AN: And another chapter! Enjoy!

Eventually, Alastair was healed enough and was back at work. Nnenna was working again as well as Kenton also went back to the Middle East. Everything went fairly back to normal for James, the only oddity being Lily and Susan, her new pin pal slash girlfriend (maybe, it was hard to tell).

Then James woke up early one morning as a phone rang. Well, it was one in the afternoon but seeing as it was his off day and he'd gotten home at nine in the morning after zero sleep for thirty-six hours, it was basically morning.

"Merlin, I swear to god if this is another assignment I'm going to beat Arthur's brains in myself."

"Um…I'm not sure what you're talking about sir."

Jumping awake at the sound of the unfamiliar voice, James cursed himself for not checking who it was. "Sorry I thought you were a friend of mine. Who is this?"

"Roxy Morton's principle, Dr. Elisabeth Cook. You are her uncle, correct?"

"Well blood wise no but yeah, this is James. What can I do for you?" James asked as he tried to figure out exactly what was going on.

"Well you see, in case of an emergency we—"

"What?! I'll be right there! Wait I need an address! No actually I don't, never mind! But what happened? I'm on my way right—"

"Roxy hasn't been injured if that's what you believe sir. However, there has been an incident and as neither her father or her brother is picking up, you are the next contact on the list we have."

James couldn't remember giving them his number, or becoming someone on a list to call in case of emergencies or whatever this was, but he certainly didn't mind and went slightly slower (though only slightly) when dressing. "So why the call?"

"Roxy has been in an…altercation of sorts and before the police get there she's requested someone of her family, or close family friend be with her as is her right as a minor."

"Police? What the hell happened?"

"She broke a boys leg and keeps claiming all these wild accusations for her reasoning. As of right now, the boy's parents are pressing charges. Having yourself here would be extremely helpful as no one else has gotten the girl to calm down enough to get out the truth."

"Right, I'm be right there. Give me ten minutes," James said. The principle replied with a thank you as James hung up and hurried to Roxy's school.

On the ride over, he tried to figure out why Roxy would do such a thing but adding up all possible reasons with Roxy's character made zero sense. There was also a since of shock going through him as he simply tried to process the words given to him over the phone and once at the school, went directly to the main office.

"You are Roxy Morton's uncle?" asked a woman.

Deciding not to correct it for now, he said, "Yeah, where is she?"

"In my office at the moment. I'm Dr. Cook. I figured I'd give some time to talk to her before the police come. At the moment they're taking a statement from the victim."

"Fine, thank you," James replied, not quite sure how he liked how she called the boy victim. Made it sound like Roxy completely destroyed the kid and he still didn't understand or have a why.

He walked into the room where he saw Roxy sitting up straight in one of the chairs, refusing to turn around. However, James cleared his throat and said, "I know you probably weren't expecting me but—"

"James!" she cried out as she broke from her frozen position and ran at him. "Oh thank goodness you're here!"

"I'd say so. They tell me you broke a boy's leg!"

"Yes but—"

"Roxy, you're nearly sixteen! I thought you were mature, that you understood whatever you learned in your self-defense classes was not to be used wrongly—"

"But I didn't misuse my training!"

Immediately James jumped back into protective mode. "You didn't? What did he do? Are you bruised? Did he pull a weapon—"

"James!"

"Yes?" he asked surprised by her weary and pleading shout. "What is it?"

"It's…it's you're doing the same thing as all the other adults. I know you at least mean well but you still not listening."

Roxy was right and James sighed as that realization hit him. "I am, aren't I? Okay, tell me exactly what happened from start to finish. I promise I won't interrupt."

"Jason, the kid who's leg I broke, I was suspicious about him because I'd see a lot of people that weren't really his crowd talk to him. Often these people were usuals and would talk on a set schedule to. A couple of times I caught them exchanging money and finally I broke into Jason's locker and found all these pharmaceutical pills he'd been stealing from his mom and selling off to the other kids," Roxy said in a hurried rush, as if afraid once she took a breath James would stop her.

"I confronted him about it and tried to get him to tell an adult, but he threatened me instead and tried to run away. I know it was excessive but by breaking his leg, and his phone I might add, he hasn't been able to remove any of the incriminating evidence because I left everything right where I found it and I know for a fact that he hasn't been able to talk to anyone else except his parents or the cops so he hasn't called anyone to get rid of it.

"He also probably hasn't tried to get rid of anything because he probably thinks no one will believe me, especially because he's such a rule abiding student. However, I know for a fact that he's not careful and there are fingerprints all over his things and if that doesn't stick, I also recorded video evidence of him exchanging money for seemingly unknown items which are the drugs on my phone," Roxy finally finished. She pulled out her phone and showed the different clips she'd attained though James honestly wasn't paying attention that much.

He simply needed time to wrap his head around it all.

"You're telling me that you uncovered an illegal drug ring at your school?"

"You don't believe me? But I just showed you all the evidence and—"

"And you're an utter genius! I mean, I personally think you should have gone to an adult first—"

"But then Jason might have been able to clear everything out before they searched anything. And that's on the small chance they believed me," Roxy replied.

"Well exactly," said James, completely agreeing with Roxy. "You looked at what you were dealt and then decided on the choice that would most likely lead to success, even if it involved in yourself getting in trouble."

"Exactly! I'm so happy you came instead of Alastair. I don't know if he'd actually sit through me explaining all this," Roxy sighed, looking extremely happy for the first time that day.

"You may have had to yell at him a bit more but I know he would have listened. But I'm curious, what would you have done if your dad had responded? Or some other relative?"

"Well only yourself, Alastair, and dad are on my emergency contacts. My mother was taken off and Kenton is almost always unavailable so it didn't make sense to put him down. And as far as my father goes, I took the battery out of his mobile and unplugged all the house phones."

"You just thought of everything didn't you," James said with a laugh. "Come on, we'll go explain everything to the police and if they interrupt, I'll make sure to shut them up for you."

James and Roxy then walked out of the principal's office much to the surprise of those present, especially police officers. Walking up to them, James declared, "Roxy Morton understands that she assaulted a boy but before you do your thing, I think you should hear her out as there is a perfectly logical explanation to this all. Roxy, care to take the floor?"

The officers looked skeptically at each other but as Roxy went through her story and showed them the video evidence, soon a small group was heading down to the kid's locker and discovering the stash he kept there, along with the pass couple of days' earnings.

Next it was time to talk the kid and the parents and thankfully the kid's shock kept him from keeping his mouth shut as he immediately blurted out, "How did you convince them?!"

After that it all passed in a rather hurried rush as the parents rather surprisingly dropped the charges and claimed they were going to beat their son when they got home. They even said the only reason they weren't pressing charges on their own kid was because he'd lost his phone and gotten a broken leg and that was punishment enough for the moment.

After the police were no longer important to the picture though, there was still the issue of the principle and school policy.

"School board will have to have their own ruling as to whether have you expelled or not. Due to the circumstances, it is unlikely you would be expelled, but we will have to at the very least suspend you to show we do not support that kind of behavior. As of now, you are suspended for a week which may be lengthened depending on when the school board makes its decision," the principle said.

With head held hi and a sure look upon her face, Roxy replied, "I understand. And as of after this point I promise to come to a school official first if I learn of anything suspicious."

"Thank you Roxy. That is much appreciated. Now, please take your things. I trust there will be no need to escort you off the premises."

"Of course not. Until we meet again Dr. Cook," Roxy responded and then headed out James quickly following after her.

James watched her for a few moments trying to gauge her emotions, before finally commenting, "You're rather chipper for someone who's just gotten suspended and may be expelled."

"Getting arrested was the worst possible situation so any other outcome is greatly welcomed. Besides, I was able to take down that arse and his illegal dealings. I think that's a pretty great reason to feel good," Roxy responded as she stopped at her locker and gathered her things out of it.

"Good point. How does ice cream sound before I take you home?"

"Like an amazing idea!" Roxy responded with a smile. However, it dropped ever so slightly as she added in a softer voice, "You wouldn't mind being there when I tell my dad about this right? Or Alastair for that matter? I mean, I know it probably sounds pretty cowardly, especially after all I did but—"

"Don't say another word Roxy! Uncle James has got your back all the way. Doesn't matter where I am, I'll help you with anything in a heartbeat."

"Thank you," she replied with a kind smile. "That means a lot. But before all that unpleasantness happens, still up for that offer on ice cream?"

"Of course. You can't go back on a promise of ice cream. And we'll even make sure to take an extra tub home with us in case the need arises for it."