Axel stiffened but thankfully didn’t engage. He looked at Meggie again. “Is there anything else that would make you leave,Mom?”
“Abuse. Physical, emotional, verbal, or psychological.”
“Objection!” Axel said irritably. “You keep adding stuffs, Mom.”
Meggie shrugged. “You asked, son.”
“Fine,” Axel huffed. “Your argument is sustained.”
“You’re the judge, stupid,” Ryder said. “You can’t be…fuck did you object as prosecution or defense?”
“This ismycourtroom,” Axel said. “I’m the judge, the lawyer, and the death man.”
“That would never hold up on appeal, Ax,” Diesel told him. “It would be thrown out due to conflict of interest, among other reasons.”
“I’m ignoring all of you. If Mom’s listening, that’s the only thing that matters.” He swung his gaze to her. “You are listening, huh, Mom?”
“I am,” she confirmed.
“Yay!” he said, grinning, then cleared his throat, straightened and turned serious again. “Let’s go to DEFCON 2, 3, and 4. Argument in progress. High time—”
“Alert,” Diesel inserted.
“And a lot of watching,” Axel finished, ignoring Diesel.
Not that it mattered. Diesel corrected Axel anyway. “Increased intelligence.”
“What’s DEFCON 5?” Meggie asked.
“Peace,” CJ told her.
Axel nodded. “A non-entrance.”
“Entity,” Dieselsaid.
Axel flipped Diesel off. “DEFCON 2 punishment is putting Dad out of bed for one night to one year, depending on the severeness.” He turned to Christopher. “Put Diesel on retainer,” he advised. “He’s really good at getting a reduced sentence.” He grinned at Meggie. “For DEFCON 4, you can—”
“Do what the fuck she already do,” Christopher inserted.
“What’s that, Dad?” Ryder asked.
Surprise marched across Christopher’s face as if he hadn’t expected that question. “None of your business,” he snapped, ignoring Meggie’s blush. “Besides, none of this got to do with those fuckin’ pills.”
“Yes, they do, Dad!” Axel growled. “Mom thinks you took them. That woman is very smart, so you probablydidtake them. Stop being a stupid motherfucker and let your woman have levels of punishment in place so she don’t leave for every fucking thing you do ‘cause you do a lot and you don’t learn. You can’t teach an old elephant new handstands.”
Another giggle escaped Meggie, but she clapped her hand over her mouth.
“Why the fuck your ma want to punish me because I want her to have another kid?”
Meggie’s amusement fled. “Babies are so hard on me. Why are you doing this? Why can’t you accept my timeline?”
“Cuz you scared, baby. I can understand that. You did almost die. But the longer it take you toget pregnant, the more what happened the last time will fuck with you.”
Covering her face, she rested her elbows on the table, on the verge of tears at Christopher's vehemence, both with his denial about stealing her pills and his insistence she have another child.
She looked at her husband. “How about this? We start trying at the beginning of next year. Jo will be a year old by then.”
“You promise me, Megan?”
