Caleb took a deep breath. He dug his nails into the pad of his hand to keep from chuckling at Andy's comment. "I am going to make a phone call."

As soon as the door shut, Owen looked at Andy. "See, I told you."

Andy growled and tackled him off of the bed and onto the floor. "I'm still in trouble dummy."

Caleb opened the door and pulled Andy off of Owen. "Hey! Stop that."

Andy glared hard at Owen.

Caleb made them both sit on the bed again. "What was that about?"

Owen crossed his arms and looked away from Caleb.

"What did you tell him?" Caleb asked.

Owen shook his head.

Caleb watched both of them. "You two wouldn't be testing boundaries would you?" When he didn't get an answer he stood Andy up and gave him six hard swats. He did the same to Owen and told them to sit on opposite ends of the couch in the living room.

Andy frowned. "What did you do that for?"

Caleb sighed. "You two can't be near each other without getting into trouble so you are going to sit there and you aren't going to talk until someone tells you to."

Owen was sniffly and subdued.

Caleb told him that he was going to call his parents. "Sit here. Do not talk to Andy."

Owen just nodded.

April joined Caleb in the kitchen. "Is everything okay?"

Caleb pulled his phone out. "I am pretty sure that Owen was certain the threat of me dealing with him was just a threat. He made a comment and Andy tackled him."

April raised an eyebrow.

Caleb waved her off. "It is a boy thing."

"I am going to put Ian down for a nap." April said.

Caleb kissed her cheek. "You should rest too." He sent Jody and Sean a message because they were both working. He didn't want to call at a bad time. He got a message from Jody saying that she would call back as soon as possible. He thought about calling Dean but Dean would find amusement in the situation. The boys were too much like Dean and Caleb for Dean not to laugh a little.

John answered his phone. "Hello?"

Caleb sighed. "Do you have a minute?"

John turned his truck off. "Yes. What is going on?"

Caleb explained the situation. "I don't even know what to do anymore."

John chuckled a little. "Well, I think a key difference is that you and Dean were a whole lot older and you were hitting Sam with rotten apples."

Caleb pinched the bridge of his nose. The reason that he took a photo of the setup was that it reminded him of a similar idea that he and Dean had had as teenagers. "We have established that Dean and I were problematic."

John was a little surprised that Caleb called him for advice but it wasn't a bad thing. "Is he interested in the weapons or was he wanting to get back at the other kid?"

"I don't know. I guess both. Once I can get one of Owen's parents over here, we can figure all of that out." Caleb said.

John gave him a few solid ideas. "Why did you call me and not Dean?"

Caleb snorted. "He's going to laugh his ass off."

John nodded. "You are probably right."

Caleb got off the phone with John and went to the living room. "I want to know why you were hurling rocks at Jimmy's house."

Andy's shoulders slumped. "He won't leave me alone. I promise we didn't want to hurt him. We just wanted him scared."

Caleb studied Andy. "If that chunk of concrete had hit anyone, it very well could have hurt or killed them." He needed to talk to Jimmy's parents. He wasn't mad about the boys lashing out. Sure, he wasn't going to encourage it but he understood. "Where did you get the idea for the band?"

"My dad has books about old stuff. I saw a drawing." Owen said.

"What did you use for ammo?" Caleb asked.

The boys traded looks.

"Go ahead and spill." Caleb said.

"Uh, sticks. They were hard to hold onto." Andy said. "We found some rocks."

"Why did you build something like that after I made it clear that I didn't want you around weapons?" Caleb asked.

"I have a toy gun." Andy said.

Caleb sighed. "You are old enough to know the difference between a toy and something that could hurt someone."

"If my tree fort has some kind of weapon, I can help protect the house." Andy said.

"Andy, we have been over this. It is not your job to protect the house." Caleb said.

"But dad, what if demons show up?"

"Then you will follow the order I gave you to hide in your closet," Caleb answered.

Andy frowned. Hiding was for babies.

Caleb got a phone call from Jody and filled her in. He watched the boys and finished up his conversation with her. He hung up the phone. "Your mom is going to be here in just a little bit."

Owen squirmed.

"She isn't happy about all of this." Caleb said. "We will be going to Jimmy's house to speak to them."

Andy's eyes grew wide. "No! He's mean and we didn't even hurt him."

Caleb narrowed his eyes. "Fix your tone. We are going to talk about him being mean too. Right now we are going to go outside and I want you to find everything that you used as ammo. I don't want to cut the grass and hit a piece of concrete. That goes for anything you have saved up that you haven't used."

Owen held a bucket while Andy put small rocks and other things in it.

Andy slowed down. They had tried a few other things that he knew Caleb would not like. In his mind, it was all a science experiment. Maybe they shouldn't have aimed it at Jimmy's house but he was a big pain in the butt. Andy briefly wished they had hit him with something because then, they'd still get in trouble but hitting him would make it worth it.

Caleb looked at the bucket. "What do you have in the tree?"

Andy and Owen looked at each other and then gave Caleb nervous looks.

Caleb pointed to the tree. "Get up there and hand me whatever it is. If I climb up and see something you hid, you'll be in twice as much trouble."

Andy climbed into his tree fort and moved the board that had hidden their stash of ammo. He handed Caleb a bag of marbles.

Caleb put the marbles in the bucket. One of those moving at a high speed could easily break a window or hurt someone. He shook his head and took a deep breath.

Andy gave him some toy army men and two hot wheels cars. He handed him a paint stir stick and paused.

Caleb looked at the ruler-like stick. "Why this?"

Owen perked up. "They fly really far! Ms. Baker's dog chewed the other one up though."

Andy wanted to tell Owen to shut up.

Caleb wondered how a seven-year-old managed to get that much pull on a band to be able to shoot a stick that far away. He rubbed his face. "Hurry up and get the rest of it."

Andy shoved something into his pocket and pulled his shirt over it. He gathered up the rest of the items and climbed down. He sheepishly handed Caleb what he had in his hand.

"That would explain where the missing spoons went." Caleb said with a sigh. He dropped the spoons into the bucket. He could tell Andy was nervous. "Is that everything?"

Andy nodded. "Except maybe some small stuff that is on the other side of the fence."

Caleb pointed at him with the stir stick. "What is in your pocket?"

Andy patted his pockets. "Nothing."

Caleb's jaw twitched. "Hand me what is in your pocket."

Andy closed his eyes tight and handed Caleb the butter knife he had tried to hide.

Caleb grabbed the knife from his hand and spun him around.

Andy's eyes flew open and he threw his hands back to rub the backs of his legs. He yelped and tiptoed.

Caleb had popped him with the stir stick. He thought that it worked well for getting Andy's attention. "A knife?"

Andy rubbed his legs. "Not a real one. It is just the kind for toast."

"This can still cut someone. It is heavy. Do you have any idea how badly this could hurt someone?" Caleb asked.

Owen spoke before his brain caught up with him. "The other one didn't even go that far."

Andy yelped again when the paint stick connected with his backside.

"Go inside, both of you." Caleb said. He swatted Owen with the paint stick too when he ran by and dropped it on the kitchen table. He put the spoons and knife in the sink and turned to look at the boys. "You can both find a corner on the opposite side of the room from each other."

When Jody finally got to the house, the boys were still in their corners. She spoke to Caleb in hushed tones and rubbed her face out of frustration.

"Andy has shared some supernatural information with Owen but I don't know how much." Caleb said.

Jody's face fell. "I need to talk to Sean."

"I am so sorry." Caleb said.

Jody shook her head. "This isn't your fault. I should have talked to Sean sooner. Kids talk."

The two adults came to an agreement. They'd each deal with their own kid and then meet back up to talk to Jimmy's parents later. Then, when Sean was home from work, Jody would speak to him. They would sit down together if need be.

Caleb cleared his throat. "Boys, come in here."

Owen gave Jody a sheepish grin and tried to avoid the glare she was giving him.

"Since you can't be together without getting into trouble, you are going to spend a week apart from each other." Caleb said.

Andy gasped. "He's my only friend!"

Owen echoed Andy's statement.

"You aren't banned forever." Jody said. "You are grounded from each other." She stepped closer to Owen. "Get your stuff."

Owen grabbed his bag and gave Andy a pitiful look. "Can I hug him?"

Jody hid a chuckle. "Yes."

Caleb pinched the bridge of his nose. They acted like they were seeing each other off to war. Once Jody and Owen were out of the house, he checked the time. Ian was sleeping still and he didn't want to wake him up. He sat down in one of the kitchen chairs. "Andrew, come here."

Andy slowly walked over to Caleb. "I'm sorry."

"What were you thinking?" Caleb asked.

Andy traced the tiles with his toes. "Jimmy is annoying and bad guys could attack us again."

"Unless Jimmy attacks you, you don't attack him. You know better. You could have hurt someone else. What if a mom had been walking by with a baby?" Caleb asked.

"That would be really sad." Andy said with his head down.

"What were you doing in my closet?" Caleb asked.

Andy frowned. "I didn't take anything besides the holy water."

"That isn't what I asked." Caleb said.

"I just showed Owen that you had different kinds of weapons for different kinds of monsters," Andy said.

Caleb sighed. "So you broke the weapon rule by messing with them but also by building one. You stole things from around the house. I'm assuming the band is from Owen's house. You lied when you were asked about it. You told your friend about the monsters when we specifically told you not to and explained why. You also put others in danger by flinging things into their yards. This afternoon we are going to go to each door and tell them what happened. We do not want Ms. Baker's dog to get sick if that stick splinters."

Andy bounced on his toes. "But dad."

"No. You are going to take responsibility for your actions." Caleb said. He pulled Andy to his side and flipped him over his lap. He gave him a round of firm swats.

Andy wiggled and assured Caleb that he was sorry and understood what he did wrong.

"You do not put yourself or anyone else in danger. You don't lie and still and you do not touch weapons." Caleb said.

Andy nodded. "Yes, sir."

Caleb smacked his own lower leg with the stir stick. It stung but not much worse than his hand did. It was just more concentrated and scary because it was loud. It was a good bit lighter than Bobby's infamous ruler. He tapped Andy with it. "You can thank yourself for this because I never would have thought to use one of these things."

Andy put his hand back. "I'm sorry."

Caleb moved his hand. "After we are done here, you are going to sit in this chair and I'm going to show you how to take apart a gun and put it back together. You are going to do that until you are so tired of it that you won't want to touch one ever again."

Andy twisted his hand. "I already don't want to touch one."

Caleb shifted Andy. "I'm going to make sure of that." He gave him four swats with the paint stick and put it back on the table. He let Andy stand up and wiped some of his tears away. He bit his tongue when Andy jumped to hug him and rammed his head into his chin. He winced but wrapped his arms around Andy. "I want you to be more careful. You are too important to me for you to be going around making those kinds of choices."

Andy nodded his head and kept a tight hold on Caleb's shirt. "I'm sorry, dad."

Caleb rubbed his back. "I know. You are forgiven though." He felt Andy's head grow heavy. "I think you need to go to bed."

Andy yawned. "I don't."

Caleb stood up and patted the back of Andy's leg. "Go to bed early or sit in the wooden chair for an hour while you put a gun back together?"

Andy laid his head on Caleb's shoulder. "Bed."

Caleb carried Andy to his room. He tucked him into bed and rubbed his back until he fell asleep. He heard Ian fussing and opened the bathroom door.

April was trying to give him a bath but he was determined to stand up. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes. Andy is in bed. We will talk to Jimmy's parents tomorrow." Caleb said. "How long has Ian been awake?"

"For a little bit."

"I wasn't sure. I didn't want to come up here and wake him up." Caleb said.

Ian held onto the side of the tub and bounced. He grinned. "Dada!"

Caleb scrunched his nose. "Ian."

April rolled her shoulders. She had been so tired for a few days and couldn't shake it.

Caleb rubbed her shoulders. "How is your blood sugar?"

April yawned. "It is fine. I have been checking it."

"Well, I've got to make a few phone calls. I can finish Ian's bath. You could put your feet up or go to bed. I can put Ian down when I go to bed." Caleb said.

April looked up at him. "You are amazing."

Caleb chuckled and crouched down beside the tub. "So are you. Go on. If you want to watch tv I'll join you after I make those calls."

April kissed his cheek and left the bathroom. She poured a small glass of wine but it must have gone bad. She took one sip and had to pour the rest out. It was the only wine they had in the house. She sighed. "Tea it is."

Caleb successfully got Ian cleaned and out of the tub without the toddler slipping and smacking his head. It was a delicate procedure because Ian tried his hardest to slip and smack his head. He got him dried off and put pajamas on him. He used Ian's baby hairbrush to tame the wisps of hair that stuck out on all sides of his head. He chuckled when Ian closed his eyes and leaned his head back. "Your mom likes having her hair played with too." He made his phone calls and couldn't help but laugh a little with Dean.

"He said he was getting right with god?" Dean asked with a snort.

"Yep. That slingshot was probably better than the one you and I made. They could have a future in engineering." Caleb said.

"Yet you still walloped the kid." Dean said lightly.

"Yeah, yeah. You'd have done the same thing. You can't claim that you weren't at least a little impressed with some of Kate and Taylor's schemes." Caleb said.

"Yeah, but they are older and a pain in the ass. I don't feel as bad." Dean said.

Caleb fed Ian a bedtime snack and managed to brush his teeth without losing a finger. The kid had a puppy-like desire to bite anything within biting range. He checked on April and she was asleep on the couch. He put Ian down in his bed and got him to sleep. He checked on Andy too but both kids were in a deep sleep. He gently woke April up. He felt of her head. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just tired." April said. She tried to take a drink of the tea but pulled a face. "I think that some of the stuff in the refrigerator spoiled."

Caleb took the cup from her. "I'll check it out tomorrow."

April stretched. "Are you going to bed?"

Caleb nodded. "Yes." He patted her leg. "I'll lock up and make sure salt lines are down. I'll be up in just a few minutes."

April felt like she was walking through peanut butter. Her legs were heavy and she was so tired. Great, she was probably coming down with something. If they got sick, Andy had the sniffles for a day while she was dying for two weeks. She wondered if his immune system had anything to do with the number of windows that he licked when he was a toddler. She wondered if she had photos of that somewhere.

Caleb slid into the bed beside April and pulled her to him. He rested his chin on the top of her head and slowly breathed in the scent of her hair. She always smelled a little like strawberries. "I love you." He moved his head to look at her. She was already asleep.

### ###

The following week consisted of getting to the bottom of why Jimmy was being mean and apologizing to neighbors for hurling things into their yards. Jimmy was angry that Owen was friends with Andy. He said that Andy stole his friend but Owen said he stopped being friends with Jimmy way before Andy got to town. Jimmy would steal things and was annoying. Jimmy's dad apologized. Jimmy had been telling them that Andy was the one being mean. Andy took apart and put a gun back together at least a thousand times and had vowed to himself to never even make eye contact with another weapon. The paint stick stayed on the kitchen counter for a few days before being moved to the top of the fridge. He had strong opinions about those things.

Kate ran into Logan a few times at school. He was handsome. He had dark eyes that she got lost in. Taylor said he wasn't a great guy but Kate didn't care. The attention was nice.

Dean noticed a shift in the way Kate dressed. She was still modest but the dresses and jewelry worried him. Sure, it was normal for girls to start growing up and caring about how they looked. He knew it was coming. That didn't mean he was ready for it.

Taylor still had nightmares about David. Gordon's screams also kept him awake. He got stopped in the hallway by one of his teachers.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, why?" Taylor asked.

The teacher looked at his eyes. "You seem out of it and your eyes are bloodshot."

Taylor blinked and his face turned red. "Allergies."

"I wasn't aware that you had allergies." The teacher said. He was suspicious. He had noticed a shift in Taylor's behavior and was worried.

Taylor sent an s.o.s. to Kate and was thankful when he saw her walk around the corner. "Hey, did I take my meds this morning?"

Kate blinked. "No, and you didn't yesterday. You kept me up all night hacking up a lung." She rolled her eyes to add to the annoyed sister persona that she had put on.

The teacher relaxed a little. "Perhaps you should set an alarm. You look awful."

Taylor told him that he would make sure to do that. When he walked away he pulled the neck of his t-shirt over his mouth to hide the giggle he couldn't hold back.

Kate grabbed him and shoved his back against the wall. "You don't take meds asshat. Explain."

Taylor rolled his eyes.

Kate could see how red they were. "Are you high?"

"No. I'm fine." Taylor said.

Kate's stomach twisted. Taylor was not acting like himself. He hadn't in weeks. "What did you take?"

"Don't worry about it. It is already fading." Taylor said.

Kate gritted her teeth. "I backed you with the first drink and sleeping pills. You need to stop. Let me help if you can't sleep. I can make sure that you don't have those dreams."

Taylor's stomach growled loudly. He could smell food in the cafeteria. "I'm going to lunch."

Kate's mouth dropped open and she scoffed as he walked away. She needed to tell someone. If she did that, she'd get into hot water as well. She had helped Taylor hide his issues for a while. It had gotten out of hand. If she could compel him to stop what he was doing, no one really needed to know about it. She chewed on her thumbnail. Was she ever going to get normal Taylor back? Was this just a phase? She was self-destructive when those thoughts flooded her mind. She hurt herself though. Maybe that is why she understood Taylor.

Taylor's high faded once he got food in his stomach. He knew he was on a bad road but he wanted his brain to shut up for a little while. If he was a normal human, he wouldn't try anything like he was. He wasn't a normal human though. He was a Nephilian and whatever he took, the effects only stayed around for a few minutes. He felt bad for getting Kate caught in the web with him but it really wasn't that big of a deal. He'd get over the nightmares and be back to normal soon.

Kate was still working with Marty, unlocking the mysteries of the creature's brain. To really understand how it worked, they needed to view the brain at different stages. Mary had been bitten and held onto her humanity long enough to chain herself up. She didn't lose her hair but she did become violent. "We should have Mary do a scan. The structure of her brain may be different than someone who has never been bitten. Oh, she was a vampire though. We could scan Matt too. Oh! Can we scan my brain?"

Marty chuckled. "Slow down Madame Curie."

Kate's eyes lit up. "I read about her." She twirled around. "I'm going to be the next lady genius."

Marty smiled. "You already are but you need to slow down. She died due to being exposed to what she was studying. You do not want to cause yourself harm in the name of scientific discovery."

Kate sat down on a stool. "Lame." She looked at the specimen again and a few scans. She jumped up and asked for a certain set of slides. "Look!"

Marty looked at the slides. "What are your thoughts?"

"This is from the front of the brain. The tissue looks somewhat normal, although decayed. This other one is from the back of the brain. It doesn't look normal at all. It doesn't have many similarities to the pictures of healthy human brains. What if, the pathogen enters the body and attaches to the brain stem. It can eat away at certain tissue types. This would explain the decline in the host. It would also explain why only certain parts of the brain are gone while others are altered but still there. Once the "human" parts of the brain are gone, the host started to transform physically. It works from the inside out. That could lead to hair loss and muscle hypertrophy. The creature is pure muscle when it is alive. What if the change eats away at the fatty tissue. The brain is made up mostly of fat. That would explain why it is shriveled."

Marty slowly blinked. He stared at Kate for a few moments before quickly grabbing different slides and charts. He worked feverishly for a few minutes and then looked back at Kate. "That theory lines up well with the data that we collected." He smirked. "So, how do we test your theory?"

Kate grinned and bounced on her toes. "Can we introduce the pathogen to different tissue types to see which decay first?"

Marty smiled. "Yes. Yes, we can."

Dean got a call from Kate and held the phone away from his ear. "Kate, if your voice gets any higher the dogs are going to file a complaint."

Kate took a deep breath and tried to explain her thought process.

Dean rubbed his forehead. "You're going to have to talk to dad. Once you figure out how to fight or kill them more easily, then I'll understand."

Kate huffed. "It is basic biology."

Dean leaned his head back. "That is why it goes over my head."

Kate rolled her eyes. "You are smarter than you let on. You are just lazy."

Dean sat forward. "I'm not lazy."

"Oh, I said you were smart and you latch onto the lazy comment," Kate said with a scoff.

Dean chuckled. "Just go do your geek thing. Call dad. I'll come pick you up when you're done for the afternoon."

Kate grinned. "Okay, thanks!"

Dean hung up the phone and looked at Bobby. "I'd relay what she said but I don't know what she just said."

"I'm sure she will tell us when she gets home," Bobby said. He tossed Dean a slice of deer jerky.

Dean bit into it. "Where is Taylor?"

"Somewhere outside," Bobby said.

Dean found Taylor hanging out in the shop.

Taylor wiped his hands on his jeans. "I was just about to go inside."

Dean grabbed his arm when he tried to pass him. "Why do you smell like beer?"

Taylor froze. "I was using it to get the rust off of some screws."

Dean eyed him. "Show me the screws."

Taylor walked over to another work table and held up a plastic container with several screws in it. It had a layer of amber liquid and a lid. He opened the lid and showed Dean one of the screws. "The bolt is stuck and beer helps eat away the rust."

Dean nodded. "Okay."

Taylor sat the container down on the table and walked with Dean. He stopped to turn the shop light off. He looked back at the table. There was no container or screws. He rubbed his temple and took a deep breath. His ability to make people see things that weren't there came with a massive migraine if he used it too long.

### ###

Kate was in good spirits for a few days. Marty was running the tissue experiment and she got to check in frequently. Her mind was a maze. If her theory was right, would a skinny person succumb to the effects more quickly than a heavy person? Did humans change more quickly than a vampire would? She had so many questions and was excited for answers.

Logan had quickly become one of the popular kids in school. Rumors surrounded him and made him mysterious.

Kate found herself getting more attention from him and didn't mind it. He made her brain fuzzy.

"So, there is a party next weekend. You should come." Logan said.

Kate blushed. "Oh, um. I can ask my dad."

Logan smirked. "This isn't the kind of party you ask to go to."

Kate's eyes widened.

"Of course, if you are too 'good' to go I can ask someone else." Logan said.

Kate frowned. "No, I'll totally be there."

Taylor was also on track to go to the party and groaned when Kate asked about it. "It isn't your scene."

Kate rolled her eyes. "It isn't yours either."

"No, but I am older. I'll fit in. You will stick out like a sore thumb." Taylor said.

Kate crossed her arms. "You've been an idiot lately. I'm not letting you go to a party alone."

"Fine but try to blend in. Nate and I will be at the high school next year and want to start off in good standing with some of the other high schoolers." Taylor said.

Kate blinked slowly and looked at Taylor like he was stupid. Normal Taylor wouldn't give a crap about being in good standing. That had to be Nate's idea. "Fine."

### ###

Andy was so happy to be able to play with Owen again that he didn't dare jinx it. They were on their best behavior. When they were walking home with April after school, Andy felt something sting his neck. He covered the spot with his hand.

"Did you get stung?" April asked. She looked at Andy's neck. He had a welt forming.

Andy rubbed his neck and kept walking. Right as they got to their sidewalk, he felt another sting. That time the 'bug' went down his shirt.

April pulled up Andy's shirt. A piece of paper fell out. It was folded in a tight roll and then folded in half to make a v shape.

Andy looked at it. "That is a paper hornet." He turned and looked at Jimmy who had a smug look on his face.

"Did Jimmy hit you with this?" April asked.

Andy stepped closer to April. "You're gonna have to hold me back mom, I'm about to kick him in the face."

April had Ian in a carrier on her back. She took Andy's hand and used the side of her fist to loudly bang on Jimmy's door.

Jimmy's mother answered the door. She hadn't even had a chance to remove her shoes. They had just gotten home. "Oh, hi April."

April turned Andy around. "Jimmy hit Andy twice with this." She held up the paper hornet. "He has two welts."

Jimmy huffed. "No, I didn't."

"You were walking behind us." April said. "He got hit once and then again right before you walked inside."

Jimmy shook his head. "It wasn't me."

April held Andy back. "We have tried to be nice about this. I'm not going to be nice anymore if my kid starts showing up with welts from being hit."

Jimmy's mom looked at him. She had seen him with a rubber band and a few of the paper rolls but didn't see him hit Andy. "Did you mean to hit him?"

Jimmy shrugged. "It was maybe an accident."

April grunted as Andy pushed against her hand. "It wasn't an accident. A welt that bad isn't an accident."

Jimmy's mom sighed. "Go to your room."

Jimmy protested but ran to his room and slammed the door.

Andy's face was set in a scowl. "You should try hitting him with one of those sticks you stir paint with. I bet that would make him be nice."

April clamped her hand over Andy's mouth before he could say anything else.

"I am sorry that he did that, Andy." Jimmy's mom said. "I'll talk to him."

Andy wanted to offer to get that stick for her. He thought Caleb would be mad if he gave the one on the fridge away but they had a bunch from painting the house.

April nudged Andy behind her. "Please do. If this 'talk' doesn't work, I will ask Jody to file a report."

"There is no need for that. I am truly sorry that he has been so awful to you."

Andy hopped off of Jimmy's porch. "I'm gonna punch him if he hurts me again."

April closed her eyes and drew her mouth into a thin line. "I will be speaking to Andy about retaliation as well." She stepped off of the porch and took Andy's hand. "You were not helpful."

Andy dropped his shoes once he got inside. "I was being helpful."

April shook her head. "You can't tell her to use a stick. That was rude."

Andy dropped his backpack. "But mama, I got whacked with one and I've been good for a long time."

April cracked a smile. "Yes, you have."

"Dad said I could punch him," Andy said.

April unbuckled the carrier to let Ian down. "He said you wouldn't get in trouble if he punched you and you punched him back. That doesn't mean that you can just go punch him."

Andy frowned. That rule was confusing.

April ran a cloth under cold water. "Put this on your neck. It should help with that welt."

Andy did as he was told. "Mama, I need to be honest."

April handed each boy a popsicle. "Yes?"

"If Jimmy Morris ever hurts Ian I will kick him in the face. I don't care how much trouble I get in." Andy said.

April took a deep breath. "If Jimmy Morris ever hurts Ian you have my permission to kick him in the face."

Andy nodded. "I'm glad we are on the same page."

April ruffled his hair. "Lord, you sound like Caleb."

Andy sat down on the floor beside Ian. It was his job to protect his brother. He didn't care what any of the adults said. If anyone ever hurt him, he'd do worse than kick them in the face. He wasn't sure what was worse than that but he'd think of something.