Chapter 5: Punishments and Just Rewards

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!"

They were back home. It was many hours later, and Tricia had spent most of them dealing with the police, EarthGuard, the hospital, the Myer's Institute, and the parents of the three other boys whom Joey had fought. And she was in a scary and foul mood. She towered over the boy as he sat on the couch. Betty Collins from Child and Family Services sat next to him taking notes on her clipboard, and wore a mixed expression of concern and smugness.

"I don't understand! Why am I in trouble?" Joey whined.

"You put three kids in the hospital! That's why you're in trouble!"

"So? They were trying to kill us!"

"You don't know that," Tricia scolded. "They may have been trying to scare you. They may have been trying to hurt you, but they were not using lethal force! Believe me, if they wanted you dead, you would be dead! You were certainly careless enough to make sure that could have happened." She waved her arms frantically as she yelled. "Neal could have hit you from a distance at full force lightning. Brandon could have used a weapon or punched you in the throat. Clyde could have picked up that dumpster and thrown it on you. But they didn't! Why did you respond by trying to kill them?"

"Hey! I was afraid for my life!" he yelled back. "And I was afraid for Simon's life as well! And if they were trying to scare me, well guess what? IT WORKED! I WAS SCARED! You weren't there! What was I supposed to do?"

Tricia folded her arms over her chest in defiance. "You were SUPPOSED to call EarthGuard, as you were TAUGHT to do! What happened? Didn't you even think about using your phone?"

"Yeah, but..."

"Well why didn't you?"

"They were hurting Simon! He was screaming! I couldn't wait for someone else to come. And I knew I could handle them!"

With one hand on her hip Tricia stabbed a finger at him. "This isn't about whether you could handle them or not! This is about you doing the wrong thing! Joey! You nearly killed Brandon! He and Neal are going to need surgery, and Clyde's going to be in a sling for weeks."

"GOOD! They deserved it!" he grimaced.

"No they didn't, Joey. They..."

"No Tricia!" he insisted. "They DID! You don't know what they're like! Everyone hates those guys! They're always picking on kids, pushing us around, starting fights, scaring people! Somebody had to stop them!"

"Oh, and you think you were the one to do this?"

"Yes! I was there! You don't know what it's like to deal with bullies like..."

Tricia struck an attitude pose. "Oh DON'T ... you go there!"

Betty coughed gently, catching everyone's attention. "Maybe we should consider the option that perhaps this is not the best environment for..."

Tricia turned her eyes to Betty and silenced her with a smoldering, furious look. Annie leaned in to Betty.

"You really don't want to finish that sentence if you want to keep that clipboard outside of your body," Annie suggested.

Tricia focused a raw beam of fury on Betty. "I am his mother," Tricia steamed, "and I will deal with this." She turned back to Joey. "So you think I don't know what it's like to deal with bullies?"

"Not super-powered ones," he declared.

"No? Well guess what?" she said as calmly as possible. "I'm a girl. And girls are inherently smaller and weaker than boys, so as far as we girls are concerned, all boys are super-powered. So don't you DARE tell me I don't know what it's like to deal with someone bigger and stronger than me. I know all about what bullies are like, and you don't deal with them by stooping to their level!"

Joey flustered. "Well if you know bullies, then you know there IS no other way to deal with them! They can't be reasoned with! You can't talk to them! You ask them to stop and they don't. They just laugh and hit harder!" Trish tried to interrupt, but Joey continued. "No, Trish, I know these kids, and the ONLY language they know is pain and fear. So I spoke to them in the only language they understand! They are NEVER going to fuck with me or Simon again!"

Tricia started counting on her fingers. "One! Watch your language, young man, and two, no, they can understand reason. And if you think the only language they understand is violence, then it is your job to TEACH them reason! Because let me tell you something about bullies; They are not just simple animals or comic-book villains. They are full, complex human beings, just like the rest of us, and they usually have a lot of pain and fear in their life that they don't know how to deal with, and the last thing they need is more from you! What they need is understanding and empathy. Now, I have no problem with you using your powers to defend yourself. Stopping Brandon and Neal by nullifying their powers was a good idea. But breaking Brandon's nose, ripping open his arteries, toying with his life, spraying Neal in his face with blood, and breaking Neal's jaw as he tried to save Brandon's life, that was inexcusable. That was TORTURE! And as for Clyde, he didn't do anything, did he?"

"But he's their leader! He made them attack us! I had to take him down!"

"No you didn't. From what I heard, he was too scared to fight you. You attacked him unprovoked, and you seriously injured him and humiliated him AFTER he surrendered!"

"But he was going to..."

"You don't know that! What I know is YOU turned into the bully. And you should be better than that."

Joey was silenced, and he dropped his head, unable to look at Tricia. He shook his head and tried to speak. Tricia wouldn't let him.

"Now ... I've got three sets of parents who want to press charges against you, and a school that wants to expel you. We paid a lot of money to get you into that school, and if they kick you out we're not getting a refund. Now Amanda is working with the parents to settle out of court, and we managed to reduce your punishment to a week long suspension. So for the rest of this week, you are grounded!"

Joey looked up in anger. "Grounded?"

Tricia gave him an evil stare. "And you are stuck with me, young man. You're coming with me to work, and I know that your hands and knees are still bandaged and cut up. Tough! You're mopping, you're scrubbing floors, you're cleaning toilets, and you're doing dishes this week. No TV, no movies, no computer games, and no flying!"

Annie gasped. "No flying?"

Tricia pointed. "Now you go to your room, and you start writing letters of apology to all three of those boys, their parents, and the school. NOW!"

Joey stood up and stomped towards his room in defiance.

"DON'T SLAM THE DOOR!" she barked.

He stopped himself before he slammed it, and closed it quietly.

There were a couple seconds of very awkward silence as the three women heard the young boy in his room crying and muttering to himself. Tricia took a deep calming breath, exhaled slowly, and turned to Betty.

"Now ... you were saying something?" she challenged.

Betty thought for a couple seconds, blinked a couple times, and decided what to say. "Nope," she concluded. She stood up, smoothed out her skirt, and made a final note on her clipboard. "I think you are handling things properly. I'll check in later."

Tricia and Annie watched her leave, and as Betty closed the front door behind her, Annie turned to Tricia. "Trish. Did you mean that? No flying?"

Tricia gave her an odd look. "Of course. Doesn't he enjoy it?"

"Well, yes, but..."

"Then no flying."

"Uh..." Annie balked in disbelief.

Joey opened the door to his room and carefully peeked out, terror and shame washed over his face. "I um ... I heard her leave," he managed to say.

"Yes?" Tricia replied.

"So um ... was that all ... really ... um..."

Tricia folded her arms over her chest again. "Joey, I am sorry."

Joey nodded, and looked a little relieved. "So that was all for her..."

"I am sorry I didn't take my responsibilities as your mother seriously when you attacked Marcelo Delgado. At the time I didn't know what I was doing, and was just glad to get you out of there without losing you and causing some huge paradox. But what you did to him was wrong, and you should have been punished back then."

Joey's mouth dropped open.

Tricia continued. "Joey, I understand that for many years you had to live like an animal. Well now you are back in civilization, and you need to start acting like a human being again. And what's more, if you are seriously thinking that you want to be a superhero, you have to be even better than that. You have learn to control your anger, and control your actions, and learn to be the better person. And I know it felt good to beat and torture those boys, but that's the problem. If you take pleasure in hurting someone, regardless of how much they deserve it, you are no better than a supervillain."

Joey stood there and blinked in silent disbelief.

Tricia cocked her head. "And now that Betty is gone, let me make your punishment perfectly clear to you. You sleep alone in your room this week. You are not sleeping with us. No sex for a week. Got it?"

"I ... you mean..."

"GOT IT?"

Joey's look of terror returned. "Yes ma'am," he nodded.

"Go to your room."

He closed the door.

Tricia took another cleansing breath, and sighed. Annie stared at her.

"What!"

"No sex? And no flying?"

"Yeah."

"You mean, not even..."

"Don't even let him touch you," Tricia declared.

Annie balked again. "But ... can't we just..."

Tricia rolled her eyes. "Oh Annie," she sighed as she she stomped off to their bedroom. "Get a vibrator!"

It was hours later when he cautiously emerged from his room. Clutching an apology note in his bandaged hand, he slowly, timidly, and carefully made his way to the kitchen. Tricia and Annie sat at the table; Tricia was writing notes in a notebook, and Annie sat silently, staring at her barely touched sandwich and kept one hand in her sweater pocket. Tricia raised her eyes as he approached and looked at him questioningly.

"Um..." he began, and he held out the note to her. "I've ... been writing."

She took the note and glanced over it. "Your handwriting is terrible."

"My hands hurt," he defended.

Tricia scanned the note, reading it aloud. "I am writing this because I have to apologize..." She mumbled a couple more words from the sentence, groaned, and then folded the note and ripped it in half.

"What are you doing?" he yelled.

Tricia ripped the apology note into several pieces and threw them in the trash. "That was not an apology. You didn't mean it."

"But I did what you said!"

"An apology means you feel sorry," she barked at him. "And you don't feel sorry yet. Now go to your room."

Joey fumed for a second, and stormed to his room, slamming the door. They could hear him throw himself on his bed. Annie stared at Tricia in disbelief.

"What?" Tricia asked.

"He's trying."

"Not hard enough."

Annie fumed. "Why did you not see this coming?"

"What do you mean?"

"Aren't these things supposed to show up in your dreams?"

"Yeah," Tricia sighed. "I saw this coming."

Annie glared at Tricia. "You KNEW this was going to happen? And you didn't do anything to stop it?"

"No. I didn't know this was going to happen."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Look, Annie. I see a LOT of things, and most of them don't happen. I saw him get in the fight, but I also saw him avoid the fight, and I saw him ride home with me, and I saw him stop in a store and steal something, and I saw him prevent Simon's detention. This time now is not governed by a self-correcting time-loop like it was a couple months ago. Anything can happen. The only events I feel any confidence about are those that are far outside our influence."

"Then why don't you try to make a new time-loop? Give us some fair warning about things that are going to affect us."

Tricia groaned. "We've tried that. You know that. Even with your's and Joey's help I can't just punch a hole into a new time-space location unless all of the other versions of me are doing the same thing for the same reason."

Annie sighed, and she snatched up a knife and bread, and started severely fixing another sandwich. Tricia watched as she slapped mustard onto the bread. "You've barely touched your food. Why are you making another?"

"I'm making a plate for Joey. Unless you're planning on starving him too!"

She shook her head. "You can take that to him, but don't defy me. Don't undo my work."

Annie dropped the knife on the plate with a loud clatter. "What am I in this?" she demanded.

"What do you mean?"

"Am I his mother? Or his lover? Just a business partner? I know your name is on the paper saying that you are his mother, but where do I fit in this?"

"I don't know. Where do you want to be in this? You want to help parent him? Fine! Help me. If you just want to be his lover, that's fine too, but just don't get in my way. I will take you down if you cross me."

They stared at each other for a second, and Annie resumed making the sandwich. Tricia watched her for a moment, and her eyes dropped down to Annie's sweater pocket. She could see the Velcro tether poking out of it.

"This is about the flying, isn't it?"

Annie grumbled.

"Annie, I'm not punishing YOU."

"I know," she muttered.

"I'm sorry that you're getting caught in the middle of this, and I'm sorry that you feel like you're being punished, but we have to help him by teaching him. This is the third time he's tried to solve his problems by trying to kill someone, and if we're raising him, we need to tackle that."

"Desdemona deserved it."

"Maybe, and that was certainly self-defence, but I think that's where the problem comes from. Look, Annie, I can feel it. The entire time-space continuum twisted itself into a knot to save this planet. It reached back far, years ago to set this all up. It put us all in place to get rid of Desdemona. You, me, Joey, his father, Quantum Knight, Snow Angel, Gus ... Jesus Christ, even Doctor Booth was in the right spot at the right time! It created this boy, this kid with this unclassifiable, unmeasurable power, and gave him all the torture and trauma needed to generate the passion and rage to take out an eighth level demon. Eighth level! That's powerful. There's only one ninth level demon, and I don't think he can fit in this universe. So yay for us! He did his job and he killed the demon, saving us all. But NOW WHAT? Look at what we've got! A boy with unchecked amounts of power, conditioned to kill what he hates, and praised by the press and rewarded with fame and offers of money for his famous kill. He's going to kill again. And we have to prevent that."

Annie closed her eyes and rubbed her face, hiding herself from Tricia's glare.

"Annie. I need to know if I can count on you to help me."

She nodded.

"You don't have to do this. That first day I brought him in, I offered you the chance out of this. But you stayed. You said that Destiny needed you, and it did. And you did what Destiny needed you to do. You helped me with Desdemona. But the offer is still there. You don't have to be his mother. You can still leave."

Annie shook her head. "No," she managed. "I'll help you."

"I'm not doing this to hurt you. I'm not trying to hurt you."

"I know."

"But if you want to stay with us, you have to help me. I need to know you've got my back."

"I do. I'm staying," she said defiantly.

"Why? It's not like Destiny is calling for you again."

Annie let out a long shuddering breath, and slapped the sandwich together on the plate. She put the plate on her lap and turned her chair. She stopped and took another breath. "I ... He's what I live for now."

Tricia watched her, and Annie continued in a quiet voice. "Every day, I wake up in his arms, and I just want to stay with him all day. I love his touch, and when he leaves, I feel this ache..." Tears gathered in her eyes. "And I wait for him. I just wait and I dream all day for him to return. And when he comes home, we fly! We FLY, Tricia! I get out of the chair and I can FLY! And I know you fly with him, but I don't think it's the same for you! But to feel that, to be so free, for even just an hour, it's everything for me ... And then we come home, and we make love ... and I feel such joy..." She touched her abdomen. "I can feel places I haven't felt in years. So I live for him. I live for those moments, and to see you so angry at him, and to see him in such pain, it's more than I can bear. And I know! I know why you are doing this, but it hurts! It hurts."

Tricia watched the tears roll down her roommate's face, and she went over and knelt down next to her friend. She hugged her, and as Annie held her and sniffed, Tricia consoled her. "I'm sorry, but it's going to be a rough week for all of us. But we need to be strong. He needs our guidance, and it's going to hurt for a while, but it's for the best. He needs to learn to deal with others without resorting to violence. You understand?"

Annie nodded, sniffing.

Tricia smiled. "Good girl. And think of it this way. After a week of celibacy, all three of us are going to be climbing the walls, and when the ban is lifted, we're all going to have the best damn sex you can imagine."

Annie burst out a single bark of laughter and shook in convulsions of quiet laughter into Tricia's shoulder.

"Seriously!" Tricia continued. "That boy is going to nail us to the ceiling. And I for one am looking forward to it. But I need to be able to count on you to back me up." She pulled back and held Annie's face, staring in to her eyes. "So you're going to find a way to survive this week without flying. You can do this. I know this is tough for you, but this is for him. Okay?"

Annie nodded. "Okay. I'll find a way."

Tricia kissed her cheek, and returned to her chair, and Annie wheeled into the living room. There Annie took a moment to compose herself, wipe her eyes, and blow her nose. Be strong, she said to herself. Help Tricia. Back her up. She took a deep breath. I am on Tricia's side. I am here for her. Be the strong parent.