Millie wasn't exactly nervous the first day of school, but she was far from excited. Linda tried everything possible, but could not get a smile out of her for the first day of school pictures. It didn't help matters that Danny had gotten called in to work a homicide in the middle of the night and as much as he had tried, didn't make it back in time to see them off.

"Come on, Mil," Jack said as he hopped out of the car and reached for her hand.

"I can take her in, Jack," Linda said. "I just need to go park the car."
"It's fine," Millie sighed. "I'll just go with Jack and Sean."

"Are you sure?"
"Mom, we got this," Sean stated matter-of-factly as he grabbed Millie's other hand and the three of them hurried toward the front door of St. Mary's.

"Have a good day!" Linda shouted from the car.

As promised, Jack and Sean took Millie to Sister Carolyn's Kindergarten class. "Are those my Reagan boys?" the tall, thin, white haired asked as she made her way over to the doorway where Jack and Sean stood with Millie, slightly behind them. She was a beautiful woman with a deep Southern accent.

"It sure is, Sister."
"Ah! How are you?" she asked as she hugged them both at the same time.

"We're good. We've got someone for you to meet."
"Well who is this?" she asked as she knelt down so that she could be eye-level with Millie and not quite as intimidating.

"This is our little sister, Millie."
"Hi, Millie."
"Hi," Millie whispered.

"We're going to have a lot of fun today. I hear that you already know how to read and tie your shoes."
"Yes ma'am."

"That's good. You can help me teach the others. Ready to go find a seat?"

Millie looked up to Jack. "You got this," he assured her. "I'll come get you as soon as school is over. Ok?"
"Ok."

"Have fun, Mil," Sean said as the bell rang and he and Jack scurried off to class.

"Hey, Babe. How'd it go?" Danny asked as he answered a call from Linda as she pulled out of the parking lot.

"Well, they're inside. Jack and Sean insisted on taking Millie, so I didn't get to take her to class."
"Oh that's good. She won't go in kicking and screaming if the boys go."
"I guess not, but she did look slightly terrified."

"Well, it is big school now. And there are nuns. They scare the crap out of me too."
"Danny!"

"Well! Sister Agnes never had any problems whacking my knuckles with a ruler."
"I'm pretty sure they don't do that anymore."
"Still. Those penguins can look rather intimidating."
"You're ridiculous. How late are you going to be?"

"I should be home around lunch. You headed to work?"

"Yeah. I'm working 8:00am until 3:00pm. I told them I've got to be off in time to get the kids."
"Don't worry about it. I'll go get them."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Do what you need to do. I'll go pick them up."
"Ok. I guess I'll be home around 4:00pm then."
"Sounds good. We'll see you this afternoon."

"Love you."
"Love you more."
Danny chuckled. "Love you most."

While Danny was wrapping up his investigation, Millie was trying to get the hang of kindergarten. It all seemed easy enough. Meanwhile, Sean and Jack were attempting to navigate fourth and sixth grades respectively. Sean was not at all excited about having to learn all of the states and their capitals. Jack really only had one interest and it had nothing to do with schoolwork. He had lucked out on a seat right behind Maya Sellers. Needless to say, he didn't hear a thing Mr. Danmore said all day long. He was too fixated on the beautiful blonde curls cascading off Maya's shoulders.

Across town at St. Vics, Linda was just beginning her shift when three members of the Boundary Street Brotherhood were rushed in with gunshot wounds. Shortly thereafter, two members of the West Brooklyn Blue Gang were also brought in with gunshot wounds. It took all of ten minutes for war to break out in the waiting room when all of the members started arriving to support their injured "brother".

"DANNY!" Linda yelled. "Mob war in the waiting room. Now!"

"What?!" Danny and Baez had just pulled up back at the precinct. He quickly backed out and sped toward the hospital. "Get somewhere safe and don't move! They're just shooting at each other. Don't get caught in the crossfire! I'm on my way!"

When Danny and Baez arrived, the police were swarming. Danny, of course, pushed his way right in and went in search of Linda. The mob war had ceased, but not before twelve people had been hit by the crossfire. Thankfully, Linda had been pulled into a back office by one of the residents, so she was unharmed when Danny found her.

"Linda!"

"Danny!" she rushed into his arms as he sighed a big sigh of relief.

"Are you hurt?"

"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. How bad is it out there?"

"They're gone. It's safe. There's about a dozen or so who were hit by crossfire."
Linda looked to the resident and other couple of nurses that were with them. "We need to get out there."

"Are you sure you're ok?" Danny asked with his hands on Linda's shoulders as he gave her a once over.
"Yeah. I'm good. As soon as they can get people here, they'll release all of us. You still got the kids? It may take a little while."

"Yeah."

"How about I get them and then come back and get you?"

"No. I'm fine. I'll be fine. I'll see you in a little while." She gave him a kiss and ran out to help with all of the injured patients in the ER.

Danny hung out at the hospital with the rest of the cops and detectives on the case until it was time to go and pick up the kids. He dropped Baez at the 5-4 before driving back to St. Mary's. He spotted the kids the moment he pulled into the car line. They didn't look any worse for the wear, so he was fully expecting a good report. He rolled down the window as they walked up. "Hey, guys!"

"Dad? What are you doing here? Where's Mom?"

"Work. I told her I'd come and get you. Hop in and buckle up." They all sighed, exhausted after the long day, and jumped in. "Silly Millie! How was your day?"

"Fine. But I don't think I want to do school anymore. Can I call Pop and stay with him tomorrow?"

"Uh no. We gotta come back tomorrow," Sean said.

"WHAT?"
"Yeah. No more skip days. You have to go every single day."

"But I don't need kindergarten. I know all my numbers and letters and colors. I know my address and how to tie my shoes. And I know how to read. These kids don't know how to read."

"Let's talk about it later. Boys, how was your day?"

"Fine," they both shrugged.
"How about we go home and make a good dinner for Mama?"

"Sounds good."

When the Reagans got home they went straight to work. They had a wonderful time making homemade pizzas. As expected, Linda pulled up at 4pm. She held the kids for a little longer than normal when she hugged them. Thankfully, they didn't catch on that she'd had a rough day. They had dinner and the kids went out to play while Danny and Linda collapsed in the livingroom to decompress. They cuddled on the couch, each thankful for the moment.

"Danny, I literally saw my kids flash before my eyes… not my life… but my kids. That was so scary."
"I know, Babe. It was a scary situation."

"I don't know how you do it. The thought of not coming home to those three was too much."

"I think of it every day. You four are my driving force. That's why when I go into a situation, I'm not scared. Some call it arrogance. I just say to myself that I will be coming home at the end of the day. Whatever scum bag I'm after can go to jail or go to Hell. They're not taking me out. I'm coming home to you and those kids at the end of the day."

Linda leaned over and kissed Danny. They were enjoying their few moments of quiet when they heard the door open. The kids had literally only been out playing for about five minutes when Millie made her way back inside. "Who's that?" Danny asked, without turning around.

"Me." Millie made her way to the front of the couch and wiggled her way in between Danny and Linda.

"Hey Millie Rose. Tell me about school today," Linda smiled. "What was your favorite part of the day?"
"When it was over."

"Millie! Did you know most of the kids?"
"I knew some. I don't want to go back there tomorrow. I want to go stay with Pop. He's more fun."

"Too bad. Pop has old man things to do," Danny smiled.

Millie looked at him strangely. "Like what?"

"Like… polishing his glasses and drinking coffee… and meeting his friends to exchange old war stories." Millie looked unamused. "Come on. I bet something was fun today. What was your teacher like?"
"Mrs. Sister Carolyn? She's nice. I don't like that Sister Fredrick lady though that is in the lunchroom and in the hallways. She's mean. And she said "yes ma'am" isn't good manners. I'm supposed to say "yes sister." But you tell me I'm always supposed to say "yes ma'am", don't you, Mr. Uncle Danny?"
"You're right. That's very good manners. It's just different when you talk to nuns."

"Well I don't like her, and she's not my sister."
"That's fine. But remember what we say about people we don't like. You don't have to like them but you do have to respect them. So just try to remember what to say when you see her and stay out of her way. Huh?"

"Ok."

"You don't want to go play with your brothers?"

"I just want to sit with you."

"Ok," he laughed, realizing sexy time with his wife had quickly been replaced with daddy time with his only daughter.

"Want to read a book?" Linda asked.

Millie shook her head no. "No more school. Just sit." She wrapped her arms around Danny and buried her head in his stomach.

"Ok." He patted her head with his right hand and rested his left hand on her back. He couldn't quite tell if she was going to cry or if she just needed an escape. Either way, he was glad to provide it. Linda, seeing that Danny clearly had this situation under control, leaned over and gave him a kiss, and got up.

"I'm going to check on the boys."

"Ok. We'll be right here if you need us." After about ten minutes, Danny thought he might ought to try and get a little bit of information out of Millie. "Hey Mil, want to sit up and chat?"

"Do we have to talk about school and going back?" she asked, without even looking up.

"Nope. I thought I'd tell you about my day."

"Ok," she sighed as she sat up and crawled into Danny's lap. "What did you do today?"

"Well, let's see. I got a call from the Sarge at 2:00am this morning telling me I had to get up and come to work."
"2:00am in the morning?"
"Yep. The sun wasn't even up. It was still nighttime. And you and your brothers and Phil, Gus, and Aunt Linda were all still asleep."
"Why did Sarge wake you up that early?

"Well, the bad guys were being bad and I had to go catch them."
"Did you?"

"Not yet, but I will."

"Then what did you do?"

"Well, me and Detective Baez went to breakfast when the sun came up."
"What did you eat?"
"Ham and eggs."

"Then what?"
Danny thought for a minute. "Then I went and saw Aunt Linda at work and then I came and got you and now I'm here."

"Did you talk to Uncle Jamie?"

"Nope. I didn't talk to Uncle Jamie today. How about Grandpa?"

"I got a text from him."
"What'd he say?"

"He was just telling me to be careful."

"Careful about what?"

"Here's the thing, Mil. You know how I tell you and Jack and Sean to be careful when you go out and play or when we go skating?" Millie nodded. "Same thing. Just like I'm your dad and want you to be safe and happy, Grandpa is my dad, and he wants the same thing."

"But you're a grown up."
"Uh huh. So I'll still be telling you to be careful when you're a grown up."

"You know, Grandpa's been telling me, and Uncle Jamie, and Aunt Erin to be careful our whole lives."

"Even when you were almost six."

"Yep. Even then. When I went to school, I got to do all sorts of cool stuff. We'd go on field trips and he'd tell me to be careful and stay with the group. When I'd go to sleepovers at all of my new friend's houses on the weekends, he'd tell me to be careful. When I'd play basketball or football or baseball, he'd tell me to be careful."

"Grandpa told you that a lot."

"Well, there were a lot of fun things to do when I started school and I did them ALL."

"Oh."

"I bet Jack and Sean will do football and soccer again… and it wont be long before they're hanging out with their buddies."

"And maybe I could maybe do something too."

Danny smiled. "Yep. You sure could. Thought of anything in particular?"

"Well, I have gymnastics on Thursdays with Pop."
"Yep."

"But I could…" Millie sat and thought for a minute. She had no clue what was all available to a five year old, but she was bound and determined to do something. "I could…" She finally sighed. "I can't do anything. I don't have friends."

"It's only your first day. You'll meet people. You'll find people you like. And you know what? You can invite them to your birthday party because you have a birthday coming up, right?"
"Uh huh. October 10th."

"Right. We've got to plan a party."

"Party?" Linda asked as she breezed through. "Who's having a party?"
"Me!" Millie shouted. "October 10th is my birthday, Mrs. Aunt Linda."

"It is?"
"How many more days is that, Mr. Uncle Danny?"

"Uh…." Danny calculated in his head. "Thirty-five."

"Thirty-five more days? That's not too long."

"Nope. You're only five years old for thirty-five more days. Can you believe it?"

"And then after that, I'll be seven, and then eight, and then I'll be a teenager and a grown up!"

"Whoa. Slow your roll. You're already growing up too fast, Millie Reagan. Stop it. I'm still not ok with you turning six… much less seven or eight or a thirteen."

"Don't worry, Mr. Uncle Danny. I'll start with just turning six."

Danny laughed as he hugged her tightly. "Sounds good, Mil."