From The Ground Up

This life will go by in the blink of a eye but I wouldn't want to spend it without you by my side. Sarah x Connor and all that comes in between.

Stand up

"Stay still buddy..." Connor said softly as he cleaned the cut on Luke's forehead. He'd been called down to the school after his oldest had gotten into a fight. He'd called Sarah to let her know what had happened. Luke had punched a 6th grader on the face, the principal had had this rundown with him before. Just as his father, Luke had a tendency to the be explosive.

"It hurts." He winced. He'd been suspended for three days, a deal that had come to close after the principal took a while persuading, Connor knew from experience this would not work much if it were to happen again.

"Sorry... you might need stitches." Luke knew his dad was calm but he'd brought him into the hospital because they were meant to sit down with Sarah and he'd have to explain what happened.

"Good thing you're a doctor." Luke said playfully. Connor smiled.

"Good thing." He said. "Come on, I'll do it myself." Luke walked over, he could see people were staring at him as Connor asked Maggie for a suture kit.

"What a nasty cut you got there." Maggie told the little boy.

"School's a hazard. I might have to drop out." Maggie glanced over at Connor.

"Ignore him. He might have a concussion." Connor told Maggie. "Come on, we have to go find your mom."

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you so calm? I thought you'd yell at me. You didn't even raise your voice in the car." Luke said worriedly.

"Come here," Connor pulled him to the side before getting into the elevator. "I know how the feeling bud and in my head you did the right thing." Luke smiled. "But, hitting someone is still wrong."

"But I was helping someone else, doesn't that count?"

"It counts." Connor said softly. "But that doesn't mean it was the right way to handle it." Luke bit his lip. "Violence is never the answer to anything, trust me, I know."

"Says Connor Rhodes." Luke huffed. Connor rolled his eyes. "I know I did the right thing, if the school wasn't going to.."

"Luke?" Sarah stood behind them. Luke glanced over at Connor and back at Sarah. "I thought you were coming up."

"We were..." Connor said. "What are you doing down here?"

"I got a consult and Dr. Charles isn't in yet." Sarah explained. "Come here." She looked over the cut. "You're going to need stitches."

"That's what I keep hearing..." Luke said softly. Sarah smiled. "Listen, go up to my office. I'll be there soon okay? We need to talk about this."

"You're not yelling either?" Luke asked confused.

"I'm not going to, not down here, I'd hate to make a scene." Sarah said touching his cheek softly. "Go, I'll be right there."

"All done." Connor finished the work neatly. "Do you have a headache?"

"No, I'm fine." Luke said. The door opened to reveal Sarah. Luke glanced over at Connor who shrugged.

"Luke, come here..." He sat across Sarah as Connor joined her. "Dad explained most of what happened but I want to hear it from you."

Luke sighed. "I was just trying to do the right thing." He told her. "That boy couldn't.."

"I understand that, but I want to hear the rest of the story. There's always two sides and one of them is that you hit a boy who was older than you."

Luke glanced over at Connor. "Dad's not mad. Are you?" Sarah had to look over at her husband. "He said I did the right thing."

"Well, Dad has a point. But it still wasn't right..." Sarah explained.

"Mom I had to do something, it wasn't the first time those boys teased him. He didn't tell the teachers because he's scared of those kids doing something to him if he talked."

"I understand that." Sarah said.

"Do you?"

"Luke..." Connor warned.

"I just mean, he's the smallest kid in his class..." Luke sighed. "I just wanted to help him but I got mad and..."

"Where have I heard that before?" Sarah said calmly. "Listen baby... I love you for standing up for that boy and of course I am proud of you but that's not how we work out problems, that just causes more problems."

But..."

"I want you to go to school on monday and apologize to the boy you hit." Sarah told him.

"No way! He's a bully.."

"And what does that make you?" Sarah put in. "You are the better man. At least I want you to try and show him why bullies are not that intimidating. If you apologize, you'll be teaching him something..."

"He teases Ollie too. I'd seen him." Luke put in. "He's not going to change just because I apologize."

"He's got a point Sarah." Connor put in.

"No, he doesn't." Sarah said sternly. "Luke.."

"What if it was Ollie the one I stood up for?" Luke told Sarah. "Would I still have to apologize?"

"Yes." Sarah said. "I'm trying to make you understand there are other ways to handle bullies."

"Can't I just be grounded?" Luke begged.

"No. We need to talk about this..." Sarah said. "The grounding part would be to easy, wouldn't it? We don't learn easy lessons, just the ones that are the hardest to make."

"She's being a shrink again, isn't she?" Luke groaned.

"Afraid so buddy." Connor smiled.

"Come on Sarah... he's right. What if it was Ollie?" Connor said that night as they got ready for bed.

"Do you want to teach him that he can solve all problems by punching people?" She huffed.

"That's how I leaned." Connor said. Sarah's expression softened. "Babe I'm just saying, we was standing up for someone who clearly was terrified to do it for themselves. Is that such a bad thing?" He leaned to kiss her.

"No, no you're not winning by kissing, that's cheating..." Sarah moaned pushing back . "I was trying to make it a learning moment. We know he shouldn't use his fists to prove points."

"Alright." Connor sighed. "I didn't have my mom to teach me all that. I just had Cornelius and his ever crappy parenting skills." Connor said breaking the kiss. "Our kids have you and you're the most amazing mom. I know it was wrong babe, but he didn't just do it on a whim. He was trying to stand up for others, shouldn't we be proud of that?"

"Of course." Sarah said kissing his cheek. "I am proud of him because he's just like you, fights for what's right, but that temper..."

"I didn't turn out so bad, did I?"

Sarah smiled as he kissed her neck as she felt herself being pushed backwards and against the covers. Maybe she ought to pick her battles and tonite it was one she was sure she wouldn't win.

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