

"I promise"

They hug again, as Julia scooped some potatoes and meatloaf onto Daniel's plate and gave him another side hug, "we will always love you son"

"I love you, too mom"