The Repetition

Puck hung up the phone after he pissed Sam off, still not knowing whether he wanted to laugh, cry or scream. How could Mercedes even think that he would ever have anything to do with something like that flier? Hell, he could be rude and sometimes bitter and even hateful, but he wouldn't participate in anything that would exploit her like that! Then, neither of them would answer his calls or texts. Like really, what the hell were they doing?

So, he'd called her back and just asked her straight up, "Did you have sex with him?" She tried to formulate an answer. She couldn't just tell him 'no,' and for her – that meant yes. Puck. Exploded. How could she do that to herself? "Really, Cedes? Are you a glutton for punishment? You think that Sam Evans is ever going to be able to see you as anything other than a distraction from his miserable ex-con life? What about when he's grafted back in to society? What about when his family asks him what the hell he's thinking? What about the fact that you saw for yourself that his enemies are real and they don't plan on fighting fair or leaving you out of this? Did you do this to punish me?" He asked.

Once again, she did not answer. Good – that still meant yes. So, maybe there was still hope. Maybe, Sam didn't really have her yet. "I did it because I wanted to," she said, but he could hear the tears in her voice. He couldn't tell if she was crying because what she was saying was true, or if because she knew that she was lying. She was frustrating him and he couldn't take it.

"Ok. Ok, you got me back. You finally got me back for what I did to you. Could we just stop all the craziness now and get back to loving each other, Mercedes?"

"I… can't… I can't do that," she said. "I love Sam." It was like a knife to his heart, to hear her actually say that.

But, at the moment where he should have been graceful and allowed her to find out for herself, he became even angrier. "Why?" He wondered, "How could you love him and not me? I know that I've hurt you. I almost always say the wrong thing. My temper is terrible and I'm insanely jealous… but that dude is a murderer. IS, Mercy – present tense – a murderer. He killed Jesse St. James, left Giselle a hopeless widow. The things that Giselle says that Sam claims the reason he killed Jesse is… Sam is just as responsible. You feel alright giving yourself up to a murdering rapist? That, to you, is better than me?"

She wasn't replying – just crying. He knew that he was getting to her and he knew it hurt, but hell – even if she NEVER got with him, why Sam Evans? Anyone but Sam Evans would have suited him, just then. She deserved better than him, but she damned sure deserved better than Sam. "I'm sorry. This is my fault. After what I did, your self-esteem has become so low that you don't have a trace of self respect and you've been so desperate that you would actually lay down with someone like him. I never should have hurt you. Let's just try to move on from that. You need to just send him away to deal with his stuff and just come back to me. You know that after all of these little hiccups, you always come back to me."

"I won't," she said.

"You are fooling yourself if you really think that he has changed or that he really has any emotions for you! You are just as much a nigger to him today as you would have been seven years ago!"

"Don't say that to me."

"You need to hear it. It's the truth! Every single word on that flier is the absolute truth. You're just a nigger to him; just like I'm sure he thinks I'm a kike!"

"Stop…" She sniffled. Puck paused. The pain in her voice silenced him for a moment… then, he heard Sam's voice in the background. Sam was in the bathroom with her, now? …

After he hung up on Sam, he wanted to let it marinate a while. He'd won. He got him to say it. Sam had just proven Puck's point, in front of her. He liked to see her try to argue that fact! But, she didn't even try. She just shut him down, without delay. She had really chosen Sam.

Puck laughed at the fact, then screamed out loud, at the top of his lungs, then he cried. So, that was what he'd wanted to do – all three. Puck sat down on the floor and threw his phone across the room, which smashed it into a few pieces. He couldn't care less. Had he really lost her? Was she truly with Sam, now?

When Puck got to the institution, the first time, he was 14. It was initially for problems with alcohol dependency and an explosive temper. He had no desire to talk to anyone, because he didn't care to be there. Now, his eight year old sister and mother wouldn't have a man of the house and he couldn't see his friends like he wanted to. He would have to get up earlier than he ever had to, take a special bus to school, get on the same bus right after school, and go right back to this crazy house. That went on for about a week before he had a tantrum and had to be sedated for the weekend…

"He's one of the cutest guys ever to come in here," Kurt told Mercedes, in his high pitched voice. "They say that he's 14," he added.

"So, he's one of the older kids," she said.

"Yeah, but he doesn't talk to any of them," Kurt said. "He doesn't talk to anybody. He won't even talk to any of the counselors. Not even Emma." Kurt stared at Puck and sighed. "I might have a crush on him, if he hadn't thrown me in the trash."

"The most appealing thing about him is the fact that no one seems to like him," Mercedes said.

"No, the most appealing thing about him is his looks. There's a reason nobody likes him. Did I mention he threw me in the trash?" Kurt asked. Kurt's mother had died and his father had been battling with depression over it and trying to raise a child that he knew was gay… and not knowing how to deal with that, particularly. Burt Hummel knew that his son needed to be able to deal with the death of his mother in a healthy environment, so he made the attempt to place Kurt in a home, temporarily, just until he could get better. However, with Burt's own madness from losing his wife, Kurt's temporary stay ended up being until BURT got better, on the outside.

Mercedes and Kurt became friends virtually from the moment that he got there. She had only been there for a few weeks, but she had gotten used to being there, for the most part. She was twelve. He was eleven. They didn't really have much in common, but they complimented each other well. She was the first person that Kurt noticed who didn't have that 'Oh, this kid must be gay' look when he met her. Of course, that could have been because she was blind, but it still made him more comfortable that she didn't pay too much attention to or purposefully ignore that he was "different" from other boys she knew. In a few months time, the two were inseparable, except for when they had to go to school, or to their rooms for curfew. In a few months time, Noah Puckerman became one of the residents. And a week later, they were sizing him up.

"Who does he bunk with?" Mercedes asked Kurt.

"The kid in the wheelchair, Artie Abrams," Kurt said. There was someone else there, but he was released the same day that Puckerman came in," Kurt said, enjoying the ice cream that they had been treated to, today.

"I'm going to go talk to him. Wish me luck," Mercedes said and got up.

Kurt rolled his eyes and said, "It ISN'T a good thing to like boys just because nobody else likes them!" Mercedes ignored him and went to sit near Puck. He turned to face her, wondering how she had even come to him. Maybe, it had been an accident. She couldn't see or talk… and was probably deaf. Some of the kids called her Helen Keller… that meant she couldn't do any of it. He didn't pay that much attention in school, but he remembered that much from elementary. Just like Washington cut down that tree… These drugs are pretty cool.

"I want to meet you, to be able to see your face," Mercedes said.

"You can talk?" He asked. "Why do they call you Helen Keller?"

"Because they're rude!" She said. "Will you let me touch your face, so that I can see what you look like?"

"Why do you want to know?" He asked.

"Because, no one likes you, Noah. That means you're an underdog. That means that you could use a friend or two that understand how you feel – being an outcast. Being a loner. Being a reject… It wasn't nice of you to throw Kurt in the trash, by the way. You're older and bigger than he is and you're supposed to act like it."

"I don't care," he said. "Look, I'm happy for you, that you can talk and all, but they've got me on these really excellent drugs and I don't want to ruin it." He got up and dragged along to walk away, meandering about until he flopped down on another seat.

Kurt came over and sat down next to Mercedes, "I told you. He's a loser."

"No, he just doesn't realize that he's worth something, so he acts like he isn't," Mercedes said.

"You can't save everybody, and it isn't even your job to save anybody. Let the doctors and nurses do that."

"They don't care about him, though. He's all alone."

Mercedes stood next to the pool, for a time. She took a deep breath. She had not tried this. No one was anywhere around. No one knew where she was. By the time someone reached the pool, she was sure to be reunited with her parents, never to be alone, again. "I was all right for a while, I could smile for a while, But I felt you last night, you held my hand so tight. As you stopped to say "Hello" Aww, you wished me well, you couldn't tell… That I'd been cry-i-i-i-ng over you, cry-i-i-i-ng over you. Then you said "so long," left me standing all alone. Alone and crying, crying, crying cry-i-ing. It's hard to understand but the touch of your hand, Can start me crying…
I thought that I was over you but it's tru-ue, so true. I love you even more than I did before but darling what can I do-o-o-o. For you don't love me and I'll always be. Cry-i-i-i-ng over you, cry-i-i-i-ng over you
Yes, now you're gone and from this moment on, I'll be crying, crying, crying, cry-i-i-ing. Yeah crying, crying, o-o-o-o-ver you…" She walked forward, killing the note, forst high, then softly and walked until she walked right into the pool.

Puck tilted his head… Why had she done that? Could Helen even swim? It didn't seem likely. He waited for a moment, to see if she was going to – hey some deaf and blind people could do stuff… she wasn't even trying, though. She was sinking to the bottom. Puck rushed into the pool room, and peered over the side to see the body just going down. Why wasn't she even floating? He jumped in after her, hoping that he hadn't waited too long. When he pulled her out, he didn't know what to do! He didn't know mouth to mouth or CPR, or whatever and she didn't appear to be breathing. "Help me! Somebody help!" He screamed. He ran out of the pool room, soaked. He saw Artie and Kurt, on opposite sides of the room. "Flamer McGee! I think Helen Keller is dead!"

Kurt scoffed, at first, then the realization of what Puck was saying hit him. Kurt took off running, along with Puck, who was explaining, frantically, "I saw her walking by herself and I followed her, just to see where she goes – because I was curious. She's blind, so I don't know what she does with her spare time, and she went to the pool and started singing. She sounded freaking beautiful and I was just listening, and she WALKED INTO the pool and just sank!" Kurt reached Mercedes and immediately began to administered mouth to mouth.

She choked up water, came to and held her chest. "Mercedes!" Kurt cheered and wrapped her in his arms, "Oh my God, if you had died, I would've died. You're my only friend in the world! Don't ever leave me!" He cried against her skin and she shoved him away.

"You know how I feel about this, Kurt," she fussed. I don't belong here, in this place. I don't belong in a world that refuses to embrace me. This world doesn't care about people like me. Why do you keep making me stay here? I want to go where my mom and dad are! They would embrace me. They would never let me be lonely again," she cried. "God, Kurt – I hate being so alone!"

"You aren't alone, Mercy. I'm here," he said.

"But, your dad is going to come and get you some day. No one is coming for me, Kurt. No one cares about me, but you and when you leave, I'll have no one, again." She shook her head, "Even the thought of it kills me, and people keep preventing me from killing myself to end this pain!" She struggled to get up and felt a pair of arms wrap around her. These weren't Kurt's arms. This person was too tall to be Kurt, and not as skinny. This person had more muscle. "Who the hell is this?" She asked.

"Puck," he said. "I know how it feels. I know how it feels to be so lonely that you want to die, so why don't we just promise to keep each other company, in the event that one of us feels alone?"

"Puck? Noah Puckerman? I reached out to you, weeks ago. You shot me down," she said, through sniffles.

"My mistake," he told her, and let go of the hug.

"You are here for just a while, too. When you've shown some improvements, they'll let your mother pick you up. I don't have parents. If I go anywhere, it'll be foster care or an orphanage…" Mercedes was ranting.

They heard a long gasp, then, "Mercedes! Noah! Kurt!" The three turned to see a worried Emma coming their way. She rushed for a towel and came to wrap Mercedes up. "You're drenched! Mercedes, what happened?"

Instantly Puck defended, "I was horsing around, picking on Kurt and when she tried to stop me, I accidentally knocked her into the pool."

Kurt quickly followed, "But, then he jumped in and rescued her. That's why he's all soaked too."

And Puck finished, "And Kurt did the mouth to mouth thing and made sure that she survived. I'm sorry, Miss Pillsbury. I didn't mean to cause any trouble."

Emma gave the eager boys a sympathetic smile, then sternly told them, "If Mercedes has an episode, lying to us will not help us help her with it. I am glad that you've finally connected with someone, Noah. Kurt, I am sure that Mercedes values your friendship very much, as well. If this was one of her suicide attempts, we need to know so that we can help her." Kurt began to cry and Puck just put his head down. Emma kneeled in front of Mercedes and asked, "Did you go into the pool on purpose?"

"Miss Emma, I just got so lonely! You know how I am when I feel alone. I don't want to get Kurt and Noah in trouble. I did it, myself. No one knocked me in, but they did rescue me." She wiped her face. "Do I have to take a shot? Can I take a pill, instead?"

"That's fine, Mercedes," Emma said, guiding her out.

"Miss Pillsbury, will we be able to see her?" Puck asked.

"After we've had a chance to change her and settle her down," Emma asked as she and a crying Mercedes left.

Puck wasn't even worried about being seen with Kurt as the two of them peeked into Mercedes' room through the open door. Her roommate, Dottie looked up when she saw someone appear, then announced, "Mercedes, somebody's here to see you. I'm going to watch TV, now." The girl got up, holding a book and passed the two boys, "When you get tired of being here, one of you come get me so she doesn't have to be alone," she said.

Puck sat on one side of Mercedes, as she lie on her side and Kurt sat behind her. "Mercedes, we've figured out a solution to your problem," Kurt said. "Noah and I have found perfect company for you in the event that we are allowed to return home to our families and you're still here! Artie Abrams. Think about it – his dad has trouble taking care of him at their house, so he'll probably keep him here for much longer than Artie actually needs to be here. So, Noah spoke with Artie and get this – he's DELIGHTED to be able to keep you company! Yay! You have a new friend to hang out with."

She and Artie grew up together. He wasn't new to her. Her mom and his dad met at a support group for parents with disabled children, shortly after Artie's accident, which resulted in a divorce between his parents, and his mom never looking back – at the husband who couldn't forgive her or the son that she couldn't forgive herself for permanently injuring. Mrs. Jones understood how much harder it was for a single parent to take care of a special needs child and she and Mr. Abrams came together frequently and babysat for each other, to try to make sure Artie and Mercedes had someone else to connect with.

At that time, Mercedes had been a happy-go-lucky child who liked to pick flowers and put them in the younger boy's hair, even though she didn't understand why anybody put flowers in their hair, she knew that every time she did it, people told her how pretty she looked, and Artie didn't feel very good about himself. Maybe flowers in his hair would help him feel better. They didn't. He just fussed at her and told her to stop picking on him. BUT, she noticed, she was the only person that he ever said anything to, since his mother left. His silence was so bad to the point that Mr. Abrams put him in the institution, just because he didn't know how to make him say anything.

"But, Artie does talk. He talks to me!" Mercedes said when she found out that her friend had to leave.

"Well, he won't talk to anyone else, and Mr. Abrams really wants to know what his son feels about everything. He's scared that if Artie doesn't get help, he might never talk to him again."

Artie had been in that place since he was ten. The accident, when he was eight had depressed him, but it hadn't silenced him. The divorce when he was nine, did silence him and after a year, his father simply did not know what else to do. Mercedes, her mother and his father visited him regularly, and Artie was always happy to see them – especially Mercedes. She was his closest friend, at the time and having her there always made him feel better about being there. Neither of them had any idea that in less than two years, she would be there, too… a completely different girl than the one he had befriended a few years before.

Presently, Mercedes groaned, "Artie isn't new. I've known him since I was nine. I appreciate you two, but I just had an episode. Sometimes, it happens. There are triggers. My birthday is one of them. I turn thirteen next week. It's the first one that I'll have without either of my parents. When I get sad, sometimes I sing, and that helps. But, when I'm lonely and depressed, it only helps if somebody else sings to me… but my mom can't do that for me, because she's gone, too now… and she's gone because I tried to throw myself in front of a vehicle last time I was that depressed, and it hit her instead," she said. "I should've just asked her to sing to me, but I was mad at her, because…" She stopped and shook her head at the thought, I blamed her for what happened to my dad…

Kurt sighed and said, "Hmm, well, what to sing, what to sing… I'm sure I have a feel good song inside of me, somewhere…"

But, Puck stole his thunder when he broke into a song, "Don't go changing, to try and please me. You never let me down before. Don't imagine you're too familiar, and I don't see you anymore. I wouldn't leave you in times of trouble. We never could have come this far. I took the good times, I'll take the bad times. I'll take you just the way you are..." By the last line, Mercedes was singing along with Puck, who was stroking her hair. Kurt was simply watching in shocked silence.

"You know Barry White songs," Mercedes said.

"My mom's a huge fan," Puck told her.

"Mine was, too," she said. "Thanks, Noah." She said and moved towards him to place her head on his lap as she yawned and said, "Thank you too, Kurt. I know that you have something just as nice to sing."

"I do." Kurt began singing that song, "Go to sleep little baby," from the O' Brother Where Art Thou movie, with Mercedes softly singing along, with him until they heard her breathing change. She'd fallen asleep. Failed suicide attempt, medication and lullabies made certain of that. Kurt stared at Puck and said, "You… like her."

"She's really cool. And we're kinda alike.. She's got just as much rage and depression as me – she just usually keeps hers hidden behind a cute little smile, while I go ahead and throw mine at everybody else. When she tried to drown herself, that was like the ultimate realization. I try to do the same thing, just with alcohol. But, when I jumped in and pulled her out and made the decision to save her, it was like the first thing that I can think of that I actually did something right. I helped to save somebody's life. It's like we're connected now, or something. I have a thing for depressed girls and she has a thing for damaged guys, so it's like we're a messed up match made in heaven."

"But, she won't always be depressed and you won't always be damaged," Kurt said. "We're all here so that we can get better." He shrugged and said, "Well, I'm here so that my dad can get better, and he just thinks that I'm the one with the coping problems, but the more I learn here, the better I can help him when I get out." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just saying, don't fall in love with an idea. You feel this connection to her and that's great. She needs somebody to connect to. Just, be sure it's real."

"I saved her life, Kurt. I did what her mom wanted to do, but I didn't leave her to do it. That's always going to mean a lot to her. Even if we don't end up together."

Puck didn't know that Mercedes had heard the entire conversation and it didn't come up again until years later, when they actually were together, but he was very right about that. All of the times that people begged her to get over him and cut him off, it was virtually impossible. It was like cutting out a vital portion of herself. She didn't care how much pain he caused her, and she didn't care how bad things got. Puck was as important to her as those first few breaths after she had not drowned, because he was the reason that she had not drowned – he and Kurt.

Mercedes called Sam's name, and he didn't answer. He sounded like he was sleep. She sighed and climbed out of bed, as gently as she could, to retrieve her phone. Kurt answered, shuffling about, trying to get outside of the building, with all of the ruckus in the back. "Hey, Queen! I have many pieces of my mind to give you about this running off to Kentucky mess. So, you may as well prepare your mind and heart for it…"

"How is Puck?" She asked.

He sighed. "I haven't seen him like this in years. He told Artie and I what you said to him." Kurt stopped there. She knew that meant that whatever else was really bad.

"What else?" She asked.

"Mercedes, just enjoy your trip. I presume that you took it to get away from everything going on here," Kurt said. That made her worry even more… the fact that Kurt wouldn't tell her anything.

"Do I need to come back?" She asked.

"If you did that, you would just be reneging what you said to him and the two of you are going to repeat your tumble cycle of save and be saved and think it's love."

"What if I'm making a mistake with Sam, too?" She asked. Sam heard his name and shuffled a little in the bed. His eyes blinked and he looked at her. "I was thinking about when Puck first sang to me,, and he thought I'd fallen asleep. He said that I was a depressed girl who likes damaged boys. Have I changed, at all?"

"More than anyone else I know," Kurt said. "Mercedes, this is why you need a break from Puck. You don't know who you are, because he's always trying to tell you who you are and you buy it. I vote that you stay in Kentucky for a while. Lord knows that you can afford it. Quinn and Santana know how to run Pieces of Mercy without you and it's even easier right now, considering that they actually have a staff."

"I'll be back in a week or two," she said. "If Sam's family doesn't care for me, I can always catch a bus or train or something home. He can come back whenever he's finished visiting."

"You aren't going anywhere without me," Mercedes heard Sam say and felt his arms wrap around her from behind. He kissed her on the neck, "If they don't care for you, we'll go, together."

"Let me talk to him," Kurt said. Mercedes smiled and passed the phone.

"Hello?"

"She took the heat when you weren't accepted by her family. I hope that you're willing to do the same for her," Kurt said.

"For the rest of my life," Sam said. "Anything else?"

"It would be better if you two stayed away longer than just a few days."

"For who?" Sam asked.

"For pretty much everyone, but Quinn," Kurt replied.

"What's wrong with Quinn?" Sam asked.

"Something's wrong with Quinn?" Mercedes asked.

Kurt now asked, "Why would you ask that out loud, Sam?" But before Sam could say anything, Mercedes had snatched the phone back and began to ask Kurt what happened. "Nothing happened to Quinn," he said.

"That's your high-pitched lie voice. What's going on?" She asked, her heart a frantic mess, now.

"Nothing has happened to Quinn," he said, trying not to sound as high=pitched or as lying.

"What happened to Puck?" She asked.

Kurt sighed and said, "Puck had an episode, and Beth was in the house. She's alright, but Quinn's freaking out and Puck's at Emma's… detoxing."

"He fell off the wagon?" She asked. "But, it's been five years!" She said, with tears in her eyes. "This is all my fault," she said. "How is Beth? Did he hurt her? Did he scare her?" Sam's eyes were widened as he listened to Mercedes and watched her unraveling right before his eyes. "And Quinn has been drinking, so Beth has basically no one capable of watching her right now! Beth and Quinn are at Mike and Tina's… Is Joe there with them? You're still there? Let me talk to Beth, so I can sing her a song…" Several minutes later when Mercedes hung up, Sam brought her into an embrace. "This is all my fault."

"Don't say that. You can't hold yourself responsible for stuff like that. Puck made his choice and it was a selfish choice. He should have thought about his daughter and how his choice would affect her." He pulled back slightly and rubbed her tears away, "But, if you want to go back, we can do that. Tell me what you want."

"I want to be with you. I want you to see your family and I want to meet them," she said. She sounded like she was trying to convince herself, but he accepted her words. Mercedes took a deep breath and said, "This is why it's so easy to scare people off. Because he still has this affect on me," she said.

Sam shook his head and pulled her in closely. "I'm not going anywhere. And this affect is going to pass once you see how different it is to actually have somebody love you enough to do what's best for you."

Stevie Evans sat on the porch, anxiously waiting, while he listened to some music and played with his sandy brown boerboels; until he saw a purple van coming into view with airbrushed letters on the side of it that he couldn't read quite yet, but was sure that this was Sam. Stevie got up and made his way towards the weird vehicle as it pulled into the driveway, off of the dirt road and he smiled when he saw Sam's face smiling from the driver's seat. Sam honked the horn a couple of times and opened his door.

Mercedes moved into the back of the van to collect Kissy, as Sam was rushed by his younger brother's bear hug. "Oh my God! Sam!" Stevie cried out. "Oh, wow – you look really great," Stevie gushed as the front door opened and more Evans came rushing out to greet him. Mary and Stacie raced to the van to bombard their loved one with hugs of their own. The group was laughing and hugging when they heard the dogs barking angrily and Mercedes screamed. Sam rushed to the back of the van and calmed Cluster and Kissy, with Stevie, who calmed his dogs down, but stared curiously at Mercedes, as she clung to the side of the van, afraid to step out of it.

Stevie said, "Sorry… they're guard dogs. Our home sometimes ends up a target…" His eyes questioned Sam about the woman on the van, but Sam dismissed the look and helped Mercedes down.

"You alright?" He asked.

"He just scared me when I was about to get down, and I've been bitten by a dog that wasn't mine before. Hurt like heck and I didn't want to repeat that. Plus, he sounds huge and that means even bigger teeth and stronger jaws." She laughed, uncomfortably as she let Sam place her feet on the ground, then he handed her Kissy's handle and took Cluster's leash. Sam took Mercedes' free hand with his free hand and made his announcement.

"This is Miss Mercedes Jones. That's KissyKissyBangBang, but we usually just call her Kissy. This is Clusterfrak," he said, "Mercedes, that's Mom – MaryEvans, my brother, Stevie and sister, Stacie."

"Hi, Mercedes!" A young female voice cheered and Mercedes smiled in the general direction of Stacie.

"It's nice to finally place a face with the stories," Mary Evans said, but her voice seemed taken aback or thrown off.

Stevie took a moment, before he asked, "Are you the girl that let Sammy stay with you?"

"I'm the woman that Sam has been living with and working for," she said, with smile.

Mary said, "Well, let's not all just stand out here. I made chicken and biscuits…"

"Oh, thank God! Mercy, my mom makes the best biscuits in the history of the world, and you haven't had chicken until you've had Southern fried chicken… not that stuff that they push off in the different food chains, but real chicken actually fried by a real Southerner…" As they stepped up the steps on the porch, Sam asked, "Do you mind if the dogs come in, Mom? They aren't used to being outside, much. I don't want them getting into any scrapes with any of the other dogs."

"Dad doesn't really like animals in the house," Stevie commented, and his tone made Sam stop and face him. He was looking at Mercy, not the dogs and Sam took a step towards him.

"It'll be fine," Mary said and pushed them both inside, throwing a displeased look at the younger of her sons for his comment.