Chapter 9

"What are you doing here?" Stephanie asked the figure.

"Is that anyway to greet your husband?" Sportacus asked. His wife wrapped her arms around him.

"I think the plan has been a success so far. The only thing is will everyone understand when we explain it to them." Stephanie said.

"Well we'll deal with that when the time comes." He reassured her. The two kissed. Then they went out to the living room.

"I thought Uncle Milford told you to lay low at his house. How'd did you get here with no one seeing you?" Stephanie asked.

"I went while everyone was at the town meeting. When I'm not wearing my blue suit, I blend into the background." Sportacus smiled as he picked his son up.

"Even with your silly moustache?" Stephanie teased.

"Silly moustache and all." The above-average hero laughed. Joshua gurgled and smiled as if he understood the joke."Even my own son laughs at my facial hair." Sportacus pretended to be hurt. Joshua smiled and grabbed for his father's hair. Giving it a good tug, Joshua watched his dad pretending that it hurt.

Setting him back down in the swing, Sportacus massaged his scalp. The kid was getting stronger everyday.

"Make sure he doesn't get a hold of anything too well. That hurt." The above-average hero said.

"I've been thinking about Amanda." Stephanie said changing the subject.

"Me, too. I don't know what happened to make Robbie hit her but I'm sure that he didn't mean it." Sportacus' face became serious.

"Maybe I should see if she wants to talk about it." The above-average hero's wife wondered.

"Well your uncle told me that he had passed the news of my 'death' to all the important people but had left the job of telling the kids to us. Why don't you call them over and the two of us will explain everything." Sportacus suggested.

"Yeah and then when everyone leaves, I'll ask Amanda to stay behind." Stephanie said.

"That would work. How did the meeting go this morning?" He asked.

"I think that everyone did their best to pretend Sportacus was dead. I'm sure me crying helped people quite a bit." She smiled.

"I guess those acting lessons at the college certainly paid off then." Sportacus responded.

"If I could only find a way for me to use my history major, then we'd be all set." Stephanie smiled.

Amanda walked through town thinking about what Helga had said. It was quite obvious that they loved each other but if that were so why did he hit her? Every time she thought about it, the angrier she got. He had had no right to hit her whether he was under incredible pressure or not. There was no excuse for it. Sportacus would never hit Stephanie so what made Robbie and her so different? Sportacus. It all flooded back to her. Stephanie probably needed her and she was worrying about her own problems. Her friend had just lost her husband and Robbie would have to wait for later.

As she made her way to her friend's apartment, Trixie came over to her. The two walked in silence for a few minutes. Then Trixie asked,

"Stephanie called me, I'm going over to her house. Where you going?"

"I was just headed there myself." Was all Amanda said.

"What about Robbie?" Her friend asked.

"I don't know." Amanda said flatly. Trixie could see that something was wrong but decided to let it go. Right now, Stephanie needed them.

The two friends knocked on the apartment door. Stephanie let them enter and asked them to sit down. The friends did as they were told and noticed that Pixel, Stingy, and Ziggy were already there.

"I want to thank you for coming. There is some important news that I have to share with you." Stephanie said.

"What's going on?" Pixel asked.

To Be Continued…