A Tribe United

Chapter 4

Laura let Marcy in first. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah." Marcy began stripping her layers off.

"I'll go see if anyone's here and you go see what you want."

Marcy nodded before going to the kitchen.

Laura went to the den. "Hey, guys."

"Laura!" Maddie popped up and ran to give her a hug.

"Hi, sweetie." Laura hugged her back.

"Did you have fun?" Maddie looked up at her.

"Marcy makes everything fun."

Maddie grinned. "Not like Quinn. She's boring."

Quinn growled loudly.

"Stop fighting." Laura cut them off. "Did you eat?"

"We were waiting for Marc to come back." Maddie stared right at Mike, who pouted.

"Where's Marc?"

"He had another meeting." Mercedes told.

"Where's Mal?"

"He's taking a nap. I think those pills make him tired."

Laura nodded. "Marcy's picking out dinner-"

Quinn and Maddie ran out screaming.

"I should go help her." Mercedes got up and left.

Laura sat next to Mike. She (and he) could hear loud screams coming from the kitchen. "You don't have to be strong."

He looked at her. "I'm not going in there."

"Mikey." She wrapped an arm around him.

"No." He instantly knew what she meant as he leaned away from her.

"You can cry at any time. You'll still be a man."

He straightened. "I don't want to talk about it."

"As long as you talk to someone about it."

"Is that what the therapist is for?"

"Yes."

He nodded. "Okay."

She nodded, too, happy that he'd open up. "Okay."

ATU

"I have something to tell you guys."

They all looked at Laura.

"Wait." Mercedes interrupted. "Can I play today?"

"Sure. You can play after you eat." Laura nodded.

"No. I mean with my team. It's the championships today. I haven't been to practice ‪in weeks‬."

"Oh. You want to do that?"

"Yes."

"Okay. We can all go with you. Cheer you on."

"You mean it?" Mercedes' hope shone on her face.

"Yeah. It'd be great."

Mercedes beamed. "Yay."

"But back to what I was saying." Laura tapped her fingers together. "I have some news."

"What is it?" Marc asked.

"Is someone else dead, too?" Quinn sniped snottily.

"Quinn?!" Mercedes was appalled.

"Tasteful." Marcy quipped.