Fathers and Daughters and Semi-Automatic Weapons
Disclaimer - I do not own anything with Numb3rs or the great song "Come on in Boy (Cleaning this gun)". Oh, and in case you catch it, I am borrowing an OC from my Thunderbirds series, so one canon character from there makes a brief appearance, and I don't own that series/movie either.
This is for the four fathers of my daughter's life. My husband - her father - who has sworn he will be doing this in the future; my brother-in-law, my daughter's godfather, who has said he will be there with him, cleaning his service weapon (he's a cop); my dad, who wants to be beside them, cleaning his pistol; and for my late father-in-law, who would have come all the way from Minnesota with his hunting rifle to add his presence. But I believe he will be there in spirit. So Happy Father's Day to all of you - I love each of you very much.
The irony that we become the people we were most afraid of can never be lost in the lessons of history. And, oddly enough, if we become those people – someone has to become us.
Or, Don Eppes had come to realize, that for every anxious teenage boy that ever came to pick up a girl – there was an overprotective Papa waiting there. At least there had been for him.
The Declaration of Independence
Think I could tell you that first sentence
But then I'm lost
I can't begin to count the theories
I've had pounded in my head
That I forgot
I don't remember all that Spanish
Or the Gettysburg address
But there is one speech from high school
I'll never forget
Joanna Reid sat two seats in front of Don in Algebra. He was forever grateful that his kid brother Charlie was a math genius. Because he paid so little attention in that class – to the teacher anyway – that Don would have surely flunked if Charlie hadn't sat down with him to go over the lessons. Joanna, it turns out, tutored some other students in math and Charlie conveniently mentioned to her that Don was having problems and maybe she could help his older brother out.
After three study sessions, Don finally got the nerve up to ask her out.
After seven study sessions, Joanna finally agreed to a date.
Don could still remember going to pick up Joanna. His dad had let his use the car – saving him from the humiliation of his mom's station wagon – and he was all set to take Joanna to see "Dirty Dancing". Sure, it was a chick flick, but it would impress a girl more to take her to a chick flick than the latest Schwarzenegger movie. Bounding out from the car, Don practically ran up the front steps and rang the bell. Turning on his most winning smile, Don looked into the face of…
An LAPD cop in full uniform.
"Um, sorry, I must have the wrong…"
"You Donald Eppes?"
Don nodded, trying to force his heart back down his throat. "Yes, sir."
Nodding, the man opened the door. "I'm Joanna's father. Gary Reid. You can call me Mr. Reid unless you need to call me Lieutenant Reid, which I hope you never do, got it?" As Don nodded once more, Mr. Reid motioned to a seat at the kitchen table. "Have a seat, we can talk a bit until Joanna comes down. She was helping her mom and lost track of time. She'll be down in a few." Don sat, watching wide-eyed as the cop started cleaning the gun and making his feelings and expectations known to the younger man. Don would later use that same lecturing tone as an FBI agent.
Come on in boy sit on down
And tell me about yourself
So you like my daughter do you now?
Yeah we think she's something else
She's her daddy's girl
Her momma's world
She deserves respect
That's what she'll get
Ain't it son?
Hey y'all run along and have some fun
I'll see you when you get back
Bet I'll be up all night
Still cleanin' this gun
YEARS LATER….
Don had known this day would come. He had known it for the last sixteen years. He now regretted all the teasing he had done when Charlie's only daughter – the oldest Eppes grandchild – Maggie had started dating. Charlie had shown no sympathy when his niece Katie had turned sixteen. Don had refused to allow his daughter to date until she was sixteen. And sure enough, the sun rose in the east, politicians were corrupt and his baby girl had turned sixteen.
Well now that I'm a father
I'm scared to death one day my daughter
Is gonna find
That teenage boy I used to be
That seems to have just one thing on his mind
In most cases, Don would be so proud of Katie. She was smart, tough and never backed down from a challenge. In most cases, Jimmy Fletcher would be a nice kid. He was seventeen, worked in his family's heating and air conditioning company when he wasn't pulling down good grades and playing on the school basketball team. But Jimmy Fletcher had asked his daughter – Don's little princess – out. And Katie was upstairs getting ready.
Don was no longer a field agent. He was a district supervisor, but he was still in contact with old members of his team. David reminded him of Katie's common sense. Colby reminded him of Katie's fierce right hook. Megan reminded him of the martial arts the girl had mastered years before. Charlie – his own brother couldn't stop snickering. But when Alan had glared at his younger son, Charlie reminded Don that Katie's brothers had made sure that even any looks at their sister was respectful – and what the consequences of a lack of respect would be.
Don got up from the kitchen table when the doorbell rang. Jimmy Fletcher seemed completely unaware that the look Don was giving him – and his compact car – was one that had made hundreds of perps flinch over the years.
She's growin' up so fast
It won't be long before
I'll have to put the fear of god into
Some kid at the door
"Hi, Mr. Eppes." Jimmy smiled. "Is Katie ready?"
Don looked Jimmy up and down before opening the door. "She's getting ready. Come in and have a seat."
Jimmy moved into the house, past Don and sat in the kitchen chair that Don had motioned to. The older man sat across from the seventeen-year-old and picked up the service weapon and continued to clean it, pausing only occasionally to glare at the younger man.
Come on in boy sit on down
And tell me about yourself
So you like my daughter do you now?
Yeah we think she's something else
She's her daddy's girl
Her momma's world
She deserves respect
That's what she'll get
Now ain't it son?
Y'all go out and have some fun
I'll see you when you get back
Probably be up all night
Still cleanin' this gun
Katie came down the stairs, smiling at Jimmy before glaring at her father. "Daddy, behave. Don't worry, Jimmy…I won't let him shoot you. Unless you really deserve it."
Jimmy started to laugh until he saw the hard-as-nails look in Katie's brown eyes. His date not only looked like her father, she had the same toughness in her stance. He knew Don Eppes attitude was from years with the FBI. Thinking of her brothers, older male cousins and her father, doubtless Katie's was from trying to by-pass their over protectiveness.
Now it's all for show
Ain't nobody gonna get hurt
It's just a daddy thing
And hey, believe me, man it works
Eight years later…
Kate Eppes sat at the kitchen table as her mother pulled the potatoes out of the oven. "Daddy had best not be trying to intimidate Scott. For one thing, I know Scott Tracy and he doesn't do intimidation."
Thinking of her husband of thirty years in the living room with his daughter's fiancé, she knew he wasn't trying to intimidate the younger man as much as he was trying to impart how precious his youngest was to him. While she knew Don was relieved that Katie was leaving the FBI to go work for her fiancé's father, but the older man had yet to get over walking in on Scott kissing Kate less than a day after they had met. Or – as Charlie had teased Don – that Scott had been examining Kate's tonsils with his tongue.
Smiling at her only daughter, Kate's mother leaned over to kiss her daughter's dark curls. "Now, Katie Bear, you know your Dad likes Scott. He's out there with just about every picture of you in existence. Not in here, cleaning his gun."
Kate frowned. "Mom, he's the Director of the freakin' FBI. Does he even still carry?"
At a raised eyebrow, Kate smiled. Yeah, her father was still packing. Before she could comment on that, Kate heard Don calling to her from the living room. Jumping up, she ran through the swinging doors. At the grin on Scott's face, she knew he had asked for and received Don's blessing on their marriage. Throwing her arms around her father, she reminded herself to grill Scott about what happened.
As he held his baby girl a bit tighter, Don glanced over at her fiancé. He knew by the look on the young man's face that Scott understood. This wasn't just Scott's wife-to-be. Katie was Don's baby and she always would be. He relaxed slightly knowing that Scott knew what a precious treasure he had been given.
But maybe he could still clean his service weapon after dinner. Just in case.
Come on in boy sit on down
And tell me about yourself
So you like my daughter do you now?
Yeah we think she's something else
She's her daddy's girl
Her momma's world
She deserves respect
That's what she'll get
Now ain't it son?
Y'all run along and have a little fun
I'll see you when you get back
Probably be up all night
Still cleanin' this gun
A/N - If any one is reading this story and recognizes some things, my first Thunderbirds story was labeled as a slight crossover with the Numb3rs universe. Don had a daughter who married the oldest Tracy son from the Thunderbirds. But listening to this song one day, I felt it fit. And wouldn't Don make a great overprotective Daddy to a little girl, no matter how old she was. I hope you liked this. - CC