vanillajello | Overland Park, KS, Thursday Noon (Reply)

It had been a very tense, hectic few hours in the Gregson household. There had been a few fights, though those had been had mostly away from Bod's immediate vicinity, even if sound carried well in this house.

First, there'd been a brief row between Tara and Max once she'd finally made it back. Thankfully, that hadn't lasted long, and then Tara had already been off to go get Kate.

Next, there'd been a slightly heated discussion between Max and Charmaine, who'd finally dragged herself out of bed and out into the house, though she wasn't helping much.

Then, once Marshall had gotten home, Courtney had turned up some time after, and they'd had... a discussion, outside. It was about as close to an argument Marshall tended to get, really.

And then finally, once they'd managed to break the vacuum cleaner and had had to call Max's friend Neil to bring his one over, Neil and Charmaine had ended having a major fight in the front yard.

So, it was no wonder that even though the house was starting to look like it could be lived in (the broken windows had been taped over with plastic, the garbage bags had been taken out, the yard had been mostly cleared) the people inside were extremely tense, right about now. It didn't help that Tara and Kate were still nowhere to be seen. It was less than an hour until the social worker was supposed to show up.

Max was vacuuming the floor, while Marshall and Bod had been tasked with putting the finishing touches to everything. Mostly, it meant making sure family pictures were upright and sofa cushions in order.

And Charmaine? She was in the kitchen, and she needed the wall socket for the appliances.

"Stop unplugging the vac!" Max yelled for what felt like the nth time.

	Indeed, Bod was mostly straightening things like pictures and cushions. He was brushing bits of dirt into his hands when he saw them and trying to ignore how red and scratched up his hands had gotten while handling tree branches earlier. He was tired but hadn't stopped cleaning since this morning. He was a little annoyed (not with anyone in the house currently) but he was quiet as was his way.
	Marshall glanced over at Bod, trying to ignore all the screaming that was going back and forth between his father and aunt. "I think you should do something about your hands."
	"Hmm?" Bod looked over at the sound of Marshall's voice and shook his head. "No, it's fine. I've just been picking up parts of trees for most of the morning and the bark was a bit rough." He wiggled his hands and shrugged before going back to retrieve a few more leaves that had gotten hidden behind the couch. "I'll wash them in a bit," he added. "I've done worse than this to myself."
	Marshall shrugged. "Well, if you want some, like, disinfectant or something, I can show you where we keep all that stuff." It was possible he felt a little sorry for Bod because he'd gotten pulled into all this. But he wasn't going to tell him that.
	And there were other things happening, anyway. The front door opened, and Tara walked in, finally. "That wasn't me!" exclaimed Charmaine from the kitchen once the sound of the vacuum stopped yet again.
	"Cutting it a little close?" Max asked Tara, with no particular anger in his voice.
	She looked apologetic. "I'm so sorry, the traffic was awful."
	Of course, then Max saw Lynda, quietly standing there behind Tara. His voice picked up some annoyance, this time. "What's she doing here?"
	Finally, Kate emerged from behind the women, and stalked straight into the kitchen. "Max!" Tara exclaimed, affronted.
	Yes, Bod was just going to...stand there and hold some leaves. It made him look ridiculous and confused but what else was he going to do? He was a little tired and a little slow and forgot to thank Marshall for his offer because of everything happening. He made himself get back to cleaning even while the leaves got stuffed into one pocket and he brushed the tops of the couch cushions clean of any lingering dust and dirt.
	Marshall busied with the same, while his parents kept having their borderline argument. "The guy's gonna be here in an hour," Max pointed out, not bothering to hide his annoyance.
	"I'm just gonna give Lynda a few art supplies and then I'll be right back," Tara promised, motioning the other woman to come with her. Holding her hands up, Lynda assured Max she'd be out of the house in two minutes. Frustrated, Max went back to vacuuming, while the women went into the kitchen to go into the garage through it.
	Kate passed by them and headed straight for the stairs. "Glad you could join us," Marshall couldn't help commenting sarcastically. She flipped him off, making him frown. "What's your problem?" "Mom," she said, glaring into the living room from the landing, "isn't she always the problem?" And then she stomped upstairs.
	"Well. I'm sure she'll be in a lovely mood for the rest of day," Bod said idly, dumping the leaves in his pocket into the trash bag and glancing around to see if anything else needed to be attended to. He considered going up to see if Kate was all right but the way she'd come in, he decided that would have been a bad decision. So, he stayed downstairs and paced around the living a bit, just for something to do.
	Everything seemed to be pretty much in order, actually, but Marshall was determined to keep busy for as long as he had to. "Did you check the kitchen yet?" he wondered.
	"I haven't," he said, shaking his head. "Your father assigned me this room earlier and he was in the kitchen. I don't know if he got distracted with everything else so I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check."
	"I was there after I got home," Marshall shrugged, "and Charmaine's been there for a while. But it doesn't hurt to check." So, he started towards the kitchen. Would kill some time, at least.
	That it would so Bod followed behind Marshall quietly, hands in his pockets and head down. He'd never done so much cleaning in his life.
	Unfortunately, it turned out even Charmaine had actually done something. The kitchen was mostly clean, though there was still some dust and dirt in places because, well, Charmaine hadn't felt like being too through. "Well," Marshall said, trying for a lightly amused tone. "This is almost disappointing."
	"It almost looks like we have to wait now," he said, glancing around the kitchen and sighing. He leaned against the counter and swiped his fingers through his hair, trying not to be as tired as he was. "Maybe it won't be too long," he said, glancing over at Marshall.
	"Maybe," Marshall shrugged, offering Bod hint of a smile before glancing at the clock on the wall. "He's supposed to get here in about thirty minutes. Somehow I'd think a person like that on official business would be pretty punctual." He was so going to have to watch a good movie and have a nice cup of tea after all this was done.
	Bod could feel him on that tea. He thought he might take a nap or go for a walk or do something to decompress but he had to do something to ease the tension in his neck and the pain in his hand. "I'd think he'd be punctual as well," Bod agreed, nodding briefly. "He'd give a bad impression if he was late and he's the one judging the impression your family gives."
	"Plus, we'd probably all just die from tension before he even got here," Marshall joked. Said. Something. "And I think he's just supposed to judge Dad, which... I guess is good." Okay, saying things like that and just standing around was starting to make him a little nervous. He looked down at his shirt. There was dust on it. "You know, I think I should go change my clothes."
	Bod's clothes probably looked even worse since he'd been at it longer. "I...don't know if I should." Well, his bag was currently in Kate's ~~lair~~ room and he wasn't sure if going up there and trying to talk to her was a good idea just yet.
	"I could... create a diversion?" Marshall suggested, half serious, knowing exactly what the problem was. "Or I could try and maybe find you a shirt that fits?" Well, Marshall had been growing a lot, even if the Gregson genes seemed to determine that the kids needed to be skinny even though their dad was a giant.
	"No, that's all right," Bod said, shaking his head and feeling ridiculous about fearing getting his clothes. "I'll go up there. The worst she could do is yell at me and I've had that happen before." And his shirt was quite dirty so being the respectable English boyfriend in a dirty shirt and pants probably wouldn't work.
	"If you say so," Marshall replied, as if he didn't think Bod's fears were all that ridiculous. Kind of the attitude you got from living with Kate all his life. Especially all through puberty. He started towards the doorway again. "If she starts throwing things, you should probably get out of there." He was mostly joking.
	"Thank you for the advice," he said and chuckled, giving Marshall a few moments to get to his room before he started up towards Kate's room. He wasn't sure what to expect when he got up there but he was tired, tense and somewhat sore so he was hoping for the best.
	Kate had music on, but it was hard to tell anything by that. It was loud enough to be heard in the hallway outside her door, but not quite so loud as to upset anyone. And really, at this particular moment she was pretty fine, even if in general terms she wasn't. She'd taken off her princess makeup, though her hair was still held up with pins like it had been under the wig, and she was sort of kneeling on her bed but resting her elbows on it as well, with her notepad in front of her. It was an odd sort of position, but kind of comfortable. And her new PVH email list was making her smile to herself. And forget about the house outside her room, if only for a little while.
	Bod could hear the music so he waited a few moments, took a deep breath before knocking on the door. Once he'd done that, he pushed open the door. "Kate?" he said as he opened the door, slow enough that she wouldn't be surprised but enough that she'd know it was him. "I'm coming in."
	"Mm, and here I thought you'd already been in here and were leaving," she drawled idly, glancing over at the door. It probably wasn't the best welcome he could've gotten, but at least it wasn't overly hostile, either.
	"Oh, wow," he said, blinking at that and momentarily stopping in the door. "Thank you for that, I appreciate it." If she was going to greet him like that, he'd do this in silence. That was fine. He just needed a t-shirt and some pants and then he'd leave like she apparently wanted him to do. Of course, yanking his shirt and pants out of his bag a little violently probably hinted at his mood but he didn't care. His sore hands got ignored.
	Kate returned her attention to her little list, tapping a pencil against the notepad, but only for a moment. She knew he was upset, now, and try as she might she couldn't actually ignore it. She pushed herself up to a more conventional sitting position and looked over at him, lips pursing a bit. "That bad, huh?"
	"No, it wasn't bad," he said tightly, turning away from her so he could tug his dirty shirt off and toss it next to his bag. "I thank you for trying to make it that way, though." He hadn't been upset until that comment of hers so he didn't feel bad letting her know. He'd done nothing but be helpful and try to assist in a bad situation and that was what he got from her.
	Well, it wasn't quite all he got from her. Kate was also frowning hard at his back now. He was delighted, she was sure. "I hardly even said anything." Oh, she knew that wasn't strictly speaking true.
	"You said enough," he said and did sound a little upset now. "I haven't seen you in several hours. I came up here to see you and change and the first thing you can think to say is something like that? No, you said plenty." He shook his head and tugged his shirt on before going for his pants next. Those got unbuttoned and balled up as well. "I'll stay until the social worker comes and then I'll schedule a portal back to the island since you're so concerned with me leaving." All right, he knew that was extreme but he was tired and having that be the first thing out of her mouth had stung.
	"That's not even what I said!" Kate exclaimed without thinking at all. She sounded a bit upset now as well. Not launching scathing remarks upset, more like staring at him slightly stunned kind of upset. "One... possibly poorly thought out joke and you're just gonna leave?"
	"Why not?" Bod asked, pulling his clean pants on and buttoning them quickly. He still hadn't turned to look at her though he could hear the change in tone of her voice. Obviously, she couldn't see why he'd get upset since she thought it was a joke. He shook his head. "I haven't seen you in several hours, I'm tired and there's about ten situations going on downstairs but you can't even say hello to me?"
	Kate could actually see why he'd get upset (in retrospect, anyway), she just couldn't admit seeing it. There was a difference, even if it was only visible to her. "You didn't say hello either," she muttered, not finding anything else to say.
	"I didn't get a chance," he said, coming dangerously close to raising his voice and joining the parade of arguments in the Gregson house today. "I wanted you to know it was me coming in the door and not your parents. Before I could even get all the way in and greet you properly, you were making what you say was a joke and I had no chance." He finished with his pants and stayed with his back to her, sending his fingers through his hair to straighten it and get any lingering dirt or leave bits out of it.
	Kate was going to get a headache from the way her eyebrows kept knitting together, but she couldn't help it. "Well what did you expect?" she asked. "It's not like I've had a good day either." It was a small miracle she hadn't just gone completely blank-faced yet. Even if she was feeling pretty defensive.
	"That's fine, Kate," he said, turning back towards her and rubbing at his tired eyes. "You've had a bad day and I'm sorry. I would have asked you about that but you didn't give me any chance to do anything." And while he could understand defensiveness, he wasn't going to just let that explain her behavior towards him. "I actually didn't expect all that much. I expected to see you and maybe talk about your day a little. I expected maybe a chance to get to hug you or kiss you because I haven't in awhile because you've been so busy. Was that expecting too much?" Bod shrugged and crossed his arms. "Whatever I expected, I didn't deserve what I received from you."
	Now that he was actually looking at her, Kate found out she didn't really want to be looking back at him. Not when he was saying things like that and she knew they were completely justified. Picking up her notepad, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, then wandered over to her desk to put the notepad down next to her computer. "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint," she said, her mixed tone somewhere between sincerity and sarcasm. She couldn't quite decide whether she wanted to try and make things better, or just let them run their course for now. Dowstairs, her father raised his voice at someone. This was such a happy house today.
	"Brilliant, that's just brilliant," he said, all sarcasm considering it sounded like she wasn't even trying to him. He shook his head and shoved his dirty clothes back into his bag before zipping it. "I'm going downstairs and then I'm going back to the island later tonight," he said, more set on that now than he had been before. He wasn't going to let a repeat of last time happen where he was ignored for two days. "But maybe you should think about how selfish you sound right now." At least she had to listen to him while they were in his room even if she was going to pretend she wasn't. "I come up here to see you and you upset me for no other reason than the fact that you could. Then, you call it a joke to try and put the blame on me for reacting like I did. I tell you what I expected and you use sarcasm on me. You haven't once asked me how I am, what I did today, or even really looked at me. You've been trying to blame me instead. And from someone that supposedly loves me, that doesn't feel very good."
	Oh, that last bit made something twist inside Kate's chest. It hurt. But unfortunately, she had less than healthy, less than constructive ways of dealing with hurt. Namely, not letting any of it show, and effectively closing him out completely. Hiding in plain sight. She was good at that. She stood by her desk, turned halfway away from him. I do love you, she wanted to say. I do, but I don't know what you want me to say. It's not like you don't know me. Not like you don't know I will stay shit to hurt you just because I feel shitty too. I'm sorry. "Fine," she said flatly. "Do whatever you want."
	Bod knew the shutdown was coming but that didn't mean that was what he wanted. She wasn't even going to try. That was fine. He was tired. So, without a word, he was out of her room and heading back downstairs because the giving up hurt the worst of anything.
	The downstairs weren't that much better a place to be, though. Marshall was standing at the bottom the of the stairs, and Max was in the living room, approaching Tara who was arranging some magazine's on the coffee table. Only it wasn't Tara. Of course not. "Alice, I need you to trust me," Max said. "There's so much that we need to talk about, and I wanna do that, I do, but I'm in a little bit of a pickle here, and right now, the only person I really need is Tara."
	Marshall looked up at Bod, and frowned. Though he'd already been doing that. "Where's Kate?"
	"I don't know," he said sullenly, shaking his head and rubbing the spot above his eye. He was trying not to think about Kate and the complete lack of sympathy and understanding she had for his feelings. Bod just wanted to go to sleep. It didn't seem like that was going to happen though so he sighed quietly and tried to focus himself.
	Marshall just nodded at that. Kate was having one of her moods. Of course. His attention went back to Max and Alice. That wasn't going so well either. "You have no idea what you've done," Alice was saying, her tone light only on the surface. "The pain you've caused, toying with people's lives as if they were nothing more than paper dolls."
	"Is that Alice?" Charmaine asked from further in the room, having only just wandered in from her own room. Max shooed her away.
	"Oh how noble thou art, so consumed with playing the white knight," Alice mocked him, then sneered. "You're nothing but a murderer."
	And then the front door opened. And Courtney walked in, carrying a small black box with the word LIAR painted on the side in white. "Courtney, what are you doing here?" Marshall asked, sounding almost annoyed that she'd shown up again. Courtney, on the other hand, was perfectly calm. "I brought you something." There was not going to be any sleep for anyone any time soon, no.
	Bod had no idea what to do or where to help now. The one person he took comfort from seemed to be pushing him away again and blaming him for it and now he was watching this painful tableau. He blinked a few times at Alice and Kate's father before his attention was drawn over to Marshall's friend. He, of course, didn't know what was going on and thus didn't know what to do or say. He felt helpless. It was a familiar feeling.
	And he wasn't the only one feeling it right now. But Alice was not suffering from anything like that. "So, this is your little friend" she cooed, walking over to Marshall and Courtney. She smiled at her. "Well, you're a regular rose of Tralee. Come on in dear, and get yourself at home, I'll fetch you some sweet tea and then we'll have a little get to know ya." With that, she ushered Courtney into the living room and headed for the kitchen herself, like a perfect hostess, like she didn't have a care in the world.
	Marshall had a lot of those, standing there almost stunned. And so did Max. "Marsh, Bod, t minus two," he said, starting for the stairs while tapping on his watch, then pushed past them to climb upstairs. "Kate!"
	"This day is a disaster," Bod muttered to himself, closing his eyes for a few long moments in an attempt to just focus, fight through his exhaustion and hurt and pain. He opened his eyes again and glanced at Marshall before shrugging. "You look about how I feel right now." And that was all he really said before words failed him.
	Marshall was still staring at Courtney, who was setting her little box neatly on the coffee table and opening it up. "Yeah..." His voice drifted off, but at least talking seemed to get him moving. He crossed the room to go talk to Courtney. "You have got to go, okay, this is the worst possible time --" "I'll leave," Courtney said without letting him explain. "I just wanna give you this. It's a liar box. It's for liars. It's filled with mementos from every lie in our relationship."
	From there on, it turned into her picking up items from the box, one by one, explaining what it was and then declaring it a lie while throwing said item at Marshall. And he just stood there without saying anything, letting the things (pieces of paper, movie tickets, a pair of dogtags with their names on them) hit him. But he was starting to look tense.
	Even Bod could see the tension building up and he wondered how much more it was going to take before Marshall just snapped and started yelling. He'd been calm, calmer than even Bod himself, the two times he'd visited and now that looked like it was about to change. Bod almost wanted to warn this Courtney girl but he kept his mouth shut and let Marshall deal with his girl problems. Maybe Bod could pick up a tip or two.
	He didn't even have to wait all that long for Marshall's calm exterior to start cracking. "How does any of that make me a liar?" he snapped, letting some of the anger that was building up be reflected in his tone.
	That only led to Courtney losing some of her cool as well. "Because you said you cared about me! You said we were gonna make this work, and now you're dumping me, and all I want is a simple explanation. Why can't you come clean with me?"
	"Just because I don't share every thought in my head with you does not mean that I'm a liar!" Yeah, Marshall was pretty much yelling now, holding nothing back. "Do you wanna know the truth?" Courtney nodded, her face impassive but her eyes fixed on him. "Here it is: this was never a real relationship! You are so fucked up. You're so afraid of finding out who you really are, you'd rather be married to someone you know is gay, than risk being rejected by someone who can actually love you!"
	Some time during that bit of ranting, Alice had walked into the living room and stopped to stand by the foot of the stairs with a tray full of glasses of sweet tea in her hands. "Young man, that's no way to speak to a lady," she scolded, but Marshall didn't appear to even hear her.
	"How could I love you, Courtney?" he went on, while Courtney was actually starting to look a little upset. "I'm embarrassed for you!" Max came down the stairs, going past Bod and Alice to go peer out the window by the door before frowning at his son. "Marsh, keep it down." Marshall didn't, though. He was letting this all out now. "But I didn't say anything, because I am a decent human being."
	Bod had to admit, from what little he knew of the situation, he fell pretty solidly on Marshall's side. He might have said things differently but apparently that hadn't worked so now he was going the honest and blunt route. At least the girl seemed to be listening even if he could see her getting upset. Well hey, he and Marshall could have something in common. They'd both upset girls with words today. Solidarity.
	And even Max had done the same, since his words were exactly why they currently had Alice instead of Tara. Marshall would've maybe found that wryly amusing, almost. If it hadn't been for the fact that he was so consumed with his burst of anger that he didn't even seem to remember there was anyone else in the room "Because I've learned in my life that as much as I want to tell my sister --"
	Who was choosing this unfortunate time to descend the upper part of the stairs, stopping to stand on the landing once she realized that was actually her brother yelling, what the fuck.
	"-- that she's not as clever and special as she thinks she is, or her boyfriend that he should run away from this family, or tell my aunt that she's a pathological narcissist, or tell my dad to wake up because my mother's disease is gonna bury us all --" This was the part that had the entire family voicing their disagreement, with frowns and surprised noises. "-- it's better to keep my goddamn mouth shut!" Courtney just stared at Marshall, like she couldn't even comprehend what was going on. And he stared right back at her, as if daring her to say something completely moronic to argue with him.
	And then the tray fell from Alice's hands. As it hit the floor, all the glasses of sweet tea got smashed to pieces, spilling the beverage on the floor and on her legs, and she crouched down, as if to start cleaning it up.
	Amazingly, Bod's first thought was for the new mess in the living room. He couldn't help wincing and frowning since he'd spent a lot of time cleaning in here today. It was those thoughts that had him moving to try and help clean up, at the very least. Most of Marshall's words were still processing and he tried not to look at anyone else while walking and kneeling down to try and help pick up broken pieces of glass. If Bod had to guess, he would have said that outburst had been building for awhile. He wondered what the reactions were going to be.
	Those reactions were probably going to be varied, but they were also going to have to wait, because as Bod got closer, Tara growled at him, teeth bared and cowering like a cornered animal.
	All right, that was unexpected. Unexpected enough that he actually stumbled backwards and fell, catching himself on those still sore hands of his. The fall didn't hurt but he winced anyway and hurriedly crawled backwards and away because he didn't need to be cornering Mrs. Gregson right now.
	"What's she doing?" Marshall snapped, still sounding angry. Maybe that was what came most naturally to him, right now. He got no answer. Max moved to take Courtney by the hand. "Courtney, you got to go right now." The girl got tugged along like a rag doll, without any resistance, her eyes on Tara who was looking around, wild eyed. "I was... just thinking the same thing," she said, sounding dazed. "Nice work, Marsh," Max called out to his son while shoving his possibly now-traumatized ex-girlfriend out the door. "Hope you like your new family. And Kate? Was totally competing for the award in being the most useless person in the room, by just standing there on the stairs with her hands on her cheeks. This was just... too much. Too much.
	Tara seemed to think so too: she lunged forward, screaming, crossing the room before disappearing behind one of the couches.
	Bod didn't know what to do either. He was still stunned, shocked, and those feelings had covered up the previous feelings of hurt and unhappiness. He didn't look at anyone else but continued to stare hard at the broken glasses and spilled tea like he might be able to fix that. When he realized he couldn't he slowly got to his knees and crawled back towards the mess to try and somehow clean it because it was what he knew how to do right now. He had to do something because sitting there was just going to make him feel more useless than he already felt.
	Max slammed the front door shut and didn't even bother telling them he'd just seen the child services guy pull up outside their house. He figured they'd know by how he flailed and sounded panicked as he just asked "Anyone?!"
	That got Tara to get up on her feet again, emerging from behind the couch only to smash a lamp to pieces before running past Charmaine towards the laundry room and the former craft room that Charmaine had moved into.
	Marshall used his liar box to gather up the pieces of the lamp. And even Kate got herself moving again, running into the kitchen right before her father used that as a short cut to get to where Tara was going. While everyone was screaming and running about and there were loud sounds coming from the direction of the laundry room, she came back with two towels, one of which she dropped in front of Bod before kneeling down beside him to get at least some of the tea and shards of glass cleaned up. She felt like she was about to cry or throw up. She didn't even know anymore.
	Bod mumbled something that might have been 'thank you' but his mind was just so...he didn't even know. He reached for the towel and started dabbing at the tea quickly so it wouldn't set into a stain. The glass got collected into a small pile so it would be easily picked up when he got the chance. He glanced at Kate out of the corner of his eyes every so often but he really didn't talk. He didn't know what to say or how to comfort someone when she'd hurt him earlier and his knowledge of comforting after a situation like this was nil. He kept cleaning, wiping his eyes every so often and shaking his hands when they stung.
	Kate had nothing to say, either. Too busy keeping the world from starting to spin. And they didn't have time for words, anyway. Everything was happening too fast for that. "Come on guys, get up," Charmaine said gently, kneeling down beside them and reaching for their towels. "I got it. Get up." The doorbell rang. Kate gave her towel to Charmaine, then pushed herself up, trying to center herself for their impending doom.
	Bod let his towel go and slowly go to his feet, feeling all that exhaustion land on his shoulders again. He rubbed his eyes and straightened his shirt and pants as best he could. Calm. He just needed to find his calm and this would be fine. He'd make it through something he hadn't expected to be a part of and then he'd leave. Or would he? He didn't know, he had no idea.
	Max came back into the living room, just a little bit out of breath. "Okay kids, time to look normal." And what a ridiculous propect that was. Still, that was what they were going to attempt doing. Max started towards the door and Marshall and Kate followed, moving uncertainly, trying to collect themselves. Kate glanced over at Bod, and her hand twitched a bit, as if wanting to reach out. But she didn't. She wasn't sure that would be okay, and there was no way in hell she was going to make herself deal with rejection at a time like this.
	Max glanced back at his kids, trying for a smile. "Don't worry, guys. We can do this." He had no idea if they could do this.
	Bod made the decision for her after he caught her glancing at him and he did it without hesitation. He caught her twitching hand with his, lacing his fingers lightly with hers. "Don't squeeze too tight," he said quietly, glancing down at their hands and then at her. "I've a few cuts from tree branches." He didn't say anything else but didn't let go either. He turned his attention back towards Mr. Gregson.
	Kate didn't say anything, and she didn't look at him, but she straightened up and took a deep breath. Okay, maybe she could do this. She could do this, and not think about whatever was going on between them until this thing was over and dealt with. That sounded like a good plan. "Okay guys, act happy," Max said quietly, then reached to open the door whille both Kate and Marshall forced smiles on their faces, hoping they'd come off as genuine. Possibly a little nervous, but that totally went with the situation, right? The guy on the other side "Hello, we're the Gregsons," Max said. "Come in, come in." Nodding, the man moved past them and into the house.
	Bod wasn't a Gregson or a big smiler so he just stayed quiet and tried to look unassuming and unimportant. His eyes were alternately on the floor and the other man. He was going for respectable, quiet English boyfriend.
	"I'm Max," Max introduced himself as they all moved a bit more towards the living room. "And this is my daughter, Kate, and her boyfriend Bod Owens, and my son, Marshall." Charmaine came back from the kitchen then, having taken the tray and the towels back. She moved to by Max's side, taking a hold of one of his arms, smiling. "And I'm Max's wife-- uh, Tara Gregson," she said, reaching out to shake hands with the social worker. ... Okay then. They were all just going to have to go with that. Besides, new problems came up. Like the banging that came from the laundry room right then, along with some other muffled noise. Kate's hand tightened around Bod's a little, without her meaning to.
	Bod almost didn't noticed the tightening, too surprised by what Kate's aunt had just done. It wasn't going to fall to him to say anything so he just stayed quiet and listened and let Kate squeeze his hand if she needed to do so. So far, nothing had gone terribly wrong with the visit.
	"That's a dog," Max said, awkwardly. Charmaine was far more smooth. "Uh, yeah, we had to lock her up in the laundry room," she said. "She went a little crazy and did a little number on a pitcher of sweet tea." She gestured at the floor that still had some tea and shards on it, and offered an apolpgetic smile. "Watch your step." She may have gotten called out on her lying yesterday, but her skills were coming in really handy today.
	The social worker seemed satisfied with it, anyway. "Well, if that's all the damage you had after that tornado, you did okay," he remarked wryly. "My house looks like a bomb went off."
	There was a brief, awkward silence, and then some very awkward laughter once the family realized he'd been joking.
	Oh, if this man only knew what they'd cleaned earlier. Bod smiled lightly, trying to seem interested and not at all nervous or tired or anything else. He was there, he was focused, he wasn't going to draw attention to himself. That was his goal for this visit.
	Funnily enough, Kate had pretty much picked the same goal by now. She hoped she could get through this just by holding onto his hand and quietly smiling. Even if that was probably going to make her face ache at some point.
	They moved into the living room, then. The stranger took the arm chair at the end of the coffee table, Kate with Bod and Marshall one of the couches. Max sat in another arm chair, with Charmaine perched on one of his arm rests. Max and Charmaine did most of the talking, though the social worker asked Kate and Marshall a few easy questions which they answered as politely and happily as they possibly could. He left Bod alone, so his role was mostly just to be something for Kate to hold on to while she sat with her back straight like a good, presentable daughter, and waited for this thing to end. "-- And since that day, we never go a Sunday without bowling," Charmaine finished up an absolutely charming, one hundred percent fake story about their family life. Kate and marshall laughed a little. It was still kind of awkward.
	And Bod would never be more thankful to be left alone because he was one hundred percent he'd ruin everything if they let him talk. He let Kate hang onto his hand while he listened. He had to give credit where credit was due, Kate's aunt was really doing an excellent job covering for Mrs. Gregson. If he hadn't know better, he would have believed she was truly the matriarch of the house because she'd handled herself so well. He did hope this would end soon as well but he was glad that it seemed to be going well for her family.
	"Well, as far as I'm concerned," the social worker said, "everything checks out okay."
	Kate just barely kept herself from heaving a sigh of relief. Instead, she glanced at Bod, still smiling, just for that brief moment in time forgetting there were probably unlikable conversations to be had still. For that single moment, she was happy again. At least her stupid, fucked up family wasn't getting torn apart by outside forces.
	Bod returned the smile briefly and gave her hand a squeeze before nodding. After everything that had happened, he was glad that the outcome of this visit was going to be positive. They deserved some good news.
	Charmaine smiled. "Oh, what did I tell you, honey?" she said, patting Max's thigh. He glanced at her, then got up from his chair.
	"I'll file the paperwork tomorrow and tell the courts that the children are in a safe environment," the social worker continued, putting some papers into his briefcase before looking up at Max. "I don't know what got you into this situation, but if it were me, from now on I'd keep my temper in check." He closed his briefcase. "But you're a big boy. It's your life."
	"Yeah," Max replied, a little absently. He was looking out the window directly behind the social worker. Gimme ran across the yard. Max shrugged. "This is my life."
	Finally, their visitor stood up. "Well, I wish you all the best of luck. Goodbye." Max and Charmaine walked him to the door. Kate and Marshall just looked on, waiting to start feeling and acting natural again.
	Bod brushed his free hand across his eyes and took a quiet breath, both for himself and Kate's family. It could have been worse and despite the stress and hurt of earlier, at least one thing was ending on a positive note. That was something.
	They exchanged a few more meaningless pleasantries before they closed the door after the visitor. And as soon as that was done... "Fucking finally," Charmaine exclaimed, dropping the good housewife act as soon as humanly possible. Then she slinked off into the kitchen, probably going to make another panini.
	Kate closed her eyes and leaned back on the couch with a deep sigh, while Marshall... really kept looking a little awkward, beside her. He hadn't forgotten about his little outburst, so he was sure no one else had, either.
	Bod just sat there, having not said a word for the duration and keeping that up since it seemed to be his best bet right now. He kept his eyes forward and kept his feelings securely bottled up for the time being. If he looked tense while also looking tired, well, that was his thing. He was tense and tired.
	So was everyone else. Max went to grab his car keys. "Hey guys, I need to go out," he said, subdued. Marshall looked up, thankful for the distraction. "Why?" "'Cause I just saw Gimme run down the street." Marshall could find nothing to say to that, and neither did Kate. Max shook his head, as if too tired to talk, and just opened the door and went out.
	Bod still said nothing but looked a little more sympathetic. If he was tired, he could only imagine how Mr. Gregson felt. Again, he found himself hoping for the best and that Mr. Gregson would be able to retrieve Kate's mother safely. This was the longest day he'd had in awhile.
	It was barely 2 PM. And they'd thought the day before had been long. Marshall fidgeted for a moment, then pushed himself up. "I, uh... Think I should go." He didn't waste time leaving, either. He was disappearing upstairs before they knew it.
	Kate kept her eyes closed. She still had Bod's hand in hers. That was probably something. "So. You wanna go upstairs and have a fight?"
	It was such an odd request that Bod would have laughed if he thought he had it in him. At the moment, he didn't so he just let go of a quiet breath. He didn't want to fight with her at all but that seemed to be a theme in this house today. "If you'd like to, yes," he answered after a moment.
	"Better there than here," Kate said, opening her eyes. She blinked a few times, and didn't really look at him, not even when she got up and started pulling him by the hand, towards the stairs. "Let's go." She didn't particularly want to fight with him either, but she'd just... see how this went.