A/N: Howdy all. Update! Thanks again to the French for giving George a press conference! It's still inspiring me! Woo hoo! If you haven't seen it, go to George Eads Texan Charm site, and I linked it down in the guestbook. Thanks for the reviews so far, and please keep them coming. It's like crack!
Later that afternoon, Madeline sat in her English class, mindlessly tapping the end of her pencil on her notebook, which was completely blank despite the fact she was supposed to be taking notes on Heathcliff. As the teacher babbled on about the Wuthering Heights characters, she stared out the window at a pair of birds in a tree that grew right next to their classroom. Obviously, they were a pair. Maybe they were mates. Either way, Madeline was sure they didn't have a father who was plotting to keep them apart and make them miserable. Oh, to be a bird.
Honestly, did he think that a simple warning was going to keep them apart? They were like Rose and Jack from Titanic – nothing could keep them apart. Maybe she wouldn't have to sneak out her window at night to be with him if her father wasn't so uptight. He'd told her earlier that morning that it wasn't the fact she was interested in boys that worried him, it was her deception, only Maddie knew that was a complete lie. Her father wanted to keep her a little girl forever, and keeping her away from the man she loved (okay, maybe not love – that's too strong of a word) was part of his evil plan.
"Madeline!" The sixteen year old jumped when she heard her English teacher call her name forcefully. She must have been spacing out. Maddie focused her attention on Mrs. Day, hoping she hadn't had to call her name too many times. She tried hard to pay attention in this class, especially since her grade had recently slipped to a C+.
"Sorry," she apologized as she took correct hold of her pencil. The stark white, completely blank page stared back at her, reminding her of where her head had been at.
"I asked you what Linton's attitude towards Heathcliff is like," she restated the question for the notoriously spacey teen. Madeline's mind was completely blank. She'd perhaps come across that name…Linton…but she had no idea what the answer to the question was.
"Umm...well, I think…" as Madeline tried to formulate a reasonable answer in her mind, the bell rang, saving her from certain embarrassment. Her friend Emily grinned at her from the next row over, knowing Madeline had no idea what the answer was.
Mrs. Day sighed and scribbled down something on her notebook. "Alright. Read chapters eleven and twelve for tomorrow, class. Madeline, can I see you for a moment?"
Maddie heard a few snickers around her, because they all knew Mrs. Day didn't mess around. She was a hard, but fair teacher, and didn't allow her students to slack off and get sloppy. After the morning she'd had, a lecture from Mrs. Day wasn't exactly what she wanted. Last week, she'd gotten on her case about keeping up with the readings. She got that Wuthering Heights was a literary classic, but she'd rather be reading Twilight. Reluctantly, she packed up her bag and walked over to the teacher's desk.
"Yes, ma'am?" She asked politely, but with a tiredness to her voice. Mrs. Day scribbled something else down in her grade book and sighed.
"Madeline, did you do the readings for today?" She asked her student, straight up. Madeline stared back at her for a moment. Her teacher was a petite woman, only about 5'2", but she was still rather intimidating right now.
"Uhh…," she studied her fingernails for a moment, "Some of it, but I didn't get all the way done."
Mrs. Day just nodded for a few moments, studying Maddie's face. She'd had her share of gymnasts in class over the past twenty-two years of teaching, and knew their schedules were demanding, but that didn't mean she could slack off in her class. "You didn't take one note the entire class, and your grade has now slipped to a C."
Maddie sighed and shifted her weight slightly. She really didn't want to listen to this again. "I know, Mrs. Day, and I'm sorry. I'll try to do better, I promise."
Visibly troubled, Mrs. Day rubbed at her forehead with a couple fingers as she sighed heavily. "Maddie, I know you have a tough schedule. When your father came in for parent teacher conferences, we talked about it quite a bit, actually. Does he know how much you've been falling behind?"
Of course he did. He was more involved in her schoolwork than she was, practically. None of her friends had parents who kept an eye on their progress like that. In a way, she guessed it was a good thing to have such an involved dad, but it was also a pain in the ass. She hadn't heard from him about her C+ yet, though, so she wondered if he'd been trying to cut her some slack or if he was completely oblivious.
"Yes, ma'am," she told her teacher. "He's helping me."
She nodded as more students began to filter into the room for her next class. Madeline played with the straps of her backpack uncomfortably, hoping Mrs. Day would get to the point fast.
"Madeline, maybe you need to talk to him about your schedule. Can you cut back at your hours at the gym for a while?"
For months, Madeline had been trying to get her father to let her get a private tutor instead of going to public school. That would make her life so much easier. She hated going to school every day, then training in the afternoon for 4 or 5 hours. After practice, she could barely keep her eyes open long enough to do homework. It was too much. Madeline would love to change her schedule, only if it came down to public school or gymnastics, she had a feeling her dad would make the decision for her, and she wouldn't like what he picked. You won't be doing gymnastics forever, he'd say. School is more important.
"I'll talk to him," Maddie assured her as she took a step towards the door. She didn't know if that was a fib or not. She hadn't decided yet.
"Make sure you do," Mrs. Day called after her as she hurried off to her next class.
CSI CSI CSI CSI CSI
After school, Madeline hurried off to her gymnastics practice. Thankfully, it was Wednesday, so she didn't have to pick up Cody and Callie, and it was her night to stay at her mom's. Though she had a bedroom at both her parents' houses, she kept ninety percent of her things at her father's. This was mostly because her dad still had sole custody of her, and she only stayed with her mom Wednesdays and every other weekend. However, since Madeline was a teenager and had a hectic schedule, her parents only loosely followed this schedule. Madeline was allowed to stay at either parent's house when she wanted, as long as she called the other to let them know what was going on. Most of the time, Maddie chose to stay with her dad, but most weeks she tried to stay at her mom's on Wednesdays to spend time with her and Callie. Weekends at her mom's usually only happened once a month.
Madeline arrived at the gym soon after school ended, and hurried into the locker room to change into her leotard and shorts. She did so as quickly as she could, because she knew Gavin must be hovering nearby, probably in his dad's office. Maddie wasn't sure if she should tell him about her father's new rule about not seeing him. He couldn't exactly stop them from seeing each other at the gym. If she never told him, he could plead ignorance if they ever got in trouble. As she joined the other girls with warm-ups, however, she knew it was the right thing to tell Gavin what was going on. It didn't mean they had to follow the new rule, though.
A few minutes later, Gavin and his father emerged from the office to start practice. Gavin was wearing a pair of black Adidas athletic pants, paired with a form-fitting white t-shirt that showed off his muscles. When no one was looking, he winked at Maddie and she felt her face blushing. She was glad that her parents rarely came to watch her at practices anymore.
Throughout practice, Gavin stayed as close to Madeline has he could and still do his job. He spotted her on bars and beam, and led some conditioning exercises. Maddie felt herself trying even harder whenever he was around. She wanted him to think she was a good athlete, and she loved that he was always watching her. The possibility of having neck pains didn't even cross her mind, because she was so caught up in Gavin and what he was doing every second of practice.
At seven, practice concluded, so Madeline very quickly changed back into her street clothes. After she'd slung her bag over her shoulder, she headed out the side door and predictably found Gavin there waiting for her. Almost immediately, they locked lips and didn't stop for a good minute.
"Hey, gorgeous," Gavin whispered after they'd finally stopped, letting his forehead rest against hers. He was still wearing his form-fitting t-shirt, and now Madeline was free to let her hands run over his well-defined biceps and chest.
"Hey," she smiled, loving the twinkle she spotted in his eyes. They talked by the side of the gym for a few minutes before she informed him about her dad's smack down in terms of their relationship. He seemed disappointed, but they both agreed they'd find a way to keep seeing each other. Gavin didn't want to get on the Stokes' bad side, but he adored Madeline and couldn't stand to be away from her very long.
"You know, I'm staying at my mom's tonight. Why don't you come over? She won't care," Madeline suggested. It was the truth, that her mom wouldn't mind. She'd worked out very early on in her life that her mother was more lax with the rules. Especially since they'd divorced, her mother seemed more apt to let Maddie bend the rules. It was like she thought if she let Maddie do what she wanted, she'd like her more, and come over more often. This was at least partially true. While they weren't close as a mother and daughter, Maddie loved being around her little half sister, and if she wasn't getting along with her dad, like she was now, it was great to get away.
"Sure," he agreed, letting his hands rest on Maddie's small hips. They leaned into another slow kiss, and the evening was settled.
CSI CSI CSI CSI CSI
Later that evening, Callie giggled as her older sister helped hold her in place as she did a handstand. Last month, Callie started taking gymnastics lessons because it looked like fun, and she completely adored her big sister.
"Good job, Cal!" Maddie praised her, and tickled her exposed little tummy. Gavin smiled as he looked on from the couch. Callie squirmed in response and lost her balance, toppling over. Her sister caught her easily and laid her down on the floor so she could tickle her even more.
"Stoooop!" She pleaded as she tried to dodge her sister's hands. It was no use, and soon Gavin had joined in the wonderful torture. In the next room, Lauren shook her head as Howard gently massaged her feet. It was great having Madeline over for several reasons. Mostly because she was her daughter and she loved her, in her own way. But she was also great at entertaining her four year old. Lauren had never been much of a hands-on mother, only when she had to be, so it was great to have Madeline to wear her out. Bedtime would be much less of a hassle that evening.
It was already eight o'clock, so Lauren reluctantly got off the couch to put Callie to bed. Putting her down was usually harder when Madeline was around, because Callie loved spending time with her. The feeling was mutual, and Maddie felt bad that she couldn't spend more time with her. She loved Callie, but she got sick of being her mom really quickly.
When Lauren appeared in the doorway, Callie knew what was next, and grumbled. "Momma, can't I stay up a little late?"
"Baby, your sister has homework to do, and she can't do it with you hanging all over her. Say goodnight," Lauren told her. Callie frowned and pummeled her older sister, hoping Maddie would help her draw things out a little more. However, Madeline was already quite adult in many ways, including helping take care of her sister.
"You heard Mom," Maddie told her, giving her another tickle as she stood up. "Come on, I'll take you upstairs."
Lauren smiled at her appreciatively as Madeline picked up the four year old with no protest. "Will you read me a bedtime story?" She asked hopefully.
Madeline rubbed her back and hitched her up a little more. "Of course. Say goodnight to Gavin and Mommy."
She blew both of them a kiss and waved as Madeline took her up the stairs. It only took a little sweet talking to get the preschooler ready for bed, and by the time Madeline had finished the story, she was fast asleep.
CSI CSI CSI CSI CSI
Safe within the confines of the bathroom, Cody looked at himself in the mirror, furrowing his eyebrows up and down. His father's eyebrows did amazing, expressive things, and he wanted to see if his worked the same way. Could he get his eyebrows to pop up in surprise the way Nick could?
Nick talked sometimes about his school days, and Cody knew that he'd always been pretty popular, especially with the girls. Cody still worshipped his stepfather and thought the world of him. He wanted to be just like him, especially since it seemed to attract ladies.
Cody cleared his throat and then let out a rather pathetic sound, trying to imitate his stepfather's hearty, manly laugh. He felt his face redden a bit at the dorkiness of it all. The way Nick laughed – it seemed to make everyone else around him at least smile. Cody wished he had the ability to do that. If he could, maybe a girl would let him kiss her.
There was a knock on the door moments later, and he heard his stepfather tell him it was time for bed. It was just a little past nine o'clock, and his mother was already in bed, worn out from her pregnancy. Cody sighed and told him he'd be right out after he brushed his teeth. Nick was about to start a load of laundry, so he first went into Cody's room and collected all the dark clothing. He next let himself into Madeline's room, which was empty tonight. It was still weird to have her gone most Wednesdays, though he supposed it was just like her going to a sleepover at a friend's house. Nick went through his daughter's laundry basket, and picked up a couple pairs of jeans and a t-shirt from the floor. As he picked up a pair of jeans, he found a copy of Wuthering Heights on her floor. Squinting his eyes a little, he picked it up and dog eared the page it was open to. Madeline kept almost all her stuff here, but she surely had reading to do for English that night. He'd received an e-mail from her English teacher earlier that day about Madeline's progress. It was a request he'd made of her, and all Maddie's teachers, earlier in the nine weeks, to alert him if her grade dropped significantly. He liked to be proactive about his daughter's academics, because he knew she wasn't always forthcoming about troubles at school. She was now getting a C, and she knew it, so he thought she should be making an extra effort to do her readings and homework in that class well.
Nick took the laundry downstairs and tossed it into the washer. He measured out the detergent, emptied it inside, and started up the cycle. Then he picked up the cordless and dialed Lauren's home number to see if Maddie needed her book for the night. After two rings, Lauren picked up.
"Hello?" She asked, and Nick heard laughter and chattering in the background.
"Oh, hey, Lauren. It's me," he told her as he picked up a couple dirty cups in the living room.
"Oh, hi," she said a bit dismissively. Nick knew she never really liked to hear from him, so he got straight to the point. "I found one of Maddie's English books in her room, and I just wanted to check if she needed it for tonight. I could drive it over."
"Okay, hold on. Let me get her. She's outside with Gavin studying," she informed him as she headed for the back porch. Nick torqued his jaw in annoyance. Yesterday, he'd explicitly told his daughter he didn't want her seeing him, and she goes to her mother's house and does the exact opposite.
"Gavin's over there?" He checked as he loaded the two glasses into the dishwasher a little rougher than usual.
"Yeah. Is that a problem?" Lauren asked as she walked towards the sliding door.
"Did you not get my email?" He questioned his ex-wife. Nick had emailed her yesterday to let her know Madeline wasn't allowed to see Gavin, at least for a while. For enforcement purposes, Nick and Lauren tried to keep each other informed. Lauren very rarely disciplined their daughter, so it was normally Nick passing on a message. He'd come to realize over the past couple years that she wasn't always so great about enforcing things. At times, it really compromised the effectiveness of rules and consequences for Madeline.
"Sorry, I haven't checked it today," Lauren apologized, though was an annoyance in her voice. She hated when Nick handed out a punishment at his house and expected her to be the bad guy and follow through with it at her house. It wasn't how she wanted to spend her time with her daughter. "Did something happen?"
"Yea, she's been sneaking around with him when she should be doin' homework, and her grades are falling," Nick told her, letting the dishwasher door shut loudly. "Until she's trustworthy again, I've told her there's no Gavin, but obviously she thinks she can bend the rules over there."
Lauren rolled her eyes at his accusation. "She's sixteen. She needs to be hanging out with friends, not just doing gymnastics and schoolwork. Gavin's a good kid, Nick. I don't know what you have against him."
"I think he's a good kid too, Lauren, but Maddie hasn't been honest with me about her work. She told me yesterday she didn't quite have time to finish her homework because she was so tired, but then I find out she snuck out the window to meet up with Gavin. We can't let her get away with that, Lauren," Nick pointed out.
"Well, she doesn't feel the need to sneak around behind my back, Nick, so maybe you should think about your actions," Lauren shot back.
"She probably doesn't feel the need because she knows you won't punish her, and she's only there once a week," Nick said in disbelief. It had always been this way – he had to be the bad guy with Madeline, and Lauren got to be her best bud. Madeline wasn't getting any consistency at all between her two biological parents, and Nick just couldn't get his ex to see that.
"You're too strict with her, Nick. You need to lighten up," Lauren said.
"That's the last thing she needs. She just directly disobeyed me and at my house, that means she's grounded. Are you gonna back me up on this?" He asked.
"When Madeline's in my house, I'll raise her how I want to, thank you," Lauren informed him as she opened the sliding glass door. "Here she is."
Lauren held the cordless phone out for her daughter to take. She'd been sitting out on the bench as Gavin asked her questions about the chapter she had to read for history. Well, it was more of a combination of chatting, kissing, and a little studying, because Maddie knew she could get away with that at her mom's house. "Who is it?"
"It's your father," Lauren told her as her daughter took the phone. "Gavin, I think you better head home for the night so Maddie can finish studying." Gavin nodded, looking disappointed, and gave Madeline a little goodbye kiss. Gavin and Lauren then disappeared inside the house so Madeline would have some privacy.
"Dad?" She asked as she took a seat again on the bench.
"Hi," he answered, and Maddie was already reading his tone. Obviously, he'd found out she was doing something wrong. Which thing, she wasn't sure, but had a feeling she was about to find out. "I was calling because I found your Wuthering Heights book on the floor in your bedroom, and wanted to see if you needed it for homework."
Maddie bit her lip. "Uh, yea. I must have missed picking it up earlier."
"I'll bring it over, then," he said, "But interestingly, I found out when I talked to your mother that Gavin's over there with you. Is that right?"
Madeline sighed. Again, when she knew she was caught, it was best not to tell a lie. "Yeah, but how is it your business what I do when I'm at Mom's house?" She challenged him right away.
Nick gaped only a moment before he jumped right back in, "I don't care whose house you're at. I specifically told you yesterday not to see him, and you did it anyway. You know that's not okay."
"Mom doesn't seem to care," she'd easily picked up on her mom's obvious displeasure at what she'd been talking to her dad about. Though she felt a little bad about it, Maddie fully took advantage of playing her parents off each other because they disagreed so often.
"I care," he told her firmly, "And I don't like that you've been lying to me and disregarding what I tell you. I'm not gonna stand for it, Madeline Elizabeth."
The usage of the middle name was never good. She sighed and let her body relax against the bench swing, knowing he wasn't just going to let this go with a warning. "You can't just stop me from seeing him, Dad. He's my boyfriend."
Nick torqued his jaw again, because it was true. He couldn't control what she did, not totally. As a child, she was more prone to heed his word, because she thought the world would end if she didn't. Now that she was older, she was more prone to giving him a challenge when it came to doing, or not doing, what he said.
"Well, I can't stop you from seeing him at practice, but you'd better not be sneaking around to see him otherwise," he warned her, "You disobeyed me, and I found out from Mrs. Day you're gettin' a C in English. You're grounded for two weeks, and if you pull anything else like you did tonight, it'll be more."
"You can't ground me when I'm at Mom's house!" She told him, thinking this turn of events was totally unfair. "I'm at her place, and I only have to follow her rules!"
Unfortunately, Nick didn't quite have the back-up from his ex-wife. Most likely, she wouldn't enforce her grounding at her place, and that really made Nick's life harder. "I just did. You know better than to disobey something I told you directly not to do at anyone's house."
"This is bullshit, Dad," she told him, getting upset. She was at her mother's house, so he shouldn't be allowed to call her on the phone and ground her. "But you know, what? That's fine. Maybe I should just live at Mom's house for a while. She likes Gavin, and she wants me to be around him."
Nick couldn't believe what she was suggesting. She'd never liked staying at her mom's house, mostly because she was now fully realizing what a self-centered bee-otch Lauren was. Was he that hard to live with now, that his daughter would prefer to live with…that?
"Madeline, you're upset right now, so we don't need to be makin' any brash decisions," he told her. "I'm gonna bring your book over so you can do your homework, and we can talk then if you want to."
Maddie's eyes had welled up with tears, and placed her palm on her forehead in frustration. "You don't understand," she gritted through her teeth. "I like Gavin a lot, Dad. Maybe not love, but I care about him so much. You may not see how important he is to me, and how much I need him, but Mom does. And I wanna live somewhere I'm understood."
The teenager clicked the phone off and stormed back inside, leaving her father abruptly listening to a dead line.