Alice opened her mouth to say something else.

Dana’s wide puppy dog eyes held only the tiniest traces of gleeful mischievousness.

"Fuck you, Dana." Alice finally said acidly. Dana burst out laughing. Actually, Alice did make her feel better. Funny how things work out that way…

The situation was saved by the timely arrival of Tina herself, who looked somewhat haggard as she crossed the floor to join them at their table. Dana and Alice greeted her enthusiastically, she returned their greetings somewhat less so. Dana wasted no time in pushing the Peter button.

"So, how’s the Rocky Balboa of Porkchops?" Dana said, bringing her hands up and tossing out a few mock boxing punches in jest.

"Thanks Alice." Tina said rolling her eyes and settling heavily into her seat with a defeated sigh.

"Oh…wait." Alice said between sips of coffee. "Was I not supposed to tell anyone?" Then, to Dana. "Disregard everything I just said."

"Which is what I normally do whenever we have a conversation." Dana said.

"Peter is grounded for the next month. That means, no TV, no video games, and definitely no girls over when Bette and I are out of the house." Tina answered Dana’s previous question.

"You go mom!" Alice said, raising her cup in salute.

"Wait, he had girls over?" Dana asked.

"I…" Tina began, her eye began to twitch slightly at the memory of what she and Bette had walked in on a few months into Peter’s stay with them. It had ruined whip cream for her forever. "That’s not the point…"

"The point is Peter- "Alice jumped in. "-is finally being taught a lesson about respecting female authority figures." Tina shrugged, a little hesitantly. Alice went on. "I mean, really, you got lucky. I figured the damage would be much, much worse considering he’d been raised by his dad most of the life in a house with no women but the maids." At the mention of Peter’s father Tina immediately became uncomfortable. To understate matters their relationship had ended on poor terms yet Nicholas Tasso was her son’s father. It was a murky area, and she found herself deriding the elder Tasso in one breath and then defending him with another among her friends.

"Wait, I thought the two of you had joint custody?" Dana asked, raising an eyebrow.