Note From The Author—Seriously, I just think my creativity is in overdrive. Either that or I've got way too much on my mind. Either way, you get a new chapter, complete with an unabashed statement straight from yours truly the raging liberal in a sea of conservatives. : ) Enjoy.

Lindsay was completely shell shocked. The last thing she ever expected was to be getting this call, at least this early in her daughter's school career. Yet here she was, standing in the principal's office with one hand on her daughters shoulder and the other on her goddaughter's.

"They what?"

The matronly and entirely unpleasant looking woman frowned. "They, along with another child, started a brawl."

"With all due respect Mrs. Hansen they're in the first and second grade. How on earth could they have possibly started a brawl?"

"That would be the problem Mrs. Messer. Neither they, nor the other children involved will tell us what happened. All they will say is that your daughter and Sophia began it all. They'll have to be taken home for the day, and disciplinary action will be taken. We have, however, been unable to contact Mr. or Mrs. Flack for Sophia."

Lindsay sighed. "They're on a case with my husband, Mrs. Hansen. If you don't have any objections I'll take my goddaughter with me."

She made a decidedly 'humph' like noise. "Very well then, you all may go."

"Sophia, Maria get your things please," she told them, feeling very weary.

When Stella picked up her messages some half an hour later she was bowled over by the one Lindsay had left. "Stella, I've got Maria and Sophia at our place." She looked down at her watch; the girls shouldn't have been out of school for hours yet. "They've been sent home for 'starting a brawl', as the principal put it. For now I've set them up in Maria's room with their school work. I figured we should all hear the explanation together. Do me a favor and let Danny and Flack know what's going on and I'll see you at the end of the shift." There was a pause, followed by a heaving sigh. "This is so not what I was expecting to do on my day off."

She erased the message and disconnected the call, dropping her phone into her pocket. Turning, she watched the rest of the interrogation impatiently. When a uniform led the suspect out and Danny and Flack followed she let out a sigh much like Lindsay's. "We've got a problem."

By seven that night, their informal powwow with their daughters had commenced in Danny and Lindsay's kitchen. Flack sent Patrick off to play in Maria's room while they talked, and then the four of them settled in on one side of the island across from their girls.

"You two want to tell us what happened today?" Danny asked.

Maria and Sophie shared a look before the younger girl spoke up. "The other kids were being mean to Jacob," she told them.

"Who's Jacob sweetie?" Lindsay asked.

Here Sophia took over. "He's a boy in my grade. Maria and I were playing with him at recess and the boys started calling him names."

"What kind of names?" Don questioned.

"I don't want to say Daddy, they were really mean."

Stella met her daughter's eyes. "You don't have to say the words, honey, but why were they making fun of him?"

"Because he was playing jacks with us," Maria told her godmother.

"They said he must like boys if he was playing a girly game like that," Sophie said, sounding angry.

All four of the adults were completely shell shocked. They combated that kind of hate every day, but none had ever dreamed that it would enter into their children's lives so early on. "What happened then?" Danny asked.

"All three of us said to go away and leave us alone, Daddy. We didn't mean to start a fight, honest."

Sophia nodded. "We really didn't. But they just kept calling Jacob mean names and it wasn't fair. They don't even know him."

"And even if he did like boys it wouldn't matter," Maria added.

The Flacks and Messers felt their hearts swell with pride for their children. "That's right," Flack told them, wishing that everyone could have the capacity for love of six or seven year old child.

"We just wanted to keep playing jacks, but stupid Billy wouldn't go away," Sophia chimed back in. "So I punched him."

"You punched him?" Stella asked.

She knew her mother would probably be upset, and she nodded somewhat sheepishly. "I punched him."

"Yeah," the littlest Messer added. "Then I punched Jackson."

Flack grimaced. "And I'm guessing all hell broke loose."

"Don't swear Daddy."

"I'll try," he said with a smile.

Maria spoke again. "Jacob hit Sam after I hit Jackson and then…"

"Almost all of both of our classes were fighting."

"Then Mrs. Hansen pulled us all apart," Maria told them, very matter of fact about the whole situation.

They were in a sticky situation here. Nobody was quite sure how to move forward; but since they had to say something, Danny started. "Girls, you both know it's wrong to try and fix things with violence."

There was a chorus of 'I know Daddy' and 'I know Uncle Danny'.

Here Stella took over. "We're upset that you started a fight, because you know better than that. But we're also very proud of you."

Both Maria and Sophia looked genuinely confused. "You are mama?"

Stella nodded and Lindsay addressed them. "You stood up for a friend when others were being hateful, and that's exactly what you should have done."

"You were both right. It doesn't matter if Jacob or anyone else likes boys or girls or whatever," Flack told them. "All that matters is that he's your friend."

They circled up briefly and talked amongst themselves before turning back to their daughters. "Your teachers or your principal are going to discipline you in some way," Lindsay told them.

"We know," Maria told her mother. "Mrs. Hansen told us that."

"We think that's enough punishment," Danny said.

Both girls' eyes widened and they spoke in unison. "Really?"

Stella nodded. "Really. You're being punished at school for starting the fight, but we won't discipline you for standing up to bullies who were treating someone badly."

"But understand that we aren't okay with you fighting or hitting, and you'll be in big trouble if it happens again. Next time try to use your words, and if that doesn't work you tell a teacher," Flack said pointedly.

"We will," they chorused.

"Good. Now why don't you two go get Patrick and we'll all go have some dinner," Stella suggested.

The girls were down off their stools and off running in seconds. But something occurred to Maria and she stopped and came running back to her father. "Daddy?"

He knelt down to his daughter's level. "Yeah munchkin?"

"We just wanted everyone to be nice and be able to play with our friend. We really did a good thing?"

Danny felt his heart melt and he leaned in to hug his little girl. "Yeah sweetheart, you did good."