That night was the start to a long and beautiful friendship between the ladies. And on some days, when either one of them had time, they would meet for lunch during the week. 

It was on one such afternoon, while Thalia was having lunch with Tj, Lina, Mika and Soo, that she got a phonecall from the school.

They apologised but they needed her to come in, Theo was not feeling well. 

" Hey is everything ok?" Tj asked, noticing the look of panic on Thalia's face.

Thalia shook her head even as she got up, " No , that was the  school Theo's not feeling well, I gotta go, i'm sorry,"

" Whoa! slow down, come on i'll give you a ride," Lina offered, " Tj take care of the meeting yeah?"

" Got it," Tj replied.

" You don't need to give me a ride, " Thalia said, but Lina ignored her and simply picked up her purse and headed for the door, leaving Thalia no option but to follow her.

" Breathe, Thalia, " Lina commanded as she drove to the school, which wasn't that far away but with lunch time traffic it would take maybe thirty minutes to get there instead of the usual fifteen.

" I'm just worried, " Thalia replied, " oh crap I forgot to call work,." she said pulling her phone out of her bag to do just that.

When they got to he school they found Theo sleeping in the school nurse's office, his face was flushed and he was wheezing bad. He also had a fever which was evident from the warmth of his skin and the sweat matted on his forehead.

The school nurse explained that the teacher had sent him to her because he had started wheezing, and just as a precaution the nurse had checked to see if he had a fever, he did, and school policy if you have a fever you have to go home.

Thalia decided to let Terry and Thad come home on the school bus like they usually did,. Which is why she did not become aware of the fact that Terry had been fighting til later that evening,when Thad and Terry got back from school.

Thalia's left eyebrow twitched. The children knew she was upset, or possibly even angry. They were sitting at the table, and they had their heads hung low, all except for Theo, who other than being sick hadn't done anything wrong.

Thad and Terry on the other hand. Terry had a bruise, under her right eye, and Thad's school uniform was ripped and missing a few buttons.

Aparently the fight had broken out on the school bus, and her children may have been the instigators. If Theo had been with them she knew she'd have the truth already but as it was, she wasn't sure she'd get anything from Terry or Thad. They were loyal, to each other to a fault.

" One of you had better tell me what happened, and I want the truth, before I get angry. Please," she finally said, as she rubbed her temples.

They never got a chance to respond because the doorbell rang. Thalia sighed and got the door, she had a feeling she knew who was on the other side. She was right, Jr was standing on the other side of the door, and Thalia would have been irritated had he not looked so worried. He looked scared, distraught even.

" What's wrong,?" she asked him.

" How's Theo, I heard you had to go get him from school," Jr said,. Lina had called Jb as soon as she'd dropped Thalia and Theo off at home, and he had in turn told Jr.

" Theo's fine, " Thalia replied, she really couldn't be upset with him, not when he was so distraught over one of her children being sick.

" Can I see him?" Jr asked, and he sounded almost like he was expecting her to say no, Thalia let him in. He stopped short when he saw Terry and Thad, bruised and obviously messed up.

" Is this a bad time?" Jr quietly asked Thalia. Thalia sighed.

" Kind of, tell you what, Theo since you're not in trouble, why don't you go with uncle Jr to your room and you guys can do whatever you want,."

Theo nodded and jumped off his chair then walked up to Jr and took his hand in his, and when Jr looked like he wanted to say something to Terry and Thad, Theo pulled his arm and gave him a silent warning by shaking his head.

Jr took his advice and said nothing but sent both Terry and Thad a wink before following Thaeo to his room. Thalia looked pissed, he thought she looked friggin y pissed, but he figured this was not the time to say that. He also figured she would not appreciate him interfering with her discliplining the children.

Thalia waited til Jr and Theo were in the bedroom before beginning her interrogation anew.

It took some time and some doing, but she eventually got Thad and Terry to tell her that they got into a fight with some big kids, because one of them said something mean to Terry and Terry had told them it was mean, so as little boys that think they are big boys are wont to do. The mean kid had asked her what she was goiing to do about it. Terry had pushed him. He'd pushed back. So Terry had punched him. He'd punched back. Thad had come to his sisters defence. 

Thalia's eye twitched anew. She was trying to stay in control, trying so hard to not lose it and yell at the kids. She was trying not to handle this like an adult. It was hard.

" Can you tell me exactly what this mean kid said to you?" Thalia asked, and both her children clammed up. Heads dropping in an unspoken vow of silence.

Thalia sighed and rubbed her temples again.

" I need to think of a suitable punishment, for now i'm sending you to your rooms, and I want a letter of apology to me please,." the children scuffled off.

" Mama's angry, " Theo said to Jr once they were in his room.

" I can see that," Jr responded, "but how are you? I heard you were sick."

" I'm ok, my belly hurts and my neck hurts, but i'm ok. mama made me soup."

Jr wanted Thalia to make him soup. He was almost jealous of theo, almost.

" mama's gonna be sad later, because she had to shout at Thad and Terry," Theo supplied very helpfully.

" Yeah?"

" Yeah, she always gets sad when she has to shout at us, she doesn't like it," Theo said.

" How do you know she gets sad, ?" Jrr asked.

" I just know, and sometimes because she smiles like she wants to cry,. and sometimes after we go to bed, she cries, I've heard her," Theo said. " You should give her a hug, after, it will make her not sad."

Jr almost high fived Theo. Almost. 

The child was full of all kind s of helpful information. The child also ossibly saw far too much than was normal.

" I will, ok, ." 

Theo nodded,. The door opened and two very glum looking children walked in and straight to the desk they shared, pulling out the necessary equipment, and started writing their letters of apology to their mother.

Thalia came and stood by the door hands crossed over her chest as she watched them, and Jr looked up at ehr from where he was laying on the bed with Theo. He could see it, she really did look sad. She must really hate having to punish the children, but he could also see that just because she hated it, sje wasn't going to avoid it. It made him respect her all the more.

Jr decided to take Theo's advice and got up from the bed to approach Thalia. Thalia took a couple of steps away from the door as he approached her, and apprehensively bit at her lip. Once he was in front of her, he closed the door, so there would be n prying eyes and then he pulled her into his arms and hugged her.

" Jr what are you doing?" Thalia whispered into his chest.

" Hugging you," he dead panned.

" I know that, but why are you hugging me,?" 

" I missed you, and you look like you could use a hug,".

Thalia could use a hug and if she was being honest then she was really glad that Jr had taken up the task, but she also recognized that letting him hug her like he was, was counterproductive to getting him to stop pursuing her.

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind, than did she find his lips on hers. He was kissing her. Again. All tongue and hot passion. Thalia moaned into the kiss, totally against her own will, and Jr took that as a request for him to deepen it. So he wrapped his arms tighter around her waist and pulled her closer, not that they could be any closer, nto with the way her s were flush against his chst and the way she could feel his hardness against her belly. Her hands came to his shoulders then round his neck then to his arms, as he kissed her. She couldn't ger enough of him. She just wanted to keep touching him.

" Jr.. the children," she panted.

" Umhm, I know, i'm watching the door," he replied, and then he descended again.

Thalia protested even as she kissed him back, " we shuldn't be doing this," 

He ignored her and placed his lips back on , at the inside, tugging on her lower lip with his teeth and then swiping his tongue across it to soothe the sting, and just when things started to get really heated, he heard the little pitter patter of feet approaching the door and he stepped away from Thalia but kept his hand in hers.

As Thalia sat next to Jr on the couch while she, they, went over the childrens letters of apology she had the uninvited thought that, this might have been what it would be like if her children had a father,. Then right in the wake of that thought came the thought that, Jr wuld make a really good father.

She mentally shook her head, she had to stop thinking like that, because despite what the girls said, she was not fighting a losing battle. She couldn't lose , she just couldn't. It would't be fair to Jr.