Disclaimer : I own nobody except Connie (so far…!) So don't sue me, Mr. Hughes!

Author's Note : First of all, thank you for reviewing, it really helps me and I greatly appreciate it. Especially MidnightBlue88, thanks for all the great tips! Sorry I've kept you waiting over the past few weeks, but there were some complications with my story, my computer's been totally screwed up and I was also in Orlando during Christmas vacation so I didn't get the chance to update, but I DID get the chance to write a bit more! So here's your second chapter, I hope you guys like it!

Chapter 2 : The Best Times For A Remote Control

Connie opened her bedroom door and nonchalantly tossed her backpack across the room. Rather than landing on her bed, like she was aiming for, it landed (with a thump) on the floor, on the other side of the bed.

Cursing her bad aim, but inwardly complimenting herself on her throwing arm, Connie shut the door and proceeded to walk to her parents' room at the other end of the hall.

She heard her father's snoring before she even reached her parents' bedroom door. Connie just smiled to herself and opened the door to look in on her dad.

Connie's dad co-owned an auto garage downtown and also worked there as an auto mechanic. Sometimes, when they were behind on paperwork or a car needed some extra work done on it, he had to stay late and work, sometimes through the whole night.

Last night had clearly been one of those nights, Connie could see as she watched her father snore away.

John Bender was sprawled out, almost diagonally, across the bed. One arm was tucked under his pillow while the other arm hung limply off the bed, nearly touching the floor. He didn't seem to have a care in the world.

According to Connie's mother, John used to act that way when he was awake, too. In high school, John had been a slacker. His teenage rebellion had started in his childhood, he hadn't cared about anyone, and no one cared about him. Not even his own parents.

But apparently, that had started to change on March 24, 1984.

…..The first time her parents had been in Saturday detention together.

Oddly, whenever her father had started to tell her stories about that day, Connie's mother always seemed to stop him before he got into much detail about the things that had happened in that library.

For instance, once, when Claire wasn't even home from work yet, John had tried to talk to his daughter about drugs.

Flashback

"You're gonna tell me about drugs, dad?" Connie asked, wishing she could wake up from this horrible, after – school – special – nightmare.

"Hey, drugs are bad things kid. Nobody knows that better than your old man. Except maybe Sid and Nancy and Kurt and Courtney."

"Ozzy, too."

"Right. Anyway, you know you can always talk to me about this stuff right ? Y'know, whether it's sex or drugs, rock n' roll…"

"Dad…!"

"I'm SERIOUS! I promise, I'll be cool about it. I'm a cool dad, aren't I?" here father asked.

"Well, sure, but then again, everyone used to think Mr. Brady was a cool dad, too," Connie pointed out.

"Oh yeah, Mr. Brady…" John mumbled. "I HATED Mr. Brady! Him and all his annoyingly happy kids -!"

"DAD!"

"Yeah?" John looked back at his daughter. "Oh, right! Drugs! Well…," he cleared his throat ,"you don't ever wanna get into that stuff, kid. Cuz I've been into that stuff, and look how I turned out!" he laughed at his own joke.

"Hell, you MOM'S even dabbled - !"

"MOM!" Connie couldn't believe her ears. Claire bender did NOT seem like a druggie - as – a – juvenile – mom!

"Yeah, mom!" said John. "Geez, I remember this one time, back in '84, when we were in saturday detention – "

All the sudden, the phone started ringing in the kitchen, so John got up and went to answer it.

"Hello?...Cherry! Hey, babe, I was just tellin' Connie about – "

But obviously Connie's mother had cut her husband off, because he was silent for a few minutes as he listened to his wife. He then attempted to talk again.

"How the hell did you - ?"

"But what - ?"

"Claire, how - ?"

He went quiet again as he listened to his wife jabbering away on the other end.

A couple minutes later, John hung up the phone and went back into the living room.

He sat back down on the couch beside Connie and she smiled sweetly at him, trying not to laugh.

"Weell….?" She prodded, "What bad things did mom do in the Great Saturday Detention of '84?"

Her father just sighed and pushed a button on the remote, turning on the TV.

"I'm not permitted to say…"

"Oh, come ON, dad - !"

"Drugs are bad, stay away from 'em! That's all you have to know!" her dad told her, attempting to end the conversation.

"So… I don't get ANYTHING?" Connie asked, batting her eyelashes. Luckily for her, she had inherited her mother's sweet – and – innocent – "pleeease daddy?" – look.

"Connie, that woman threatened my MANHOOD, for God's sake!" John told her.

"OK, ew," said Connie, and she turned in her seat so she could watch the TV.

"I mean, seriously!" her dad muttered under his breath, and looked toward the kitchen.

"How the hell did she DO that…?"

End of Flashback

Connie smiled at the memory, but then she snapped back to reality and pondered how to complete the task at hand….

Waking up her father.

It was tougher then it sounded, waking up John Bender. He slept like a rock. Unless, of course, Connie was sneaking in past curfew. She wouldn't even be at the middle of the stairs when she'd see her father waiting for her at the top.

Connie sighed and walked toward her sleeping father.

She crouched beside the bed so she could be at his eye – level.

"Dad," she said,"dinner's ready."

John's eyes remained closed and the snoring continued.

"Dad, mom wants us BOTH downstairs for dinner."

"Her father responded with some more snores.

"BOTH of us, dad. Me AND you."

Still, the snores kept coming.

Connie sighed. She had a limited amount of time, so she might as well bring out the big guns.

"Dad, if you don't wake up soon, mom's gonna get impatient and come up here herself."

The snoring faltered slightly.

"And she'll probably send me downstairs," Connie continued. "So there will be NO WITNESSES when you get in trouble for delaying dinner!"

Suddenly, her father's eyes flew open.

"What're you doin' up here, kiddo?" John asked, sitting up and checking the digital clock on the night - table. "Isn't it dinner time? Geez, c'mon, kid! Your mom will strangle us if we delay dinner! You know how she gets!"

John hurriedly got out of bed and gently pushed his daughter along, ahead of him, as they went downstairs for dinner.

John and Connie rushed down the stairs but stopped in the doorway to the kitchen.

This was the part of every day when they both wished they had a remote control.

If they did have a remote control (one of those magical, universal ones that controlled time) then they could push the Stop and Rewind buttons, so they could have a few more hours of plotting excuses and escape plans they could use to get out of eating Claire Bender's cooking.

Or even a Fast Forward button, that way dinner would be quicker and less painful.

Now, John loved his wife, and Connie loved her mother…so it was always a mystery to them why Claire wanted to poison them both with her God – awful homecooking.

"OK," John muttered, as he watched Claire finish setting the table.

"Let's do it."

Connie nodded, solemnly, and they walked into the kitchen together.

The Bender house didn't have an actual dining room, but they did have a good – sized kitchen.

One half of the room contained the fridge, and a kitchen sink with cupboards and cabinets (painted deep red by John himself) above and below it.

The other half of the room was where the table was…where John and Connie forced food down their throats every day, just to make Claire happy.

Claire looked up at her husband and daughter and smiled.

"Oh, good to see you're up," she said to John, then glanced between the two of them, "So, ya ready to eat?"

"As I'll ever be," Connie muttered under her breath, forcing a smile.

John elbowed his daughter in the ribs and they went to sit down.

As Claire ate her dinner contently, John and Connie mostly just nibbled at it and tried to figure out what it was.

Unlike her father, Connie's loss of appetite wasn't just the fault of the…"food' in front of her, it was also because of what was on her mind at the moment.

Saturday detention.

Hundreds of frustrating questions were going through her mind, hardly any of them could be answered without help from her parents.

Saturday detention…

Would it really be so bad?

How many people would be there?

Would any of them be nice to her?

What were the rules?

Could she get out early on good behaviour?

Would there be girls in one room and boys in the other?

Would they be put to work?

And of course, a question Connie was sure every Saturday DT victim asked themselves at least once…..

WHY ME?

This was it, she couldn't take it anymore, she had to tell her parents.

Oh, but they just started up a conversation, and her mom always told her that it was rude to interrupt other people's conversations!

But oh, how that slip of paper was burning a hole in her pocket…..

" – Seriously, Princess, what do ya put in this stuff? Cuz it's just GREAT!"

"Oh? Well –"

"I got Saturday detention!" Connie blurted out.

Her parents both immediately stopped talking. Claire's fork dropped from her hand, onto her plate, with a clatter.

Her parents just stared at her.

Boy, thought Connie. I'd give anything for a remote control right about now…..

I know, it's been forever since I've updated! I'm sorry! But you'll just have to try and be patient with me, OK? As you will with this story. I say that becuase we still have about one more chapter to go before Connie's in detention.

And yes, i know the last chapter was unbelievably short, sorry about that.

- Ace's Buddy