Part 1 of 5; Spring Break
Random Facts: Gas was only $1.22 in 1983.
Disclaimers: I do not own CM or the characters. This includes Rosaline and Sandy Jareau, and Elizabeth Prentiss. I do own all additional characters, including Emily and JJ's extended families.
Spoilers: None
Rating: Low T, also high K+
Reply to reviews (chapter 33):
Hetwaszoietsals: Thank you for the review! JJ will be getting help soon. Let than 20 more chapters! :) Here is the next part. This chapter is a little happier and it'll stay that way for the next several. Enjoy! :)
HanJialin2017: Hi! I believe you are new, so welcome! :) Thank you for the review and don't worry - they'll JJ somewhere that she will absolutely LOVE. :)
Hippiechic81: Thanks for the review. Here's the next chapter.
Kensi1997: Thanks so much. Here's the next chapter. :)
Words in bold, underline, and italics are words signed and spoken.
Words in bold and italic are words being signed.
A reminder that Nee-Nee is what Jenny calls her pacifier. :)
Notes: Benson and Calvin's little sister, "Annie", is 7 years old. She was born prematurely at 23 weeks. She has asthma, a developmental delay, and a speech delay. Annie's cognitive age is 4-year-old's. She speaks simple sentences or communicates with sign language and can read on a beginner's level, do simple math, and write simple words that are no more than 3-letters (cat, mom, dad, etc.).
She has Dyspraxia, specifically Ideational dyspraxia (sequenced movements). She also has trouble walking up stairs, getting dressed, along with several other things.
Enjoy! :)
Friday, March 17th, 1983
Big kids: 12-16 years old
Little kids: 4-7 years old
*Around 7 a.m.* (Cloverdale, Indiana)
Around seven in the morning, just over 6 hours after they began their drive, James pulls into a gas station. He needs gas, and the kids probably need food and bathroom breaks.
He and Elizabeth are the only ones awake at the moment. Emily and JJ are asleep, with Em lying sideways on a pillow propped up against JJ's carseat. The older girl is holding the younger girl's hand, while JJ's other hand tightly holds her teddy bear with her Nee-Nee in her mouth.
Nellie and Benson are in the very back. Benson is leaning against the window and Nell has turned sideways in her booster seat, using the back of the car seat as a pillow.
As they sit there, James sees Kathryn and Billy pull up beside him. They each roll down a window and talk about what they are going to do. Calvin and Annie are awake in their car, and they are hungry and getting restless so the grownups decide they will fill up on gas and then stop somewhere to eat.
So, they fill up on gas, wake the kids, and choose a place to get some breakfast. Once Emily and the rest are awake, Nellie and JJ quickly settle on McDonald's without a second thought. Annie agrees also and the grown-ups decide they will take everyone in and let them run off some energy.
Elizabeth tells them that she has a surprise for them. Little goody bags for the drive. They are to be opened at different times during their trip, for example, this first one is to be "opened at the first stop for gas".
Elizabeth hands them out to the four kids in her car, – Kathryn is giving Annie and Cal's theirs, too, – and she watches as they open up to the little surprises.
"Wow!" This is Nellie's reaction to her prize. It's a little figurine of her favorite princess, Sleeping Beauty. JJ gets something similar in her favorite princess, Snow White.
Emily gets a small box of Legos, but there are pieces missing. She will receive more of them over the course of a few more goody bags. Benson gets a small, travel-size book of crossword puzzles, his favorite.
"Thanks, Mom!" Emily says as she looks over her Legos. "What did you get, Love?" JJ beams as she shows Emily the Snow White figure.
"That's cool. Do you know which princess you got?"
JJ just shyly shrugs instead of answering. Besides the smile she gave when Emily asked the question, JJ is being very quiet. Emily just thinks it's because she has just woken up. After all, JJ is quiet like this all the time after she first wakes up from a nap or in the morning after sleeping through the night.
Looking around, JJ sees that James is gone from the driver's side. She thinks that if she does not move her hands from directly in front of her, then the only people who can see her will be Elizabeth and Emily.
So, smiling, she signs, "Snow White!" to Emily. Then, again making sure to move her hands only, and not her arms, she says, "Thank you." to Elizabeth and Liz signs back, "You're welcome."
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At the McDonald's, Kathryn and Emily take their diaper bags in, because JJ is in a diaper for the trip and Annie wears also wears a diaper because Kathryn and Billy are having trouble with potty training her (she "regressed" and had a setback).
Emily changes JJ and lets the little girl know that she will put a new diaper on her, just in case she decides to nap some more once they are in the car. Then, at lunch, around noontime, Emily will let her pick out a special pair of "big kid" underwear to put on.
Once they have their food, they all pile outside to the playground. After eating, the older kids work on a crossword that Emily brought inside while Nellie plays on the rides and climb the play structure. Nellie climbs into the Hamburglar jail play structure.
"Emmy, look! I'm in jail!"
"You're in jail? Oh, no!" Emily plays along. "What did you do to get in jail?"
"I stoled a French fry from Mr. Billy!" Emily smiles at the young girl as she falls over in giggles.
"Well, well, well," Billy says, also playing along. "I think the punishment for stealing my French fry shall be to do five cartwheels. And if you do not want to that, you shall remain in jail for…for 7 years."
"No!" Nellie whines although it's drowned out by her giggles. "I don't wanna stay in jail for seven years. I pick doing cartwheels."
She climbs out the "jail" and assumes the "gymnast" position. She has learned all about doing somersaults, cartwheels, handstands, etc. in her gymnastics class.
As Nellie goes across the yard doing cartwheels, James is filming her on their camera. Nellie has been in gymnastics since she was two years old and in the toddler class. Her little sister, 2-year-old Lila, is also in the toddler class, for the first time this year.
Once she is finished, everyone cheers for her.
"Well, I guess you are free to go!" Billy says and Nellie thanks him by giving him an over-exaggerated hug.
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Sometime later, Annie and JJ finally finish eating. They each got a four-piece McNuggets Happy Meal, however, they also take the longest time to eat out of all of the kids. JJ gets distracted easily, she wants to go play, or look at Emily's new word search book, or do something other than eating.
Annie is the same way. She has to have her food cut up so it is easier for her to pick up her fingers, and reminders to 'finish eating this nugget' or 'eat four more French fries'.
Finally, they get finished and are allowed to go play. Emily and Cal chase them around for a while, – Benson is over with Nellie, filming her doing cartwheels and handstands, – before they tire out and go back to the table.
After a few minutes of running around, JJ and Annie go to the slide. Billy comes over to help Annie climb up the ladder. She can't do it without someone's help as she has problems with holding onto the rails, lifting her feet, and climbing up or down, while doing it all at the same time.
"Emmy! Bubba!" Annie calls and Calvin looks up just in time to her add a C to 'bubba'. As an infant, Kathryn and Billy would teach Annie the sign for "bubba" and add an H for Harvey, a B for Benson, and a C for Calvin.
"Bubba C! Come!" Calvin gets up and goes to the slide.
"Come down the slide, Sissy!" He calls up to where he can see the two in the little circle landing around the top of the slide.
"No, Bubba!" Annie giggles as she and JJ look out from between the bars. "Come!" Annie adds another C. Calvin sighs and stomps around the structure to the ladder that goes up to the top in a very exaggerated way, hearing Annie and JJ giggle some more above him.
Calvin climbs to the top and makes 'claws' at the two girls. Annie squeals and she crawls to the slide.
"F'eeze!" Annie yells, making a "stop" signal with her hands and Calvin acts as if he is frozen and can't move.
"JJ! Come!" She screams, motioning for JJ to come with her. Annie goes down the slide but JJ stays behind. "JJ!" Annie bounces up and down on her heels. "Come!" She makes the sign for slide.
JJ shakes her head and then hides her face in her hands. Annie pouts, not understanding why her new friend won't slide down to continue playing with her.
Calvin, having known JJ's behavior from Emily, and that she doesn't like trying new things, – like going down the "big girl" slide by herself, as opposed to a much smaller one, – comes over the couple of feet to JJ.
"JJ, don't you want to go down the slide?" He asks. He tries to do what he does with Annie, offering to go down with her. "Come on, let's go down together." He goes to lift JJ into his lap and move towards the slide but JJ freaks out and moves away from him, yelling and starting to cry.
The commotion gets the others' attention and by now, Annie is over by Emily, saying that JJ "won't play" with her which makes Emily look up to the top of the slide.
She sees JJ crying and also, while not intentional, Calvin cornering JJ. Emily jumps up and runs over to the slide, with Kathryn and Billy coming over also. While Kathryn gets Cal to come down, Emily climbs up to JJ.
"Jenny, what's wrong, Love?" Sitting down, Emily immediately has an arm full by the little girl climbing into her lap.
She can tell that JJ is on the verge of a panic attack, – the way she is breathing is different than if she were just crying, – and, while the cause of it still unclear, she does know she needs to get away from here. There is beginning to be more and more people show up and neither she nor JJ needs an audience for something like this.
So, gathering JJ up in her arms, Emily keeps speaking softly to her as she scoots to and goes down the slide. She goes over to Elizabeth and James and sits down at the table.
The adults and Calvin have gathered up their things by now. Benson is trying to calm Nell down. She's never seen JJ like this, on the verge of a panic attack. She's only been around to see the little girl while she is happy, smilie, and giggly, and it's a bit unsettling for the five-year-old.
Nellie is trying to be brave, though, – she is almost six after all, – and doesn't want to be seen, in front of all the cool, older kids, crying 'like a baby'.
"Let's get her calmed down just a bit and then we will go out to the car," Elizabeth tells her as she can see Emily's anxiety rising. She suspects this is the first time JJ has had a public panic attack, as opposed to one at their house or her own house and Emily is unsure of what to do or how to deal with it. She is only 12, after all.
JJ is starting to cry now and her chest is moving faster as she struggles to breathe normally. Emily just speaks quietly to her, trying to get her to calm down so she doesn't go into a full-blown attack.
Elizabeth tells the others to go outside, – Emily and JJ don't need everyone crowded around them, – and then she directs the two to a secluded part of the main dining area.
An employee meets her there and tells them they can use the break room if needed because he understands that JJ is having a panic attack and that he also knows they don't want nor need any prying eyes while Elizabeth and Emily work to calm JJ down.
"Thank you so much," Elizabeth tells the man as he leads them to a room with a couch, some chairs and a table, along with a fridge and microwave. The employee offers to get a cup of water or a cool, damp towel, and Elizabeth graciously accepts, getting JJ's sippy cup and an extra washcloth from her diaper bag.
"All right now," Once Emily is sitting at the table with JJ in her lap, Elizabeth takes over to try to lessen what Emily has to do. "Let her lean against your chest, so she can feel your heartbeat." The employee returns and Elizabeth thanks him for the ice water in JJ's sippy cup and the damp cloth.
Elizabeth sits the cup aside so she can calm JJ down before giving her the drink and takes the cloth, gently wiping the little girl's face.
"Hey, Sweets," Liz directs towards JJ quietly. "Can you feel Emmy's heart?" At the little girl nodding, Elizabeth smiles. "That's good. I promise you are safe, O.K.? No one is going to touch you, or make you move, O.K.?" She keeps her sentences simple and short because JJ is still breathing really hard and trying to catch her breath while still crying also.
Elizabeth moves on, working to calm her down. "Can you take a big breath for me? Like this…" She demonstrates taking a breath in and then letting it out, doing it overdramatically, so JJ is more likely to follow along. "Can you do that for me?"
JJ does so. "You're doing great!" She makes sure to keep smiling in order to encourage JJ to continue to copy and follow along with her. "Can you take another deep breath? Remember, like this…good job!"
Elizabeth helps her take a few more deep breaths, reassuring JJ once again that no one is going to make her move or touch her or anything else without her permission.
This is something that is very important to the person have a panic attack. Knowing these things makes it easier to focus on calming their breathing and do not have to worry about anything else (moving, talking, walking, etc.).
After several minutes of coaching and encouraging her, Elizabeth gets JJ calmed enough to take a few sips of water.
Elizabeth asks for her permission to wipe her face and JJ nods, having liked the feeling of it against her face. Liz does so, patting her forehead and cheeks and her neck, and playfully covering JJ's face and saying,
"Oh, no! Where did little JJ go?" And JJ giggles, pulling the cloth off.
"Here!" Emily smiles, happy to watch her mom interact with the little girl she considers to be her best friend and little sister.
"Are you feeling better now, Love?" Emily asks and smiles again when JJ turns to look at her with those big, expressive, blue eyes. JJ nods and reaches up for Emily's necklace, fingering it and leaning her head back on Em's chest.
Emily nods softly. "That's good. I'm happy. Do you want to talk about what happened?"
JJ is silent, and Elizabeth and Emily think she is not going to answer or maybe say no when she moves her hand away from Emily's necklace and says,
"Scared."
Emily looks to her mom, wondering what that meant. Elizabeth just nods, letting her know she will handle this also. "What scared you, Sweets?"
JJ plays with the necklace once more before signing, "Slide," She moves some hair from her face and looks at Liz. "Pacifier," she requests and Elizabeth wastes no time getting JJ's paci out her diaper bag along with her teddy bear, thankful that Emily stuck it in there before getting out of the car.
Sticking her Nee-Nee in her mouth, JJ resumes her signing, saying, "Too big…scary…no like."
Emily nods this time, answering her instead of Liz. "O.K., that's good. You didn't like the big slide?" JJ just shakes her head instead of signing an answer. "I can understand that. That was a big slide, and it must have been scary to be at the top."
The three talk for a bit more, just to make sure that JJ is calmed down and ok now. Elizabeth wonders if JJ is afraid of heights. She can understand that JJ didn't like being up there at the top since it was so high and that she maybe didn't realize how high when she was playing with Annie.
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After a few more minutes, Elizabeth asks JJ if she needs to go potty, meaning she is asking if JJ needs to a diaper, since more often than not, during a panic attack, JJ has an accident.
JJ gets very quiet and loses her smile, hiding her face with her teddy bear. Elizabeth realizes that this means she does need a new diaper and her heart aches for the little girl because what child who is four months away from turning 5 years old wants to say, 'yes, I wet my diaper and need a new one"?
So, instead of making a big deal about it, Elizabeth simple tells them "Okay, let's go potty and then we can go back to the car." Liz smiles at JJ and makes sure to have her face open with gentle eyes, so JJ does not think she is mad at the little girl for needing to a new diaper.
They leave the room, find the employee who took them to the room, – his nametag reads Michael, – and she is sure to thank him while using his name, so he knows how sincere she is being.
Elizabeth tells him they appreciate everything he did for them – really, they do – and then they go to the bathroom. Liz gets JJ undressed and takes off the old diaper. She smiles as Emily takes a shirt from the diaper bag when JJ begins getting upset and acts like she going to try to put it on her head.
JJ giggles, signing, "Silly, Emmy! Too big!" Meaning she is saying Emily is too big to wear the shirt. Elizabeth lets Emily take over, and goes to stand at the door, to make sure no one comes in so JJ is not embarrassed about getting her diaper changed.
After being redressed, Emily and Elizabeth both use the restroom and then they are off for the car. By now, it is just before nine in the morning. They're not too far off from schedule, so they get in, turn some music on, and the kids sing along to the radio and play a road trip game once they are on the highway.
*4 hours later, 11:15 p.m.* (St. Louis, Missouri)
4 hours later and it is now time for lunch. It is still morning time, just before 11:30, and Prentiss and Knight clans are now entering St. Louis, Missouri. The group decides to do a detour and stop to see the Gateway Arch.
As they come to the exit they need to take to get to the Arch, Elizabeth tells them they have another goody bag to open. She hands them out; they all receive disposable cameras, with 15 pictures each, for them to take of the Arch and whatever else they want a picture of.
They all pile out of the car after parking and do the necessary things to get inside. First, though, they just stop and look up, taking in the view.
"Woah!" Annie exclaims from her place on Calvin's shoulders. Since she is so small, she is able to sit there without issue. "It's big!"
"It certainly is," Kathryn agrees, holding up a hand to shield her eyes from the sun. "It says here," she begins reading on a plaque beside the arch. "that it is six-hundred, thirty-six feet tall. That is equal to one-hundred and five of your Daddies standing on top of each other."
This makes the kids giggle. Annie tries to imagine one-hundred and five of her daddy trying to stand on top of each other.
"It was built on October 25th, 1975," James tells them.
"How old would that be?" Emily asks as she tries to do the math in her head, something she hasn't quite accomplished yet. JJ, from her place in the stroller, looks up at them and motions for Emily to come over.
She does, bending down beside the stroller. "What's up, Love?"
Leaning back in the stroller seat, Jen takes her hands and signs so only Emily can see, "17 years, 4 months, and 20 days,"
Jen does not realize that everyone else can see her. She is looking at Emily, smiling and giggling just a little because, to her, this is nothing more than a time to use sign language.
The rest of the bunch just kind of freeze and stare at her, having not expected that she would or even could do math like that.
It's quiet until Elizabeth is nodding and saying, "That's right. All the way down to the number of days." She then turns to Benson and Emily, since they are the ones that spend the most time with JJ and asks if JJ has ever done something like that before.
But they look just as surprised as the rest do. "I have no idea where that came from," Emily says, shrugging her shoulders. She turns to Benson and gets the same reaction.
"I'm not even sure she knows what she was doing." He says. Benson sets Nellie down from his shoulders and bends down beside JJ's stroller. "Hey, J-bug. Let's play a game, huh?" JJ nods eagerly. Benson's games are always fun to play. She thinks, maybe just this once, she can use sign language with him thinking she "looks stupid" like her mom and dad do.
"What does 1 plus 1 equal?"
"2!" JJ answers almost immediately. She and Emily, and Benson and Nellie have been practicing math since Nellie will be in kindergarten this year and JJ wanted to learn some too while they were teaching Nellie.
"And what does 3 plus 2 equal?"
"5!"
Benson knows she knows these answers because they have taught Nellie addition and subtraction of numbers up to 10. JJ knows some up to five and all up to three.
So, he decides to try something a little harder. Something that Emily and Calvin are just now learning in seventh grade.
"What is the square root of 9?"
Emily goes to say she couldn't possibly know this, after all, they are only just now teaching her addition and subtraction of numbers up to seven along with the rest of the numbers for 5. But she stops as she sees JJ moving her hands almost immediately.
"3!"
Everyone is surprised once again. Kids don't learn about the square root of numbers until Jr. High, which is where Emily and Calvin are. They most certainly do not learn about them in a preschool classroom with kids aged 3 & 4 years old.
Benson decides to see if it was a fluke. It could very well have been JJ just saying the first number that came to mind.
So, he goes up, a lot, and says, "Okay. That was a little easy. Let's try a really hard one…what is the square root of 3,600?"
JJ just giggles, as if this is the funnest game she has ever played, and signs, "60!"
Finally, someone other than Benson finds their voice. Nellie looks between JJ, Emily, Benson, and the grownups with wide eyes.
"Benny! How does Jenny know all of that? Emmy says JJ doesn't learn like me or you or her, and that she can only learn easy math with lots and lots of pwactice."
Benson nods as he and Emily did say that. They explained to Nellie that JJ's dyslexia is going to make it where she has a harder time learning things that may come easily to him or Emily or to Nell, like tying her shoes, or learning how to ride a bike, or even learning how to tell left from right.
"Well, I guess JJ's mind works more differently than we thought." It's the only explanation Benson has no idea how this 4-year-old knows the answer to something like, how old is the Gateway Arch in St. Louis right down to the numbers of days.
Nellie nods looking quite thoughtful. She has a best friend who has an amazing mind. She's seen this from the way JJ is able to pick up sign language better than she is, or how she can sign a whole sentence and the speed at which she can do it.
JJ is amazing at soccer. She has trouble walking, sometimes she bumps into things or people, or she trips while going up the stairs. She cannot hop on one foot or alter her feet while going upstairs, and she has other balance problems.
But, you put her outside with a soccer ball and it's as if all those problems disappear. She's a pro at running through the field behind Emily's house, kicking the ball with the right place of her foot, and then hitting it straight towards the goal.
JJ can also light up the room with her smile and little giggle. Another thing that Nellie loves about her new best friend is that she is so kind and generous. She always shares her toys with Nellie, and she is always, always there, ready to give Nell a hug if she is sad or upset.
Nellie gets to call Emily by JJ's special nickname as well as calling JJ, Jenny. She knows from Ben and Emily that JJ only wants them to be the one to call her that, so to be able to do so also is a great privilege.
So, Nellie thinks it is so cool that JJ can know the answers to problems she won't be learning in school for another 10 years.
"Oh, okay," Nell answers. "It's still really cool, though!"
"You're right, Nell," Benson tells her as he helps her back onto his shoulders. "It is cool." Everyone gathers in a group with the Arch behind them, and the grownups take a photo with each child's camera before asking a passerby to take one of all of them together.
They leave JJ's stroller in an area with other strollers and climb into the elevators that will take them to the top of the Arch.
Annie loves it, she loves being in an elevator, going to the top of a building and looking out. Nell is proving to be fearless also, although she no longer wants to be on Benson's shoulders, instead just letting him carry her.
She takes a moment and some convincing, but soon she is peering out the viewing window with Annie and looking out onto the city of St. Louis with Annie.
JJ, however, refuses to get out of Emily's arms or even let Emily close to the window to look out.
"Love, don't you wanna see out the window?" JJ shakes her head, hiding her face in Emily's neck.
Emily sighs. She knows JJ has mood swings, – Sandy and Michael have told her and she has seen them herself, – but she is not used to them being so up and down like this. JJ is happy one moment and five minutes later, she's withdrawn, frowny, and not wanting to participate in anything.
Doing something she has never done before, and will probably regret, Emily bends down. She asks her Aunt Kathryn to come over and then asks her to take JJ from her.
Kathryn takes Jenny's arms from around Emily's neck and picks her up, quite forcefully as the little girl does not want to let go just by being asked.
JJ doesn't speak. She doesn't do anything but stay still in Kathryn's arms. Emily is stunned. She did not expect this. She expected JJ to cry and whine and sign or motion for Emily to come back to her.
JJ stays quiet, though. She's frowning but that is the only thing that is telling Emily that she did not like what Emily did to her.
Emily just shakes her head and goes to the window, deciding to take advantage of JJ's seemingly cooperative attitude.
"Wow! This view is amazing!"
"Look, Emmy!" Nellie says. "I can see our car."
"Look here, Annie," Cal points up to the sky. "We're high up with the birdies!"
"Woah!"
"Alright, everyone. Who wants a picture by the window?" Billy asks as he digs out the cameras from the bag he is holding. All the kids start yelling once and group up to have their picture taken. First boys, then the girls, then Ben and Nellie, etc.
Finally, it is time to leave. They pile back into the elevators, go down, get the stroller, and go to the cars.
They decide on lunch. Since JJ is their "Special Guest Star" for this trip (she puts her crown back on in the car), they go through McDonald's for her and Annie, because she said she wants that, but "it o.k" for the others to eat at a place called Steak-'n-Shake.
They meet there, eat, and let the kids get ice cream for dessert. Annie goes to the bathroom before they leave which prompts Emily to take JJ to the bathroom also.
Emily lets JJ decide on a diaper or "big kid" underwear. She understands that JJ is just one of those kids who take longer to potty train. After all, Annie is having trouble, and a few of her cousins had trouble as well.
That is why no one is forcing JJ to use the toilet and wear underwear. JJ, not so surprisingly, chooses the underwear. However, Emily can sense that she may not actually want them, instead wanting the comfort of a diaper.
Nevertheless, Emily puts them on JJ. She smiles and says, "Look at you, big girl! I am proud of you for choosing the big girl panties."
JJ smiles at this, although it is tiny and she is still being weird like earlier. Emily decides this is just one of those times where JJ is clingy and quiet. It will pass soon, she hopes, and then JJ will be smilie and giggly and happy again.
"Come on, let's go to the car. It's time to start driving again."
Here it is! I broke this chapter up because it was getting too long. I will put the second part of this up later this afternoon, probably around 9 or so.
Please review and let me know what you thought. JJ's behavior is starting to be very different. You will find out why soon!
Next Up: Part 1 of 6; Spring Break pt. 2 – second part of this chapter. A birthday party, more cousins, the rest of their drive, and their destination is revealed! :)