"Sara Stokes." She answered the phone, on her way to another crime scene cheerily.

"Hi, baby, it's Nick." He answered in a tone that indicated he wasn't happy. "I was heading to a crime scene down at the mall, and guess who I ran across?"

Sara didn't need more than one guess. She knew by her husband's tone it must be Kelsey. It was a school day, about eleven in the morning, and Kelsey was not where she needed to be. A few days before, she'd been busted on not going to the math help sessions, and now she was skipping school.

"Kelsey's skipping school?" She practically yelled incredulously. Both she and her husband were at their rope's end with Kelsey. It was just one thing after another, seemingly nonstop. They wanted their daughter to be happy and well-behaved, but Kelsey just seemed to want to misbehave whenever the opportunity presented itself. "Where is she now?"

"I have her at home. She's up in her room right now." Nick reported, looking up the stairs from his spot in the living room.

"Did you call the school?"

"Yeah, I did. They said I could bring her in today if we wanted, or wait until tomorrow if we wanted to talk to her at home."

"Talk?" Sara repeated. "I think we're beyond the talking phase! We've talked our heads off to that girl, and it doesn't help at all! Geez, Nick, what the hell is wrong with her?"

Nick was glad Sara wasn't home yet. She really needed to calm down before she said something to Kelsey she didn't mean. Granted, Nick had already had an aggravated chat with his daughter before sending her to her room so they could both calm down.

"Sara, you need to calm down. I'm really upset with her right now too, but biting her head off won't help."

"Oh, yeah? What else haven't we tried?" She retorted.

"Sara." He warned.

"Alright, alright. I'm on my way home." Sara snapped her cell phone shut with an angry zest and sped down the road. Nick turned the cordless phone off and sighed, figuring he better get upstairs before she got any ideas for making up stories and excuses. He hated to admit it, but she was really good at lying. Sometimes, he just couldn't tell if she was being honest or not, and that killed him.

When he entered her room again, she had her headphones on listening to music with a scowl on her face. He knew she was aware of him, but continued to ignore him until he stood over her bed where she was laying. Finally, he reached down and hit the stop button.

"Take 'em off." He told her. Kelsey slowly took the phones out of her ears and sat up, taking her sweet time. She was dressed in a mini skirt Nick had never seen and a low cut shirt that showed off too much. "I thought I told you to change."

"I like my clothes." She informed him.

"What clothes? They barely cover you!"

Kelsey didn't say anything, just stared up at him. It scared Nick to death when she looked at him like that, as if to say, 'I don't have to do anything you say'. And truthfully, he couldn't get her to do anything. He wanted her to take the steps herself. Nick could punish her all he wanted, but it wouldn't make Kelsey want to be better.

"Why'd you skip school today?" He asked, straight up.

"Because I hate school." Kelsey explained simply, tucking her legs underneath herself and examining her bit-down nails.

"And why do you suppose that is?"

"All the teachers are bitches."

Nick chose to bite his tongue. She wanted to get him ticked, and she was succeeding.

"Well, do you think maybe they're getting frustrated with you because you don't do the work?" Nick tried reasoning with her, though it was hard to these days. It was like his real daughter was trapped inside some shell. He knew that deep down, his daughter knew what she was doing wrong. She was choosing to do this; to mess around at school and defy her parents. Nick knew his little girl was in there somewhere, but he hadn't seen her for years.

"I don't care what they think! I wish everyone would just get off my ass!" Kelsey yelled, getting up off the bed. "I don't care about school right now. I know you do, but that doesn't mean I do!"

Nick just wanted to scream at her and throttle her for being so belligerent, but that wouldn't help his case. That wouldn't help Kelsey. He was silent for a few moments, pondering what to do. Nick just didn't know what to do anymore.

"You know what, fine." Nick waved his hand in dismissal, "I'll leave until you can talk to me with a little more respect and your attitude's gone."

"Great, then you'll stay out of my room until I move out?" She retorted, pushing every button she could.

"Likely chance, Kelsey. Good luck with your mother when she gets home." Nick closed the door loudly behind him, not believing how disrespectful she had gotten. What happened to the little girl in pigtails that would run to him when he got home from work? Nowadays, she didn't come out of her room unless she had to. She avoid him and her mother, and seemed to hate her life.

Nick cooled down again until his wife returned. Sara was about as pissed off as he had been minute earlier, and she was about to bolt up the stairs and tear her daughter to pieces when Nick stopped her.

"Sara, don't go up there right now." He tried to stop her, grabbing her upper arm and pulling her back into the living room.

"I am sick of her attitude, Nick. I'm letting her have it! She's skipping school now? We cannot put up with this, Nick!" Sara had tears in her eyes, at her wits end. She had no idea how to help Kelsey and it killed her inside. Despite being a wonderful mother and being there always for her daughter, Kelsey seemed to hate her.

"I know, Sara. That's why we need to calm down and think." He tried to reason. Sara seemed to calm down, so Nick let her arm go, his own returning to his hips in a frustrated stance. "Come on. Let's sit down and talk."

Sara reluctantly followed her husband to the couch. She'd try just about anything right now.

"I think we need to medicate her and send her to a shrink." Sara told her husband before he could start. "He can deal with her for a while."

"Sara, you don't want to send her away. You'd never forgive yourself for that." Nick rubbed his wife's back, trying to calm her, though he wasn't thinking that straight now either.

"Catherine talks all the time about Lindsey's school. Butterfield Academy?" Nick started, "It's expensive, but she said she's seen such a change in Lindsey. And we all know how disturbed Lindsey got."

Sara thought about Lindsey and how angry she had been after her father's death and because of Catherine's work schedule. She was on the wrong track at her old school, but Butterfield's strict environment helped straighten her out. Now Lindsey's behavior had improved dramatically, and she was pulling A's and B's in school.

"Nick, she got a huge lump of cash from Sam Braun. There's no way we could afford that school."

"Well, can we look into it? It's for our daughter, the most important thing in the world. I really don't know what else to do with her, and I think this school might help."

"Can we take her to the doctor first?"

"Of course. But I'll ask Catherine about tuition costs. And we'd keep her at home, so we wouldn't have to worry about room and board."

Sara sighed and closed her eyes. Her daughter had gone buns-up. Whatever happened? Where did they go wrong? But Nick was right. They needed to get her some help. And fast, before she completely lost it, and they had no control over what happened to Kelsey. They'd do anything for either of their kids.

"Okay." She whispered, reluctance tainting her usually confident voice.

Nick gave her a sweet, supportive kiss, glad they were going to try something.

"Okay. Are you calm now? Can you go talk to her?" Nick looked into her eyes seriously. Not that he should be talking – he'd about ripped Kelsey to shreds when they first got home.

"Yeah. I'll try not to bite her head off, but I'm not making any promises." She semi-joked. Nick kissed her again and they got up hand in hand, and made their way for the stairs.

A/N: A completely heinous child is actually quite fun to write. I hope you don't hate her completely. She's interesting to write, though! Let me know what you think.