"L A B E L S"

Episode 87

Joe walks down stairs and into his basement, expecting to find Mia and ready to use some tough love but instead he sees a slept on couch and some of Mia's things thrown about with no Mia in sight. He groans and hurry's up the stairs, texting on his way up.

~~~

Mia's walking down the sidewalk, hoping she can actually force herself to go in the building this time. She knows today is going to be hard if she chooses to go back but dropping out of high school the last semester of her senior year just wasn't an option. She had to go back, there was no other option. She finally gets in view of the school building and leans her back against a tree out in the front field. She's an hour too early and the doors haven't even been unlocked.

~~~

Dani finishes putting on the last touch of her make up to cover the newfound bruise on her arm. The last thing she needed was people thinking she was in an abusive home. Bruises were all over her body but they had nothing to do with the other people, it was just one of the symptoms. She stands in front of the mirror and takes a deep breath examining the new pair of jeans she bought over break that already look a size too big. She decides there's not much she can do about it and walks out of her room. She finds her father sitting at the kitchen table like always, a coffee cup in one hand and the morning paper in the other. She grabs an apple and sits down in front of him with a hopeless expression.

Mr. Landon notices the blank look on his daughters face and decides to try and get her talking. He lowers his paper and smiles over at Dani. "Did you hear about the guy who lost his left arm and leg in a car crash?"

She looks up from the table partly trying to be polite and partly because his question was one of his more aburd beginnings to a conversation.

"He's all right now." Mr. Landon spits out the punch line and shows a small smirk of satisfaction while Dani rolls her eyes but laughs despite the stupidity of the joke.

"Aw, come on," he snickers, "you used to love those jokes."

"Maybe when I was eight, dad." She smiles and stands up from the table.

"You could be eight again."

She sighs and looks down at the ground. "If only I could."

"Hey," he suddenly gets a sternness in his voice and sets his paper on the table, "what did I say?"

She looks back down at him, taken back by his tone.

"Everything. Is. Going. To. Be. Fine. They will find something, I promise."

She forces a small smile and nods, reaching over to give her dad a quick kiss on the cheek before making her way to the front door. "See you tonight."

 ~~~

Nick pulls up to Taylor's house and sees her sitting on the front porch with her head in her hands. She looks like a sad kid that just dropped her ice cream cone on a hot summer day. He rolls down his window, giving her a small smile. "Does someone need a ride?"

She smiles and stands up, grabbing her bag and rushing over to his car. She swings open the door and sits down in the passenger seat. "Thanks again for picking me up. That lousy car of mine has been acting strange for weeks now, guess it finally just gave up."

He smirks and glances over at her while driving. "Yeah, cars from two decades ago tend to do that now and then."

She playfully shoves him in the shoulder with a roll of her eyes. "Hey, my car is not that old and don't go acting all high and mighty just cause your daddy can afford to buy you a nice car from this decade. Not all of us grew up in a three story mansion with fine wine and cheese."