It was well after seven when they reached Maryland. They had entered Baltimore and had been walking around for a good long while. "Alright how about we go to a diner and grab a bit? By the time we all get fed we can swing to the aquarium." Dave said. "I'm loving that Idea I'm starving." Stella agreed.
"I'll grab a table you take car of Mudgie. "You want me to order you anything?" Dave asked. "Plain milk and stack of pancakes please." She said tying Mudgie to a pole near the car. Stella laid down a blanket for him to lie on put out the food and water. "Be good." She told him before walking into the diner. Dave waved her over. "I ordered breakfast for us. Go wash your hands."
Stella pulled a small bottle from her pocket and squeezed a bit into her hand. "Hand sanitizer." She smiled. When their food finally arrived it finally dawned on Dave that with Mudgie with them they would have to continually check on him. "What are we going to do with Mudgie? We can't leave him out side by himself it's against the law to leave a dog with no supervision." Dave pointed out.
"He's a seeing eye dog. If people ask why we have to keep him around with us tell them I have poor depth perception or something." She said around a mouth full of pancakes.
"Chew your food then talk." Dave told her.
Stella swallowed. Dave looked out the window at the dog. "I know exactly what we do." Dave said. "Finish your breakfast and welled hit the road." Stella wolfed down the rest and drained her glass of milk. Dave paid the bill and Stella left the tip.
A bit later. "Sir you can't bring that dog in here." the man at the gate told them. "You see sir this dog is a service dog and he alerts us when my daughter is prone to one of her seizures." the man looked at Stella. "Alright you'll need this so you don't get stopped by anyone else. If that mutt drops anything you clean it up."
"Will do." they nodded and entered. "Smooth Dad." Stella grinned.
"Awe." Garcia smiled at the pictures. Stella and Dave checking out the penguins. Mudgie stealing Dave's hot dog. A tricky picture of what looked to be an eel eating Stella's arm.
A picture of them checking out the penguins. Stella putting on a terrified face when they reached the shark tank. Dave with his arm in the stingray tank petting one.
Checking out the Jellyfish tank. Dave had Stella's jellyfish song stuck in his head.
The three left the aquarium without any problems and had plenty of pictures to put in the photo album back home. As promised they passed through some of New Jersey's countryside.
The music was going and Stella and Dave were having fun until the car started to droop to one side. "Really?" Dave and Stella said at the same time. Dave managed to get them to the side of the road.
"Well kid we're trekking it down the road until we find a gas station." Dave said getting Mudgie from the car.
"Do you think it's wise to leave our stuff in the car? Alone?" Stella said.
"Well I'm sure as hell not leaving you in the car alone and I'm not sending you down the road alone. So we'll both go." Dave said.
They started their trek down the road. "It had to be hot today." Stella said petting Mudgie on the head as he drank some water.
"You know what Bookworm lets test those skills of yours. "How altered is the story version of Cinderella from the Disney version?" Dave asked.
"Drastically. The Grimm Brothers wrote it as it being far more gruesome. They would cut off toes and heels. Where in the Disney version they simply made the feet bend and tried to stuff the overly large feet into the shoes. Snow White was a gruesome tale as was Red Riding Hood. More then what it is today." Stella went on about the stories.
"Okay who was Sherlock Holmes' greatest enemy?" Dave asked.
"That's easy. Professor James Moriarty. As for people he strongly disliked one Irene Adler." Stella smiled.
"You are a strange kid."
"I see a gas station." Stella smiled as they were coming up to one. Suddenly they heard a engine roaring and turned around behind them a tow truck was driving down the road with their car hooked to the back of it." The truck slowed up to them.
"This your car?" the burly man asked. Dave and Stella nodded. "Hop in I'll take you the rest of the way." the man said. At the gas station they thanked the man before getting back into the car and driving off to continue their adventure. The car breaking down and walking from the car to the gas station and getting the tire changed had set them back three hours. By eleven they stopped at a hotel. They snuck Mudgie in for the night and settled in for a deep sleep.
The next morning they set out again. Stopping at another diner for breakfast. "Hey I think I see it." Stella said looking out the window. Well we're headed that way kiddo." Dave said with a smile. The ferry to Elise Island was a bit of a challenge. Seasickness was not cool.
"You okay now?" Dave asked looking at Stella as she downed a bottle of water. "That was gross." Stella said.
"You didn't know you got seasickness?" Dave asked. "Haven't you been on a boat before?"
"If I ever was I don't remember." Stella told the man. "Okay I'm sorry I'm entitled to forget these things. Guess all the fun we've been having on this little trip kind of blocks it out." Dave said.
"It's okay. I'm better now come on." Stella said taking the camera and snapping a picture of her father. "Did you know that the statue technically belongs to New Jersey because it's in Jersey's state lines?" Stella whispered to her father.
"Why are you whispering?"
"Because I don't want New Yorkers to try and kill me." Stella said pressing a few buttons on her cell phone. "Sending pictures to the team?"
"Yup.
Two hours later when they were back on solid earth and Stella was finally feeling better they made tracks for Ground Zero. Paying their respects to ones who had lost their lives before heading over to Times Square.
"This is epic." Stella smiled. "Pretty amazing Kiddo. Come on if we want to see a bed anytime soon we gotta hurry to your grandmother's quickly. It's a two hour drive to your grandmother more like four because we have to get back to the car and drive though this crazy traffic.
"On ward." Stella took on a dramatic pose like a captain on a ship toward land. A light suddenly flashed as Dave smiled at the picture he had just gotten. "Garcia is going to love this one."
"Come on you old bat." Stella smiled.
"That would be old goat. Woman are bats you little brat." Dave laughed. They finally found the car and started to drive very slowly through the busy section of New York. They finally made it to Eudora Rossi's home. Before Dave woke Stella he snapped a picture of her sleeping against the door before waking her up and getting Mudgie to go knock on the door.
Eudora guided Stella into a spare room where the girl fell asleep in her clothes and didn't bother to get up. Dave put Mudgie in the laundry room and went back into the bedroom to put Stella under the covers. He kissed her forehead and left the room turning out the light. His mother stood in the hallway.
"I never thought I'd see the day you became a father. But you've managed well my son." Eudora smiled. "Come you need sleep yourself I have the couch set up for you." she said taking Dave by the arm. "Mama you didn't have to do that I could have done it myself."
"But it's not often I get to have you in my house." she smiled. "Alright. It's late you go get in the bed I'm going to go changed then I will go to sleep." he promised. "Good night Davie." Eudora kissed her son's cheek before going to her room for bed.
~.o0o.~
Stella woke up the next morning groggy and still dressed minus her shoes. Stella got out of bed and wandered into the hall and listened around. She heard her father's voice and a female voice talking. There was the strong smell of food causing her to follow both into the kitchen.
"Dad?"
"Morning Stella. Sleep well?"
"Good morning Tesoro." the elderly woman smiled.
"Good morning. Yeah. Did I really fall asleep in my clothes?" she asked.
"Yup. Your bag is in the living room go get changed and wash up." Dave told her.
Stella picked out her clothes for the day and found the bathroom. She changed, washed her face, and brushed her teeth and hair before venturing back into the kitchen to sit for breakfast. "What does Tesoro mean?" Stella asked.
"It means sweetheart in Italian." Eudora told her. "You are my sweetheart."
Stella smiled and they finished eating breakfast. They packed up everything and said their good-byes. "Okay go left. No, right. No wait left."
"Which way? No never mind hand me the map." Dave took the map from Stella and had a look. "We go right." he said.
Stella continued to look out the window. She was doing fine up until that morning when they got in the car. She was reading the map wrong and guessing which way to go. Dave pulled over on the side of the road. "Why'd you stop?"
"Because I need to know if you're really ready to do this. There's nothing to be nervous about Stella." Dave said.
"You're profiling me?"
"No I'm being a parent. Parents know what's wrong with their children and I see what's wrong the signs are very clear. Reading the map wrong, not knowing which way to go, the way you keep looking out that window for some escape. If you want to turn back I won't hold it against you. This is big for you. But even if we do turn back we still had fun. The trip was worth it. Now do you want to continue or not? If yes I'll keep driving if not then I'm making an illegal U-turn home."
"I want to keep going." Stella told him. Dave smiled at her. "How did you get so brave?" Dave asked.
"I don't know apparently my father has had a gun pointed at him and when you think about it that's far more scary then going to meet a few old friends." Stella told him.
"That's my girl." Dave continued on down the road.
"What's the address?"
"734 School street." Stella told him.
"Alright this is school street look for the house." Dave said glancing back and forth between the road and the other side of the street. Stella said the house number coming up. "Daddy it's right there. No back up a few. Here." Stella and Dave looked at the light green house.
"Alright come on time to the past." Dave told her grabbing Mudgie's leash and walking to the door with Stella by his side. Stella knocked on the door. The woman who opened the door was a tall dirty blonde with brown eyes.
"Hello I'm David Rossi we spoke on the phone a few weeks ago. I'm Stella's father."
"Yes I'm Hannah Belmar I'm Jimmy's mother."