Chapter 2 - Full House on the Prairie

D.J sat and put her arm around Stephanie for a moment. She knew Stephanie didn't really grasp the enormity of the situation. She prayed and asked what their mom would say at a time like this.

"I wonder if that's why he was training me so much," D.J. said absently.

"Does this mean you have to start supper now?"

D.J chuckled. "I won't cook every night. I'll have homework and stuff. I wonder if Kimmy can cook." After a pregnant pause both girls said, "nah."

"Why didn't he leave when Daddy was here?"

"You saw how proud he was of Dad. This was Dad's big break; Uncle Jesse said it felt like he would if he ever got a record deal. I don't think he wanted Dad to feel like he had to stay home." When Stephanie asked how DJ knew that, D.J said, "I would feel like I had to. Like when I stayed home from my first non-mother-daughter slumber party to take care of Michelle."

"Boy, D.J, you know everything."

"Thanks. I can always count on you for support. Still, I don't know if Joey is going to just stay around here or what. I guess we'll have to figure that out with him. In the meantime," D.J. said as she rose and Stephanie followed, "I guess we better get downstairs and show Joey the note. I wonder if I can help him learn to cook better." They laughed at the idea as they went downstairs.

That evening, Danny called after Michelle went to bed. Joey was talking with him for a moment, and then DJ and Stephanie came downstairs again.

"And here is D.J. 'Pioneer Girl' Tanner," Joey said as if he was introducing a star. "The girls are having a lot of fun pretending we're back in the late 1800s. But don't worry, we made sure our play was before the big 1906 earthquake."

"That's great. Are they down there? I'll talk to them now."

"Sure, they just put Michelle to bed. They sang that same song Jesse would always sing to her," Joey continued his conversation.

"That's great, I'm glad Jesse is still having D.J. help. It seems like it gives her a real boost of confidence to know how much faith he has in her," Danny replied, not thinking about whether Joey had handed the phone off.

Thankfully, Joey had listened to what Danny had to say just before he gave the girls the phone. "Oh, he figures she graduated, Jesse moved out," Joey explained.

"What?!" Danny shouted. "When did this happen?"

"Sometime while I was running a couple errands, after he'd gotten the groceries back home today. He left a note," Joey said, reading it as Danny rolled his eyes. "Since he took everything with him I told the girls he's probably moving out."

"Joey, I can't believe you've known about this for over 5 hours and didn't tell me anything," Danny declared. "You even told the girls for me and I don't know if I would have told them. Look, I'll book the next flight out, I might even be able to get out tonight."

"Danny, relax, everything is under control. I've made arrangements with my mom, who has not taken that mascot's job yet. She hopes to go down to Disneyland someday, but for now she can stay in the area to help. Jesse's mom is available, and yours offered to move back from Seattle."

"Well, how are the girls taking this?" Danny asked, still rather anxious.

Joey leaned against the counter. "They're disappointed, but I told them that Jesse probably needs some space and he could come back. But, DJ is filling in like one 9f J9hnny Carson's guest hosts, she hasn't skipped a beat. She gave Michelle her bath tonight and she is doing things just like a mother bird. Except she doesn't feed them worms. And she had Steph help her tonight. Here, I'll put them on," he finished.

Joey, I'm glad D.J. feels confident about helping…" He heard D.J.'s voice. "Oh, hi, honey."

Danny told DJ how proud he was and after he said "hi" to her and Stephanie and heard they felt okay, he asked them to put Joey back on.

"Joey, this is not the TV show 'Little House on the Prairie.' I don't want D.J. to feel the same pressure that Jesse apparently felt," Danny persisted.

"Do you think I could get my old room back, Daddy?" Stephanie asked as the girls sidled up to Joey to listen.

"Yeah, could she?" D.J wanted to know.

"I think for right now, Steph is probably going to feel more comfortable in the same room as you, Deej. That's what helped her to come out of her shell, the more she was with you after Mom died." Danny hesitated a moment while Joey related what he had just said. "That is, unless you feel too much pressure, Deej. I don't want you to feel like you have to be Mom for her because obviously you lost your mother too and I know it's hard for both of you and now Jesse is gone too and he was supposed to be there and I just realized the network is going to wonder why their long distance bill is so astronomical."

DJ smiled wistfully. "It's okay, Dad. Maybe I'll pull out my sleeping bag and sleep over in her room with her."

"Remember, girls," Joey interjected, "your dad did talk about needing an office because of his work with ESPN."

"I thought that was going to be the alcove when Uncle Jesse was still here," DJ pointed out.

"What," Danny asked, "are you girls talking about the office? Look, this is a lot to think about right now, and I do need to hang up. If you're okay for the next few days I'll do my job here. But don't move stuff back into her room yet. If I had done that office, you girls would have had to room together starting when Michelle was born. When Mom was still around to help you." Danny heaved a huge sigh.

"You sound like you need a hug, Daddy. Are there any ball players around you can ask for a hug?"

"No, Steph, I'll just let your cute question be my hug," Danny said lovingly.

"DJ, Steph and I are in a group hug right now if you want to feel part of it,'' Joey said truthfully.

"Thanks. Are you absolutely sure you can handle everything?" Danny asked Joey. "Wait, who has the phone?"

"I do, Dad. You had me a little worried, but as long as I know Joey and our grandmas are around, we'll make it for a few weeks." DJ smiled as Stephanie said the same thing, but included DJ in the mix.

"Okay," Danny said. He asked them to put Joey on for a moment after he told them good night and that he loved them. "Joey, you have the addresses and phone numbers for the mother's group, right?" Joey said he did. And that if he couldn't find it DJ would. "Use them a lot, don't think you have to handle this all yourself. Give me the numbers and I'll write them down and talk to the moms myself. Actually just fax them to me at the motel, we've already gone way over what I was planning in long distance." Joey said he would do that.

A few days later, D.J. and Stephanie were in the living room talking. "Are you sure you can't cook every night? Joey's getting better, but… I don't want to hurt his feelings."

D.J. pondered it as she bounced Michelle on her lap. "It probably is best not to say anything. Mom always said give away a smile, so let's think positive," she continued.

Stephanie agreed as D.J. opened a book for Michelle and began reading to her.

Kimmy barged in the front door. "Hey, Deej. Greetings from the 19th century."

"What?" DJ asked, very confused.

"You talk about being a mom like older girls were on the frontier, so I'm from the 19th century and I came back to see you."

"I don't get it," Stephanie said.

"I see what she's doing," DJ said politely. "Kimmy, even though this is the 1900s, it's the 20th century. The first century was the years one through 100. The second is 101 through 200. And so on."

"So I've been in the 20th century all this time? Wow. Hey, since we're in different classes, maybe you can help my teacher understand why I keep saying I'm from the 19th century."

DJ stifled a giggle. "I'm sure she understands. I've heard it's a common mistake."

"Thanks, Deej." Kimmy turned to leave, then paused for a second. What she said next showed the difference between a normal misunderstanding and a Kimmy-level one. "Wait, I just realized something. That means that real estate company, Century 21, is from the future. I have to find out how they do time travel like that," Kimmy exclaimed.

"Kimmy, if you want to be in the same classes with me I'll help you but I'm a little busy right now," DJ said kindly, not wanting to get into how strangely Kimmy had been thinking. Kimmy said thanks and left, with D.J glad she didn't go further about Century 21 being from the future. She wasn't sure she could have explained that as nicely as the other mistake.

"Uncle Jesse left a number. Why would he do that if he didn't want us to call him?" Stephanie asked.

"I thought of that. I even thought of lying and saying nobody could get MIchelle to take her cough medicine," D.J. remarked candidly.

Stephanie's mouth flew open. "You thought of lying? Why would- wait. Michelle doesn't have a cough."

D.J. agreed. "It wasn't a great plan anyway. Uncle Jesse's seen me give her medicine now. Hasn't he, Michelle? Look at the birdies," D.J. said pleasantly as the one-year-old pointed to them. Something about this felt so peaceful, as long as she wasn't having to do anything like correct her. And even that wasn't too rough. Michelle was fairly docile and listened to her well.

"Could we just say she really misses him? At least then we wouldn't have to make her sick," Stephanie suggested.

"I don't know. But maybe… if he thinks we're home alone." D.J. grinned. "It might work. Dad figures everything's okay, but Joey has a gig this evening, and Jesse's mom is supposed to watch us…"

"You're not saying we should tell her not to come, are you?"

"Relax, Steph, we're not going that far. He'll just get here a little early, before his mom does." D.J. picked up the phone.

Jesse picked up the phone while relaxing with the band and one of several girlfriends he had been with over the last few days.

He understood D.J.'s reasoning right away when she told him about the mixup. "That Joey never can keep schedules straight. Are you sure everyone else is busy? What about the moms in Michelle's play group?"

"I don't know what I did with the paper those were on," D.J. said, pretending to be flustered. "I know you said I was doing a great job being like Mom…" she said, sounding discouraged on purpose. "I can't believe I'm messing things up so much. I try so hard!"

That did the trick. "Aw, Deej, it's okay, look, these things happen. Don't put so much pressure on yourself, you're only 11. That's why we adults are here to help. Besides, we can't all be neat freaks like your dad. I'll be there right away."

Jesse stepped in the door to see Joey getting ready to leave and holding up a puppet. "I got here as fast as I could. Joey, remind me to make copies of those phone numbers and stick them on one of your puppets, so you'll be sure to see it."

"What numbers?"

"See, this is-" He stopped a second and looked at the girls. "Okay, give your Uncle Jesse a hug." They embraced.

Danny picked that moment to barge in. "I'm home."

As the girls ran to him and they hugged, Jesse said, "I thought you said you needed me."

"I remembered Joey had a gig and I wanted to surprise everyone."

Joey told Danny, "Actually, I called Jesse's mom," just as she came in the door. "Hey, Mrs. Katsopois," Joey greeted her. "I guess Danny's here now - and so is Jesse."

"Yeah, and hopefully I won't hear anything about changing my stage name and going back to Katsopolis," Jesse declared. He suddenly looked confused. "Wait - I can see with Danny, but why are you here?"

D.J. decided it was time to confess. "Okay, I'll admit, I called because, well, we miss you so much. It just hasn't been the same. And, I was hoping maybe you'd give staying here another chance."

Jesse became very pensive. "I love it here, too. The fact you guys love me so much, and being able to see you grow and you become like your mom, Deej… this place just opens up parts of me I never knew existed."

"Is that a good thing?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah; yeah, it's a really good thing."

"I actually made up a plan, Dad, for Uncle Jesse to move into the attic so you could have that bedroom as an office. That way, Uncle Jesse can have all the privacy he wants," D.J. explained.

Danny looked at D.J. with a slightly stern expression for a moment before it softened. "Well, if you want me to trust you with your plans, I'm going to need to see some honesty instead of sneaking around calling Uncle Jesse like this."

"I'm sorry, Dad. I actually thought about saying Michelle was sick, but Uncle Jesse's seen me give her medicine. I guess maybe I didn't believe Uncle Jesse would come back enough. Maybe I could have just called without an excuse."

"Well, girls, that number was for emergencies. I mean, that means more than 'I miss you,' but if you'd just said you're strugglin' with what I taught you about trying to be like your mom, and you were starting to worry…" He paused. " Thinking about it maybe that wouldn't be enough. I don't know. But now that I'm here, I can see just how special this place is to me," Jesse revealed.

"Does that mean you're staying?" Stephanie wanted to know.

"Yeah, Steph; I'm staying," Jesse admitted.

"Well, I guess I can tell them I'm coming back in a few days then, like I said I hoped I could do," Danny said. "Once we get enough of your stuff and a spare bed moved into the attic."

"Okay, Dad, but first, once I have your total trust back, I have a plan for moving into my own room, with Steph taking over my role as big sister for Michelle," D.J. piped up.

"We'll talk about it, I promise," Danny said.

D.J. grinned. What Uncle Jesse had begun for a far different reason would end up helping D.J. even as he moved back in, as being the oldest on the floor besides Danny would let her have some control over things and eventually - when Michelle got her up soon after this on a Sunday - get to church and dedicate herself to being more of a mother figure. She would still struggle, of course, and was very glad for that forgiveness and love from her family - and salvation from God - when she skipped school later that spring. Still, she would realize she really did have some traits that were like her mom.

For now, she listened excitedly as Danny continued. "Say, when I come home from spring training, I was going to take you girls to Disneyland earlier, before I knew my schedule, but how about how about we do that in late March when the season is ready to open?" They loved that idea.

"Great. Oh, hey… tomorrow, Mom, can you be here? I'd like to get together with my girlfriend for the weekend, and Joey might still want to do something with the older girls."

"Sure. And then we can talk about that stage name," she added.

Jesse conceded, "I can just take it off the band name so it's just Jesse and the Rippers. So, yeah, I guess I can go back to being Katsopolis. But, that's a ways off for now. The important thing is, I have a home here."

"And, you always will," Danny pledged.

A/N: In books, the office has been there since the start - as implied in Chapter 1, in the TVU it would be considered but they decided against it. BTW, that also means Jesse likely just locks the attic door a lot in the BU version of "The Seven Month Itch." So, with D.J. the oldest on the 2nd floor besides Danny,her being more of a mother figure like in books begins, it just got a later start.

OTL (our timeline) Danny either took the trip down at the start of spring training (being a sportscaster) or stayed in San Francisco anchoring the sports. Either way, he was going to take the girls to Disneyland, the one in California. It got fogged out. As the Chronology notes, whoever called this a mistake both had no idea of the concept of vouchers - understandable, I know inner city kids ho likely wouldn't know that - but also didn't catch that Disneyland and Disneyworld have different names and are thus different places. :-) .

So, ironically, they get to Disneyland in California around the time they got there OTL, but without the need for free ticket vouchers because of Danny having to be at spring training.

This will continue with at least one more story; because if Danny's with ESPN, Becky would be brought in as the host of Wake Up, San Francisco - although Danny would co-host when he's not working for the national sports network. And the timing might let things get a little silly in a way they didn't in the TV or Book Universe, as I'll explain later.