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As soon as the door shut, Valerie knew the conversation she wanted to have with her husband. And as she turned around to look at him, lowering himself to sit on their bed, she got the sense that he was thinking about the same conversation.
“Jonah, we should let him live here,” Valerie started. “He’s alone on Christmas. And it sounds like his parents are absent from his life entirely.”
He nods, “It does,” a pause, before Jonah continues, “but we only have so much to offer. And where would we keep him? We don’t have much space.”
Valerie bites her lip as she sits down beside her husband, trying to reason a solution. “We could set up a sleeping bag in the study for now. Once we know more, we can make a more final decision from there.”
Jonah let his head bobble back and forth as he weighed the path proposed by his wife. Mark and Nicole were clearly interested in one another, even if they both tried to pretend otherwise. On that level, Jonah was worried about keeping them under the same roof. But on another level, Jonah also understood that his wife was right - a boy his age shouldn’t be fending for himself, especially for as long as it sounded like he had been. And he had been helping Nicole open up again.
Valerie’s plan was decent, even if temporary. And it did cover his main worry about having them under the same roof. They’d just have to make sure the two of them knew to be responsible, even if their relationship wasn’t there yet.
With a sigh, Jonah nodded. “Alright, that works for me,” he stated, resting his arm around Valerie’s shoulders. “We can ask for his parent’s contact information just to keep them updated. Food costs will go up but I think we’d still have enough to get by.”
“I’m sure Mark would be happier coming home to people, not an empty house,” Valerie tried to ease her husband's remaining doubt, resting a hand on his cheek. “I can take him to get his things tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” Jonah agreed, “I’ll set up the sleeping bag. I’m sure I can find it somewh-” he began, though he was interrupted by his computer beeping. He palmed his forehead, “Oh, I nearly forgot about the call!” He got up, looking at the screen as he tried to decipher how to start the call. “...how do you do this again?”
A soft chuckle escaped Valerie’s lips, “Would you like to get Nicole, or should I?”
“I’ll get her, I just hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
A couple weeks later, Valerie was in the middle of making dinner when she heard the front door open. Smiling, she called over, “Welcome home, dears! Food will be ready in a few minutes if you could set up the table, please.”
Instead of a verbal response, Valerie heard a stumble in the next room over. Worriedly, she turned the stove low to keep things going but not overcook them as she checked the source of the noise.
The sight she walked into was not what she expected. In their school uniforms, Nicole and Mark wore their bags on their backs as they normally would, rising from the floor. However, between them was a shorter girl about their age. She wore a red sweatshirt over her school shirt, but what caught Valerie’s attention most was that she was fully unconscious.
“H-Hey mom,” Nicole started, “Sorry. She…” trailing off, looking to Mark for help.
Mark continued, “I’m really sorry, Mrs. Lacsamana. This is Cathy, my best friend. She’s, um, not doing great at home. We found her on our way home. S-She’s a bit beat up…”
No more information was needed for Valerie’s bleeding heart to give in. “Rest her on the couch. I’ll get her some water,” she told them, turning on her heel and grabbing a bottle of water as quickly as she could for the poor girl. For good measure, she grabbed an ice pack as well.
When she entered the main room again, she could clearly see Cathy’s face sporting a nasty bruise on her cheek. Mark kneeled beside her, holding her hand. There were bags under his eyes, and Valerie could see his lips pressed into a thin line that curved down at the ends. Nicole was doing her best to straighten out Cathy’s clothing, particularly her skirt, glancing between Cathy and Mark. Valerie had seen this kind of worry before, as Nicole was certainly worried about the wellbeing of Mark’s friend.
Kneeling down beside Mark, Valerie rested the icepack on Cathy’s cheek. She stirred slightly at the contact, but didn’t move much aside from rolling her head to show the bruise more. Valerie wondered what happened, particularly because Mark’s implication was that this came from Cathy’s family, but this was not the time to interrogate and figure things out.
“Nicole, dear, could you grab your father from the study?” Valerie asked, only to hear the solemn footsteps behind her as her daughter climbed the stairs.
She headed back into the kitchen to ensure dinner didn’t burn, and it wasn’t long before Jonah walked in. “Who’s the girl? She’s pretty hurt looking,” Jonah asked, and Valerie filled him in.
“She collapsed upon making it here, Jo. I don’t want to send her home after something like that,” Valerie said, turning the fire off and grabbing a couple of platters to serve the food on. “I know we’re already pushing space, but maybe we can have Mark and Cathy sleep at his house and have them come over for dinner in the evenings?”
Jonah mulled this over for a moment, “That’s a good plan, I think, but I don’t want her out of the house until we know she’s okay. I’ll have Mark let her family know she’s safe…not that they seem to care, given her injury.”
Valerie nodded, “Grab an extra plate then. I’ll set aside some food for her. Maybe call CSPC, too. They might be able to help.” At a nod of agreement, Jonah grabbed an extra plate and set it down by the stove before turning around and getting ready to set the table. Valerie hoped that whatever was going on at Cathy’s home, that she would no longer have to return there before long.
About a week later, Nicole, Mark, and Cathy were joined by yet another student.
“Hey, Mrs. Lacsamana!” Cathy greeted, her cheek patched up still. A couple days ago, Valerie had taken a look at the bruise again, and it was healing, though Cathy was nowhere near a healthy cheek again. In taking care of her wound, however, Valerie had found that Cathy was a wild but good soul. She was a lost teenager, and Mark and their friend Ridel were her rocks.
Which made her wonder if the girl that they were with had something happening with Cathy. “Hello, Mrs. Lacsamana. Pardon the intrusion.”
Valerie waved her hand away at the girl, “No intrusion here, I promise. Nicole’s friends are always welcome. Will you be staying for dinner…?”
“Louise Ordunia. And only if you don’t mind. I can go home for dinner if that’s preferable.”
Shaking her head enthusiastically, Valerie smiled, “Of course you can have dinner with us, Louise! May I ask what the occasion is?”
Mark spoke up, “Well, Nicole and I are helping with Louise’s research. She’s trying to get into UNH.”
“But my mother has been…insistent she help me, despite my protests,” Louise added, her expression downcast for a moment. “I just want to be away for a bit, and Sofia was busy this evening.”
Cathy frowned, “Yeah, she had to catch the new episode, right? For her granny?”
Everyone’s mood sombered after that. Nicole glanced at Valerie for a moment before looking back to her friends. “Come on, I can show you guys the piano. Mark needs more practice anyway.”
Mark groaned, “Ugh, I practiced at club today, isn’t that enough?”
As the group walked to the piano room, Nicole rolled her eyes. “Your hand independence still sucks, so no, you’ll keep working on it.”
Valerie smiled to herself as she listened to the friends bicker and the sounds of piano filled the house. My little girl is making more and more friends, it seems.
After a few minutes, while Valerie was cleaning up a bit in the living room, she heard the door of the piano room open and saw Cathy pop out of the piano room. She glanced around before making eye contact with Valerie, the latter smiling warmly, “Cathy! Are you looking for something?”
The teen glanced, seemingly nervous, as she shook her head. “Oh, uh, no thanks, Mrs. Lacsamana. I just…” She trailed, walking towards Valerie before stopping just an arm’s length away. “Actually, I…wanted to thank you,” Cathy said, shifting on her feet and holding her arm. “I didn’t wanna tell anyone about…m-my family. But then, when they found me after piano club and you helped and called, I…I-I was told I wouldn’t have to see them ever again. A-And…” Cathy tried to continue, but Valerie could see the tears fully streaming down her face now.
Pulling the young girl into a hug, Valerie felt hands on her back as she gently rubbed Cathy’s back. “Dear, I’m just glad you’re safer now. Sure, things will be different, but if you ever have any concerns I assure you we’ll be here to help out as best we can.” Leaning back slightly to get a look at Cathy’s face, Valerie brushed a hair out of the teens face. “To have gone through everything you have, it’s a good idea to talk to people you trust. If that means Mark, Nicole, or even my husband and I, you have people you can turn to,” she said, and brought Cathy back into a hug to let her finish her crying, however long that would take.
That happened to be a couple minutes when Cathy pulled away, wiping a sleeved wrist across her eyes. “S-Sorry, Mrs. Lacsamana…A-And thank you again…” Cathy avoided eye contact, and Valerie wouldn’t force it.
Grabbing a tissue from a nearby box, the mother handed it to the newest child in her life and smiled. “Take all the time you need in the bathroom until you’re comfortable going back with your friends. I won’t say a word.”
Cathy nodded, and after being reminded where the bathroom was, left the room. Valerie took a deep breath, feeling a couple small tears form on her own eyes, but she wiped them away and got back to work. While they didn’t have much after the Ruling, she wanted to give Nicole and her troubled friends as much support as they could provide. And Jonah was just as committed, even if he was more concerned with how much they could provide.
Hopefully, their emotional support and occasional meals would be enough.
CSPC wasn’t the happiest to find out that Cathy’s chosen place to live would have been with Mark, whose parents were not around ever. Though out of this conversation did come the fact that Mark had been purposefully lying about his mother - she’d been missing for over a year now. Which left just his father to provide, but he was making decent money and sending back plenty for Mark. On top of that, with their age, CSPC was able to find the accommodations of Mark and Cathy living at Mark’s house without adult supervision reasonable enough that they allowed it. With everything else going on in the region, the agent assigned to Cathy’s case decided this fight wasn’t worth making if Cathy was happy.
Valerie was happy the two best friends were able to work out a solution for themselves and that they had each other's back. With Mark and Cathy’s seemingly biggest secrets out of the bag, the two of them seemed closer than ever, and Nicole had begun talking about Jake and her past with him and Kate.
Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise that Kate came home with Nicole one day, her typical hard exterior obvious as she came in. The duo went upstairs for the time being and Valerie found that she was nearly done with dinner when they came back down.
“Oh, Kate, we’d be happy to have you for dinner!” Valerie invited, already holding four plates in her hands as she had assumed Kate would.
Visibly considering it, Kate hesitated before Nicole answered, “That sounds like a good idea.”
Kate relaxed, her usual rough exterior returning as she regained her composure, “Yeah, sure. If that works.”
Dinner was mostly typical, with the occasional question for Kate to check on her, but Jonah nor Valerie wanted to make her uncomfortable with all their questions - they remembered how uncomfortable she often was with being the center of attention.
Which is why it threw Valerie and Jonah off when she volunteered information toward the end of dinner, “Dad’s the same. Still an asshole.”
It wasn’t much, but Valerie decided to press a bit. “He never has treated you well. Nor did he treat your family well.”
The teen studied Valerie for a moment before nodding, “No, he didn’t.”
Nicole glanced at her parents, a silent conversation happening between the three. Jonah was clearly of the same mind, more confident than he had been previously in their ability to support another person in the house. “Well, Kate,” their daughter started, turning to face her fully. “If you wanted to get away from him for a bit, we could have sleepovers again. And you could talk to Mark about your family. He’d get it.”
At the mention of her friend, Kate curled an eyebrow, but decided to leave the thread about Mark alone. “I could do that,” she said, pausing as she considered for a moment. “Dad’s usually the worst on Friday’s.”
Jonah smiled, “And we’d be happy to have you! I’m sure we still have those old sleeping bags of yours somewhere.”
Cringing, Nicole exclaimed, “We don’t need those, dad. We’re not kids anymore.”
A laugh escaped Valerie’s throat as Jonah responded, “I’m sure that gum princess and that vampire girl would love to see you both again after being in storage for so long.”
Kate rolled her eyes, but as Nicole and Jonah continued to bicker, Valerie could see a small smile form on Kate’s lips. The two of them weren’t close again yet, but they have been through so much. They understood one another better than most. To see them together again warmed Valerie’s heart, and she thought that perhaps, finally, all of them were beginning to move on for good.
By this point in the year, with prom coming up, Valerie noticed that Nicole had defaulted to usually being around Kate, or being around Mark, Cathy, and Ridel. She would occasionally study with Louise when she was struggling with a subject, and sometimes it would just be her and Mark as the two continued to tiptoe around their relationship.
It warmed Valerie that her little girl, after everything they'd gone through, was blossoming and enjoying her life again with people who seemed to truly care about one another. She almost lost hope that she'd never see her daughter enjoying herself with all her friends.
And one day, she found herself seeing yet another new face come through her door that accompanied all the aforementioned kids. The suspenders on her school skirt and the pink hat made her stand out compared to the rest of Nicole's entourage.
All the kids greeted Valerie in their own ways, Nicole running upstairs to grab something.
“Where are you kids off to?” Valerie asked, curiosity growing as everyone in the room together made the decent-sized living room feel cramped.
It was Louise that responded, “We're heading to the mall to get outfits for prom.” There was a murmur of agreement, before the newest face spoke up.
“And I’ve gotta get Marky an outfit that’ll actually look good,” she said, eyeing Mark with a smug expression that got a laugh out of Cathy and Ridel.
The boy in question, however, wore a grimace. “I could’ve dressed myself,” he argued, scratching the back of his head as he avoided eye contact.
Eye contact that he immediately made with Ridel, who slung an arm around his friend and smiled, “Yeah, and probably get a suit from Greek Inc., right?”
Kate rolled her eyes, “Tell me that’s not a real fashion line.”
With a growing smile, Cathy nodded, “It absolutely is and a month back, he found one and considered getting it and calling it a day.”
While Ridel, Cathy, and Sophia laughed, Kate groaned. In an attempt to bring some order, Louise cleared her throat. “I’m sorry for our volume, Mrs. Lacsamana.”
Valerie merely gave the group a wide smile, “No worries, I remember how boisterous my friends and I could get when I was your age.”
Steps came down the stairs as Nicole rejoined the group, “I’m ready to go.” She said, though stopped as she looked at Ridel, Cathy, and Sophia, still laughing and smirking. She perched an eyebrow, “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” Mark answered a little too quickly, which caused Nicole’s lips to curl upwards.
“Oh really?” She asked, which caused Cathy to start laughing harder.
“I’m leaving,” Mark said, starting to head towards the door before they could continue. The other kids followed, and Valerie could tell Mark wasn’t truly upset about the teasing.
As the kids were leaving, Nicole looked to her mom and waved, “I’ll let you know when I’m on my way home!”
With a smile, Valerie nodded, “Have fun, kids!”
The door closed a moment later, and Valerie watched from the window as the teens left the house, mall-bound. In just under a year, Nicole had gone from isolated from her greatest passion and only friend, to having both back in her life and many more friends around her. She’d finally recovered, maybe not completely, but well on her way, to accepting what happened with Jake and their home.
Their life wasn't perfect, but it finally seemed like Nicole's spark was at full strength again. And Valerie couldn't be more thrilled to see the light in her eyes once more.