For the next two days, Silas hung around the Sneer mansion. Every time he came near Forest, he would start to pitch a fit, until Cedric, Sophia, or Cyril came in and tried to calm him down.

"Your grandson's sure got a good set of lungs," Silas commented. "He takes after you in that department."

"Ha, ha," Cyril said, sarcastically. "That was so funny, I forgot to laugh, Silas."

"Cedric tells me every time you lose it, the baby just laughs."

"He does. I haven't figured it out. Neither has Cedric for that matter, but every time I lose my temper, Forest just laughs."

Silas nodded. He looked at Forest, and smiled. Forest let out a wail, and tried to bury his face in Cyril's shoulder.

"There he goes again," Cyril groaned. "You'd better leave the room, Silas. I don't think Forest likes you."

"What does he know?" Silas asked. "He's just a baby."

Silas shrugged, and left the room. Once he was gone, Forest calmed down. Cyril sighed and looked at his grandson.

"I know what you're thinking," he said. "How could we have been best friends, right? I'm beginning to wonder that myself."

Forest stuck his thumb in his mouth, and began to suck on it. Cyril put Forest into the crib, and turned on his mobile so he could take a nap. Then he left the room and closed the door.

Later that night, Bert, Ralph, and Melissa came to the door. Cedric answered it.

"Hey Cedric," Bert said. "You ready to go?"

"Where are you going?" Cyril asked, coming into the room.

"Oh, Bert got tickets for a baseball game," Cedric said. "He asked if I wanted to go with him, Melissa, and Ralph. We'll be back pretty late. It's an out of town game."

"Oh," Cyril said. "Well, have fun."

"Yeah, Cedric," Silas said. "You and B and Mel and Shorty have a good time. Try and catch a few homers to bring back as souvenirs."

"Will do," Bert said.

Ralph and Melissa rolled their eyes. They were beginning to see the reason why Forest disliked Silas so much. But they said nothing, and left the mansion with Bert and Cedric. Cyril and Silas went into the kitchen where Sophia was giving Forest his dinner. When Forest saw Silas, he grabbed the spoon, and flung strained carrots at him.

"Forest!" Sophia scolded. "You know throwing your food is a no-no!"

Forest didn't care if he was being lectured. He was glad he clobbered Silas with carrots, and he'd gladly do it again!

"It's all right, Sophia," Silas said. "It's just carrots."

"You're taking it well," Cyril said. "I thought you'd lose your temper about it."

"I've taken anger management courses," Silas said. "You should try it, Cyril. They're very relaxing."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Sophia didn't pay any attention to the conversation. She wiped Forest's face with his bib, took him out of the highchair, and then went upstairs with him, in order to get him ready for bed. Once she got him into the crib, she turned on the mobile, and left. A few hours later, Forest started crying. Sophia came into the room, and began running her fingers along Forest's ears. Forest liked it when she did that. It always relaxed him. As Sophia was trying to get Forest off to dreamland, Silas came into the room and leaned against the door frame.

"Ah, a devoted mother," he said. "I like that in a hot, young chick."

"Excuse me?" Sophia asked. She stood up, turned around, and gave Silas a funny look.

"Think about it, Sophia. Baby Forest is going to bed, Cyril's working his tail off in his office, and he ain't about to come out, and Cedric's gone to a ball game."

"Mr. Morales, please! I'm a married woman!"

Sophia was about ready to head out the door immediately when Silas grabbed her by the arm.

"Come on, baby, Cedric's nothing but a nerd!" he shouted. "I'm twice the man he'll ever be!"

"Not to mention twice my age," Sophia said.

"I like the young chicks!"

"Chick this!"

Sophia then stomped on Silas's instep as hard as she possibly could. Then she practically ran to the crib to take Forest, and get out of there as fast as possible, but Silas regained his composure, and grabbed Sophia's arms before she could even reach the baby.

"Maybe I'm not making myself clear to you, Sophie-baby," he said. "Silas Morales is the type of guy who always gets what he wants, no questions asked."

Sophia struggled against Silas, but he was too strong for her. He may have been twice as old as she was, but he had the strength of someone in their mid-twenties. Forest didn't like where this was going, even though he had no clue what was going on. All he knew was that he didn't like this guy, and it looked like he was hurting his mommy. He took his bottle and threw it. It was close enough to hit Silas on the head.

BONK!

"Hey!" Silas shouted, glaring at Forest. "Why you little pipsqueak! Wait'll I get my hands on you!"

"Leave him alone, you bully!" Sophia shouted, shooting to her feet. She began pounding Silas in the shoulder, keeping him away from Forest.

Silas gave Sophia a shove, which caused her to lose her balance. She crashed to the floor, but got up almost immediately. She wasn't about to let anything happen to her baby. Silas was getting a little tired of this. He grabbed Sophia by the arms, and threw her into the wall as hard as he could.

"You'd better not mess with me, Sophie," he said. "You could get hurt that way. Or worse yet, your baby could get hurt."

Silas was about to leave the room, but Sophia wasn't about to let him go. Not after he threatened Forest like that. She tried to grab him, but she was the one who ended up being grabbed. Silas tried to force her into another room, but Sophia managed to pull herself away by the staircase. The minute she got free of Silas, Sophia lost her balance, and promptly fell down the stairs. She banged her face against the bottom step, which resulted in a black eye. Silas walked down them, and leaned over her.

"I warned you," he said. "Now you're gonna be sorry."

Silas pulled Sophia to her feet, and once more tried to get her into another room. Sophia burst into tears and begged him to stop, but he wouldn't. Sophia did her best to fight back, but that just caused Silas to get rough with her. Silas finally had enough of this, and threw Sophia against the wall. Then, he began digging through the hall closet, and produced a baseball bat. He approached Sophia with it, and just laughed like a maniac.

"Are we ready for some fun, Sophie?" he asked. "I think so."

"Stop, please!" Sophia begged.

"That's not gonna do you any good, baby. I always get what I want."

Silas started laughing, as he shouldered the bat, ready to take a swing at her. He wasn't planning on killing her with it. He just wanted to knock her out for a few hours so she wouldn't resist his advances. Sophia couldn't fight back anymore, so she did the only thing she could think of doing. She let out the loudest ear-shattering scream she could. Luckily, that scream had gotten Cyril's attention.

"How's a man supposed to make some money around here?" he grumbled as he left his office.

Cyril walked into the next room where he saw Sophia sitting on the floor against the wall, badly bruised, and tears cascading down her face, and Silas shouldering a baseball bat, leaning over her, ready to swing.

"What in blazes!" Cyril shouted.

"Oh, uhh, hi Cyril," Silas said. "Done working?"

"What have you been up to, Silas?"

"Oh, uhh . . . . well, that is to say . . . . . you know women. They never could resist me. You know I have to beat them off with a stick. Heh, heh."

Cyril found that hard to believe. He grabbed the baseball bat, and was about to smack Silas with it.

"I want you out of here now!" he shouted. "Or else I'm gonna hit a home run, if you catch my drift! I don't want to see you around here again!"

"Hey, what's the deal, Cyril?" Silas asked. "I thought you didn't like her!"

"That's beside the point! Now get out!"

To show that he meant business, Cyril swung the baseball bat, and knocked a vase off a nearby table. It hit the floor and smashed to pieces. Silas smiled nervously, and started for the door.

"Well, uhh, I'll be seeing ya!" he shouted. And he was out the door fast as lightning.

Cyril grumbled and shook his head. Then he kneeled down by Sophia, and put his hand on her shoulder. Sophia tensed.

"He's gone," Cyril told her. "He's not going to come back, either, so you don't have to worry about anything."

Sophia didn't say anything. She curled herself into a ball, and began to cry. Cyril stood up, sighed, and shouldered the baseball bat.

"What am I gonna do with you, Sofa Girl?" he asked.

Cyril was about to take Sophia upstairs when the front door opened, and he was met by a shocked scream.

"POP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"