Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. Apparently wishing on a star only works for little boys made out of wood…unfair

xxxxxx

Shelby Corcoran had left Rachel with several things: looks, a magnificent voice, heartache, and a lifetime's worth of insecurities. While Rachel was grateful for the voice, she could have gone without the insecurity and heartache, and her feelings on her looks were complicated on the best of days. There were a couple more things the mother – not mom – left the teenager: a drinking glass and a gold star necklace the woman bought when she had first arrived in New York.

Rachel didn't use the glass. The night after she had performed Pocker Face with Shelby on stage, her dad brought her water in it in hopes of soothing his daughter's tears, but seeing the star-decorated glass just made her cry harder. She did however wear the necklace. Rachel didn't know why this present didn't bring her to tears; she just knew there was a little piece of Shelby she could always have close to her. Ever since the two agreed to appreciate each other from afar Rachel hadn't taken the item of jewelry off. When Puck jokingly gave her a hard time about it during Glee a couple of weeks later, saying that she was being a bad Jew for wearing a five-pointed star, Rachel quietly replied that Shelby gave it to her. An awkward silence settled over the group after that, until Will Schuester redirected their focus on choosing set list for Regionals. After practice that day, Puck caught up with Rachel in the parking lot to apologize. The sincerity in his voice caught her off guard. Sure their friendship had grown substantially since the beginning of the year, they had even dated for a brief week, but aside from a few conversations before rehearsals, the two didn't really acknowledge one another. She accepted his apology and the two finished off the school year never really bringing it up again.

xxxxxx

It was now junior year and the necklace was still firmly clasped around her neck. Finn had broken up with Rachel a month ago. When he had left her in the hallway Rachel immediately called Puck, profusely apologizing for any damage her confession may have caused to his friendship with Finn.

"Again, I am so sorry, Noah," she said, "I know that you have been working very hard to regain Finn's confidence for many months now, and I hope my actions haven't jeopardize your efforts." Puck wanted to be mad, but Rachel assured him that she had taken full responsibility for the tryst.

"I promise, Noah, all Finn knows is that you drove me home after school because you were concerned and then you admirably resisted my advances when I continuously threw myself at you once we had arrived at my house."

"That's not what happened, Berry." Yes, he had been the one to end their make out session and he had been trying hard to get back in Finn's good graces for a while now, but Puck felt bad that Rachel took the brunt of Finn's anger.

"It's fine, Noah. I know Finn misses you and this way there's still hope that you two can one day be best friends again."

"Alright, Berry." He really wanted his best friend back.

xxxxxx

The last week of January felt like one of the coldest in Ohio history. The town was blanketed in snow and the lake by the parking lot had frozen over. As she walked towards her car, which was parked at the far end of the lot, she felt something cold slide inside her bra. She removed the glove from her right hand and loosened up the button of her coat so that she could pull out the strange object. Once she felt the chain on her fingertips her eyes began to water. The clasp of Shelby's necklace had somehow snapped. Could this month get any worse, she thought to herself. As if on cue she heard two sets of heavy feet behind her.

"Hey freak," Karofsky sneered.

"David. Azimio," She acknowledged curtly, "Was there something you needed?"

Ignoring her question, Karofsky asked one of his own, "What you got there, loser?"

Realizing he meant her necklace, Rachel tried to hide it behind her back, but Azimio snatched it up.

"Give that back!"

"Make me," Azimio laughed.

"Please, it was my mother's" Rachel explained; for some reason she thought the two would sympathize with her if they realized the necklace had sentimental value. She was wrong.

"Last I heard your mom didn't want you," Karofsky stated.

"Yeah, didn't she like adopt Puckerman's kid cuz she wanted a better daughter?" Azimio added. McKinley's gossip circle was really unmatched.

Rachel tried to ignore their hurtful remarks.

"Please, give me back my necklace," she requested.

"Fetch, bitch," Azimio said as he chucked it onto the lake. As the two boys walked away to their cars, Rachel made her way down to the (frozen) water's edge. She looked around and found a decently sized frozen clump of dirt. She grabbed the heavy bundle and threw it onto the ice, checking its resilience. When nothing happened, she decided the ice was thick enough to hold her weight; she didn't plan to be on it long. Although the wind had given Azimio's throw a little more height, the necklace wasn't too far out. Rachel quickly made her way on to the ice; she slipped a bit on her second step, but managed to keep herself upright. After she made it to the object, she pocketed the gold chain and pendant. However, when she made her turn she heard the dreaded cracking of weak ice. Rachel froze. As the ice began splintering around her, the soprano kept absolutely still hoping to keep the floor beneath her from breaking all the way through. After about a minute the cracking seemed to stop. Rachel was paralyzed in fear. She called out for help, but there was no one around. Come on, Rachel, you need to get off this ice, the girl thought to herself. Move, her inside voice yelled at her. She took a step and then another. As she made to take her third tentative step, the ice gave way. Rachel managed to let out a sharp scream before she dropped like a sack of potatoes below the ice.

The frigid water took her breath away. She let out a gasp, allowing the bitter cold liquid to enter her mouth. Rachel felt like someone was choking her and as every muscle in her body tightened on impulse a burning sensation overwhelmed her. Rachel surfaced briefly but quickly slipped under again due to the weight of her heavy winter boots and multiple thick layers of clothing. The panicked girl kicked as fiercely as she could to get back up to the surface despite the fact that she could already feel her energy waning. When she finally resurfaced Rachel tried to pull her shivering body out of the water flailing her arms out grasping at ice, yet, every time she would grab the ice around her it would break off and join her floating body. By the time she found a spot of solid ice she barley had the strength to rest her arms out flat on the sheet. Rachel managed to call out for help twice before she could no longer do anything but gasp. Her body shook violently as the majority of it rested beneath the numbing waters.

xxxxxx

Puck and Finn were just making their way out of the front doors of McKinley when Puck heard what he thought to be a cry for help.

"Did you hear that?" Puck asked the taller boy.

"Here what?"

"I thought I heard-"

"Move, losers," Santana interrupted as she pushed through the pair.

"It's called excuse me, Satan."

"It's called bite me, Puckerman."

"Not without a shot of penicillin."

"Says the man-whore."

Finn tuned his teammates out, knowing the insult fest would go on for at least another sixty seconds. He and Puck were planning on playing COD on Burt's big screen this afternoon so, even if he wanted to leave the two teens to fight amongst themselves, he couldn't; Puck was his ride. After Rachel confessed to kissing Puck, Finn had been livid; another girlfriend had cheated on him with his (former?) best friend. The tall football player planned on confronting the guy, but Rachel quickly followed up her confession with reassurance that the kiss had been her fault, and hers alone. The brunette told him that she had basically thrown herself at Puck, who had been caught off guard, resulting in a few kisses. But, she explained, he stopped the situation from progressing, by immediately pushing himself away from her. Rachel told Finn that Puck had informed her that his decision not to make out with her was driven solely by the fact that the Mohawked-boy was determined not to hurt his friend again. Finn approached Puck the next day at school and awkwardly thanked him for trying to do the right thing; and, while the two weren't at a braid-each-others'-hair level of friendship, they were working on it.

The name calling finally came to a close when Santana announced she was freezing her tetas off. Puck was going to reply with a jab about them being silicon, but the cold was also getting to him; he wanted to get to his truck so he can turn the heater to full blast.

The three made their way to the parking lot. Aside from Puck's truck and Santana's red Ford Thunderbird, the only cars left were those that belonged to students still in detention. Puck and Finn made their way to the left where the blue truck was slowly gathering snow while Santana went right. When Santana reached her car she noticed Rachel's purple Prius was still parked two spots down. Odd, she thought, since Rachel had practically raced out of practice this afternoon. Santana's eyes then caught something out of place by the lake. There seemed to be something dark sticking out of the ice. She focused her eyes a bit more as she unconsciously took a few steps forward.

"Rachel!" Santana's cry vibrated through the air. The Latina would recognize that hideous multicolored stripped coat anywhere. As Santana raced down to the lake, Puck and Finn quickly ran after the girl, her scream having stopped them from getting in the truck. When Santana reached the shore she called out to the girl again.

"Rachel! Rachel! Can you hear me? Rachel!"

When Puck reached Santana's side he wanted to vomit. Rachel was almost fully submerged in the lake; only her arms and face, which was covered by hair, were visible. She wasn't moving or responding to their cries.

"Call 911!" He ordered as he began to take off his coat. Santana did so, never taking her eyes off her unmoving teammate.

"What are you doing?" Finn asked frantically.

"I'm gonna go get her!" Puck yelled, removing any other articles of clothing that would weigh him down.

"Are you crazy? If the ice couldn't hold her, it won't hold you!"

"They said the ambulance will be here in seven minutes," Santana quickly informed the two.

"She doesn't have seven minutes."

"Puck!"

"I'm going! Just watch my back." The teen thought the best route would be a straight line in the direction Rachel's arms were pointing to. Puck slowly inched his way onto the ice, trying to make his way over to Rachel move as quickly as possible without breaking through the ice. Santana and Finn held their breath.

"I'm coming, Rachel!" Puck didn't think she was conscious, but he didn't want her to feel alone. He wanted her to know that he would save her. After what felt like an eternity, Puck finally reached Rachel's sprawled out arms. He carefully knelt down and gripped her around the elbows and gave a strong pull. Most of the still girl's body came out of the frigid water. Puck pulled again, removing her entirely from the water. The scared teen felt for a pulse, but when his fingers touched her skin his nausea from a short while ago returned tenfold. Rachel's skin was as cold as the ice they were standing on. Puck didn't think it was possible for a person to feel that cold. Puck thought he felt a weak heart beat as he pressed his fingers to the side of her neck but he wasn't positive. He pushed her stiff damp hair out of her face to get a better look at her. Rachel's face was unnaturally pale, tinged with blue, and her eyes were rolled back into her head.

"How is she?" called Finn.

"I don't know." Puck replied miserably. He carefully picked Rachel up bridal style and made his way back to shore. Again, Santana and Finn watched with bated breath. Puck kept whispering reassurances to the unconscious girl as they made their agonizingly slow trek back to solid ground. By some miracle the ice held.

When Puck settled her on the ground, Santana immediately began to unbutton the girl's signature coat. The Latina didn't even register the tears silently making their way down her face; she just focused on getting Rachel out of her wet clothes. Finn shrugged off his outer layer and wrapped it around the blue-lipped girl, the large item of clothing engulfing her still and tiny frame. Puck grabbed his coat and placed it mostly around Rachel's shoulders and head. Finn went to rub Rachel's arms, but was harshly shoved out of the way by Puck who realized the girl wasn't breathing. Finn thinks his heart stopped when he heard those words. Puck began performing chess compressions, hoping that he remembered enough from freshmen health to actually help her. During a couple of the compressions muddy water came out of her mouth, which he hoped was a good sign. Santana positioned herself by Rachel's mouth. After she counted thirty pumps she pinched Rachel's nose and tilted her chin back so that she could blow two breaths into her lungs. They continued the pattern for a couple minutes when they heard the ambulance approaching. Finn left his post to direct the paramedics to the spot. Two men followed the tall boy down the icy slope with a stretcher and EMS space blankets. When the paramedics saw that Puck was performing CPR they immediately took control of the situation and put their training to work. Rachel began gasping for air, but it seemed to be an automatic response more than anything. Aside from basic reflexes she was still unresponsive. The two professionals loaded her into the ambulance and informed the three teens that they were taking her to Lima Memorial.

xxxxxx

When Rachel arrived at the hospital her core body temperature was a mere 89 degrees. The doctors' greatest fear was significant brain damage. Their fears grew worse when Rachel became combative with her caregivers. The doctors and nurses worked to bring her temperature back up, hoping that it would relieve some of the confusion and distress she seemed to be exhibiting. All of Rachel's wet clothes had been stripped off in the ambulance, replaced by layers upon layers of blankets. Those blankets were then replaced by the hospital's heated ones. Wrapped heating pads were placed around her head, neck, upper body, and groin. She was given warm intravenous fluids and the radiant heater was also lowered. Gradually her core temperature began to improve.

"Can you tell us what your name is, sweetie?" One of the nurses asked.

"Rachel," she answered softly through the masked that was delivering heated, humidified oxygen to her.

"Rachel can you tell us where you are?"

"A… A hospital." While Rachel's confusion was no longer a worry, those working around her could tell she was still scared.

"Rachel, my name is Dr. Jean Harper you're going to be just fine." Rachel nodded, but the fear in her eyes didn't go away. Hoping to ease her fears Dr. Harper let her know that her friends were outside the waiting room and that once she was moved to a private room they could visit her.

"Friends?" the doctor could tell she was fighting off sleep.

"Yes. I believe Dr. Lopez' daughter and nurse Puckerman's son were outside. There was also a rather tall boy with them as well." Rachel tried to follow what the man was saying but she was just so tired. Her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep.

xxxxxx

Finn, Puck, and Santana had followed the ambulance as fast as they could. When they arrived in the emergency room, they demanded to be let back to see Rachel, but the receptionist told them that Rachel was being worked on and that a doctor would come speak to them when they had news. Santana looked like she was about going to claw the woman's eyes out, Puck's expression wasn't much better. Finn looked like someone had ran over his puppy. Deciding that homicide wasn't the solution, both Santana and Puck whipped out their cell phones. Santana called her dad, Puck, his mom. The three were quickly taken to the waiting room where Puck's mom assured them that she would keep them informed. Although the three wanted to see Rachel immediately, they figured frequent updates were better than nothing.

xxxxxx

When Rachel woke up she heard hushed voices speaking near by and she felt a rough hand holding her left one. She slowly opened her eyes and squeezed the mysterious hand.

"Guy's shut up," Puck ordered, "Rachel?"

"Noah?" she croaked out; luckily, she was too exhausted to freak out about her voice.

"Hey," Puck smiled as she turned her head to face him. Rachel was about to ask what he was doing there, but a sudden weight on her chest prevented her from speaking. The petite diva looked down and saw Santana Lopez, the girl who had recently helped bring about the collapse of her relationship with Finn, hugging her tightly.

"Noah, is this a dream?" Puck laughed.

"No, she's really there. Get off of her Lopez, she needs to breath." Santana reluctantly pushed herself off the bed. When she came up Rachel could see that she had tears in her eyes.

"Santana, are you okay?" Rachel asked. Santana wiped her eyes and nodded yes.

"How are you feeling, Rach?" Finn questioned as he stepped up behind Santana.

"A little sore. Tired."

"What were you doing out on the lake." The question had been running around Puck's head since he had seen her in the water.

"I had to get my necklace."

"What?" Her response sounded like a non sequitur.

"The star that Shelby gave me," she explained.

"You almost died over a piece of jewelry."

"I didn't almost di-"

"Yes you did!" His outburst startled the rest of the teens in the room.

"God, you were ice-cold Rachel. You weren't breathing!" Puck unleashed, "We thought you were dead!" Rachel looked away, embarrassed that she had caused them to worry.

"I'm sorry. I…It's just…" She didn't know how to explain why the necklace meant so much to her. She knew that Shelby had handled their reunion rather poorly and that the woman's actions implied that she had no interest in Rachel what so ever, but the necklace made her feel like Shelby believed in her. Believed that she was talented and that she would make it in New York. Yes, it was just a gilded mass produced piece of jewelry, but it meant the world to Rachel.

Puck watched as Rachel tried to find words to justify her actions. Truth was, he understood. His old man left him a leather strapped watch before he left; and while Puck would freely admit his dad was a dick, he still wore it religiously. His little league coach once told him to take it off during a game and when Puck wouldn't the man reached for the strap off so a very young Noah Puckerman bit down on the guy's wrist. Hard.

"I get it," he said simply. Finn and Santana were confused at his sudden change of demeanor.

"You do?" Her sad eyes looked up at him through her long lashes.

"It's your mom's." Santana and Finn both felt like they were intruding on a private moment. Regardless, the moment was ruined by a knock on the door. It was Dr. Harper. The doctor came in and was followed by nurse Puckerman.

"Hi, Rachel."

"Hi. Ms. Puckerman. Doctor…" She didn't really remember who the man was.

"Harper," the man supplied, "We met in the ER, but I doubt you would remember that."

"I'm sorry. I don't remember much after falling in the lake."

"No need to apologize, Ms. Berry. We're just glad your doing better."

"Rachel, I managed to get in touch with your father, Hiram, a short while ago. He said he and your dad would get here as fast as they could." Her dads were still stuck in traffic, the snow making it rather difficult for cars to get through the streets during rush hour.

"Thank you, Ms. Puckerman."

"Well, guys," Dr. Harper said addressing the visitors in the room, "I just want to check Rachel over before I go home for the night." As her three heroes made to leave the room Rachel held Puck's hand hard.

"It was in the right pocket of my coat." He nodded, silently promising he find it.

After the room was cleared out, the doctor began his examination. He listened to her breath with his stethoscope, checked her pulse, and had her perform lung exercises on the Spirometer. He continued looking her over and concluded that she so far demonstrated no signs of a lung infection or neurological or heart problems.

"Rachel, we'll be keeping you overnight to monitor your vitals. If all goes well you'll be out of here tomorrow morning."

"I can't go home?" She wasn't a fan of hospitals, but then who was.

"It's just to be safe. But like I said, you seem to be recovering really well, and you'll most like be released in the morning."

"Thank you, doctor-"

"Rachel!" Julius and Hiram Berry dashed into the room and engulfed their daughter in a family hug. They began firing a multitude of questions at her when Dr. Harper introduced himself.

"Mr. Berry, Mr. Berry, I'm Rachel's doctor Jean Harper," he said with his arm extended out. The Daddies Berry immediately redirected their questions towards the man with the medical degree.

"Lets step outside and give Rachel a chance to say goodbye to her friends." As the three men walked out the door three teens soon filled the room. There was an uncomfortable silence for a good thirty seconds until Santana's voice finally broke it.

"I didn't know your dad was black," Santana said. Rachel laughed, "That's daddy."

"Well, you should totally take "daddy" to school, guarantee the jocks would stop throwing slushies in your face if they knew you were related to Shaq. And I know a bunch of Cheerios would be nicer seeing as he's gorgeous."

"Daddy's only six three."

"Not the point."

"And I wouldn't want to parade my father around school so that a bunch of deluded teenage girls could fawn over him." Puck and Finn decided to step in because the conversation had taken a weird turn.

"What did Harper say?" asked Puck

"Yeah, can you go home?" Finn followed.

"I have to stay overnight, but Dr. Harper said that I seem to be recovering quite nicely."

"Hey," Puck asked suddenly remembering something that had bugged him about Rachel's story earlier, "how did your necklace get onto the ice?" She informed the three about her confrontation with Karofsky and Azimio and how it had ended with Azimio hurling the pendant and chain onto the ice.

"Pendejos," muttered Santana, " I'm totally cutting them off from the Cheerios." Rachel decided against reminding Santana that she usually laughed when people bullied others; she also kept her suspicions of the Cheerio-ban not bothering David to herself - Rachel's gaydar was almost as good as her voice. Rachel noticed that Finn and Puck had yet to say anything. When she looked at the boys they seemed to be having a silent conversation amongst themselves.

"No," Rachel said firmly.

"What?" asked Finn.

"Whatever you two are planning. No."

"Yeah, you're both crazy if you think you're gonna get those assholes back without my help."

"None of you are going to do anything."

"You think we're just gonna let them get away with almost getting you killed," Finn cried.

"First off, I doubt they thought their actions would result in such a disastrous fashion; and secondly, you and I are no longer dating." She then looked at Santana.

"You and I are not friends," she then turned to Puck, "and I will tell your mother." Finn snickered a little, which caused Rachel to readdress him.

"Don't think I don't have Carole's number," she threatened.

"Rachel…" Puck tried.

"It was an accident. They shouldn't have thrown it and I shouldn't have walked out on the ice." Any further arguments were silenced by the reappearance of Dr. Harper and Rachel's dads and Puck's mother.

"Sorry guys but visiting hours are over. Rachel needs to rest up." Puck saw Rachel whisper something in his mother's ear, which caused the older woman to fix her son with a death glare.

"Noah, a word please," Diana stated. Puck, knew the 'please' was just because there were others in the room and she didn't want people to know she was seconds away from killing her son. Rachel didn't make empty threats. She knew that Diana would keep Noah in check and with him out of the picture Finn would most likely not confront the two bullies. She wasn't sure what she could do about Santana, but figured that the Latina's idea of a sexual boycott wasn't something to worry herself over.

xxxxxx

Rachel's fathers had kept her home the day she was released form the hospital. At three thirty Noah showed up on the Berry doorstep with her coat in his hand.

"It's kind of frozen since we didn't take it with us to the hospital," he said holding out the multi-colored coat for her to take.

"Thank you for retrieving it for me," Rachel she said sticking her hands into the right pocket after. Puck saw her frown when she realized there was nothing there.

"I fixed it for you," Puck explained, pulling the Shelby's necklace out of his pocket, "I had to make the chain a little shorter, but it should still fit." Rachel had to physically restrain herself from throwing her arms around him in gratitude.

"Thank you so much, Noah," she expressed wholeheartedly.

"Turn around." Rachel did and Puck secured the jewelry around her neck. Rachel looked down and while it fell a little higher than before, it was still perfect. Rachel couldn't help it anymore. She turned to face Noah and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Thank you, Noah. You don't know what this means to me." Puck shrugged, not really knowing how to handle her gratitude.

"Hey is your dad home?" Rachel looked a bit confused.

"Dad or Daddy?"

"Julius."

"Yes, even though I told him I was fine on my own, he insisted on working from home today."

"Do you think I could talk to him?" Puck wasn't mad that Rachel had ratted him out to his mom, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to get her back.

"Of course. Come in. Please make yourself comfortable. I'll just run upstairs and let him know you're here." Rachel quickly returned and told Puck that her fathers' office was the first door on the right. Once inside the office Puck closed the door so that Rachel couldn't eavesdrop on the conversation. Julius was curious as to what Diana's son needed. Puck wasn't a big fan of fathers, but revenge took precedence. The teenager informed the man of what really went down yesterday afternoon. Puck knew Rachel didn't tell her dads about the bullying she often faced at school. He found out during their brief fling. He had been hesitant about going to her house but she assured him that her dads knew nothing of his penchant for tossing slushies in her face. Puck figured she probably made up some bullshit story about how she ended up in the lake. When he saw the surprise and anger on Julius face, Puck knew he was right. The teenager then pulled out a yearbook from his backpack so that Julius had an image of the two boys responsible for his daughter's trip to the hospital. When Puck was done Julius stood up and shook his hand.

As the two made their way downstairs they found Rachel on the couch talking to someone on the phone.

"No, Santana, really there's no need. I'm fine and I'll be at school tomorrow. But thank you for the offer." When Puck heard Santana's name come out of Rachel's mouth he was afraid the Latina was going to inform the diva of his plan; the Latina's words yesterday gave him the idea.

"Yes, he's here…He said he needed to talk to my father…I don't know, I didn't ask…That's a bit nosey…Well he's right here so why don't you ask him yourself," she said handing her cell over to Puck. As Puck tried to placate Santana's curiosity, Rachel saw that her father had his Harvard scarf on and was pulling out a coat from the closet by the front door.

"Daddy, where are you going?"

"Oh I have a few unexpected errands I need to run. Noah said he didn't mind staying with you until your dad or I return."

"Daddy, I don't need a babysitter. Dr. Harper told you I was fine."

"Humor me, pumpkin." He kissed her on the cheek and told her to let Noah know that he was more than welcomed to stay for dinner, with that he was off.

"Santana says she's coming over," Puck informed her as he hung up the phone. Rachel didn't look too pleased.

"Look I know you two have a history but honestly San is basically like a Hippogriff. Sure she can be a total bitch and rip you to shreds in a heartbeat, but once she likes you she's like crazy loyal and protective."

"So me falling into the ice was akin to bowing properly?"

"Basically." Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Do you know where my father had to run off to?"

"Yeah, about that. Remember how you got me in trouble with my mom yesterday?"

"I stopped you from getting into trouble."

"Whatever. Well I just returned the favor."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"I let him know how your necklace really wound up on the lake." Rachel's eyes widened in panic.

"Noah Puckerman!"

"What? Do you really think he actually bought your 'oh a bird got to it' excuse."

"It was a plausible explanation."

"Think again. He knew you were lying; I just helped fill in the gaps. Anyways don't worry, he's just going to talk to their parents." She wanted to be mad but then she remembered that he had not only retrieved Shelby's necklace for her but fixed it as well.

xxxxxx

Close friends of Julius Berry knew he was a funny and sensitive man who wouldn't hurt a fly, but for those who made snap judgments based solely on his appearance, he looked to be a very intimidating individual. Julius was hoping Azimio Adams and David Karofsky would come to the same wrong conclusion. Rachel's father first went to the Adam's residence. When he knocked on the door Lisa Adams, a paralegal from the firm, opened the door.

"Mr. Berry?"

"Good afternoon, Lisa, I was wondering if I could have a word with you and your son?"

Upon hearing Lisa's reaction to Azimio's behavior, Julius knew he had done the right thing. The woman was yelling so loudly at her son that he almost felt bad for the boy, but then he remembered how frightened he was when Diana called him the day before and all sympathy vanished.

Julius then drove to David Karofsky's house. The boy's father opened the door and invited the man inside after Julius introduced himself.

"Mr. Karofsky, an incident between your son and my daughter occurred yesterday that resulted in her be taken to the hospital emergency room." Frank was shocked. He knew David was having problems at school but he never thought he'd hurt a girl. After Julius informed the man of not what had occurred afterschool, the two men heard the front door open. David stepped inside unaware that there was company.

"David, could you come in here please."

xxxxxx

A/N: This was going to be a one shot but I needed time to come up with a conclusion. Also to those reading my story and Inconvenient Stop, I am soooo sorry about the long wait. I spent a week at the beach not really thinking about it and then this popped into my head.