AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you for all the support for the last chapter, it means a lot to me! I'm still highly amused by all the differences of opinion with regards to Dean's parenting and John and Sam stepping in and and having their say about things. There are many shades of gray when it comes to parenting, and Dean is feeling guilty and overprotective...which is not helping Charlie's behavior. For those if you who are annoyed by Charlie and her obnoxiousness, bear with me, it's going to get worse before it gets better...and there will be "a reckoning" or two as well in her future.

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The sidelines of the baseball field were packed when we got there. Lisa had set up a couple of chairs, and waved us over to her.

"This is an important game," she told us, "This is the third year they've played this team, and the other two times they lost. The boys are feeling a lot of pressure."

I tried to pay attention, but I got bored. I still didn't understand the rules of baseball and couldn't follow along with what was happening. I pulled out my 3DS and started playing it.

Uncle Sam leaned over. "That's new," he lifted up the purse that was hanging off my shoulder and looked at it.

I glanced at him. "Yeah, when Daddy and I went out last week he bought me a new Hello Kitty purse 'cause the strap broke on the other one. This one has more pockets inside!"

"Don't you want to watch the game and support Ben?" Uncle Sam asked.

"I don't get it," I said, "I don't understand the rules and I'm bored."

"Don't you remember, Charlie, I explained that each player has to run around and tag each base as they run by, and-" Grandpa John started to explain.

"I know what you told me, but I said, I still don't get it!" I snapped, "I can't keep all the rules straight!"

Grandpa John frowned at me. "Little girl, you need to watch your tone-" he started, and then everyone around us jumped up and started yelling and clapping because someone had made a 'homer run' or something like that and a bunch of kids were running around the field.

Unfortunately Ben's team lost. The boys on the other team all seemed bigger and older and better at baseball. Ben 'struck out' twice, which wasn't a good thing.

After their coach had had a talk with everyone, Ben walked over to us looking dejected. His shoulders were slumped.

"Look, Ben, Charlie and everyone came to watch!" Lisa said.

Ben glanced at me. "Hey," he said, "Man, that sucked."

Lisa put her hand on his back. "I know it was rough, sweetie, there's always next time."

"I noticed you were pulling back right before you swung, Ben," Grandpa John said, "Maybe we can practice your stance-"

"I don't want to think about that right now, geez!" Ben snapped.

"Hey, Ben watch your mouth!" Daddy said sternly.

"Young man, you don't talk to adults that way! Apologize!" Lisa frowned at him.

Ben glanced at Grandpa John. "Sorry," he muttered.

"Well, we were going to go get some lunch, do we still want to?" Lisa asked.

"Sure," Daddy said after a moment, "If we go to that pizza place with the video games, I challenge you to a game," he bumped elbows with Ben.

"I guess," Ben sighed. He noticed my 3DS. "Hey, cool, what games you got?" he asked. I dropped my stylus, and we both bent to pick it up, and our hands touched.

As I stood back up, I saw Ben holding a trophy, with a gold medal around his neck, and he had a huge smile on his face.

"It doesn't matter that you lost this game, you're gonna win at the end," I blurted out, "You're gonna get a trophy and a medal!"

Ben blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?" he asked. Everyone turned to look at me.

"I saw it, Ben, First Place! That's what the medal said!"

He looked mad. "Are you making fun of me?" he snapped.

"No!" I was confused, "Why would you-"

"Our team sucks this season, we're not gonna win jack shi-"

"Benjamin!" Lisa interrupted him, smacking the back of his head, "Watch your mouth! And there's no need to take your frustration out on Charlie, she's trying to be nice!"

"I saw it, Ben," I explained, "I see stuff that comes true."

"You can't know that, so stop trying to make me feel better!" Ben snapped. "We're not gonna win anything!" He turned and stomped away.

"We'll meet you over at the restaurant, okay?" Lisa said to Daddy, and then she hurried after Ben, calling his name.

I started to cry. "Why was he acting like that? I wasn't making it up, I thought he'd be happy!"

Daddy leaned down and hugged me. "He's really upset about this game, I think."

"And sometimes when a person is upset it's hard for them to hear anything nice that someone else is saying," Uncle Sam said.

Daddy swung me up onto his hip and hugged me again, then started to walk to the car.

I saw Uncle Sam look at Grandpa John and shake his head as they followed us.

We went to a restaurant that sold Greek and Italian food and subs. When we got to at the table, Lisa said, "Ben has something he wants to say to you, Charlie."

Ben stepped over to me and said, "Uh, sorry I was mean before, that was rude of me, and I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Ben," I said, sitting down, "Wanna see the games I have on here?" I pulled my 3DS out and he sat down next to me. I started to show him the little cartoons I had made with the game where you made drawings and then put them all together into a little movie.

"Hey, you two, we've been trying to get your attention for the past couple of minutes. Put that down for a moment and decide what you want," Daddy said to us.

"Hold on a sec," I said, "Watch this, Ben, this one's funny!"

Daddy leaned over to me. "Charlie, pause your game so we can order our food."

"Okayokay!" I snapped.

Uncle Sam raised his eyebrows. Daddy gave me a look. "Watch it, little girl," he said.

We decided to get a pizza, and Grandpa John and Daddy were going to get subs. Uncle Sam said he wanted a Greek salad, and then he said to me, "Charlie, I want you to get a salad too."

"Salad's gross," Ben said, wrinking his nose.

"Yeah, I don't want one right now," I shook my head.

"Charlie, I want you to get one, you haven't had any vegetables since we've gotten home," Uncle Sam said.

"But I don't want one, Uncle Sam!" I whined. I looked at Daddy. "Daaaaddy, do I haaaave to?"

"Yeah, you should, kiddo," Daddy told me, "Sam's right, you haven't had much recently."

"But I don't want any dumb salad!" I slammed my 3DS onto the table.

"You want to lose your 3DS? Keep that up," Uncle Sam said sternly.

I looked over at Daddy again. He looked uncomfortable. "C'mon, kiddo, drop the attitude," he said, "Having a salad's not a big deal."

"But Daddyyyy-"

"Charlie, stop arguing with everyone. Dean, just order it for her," Grandpa John said sternly.

"Everyone is picking on me today!" I wailed, and started to cry again.

"Oh, Charlie," Daddy sighed, "No one is picking on you. Come here," he pulled me over to him and I got onto his lap. He put his arms around me and I stayed there until our food arrived at the table.

I only ate a couple of bites of salad, and then I pretended that it fell onto the floor, but I really pushed it with my elbow.

"Oh, should we order another one?" Lisa asked.

"She ate some of it, it's fine," Daddy said easily. His arm was on the back of her chair. When I looked up I saw Uncle Sam watching me, and he pressed his lips together and shook his head slightly.

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"I don't wanna do any work, it's Sunday!" I complained.

"You need to do your exercises, and I want you to do some writing practice. That needs to be done every day right now," Uncle Sam pulled out a writing pad and my pencil box.

"But I don't wannaaaaa!" I whined.

"Charlie, enough with the whining, geez," Uncle Sam rubbed his forehead,"Look, write this sentence 10 times for me so I can see how you're doing."

I sighed angrily. "Fine," I snapped, "But I get a break after this!"

"We'll see," he said firmly.

I started to write. "This is making my hand hurt!" I complained.

"Because you're out of practice," Uncle Sam told me, "This is why it's important for you to do this every day. Would you rather do some hand exercises? Imani gave me the putty and the squeeze ball."

"I don't want to do anything!" I shoved the paper away from me and crossed my arms. "Daddy said we could go to the park, and that's what I want to do!"

"Sure, after you get through this," Uncle Sam said reasonably.

"But if I do exercise, I'll be too tired to go to the park!"

"The park is exercise too, Charlie. I think I see what's going on here, you just want to do what you want to do, and not what someone tells you. Well, that's going to change, honey. In the real world people have to do what they're told, and if you were at real school you'd have to do what the teacher told you and not whatever you want. You should know this already."

"But I'm not in real school! I can do what I want!"

Uncle Sam leaned over and looked me in the eyes. "No, you can't. We've already talked about this, Charlie. You're being home-schooled; that means I give you assignments and tell you what to do and you do it. You don't get to decide that you're not in the mood or that you don't want to do it. You can do the work I give you, or you can refuse, and then do the work I give you with a sore butt. But you will do your work."

Daddy had come into the room at that point, and I got up and ran over to him, putting my arms around his waist. "Daddy, Uncle Sam said he's gonna spank me!" I whined.

"Sam, what are you doing?" Daddy sounded tired and annoyed.

"Dean, I'm establishing again that Charlie needs to do the work she's given. She's being home-schooled, that means I'm her teacher and she has to abide by my rules and what I tell her to do."

"You don't need to be threatening her-"

"Dean, there have to be consequences too," Sam said.

"Well, spanking is not going to be one of them," Daddy said resolutely, "So cut it out with that shit."

Uncle Sam sighed with annoyance. "Charlie, which is it? Writing or exercises?"

"Fine, I'll write the dumb sentences!" I snapped.

"And you can lose the attitude as well," Uncle Sam said as I walked back over to the desk.

I dropped into the chair again and picked up the pencil, then I started to scribble the words quickly. Uncle Sam put his hand on top of mine, stopping me. I looked up at him and he leaned down again, into my face.

"All right, Charlie," he said in a quiet, hard voice, "I've had just about enough. Time out."

I tried to pull my hand away from him. "Stooop," I whined.

He let go of me, and then picked up the chair with me in it and turned it around so that it wasn't under the desk. I forgot how strong he was!

"Sit here for 8 minutes, and then you can finish the work."

I kicked the rungs of the chair. "No, Uncle Sam! That's not fair!"

He stood up. "Young lady, you don't tell me no," he said sternly. He looked over at Daddy. "Are you seeing this?" he asked.

"Charlie, do what Uncle Sam tells you to do," Daddy said, "Quit all the fussing."

"No fair!" I said again, crossing my arms over my chest and pouting. I sat quietly but I kicked the rungs of the chair the whole time. Uncle Sam's jaw was clenched by the time he said, "All right, time out is over. Let's come back to this, and do your floor exercises."

"Daddy, when can we go to the park?" I asked, "You said we could go!"

"Do your exercises, and we can go after." he said.

"But then I'll be too tired to go to the park!" I protested.

"Then we can go after you've rested."

"But I want to go now!" I complained.

"You sound like that girl from the Willy Wonka movie, next you'll be asking me for a golden goose," Daddy chuckled, "Do your exercises, and we'll go later."

"But-"

"Charlotte Anne, stop arguing!" Uncle Sam snapped, "Do you realize that's all you've done? Just do what you're told, for cryin' out loud!" He walked over to the corner and pulled out the mat, laying it out on the floor. "Come over here and start stretching," he told me.

I looked at Daddy. "Go on, little girl," he said, but he didn't sound mad. I got up and walked over, sitting down on the mat, and started to do the warm-up stretches that Imani had taught me.

I did get tired after exercising, and so I took a nap. After we had dinner- Uncle Sam made baked chicken breasts and steamed green beans and mashed potatoes- we walked to the park. I walked between Daddy and Uncle Sam and held their hands.

There weren't very many kids there, and so I got to be on the swings for a long time. I didn't do much else since I was still feeling a little tired from exercising earlier.

I walked over to Uncle Sam and Daddy sitting on a bench that was under a tree.

"Whatcha got there?" Daddy asked me.

"I found this feather over there," I turned and pointed across the playground. I had found a long, large white feather on the other side of the playground, on the edge where the grass started.

Uncle Sam took it from me and looked at it. "That's pretty big, I wonder what kind of bird it's from. I didn't think there were any large birds of prey around here."

I shrugged. "It's pretty...can I keep it?"

"I guess," Daddy said.

"Just make sure you wash your hands after you handle it," Uncle Sam told me. "How are you doing?"

"I'm tired, I want to go," I said.

"All right," Daddy stood up. "You got a lot of exercise today, you want a piggy back ride?"

"Yeah!" I said. He leaned down and Uncle Sam helped me get onto Daddy's back.

I put the feather on the dresser in the bedroom when we got back to the room, and then Daddy said I should take a bath.

During the exercise class with the kids on Monday, I saw Uncle Sam standing over to the side, talking to Imani. They talked for a long time. He looked upset when he came over to get me at the end of class. Because I hadn't done much exercising last week, I was more tired than usual. I was limping by the time we left the building. Uncle Sam stopped at the curb and looked down at me. I was hurting, and almost crying. His face was angry, but he asked gently, "What's the matter, honey?"

"I'm sore," I whimpered, "An' I'm real tired now."

He leaned down and picked me up, setting me on his hip. I put my arms around him and leaned my head on his shoulder.

"What's wrong, Uncle Sam?" I asked, "You look mad."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it, I need to...talk to your Dad."

I curled up in the back seat of the car and fell asleep almost right away.

I woke up in my bed, hearing loud voices.

"You want me to admit I screwed up?" Daddy yelled, "Fine, I screwed up! But this was only 5 days that she didn't do much, and I fail to see how that's going to affect her 10 years from now!"

The bedroom door was partway open and I heard quick footsteps.

"Well, Dean, you did screw up, and you've got to face that!" Uncle Sam's voice was hard, "You wanted to have a little vacation with Charlie, fine, but because you weren't having her do her exercises every day, you've set her recovery back! And that's what's important! She's limping again, I know you noticed that before, and she was in so much pain after PT today that she was almost crying! That's a direct result of you not having her do her exercises and PT last week! I know you think my whole deal with her schedule and home-schooling is bullshit, but this isn't. This is her health, man, and you screwed up, big time."

I heard an exhalation and then Daddy said, "Dammit." I heard the fridge door open and close and the hiss of a bottle top being removed. "I didn't think- I mean I didn't realize that that would happen... you'd said that she was doing really well and that Imani was really happy with Charlie's progress, so I thought..." he sighed heavily, "The last thing I want to do is hurt my little girl," he said, "Shit, I didn't think it through, I was just trying to give her a fun time last week. She had such a rough time in the hospital, and I know she associates the exercises with all of that-"

"No, Dean, I think you associate that. She likes to do the exercises, it puts her in a good mood," Uncle Sam said. "You need to look at your motivation for doing what you've been doing."

"Dammit, Sam, why do you have to be right about crap like this?" Daddy asked, but there was humor in his voice, "and look, I don't think the schedule and the home-schooling is bullshit, I just...think you're a little over-zealous with it."

"Well, I think I have a right to be pissed off," Uncle Sam said, "I gave Charlie- and you- specific instructions for last week, and you went and changed everything. She should have been doing what I told her to do, but you're her father, so of course she's going to do what you tell her. And yeah, she had fun, but it wasn't what she was supposed to be doing. Do you get that now?"

"Okay, yeah, I do," Daddy said, "I'm sorry, Sam, I did mess things up, and Charlie paid the price, and it's not her fault. It's my fault."

"I'm glad you finally agree with me, and that we're on the same page," Uncle Sam said.

"All right, well you don't have to rub it in, bitch," Daddy said.

"I'm not, jerk. But listen, I need you to back me on the home-schooling."

"I will back you on the home-schooling, but if I think she needs a break I'm still going to say something."

"Fair enough. And while we're talking about that, what consequences are going to be okay to give her?"

"Well, I guess time out, and taking away her 3DS. Writing lines isn't going to work because she's having trouble with that right now, and she already goes to bed earlier and takes naps. I mean I guess we could also send her to bed earlier as a consequence."

"And take away t.v. privileges, or grounding to the bed room." Uncle Sam said.

"Geez, Sam, why do you want to pile on the consequences?" Daddy asked.

"I'm not, we talked about this before, remember? How certain consequences will work better because they're more immediate. Different situations will call for different consequences and we need to have a few to pick from."

I tried to get out of bed, so I could go out there and protest, I didn't want all those consequences, it wasn't fair! I tried to hurry over to the door and tripped over my feet and fell down. The door swung open and Daddy came in.

"Charlie, are you okay?" he hurried over to me and squatted down, "What are you doing?"

"I woke up and heard you talking! I don't want- all those consequences, it's not faaaaair!" I looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"Charlie, you need to do what you're told," Daddy said, helping me stand up.

"But you said- you said that I need to take it easy and that everyone needs to take it easy on me too!" I reminded him.

"Oh, boy," Uncle Sam said from the doorway. He rolled his eyes.

"I meant that we can't expect you to do every single thing that a regular kid can do yet because you're still recovering, and yes we do need to take it easy, but there are still going to be times when you need a consequence. You're getting your sass back, and we need to keep that in check," Daddy tweaked my nose.

"I think you're the only one who thinks that's funny, Dean" Uncle Sam said dryly.

"Do you want to get up or try to go back to sleep?" Daddy asked me.

"I want to get up," I said.

Uncle Sam glanced at his watch. "She slept for less than an hour, she may end up getting grumpy later."

Daddy picked me up. "Then we'll just have to tickle the grumps out of her!" he tickled the side of my neck and I giggled. He had discovered last week that my neck was very ticklish. He carried me out to the kitchen area and set me down in a chair.

"It's about time for lunch, what do you want?" he asked me.

"Mac and cheese," I told him. Uncle Sam walked over to the table. Daddy put the measuring cup filled with water in the microwave. He set the little cup in front of me.

"This is the last one," he told me, "I need to go to the store and get some more."

Uncle Sam picked up the blue cup. "Microwave mac and cheese?" he raised his eyebrows, "This isn't very healthy."

"Yeah, I know, but she likes it," Daddy smiled at me, "She eats a good breakfast and a healthy dinner."

"Hmm," Uncle Sam said. "I'd like to see her- and you- eating better for all meals."

"Well, how about you take over the cooking then?" Daddy asked in a challenging way.

"Fine, I will," Uncle Sam said.

After we ate lunch, Uncle Sam looked at me. "You ready to do some schoolwork?"

I sighed. "I guess," I said forlornly.

I followed him over to the desk in the living room and we sat down next to each other. Uncle Sam didn't get up and let me do the work on my own, he sat with me and watched over me. It started to get on my nerves.

"Uncle Sam, do you have to keep watching me?" I asked when he leaned over and started to point out what I was doing wrong on my math page.

"Yes, Charlie, I do," he told me, "Remember, we need to work extra hard to get you back up to speed since you didn't do much last week."

"I need a break," I whined.

"Charlie," Uncle Sam sighed with annoyance.

"Sam, she's been working for an hour now, why don't you let her have a little break," Daddy said.

"All right, 15 minutes," Uncle Sam said, rubbing his forehead.

I got up and went back to the kitchen. "I'm hungry," I said, "Can I have cookies?"

"Sure, " Daddy pulled out a container of chocolate chip cookies we had bought last week. "These are almost gone, we'll need to go to the store and restock everything." Daddy was putting away the clean dishes and loading the dirty dishes into the dishwasher.

"I think I should be the one to go, and I'll make sure I get healthy options instead of cookies and microwaveable stuff," Uncle Sam said.

Grandpa John walked into the room. "Sam, I need you to look at the laptop," he said. Uncle Sam got up, and as he walked across the room he said, "Fifteen minutes and then I want you to keep working on your math."

He went into the other bedroom to help Grandpa John.

I walked over to the couch and sat down, turning on the t.v. I ate cookies and found one of the cartoon shows I liked. In a while, Uncle Sam walked back into the room. He stood by the t.v. and then reached down and turned it off.

"Hey!" I said.

He looked at me. "Didn't I tell you to start your work after 15 minutes? It's been longer than that."

"Yeah, well you weren't here, I didn't know-"

"Charlie. We are doing work right now, not taking long breaks and watching t.v. You know better than that," Uncle Sam's voice was hard. He pointed at the desk. "Go sit down and get started."

"It's not my fault!" I grumped as I stood up. I slammed the remote on the table.

"And that just lost you t.v. watching for tonight," Uncle Sam said.

I stopped walking and stomped my foot. "No fair!"

"Perfectly fair," Uncle Sam said, "You weren't supposed to be watching t.v."

"But Daddy said it was okay-"

"Hey, don't bring me into this," Daddy said from the kitchen, "I didn't say anything about t.v., Charlie."

Uncle Sam raised his eyebrows. "Oh, so now you're lying, Charlie?"

My stomach twisted nervously. "No, I didn't- I mean—I just need a longer break!" I whined, "I'm not used to doing all this work for such a long time!"

"Young lady, I don't want to hear it," Uncle Sam said angrily, "Stop complaining, and get over here."

I ran over to Daddy instead and threw my arms around him. "Can't I take a break?" I asked.

"You did, sweetheart," he said, looking down at me, "You need to get back to work now though, and I'm not real happy about the lying," he frowned at me.

Uncle Sam scoffed. "I can't believe you're letting the lying go, Dean," he said, "If that was Dad, we'd have sore butts and you know it."

"Well like you've told me, I'm not him, and neither are you," Daddy retorted. He patted my back. "Go on and do your work now."

I trudged over to the desk and sat down again, sighing heavily. I didn't like that I was going to have to do more work, or that they were talking about consequences again!