Desperate Measures

The rest of Saturday passed uneventfully. Certainly, they did things, but Guin cleaning up the living room while Jack did laundry wasn't all that exciting. Kurt brought Seascape back for dinner, and they found the tater tot casserole Guin had so loved, but there wasn't a big to-do. Jack even sent everypony to bed early because he had something planned for tomorrow. To that end, everypony woke up early. Guin even made waffles to help them along.

"Okay, we're all ready?" smiled Jack, rubbing his hooves together.

"You still haven't told us what we're doing, dad," yawned Jenny.

Jack nodded and clapped. "We're all going to go over to Guin's Gran's place and clean it up a bit."

Guin shrank back. She hadn't been to the house since the day after her gran had died. It'd only been a few weeks. She didn't know if she was ready to see it again.

"Her house technically belongs to Guin, now, and as Guin is now a member of our family, we're not going to let her place of residence fall into disrepair. We're going to spend some time over there, making sure it's well-maintained, so that she has a place to go when she grows up."

"Do we have to?" asked Guin. She was shaking. "Can't I just live here?"

"Of course you can," smiled Jack. "But if you ever want to go back to your gran's place, it'd be nice if it wasn't full of rats and water damage. We're just doing some home maintenance to make sure it's easy to go back, if you ever want to."

Guin smiled a bit. She was scared, but Jack had a point. Plus, he was going to be there with her. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to go horribly wrong, but she trusted Jack. She knew he wasn't going to do anything to hurt her. "Okay..."

As Jack opened the door, however, they were met with a trio of guards, led by Red Tape and another stallion, a yellow earth pony with a black mane. These weren't local guards, either; they were Canterlot guards, bearing the official seal of Princess Celestia, herself.

"That's him, boys," nodded Red Tape. "The big one, there."

One of the guards stepped forward. "Jack Ass, you're under arrest for coercion of a minor. Put your hooves together, please."

Jack scowled, but complied with the request. "This is bullshit. We've already been over this. I have the paperwork to prove it." He seemed like he was going out of his way to be docile and cooperative. Guin now understood where Kurt's rage came from.

As Red escorted Jack to the carriage with two of the guards, the other stallion stepped forward. "Do you kids have somewhere to go where we can contact you?"

"We can stay right here," growled Kurt.

The stallion pulled out a clipboard. "It says you live in a single-parent home."

"That information is inaccurate," interjected Guin, seeing an opportunity. "Jack recently remarried, and there's a new stepmom living here. They can stay here with their stepmom."

The stallion looked at the clipboard again. "You must be Genevieve."

"Guinevere."

The stallion furrowed his brow, then grabbed a pen from behind his ear, scribbling it out. "Don't know why he didn't change that," he muttered. "G-w-e-n-e-v-e-r-e?"

"G-u-i-n."

"And you're the abused party?"

"Allegedly," she clarified. "It's not true; he's very nice."

"I'm sure he is, but being a nice character is not the same as doing the right thing. I'm going to need you to stay here under the care of these two's stepmom. I need to clarify a few things, but that'll have to wait until after Mr. Ass's interrogation. I'll send a guard when it's time to collect you." He looked up and offered his hoof. "Yellow Line, Director of Familiar Welfare, Investigations Branch."

Guin shook it with her claw. "Guin, unemployed."

"I should hope not," he chuckled. "If you need to talk to me at any point during this closing, I'll be down at the guard station on Third Street."

As he and the last remaining guard took off after the carriage, the three of them filed back into the house. Immediately, Guin slumped to the floor and started crying.

"What do we do, now?" asked Jenny. "We can't live here without dad."

"Don't worry," breathed Kurt, though the tremolo in his voice betrayed how worried he actually was. "Like he said, we've been through all of this before, and we have the paperwork. It's in his safe, right?"

No answer came.

"Right?"

Jenny looked to Guin. Neither of them knew exactly where the paperwork was. Jenny had never known, and Guin wasn't watching when he put it away. She knew they were married, and they were even having sex, but it still felt like an invasion of privacy to read his paperwork without permission.

Kurt took a deep breath and looked outside. While it had seemed that the guards had all left, one had stayed behind to watch the place and make sure they didn't leave. They could probably sneak out the back, but even if they did, where would they go?

"Let's just wait here, for now," he concluded. "I'll be in my room. Come grab me if there's a development."

As Kurt disappeared, slamming his door behind him, Jenny was starting to shake. "I don't feel well..."

Guin didn't know how to make soup, as she had only just started learning how to cook. Not having an adult to help her figure it out, she was definitely not in a good spot.

Still, she had to do something, and her first line of thought was to walk Jenny to her bed. At the very least, she could recover there, rather than in the living room.

As she stepped out into the hallway, though, one thought echoed constantly in her mind. There was no way around it, and she'd have to face the facts. She didn't want to run away or hide anymore. She especially didn't want to hide behind Jack. Now, he was under arrest, all because of her. If he went to jail, this home would be torn apart. And it was all her fault.

She steeled herself. She was a gryphon. Gryphons were powerful, prideful, and didn't let others fight their battles for them. She was going to fight her own battle. She was going to face those guards and do what she knew was right. She just had to be brave and own her decision, like she had with leaving the mothers' meetings.

She marched out of the house, walked right up to the guard, and issued her command. "Take me to the guard station."