Angelo and Dori: My Father the Jerkface ((Backdated to July 10th on Account of my crazy life.))

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Angelo and Dori run in to each other and discuss her finances and her father.

Monkey Joe, lacking opposable thumbs, was forced to rely on Doreen when he wanted something like a sandwich. He could manage individual nuts on his own, but sometimes he wanted something a bit bigger. In this case, what he wanted was a Nutella and chunky peanut butter sandwich on multigrain bread. He offered 'helpful' input from Doreen's shoulder as she laid out bread and jars.

There was a snuffling sound at the doorway, and then it opened to reveal Angelo with a can of dog food in his hand, looking for a can opener.

"Hey, Dori - no, Joyita, sit. Not for chasing."

"Oh, hey!" Dori returned, starting the work on the sandwich. Why he got in the moods where he had to have this stuff was beyond her. But it did offer her a chance to eat from the jars too.

Mmm, tastyfoods.

"How's it going?"

"Not so bad", he said with a grin and half an eye on the dog just to make sure she behaved. "Busy, but I wouldn't know what to do with myself if it wasn't. How about you?"

"I've been going to school and stuff," Dori said, licking the knife she was using on the sandwiches, "Oh, uh, I have a question! If you have time, that is..."

"For you, I've always got time." He perched on a chair, looking at her expectantly. "What's up?"

"Um... this is going to sound kind of silly but say someone had a really big college fund. How legal is it for their parents to get it if they divorce?" Dori asked, though it had been emptied BEFORE the divorce, but for all she knew that was legal.

"That would depend", Angelo said carefully. "Mostly on if it's an official trust fund or just an account the parents put money in meaning it to be used for tuition. The first one, they shouldn't be able to touch."

"It was an official one," Dori said. And to add insult to injury her dad's income was still considered by just about everyone in terms of getting her actual help with tuition things. "Mom's freakout was pretty epic."

Angelo frowned. "Then how the hell did he even do that? Assuming you mean your dad actually took it, and your mom didn't freak out about something else, that's not legal at all."

Dori shrugged, "I dunno. He's a CFO somewhere, I think. So he knows how money stuff works." And he had really used it to screw mom over, Dori knew now looking back.

"And all the little tricky ways around it." The frown turned to a scowl. "Well, screw that. I say we sic the Jolly Green Lawyer on him."

"It's not going to get him arrested, is it?" Dori asked, concerned. She might not have been totally blind to what her father was anymore, but that didn't mean she wanted him to land in jail.

"He did steal from you", Angelo pointed out. "But a guy like him, he'll probably find a way to wriggle himself out of any serious punishment anyway. Let's just focus on getting your money back."

"He's still my dad," Dori muttered, licking the nuetella off the knife despite MJ scrambling for it, "You think we can get it back?"

"I think one way or another, we're going to get it back", he said firmly. "If I have to get Doug to do something totally illegal and probably immoral, I will, but... let's try the legal way first."

"Legal way first," Dori agreed, letting her MJ get at the knife, he attacked it with a gusto, "I just... the whole thing is totally complicated, you know?"

"Family stuff usually is", he agreed. "But in another way it's really simple. He took what's rightfully yours and I'm going to make him fix it."

"It would be nice to not have to count pennies on books..." Dori mused.

"You won't have to. And that's a promise."

"Thank you," Dori said, and she meant it.