A/N When I write I sort of let the characters do what they want to so sometimes I am surprised myself. The ending surprised me. It was not planned. Should be interesting to see what develops. Once again I will update when I get the chance and I do not own the characters or make any money from borrowing them.

I felt bad that Brian left. We hadn't paid much attention to him. I didn't want him to feel left out but the idea that Allison slept with Bender…well something like that tended to dominate everything. After saying goodbye to him at the station we drove back to my mom's house. Four cars seemed like over kill and I offered Allison a ride in mine but she declined. I suppose everyone having their own car would allow for them to make a get away should things become too heavy.

Arriving we got out and went inside. "Andy, are you back so soon?" My mom called as she came out of the kitchen drying her hands on a checkered dishcloth. She seemed surprised that I had brought everyone back here. It wasn't my intention; it was just the turn the evening took. "Oh, my I wasn't expecting you to bring people home. Ms Reynolds?" Guess she was even more surprised to see Allison.

Allison adjusted Maddie who was almost asleep, on her hip, "Hello Mrs. Clark."

"Mom you know Allison. This is John Bender and Claire Standish".

"Nice to meet you," said Claire offering Mom her well manicured hand.

"Likewise." Then she shook Bender's. "I know you don't I Mr. Bender? You look very familiar."

"You might have seen me at Jewel."

"Oh yes! That is it you were so nice when that pork tenderloin I bought was bad. I didn't realize that you knew Andrew." I knew what she was thinking. She was wondering where my "friends" from high school were. She wasn't expecting me to bring anyone home but if I did she would have expected guys like TJ and Rick who I wrestled with and who used to come over all the time. "And the little girl? She looks exhausted."

"Mom, could we put Maddie in the guest room? We have a lot to discuss and..:" I didn't get to finish

"Why of course, you don't even have to ask. I'll show Ms. Reynolds where to take her."

Allison adjusted Maddie on her hip again and John offered to take his daughter. "I'll take her."

"That' okay I've got her."

I showed told Bender and Claire to go into my dad's office, "Second door on the right." It was dangerous to leave them together but I could only imagine what my mom was discussing with Allison. "Do you two think you will okay for a second?" The look Claire gave me was along the lines of, "Hell No." Bender just shrugged and said, "Let's see what happens."

Upstairs I approached the guest room door, "I didn't realize you knew, Andy from school." My mother was saying.

"We only really spoke once back then. We weren't in the same class."

From the crack in the door I could see mom pulling the blankets back. "Are you married?" Allison hesitated answering the question. She was trying to judge whether or not my mom was going to judge her. Finally she shook her head. "No, never married. John is Maddie's father."

Mom nodded sagely, "It looks as though you two are friends which I'm sure makes it easier to raise a child but its even easier if you have a full time spouse. Do you want a t-shirt or something for her to sleep in? I'm sure she would be much more comfortable."

"Thank you but she will be fine."

"Well let me get you one anyway just in case you change your mind."

I darted out of sight then scolded myself for being so ridiculous. Allison wasn't the type to talk about the past. Meanwhile I was neglecting Bender and Claire and I could only imagine what they were doing. Approaching the office door I didn't hear any yelling that was a good sign. When I went in Claire was seated on the old leather sofa and Bender was flipping though an ancient issue of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition leaning back in my dad's old office chair with his feet on the desk. He gave a long whistle. "Have you seen this one?" he asked not looking away from the magazine. "I can see why your dad kept this one from," he quickly took a look at the cover, "1979. Christy Brinkley certainly has some nice bazoomas."

Claire rolled her eyes and looked the other way at his comment. Allison came in and shut the door behind her. "Maddie is sound asleep. So what have I missed?"

"Nothing much just John being a pig but nothing new there."

"How would you know what he is like? When was the last time you saw him?" It bothered me that Allison was so defensive of him.

"Don't mind her Ally," he said setting the magazine aside. "I'm just getting her goat. Don't worry Claire Christy's bazoomas have nothing on yours. So," he got up and plopped down on the sofa next to Claire. She scooted over away from him, "where should we begin?"

Before I could stop myself I said, "How about how Maddie came to be?" I knew that was the big question on both my mind and Claire's.

"Guess that is the question of the moment. Basically Allison and I did the horizontal mambo and nine months later- Tada! Baby Girl Reynolds." Allison shot him a look. I wanted to question him on that. Baby Girl Reynolds? Wasn't Maddie's last name Bender? Instead I held my tongue decided to wait and hear the whole story.

"See I told you he was still a pig."

"I think we need to start from the beginning," said Allison as she sat on the worn Oriental rug on the floor. Her long skirt folded around her legs and other than her longer hair and natural makeup, very similar to the way Claire showed her how to apply it, it was very much like being back in school. I sat on the rug next to her. Bender shrugged and moved to the floor as well. Finally Claire threw up her hands and joined us, leaning back against the couch.

"Better yet I'll start from where I left off at the restaurant. So let's see….I went to Claire's and I couldn't get in to see her. Princess here could never bring herself to tell her parents about us. I was an idiot who went along with her not telling."

"Sure blame me."

He ignored her and continued, "I thought it was fun too. I felt good doing my bit to corrupt her. It was fun sneaking around but it was that night, Claire that I realized that was all I was to you. I was fun but I'd never be good enough to take home to Mummy and Daddy."

"You never asked. I thought you were happy with the status quo. How was I supposed to know unless you said something?"

"Why should I have had to? If you wanted you could have introduced me at any time, but why should you when you were playing tonsil hockey with Greg Mueller on the side."

Claire's hands flew up to her cheeks. "Yeah I saw that. Didn't seem to be something you were fighting or hating very much."

"You and Craig Mueller? Claire, I thought Craig was gay." Craig was on the basketball team and wrestled middle weight so I knew him slightly and knew there had been rumors but nothing that was ever proven.

"He was. Bender, you are an idiot. I was kissing Craig because he didn't want his parents to know. He and were friends since pre-school and he was the only one besides Andy and Allison who knew we were dating. His dad had been giving him a hard time about why he wasn't dating and we came up with a story that we were a couple. That night we had a few to many glasses of champagne and he started to believe the story himself. His parents were there and he got into the act, way into the act. So yes I kissed Craig but there was nothing really going on."

"So what happened after you saw Claire and Craig?" This was getting interesting.

"What choice did I have? My plan was to sack out in her family's pool house for the night but I ended up heading to Jimbo's. We talked and did a few lines of coke."

"Listen how he says that like it was an everyday thing."

"For me it was. Hell Claire you didn't know how bad it was. I never told you how bad it was. I had too much respect for you to let you know. No point in painting your world with the black dirt of mine. So I stayed at Jimbo's a few days until he kicked me out after a bad high. Not a lot of choices so I applied for jobs. And was hired at a dive dinner downtown."

"That is where I ran into him."

"Yeah not my brightest moment that day."

Allison shrugged. "I suppose this is as good of point as any to tell about what happened to me. Well I graduated and moved out and onto the UIC campus."

"I thought you wanted to go to the Art Institute?" She had so much talent I just assumed we would hear her name one day with the likes of van Gogh and Picasso.

"I did. Unfortunatly my scholarship which I was offered wasn't enough and my parents made too much money for financial aid. Luckily the scholarship I received for UIC was enough to classes and a small apartment. The apartment was in a bad area but still I was on my own. My plan was to study art and art history but then I discovered psychology and that I actually had an interest in it and I was good at it. Years of going to a shrink myself I guess. I did an internship my second year with a rehab center and I was told to visit a client who was working at a dinner on Halstead and Chicago. I only had a name, John Bender. At the time I didn't make the connection. Why would I? Chicago is a big city and certainly there was more than one John Bender in the world."

"Yeah my dad."

Allison continued as though Bender hadn't interrupted. "I was told just to go in talk to him and do a report and then if they liked my work he would be my first client.

So I walked into the diner and looked around. I ordered a drink and then I saw him clearing tables.

"John?"

"Who wants to know?" He asked not looking up from the table he was wiping down.

"It's me. Allison." He was about to deny knowing me when he looked up and our eyes met.

"Holy crap! Allison?" We hugged. It was weird. I had seen all of you around school after that Monday but it was the first time that I had spoken to any of you. "How ya doin'?"

"Good and you?"

"Getting by. Getting by. Hey, I know I'm off at two." He looked up at the greasy clock which showed 1:45. "How about we go some place and get some real food."

"Sounds good." I wasn't sure what to do. Ethically I didn't think it would be a good idea if I worked with him, but on the other hand I thought, it might be possible for him to open up more with me. So at two he came by my table, told me that he paid for my drink and we left. We ended up going to Ed Debevic's. Should go back there soon I'm sure Maddie would love one of their butterscotch shakes. While we were there I explained to John that it wasn't exactly coincide that brought us together. "What the hell?" I believe was what he said when he found out.

"It was more like, 'Are you shitting me?'"Interrupted Bender.

But surprisingly he talked. And I became his counselor. "I'm doing better. Getting off the coke was hard but I'm back down to only smoking the occasional joint." I must have given him a doubtful look. "Okay more than occasional but at least I'm off the white stuff."

We met three days a week for about eight months and by that time he had really kicked the occasional joint as well. That didn't last though.

She shifted her position on the floor so she was leaning back against the tall bookcase near the door, legs outstretched and ankles crossed. The floor wasn't exactly comfortable but the office was private. "So what happened?" I asked truly curious. Allison looked at Bender as if to ask whether or not she should continue. He nodded at her and reached into his shirt pocket producing a pack of cigarettes.

"Mind if I smoke?"

I didn't answer just got up opened the window and found an old ashtray in my dad's desk. "Thanks."

"May I?" Claire asked him.

"You smoke?"

She nodded. "Sort of got in the habit thanks to you." She took a cancer stick from his pack and he lit it for her.

"You never smoked when we dated."

Another surprise. She led me to believe that was when she started. "No, after you disappeared. I started because I missed the smell and it reminded me of you." The sat there staring at each other so I cleared my throat. I was glad that they hadn't killed each other and Claire was softening towards him but I was more curious about Maddie.

"Well, let's see. Maybe you should be the one telling this John."

"Fine if you want. If I tell it, it won't be romantic."

She smiled at him. "It wasn't that romantic to begin with."

"Okay so I'd been talking to Ally like she said for 8 months when I got a call from my mom. She and I talked on occasion. She'd call when the old man was out drinking or passed out on the couch. Well she called and was hysterical. I couldn't understand what she was saying. So in a panic I hopped into my old shit-box car and drove out here to their house. Amazing that I wasn't stopped by the cops since I made it here in record time. I could hear his yelling and her crying as I approached the door. I didn't even knock just went right on inside.

"Get your fucking hands off of her."

He turned sneering at me. It had been just over 2 years and he looked like he aged a life time. I never thought of him as old before but I guess if you drank as much as he did eventually you'd be able to see it. "Well, well if it isn't the prodigal fucking son. To what do we owe this honor? Oh! I know your whore of a mother... " he let it fade and looked at her. I could see my mom huddled on the yellow linoleum covered kitchen floor in the corner with a bloody nose holding her arm. She too looked much older than I remembered, and very frail.

"You bastard if you touch her again!"

"If I touch her again then what Johnny boy? You are all talk always have been." He screamed other obscenities at me went bitching and moaning about how she burnt his steak. As he pulled his foot back to kick her I grabbed his shoulders and spun him to face me. He went to yell something but his face froze in mid yell and he crumpled to the floor.

"Fuck!"

"What did you do?" yelled my mother as she scrambled on her knees over to his body.

"I didn't do anything!" I remember reaching for the phone and calling 9-1-1. They said they were sending an ambulance and the police. I checked for my father's pulse but there was none. He was dead. Maybe I should have attempted CPR but I didn't. I found out later it wouldn't have mattered as he was dead before he hit the floor; brain aneurysm.

Still at the time even after they took me and my mom to the hospital and plopped dad in a body bag in a hearse I felt like I killed him.

I got back to Chicago and went straight to a dealer I knew on the South Side. The paramedics gave me my dad's wallet so I had $100 in cash it wasn't a lot but I needed a hit of coke. I needed it bad. The guy sold it to me no questions asked except why he hadn't seen me in awhile and that he hoped I didn't have a new dealer. I told him I didn't and he said he would give me a little extra for old time's sake.

It felt good having that blow in my pocket. A kind of comfort that it was there and it would take away the pain. Funny thing is though that when I stopped my car it was in front of Allison's apartment building.

Bender took a break. "Hey, Sporto, think we could have something to drink?"

"Coke…I mean pop okay?" How embarrassing. I didn't mean to say that and got dirty looks from both Allison and Claire.

"Yeah coke if its in brown carbonated liquid form is okay." I was glad that Bender didn't take it wrong.

"Anyone else want some?" Claire and Allison said they did so I went into the kitchen. Mom was there wiping down the counter, her bridge game obviously over. "Did you have fun," I asked her.

"It was nice. But what about you? And what is this with Allison and the little girl?"

"I'm trying to figure that out myself. I'll let you know when I do." I opened the refrigerator and pulled out a two liter bottle and then collected four glasses from the cupboard.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew her?" I knew I would have to face that question from her eventually but now wasn't a good time.

"It's a long story mom; a very long story."

"Well you are a grown man, but I still don't think keeping secrets from your mother is right."

"It's not a secret it just something that hasn't needed to come up."

"Fine I'm going to bed."

"I'll walk you to the stairs." As we arrived at the stairs Allison was coming down. She had been up to check on her daughter. We said good night to mom and she to us and went on up to bed.

"How is Maddie?"

"Sleeping like a rock. I'm sorry I didn't tell you yesterday. I just didn't know it would get this far."

"Don't be sorry. I'm the one who is sorry."

She smiled at me. "I know," was all she said as we went back into the office with John and Claire. I set the tray on the desk and started pouring and handed each of them a glass.

John downed his in one big gulp then said, "So Ally? Want to finish the story?" He released a burp." Claire looked at him in disgust and he apologized.

"Sure why not."

I was asleep when he knocked on my door. At first I didn't even hear it but he was persistent. "I'm coming. I'm coming, keep your shorts on." I was surprised when I looked through the peephole that he was standing there. I didn't even know he knew where I lived. We never met at my place or his. Until then it had really been strictly professional; we either met at a restaurant or at the center.

"John? What are you doing here?"

"I don't know," was all he said. I moved aside and let him in. He looked like hell.

"How did you get my address?"

"If you don't want me here, Ally just tell me and I'll leave."

"No, its okay. A surprise but okay."

"Cute PJ's" It was winter and I had on a pair of Garfield pajamas with feet. "Mine if I have a seat then?"

"Go ahead. What happened?"

"What happened?" He gave a hollow empty sounding laugh. "I killed my father."

"You killed your father?" I asked him again to make sure I heard right. He simply nodded.


"Tell me what exactly happened" He did. He told me exactly the same thing he told you here. When he finished I told him, "You didn't kill your father, John." He looked at me with tears in his eyes. It was the first time I used his given name. "Your father killed himself. You just happened to be there. If you hadn't gone there when you did and distracted him he may have killed your mother and then died. Then you wouldn't have any family left."


"I feel so numb. Yet I hurt. I can't explain it."

"You had a shock." I got up to get him a drink and when I came back I found him with the dope on my coffee table.

"What is that?"

"What does it look like?"

"You can't do that here."

"Just this once."

"I can't let you."

"Then I will leave."

"John do you really want to do that?"

"Yes."

"Fine."

"What?"

"Fine. Snort it. Fry your brain. Turn yourself into a younger version of your father. Ruin your life with that the way your dad ruined his with alcohol."

"I'm not my father."

"Not yet."

"I AM NOT MY FATHER!" He screamed and knocked the table over. I jumped and felt scared. I think it was the first time I was actually afraid of a person. Coke and glass from the top that shattered was all over my floor. He looked at me I had backed into the bedroom doorway. "Allison, I'm sorry." He walked towards me and I took an automatic step backwards. "God I am so sorry." He fell to his knees crying. I knelt down next to him. "It can't be inevitable. I don't want to become like him." We sat on the floor and I rocked him in my arms trying to calm him down and felt such empathy with him I kissed him. To my surprise he kissed me back. And well…things went on from there.

"Trust me it was a surprise when I found out I was pregnant."

"Doesn't surprise me. John Bender is very potent," whispered Claire tears in her eyes.

We all looked at her. "All it takes with him is one time."

"What are you talking about, Claire," he asked her gently.

"You bastard!" she yelled jumping up and throwing a stack of magazines from the desk onto the floor.

"Oh my god, Claire what did you do?" asked Allison. Bender looked as confused as I did.

Clair collapsed on the floor and Allison went over and put her arms around her. "I did the only thing my parents would let me do," she whispered through her tears. "I aborted."