Inferno

~36~ Act Tough

Ellie's POV

As soon as I see Taylor's face when I get home, I know this one is a bad one. Then I look at Luke's face, and I know that this is a really, really bad one.

"Sasha, take Trace home please" I say, darkly.

"I don't want to" she snaps.

"I wasn't asking" I snap back. She's already on my nerves and I just got here.

She sighs and rolls her eyes. "Let's go" she says, as she grabs her keys and gets her purse.

Trace looks at Luke, not wanting to leave him. He knows this is a bad one too.

He silently turns and follows Sasha out the door.

Once the door shuts, I look at Liam.

He nods "Savannah, go see if Emma wants to paint your nails" he says with a gentle smile. He knows as well as I do that she shouldn't be here, but that he should be...just in case.

Savannah nods and goes upstairs silently.

"Luke, go put on a shirt, please" I say quietly. I'm just trying to diffuse the situation as best as I can before I add more fuel to the fire.

He nods and does what I asked.

I look at Taylor, not saying anything. He's so mad, he needs a minute.

After a minute, he finally speaks. "She started her period, Ellie. I found her doubled over on the counter earlier. She's been in bed all morning. Should she have done that? Absolutely not, but I'm not going to punish her for that. I'm sorry, but you can be evil when you're on yours." He says, completely and utterly irritated.

I just nod. There was more to that story. I still don't think that Luke should be punished, though.

"She was already embarrassed that I had to run to the store to get tampons, I wasn't about to tell the boys about it and humiliate her more."

"It's a period, Taylor, you're being ridiculous" I say, rolling my eyes.

"I don't care. She was embarrassed. I wasn't about to make it worse just so he would understand my parenting choices" he says. He stops talking once Luke comes back in.

"Who broke a glass?" I ask, seeing a broom and a few pieces of glass that wasn't picked up.

Taylor just looks at Luke

"I did" he says, unapologetically.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" I ask carefully

"Because I'm pissed. I want to know why she's being held to a different standard than the rest of us" he says, crossing his arms.

"Luke, I'm literally seconds away from losing my shit on you" Taylor says, irate.

"Then do it, dad. I don't care. I'm done. You want to, then fine, but I promise you that I'm going to make you work for it. You're just a washed up old man, who couldn't handle squad anymore. You had to give the position to someone who could actually do it. Wes is still with his unit, and he's the same age as you. They made you push papers and they let him stay on the job. They knew he was strong enough" he says, pure hatred coming out of his voice.

That hurt Taylor's feelings, and it hurt him bad. Actually, I'm pretty sure it broke his heart.

He says nothing as he tries to get past the hurt Luke just caused.

"Luke, you don't know what the hell you're talking about" Liam says, appalled.

"Stay out of this, Liam. Why are you even still here? Go take your daughter and go find your own house" Luke snaps.