Carrying on the Torch

Disclaimer: I don't own Good Luck Charlie

A/N: This is going to be the second time a chapter is in someone else's perspective, and the first it's of a parent. You will see why.

Chapter 31 (When Mama Bears Attack)

"Oh my god, your face!" Debbie exclaimed as Dee sat upon the couch. Her daughter's face was red and swollen, and beginning to purple. Did that man hit her so hard? Who would do such a thing to her daughter! She rushed over to Dee and hurried her gaze to her husband, who was looking almost as furious as she was panicked. "Rick! Get an ice pack!"

Fear, anger, hate, concern, it all crashed through her veins as she met her daughter's sad gaze. She brought a delicate hand to her daughter's hair and groomed it back. This was all her fault, she was certain of it. Rick and Dee had both been telling her since she found out about what Eric had done the first time that it wasn't her fault, but she couldn't help it. It was how she was, she constantly blamed herself for everything. If Rick burned dinner, it was her fault because she distracted him. If Dee was late for school, it was her fault for not waking up in time to be sure Dee could get there. Now this, this was all her fault. She was running this through her head constantly. If she hadn't thrown those god-awful balls, Dee would never have encountered that Eric.

"Mom, it's okay, I'm fine…" Tears streaked Debbie's face as she gingerly touched the bruised cheek. The minute her fingers made contact, Dee recoiled and winced. She gasped and put her hand to her own face, trying to choke back an angry sob.

"We're rich, they're going to think your father's abusing you! That boy did this to you, didn't he? Eric." Dee moved her eyes to the side and slowly nodded her head. Anger continued to rise up in her heart as she slowly closed her eyes. Eric Powers, if he ever laid another hand on her daughter, he wasn't going to be seeing the light of day again.

Rick came through with a bag of frozen peas, which was said to work better than an ice pack. Dee took the bag and slowly put it to her face, cringing, then sighing as it started to comfort her. "He's been stalking me, Mom…for the past few months, I've been seeing him watching me."

"What…" The air around her grew very still, the house quiet, as though waiting for a storm to devastate everything around her. "And he's chosen today to make his move?" If Dee's friends hadn't been there, what would have come of her poor daughter? No, this wouldn't stand. It couldn't. "My baby…" She hugged Dee close and started trembling, she was beginning to be unable to contain that rage and the guilt. "I'm sorry Dee, I never should have thrown those damned parties."

"It's not your fault mom, you didn't know…and I should have told you and Dad from the start…" Dee's face grew stiff and her lips fell flat. "Can I go lie down? I want to talk to you guys about this later, right now I'm tired and I need some rest…"

"Yes. Anything." She released her daughter and watched as the girl walked upstairs to her room. Her hands closed firmly as she turned her angry eyes to her husband. Rick was running his finger along his brown mustache, probably trying to comprehend what was coming next. Her heart slammed against her chest as she turned fully towards him and spoke slowly, the sound of murder in her voice. "Rick. Where is Eric?" Rick raised an eyebrow at her and slowly lowered his arm.

"What are you thinking, Debbie."

"I want to know where he is. Then I want you to go to the courts and get a goddamn restraining order, now." Her voice took a menacing tone as she pointed her finger to the door. She wasn't taking any prisoners. "Did you arrest him, or did you take him home? Which is it?" Rick took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"I didn't have anything to arrest him on at the time. He can't get arrested for slapping someone, unfortunately…but he can get a restraining order…he's at home with his parents, who practically begged me not to do anything to him." She narrowed her eyes and let a growl tear from her lips.

"You're serious?"

"They threatened to slander your name so the other wealthy people in town will stop associating with you. Apparently they think you've raised a beast."

"Oh I've raised a 'beast', have I? I've raised a monster? Is that so? Well if they want a monster, they're going to get a monster!" It was the last straw, she swiftly turned to the door and started heading out.

"Debbie, don't do anything you might-"

"Just get that restraining order, Rick! I don't give a shit what happens to that little monster of theirs or what people think about me. Nobody hurts my daughter and gets away with it!" After walking to her car, she sent a text out to the mothers of her daughter's friends, who were good friends of hers as well. "Alice, Skyler, meet me at this address in five minutes…"

She drove to the corner of the street where the Powers lived, Skyler and Alice were close behind. When she stepped out of her car, they walked up to her, both concerned. "What's going on?" Skyler asked. Alice leaned up against the car, crossing her arms over.

"I need someone with a calm head to hold me back. This little prick has been stalking my daughter, has laid his hands on her, and quite frankly I've had enough of it!" Alice and Skyler exchanged anxious glances that quickly turned to an upset, they both cared about Dee as much as they cared for their own daughters. "Now his parents are claiming that I've raised a monster because she won't 'accept' his advances!"

"What nerve!" Alice proclaimed. "If someone did that to my daughter, I'd have their heads handed to me on a silver platter!" Skyler nodded her head and glared at the house before them.

"I know how it feels to have someone stalking your child, fortunately I think Mason's scared the brat away. You should get a restraining order, it won't do much good to do anything to the kid." Debbie scoffed and pushed herself forward, beginning her strong walk towards the front door. Skyler and Alice followed close behind.

"I don't intend to do anything to the little devil, but if I do see him, hold me back…" She lifted her hand and started slamming her fist into the door. After about three blows, Skyler put her hand onto her wrist and pulled her arm down. Debbie closed her eyes and started shaking her shoulders, huffing out her anger. "Right, I'll relax." Skyler moved her hand back and Alice chuckled nervously.

"You'd better hold onto her Sky, I think she's about to lunge for the throat of whoever opens that door. If she latches on, there's no letting go." Damn right she would, but she knew better than that. She would have had time to cool off.

"I won't do anything. I just want to talk." The door opened up and an overweight woman with a round face and jet black curly hair stood before them. She blinked at Debbie and smiled warily. "Hello Martha, may we come in? I feel it's imperative that we talk."

"Why of course, Debbie…" The woman's voice had an uncertain tone to it, so Debbie figured she knew she was in trouble. "I just made some tea…"

"I don't care for tea." She walked inside, her girls following close behind. She wasn't in the mood to be polite, either. She raised her daughter to be polite and was, herself, raised to be polite as well, but right now she couldn't give a damn. Her cell phone buzzed, Rick must have finally texted her the photos taken of Dee's bruise. She would have to keep them safe. "I think you know exactly why I'm here, Martha. I am in a foul mood…" She reached into her pocket and removed her cell phone. When she looked, her stomach flipped. Dee's bruise was flared up so badly that it angered her more so. She turned the phone to Martha just as Eric stepped into the living room, pausing with a sweat as he spotted the mothers. "Your son did this to my daughter, and you claim that my Dee is a monster?"

"Oh my…" Martha took one glance at the photo, then moved her eyes away, smiling with an innocent smile that Debbie wanted so badly to smack off the woman's face. "Well, I don't know how you're raising your daughter, but where we come from, she's not supposed to speak out against a man."

"Excuse me? Fuck this!" She didn't use language often, it wasn't 'ladylike' to curse, but this was just one of those rare moments when she lost her head. She started to lunge forward, but both Alice and Skyler grabbed her wrists. Martha's eyebrows rose as the women consoled Debbie. "I don't know what century you're living in that a woman can't have a right to her own opinion! Your little monster attacked my daughter, tried to assault her five months ago, stalked her, and hit her in front of her friends! If anyone's a monster, it sure as hell isn't my child!"

"It was to my understanding that my son was asking your daughter for a date when some man overpowered him at your daughter's request." Debbie growled and Alice rolled her eyes.

"We have three witnesses that can say otherwise," Alice commented. She knew the situation from Charlotte telling Regina, then Regina telling her. "Let's also not forget that a restaurant has cameras. Every business owner needs to have security cameras, and this is why! So do you really want to argue who's at fault here, lady? I'll wager a security cam never lies." Alice took a look at Eric, who was frozen in place, and narrowed her eyes. "I've seen him before." Debbie arched her eyebrow and looked over to her friend with growing curiosity.

"You have? When?"

"At the store. I've seen him about three or four times, my security personnel kept thinking he was a potential shoplifter. He never bought anything, never took anything, but he only came around whenever Dee and the girls came into the store. He'd just follow them down the aisles, hiding around the corner…" The bile began rising up Debbie's throat as she turned her glare onto Eric. Skyler hummed and stared at the boy for a moment.

"I've seen him on school grounds. He's not a student there, but he's definitely been on the campus. Mostly during cheerleading practice and pep rallies." Martha started to pale. Debbie's lips grew flat and her heart was speeding to powerful levels, at this point if her friends weren't strong enough, she was about to tear away from them and pounce that little brat.

"You really have been stalking my daughter! Ooh, if I didn't have the self control…" She growled and tore her right arm from Skyler, pointing ferociously at Martha. "And you…go ahead and tell your fucking friends all about me, slander me as much as you like, I don't care, but you better leave my daughter out of this, or so help me! Don't forget who my husband is! If you think we won't sue your son for battery, you for slander and defamation, then you have another surprise coming, you haughty…haughty…" She stammered on her words, but still let it come out, "Bitch!"

Alice and Skyler stared at her with complete surprise as the air grew into a deafening silence. Debbie knew Martha couldn't do squat to her. All Martha's family wealth and status didn't come from anything they earned, only inheritance. She wasn't a powerful person in the town, not like Rick. So it would be to her best interest not to do anything that could ruin her own status, if she cared about statuses so much. At this point, Debbie didn't care, she'd be more than willing to sue the pants off this woman. Suck her dry of every single penny if she had to. Her chest heaved and her muscles tensed, she was like a lioness waiting for a perfect moment to strike. Praise be the heavens above that Alice and Skyler weren't going to let her do anything that could get her into serious trouble.

Martha put her hand to her chest and gasped, as if she'd just been grossly offended. "Well I never." Oh, never been talked to in such a manner, was it? Typical. "What would the families think of you coming into my house and attacking me in such a vile manner?" Debbie growled and clenched her fists, preparing herself to strike, but Skyler calmed her by putting a hand to her shoulder. Skyler looked to the woman and narrowed her eyes.

"Seriously? You're still threatening Debbie's 'status' among her friends like a shallow bitch? First of all, you let her in here, so she didn't come in here and attack you. Second of all…Don't you know what matters is family, and true friends that would never leave her because some pompous woman was slandering her name. As for you, I'd be more worried about your own reputation if word got out about your son. You seem like a woman who cares about reputation so much, and since you do, it only makes sense that you would raise your son to be anyone other than an asshole who disrespects women in private and public. Right? Apparently not, apparently you care more about your own wealth than you care about anyone else."

Dee tore herself from her friends and stepped close to Martha, keeping her hands at her side and her glare locked with the woman. "Maybe someone else would care if you started tearing them apart by generating lies about their children, but you know what? Your son attacks my daughter, you try to cover it up by threatening my reputation…you think I'm going to care? Really? You just crossed the wrong mother. I don't need my wealth, I don't need my status, everything that's important to me, I have." She smacked her hands against her chest and bounced them off, taking a slight step back and pointing to the two women behind her. "I have friends that aren't fake or plastic. I have a family that I love and that loves me back. I'm not insecure about myself, about who I am, and I don't need the validation of others to convince me that I'm a worthy, valuable human being. Even my husband knows to treat me with respect, and in turn, I can treat him with a mutual respect. Can you say the same about yourself? Hmm? Tell me, how many of your 'friends' would stick around for you in the time of need, Martha? How many? Honestly, I want an answer."

Martha opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated. She had nothing and Debbie knew it. Martha was, and always had been, one of the most insecure women in town. The woman was your typical high school 'Teen Queen' who relied on friends and relationships with shallow, vague people that would instantly turn on her once she said or did anything that she didn't agree with. Even Martha's husband walked all over her, and she let him. There was no respect there, none whatsoever. For Debbie, hell, there were some wealthy empowered people out there who were true friends to her and would stand beside her no matter what someone like Martha said. For Martha, it wasn't like that, she came across just as shallow to them as anyone else.

Debbie was livid, she couldn't contain her anger, so much that she was actually looking less and less of an elegant and refined woman. Did it matter? What would Martha do if her own kid had to go through the same stuff that Dee was going through? Probably nothing. "You can't say a damn thing, can you, Martha? Now I actually pity your son for having such a shallow mother that couldn't raise him to treat women with respect…but how could he, after seeing how little respect his own mother has for other people? How could he know how to respect anyone? You don't even know how to respect yourself."

She felt Alice put her hand to her shoulder and met her friend's gaze, both Skyler and Alice felt it was time to leave, and she agreed. There would be no more use in staying here. Debbie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, pushing down her anger. She could forgive Martha for being a shallow bitch, she could forgive Eric for hurting her daughter, but damn it to hell if she was going to curb her tongue or impair justice. That alone would just be damaging to her own 'reputation'.

"You know what Martha?"

"What?"

"I'm going to leave now…you? You're not worth the time it takes getting mad and yelling at. You're just not worth it. You're so spoiled, so selfish, you don't even care when your own son decides to emotionally and physically hurt an innocent person. If anyone's raising a monster, a future murderer, abuser, rapist, it's you…not me. Martha. You will be hearing from my lawyer and Eric will be served a restraining order. Go ahead and tell everyone how bad of a mother I am, just as long as you know they'll know about your son, because I am going to inform the parents in this town just how badly your son treats his women. I shudder to think of the mothers would feel that have little girls that he would be coming around. It's in my good nature to warn people of a danger, Martha…and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"And just how do you plan on doing that? I hardly think you'd be anything less than a hypocrite by going around and telling people these things…"

"Oh don't misunderstand, I don't intend to do that." Debbie waved her finger in the air and chuckled softly. No, she would never go door to door and turn what happened to her daughter into a big publicity stunt like that. "No, but considering my husband is the Police Chief, reporters will be flocking, and neither my husband nor my daughter have to make a statement. I can, and you know what I can say? I can say one sentence, one sentence that wouldn't be deemed slander, because it's true, and that one sentence can turn people away from you and your son. Hell, I don't even have to read the papers and they'll know what monster your son has become. 'Boy Assaults Denver Police Chief's Daughter'." Martha paled and staggered backwards as Debbie put her hands to her waist, narrowing her glare.

"D-Don't sue Debbie. Please?" Martha chuckled nervously and Debbie exhaled slowly. "I'd be ruined, my reputation shattered!" Seriously? She was still worried about reputation? God, how far would this woman go to save her own skin? What about her son? Shouldn't she be more worried about her son? Shouldn't she at least try to discipline the little piece of shit? Debbie's brow furrowed and she slowly turned towards the front door, she truly had enough of this woman. "You don't need to file a restraining order on Eric, no need to sue us for Dee…" She stopped in front of the door and her shoulders fell.

"No…my daughter's going to get the justice she deserves. Who knows if she's not the first? Maybe he's hurt others…" She glanced over her shoulder at Eric, who was starting to sweat even more. She narrowed her gaze at him, her intuition was sending her several red flags from this boy. She wasn't going to accuse him of anything she didn't know, but she wouldn't put it past him for anything. "Maybe he's done some terrible things to other girls and they're just afraid to step forward because you're a bitch to deal with. Maybe their parents are afraid of their 'reputation' being smeared, but I'm not like that…I'll still have people who care about me no matter what anyone else says. You can live in a fantasy world as much as you like, where everyone thinks you're a perfect Queen, but out here…there are some of us mothers that care about our children."

"Debbie…"

"I'm hearing no more of it. The next time we talk will be in a courthouse. Goodbye Martha." She made her way outside, Alice and Skyler followed close behind. Once she neared her car, she took a deep breath and looked over at them. Her eyes were wet and her cheeks red with frustration and mild embarrassment. "I totally lost it in there…thank you for being there…"

"Anytime," Alice said with a gentle smile. Skyler nodded and pat her shoulder.

"I'm impressed, you went completely 'ghetto' in there!" Alice laughed and Debbie blushed furiously.

"That's an impressive feat, Debbie. Even I never thought you had it in you. At least we don't have to worry about you becoming a haughty old rich woman when you get older."

"She's young yet, Alice." Debbie raised an eyebrow and chuckled, bowing her head slightly. She was the oldest of the mothers, but at the same time, she was very young. She'd been born in '86, so she was only six years older than Skyler, and eight or nine years older than Alice. Skyler smirked subtly and crossed her arms. "I think we've been rubbing off on her."

"I agree! So Debbie, are you really going to sue her?" Debbie huffed and walked around to the driver's side of her car. She stared ahead at the house and narrowed her eyes, there was no way she was going to be the one person afraid of Martha Powers. Not at the expense of her daughter, she was not going to teach Dee to run and hide whenever there was trouble, but to stand up and fight.

"I'm going to fight. I won't rest until I've not only gotten justice for Dee, but that little monster and a demon of his mother are no longer a danger to her or anyone else." Her friends applauded her with pride and she slowly entered into her car. From here on, things were going to be much different. She learned a valuable lesson and she was not putting anyone or anything ahead of her own child.

Whoo, you don't mess with the mama bears! Gotta love the support of Skyler and Alice