Disclaimer: I do not own The Simpsons, the series, its characters are all the property of Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, Sam Simon and 20th Century Fox.

Love at First Sight

Chapter 9: Crime and Punishment

Written By: Super Saiyan Blue Juuhachi

"So how is your back feeling today, Bart?" asked Milhouse as he and Bart walked out of their homeroom class.

"Better. I'm still a little sore but it's not as bad as it was yesterday."

The two made their way to their lockers. Once there they opened them and got what they needed for their first-period class. As they did, Lewis and Richard walked over to them.

"Hey Bart, Milhouse."

"Hey, Lewis, Richard. How are you guys doing?"

"Good."

"I'm doing fine. How did it go in Dondelinger's office yesterday?" Lewis asked as he and the other three began heading to class.

"It went alright. I got two weeks of Janitorial work. Jason and his brothers are serving their time in the cafeteria, serving food and cleaning up."

"That's crap." Richard complained, "You were defending yourself against those jerks, it's not fair you got punished too."

"I could have been expelled Richard, we all could have. I would rather just take my punishment and get it over with than fight against it."

"Whatever you say, man, I'll see you later." Milhouse broke away from the group, heading to his class.

"Yeah, see you later, Bart." Lewis and Richard went their separate ways as well.

"Bye, guys." Bart said as he headed toward class.

—-

Marge was vacuuming the living room when she heard knocking on the door. She turns off the vacuum cleaner and turns towards the door, hearing it again.

"Wonder who that could be."

She walked over to the door and opened it. There she found Ruth Powers in front of her.

"Hey, Marge. Are you busy right now?"

"Well, I was doing some vacuuming…"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, I'll come back later—-" Ruth turned to leave when Marge stopped her .

"No, no, you're fine. I need to take a break anyway." Marge stepped aside to allow Ruth access inside.

"Can I get you something to drink?"

"No, I'm good, thank you."

Both women walked into the living room and sat down.

"I just came over because I had some news I wanted to share with you."

"What is it?"

"You remember when you suggested I try to apply for the Nuclear Power Plant?"

Marge nodded

"Well, I did and I got a call back yesterday. They told me they want me to come in for an interview this afternoon."

"That's great, Ruth." Marge smiled

"Thanks, I feel a little nervous about it. I've never applied to a Nuclear Power Plant before."

"I worked there a few weeks before you and Laura moved in next door."

"Really? How did that go?"

"It was alright for a while, until Mr. Burns came on to me."

"Mr. Burns?"

"He's the owner of the Power Plant and the richest man in town."

"How old is he?" Ruth asked curiously.

"Nobody knows honestly. It has been speculated he's between 80 to 200 years old."

Ruth looks disgusted, "That's disgusting."

"Yeah it is."

"So how did you react to that?"

"I was very uncomfortable and told him I was married hoping to turn him down gently. He didn't like that and fired me."

"Just because you said you're married?"

"Yeah, after that Homer made him apologize to me."

"Wow, your Homer sounds like quite a guy."

"Yes he is. I love him so much."

"How long have you been together?"

"14 years."

"My husband and I were married 13 years before we divorced. 9 years of that were spent traveling. It was exciting at first but overtime it became frustrating. We were traveling so much I had no time to make friends, neither did Laura. Eventually it took its toll on our marriage."

Marge looked sympathetically at her friend.

"He got hurt and was discharged from his service. After that he became depressed. I tried to get him to go to a therapist, talk to someone but he refused. We started fighting all the time and I couldn't take it anymore and asked for a divorce."

"I'm sorry that happened, but there are plenty of good guys out there, you just have to keep looking."

"I know but right now my priority is to take care of my daughter."

Marge nodded, "I understand."

"Well, I gotta get going. I have a lot of things to do before my interview this afternoon."

"Okay, and good luck, Ruth!"

"Thanks, I'm going to need it."

Marg watched as Ruth then left. She hoped that if things worked out she had better luck at the Plant than she did.

Laura went through the lunch line to get her lunch when she saw Jason, Kyle and Devon. She reached her pocket and pulled out her phone as she slid the tray up to them. As they put food on her plate, she smiled and held up her phone.

"Smile boys!" She snapped a picture, blinding them temporarily with the flash.

"Dammit, what's wrong with you?" Jason grumbled, rubbing his eyes

"Just thought this moment needed to be captured."

"Yeah? Well, you had your fun, now get out of here!"

Laura kept the smile on her face as she walked away, feeling a matter of triumph over humiliating the three boys. She paid for her lunch and exited the line looking for a seat.

She saw Bart sitting by himself eating lunch and walked over to his table.

"You look like you could use some company."

Bart looked up and smiled as he saw her.

"Hey, Laura."

"Hey." She smiled as she sat down beside him. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing good. How are you?"

"I'm good."

"Listen, I just wanted to thank you for putting up with my little sister last night. She can be a bit pushy when it comes to the Happy Little Elves."

"It's no problem, your sister is adorable."

"Thanks."

There was a brief silence before Bart spoke again.

"So um, I wanted to ask you…" He began, glancing at her

"Yes?"

"...after I am done with my janitorial duties today I was thinking maybe we could do something, you and me."

"Like what?

"I don't know. I thought maybe we could see a movie or if you didn't want to do that we could walk you home."

"Yeah, if you wanted to walk me home, that would be nice."

" Really?" Bart got a hopeful smile on his face

Laura nodded, "What time do you get done with your janitorial duties?"

"3:30."

"Sounds good. I'll see you after school then."

"Alright, see you at 3:30."

"See you later, Laura."

He smiled as he watched Laura walk away. She glanced over her shoulder at thim as she went. . Bart could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Part of it was due to the awkwardness he felt, but the other half was from the excitement of being able to walk her home.

Bart knew it shouldn't be a big deal but it was to him. It was the first time they had spent time together since she and her mom moved to Springfield.

He then walked away, feeling happy as he exited the cafeteria and headed to class.

—-

The doors to Homer's workstation hissed open and in walked Waylon Smithers with the new hire Ruth Powers. Both found Homer snoring loudly as he slept at his console.

"Simpson!" Smithers shouted, waking him up

"Huh, what?" Homer looked around startled when his sights set on Smithers.

"Sleeping on the job, Homer?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Smithers it was an accident really. I was watching the core when I started to get drowsy…"

Smithers rolled his eyes, "I don't have time for your excuses. I came here because I want to introduce to you our newest member here at the Power Plant, Ruth Powers."

"Nice to meet you." Homer greeted her

"It's nice to meet you too, Homer."

"Ruth is going to be working with you. I want you to give her a tour, give her a feel of what our Nuclear Power Plant is all about."

"Yes, sir." Homer replied

Smithers walked out the room, the automatic doors hissing as they closed behind him.

Homer stood and said "Okay, I guess we better get started. Follow me." They exited his work station and began their journey through the Power Plant.

"There are four sectors. Where we are now Sector-7G. It's pretty quiet here for the most part. Everyone just keeps their head down and does their jobs."

Ruth nodded.

"My job I'm the safety inspector, I check over everything, make sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to and monitor the core."

"I see. Why does everyone look exhausted?" She asked noticing the tired expressions on everyone's faces as they worked

"We have been on mandatory overtime for the last few weeks so it's really taken its toll on everyone."

"Ah, I see."

"Come on, I'll take you through the other sectors…" They walked out of Sector 7G and walked on to see the other levels.

"Finally finished…" Bart sighed as he had completed his janitorial duties for the day. He grabbed his things and walked towards the doors where he found Laura waiting for him.

"Are you ready to go?" She asked him

"Yeah."

They exited the building and began walking home.

"So that janitorial work, how long do you have to do that?"

"Two weeks."

"Wow. Is that your punishment for the fight?"

"Yeah. Jason and his brother's punishment is a month of serving and cleaning up the cafeteria."

"Those jerks. It's what they deserve."

"Yeah, it is." Bart nodded his head

"That wasn't fair you got punished too."

Bart shrugged, "It's what it is. Besides this nothing, one time I had detention for 600 days."

"600 days? Really?" She asked shocked

Bart nodded

"What did you do?"

"I took the blame for my sister."

"Huh?"

"Lisa rebelled after learning she was not going to be a saxophone player as she always dreamed and stole the answer books from all the teachers. I had a reputation for causing trouble so I took the blame so Lisa wouldn't have to deal with the consequences."

"And they never found out it was her?"

"No."

"Wow that's amazing Bart, protecting your sister like that."

"Thanks." He smiled at her

"Did you ever get in trouble at school?"

"No, never." Laura shook her head "But a lot of that had to do with I never stayed at any school long enough to get in trouble."

"Oh yeah, because you were always traveling."

"Yeah, I got in trouble a few times when I was a kid but nothing too serious."

"I was always getting into trouble when I was younger, with my parents, at school. For a long time, getting grounded and having detention was an almost daily occurrence."

"Why did you stop?" She asked curiously

"I pulled every prank you can imagine when I was younger. I guess I felt that I just did everything and there was nothing else I could do so I just moved from it."

"You matured." Laura grinned

"Yeah, I guess. Never really thought about it before."

They soon arrived at their houses. Bart and Laura looked at them a moment before turning to each other.

"This is our stop."

"Yeah, thanks for walking me home, that was really nice of you."

"No problem, thanks for waiting for me."

"You're welcome." Laura smiled at him, "Well, I better go, I'll see you later, Bart."

"See you later." Bart watched her as she walked away from him and over to her house.

Once she was inside and closed the door, Bart walked up to his own house and entered.

"Bart?"

"Yeah, mom it's me!" He called out to her

"If you have any homework, go ahead and do it, dinner will be in an hour."

"Alright." Bart replied. He grabbed his things and went upstairs to begin his homework.