Saturday - Not Quite What I Expected

I was sitting enjoying a late morning cup of coffee when the phone rang. It was W, calling from his cellphone. He told me he was in the garage, and that his head was bleeding because N hit him with a board. "On purpose?" I asked. "Yes," he said, "Please help me."

I went out to the garage. W was there amidst the boxes of trash junk treasures out there. His forehead was bleeding profusely as all head wounds generally do. N showed up crying hysterically holding bandages and repeating "I didn't mean to" through his tears. W was furious and not willing to back down on his accusation that N hit him deliberately. N went crying into the house. I got W into the bathroom, cleaned off the blood so that I could see there is a bump on his forehead with a small cut. I put a bandage on it and gave him a hug. He didn't hug back at all, but he also didn't pull away.

Then I went and looked for N. He was upstairs in his room with the door locked. I knocked and asked if I could come in. He said yes so I unlocked the door and entered to find him curled up in a little alcove in his room. I asked to come out and talk to me, and he declined. I sat on one of the beds and told him I'd be there if he wanted to talk. He came out of the alcove and slowly walked towards the door, saying "Then I'll just go to another room." I repeated that I'd be there if he wanted to talk. In a little while he came back in and sat on the floor by the bed. We talked. I would not let him off the hook with his original line of not remembering anything that happened. Eventually, I got the story from him. I won't share the entire story here, but he did sort of accept responsibility for his actions. I took him downstairs and tried to get him to apologize to W. Eventually I gave up because N was trying to give half-assed apologies and W was refusing to accept them. My counselor constantly tells me that I've got to stay out of the middle of their difficulties so I told them they'd have to work it out, and I walked away.

At this point I have no idea where either of them are. It's W's weekend to have N so I really am trying to stay out of it.

Where is Supernanny when you need her?