Author's Notes: Well, I thought I was going to have Derek and Bobby bump heads in this chapter, but the more I wrote, the more I realized I had too many ideas for that to happen. Sooooo, I hope I'll get to that in the next chapter. I'd like to dedicate this chapter to chlark4 to make up for the 'cruel' way I ended the previous chapter. LOL. I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations and adds to your enjoyment of the story. Thank you (and everyone else) for reading this story. I'm very grateful. LO:CI and its characters belong to Dick Wolf and company; I'm just borrowing them for a little while. Any and all mistakes made are my own. Read, review and enjoy. :o)

Wednesday, September 7, 1977
Home of Bill and Susannah Lewis
Dinnertime

"Set the table, please, Cara," Susannah said as she started to put frosting on the cake. "Okay, Mom," Cara replied. She got some plates and glasses out of the cupboard and took them out to the dining room table. She hummed to herself as she began to set the table. Susannah had just put the last bit of frosting on the cake when the phone rang. "You want me to get that?" Cara asked. "That's okay, sweetie. I've got it." Susannah put the spreading knife and bowl into the sink before she walked over to the phone that was hanging on the wall.

Cara continued setting the table while Susannah was on the phone. She paused near the kitchen doorway, trying to eavesdrop on the conversation. She couldn't hear a word her mother was saying because she was speaking in a low and hushed tone. "Must be talking to somebody about Bobby," Cara thought to herself. "That's the only time she ever talks like that." She had been so preoccupied with her eavesdropping and thoughts, she didn't hear Susannah walk up behind her.

"You forgot the silverware, Miss Nosy," Susannah said with a smirk. Cara jumped about 2 feet into the air. "Mom! You scared me!" she squealed, putting her hand over her racing heart. Susannah gave her a sly grin as she placed the utensils on the table. "I've told you about doing that." Cara sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mother. I know you have," she said sarcastically. "But you only talk like that when you're talking about Bobby. We're his family. We should know what's going on."

Susannah pinched both of Cara's cheeks and smiled. "I'm glad you're concerned about Bobby. But you don't have to worry. Your dad and I will handle everything. You just concern yourself with college and getting good grades." "Mom, I'm not a little kid any more. I'm a grown woman. I can handle anything you tell me about Bobby, you know." Susannah lightly chuckled. "Yes, sweetheart. I know you're an adult," she said.

Cara tilted her head to the side and said, "But you're still not going to tell me what you said on the phone about Bobby." Susannah tapped Cara on the nose with her index finger, giving her a "mother-knows-all" smile before walking back into the kitchen.

CeCe, holding onto Bobby's wrist with both of her hands, pulled herself up onto her toes to better lean into the kiss from him. Exactly 30 seconds had passed when they came up for air. They just stared into each other's eyes for a little bit. "Wow," CeCe softly exclaimed. Bobby smiled. He looked down and noticed that she was holding his wrist and up on her tiptoes. She smiled sheepishly as she lowered herself back to the floor. "Sorry. Ballet."

Bobby chuckled as he looked at the ground. He was feeling conflicted about what just happened. "You wanted to kiss her. You got your wish. You jerk! You shouldn't have done that! Now, she'll think that you're pressuring her into having sex or something." CeCe wrung her hands together as she stared at her feet. This was the first time she had ever kissed a boy. She wondered if she had done it correctly. Bobby sighed heavily, running his fingers through his hair. "I shouldn't have done that," he said. She looked up at him, a confused look on her face. "Why?" she asked softly.

"Because according to my brother, any girl that lets you kiss her without going on a date will have sex with you," Bobby thought to himself. Instead, he shrugged, shaking his head. "You wouldn't understand." CeCe asked, "Did I kiss you wrong?" He made a face as he looked at her. "Why would you say that?" She looked at the ground and shrugged. "You're the first boy I've ever kissed," she replied quietly. "I've seen lots of kissing scenes in movies, but I haven't practiced with anyone."

Bobby scoffed lightly. "You've never kissed a boy before? I find that kinda hard to believe," he said. She looked up at him. "Honest. I'm telling the truth," she said. "I believe you, CeCe. It's just that…I thought you would have left a boyfriend or 2 behind in North Carolina." Her beads rattled together as she shook her head. "No boyfriends. I liked a couple of guys, but they didn't want anything to do with me. I wasn't popular or pretty enough for them."

"I think you're very pretty," Bobby mumbled quickly as he looked at the ground. He blew out a breath and ran his fingers through his hair. CeCe's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Thank you," she said softly. He looked at her, opening and closing his mouth a few times, trying to find the right words to say. Finally, he said, "I-I-I shouldn't have kissed you because…because…I-I-I don't want you to think I want something from you." A confused look crossed her face. CeCe didn't understand what Bobby was talking about, but she slowly nodded her head and said, "Oh, okay."

Bobby sighed heavily and threw up his hands. "I-I-I don't know how to explain it," he said as he gestured with his hands. "There are some things about me, about my family, that you-you-you wouldn't understand!" "You can tell me. I'll try to understand," CeCe said. He shook his head. He turned around and started hitting on the punching bag again. She stood there for a minute, looking at him. Her mind flashed back to the first night she spent in North Carolina at Henri Rose's home, her maternal grandmother, after her father's death. "Some people have so much chaos in their lives that they don't know how to express their thoughts or feelings. All you can do, my pretty cinnamon girl, is just let them be and wait for them to open up."

CeCe decided to follow Nana Rose's advice. She went and sat down on the couch, watching Bobby hit the punching bag. "He'll probably never tell me why he shouldn't have kissed me," she thought to herself. "But I'm gonna wait and see."

"Susie, I'm home," Bill Lewis said as he walked into the kitchen from the garage. "Hi, honey," she said, closing the refrigerator door. He walked over to her and kissed her cheek, handing her a bag filled with lemons and sugar. "Thank you very much, kind sir." Bill bowed and said, "You're welcome, kind lady." She laughed as she went to work on making lemonade.

"Where are the kids?" Bill asked. "Cara's on the phone talking to her roommate, Jennie," Susannah replied. "They want to go to Atlantic City next weekend to see Jennie's uncle Bruno perform his magic act at one of the casinos." Bill grunted. "Two young women in AC by themselves? Without a chaperone? I don't think so," he said. "Oh, Bill. You're overreacting. You know darn well that if Cara and Jennie go to AC, then their 2 other roommates and the guys who live next door to them will go, too." "I'm still not impressed by a bunch of barely 19- and 20 year old kids going to Atlantic City by themselves without any kind of supervision."

Susannah stopped cutting the lemons to put her hands on her hips. "Well, would you feel better if you and I went with them?" she asked. Bill stroked his chin as he mulled over what his wife just said. "Yes, I would feel better, but I don't see how we can go." She smiled and said, "The casino is letting Bruno have some free rooms and tickets for all of his guests. I've already called Doug and told him to take care of the shop while you're gone. We're leaving early Friday afternoon after the kids are finished with their classes." She went back to cutting the lemons.

Bill narrowed his eyes at Susannah. "You could have just told me that, you know," he said. She just chuckled. "Where are the rest of the kids?" he asked. "Lewis is hanging out upstairs with Mattie and Tricia. Bobby is down in the basement, probably hitting the punching bag again." Bill shook his head. "I guess I should be grateful he's taking his anger out on an inanimate object instead of an actual person." "He's got company with him," Susannah said. Bill made a face. "What kind of company?" "The cute kind with dimples."

"There's a girl down there with Bobby?" Bill asked in awe. Susannah smiled and nodded. "Who is she?" "According to Mrs. Haynes, her name is CeCe Harper. She's Derek Harper's little sister and she just moved back up here from North Carolina." "Mrs. Haynes called?" "Yes," Susannah replied. "Miss Wells told her about the band-aid on Bobby's face and her suspicion about how and why it was there." "Richard Goren needs to burn in hell," Bill muttered angrily under his breath.

Susannah looked at her husband. "Bill, don't let Richard Goren upset you," she said softly. "Dammit, Susie! I can't help but to be upset," Bill said. "What kind of man raises his hand to his own child in anger?! I swear I'm going to punch Richard's lights out the next time I see him." Susannah stopped stirring the lemonade. She sighed as she put her arms around Bill's waist, giving him a squeeze. He squeezed her back. She looked up at him and smiled. She said, "You know that Richard is not going to change his ways. He is who he is. What we should focus on is making sure that Bobby knows that there are people who love him and that not everyone is like Richard."

Bill kissed Susannah's forehead as he gave her another squeeze. "I knew I married you for more than just your looks," he said teasingly. She laughed. "I'm so happy to know that," she said before putting a serious look on her face. "Bobby's company has bandages and bruises on both of her upper arms. I talked to Mrs. Haynes about it. She said that Miss Wells told her about that, too." Bill frowned. "This girl's being abused, too?" he asked. She shrugged. "They don't know. They're going to try to find out." He sighed heavily and said, "Good grief. I hope they do."

Susannah gave Bill a small smile. "I'm going to finish making the lemonade and put the food on the table. You go and introduce yourself to CeCe Harper, then tell the kids that dinner's ready." Bill smiled and nodded, giving her a quick kiss on the lips. "Okay. I'm gonna clean up a little bit before I come down to dinner." "Okay." Bill and Susannah kissed each other one more time before he walked out of the kitchen and down to the basement.

CeCe turned her head when she heard footsteps coming down the basement stairs. She stood up and smiled nervously when Bill reached the bottom of the steps. "Susie wasn't kidding about the dimples," he thought to himself. He put a big smile on his face, extending his hand out to CeCe. "I'm Bill Lewis, Jedidiah's dad," he said. "You must be CeCe." She nodded as she shook his hand. "Yes, sir. N-nice to meet you," she said. Bobby had stopped hitting the punching bag when he heard Bill's voice. "Hey, Bobby," Bill said. "Hey."

"Dinner's almost ready," Bill said. He looked at Bobby and said, "You gonna put on a clean shirt before sitting down to eat?" Bobby nodded. "Okay. I'll see you 2 upstairs. I'm gonna round up the rest of the crew." He smiled, then headed back upstairs. Bobby wiped the sweat from his brow as he walked towards the stairs. CeCe fell in step beside him. "Lewis' parents seem to be nice," she said. He nodded. "They're really nice," he said.

Bobby paused at the bottom of the stairs, turning his body towards CeCe. He ran his fingers through his hair as he glanced at the ground. He looked at her and said, "I-I-I'm sorry if I'm acting kinda flaky. It's just that…I've got a lot of stuff going on that you wouldn't understand." CeCe shrugged. "It's okay," she said quietly. "You can tell me if you want to. I-I won't tell anybody." He gave her a small smile. "Thanks," he said. CeCe blushed as she smiled. "You're welcome."

"I'm gonna go change my shirt," Bobby said. He leaned down and quickly kissed the dimple on CeCe's cheek, then ran up the stairs, taking them 2 at a time. "Wow," she softly exclaimed as she touched her cheek.

Wednesday, September 7, 1977
Harpers' Apartment Building
Dinnertime

Veronica giggled when Derek kissed her behind the ear. "Where's my bra, Derek?" she asked as she slipped on her panties, then her jeans. "I don't know," he said. He turned around in the middle of his room. He spied the elusive bra laying on the floor underneath his desk. He picked it up and threw it at her. "Quit throwing stuff at me," Veronica said. Derek rolled his eyes while he put his clothes on. "Ain't nobody throwing stuff at you, Ronnie. Quit complaining."

There was a knock on Derek's bedroom door. A female voice said, "Derek, you and Ronnie need to hurry up and get out here. Y'all are so rude and nasty!" Veronica opened the door and found her friend Anna standing there. "How can you say anything when you've got a fresh hickey on your neck?" she said, pointing. Anna placed a hand over the hickey while Derek and Veronica walked out of the room passed her, smirking.

Sitting in the Harpers' living room was Tank Holt and his cousin Gilbert Hensley, who also played football for Hudson-Brooklyn, and 2 of Derek's friends/basketball team mates, James Williams and Nathan Ingles, Anna and Debbie. "Dang, you just couldn't wait until we were gone before you had sex?" Tank said as he stuffed a handful of chips into his mouth. "Shut up, Tank," Derek said playfully as he grabbed the bag of chips away from him and sat down on the floor next to Veronica. Anna went and snuggled up next to Tank on the couch. "You can't talk," Derek said. "Anna done let you mark up her neck." Anna poked out her bottom lip and said, "Shut up about my neck." Everybody laughed at her.

"Hey, Derek, where's your sister?" Nathan asked. "I thought you said she was going to be here." Derek shrugged. "She's probably at the library," he replied. "Oh brother! Don't tell me she's a egghead?!" Veronica said. "Yeah, CeCe's a square, but she's cool once you get to know her." "Only thing squares are good for are being sticks in the mud. No wonder she wants to hang out with Bobby and his friends." Derek shook his head. "I don't want her hanging out with Bobby because I know he's probably a racist like his daddy and a smooth talker like his brother," he said.

"What are you talking about?" Anna asked. "You remember that pizza place we went to last year after we won that game against Emory Prep?" Derek asked. Anna shook her head. "The one that Mr. Clayton, Coach Harkins, Miss Wells and Mrs. Haynes held a pizza party for the basketball and football teams for winning against Emory at both sports that night." Anna's face lit up with understanding. "Oh, you're talking about when Bobby's daddy and some woman came stumbling through the door drunk."

"Yeah, that night," Derek said. "Mrs. Haynes and Mr. Clayton were talking to me, Jake, Bobby, Jerry and Milton when Bobby's daddy walked over to where we was at. Mr. Clayton told him about how me and Milton were the top 2 scorers for the game. He made a face when he looked me, Jerry and Milton up and down. He made the same face when he looked at Mrs. Haynes and Mr. Clayton. He said, 'Only things that colored people are good for are taking out the trash and shining my shoes.'" "What did Bobby do?" Anna asked. "Nothing! He just got real quiet and walked off."

"Oh my God!" Veronica said. "Why didn't you tell me about that?" Derek shook his head. He said, "Mr. Clayton told us to ignore that fool. That he wasn't worth the energy to get angry over. It took Bobby a week to apologize to us." "A week!?" She scoffed. "I'm surprised you didn't beat Bobby's ass for that shit!" "I ain't forgot! He's okay and got some decent basketball moves. I'll speak to him, but I am damn sure not gonna hang out with him. I know I'm not gonna let CeCe hang out with him either."

"What about his brother?" Debbie asked. "You said Bobby is like his brother." "Shit, that's easy," Tank said. "Frank Goren got 2 girls pregnant his senior year. One of them got an abortion. I thought you knew." "I thought that that was just a rumor," Anna said. Tank shook his head. Derek said, "That's true. And I also know that Bobby went skinny dipping this summer with the Shea twins." Veronica narrowed her eyes at him. "HOW do you know?" she asked. He sighed heavily. "Because a friend of Jake's told him and he told me," he replied.

The telephone rang. "Be quiet," Derek said as he got up to answer it. "Hello," he said.

"Hey, Derek. It's Mama," Rosalie said.

"Hey, Ma. What's up?"

"Not much. Just checking to make sure you're at home."

"I'm here, watching TV."

"Hmmm. I see." A few seconds of silence passed before she said, "Derek, put Veronica on the phone."

Derek's mouth dropped open. "Uh, Veronica's not here," he said. Veronica looked at him with surprise.

"Derek," Rosalie said, "tell me that lie again and your punishment will be for 2 months. Put her on the phone. NOW." He slumped his shoulders, holding the phone out to his girlfriend. "My mama wants to talk to you."

Veronica got up and took the receiver from Derek. "Hi, Mrs. Harper," she said sweetly.

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Hi, Veronica. I'm not sure if Derek told you or not, but he's grounded for a month. Part of the punishment is that he's not allowed to have company without me being there. So, you and the rest of his friends need to leave NOW before he gets into any more trouble. Please put Derek back on the phone." Rosalie smiled to herself. "She must think I'm a bitch," she thought to herself. "Yes, little girl. I run Derek's life, not you."

Veronica looked at the phone in disgust. "Bitch!" She gave the receiver to Derek. She folded her arms across her chest and sighed dramatically. "We got to leave now before Derek's gets in trouble," she said. Everyone looked at her with puzzled looks.

"Mama, what you say to Veronica?" Derek asked.

"I told her that she and your friends need to leave before you get into more trouble," Rosalie said. "Tell them to leave."

Derek kicked the back of the couch. "Y'all gotta go," he said. "Damn, man. Your mama runs your life," Tank said teasingly as he followed the others out of the apartment. Veronica kissed Derek's cheek, then she walked out, closing the door behind her.

"They're gone, Ma," Derek said through clenched teeth.

"That's good for you because you just added an extra week to your punishment for disobeying me."

"Dang, Mama! That's unfair! If I'm getting punished, then CeCe needs to be punished, too! She's not here."

"As a matter of fact, I DO know where your sister is AND what time she's suppose to be home. I'll be calling to check on her. What you don't understand, son, is that I was a teenager, too. And I pulled some of the same stunts you're trying to pull. So, whatever you're thinking, I thought of it first."

Derek sighed, thinking about what his mother said. "Whatever, Mama."

Rosalie chuckled. "I gotta get back to work. I'll talk to you later. I love you."

"Love you, too, Ma. Bye."

Wednesday, September 7, 1977
Home of Bill and Susannah Lewis
Dinnertime

Susannah had already put the pitcher of lemonade and a bowl of ice on the table. She was placing the pot roast on the table by the time CeCe had come upstairs from the basement. "D-d-do you need any help, Mrs. Lewis?" she asked nervously as she wrung her hands together. Nana Rose's words went through her head again. "Always offer to help, say 'yes, ma'am or no, ma'am' or 'yes, sir or no, sir,' say 'please' and 'thank you' and be on your best behavior when you're visiting someone's home. Heaven knows, I didn't raise my children to raise bad mannered children."

Susannah smiled as she regarded CeCe, taking note of her nervousness. "I bet she's probably not aware of what she's doing with her hands." "No, thank you, CeCe. I've got everything under control," she said. "Oh, okay." She walked over to CeCe, taking her hands into both of her hands. "Are you okay?" Susannah asked with a smile. CeCe looked down at her hands, then looked at Susannah. "Yes, ma'am. I'm fine. Sorry," she said quietly. Susannah shook her head. "You don't have to apologize. It's okay to be nervous around new people."

Cara walked into the dining room, stopping next to CeCe and Susannah. "Geez, Mom. Are you sending out the 'meanie' vibes already?" she said teasingly. She winked her eye at CeCe, who laughed. Susannah rolled her eyes. "For your information, Miss Smarty Pants, I was telling CeCe that it's okay to be nervous around new people." "Oh." CeCe laughed again at the exchange between mother and daughter. A faint look of sadness spread over Susannah's face as she looked at CeCe's injuries. She quickly smiled, trying to make sure neither girl saw the sad look.

"Mom, can we please eat now? I'm totally starving," Lewis said as he came into the dining room, Tricia and Mattie right on his heels. "Yes, Mrs. Lewis, we should eat now," Mattie said. "I'm about to pass out from hunger." "I agree with her," Cara said and walked to the table. Susannah laughed. She turned away from CeCe and headed towards the table.

CeCe hung back, unsure of where she should sit. Bobby and Bill came into the room seconds later. Bill smiled as he passed her. She smiled and blushed, looking at the ground when Bobby stopped next to her. A big grin broke out on his face. He gently tugged on one of her braids and said softly, "Come on. Sit next to me." "Okay," she said. She followed him to the table. Bill and Susannah both caught the flirty exchange between Bobby and CeCe. They looked at each other in surprise. Cara saw the look her parents were giving each other, wondering what was going on. "Ugh! I'm always missing something," she huffed as she sat down.