Chapter 10

We were all delighted to get Victoria home from the hospital. She was sore, so the girls had a wonderful time catering to her. It was a treat for them to have Mommy around for more than a day or two, whatever the reason. Victoria took it with grace, although I know she got sick of doing nothing. However, she was glad to be with the girls and me too, so she did not complain. I was delighted to have her around too - we spent too little time together. Over the years we had learned to spend quality time, not quantity together. Quantity was good sometimes, though.

It was a pleasure to watch the three girls interact. I say three, because Victoria was just another girl when she was around Amy and Cindi. Except when mommy mode kicked in, of course. She giggled, squealed, shrieked, teased, chased and chattered right along with them. I just sat back and watched. I found the teenage mind an amazing thing to observe; not understandable, but amazing. Sometimes Victoria's mind was not much easier to understand.

Because of her injuries, Victoria had an extended leave from work for as long as she needed. The doctor thought two weeks would probably be about right. The girls and I thought two months sounded better. You know, just to make sure she was completely recovered, well over her trauma, etc. Maybe she needed to recuperate in a warmer climate - like Hawaii, maybe. Yeah, right. Probably more like Peoria! We had not spent all that much time together for a long time. I hoped we still liked each other when it was done!

Cindi was pretty much back to normal, except for the changes that would probably never go away. Amy was really starting to bloom. She was number one in her class in GPA or whatever they call it these days, with Cindi as number two. Katie was number three and Rebecca number six, so when they all got together, I went and hid in the basement as much as I could. My two made me feel inferior enough, without a whole pack of geniuses to contend with. Of course, they would call me back upstairs whenever they just had to have someone to tease or pick on. Secretly, I loved it, but I would never tell them that. Like they didn't know.

I was having a good time with everyone home and in good spirits. We we never seemed to be short on crises, however, so I wondered when the next one was going to come. As it turned out, it was Victoria again. Sheesh! I wonder if her warranty was still good - I could trade her in on a less troublesome model! Just kidding - I could not live without her.

I came home one day, all excited because the whole family was going to be home for dinner. It would be interesting to see if we still knew how to do this. As I pulled up to the house, I noticed a police car parked at the curb. I wondered which of the neighborhood kids was in trouble now. At least I didn't have to worry about it being mine. Cindi wouldn't know how to get into trouble even if she wanted to and Amy would never be caught if she ever decided to do something.

As I walked into the house, I was surprised to hear Cindi yell, "NO! You are NOT!"

Cindi? Yelling? This was going to be interesting. I walked into the room to find Victoria on one side of the room, Cindi a little in front of her, with two police officers standing in front of Cindi, and Amy standing near one of the police officers, talking earnestly to him. As I walked in Cindi saw me and cried, "Daddy! Do something! They're going to arrest Mommy!" She looked really upset.

I asked what was going on.

"We need to take your wife down to the station for questioning," said cop #1.

"For what?"

"We'll discuss it there." Ah, standard police doctrine - get them out of the emotionally charged atmosphere so they controlled the situation. I understood that, but NIMBY. Victoria had been quiet so far.

"Sorry, I need know what we are discussing first or she doesn't leave here."

"They want to question her about the three teenage boys killed in that SUV accident, Dad," Amy blurted out.

Uh oh. Dad. Amy was upset. Added to that, I wasn't sure I liked how quiet Victoria was. Was it the calm before the storm? I had seen an example of her storms before. Maybe we should rename her Camille. Except Camille did far less damage in a much longer period of time.

"Do you have a warrant? Let's sit down and discuss this," I suggested.

It was obvious to me that Cindi and Cop #1 were not getting along at all. He was young, arrogant, and inexperienced, and she was pissed. She was red in the face and as mad as I had ever seen her, but there was something else there, too.

Oh, shit, I suddenly realized this was bringing up the whole rape issue again - I needed to get this settled as fast as possible.

It is surprising how fast things can go to hell in a hurry. Cindi, much to my surprise, was being very aggressive. She stepped towards Cop #1 and said, "You are NOT taking my Mom anywhere!"

"Cindi..." I said soothingly.

Just then Cop # 1 decided he had had just about enough of the snotty, punk 13 year old brat that was interfering with his God given right to take someone into custody.

"Shut up and get out of the way or I'll take you in too!" he snarled, and reached forward to grab her and jerk her out of the way.

Oh, Fuck! Don't mess with her babies! I heard Amy call out "Dad!" as I saw Victoria start to move. Yeah, yeah Amy, I see it. Shit! I knew where this was going if I did not do something quickly, and I did not like it at all. I had already witnessed how fast Victoria could move when someone threatened her babies. I looked at Amy and I saw it in her face too - she had seen this movie before. I saw Amy begin to move and wondered what she was up to, but I was way too busy just trying to keep Camille from making landfall to worry about her.

The events that followed happened so fast that it was only later that I was able to sort them out in the right order.

I screamed "NO!" and moved three steps forward as fast as I could. Because of the way everyone was placed, I couldn't get between Cindi and the jerk soon enough to stop him from grabbing her, so I did the only thing I could - I grabbed his arm and spun him around.

About that same time, I heard Amy's voice say "Cindy, stop Mom."

As I was spinning the cop around, I was once again looking at Amy's face, and I swear I didn't see her lips move. They must have, because Cindi apparently heard her instructions. Cindi throw her arms around Victoria's waist and screamed, "No, Mommy, no, stop, please, no!"

I could see the sick look on Cindi's face as she realized the consequences her actions had just set into place. Even though Cindi had never seen Victoria in action, she somehow knew that it was not good. I did not even want to see Victoria's eyes.

I twisted the jerk's arm behind his back and slammed him into the wall face first. As I pulled his gun out of his holster, I distinctly heard the sound of the slide being pulled back on an automatic pistol and the click of a safety being taken off. 'Damn, ' I thought in despair, 'I'm not going to make it in time.' I braced for the impact of a bullet as I swung the gun over and pointed it at Cop # 2.

It was amazing how things went instantly from moving so fast that it was almost impossible to follow, to total silence and no one moving at all.

I looked at Cop # 2 as I pointed the gun at his head and saw that I needn't have bothered. Amy had his gun in her hand, holding it rock steady, pointed right between his eyes. Stalemate. And we were in big trouble, but not as much trouble as if Victoria took on two cops.

As I looked around, I saw Cindi was holding her mom around the waist, begging her to stay there. I saw Victoria relax a little.

Amy smiled gently at Cop #2, who seemed very surprised, and said sweetly, "You are going to be awfully embarrassed if you get shot by a 13 year old girl with your own gun. Won't that be fun to explain to your captain, hmmm? Shall we dance?"

Wow! Not only a pretty face and a certifiable genius, but the girl had some teeth about her too! I was going to give her a big hug - and then we were going to have a long talk.

Victoria was standing still, looking at Amy and me, eyes wide in surprise. Cindi was staring at all the guns being pointed around the room and was well on her way to hysteria.

I had to diffuse this now.

"Amy, set the gun down on the floor over by the door and come back here to me. Cindi, get you mom out of here. Victoria, honey, go with her, please, I will take care of Amy. I promise."

Surprisingly, they did just what I told them to do. I was worried that Victoria wouldn't go, but she gave me a grateful smile, looked at Amy in astonishment, then picked up Cindi, who was hysterical at this point, and left the room.

When Amy got back to me, I gave her the gun I had and told her to set it next to the other one. When she returned I kept my hands out in front of me, sat down at the table and motioned for the cops to do the same. Amy stood next to my chair, looking completely relaxed and smiling sweetly. Only I could see the vein throbbing in her neck.

"Let's talk," I said. "Amy, go into the other room with your Mom".

"Nope," she said, "I stay here with you." Great. The first time in 13 years she ever disobeys me and it has to be now. Strangely, though, I felt safe and comfortable with her by my side.

Cop #1 started to get belligerent again.

"I'm going to take you all in for resisting arrest!"

"No you're not," I said calmly. "If you do, you won't have a job tomorrow. First, you threatened and grabbed a 13 year old who had done nothing to you. Does the word 'minor' mean anything to you? And a female to boot, who is recovering from a gang rape and is paranoid about men touching her. Especially male chauvinist pig men like the ones that raped her. Men who are trying to take away one of her parents. What do you thing the TV news crews are going to say about that?"

Cop # 2 was more reasonable. "But we do need to take your wife in for questioning".

"I understand that and you can, when we agree that no charges will be filed due to what happened here, and after I have had a chance to calm down my daughter. Can we agree to that? Or do I have to call my old boss Chief Haskin and tell him that one of his finest just tried to throw my mentally unbalanced 13 year old rape victim daughter across the room? A young girl that he knows personally and thinks the world of."

That did it. Ten minutes later Cindi was only crying as Amy hugged her tight and whispered in her ear. I had Rebecca and her mom and Katie come over to stay with the girls, while Victoria and I, without handcuffs, (I thought Cindi was going to get hysterical again when the jerk brought those out) were on our way to the police station.

When we arrived, we were taken into a room for questioning. I asked to see the evidence they had for detaining my wife.

"We don't have to show you that," the jerk said. All right, I had had enough of this shit.

"You know, asshole, next time I'm not going to bother to save your life", I snarled.

Victoria looked at me, then looked away. I took out my wallet, removed a card from under my driver's license, and handed it to Cop # 2.