So I never got to watch Defending Jacob in whole because I don't have Apple + but I did watch several clips from the show as well as the trailer and even though it seems pretty dark and kind of gory at times I wish I was able to see it because the acting in it was so good and the story was pretty intriguing if not tragic. Anyway, the few clips I got to see from the show inspired me to write this fanfic. I know probably got the timeline of events mixed up, but I tried my best and I hope you all enjoy. I own nothing but my OC.
...
With all the stress and anxiety caused by their son Jacob being a murder suspect, Andy and Laurie become unintentionally oblivious to the fact that their daughter, 12 year old Rebeca is being bullied at school because of Jacob. Knowing her parents are occupied with trying to help her brother, Rebeca keeps quiet about what's going on until one day when things finally come to a head.
...
"Oookay. Here we are...Archer Middle School. Go Spartans." Andy murmured, lightly pumping a fist in the air to try to get his daughter to at least crack a smile as he pulled up to the entrance of the school.
Beca just sighed and turned to let herself out of the car, carelessly grabbing her bag at the same time. "Thanks for the ride, Dad." She mumbled, letting the door swing shut behind her before looking up with glum resolve at the crowd of students hurrying towards the inside of the building.
"Beca!" The twelve year old reluctantly halted in her tracks when she heard her Dad call after her, his door slamming shut as well.
She turned to see him carrying the model she made for her science project with a wry smile on his face.
"You almost forgot this, Sport. Don't want to be the only one in class without a project to turn in, do you? You worked so hard on this." He said, gently setting the fairly large cardboard waterworks model in Beca's outstretched arms.
"Thanks Dad." The right side of her face finally quirked into the smallest hint of a grin and Andy smiled back at her, reaching to playfully rumple her hair.
"Anytime Kiddo. Your Mom will pick you up after school today all right?" Silently Beca nodded her head, lifting one hand to fix her hair.
"Hey!" Andy called after her again with a slight frown. "I know things are rough right now with what's happening with Jake, but...try to smile okay?" He told her gently.
Beca sighed and looked down with a tense frown at her model. "I'll try." She mumbled, pulling her bottom lip in between her teeth looking back up at her Dad.
"Are...are you going to meet with someone about Jacob's case again?" She asked, sinking her teeth into the soft flesh of her inner lip.
Andy sighed and let his shoulders drop. "Yeah I am. But you don't worry about that okay Sweetie?" He affectionately chucked her under the chin.
Beca's frown deepened. "But what if-?"
"No! No what ifs." Andy cut her off. "Jacob's going to be fine. We're all going to be fine okay? It's going to work out, I promise."
Still looking unsure, Beca nodded and carefully shifted her model in her hands before turning to head for the stairs. "Okay. Bye Dad."
Andy nodded after her. "Bye Beca. Have a good day okay?" He waved and turned to get back in the car, watching from the driver's seat as she slowly made her way to the steps.
"I don't see a smile!" He called back to Beca half teasingly after a few seconds when she began to mount the first step.
Beca turned and shot him a look which only fueled her Dad's fire.
"It isn't any trouble just to s-m-i-l-e!" Andy began to sing a little off-tune making Beca's cheeks turn pink as some of the kids nearby heard the singing and turned to see what was going on.
"Daaaad!" She whined, tugging at her hair in an attempt to cover her face.
It isn't any trouble just to s-m-i-l-e!" Andy continued and this time Beca snorted a laugh before letting out an exasperated and embarrassed groan.
"Make it stoooop!"
Andy chuckled seeing the brief grin on his daughter's face and held up his hands in a mock surrender pose.
"All right! All right! I just wanted to see you smile." He turned to head back to the car. "I love you Sport!"
Beca sighed and turned to continue her way into the school. "I love you too Dad."
...
"Oh my Gosh Bec! Your waterworks model looks so good. I wish my Dad let me make a working model for my project." Beca's best friend Emma said wistfully as she surveyed the way the model showed how one part of the waterworks filtered out the dirt from the water while the two girls sat at lunch together.
Beca chuckled. "Well, just be glad your Dad hasn't embarrassed you in front of the whole school yet. Besides how were you going to make a working model to show the water cycle? I mean that happens in the air." She asked looking over at her friend with a playful grin that made Emma shrug.
"I don't know, but-." Emma trailed off when a long shadow fell over them half second before a trayful of lasagna, spinach and mashed potatoes fell all over Rebecca's head and on her science model.
Beca shrieked as the hot food splashed all over her then fell as silent as the rest of the cafetaria at the sudden commotion while bits of meat, cheese and potatoes dripped down her face onto her clothes.
"Oops." A low snarky voice above the girls sneered. "Sorry about that. No wait!...I'm NOT sorry!" He snapped and Beca looked up just in time to see a boy around her brother's age glowering at her as he threw his empty tray down on the floor with an angry clatter.
Before Beca could respond, the boy lunged forward and grabbed her model, throwing the water and gravel that was in it straight into her face before dropping the rest of it and crunching it into a scrunched up mess of cardboard and paper.
Beca blinked and rubbed away at the water, gravel and bits of lasagna around her eyes, feeling a lump the size of a golfball slowly expand in her throat.
Emma just gaped at her friend's attacker in shock.
"That's for what your sick brother did to Rifkin!" The boy shouted, stomping away out of the cafetaria while Beca remained frozen to her seat, staring at the remains of her project and the stains all over her clothes with tears brimming in her eyes.
Emma finally spoke when the boy left and uneasy conversation slowly started back up around them.
"You need to tell your parents about this." She said trembling yet with conviction in her voice. Beca shook her head and stubbornly clenched her jaw to try to keep from crying.
"They're too busy with Jacob." She whimpered, using the sleeve of her sweater to try to wipe some of the lasagna and potatoes off of her face.
Emma turned to grab the napkin from her lunch tray. "But this is getting serious, Beca." She handed her friend the napkin though it was not nearly big enough to clean up all the mess.
"I know you don't want to say anything about the messages or the name-calling, but...he destroyed your project!" Emma protested looking dejectedly down at the remains of her friend's model.
Beca avoided meeting Emma's gaze and continued to try to mop up the tomato sauce from her sweater with the balled up napkin, while reaching to pick up the remains of her model.
A deep sigh escaped her lips and she wordlessly shook her head, making her intentions clear as day to Emma.
"Emma I can't..."
...
"Hey, how was school?" Laurie turned from the driver's seat and asked her daughter cheerfully as Rebecca jumped into the backseat of the car, slamming the door shut behind her.
"Mm-mm." She shrugged as casually as possible and tossed her backpack to the side before buckling up her seatbelt. "It was all right. I got an A on the Geography test I took last week." She turned look out the window just as her Mom pulled away from the school.
"Oh?" Laurie started to smile then she caught sight of her daughter again through the rearview mirror and frowned.
"Sweetie, what's that in your hair? Is that food?" She asked. Beca flinched and reached a hand up to run through her hair, silently cursing at herself when her fingers brushed over a piece of cheese she'd missed when she washed out her hair and clothes in the girls' bathroom after lunch.
"Uh..." She furiously wracked her brain, trying to come up with a good excuse. "Yeah, there was a...foodfight at lunch today. Me and Emma somehow got caught in the middle of it." She mumbled quickly, picking the offending piece of food out of her hair and flicking it away.
"Aw, I'm so sorry that happened. Is Emma okay?" Laurie asked as she pulled up in front of the first red light.
Beca nodded, avoiding her Mother's gaze. "Yeah."
Laurie started to say something else when her phone rang and Andy's name lit up the screen.
"Hey!" She quickly hit answer before easing off the brake.
"Yeah, I just picked up Beca from school. What?..." The sudden tenseness in her voice made Beca look up at her face in the rearview mirror.
"O-okay. I'll...I'll find a place to turn around and...Oh. No! No! You're right, I'll see if the Franklins can let Beca stay with them and come join you two as soon as possible...Okay bye." Laurie hung up the phone and caught the sad questioning look in her daughter's eye.
"What happened?" Beca asked quietly as Laurie made a quick right turn into a gas station.
Laurie sighed. "There's been a development in your brother's case. Dad needs me to meet him and Jacob at the lawyer's office so I'm going to drop you off at Emma's for a while okay? Will you be okay?" She asked, peeking at Beca as she sighed and turned towards the view out the window.
"Can't I come with you?" She asked a bit pleadingly. Laurie's face fell seeing her expression.
"You don't need to be there, Sweetie. I promise we're doing everything we can for Jake so you don't need to worry about it. Okay?" She tried to be reassuring.
Beca stared at her for a moment then sighed and shrugged, sinking a bit into her seat. "Fine. Whatever." Sighing again at her disgruntled response, Laurie carefully reached a hand back and patted her knee.
"Hey, how about for dinner, we go to Bella Luna's together? We haven't been in awhile." She said with a slight smile.
Beca turned and offered her Mom an engaging smile. "Tonight?"
Laurie nodded. "Yeah."
"Okay!" Beca immediately brightened and returned to looking out the window.
Laurie did not move her hand right away.
"Are you sure you're okay, Sweetheart?"
Beca nodded without turning away from the window. "Yeah...I'm sure." She began tapping a nameless beat on her knee.
With a sigh, Laurie finally pulled her arm back. "Okay."
...
"Still not going to tell?" Emma asked with a deep frown as she and Beca stared at the cluster of sticky notes stuck around Beca's locker door. Each had a harsh or threatening message scribbled on to it in pen or sharpie and Beca felt the lump in her throat grow bigger with every note she pulled off her locker.
"They're just notes." She muttered while clenching her jaw to keep from crying. As she started to smush all the notes into a ball to throw away later, a heavy pair of hands suddenly grabbed onto the back of her sweater.
Beca let out a short shriek then winced as she was shoved into her locker, her forehead making a stinging contact with the door. She dropped the crumpled notes at the shock of the pain.
"Hey!...You better tell your brother to quit ****** around and fess up! We all know he did it! Everyone knows he's guilty! Even you!" The boy growled in Beca's face, grabbing her by the collar of her sweater and lifting her so that her toes barely grazed the floor.
Beca bit her lip as she felt her attacker's angry breaths hit her face. "B-b-but n-no one knows for s-s-sure!" She protested.
"That's bull****!" The boy screamed and Beca gasped in pain, hearing Emma scream when he threw her down causing her to crash into the bottom lockers.
"Excuse me! What is going on down here?" The voice of a teacher echoed down the hall causing Beca's attacker to glance swiftly over his left shoulder before he stalked off, glaring down at the girl for good measure as he did.
Emma quickly knelt to help her friend. "You HAVE to tell your Mom and Dad now." She said in a panic, staring at Beca worriedly.
Biting her lip, Beca stubbornly shook her head.
"But Beca you really got hurt this time." Emma frowned. Beca gave her a stubborn look.
"No I'm okay...Really." She weakly protested, limply brushing off her sleeves before turning to closer her locker.
Emma shook her head.
...
"Hey Sport! Dinner's on the table in five." Andy knocked on his daughter's door making her jump and turn to face him from where she had been peering at herself in the mirror.
"Oh!..Okay Dad. Thanks." Beca nodded and tried to force on a smile. Andy gave her a quizzical look.
"You okay? Got your first zit or something?" He teased though his concern was still mostly clear in his expression.
Beca blushed and gave a nervous laugh. "Uh...no?" She hid her hands behind her back and twisted her right sleeve with her left hand hoping that her Dad couldn't see the light mark left on her forehead.
Just in case she lightly shifted her hair so that it slightly covered her face.
Chuckling, Andy stepped into the bedroom and held out his arm in a way that silently invited Beca in.
With a sigh, Beca obliged and cuddled into her Dad's side as he hugged her, relishing the comforting smell of his cologne.
"Hey, you know you're beautiful right? No matter how many zits you get?" Andy said softly, drawing a soft groan and an eyeroll from his daughter in response.
"I don't have a zit, Dad." She grumbled and Andy smiled. "Good." He bent to press a quick kiss to the top of her head before relinquishing his hold on her.
Beca froze when he paused and furrowed his brows at her. Can he see the bruise?
"So...your Mom said something about you and your friend Emma Franklin getting in the middle of a foodfight the other day. What was that about? You never get into fights." Andy asked half in amusement and half in concern.
Breathing a bit in relief, Beca shrugged hoping she looked casual enough as she answered. "Oh...nothing. Just some kids were being stupid...You know ever since that older boy in Jacob's year was killed they...we didn't start it. Honest." She said, reaching to scratch at the small barely noticeable bruise left the earlier altercation at her locker.
Still looking a bit worried, Andy nodded.
"Okay, I believe you." He lovingly reached to sweep some of her hair behind her ear, unintentionally covering the small mark on her forehead.
"But if anyone does start bothering you because of what's going on with your brother, you let me and your Mom know right away, okay? Promise?" He pressed.
Hesitating for a minute, Beca slowly nodded hoping her Dad couldn't tell that she was shaking. "Promise." She clenched her fists, feeling the light sting when her nails dug into the skin of her palms.
Andy gave her a loving smile.
"Good. Now run along and help your brother get the table set for dinner while I go find your Mom. Quick now." He lightly nudged her forward and Beca obediently headed out the door, waiting till she got to the stairs before breathing in relief.
When she got to the kitchen, she found Jacob sitting at the breakfast bar, headphones plugged to his ear, mumbling something as he worked on his homework.
Staring at him for a moment, Beca sighed again and jogged over to the drawer in the kitchen where the dinner utensils were kept, sniffing lightly at the enticing smell coming from the stove.
Returning to the dining area with a handful of forks, spoons and knives, Beca paused next to her brother again.
"Jacob?" She called to him tentatively, getting no response of course.
Suddenly, a scowl darkened her expression and she let the silverware hit the table with a clang.
Walking closer to Jake, she pulled one of his earbuds out, finally getting his attention.
"Ah! Hey! What are you doing? I'm trying to do homework!" Jacob protested, immediately snatching his earphone back from his sister with a light scowl.
Beca scowled back at him. "Did you do it?" She asked without thinking about it. Jake paused with his hand halfway up to his ear with the dislodged earbud.
"What?" He furrowed his brows at her in confusion.
Beca felt her chest get tight. "Did you kill Ben?" She asked, her voice cracking at the end of her question.
Jake continued to stare at her. "Wh...why would you ask that? I thought of all-."
"Did you?" Beca raised her voice a bit, feeling tears prick her eyes as she waited, her hands squeezing into fists so tightly her nails dug into her palms.
Jacob's confusion turned into indignance. "No! Of course not! Why the h*** would you even ask?" He shouted back at her and Beca flinched, feeling a tear trickle down her cheek.
"Hey what is going on down there?" Andy shouted from upstairs and Beca sucked in a deep breath, turning to recollect the utensils just as she heard the sounds of her parents hurrying to the stairs overhead.
She heard Jake heave a gusty sigh before shoving his earbud back into place. "Nothing Dad!" He called back and Beca exhaled shakily.
Slowly she set a fork down at their Mom's place on the table and turned to wipe her nose with her opposite sleeve.
...
"Jake?" Jacob looked up from his TV, simultaneously hitting pause on his video game when his bedroom door opened a crack revealing his sister's sad, guilt-ridden face peering through the narrow space.
He sighed at her. "What do you want?" He asked, immediately turning his attention back to his game.
Looking down at the floor, Beca pushed the door open wider and stepped slowly inside, approaching the empty beanbag chair next to Jake, but not sitting down in it.
"I...I'm sorry I yelled at you before dinner." She spoke softly, getting no response from her brother to her apology.
"I...believe you actually...you know? Even if the other kids don't." She continued awkwardly, staring at the carpet while scuffing her toe on it.
When the constant clicking sounds of the game controller continued without break for awhile, Beca peered up at her older brother.
Jake finally sighed and looked over at her, letting the controller hang almost limply from his fingers.
"It's fine...You know with all this...crud I'm getting asked by the lawyer and the therapists..." He quickly censored himself with a shake of his head.
"...I'm kinda getting used to it almost. You know?" He peered up at his sister. Beca shrugged her shoulders.
"I'm still sorry." She said softly. Jake shrugged back and went back to his game. "I said it's fine."
Beca lingered in the bedroom for a moment longer before finally turning to leave. "Beca?" Jake called after her just as she got one foot out the door.
She turned her head to face him.
"You're not...getting in trouble because of me, are you?" Jake asked with a frown. Beca felt her breath get stuck in her throat.
"No." She answered quickly, sucking in a deep breath before dashing out of the room.
...
"Hello, is this Mrs. Laurie Barber?" The unfamiliar voice on the other end of the line made Laurie frown a bit in confusion, but she nodded her head.
"Yes, this is she. Who am I speaking to?" She asked, glancing back at the documents she had been going over before her phone rang.
"This is Dr. Shepherd from St. Laurent Hospital. Your daughter Rebeca Barber was just brought in a few moments ago with a fractured arm. I-."
"What!" Laurie cut the speaker off mid-sentence, suddenly finding herself on her feet. "A-are you sure it's her? What happened? Why is her arm broken?" She asked all at once, not giving the doctor anytime to give her any answers.
"According to her friend and the friend's parents who brought her in, there was an accident at their school. I need for both you and your husband if possible to come meet me at emergency care before I disclose the rest of what I know. Can you come right now?" The Doctor asked and Laurie nodded again before verbally responding.
"Ye-yes! I will call my husband and get in the car right now!" Her voice broke as she clumsily stumbled around her desk, grabbing her purse with her free hand as she jogged towards the door.
"Thank you Mrs. Barber. Please give the hospital a call when you pull in and I'll have the receptionist give you the number of the room your daughter is in." The Doctor reassured.
Again Laurie nodded. "Thank you." She disconnected the call then hit Andy's speed dial before almost smashing the device back against her ear.
"Hey Honey!" The sound of her husband's familiar warm and deep voice made Laurie's heart skip a bit in her frenzy as she frantically searched for her keys in her bag.
"Andy! Beca's in the hospital! You have to meet me at St. Laurents right now!"
...
"Fortunately it was only a hairline fracture and there was no sign of a concussion when we did a catscan after the friend mentioned she might have hit her head on the way down the stairs. However I will prescribe some Vicodin to help with the pain she'll have for awhile until her arm heals. I'll have it sent to your pharmacy so you can pick it up on the way home." The Doctor finished as she typed something into her computer.
Exchanging worried and sorrowful glances with each other, Andy and Laurie shared a soft collective sigh before standing from their seats.
"Thank you again, Dr. Shepherd." Andy spoke up, putting his arm around his wife as if to support her as she shakily pushed her chair back in under the table.
The Doctor smiled kindly at the distraught couple and shrugged a shoulder. "Not at all. I hope Rebeca makes a fast recovery and that things work out with your son." She said sincerely, standing and gathering her own things.
Andy managed a slight sad smile. "Thank you." He said again, waiting until the Doctor left before leading Laurie out to get their daughter from the exam room next door.
"Hey Sport. How are you feeling?" Andy greeted softly as he approached Rebeca's bedside. Beca barely opened her eyes, clearly still under the influence of the pain medication she had been given soon after arriving at the hospital.
She looked down at her casted arm which was resting in a sling on her stomach and frowned.
Seeing the look on her face, Laurie quickly bent to stroke her hair back comfortingly from her face. "Hey, you're going to be okay now Sweetie. I promise. Are you ready to go home?" She asked quietly.
Beca started to nod then she quickly blinked her eyes as if trying to ward away sleep. "Mom? Dad?..." She rasped, sleepily blinking her eyes as her Dad gently shushed her, bending to pick up her up from the bed.
"Shhh, just relax Sweetie. I got you." Andy soothed, carefully picking her up and cradling her in his arms without bumping or jarring her broken arm.
Beca let her eyes fall shut as Andy turned to carry her out of the room, feeling a tear slide down her cheek as she barely heard her brother's voice asking if she was okay.
"She's going to be fine, Bud." Andy responded still frowning as he led the way out of the hospital to the parking lot.
"But what happened to her?" Jacob asked, staring at his sister's cast for awhile longer before getting into the front seat of the car so that his Mom could sit with Beca in the back.
Andy sighed as he gently buckled Beca in then turned to get into the driver's seat once he was sure Laurie had their daughter situated. HIs eyes took on a hardness that was still reminiscent of sadness.
"We'll talk about it later, Son."
...
When Beca woke up, it was night and she whimpered when a harsh throbbing pain started to spread across her arm. The sound died in her throat when something that sounded like an explosion suddenly echoed from down the hall.
Then she realized that thing was her Dad's voice and he was yelling at someone. Freezing for a second, Beca listened as her Mom tried to make him calm down.
After a minute, Beca stumbled off the side of the bed and padded out of her room, clutching her casted arm close to her body.
"It's...not that big of a deal, Dad. Calm down..." She heard Jacob shakily respond and froze again about a foot away from her big brother's room when her Dad began shouting again.
"Don't tell me what's not a big deal! Show your Mother! Show her what you've been up to!"
Clenching her jaw, Beca tiptoed up to Jacob's open doorway, peering in just as Jake flipped his laptop around revealing an online posted picture of himself photoshopped to a picture of a man swinging an ax over his shoulder.
An involuntary gasp burst from Beca's throat when she saw the photo at the same time Laurie hissed out a curse in horror.
"Oh my God!...Jacob!" Laurie anxiously ran a hand through her hair, starting to pace around the front of Jacob's room as Jake bit down on his lower lip.
"It was just a joke..."
"Do you have any idea what this looks like? Joking about being a murder suspect?" Andy glared at his son.
Jacob shook his head. "It's not like anyone knows who it is-."
"Everyone knows! How do you think I know?" The volume of Andy's voice hit a new octave then, making Beca flinch from fright before she clutch at her sling.
"Andy calm down! You'll wake up Beca in the other room!" Laurie's voice, loud but sounding more reasonable at the moment than her husband's tried to reason with him, though neither parent was yet aware that their daughter was standing in the doorway.
Andy let out a completely vexed sigh and jabbed a finger at Jacob's still open laptop screen.
"But this is damaging! This is evidence! And you're either too stupid or too arrogant to know the difference-!"
"I'm not stupid!" Jacob tried to defend himself. "Then what's wrong with you?" Andy fired back.
Beca choked on a sob, hearing the defensiveness mix with the fear in her older brother's voice. She'd never heard him talk like that before.
Then again, she'd never heard her Dad yelling like this before either. It both scared her and made her worried for Jacob, almost making her forget about the pain in her broken arm.
Carefully cradling her arm close to her chest, Beca slowly started to make her way into Jake's room, about to call out to her Mom when Jacob shouted back at their Dad first.
"Nothing! You're...you're making too big of a deal out of it!"
"Do you have any idea what they're going to do with this photo? They're going to wave it around in front of the jury and say it shows consciousness of guilt! That's the phrase they're going to use! They're going to say this is how Jacob Barber sees himself! A psycho! And they're going to use that word over and over and-!"
"Andy enough!" Laurie tried to cut her husband off, but Andy was clearly not at a point where he would be willing to listen.
Beca paused in the threshold of the doorway feeling her throat get tighter and tighter as she listened to her Dad softly curse to himself.
"Do you know what's at stake here, Jake? Do you even realize what they want to do you? What the kids at your school are already doing to your sister because of all this?" Beca raised her head when she heard her Dad mention her.
"Stop it already! You're scaring him!"
"Good! He should be scared! I'm scared!" Andy's voice reached a fever pitch and Beca stumbled backwards in shock at the pitch of his voice, bumping into the wall and letting out a whimper of pain when she hit her arm.
Both parents and Jacob turned almost simultaneously towards the door when they heard her and Laurie reacted first, dashing across the room to go to her daughter's aide while Andy's anger quickly turned to worry and Jacob hung his head in shame.
"Are you okay Sweetie? Do you need some pain medicine?" Laurie asked in a soft voice, moving to guide her from the room.
Jacob took another glance back in their direction before turning his computer back around and looking back at his laptop screen. "I...I can delete it. I can get rid of it so-."
"That doesn't...mean it goes away." Andy returned his attention to his son as Laurie and Beca disappeared downstairs and tried his best to control himself this time as he answered.
Jacob stiffly nodded his head in understanding.
"Okay..." His response came out as barely audible. He blinked rapidly as if he were trying not to cry. "I'm sorry Dad."
"You can't do stuff like this, Jake. You just can't. Not only is it dangerous to your case, but your life isn't the only one being affected by what's happening. Stuff like this is only going to make it ten times worse than it already is." Andy bit the words.
Jake inhaled sharply. "I said I was sorry." His voice became even quieter.
"Then delete the account and promise me you won't ever do something like this again. Okay?" Andy responded as levelly as he could and Jacob nodded, typing something into his computer before turning the laptop around again so the screen was facing his Dad.
"Okay. It's gone." He said still softly as the words, "account permanently deleted" flashed on the screen.
With a nod and sigh, Andy turned to leave his son's bedroom, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger as he turned to head downstairs to check on Laurie and Beca.
"Mom?" Andy heard Beca's soft, still sleep ridden voice croak as he got the bottom of the stairs and saw his wife and daughter sitting together comfortably on the couch.
"Did Emma tell you and Daddy about the picture?" Beca asked quietly, still whimpering a bit as she waited for the pain pill to kick in.
Sighing, Laurie stroked the small of her back to soothe her before responding.
"No, Dad already knew about the picture before Emma told us how your arm got broken. She was worried about you though, Sweetheart. She told us because she was scared that something worse might happen next." She said sincerely yet gently, looking up when she heard Andy walk quietly into the living room.
Beca frowned and looked down at her cast, barely reacting when the couch cushions shifted as Andy sat down on the other side of the sofa.
"I know...It wasn't that bad at first though. Really." She croaked, using her good arm to swipe at the trickle of tears that began to stream down her face as she choked out the words.
"But then today one of the eighth graders had the picture of Jake with...and..." Beca trailed off and Andy's frown deepened as Laurie gently tried to console her.
"Beca-."
"I just thought since you're so busy helping Jacob that...I should try not bother..." Her chin wobbled and Laurie hurried to quickly pull her into a tight yet careful embrace, pressing a loving kiss to her head as Andy moved to hug her too.
"Jacob didn't do it. There's no way...right Mom? Dad?" She whimpered. Both parents sighed and Laurie looked up to shoot her husband an uncertain look.
Finally Andy sighed and shook his head. "Of course not, Sport...But you still should have said something to us if people are picking on you because of this. Just because Jacob's the one in big trouble right now, doesn't mean that what's happening to you isn't as important to us." He said sincerely, pulling back a bit to tuck some of Beca's hair behind her ear.
Beca sniffed. "Emma kept saying that I should tell, but I was scared." She admitted, blinking as another tear trailed down her flushed cheeks.
Laurie sat back so she could look her daughter in the eyes. "Well at least we know now." She said. Andy nodded in agreement.
"That's right. Tomorrow before one of us drops you off, I'll call the school and talk to the principal about what's happening with you." He chimed in. "We'll figure something out and make sure nothing like this happens again, okay?" He gently rubbed her good shoulder.
Beca managed to give him a watery smile. "Okay." She croaked, lifting her arm to wipe her nose. Laurie sighed and turned to grab a kleenex from the nearby box.
Andy smiled back as she blew her nose into the tissue Laurie handed her.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Beca apologized tearfully as she balled up the kleenex in her hand. Laurie shook her head. "You don't have anything to be sorry for, Sweetie."
"That's right. If anyone should be sorry, it's us Beca." Andy glanced at his wife before continuing. "I'm sorry we didn't find out what was going on with you sooner...and I'm sorry I scared you with my yelling earlier." He apologized sincerely.
Looking back at her Dad, Beca started to answer.
"I'm sorry too." Jacob's voice suddenly roughly chimed through the room making the three of them look up to see Jake standing at the bottom of the stairs awkwardly as if he were unsure if he should join the rest of his family in the living room.
"I-I deleted everything. I...I won't post anything like that again, I promise." He clenched his hands together. Beca stiffly nodded her head.
With a half smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, Laurie motioned for her son to join them and Jake complied, giving Beca a quick hug before sitting back in the narrow space between his sister and his Mom.
Beca took a deep breath then rubbed her eyes with her good arm before looking between her brother, her Mom and finally her Dad.
"So...what now?" She asked after the family had sat in soft silence for a few minutes, looking towards Andy.
With a sigh, Andy shrugged and scratched his chin. "Well...we stick to it, no matter what comes next...and we stick together as a family." He responded carefully looking at his wife.
Glancing at the clock, Laurie nodded as Beca and Jake exchanged quick glances between them before looking down at the floor.
"And we should all also be getting to bed now. It's getting past midnight and you both have school tomorrow." She started to nudge Jacob off the couch and with a sigh Beca scooted her way after him, both murmuring their goodnights to their parents.
Andy and Laurie moved to follow their children back up the stairs exchanging one last look with each other before going into their own bedroom.
"Do you really think it'll be okay to send Rebeca back to school tomorrow, Andy? I mean she got pushed down two flights of stairs because Jacob's the main suspect in the Rifkin case. What if next time something worse happens like-?"
"I already said I'll talk to the principal about it, Laurie." Andy gently cut her off, letting the door shut quietly behind him before heading over to the closet.
"If it comes down to it, we'll homeschool her with Jacob." Laurie stared at him for a moment then shook her head as Andy pulled his shirt off over his head and grabbed the loose, slightly tattered one he wore to bed.
"I'm just...I'm just worried something else will come up in the case and that things will just keep getting worse. I mean...now Beca's getting caught up in this." Laurie threw her hands up in the air and sank onto the edge of the bed, picking at her nails as her gaze fell on the small family photo that was set on the bedside table.
It was taken when Jacob and Rebeca were kids during a trip to the beach. Andy had a five year old Jacob on his shoulders while three year old Rebeca was wearing Laurie's big sunglasses.
The image and the memory of an easier more innocent time that was prompted almost made Laurie smile until she remembered the events of the current day and what all had led to it.
Andy sighed, seeing the way the smile fell off his wife's face and lowered himself down on the mattress next to her before taking her hands in his.
"Laurie, I can't promise that things won't get worse," He began, blinking when Laurie turned her head towards him. "But I can promise that I'm never giving up. I won't rest until Jacob's name is cleared and our family is safe." He gave her hands a gentle and loving squeeze.
Laurie let out a sigh. "I wish I could be as sure as you are that it will all work out. This whole thing is just-."
Andy cut her off with a quick kiss. "I know. No more worrying tonight though, okay Hon? Like you said, it's late and we both have a lot of work to do tomorrow...For our kids." He gently stroked her cheek.
Taking a deep breath, Laurie nodded in agreement. "For our kids." She repeated, getting up to change into her own pajamas.
For our family.