Jenna Stoker had a seemingly perfect life, that is until her mom suddenly passed away from pneumonia complications. She was 15, and the sweet innocent child of Mike and Carrie's turned into a dark troublemaker that Mike was having trouble keeping hold of. Since her mom, Jenna was always getting into situations that required a punishment that never stuck.
Mike had no clue what to do, he knew it was happening because of her mothers passing and he had to figure out how to handle a teenager on his own. He heard her crying every night but whenever he tried to talk to her, she just yelled and screamed at him to go away and she didn't need his help, she could handle it on her own.
They went through the same routine everyday. If Mike wasn't on shift, he would drop Jenna off and pick her up from school. If Mike was on shift, he would drop Jenna off at school and head to work, Jenna would then walk home and be on her own for the night. Sometimes in complete effort to get out of school, Jenna would sometimes fake sick just to go home. Mike would always ask Emily Stanley, Caps wife, if she could go and get her, only to find out she's not sick at all.
"Jenna May I'm done! You can't have the school calling me to come get you for not being sick!...No Jenna-" Mike tried to finish before he was hung up on. He angrily put the phone back on the wall before sitting on the couch, trying to think of a way to get Jenna to listen.
Cap had heard the troubling conversation from Mike's end and was the only other person to have teenage kids and a teenage daughter, who was also Jenna's best friend.
"Seemed like a rough talk with Jenna" he started as he sat in one of the chairs.
"I don't know what to do about her" Mike admits "ever since her mom, she's just been completely rebelling against everything I say, every punishment, everything" he sighs leaning forward to put his head in his hands. "it's hard enough to lose Carrie and now with Jenna acting out, I'm completely lost"
"Have you and Jenna had a civil conversation since?" Cap asked, thinking of every possible way his kids would react at what was all reality for Mike and Jenna.
"I try but it always turns into a screaming match" he says, looking up. "It's like she's not even my kid anymore"
"The right circumstance will show her sometime, has she been sleeping?"
"I think, I open the door just a sliver and she turns over"
"What about giving her Carrie's blanket?" Cap suggests, which Mike nods to.
"I can try that" he says with a sigh.
Mike had decided to take cap's advice and try it. As soon as they were both in the apartment, he grabbed the blanket off the bed and took it out to the front room. "Jenna come here" Mike yells down the hall in the apartment.
"What?" Jenna replies, just sticking her head out of her room.
"Come here" Mike repeated.
"No" Jenna says simply and shuts her door.
'Just like her' Mike thought to himself. In all reality, he knew it was because of her mom, but that still didn't give her a reason to act that way. He was tired of the phone calls from the school, the yelling from Jenna and most of all, listening to Jenna cry herself to sleep all the time.
He slowly walked to Jenna's room and listened fora quick second, there was no doubt she was crying again. He pushed the already cracked open door, open a little bit more. Jenna's school books were spread all over her desk, but she was on her bed, staring at a wall of Polaroid pictures taped to her wall of her and her mom, as well as a few family pictures of the three of them. He slowly walked into her room and sat next to her on the bed "I know you miss her Jen" he says, continuing when Jenna doesn't respond. "I miss her too"
"Why are you in here?" Jenna asks, refusing to look at him.
"Why are you taking this all out on me? I'm your father."
"I want my mom back" she mumbles quietly.
"Well we can't change what happened Jenna." He starts, continuing again when she doesn't reply. "You still have me"
"Until you leave me to!" She yells suddenly snapping as she got off her bed.
"What do you mean?" He asks, confused by her sudden outburst.
"I can't get attached! The second I do, you'll leave me too just like mom!" Jenna yelled with tears starting to flood her eyes.
"Jenna I'm not going to leave you" He said, realizing what was now bothering his daughter.
"You don't know that!" She yells again.
"You can't tell me you'll be okay. I lost my mom...I can't lose my dad too!" She yells, with tears flowing now from her eyes. All Mike wanted to do was hug her but wasn't going to push it that far with her mood at the moment. "You're job has no guarantees" she continues, melting to the floor. He sits on the floor beside her, letting her cry it out. To Mike's surprise, Jenna threw her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder. Mike took the surprise and gently set her in his lap, hugging her and comforting her as much as he could.
Within the next few days, Jenna had opened up more to Mike but was also still very quiet. Mike was watching her carefully and was extremely hesitant to leave her for his shift.
"Are you sure you don't want to go to the Stanley's after school? I already talked to Emily" he asked, more trying to get Jenna to talk.
"I want to go home" she mumbles quietly, leaning against the door as he pulled up to the school.
"Do you want me to come pick you up?"
"You can't leave work" Jenna says quietly again.
"I can for a few minutes, I could bring the engine" he jokes slightly but Jenna made no movement. "It's supposed to rain Jen. I want you to have a ride. What if Emily dropped you off at home?"
"I'm fine" she says and gets out as the truck stopped.
"Have a good day Jen" Mike says, watching his daughter shut the door, leaving no room for any more conversation and walk into school. He sighed as he put the truck back in gear and drove to the station, arriving at the same time as Cap. Mike and Cap exchanged quick looks before getting out of their vehicles.
"How'd it go with Jenna this morning?" Cap asked as they met at the front of the cars before walking inside.
"Not any better" Mike sighed before continuing. "She won't accept help. I tried to get her to go to your place after school with Emily but she said she'd walk home in the rain and got out of the truck before I could say anything else. I'm accepting any suggestions" he explained to not only his captain, but his best friend.
"I'm pretty sure she talks to Desiree. They're pretty close, maybe she can talk her into staying the night" Cap says, thinking out loud.
"I really hope so" He sighs, getting a cup of coffee.
After 3 classes, Jenna went to Mr. Carey's class. He had always been good to Jenna, he loved her work ethic, as well as her respect for him and the willingness to help her classmates. Since her mother, Jenna's grades dropped drastically from an A to an F and Mr. Carey knew something had to be done.
As the bell rang, everyone packed their bags and stood to walk out and go to the next class (Jenna trying to hide in the mess of students), Mr. Carey spoke up "Jenna, come see me for a moment?" When Jenna didn't reply he went to the door and stopped her before she could leave "Jenna, come here please"
"Why? I don't want to" she said, refusing to move.
"Jenna I'm worried about your grades"
Jenna just gave him a glare. "Why. I'm not your kid, you shouldn't care"
"I'm your teacher, its my job to care about your grades"
"Well don't. Just leave me alone" Jenna snaps and goes to walk around him but he blocked her.
"Jenna you are failing your class" He said, trying to talk sense into her.
"And you're failing your job! The hell I care."
"I don't like your attitude Jenna!" Mr. Carey said as he grabbed the class phone off the wall and called the principal to the room.
"I don't like you and your stupid british accent!" Jenna yelled.
"Take a seat." He snapped, laying the phone back on the cradle. "I'm calling your father right now and the four of us will have a meeting about your grades"
"Good luck getting him here! He can't leave his stupid job!" she yelled, still not following the directions to take her seat.
"Jenna, just because you're having a hard time, doesn't mean you can act like this"
"Dad lets me! He doesn't even try anymore!"
Mr. Carey pinched the bridge of his nose. "Jenna I'm sure if he saw you and heard you right now, he would be disappointed"
"My mom would too but shes not here is she!"
"Jenna sit down." He snapped again. "You weren't like this before your mom passed, so I think you're wrong here"
"I'm not your hostage! You can't hold me here, i'm leaving" She says, grabbing her bag to leave.
Mr Carey stood up "Jenna sit back down. You're going to fail! You'll have to be held back."
"What. Do. You. Care?" Jenna asks, glaring at her teacher.
"I'm your teacher!"
"and apparently, i'm your slave here, leave me alone you old geezer" She snapped again.
"Jenna! you have just earned yourself a detention. Keep it up and i'll give you another!"
"Whatever! All that crap about 'caring about your students' just goes down the drain huh?" She says, looking at him coldy. Her eyes were cloudy and ready to spill the tears of frustration but she held her ground and wiped her eyes.
"well, when you don't want me to care, yes it does"
"Call my dad, I don't care. He won't do anything!"
"He most certainly will when he realizes what a pest you've become"
"I don't care. He can't leave work so god luck!" Jenna yells, trying to keep her composure and keep her tears from spilling.
Mr Carey angrily called Mike at work as Jenna just watched him. His conversation with Mike was short as Mike knew he couldn't leave and decided to call Emily, asking her to take his place. Jenna knew Emily very well, and was as much a second mother to her.
Jenna's teacher sighed and hung up, looking at Jenna. "A woman named Emily is coming for the meeting in your fathers place"
"Shes like my second mom. Dad's best friends wife" She explains, keeping her voice monotone.
"She's on her way" he says, nodding at Jenna's explanation.
Emily showed up in the classroom a little under 10 minutes later and sits as Jenna refuses to look at her. She was disappointed with Jenna and Jenna knew it.
Mr Carey turned towards Emily "Miss, I called you here to talk about Jenna's attitude and grades"
"Yes, her father told me" she says, giving Jenna a quick look before turning back t Mr Carey.
He nodded and continued. "She has an F in my class and if she doesn't bring it up, she will fail and have to retake my class"
"I'll talk to her dad, i'm sure he'll set her straight"
"I'm worried about her relationship with him as well" Mr Carey brings up. Jenna just looked to the floor, listening to what he was saying.
"He's learning. Jenna is their only child and since Carrie passed, they haven't gotten along the best" Emily explained to the teacher.
"Well they should work on it because it's affecting her and her grades."
"I assure you, she will start listening to her father" Emily says as she looks at Jenna again.
Mr Carey nodded in understanding "good, because i'd hate to see her throw her future away"
"Oh god...Dramatic much?" Jenna says, looking up from the floor.
"Jenna shush" Emily warns with a warning look on her face, a look that meant she was serious.
"Jenna, I need effort on your part as well" The teacher sighed.
Jenna sighs "Can I go now?"
Jenna watched as her teacher pulled a packet out from a drawer. "Complete this work for extra credit to get your grades up a little. The rest depends on you"
"You're absolutely insane i'm not doing all that!"
"Jenna!" Emily warned again.
"Then fail." Mr Carey directed the conversation. "I need effort Jenna or i'll put in a request for you to go to a lower level class"
"Whatever" Jenna says before looking at Emily "Can we go?"
He sighs as he gives in "Yes, you may go"
Jenna picks up her backpack and swings it over her shoulder, heading for the door to the classroom.
"Jenna, your packet" He says as he holds it out to her.
"I don't need it"
"Yes you do"
"Do it yourself" Jenna says before slapping Mr Carey's arm, causing him to drop all the papers.
The teacher's eyes widened as he glares at her. "Jenna!" he yells at the same time as Emily.
"Wait until your father hears about this!" Emily yells after her as she runs out of the classroom. Mr Carey sighed as he sat back down. "I'll talk with her father about this, i'm sorry about the trouble" Emily says with an apologetic look. The teacher nodded as she left the room, taking a hold of Jenna's arm and leading her to the car.