A/N: The answer to my question on this set? Shop class. Weather or not they actually would have let a twelve-year-old near the wood working equipment... whole different matter. Probably they would have, as it was the 70's. Also, when the Tomkins family was first mentioned while Maverick was having a dream/nightmare flashback in-story during part seven? Honestly, I thought Bart Tomkins was one of the parents. To my surprise, he isn't.
Week Three - UDC 10 - The Tomkins Placement
11. Inlay
On getting back to the office after an assessment, he didn't notice them immediately. No, he was distracted by the case file in his hand until Frank cleared his throat and made him look up. Alan paused, frowning at him. "What?"
"Back the way you came."
Slowly, Alan turned and found Sheryl Tomkins and a now very familiar twelve-year-old seated on two uncomfortable chairs in the waiting area. "Oh." He approached them, noticing that Pete was crying. "Mrs. Tomkins?"
She nodded to the small pre-teen next to her. "Show him, Pete. It's what we're here for, after all."
Alan bent down and noticed that Pete was holding a small wooden box with a tree pattern carved into it. "What's that you got there?"
Pete handed it to him. "Made it in shop class."
"Oh yeah? Very nice." On a whim, he opened it, only to frown at the silver cuff laying inside that was in two broken pieces. Oh. That explained the crying.
12. Outrun
Alan glanced at Sheryl in question. "Did he tell you about this bracelet?"
She frowned. "No, just that he wanted to see you. Bracelet?"
"MIA bracelet." Alan paused and looked, really looked at Pete, to find him staring at his hands. "How did it get broken?
"A week ago," Pete admitted without looking up. "Bart wouldn't leave me alone, and I wanted to do what you said, to just let him talk. He wouldn't stop, and snatched it off my wrist, because it was loose like it always is."
Out of the corner of his eye, Alan saw Sheryl go rigid at the admission. He stood up and gestured at Frank to join them. "Sit with him for me?" Frank nodded. "Mrs. Tomkins? With me, please."
13. Withdraw
The pained expression on her face as he drew her away told him much. It wasn't that she hadn't witnessed any of the behavior going on in her household, he knew. No, it was that she hadn't considered it bullying of any kind. Pete wasn't the first attempted foster care placement with this particular family, but every time felt like the first.
"I should have watched them closer," Sheryl finally said with a shake of her head. "Bart never seems to know where the line is, no matter what I say."
Alan nodded. He knew that, that her son was incorrigible. Usually, he was good company, upbeat, and somewhat tolerant. Usually. "Sounds like he was trying to get his attention and went for the kill and over shot."
14. Partake
Sheryl nodded. "It does." She sighed. "I like this kid, you know? He's quiet, respectful. Does his homework without being prodded into it like most children. Just... he always seems to be sad. I don't think I've seen him really smile in the whole three weeks he's been with us."
Inwardly, Alan was sighing. Of course not. This was the fifth placement for Pete Mitchell. "He hasn't really been there all that long. It takes time for him to really come out of his shell."
"And Bart..." She glanced at the box in his hands. "I can't defend what he did, Al."
"I don't expect you to." Alan watched as Frank tried engaging Pete in conversation, only to be ignored. "He was there, you know?"
Sheryl frowned. "What?"
"His mother. He's the one who found her, and his first case worker noted that he was functionally mute for a month after."
"Oh." She sighed again. "And he was withdrawn all week, after Bart broke the bracelet."
"Right."
"Al, this... we might not be the right placement for him."
He hated that resigned tone in her voice. "Give it another week or so? I hate to have to move him again."
15. Uphold
Frank glanced over to where Alan was talking to Mrs. Tomkins, noting that her posture had relaxed slowly over the course of the conversation. That was good, he thought has he turned his attention back to the twelve-year-old who was still staring at his hands. What did it take for a kid with a history like this one to come out of his shell, even a little? "So... how is school?"
"I got to use the woodworking table," Pete said, lifting his head to look at him with a suddenness that caused him to jump, startled at the change. "And next week, we're leaning about metal-working!"
"Oh really? What about the other subjects?"
Pete grinned and suddenly he seemed like a whole different kid.