Ever notice how Jesse Katsopolis frequently changes styles of eyeglasses? There's a reason he visits the eye doctor so often ...

Set in the first season of the TV show, sometime before "Knock Yourself Out." This story directly follows my piece, "Jesse Gets Framed."

This is a work of fan-fiction, written by a fan for other fans. Jeff Franklin created the characters of Full House and Warner Brothers Television Distribution currently owns the rights to the series. No copyright infringement is intended. No money was made from this story.

My thanks to Cerm for beta-reading.

Danny Tanner had just finished rocking his daughter Michelle back to sleep. He placed her into her crib and started to tiptoe down the hall to his room when he noticed that Jesse's light was still on.

With a frown - it was one-thirty in the morning - he poked his head into his brother-in-law's room. "Lights out, young man," he said, in an attempt to make a joke. He expected to see Jesse cradling his guitar, up to his ears in sheet music. Instead, the man in question was sitting up in bed, wearing sweats and a T-shirt, medical pamphlets of eyeballs scattered in an arc around him.

Jesse startled as Danny entered, the bags under his eyes magnified by his reading glasses. At the sight of the older man, he snatched up the pamphlets and tucked them under the blankets of his bed.

"What are you doing?"

Jesse faked a smile. "Trying out my new reading glasses." As his voice cracked over the words, Danny realized that Jesse's hands were trembling too.

He frowned and walked over to the younger man. "Jess, what's wrong?"

Jesse looked down at his hands, which he was now twisting together nervously. "Danny, I should probably tell you something. Earlier, when I said ..." He broke off, stood up, and started pacing. "When I told you things went fine at the eye doctor..." Jesse shook his head and gave Danny an imploring look, as if he wished Danny could simply read his mind.

Danny reached out for his brother-in-law. "Are you all right?" He placed a strong hand on Jesse's shoulder. For once, the younger man didn't flinch or resist physical contact.

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "At least, I'm gonna be fine, thanks to you." Jesse swallowed hard. "You know, I wouldn't have gone to the eye doctor today if you hadn't forced me to. You made them squeeze in my appointment and then you drove me over there! I was so mad at you for treating me like a kid ..." He pulled away from Danny and sat down on the bed. "But you were right. It was important." He took off his glasses and set them on the nightstand. "And not just because I can see to read now," he added with a grim smile.

He started to get up again, but Danny pushed him gently back down on the bed and sat beside him. "What did the eye doctor say?"

Jesse put a hand to his mouth and shook his head. When he spoke, his words were muffled. "My eye pressure was high the first time they read it. Both eyes. It was lower the second time, but they want me to come back to do more tests. To make sure my optic nerves aren't damaged." Jesse ventured a look at Danny and the men traded worried glances.

"They're checking you for glaucoma, right?" Danny asked.

Jesse nodded and turned away, his mouth set in a grim line. "I didn't know anything about it before today. The eye doc gave me a bunch of stuff to read. Most of the time, it's easy to treat if it's caught early ..." He shook his head. "But usually there's no symptoms until you start losing your vision. I've been playing Russian roulette with my eyes and I didn't even know it." He looked at Danny. "I owe you one, man."

Danny hugged his brother-in-law tightly. "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

Jesse shrugged. "No point in bothering you about something that might never happen."

Danny stared at him. "Jesse. It's okay to talk about things that are worrying you."

The younger man pulled away. "What's the point? It's not like you can do anything to fix it." He stood up again and resumed pacing. "I would've told you eventually when I went back to the eye doctor." He shrugged. "My problem, not yours."

"Jesse, I'm not Nick." Danny's voice was firm as he stood to face his brother-in-law. "I don't expect you to come up with a solution to your problems before I'll listen to you. If you're upset about something, tell me. I'm not going to think less of you."

Joey poked his head into Jesse's room. He was wearing a Winnie-the-Pooh nightshirt with a stocking cap shaped like a pot of honey. "Is everything okay up here? I thought I heard voices."

Both men froze. Danny, standing near the dresser, retied the belt of his robe and gave Jesse a hard look. Jesse caught his gaze, held it, and dropped his eyes. Danny sighed. "Things are fine, Joey," he said, without conviction.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room.

Finally, Jesse took a deep breath and walked over to Joey. "Danny's covering for me. And not very well, I might add." At Jesse's glare, Danny shrugged and sat down on the bed, leaving Jesse and Joey to face each other.

"Are things all right, Jesse?"

"They will be, once you get rid of that ridiculous hat," Jesse snapped, stripping the man of his honey pot and throwing it on the bed.

"Jesse," Danny chided.

"What's going on?" Joey asked.

Jesse folded his arms and stared at Joey's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle slippers. "Nothing. I'm fine," he said. He walked back toward the bed and sat down.

Danny and Joey exchanged a knowing glance, one that would have infuriated Jesse had he been alert enough to pick up on it.

Joey picked up one of the flyers that had slipped out from under Jesse's blankets. "Then why are you looking at brochures with giant eyeballs on them?"

Jesse snatched the flyer back. "Look, I don't want to talk about it right now, okay?"

Hands up, Joey replied, "Touchy, touchy."

Danny shot him a warning look and shook his head. "We'll leave you alone, Jess," he said. "Come on, Joey." He threw an arm over his friend's shoulder and walked him toward Jesse's bedroom door.

"Wait." Jesse's voice emerged small from the bed. "Don't go yet." Both men turned to face him, but Jesse spoke directly to Joey. "I got some bad news at the eye doctor today. They want to run more tests. I might have glaucoma."

"Oh, Jess."

Joey reached out to hug him, but Jesse resisted, holding up a hand in protest. "Please, no more hugs. And I don't want to talk about this any more tonight."

Danny nodded. "We'll let you get some sleep, Jesse," he said, and he and Joey resumed walking out the door.

"Wait!" Jesse's voice was more insistent this time. Both men turned again. "I ... I don't want to be alone right now." As soon as he said the words, Jesse's eyes dropped to the carpet.

Joey snapped his fingers. "I've got an idea! There's a Stooges marathon on cable."

Danny smiled. "I'll make the popcorn." He turned to the dark-haired man with the mullet, who was still sitting on his bed. "You coming, Jess?" he asked.

"In a minute."

When the men were out of his room, Jesse reached into the nightstand and pulled out a thick, well-worn photo album. Opening the book to the middle, he smiled sadly and spoke to one picture in particular. "Thanks for keeping an eye on me, Sis. You were right. Danny's a keeper. And his pal Joey isn't an idiot like I thought. He's just as nice as you said." He closed the book and placed the album back on the nightstand. Grabbing Joey's hat, he walked out of the room to rejoin his family.