It was an unusually cloudy summer day in San Francisco, one that left the normally rowdy Tanner household nearly empty. Joey had offered to volunteer as a counselor at the weeklong kids' camp an hour away, taking an excited Michelle, Nicky, and Alex with him, and DJ was in Europe for a summer-abroad program offered by her college. With the cohosts of Wake Up San Francisco also away for the weekend at a meeting in Chicago, only Jesse and thirteen-year-old Stephanie were left with the house to themselves.
Excited to spend the whole weekend in a quiet household occupied only by herself and her favorite uncle, Stephanie awoke that morning with a smile. That was when she realized the feeling in her stomach. Instinctively, she reached down and gingerly rubbed her abdomen with her hand. It wasn't a sickly feeling as if she were going to throw up. Chalking it up to hunger, Stephanie shrugged it off and pulled herself out of bed to head down the hallway to get ready. The sooner I get some pancakes in this stomach, the better, she thought.
In the bathroom, she looked in the mirror and paused briefly before pulling her blonde hair back into a loose ponytail. Something still felt off, but she couldn't quite place it. She reached for her toothbrush and scrubbed her shiny white teeth clean. After swiping on some deodorant, she sat down on the toilet. As she stood up to pull her pants back up, she stopped dead at the sight. Panic seized her. Finally, she managed to pull up her pajama bottoms and run out of there, but not before checking the hallway to make sure the coast was clear.
Back in her room, Stephanie grabbed the phone and immediately dialed DJ's number. After the line rang several times, Stephanie sighed; tears welled in her eyes as she slammed the phone back down. She wiped these away quickly and ducked under the covers at the sound of her bedroom door opening.
"Hey kiddo—" Jesse started, and upon realizing his niece was under her covers, brought his voice down to a whisper. "Oops, sorry!"
Stephanie remained silent, willing him to go away with all her might. Jesse backed out through the door and almost had it shut before realizing the light was on. He opened the door and walked back in.
"Oh, you are up," He said, walking toward her bed.
Stephanie's heart sank. She pushed the covers off of her face and plastered on a smile. "Yeah. Just couldn't figure out if I wanted to stay in bed or get up."
Jesse smiled. It was the only time he'd had in a while to spend with just Stephanie. He waved his hand beckoningly. "Well, come on downstairs, I'll make you some eggs or something. Whatever you want, Steph, this is our weekend."
"O-okay," Stephanie stuttered. "You go ahead; I'll meet you down there. I'm going to put on some clothes first."
Jesse furrowed his brow. Since when had Stephanie not been comfortable with just walking downstairs in her pajamas? He shrugged this off and nodded at his niece with a smile. He left the room, shutting the door behind him, to head to the kitchen and start breakfast.
Stephanie waited to hear the footsteps fade before jumping out of bed. She changed faster than she ever had before into a long green t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans. She bunched up her pajamas and hid them at the bottom of her dirty-clothes hamper. Knowing Jesse would be expecting her for breakfast in only a few minutes, Stephanie headed for the hallway. She paused at the stairs, heard her uncle humming from the kitchen, and bolted upstairs into the attic.
Stephanie felt intrusive, stepping into the home of her aunt and uncle without permission, but she reassured herself she would not have been there without good reason. She headed toward the bathroom in search of what she needed. She checked and double-checked the cupboards underneath the sink, not finding the box she had been hoping for. She could have bypassed it, for all she knew, given her lack of experience with this particular issue. After looking over her shoulder in paranoia, she checked the cupboards a third time. With no luck, she headed to the bedroom. By the time she got to the third drawer in Becky's dresser, she had spent about ten minutes searching. She exhaled in frustration, close to tears once again. Suddenly, the floor creaked behind her and she wheeled around.
Jesse stared his niece in the face. "Steph?" He asked, obviously wanting an explanation.
Her cheeks flushed a dark pink. "I-I was just, um, looking for a t-shirt. I think mine got mixed in with Aunt Becky's laundry," She stammered.
Jesse raised his eyebrows. "But you're already dressed."
"I know. Um, I was just thinking about it, and you know, wanted to look for it before I forgot," Stephanie muttered, silently cursing herself for being such a terrible liar.
Luckily, Jesse was willing to let it go and give his niece the benefit of the doubt. He could tell something was definitely off about this situation, but certainly Stephanie wouldn't lie to him. "Alright. Well, why won't we go down and have some breakfast?"
Downstairs, Stephanie propped her head up on one hand while using the other to push around her plate of eggs with a fork. She wasn't feeling so hungry anymore. Jesse wiped his face with a napkin after finishing his second plate.
"Steph, are you okay?" He asked.
Stephanie smiled. "Of course, I'm fine. Why?"
Jesse gave her a pointed look. "You haven't touched a thing on your plate, and you haven't said a word since you've been down here."
"That's not true, I said 'thanks for the eggs, Uncle Jesse' about five minutes ago," She said with a nervous laugh, an attempt at a joke. She offered yet another fake smile, but Jesse just stared at her with narrowed eyes. Something churned in her stomach at his glance. He knew she was lying. Her cheeks turned bright red. Why couldn't he just take her word for it? Obviously she didn't want to talk about it, was it so much to ask for him to just let it go? "Nothing's wrong, okay? God, Uncle Jesse, can't you just leave me alone?"
Suddenly infuriated, partly for having to lie to her uncle and partly an irrational change in mood she couldn't really account for, Stephanie stood up and threw her fork down. It clattered across the table making a clanking sound as she turned and ran up the stairs. Jesse remained seated at the table, napkin still in-hand, with his jaw dropped in awe. What had just happened? After regaining his senses and trying unsuccessfully to make sense of the situation, he cleared the table. He decided to finish doing the dishes and give his niece some time to calm down. He hadn't done anything wrong, had he? He replayed the little conversation they'd shared this morning, but couldn't think of anything he might've said that would offend her. Yet, she had been acting odd all morning.
When the dishes were done, Jesse headed upstairs to confront his niece. Despite her earlier request, he wasn't going to leave her alone until she at least admitted something was wrong. At Stephanie's door, he knocked. There was no reply, but at the gentle turn of the knob, the door swung open. Behind it, he found his thirteen-year-old niece lying on her stomach, face stuffed into her pillow. Her back heaved up and down. Any anger or hurt he had felt before at her sudden outburst had now diminished, and was now replaced by hurt for her. Clearly, something bigger was going on here. Jesse made his way to her bed and sat down by her leg. He placed a hand gently on her back. He couldn't remember how long it had been since he'd seen her cry like this.
Jesse said softly, "Something's up, sweetheart."
He waited patiently as she rolled over onto her back and sat up. Her face was splotchy, her eyes red and watery. He tried to wipe the tears from her cheeks, but they kept streaming down.
"What is it, Steph?" He asked, gently.
Stephanie shook her head. "I can't tell you, Uncle Jesse."
Jesse felt a pang in his chest. But she'd always confided in him. Since when had that become difficult for her? He remembered all of their deep conversations and tried to understand what could possibly be so bad his own niece, who had talked to him about everything from her mother to fights with Danny to boys, would keep it from him.
"You know you can tell me anything. What is it? What's bothering you?"
Stephanie put her face in her hands. "I don't want to talk about it," She mumbled.
Jesse wrapped his arms around the crying girl. "Stephanie. If I did something to hurt you, I'm sorry. You can tell me."
Stephanie's heart sank. She could not let her uncle be hurt to save her own embarrassment. She sniffed and wiped her tears away. She looked into her lap, her cheeks pink with embarrassment. "It's not you Uncle Jesse. You didn't do anything." She hesitated, not quite sure how to explain her dilemma. Finally, she continued. "It's…it's a girl thing."
Jesse paused, confused for a moment.
"Does this have something to do with why you were looking through Becky's nightstand?" Jesse asked; he had a hunch. His niece nodded, still refusing to make eye contact. It all became clear; he understood now what was going on here. It really hadn't been anything to do with him. He couldn't help but chuckle in relief.
Stephanie pulled the covers up over her face, hurt. "If I knew you were just going to laugh at me—"
Jesse interrupted her by pulling the sheet down. "No, Steph. I mean, you started your period, that's what you're so worried about? That's great, sweetie! What's the big deal?"
Stephanie shot up out of bed, pacing in anxiety. "What's the big deal? What's the big deal! I can't be your little girl anymore. I can't do fun things like hang out with my guy friends, or play sports, or…or even hang out with you and Joey. I have to be a girl now, and be all mature and old, and…and…I don't know what to do. I don't know how to handle this…and—"
Jesse held his hand up in the air. "Steph, settle down." He patted the bed next to him and waited for Stephanie to sit down beside him before continuing. "Steph, listen. You're growing up, you're right. But that doesn't mean you have to stop hanging out with boys or doing the things you love. You'll get more mature as you get older, but that's okay. This doesn't change anything. And you will always be my little girl, whether you like it or not."
Stephanie leaned her head against Jesse's shoulder. They were silent for a few moments. "I guess I overreacted a little," Stephanie admitted shyly.
"A little? You were off the wall!" Jesse followed this statement with a big smile. "But it's okay, kid; it happens to the best of us."
"So…what do we do about this?" Stephanie asked after a minute. She looked up at her uncle, blushing.
"Well," He said, "We go to the store and buy you some girl stuff, and then we have that fun weekend we had all planned out! How does that sound?"
Stephanie grinned. "Sounds good. Thanks, Uncle Jesse. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about it before."
Jesse kissed her forehead. "Anytime, kid. And Steph?" Stephanie looked up at her uncle expectantly. "I love you."
"I love you too, Uncle Jesse." Stephanie gave him a big hug. She hesitated, "So I guess this means you're going to tell Dad I got my period."
"I'll let you do that," Jesse said with a wink. "Five bucks he freaks out more than you did."
"Oh boy," Stephanie said with a laugh, "He's going to have a heart attack."