A/N: Thank you all for reviewing chapter five. I really appreciate it. Please enjoy this next chapter.
Disclaimer: I only own Damien and Lois.
Aaron held his little brother, Sean's hand, as he walked him to the school nurse's office. Moments after their mother had dropped them off at the school, Sean suddenly became ill and vomited.
"Are they gonna send me home," Sean asked, as he and Aaron were waiting on the bench outside the nurse's office. Juliet Tillerson, the school nurse, was checking on another student, at the moment.
"Yeah, probably," answered Aaron.
A look of sadness suddenly crossed Sean's face and tears began welling up in his eyes. Aaron had noticed. "What's wrong," he asked.
"Mrs. Strauss said she was going to bring cookies for the class today," Sean sobbed. "And if I have to go home, I won't get any."
"It'll be okay," Aaron comforted Sean. "It's not like you'll never get any cookies, ever."
"But I wanted to get a cookie, today."
"I'm sorry," was all Aaron could say to the crying five year old.
About a moment or two later, Erin Strauss walked by, with a plate of cookies for her students. She stopped, when she saw the two Hotchner children. Smiling, she greeted them.
"Hello boys. What brings you two to the nurse's office," she asked.
"Hello Mrs. Strauss," Aaron said with a small smile. "Sean got sick, right after our mommy dropped us off at school," he explained.
Erin had a sympathetic look on her face. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you get to feeling better, Sean," she then noticed that the five year old little boy had been crying. "Well, there's certainly no need to cry over being sick. Everyone gets sick, every once in a while," she reassured him.
"That's isn't what he's upset about," said Aaron. "He's crying because he said if he gets sent home today, then he won't get any of the cookies that you're bringing for your class today," he explained.
"Oh, I see," said Erin. "Well, how about I send a cookie, home, with you? Does that sound like a good idea," she smiled at Sean.
Sean wiped away his tears with the back of his hand and smiled. "Okay," he said.
Erin selected a plastic wrapped chocolate chip cookie from the plate, and held it back for a moment. "If I give you this, you have to promise me, you'll wait until you get better, to eat it. Do we have a deal," she asked.
"Yes," said Sean. He happily took the cookie from his teacher and placed it into his backpack.
"Sean, what do you say," Aaron asked.
"Thank you, Mrs. Strauss," said Sean.
Erin smiled. "You are very welcome," she said. "Aaron, would you like a cookie, too," she asked. "I made a lot of extras."
"Yes, please," Aaron smiled. He then thanked Erin for the cookie, as he placed it into his backpack.
"So, how are you liking the third grade," Erin asked.
Aaron shrugged his shoulders and simply said, "It's okay."
"Seems to me as though, you don't like it too well," Erin noticed the tone in Aaron's voice. "Is there something wrong?"
Aaron shrugged his shoulders, once again. "No, it's just that whenever anyone in the class makes mistakes, Mr. Benson doesn't give us any warnings."
"Well, that doesn't seem very fair," said Erin. "You should be given warnings, first."
"He says he doesn't believe in warnings," Aaron said of his teacher.
Less than a moment later, the previous kid walked out of Nurse Tillerson's office and she could be heard saying, "Next.".
"That's you Sean," said Aaron. "Want me to go in with you?"
Sean nodded his head in a 'yes' motion.
"I should be getting back to my classroom now," said Erin. "Sean, I hope you get to feeling better, soon. And Aaron, it was nice seeing you again."
"Thanks. It was nice seeing you again, too," said Aaron as he walked into the Nurse's office, with Sean.
Fifteen minutes later, Lois Hotchner arrived to take Sean home. Although it was a fairly warm day, she was wearing jeans and a long sleeve orange shirt. There was a fresh dark bruise below her right eye. Aaron and Sean knew what or more likely who had caused it.
Lois smiled and knelt down as she greeted her two sons with hugs and kisses. She was a little confused to see both her children, waiting for her. "Aaron, am I taking you home, too," she asked. "I thought I was only taking Sean home, this morning."
"No, mommy. You're not taking me home," said Aaron. "Sean was afraid to go to the nurse's office by himself. So I went with him," he explained. "Are you mad?"
"Of course I'm not mad," she gently placed her hand on the side of her eldest son's face. "You're such a caring big brother. I hope you'll always be that way."
"I will. I promise," said Aaron.
Lois then turned her attention to Sean and said, "Okay sweetie, you ready to go home now? I'll make you some chicken noodle soup, so you can get better."
"With crackers too," Sean asked.
"Of course. We can't forget about the crackers, now can we," Lois smiled at her youngest son.
Sean smiled back. "No, we can't," he said.
After watching his mother and little brother leave, Aaron stood up from the bench and began walking to his classroom. Although he was going to be late, he hoped his teacher would understand. Technically school didn't start until 8:30 in the morning and it was only 8:40. So Aaron wasn't that much late.
Damien was busy teaching his students how to write cursive, when he was suddenly interrupted, by the door opening. He turned his head to see who it was, and saw Aaron walking into the classroom.
"I'm sorry I'm late, Mr. Benson," said Aaron. "My little brother got sick, when we got to school and he didn't want to wait for our mom, by himself," he explained.
"Get out," Damien coldly said to the eight year old.
Aaron was confused. "But I said I was sorry."
"I don't care," said Damien. "You know the rules. You know school begins at 8:30, not at 8:40. You can't just show up at any time you'd like. So, for the next three days, you can stay home."
Aaron was almost in tears. "Please don't send me home," he begged. I promise I'll never be late again. And I'll write sentences for the rest of the year, even if it means missing recess. Just please don't sent me home."
"Nope, sorry. My decision is final," Damien was unsympathetic.
Aaron could no longer hold his tears in, as he began crying. His friends didn't like what they were seeing. This was the first time, any of them had seen him cry, and it broke their hearts.
"He said he was sorry," JJ angrily said, breaking her vow to never speak to Damien. "And you were late, on the first day of school! Or did you forget about that?"
All the other children agreed with JJ. They too, did not think it was fair how their teacher was treating Aaron. They all began talking at once, about how unfair Damien was being.
Damien angrily slammed his fists down onto his desk, shouting, "ENOUGH!" The children were startled and immediately silenced. Damien then lowered his voice to normal, but continued to speak in a harsh tone. "Seems to me as though, you've forgotten the no talking, unless given permission rule! So for the rest of the week, you can all miss recess and write sentences! And you can all thank Jennifer for that," he said. "I thought I told you to get out of here," he said, as he noticed Aaron, still standing there and crying. He grabbed him by the arm and lead him out of the classroom.
Elizabeth Prentiss was in her office, sitting at her desk, when Damien walked in, with Aaron. She could tell the young boy was evidently upset. "What's going on," she asked, with concern in her voice.
"Aaron decided he would be late for class today," said Damien. "And I don't tolerate lateness. So I'm sending him home, for the next three days."
"But I don't want to go home," Aaron sniffled.
Elizabeth felt sympathy for the child. "Mr. Benson, I really don't think sending him home for three days, is necessary," she said. "All he did was be a little late for class. That's certainly not something to be suspended for."
Damien was quiet for a moment, as he appeared to be thinking. Finally, he spoke, "Fine, I'll lift the suspension. But he is not welcomed back to my class, today," he said.
"That's alright, he can spend the day in here, with me," said Elizabeth. "I could use some help for the day." She turned her attention to Aaron and smiled and asked, "How would you like to be my assistant for the day?"
Although there were still a few tears, Aaron managed to return a smile and nodded his head in a 'yes' motion. Without saying another word, Damien walked out of the office. It was very noticeable that he was slightly angry, over not getting his way.
Aaron sat down in the chair across from Elizabeth's desk. She offered him a piece of candy, and he happily accepted it. "Thank you," he said.
"You're welcome," Elizabeth replied back. "Now, do you want to tell me, why you're upset about going home."
Aaron shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I just don't want my daddy to be mad at me, again," he said. "And when he gets mad at me, he always… Never mind, I don't want to talk about it."
"If you don't want to tell me anything, that's alright," there was a look of concern on Elizabeth's face, as she reassured the young boy. She felt as though, he was hiding something from her. "But I just want you to know that if you ever want to talk about anything, I'll listen, okay?"
"Okay," said Aaron. He wanted to tell her about how abusive his father was, but he was afraid that if he told, then the abuse would only get worse.
"Good, now that we got that out of the way, let's begin with today's work," Elizabeth said. "How would you like to read this morning's announcements?"
End of chapter six. Thanks for reading it. I really hope to see some reviews. Good or bad, you know I'll accept both. Just don't be too cruel, if you hated it. Chapter seven will be posted as soon as possible.